#honestly i think the law should allow for one free punch

[vagueiish]

what exactly is one supposed to do about accepting things you can't control when the thing you can't control is a person who is actively fucking over many people, including children?

[pushpinsheep]

Hopefully this puts things in greater perspective because some tourists just don’t get it and need to hear this. For those who are curious and looking to travel in the future I hope you find this is informative! :) We could all use more perspective on linguistics and traveling imho. I have made some of these mistakes in the past too. We can all learn to be better guests/tourists. This mindset people have that not only is it okay for tourists to exploit and mistreat local populations, but it’s something that should be encouraged is wrong. You’re not entitled to anything special as a tourist just because you have enough money to play around somewhere “exotic” for a few weeks. Regardless of where people travel to. As a guest in someone else’s home you should put more effort into not being a total asshat. You will have a better time and you might learn something cool along the way. I will mostly be using France as an example since I live here and have more insight, but everything I say applies outside of France as well. Note: This information only applies to tourists. Immigrants and refugees are a unique situation and thus face different challenges and have different needs. A tourist chooses where to go and has time (and money) to plan for their trip, which is often only a few weeks or days. Immigrants and refugees often don’t have that same luxury and remain in the country for far longer. (in many cases permanently) Moving to a country places a greater linguistic and cultural demand on an individual. Remember to check your privilege. tourism =/= immigration/asylum. A) English is not the only language in existence. It might be a widely spoken language, but it’s not the most widely spoken language (that honor goes to Chinese) nor is it the only lingua franca. Chinese, Hindu, Spanish, French, and Arabic are all widely spoken across multiple borders and where you are on the planet will obviously dictate which one of these people go with. If you expect that to be English because your sphere of the internet happens to put you in that bubble of “my language or bust” ignorance then like... that’s on you pal. Get with the times and stop assuming everyone should just speak English. English speakers are not the only tourists and English, though widely used, is not the only other language a person might need. I have a friend from Laos who speaks absolutely no English. He doesn’t need it and never has. (even now) He speaks Lao (the regional dialects can be as different as Thai is from Laotian btw), Chinese, a bit of Thai, and French because they still use a lot of French for business dealings there. (something I didn’t know ngl) Assuming he should just speak English because “everyone else does” is ignorant. It’s rude. It puts no thought into his situation. It’s entitled. He’s traveled to visit friends in England and he has an English phrase book. He doesn’t need a lot of English so like... the phrase book is absolutely perfect. Most of what he does in England is sight see and speak Chinese with his friends. Be more like my friend from Laos. B) Official languages may not be the only language a country speaks within its borders. Regional and native languages exist and expecting the locals to speak a 3rd language on top of all that is unbelievably entitled. France has a number of them. There are people who are born and raised in France who don’t speak French in their day to day life. (or at all) Basque, Breton, Occitan, Alsatian, Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic and a number of others are all spoken within French borders. Many are at risk of being permanently lost (that’s why our new regional language law is important btw) and as a result a greater emphasis is placed on preserving them as opposed to learning something new. Most people have to learn the official language as it’s the only language a lot of countries will accept for paperwork, but anything else is up to the individual and you can suck an egg if you don’t like that. (this also applies to immigrants and refugees btw) Heck there are places in the US where people don’t even speak English day to day! Some places actually speak French or Spanish. I heard more Spanish in my day to day life than I did English where I grew up in NC! (moved to Florida and Spanish exploded. loved it!) C) Borders are a thing. People working and living across borders exist and English is often not the language they chose to go with as a result. France borders Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, England, and Switzerland. People who share these borders often choose to go with these languages. English is in there, but please note it’s not the only one. D) Culturally speaking a country may not like [insert common language here] and as a result may refuse to speak it. That’s entirely their choice. If you don’t like that then don’t visit the country. It’s really that easy.  Colonialism is often a major factor at play in these situations. Respect that choice. You do not get a say in how people reclaim their identity. As for France? This might come as a shock to some people, but France doesn’t like England. I’m 100% certain these two places exist solely to punch each other in the nuts. (ball tap. an international past time) As a result getting English people to speak French or French people to speak English is about as easy as pulling your own teeth. I’ve been spit on for speaking English because people here just assume I’m from England or they hate “annoying Americans” and after seeing how y’all responded to the last post I made... yeah I totally get it now. Granted, that’s no excuse for someone being hostile, but it is something to keep in mind when you visit and applies to more than just France too. E) Retail workers and small shop owners don’t owe you shit. You have absolutely no right waltzing into a shop and demanding the staff speak your language (I don’t care how common it is) for the two weeks you’ve decided to play around in their home. Always ask them first. If they can’t or choose not to then tough luck. This is why a phrase book is important!

Retail workers and small shop owners get treated like shit enough. Some of y’all have never worked retail a day in your life and WOW does it show. Please respect retail workers and small shop owners. You don’t know what their day or life has been like. If they’re tired and don’t want to speak to you in a foreign language then that’s their right. I have had no issues using my phone or a phrase book to help communicate concepts when there is a language barrier. (and I fucking live in France. I’m not even visiting) Emergencies also happen and a phrase book or medical card in the native and/or official language is absolutely essential! Even if you just have an allergy to something! This is a great way to stay safe! When you visit another country being aware of and researching cultural differences includes linguistic differences. Tourists are guests. You don’t live here, you don’t get a say. Remember, learning a second language (esp if you don’t use it often) is really hard. If you’re visiting a country do not expect them to just use whatever language you speak. Mind you a phrase book is also important because people within a country may not have a strong grasp on English even if they do speak it. You can very easily get lost or injured without a phrase book to help you. These things allow you to better experience a country and communicate without actually having to learn the entire language... or any of it. And, once again, they exist for free online! You do not need to learn an entire language to visit somewhere, but you need to be prepared for there to be a barrier. People assuming I mean you need to learn a whole language are uh... really something else. Like do you guys think half the people bending over backwards to communicate with you know the full language? Go ahead. Fuck around and find out. ;) Obviously I’m not saying you should be treated poorly when visiting if you don’t know the language. Unfortunately no matter how much effort you put in there will always be someone who’s a jerk and I’m sorry for that. All I’m saying is as a tourist you owe it to yourself and others to be better prepared. Trust me. You’ll have a better time in the end. (and if you did the research you’d find that Paris is not the best first place to visit... even if you’re french lol) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS64ZT4eWUA Please watch this guy’s video. It is hilarious and touches on a lot of the same points I just made. Thank you for your time. :) ---------------- Cultural tidbit for those who are curious about where I live in France: I live in Alsace currently! (moved from Lyon, but my spouse is from here) In Alsace you might meet people who speak English, but it’s also entirely likely you won’t! Alsace is also a very tourist heavy area because it looks like a German fairy tale and has a lot of tiny villages with cool stuff to do! I highly recommend visiting here over Paris! We have so many storks! (clackclackclack)

Our logo is a pretzel!

That being said, Alsace has its own regional language!

It’s not uncommon to see bilingual signage or to pass someone on the street and hear them speaking Alsatian. You’ll usually hear it from older people, children, or those from rural areas. It’s really fun to listen to and absolutely wild to see written on museum signs!  Kids here will start school learning French, regardless of what they speak at home, which has resulted in a downswing of Alsatian speakers in recent years. That’s why the new regional language law I mentioned waaaaaay above is so important. It’ll allow schools to teach most of the day in Alsatian instead of French with the goal being fully bilingual adults! :) As of right now, most kids here choose German or English (depending on the school) as their second language. Some kids pick Alsatian and honestly? Good for them! I’m glad!

[1plus1kiyoomi]

Chapter 5: One Year

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[masterlist]

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“You’re 5 minutes late,” Kuroo speaks as soon as you near the gate of his mother’s house. Irritated by his words, you stop yourself from hitting him. Your lower body parts are hurting from running in heels and your whole body is aching due to being pushed around in the train and crowd.

“Sorry...” is all you could say. You are too tired to argue with him. He spares no more time and enters the house so you have no other choice than to follow him. As you take off your heeled shoes you sigh in satisfaction, finally free from the pain it’s giving you.

“Tetsuro! (Y/N)!” His cousin, Fumiko, greets the two of you as you enter the house. You spot his older sister Tomi in the living room, so you greet her with a friendly kiss on the cheek.

“Where’s mom?” Kuroo asks his sister.

“Bathroom,” Tomi answers. She and Fumiko pulls you to the hallway leading to bedroom, as she smiles at her younger brother cockily. “We’re going to borrow your wife tonight, okay?”

“Huh?” You ask confusingly. Tomi doesn’t wait for his answer and pushes you to what you think is her room. “We’re not having dinner?”

“We, girls, are going to go out and drink tonight!” Fumiko and Tomi cheers. You can’t help but give out a displeased look.

“What’s with the look? Is Tetsuro the type of husband that doesn’t allow you to go out?” Tomi questions and you shake your head immediately. If only she knows what’s actually going on between the two of you... “Tonight you will forget about the pain and stress my brother is giving you. Tonight is about you!”

“Are you up to something?” The two of them ignore you. Tomi shoves a silk red dress to your chest. “I have to wear this?”

After the three of you dress up, you leave Tomi’s room. “Oh, you look very beautiful (Y/N)!” Their mother compliments you so you thank her and greet her with a bow. “Where are the three of you going?”

“Girls night out!” Fumiko does a peace sign and Kuroo snickers.

“Aren’t you too old to be going out?” Kuroo teases Fumiko and Tomi, the older girls smacking the back of his head in unison.

“Aren’t you going to compliment your wife or something? Look at her all dolled up!” Fumiko huffs as she changes the topic. Kuroo glances at you and fakes a loving stare. He doesn’t think you look attractive at all. You’re just another girl he’s so used to.

“You look good, love,” Kuroo compliments half-heartedly, so you just smile at him.

“Whatever love birds,” Tomi rolls her eyes. “Enjoy dinner with mom. We’re leaving now!”

“Bye, mom...” You bid goodbye shyly, kissing your mother-in-law on the cheek. Kuroo also leans in to give you a kiss on your cheek. Instead of feeling happy about it, you become even more discouraged about your relationship. You only act like a couple when your family is around. It’s so hard for you not to get carried away by his sweet actions.

“Bye, love.”

——————————————————————————

Kuroo is not sure if it’s stress that is clouding his mind in anger or if he’s actually jealous. He just wanted to fetch you and go home so none of his family members will see you flirting with another guy. He doesn’t anymore drama in his life, but you were stubborn and drunk and totally forgot that you were supposed to meet him outside of the club.

After waiting for you for half an hour, Kuroo entered the club and looked for you. He saw you on the dance floor with your “boyfriend” dancing as if you were the only ones in the place. Kuroo’s blood boiled. First, you’ll get caught. Second, you disobeyed him. Third, you looked so attractive under the blinding lights. He hated the thought of being of attracted to you.

The way your dresses perfectly molded your body was making him hot. Your hips swayed along to the rhythm precisely and how he hoped he was the one behind you instead. His eyes wandered and observed your whole body in awe. He didn’t feel like this when he first saw you a while ago. Why did he feel it now?

His feet dragged him to where you and Yuji were, and he yanked you off of him. “Who- Kuroo? Shit! I forgot!” He pulled you out of the club aggressively so Yuji followed you two out. The blonde saw the anger in Kuroo’s eyes so he got worried. Alisa who was just sitting near the bar saw the whole thing and also got out because of curiosity.

“Kuroo! Let go! It hurts!” You tried to pull your arm away from him, but he wasn’t giving any signs of letting go of you.

“What if you got caught, huh?!” Kuroo scolded you as you stopped in front of his car. He parked far away from the club so no one was around. Yuji and Alisa finally caught up with the two of you. “What would our parents say if they find out?! You really want them to know how much of a slut you are?”

Slap.

“You’re a fucking asshole! I can’t believe I love you!” You screamed before running away. Kuroo was glued to the ground, too shocked about your words.

You love him? But why?

Yuji was furious. He knew he shouldn’t meddle in between the two of you but Kuroo was going too far. “You’re really calling her a slut when you’re the one who’s hitting on other girls? What a prick.”

“And you know she’s married to me but you’re still dating her? Doesn’t that make you a prick as well?” Kuroo replied, grabbing Yuji’s collar in frustration.

“She’s married to you but I’m the one fucking her, so I guess I’m at better place than you,” Yuji mocked, so Kuroo threw a punch at his face that caused the blonde’s lips to bleed.

‘What is this cocky idiot talking about? He’s a virgin!’ Alisa thought as she messaged Kenma and Matsukawa in panic.

Not long after, Kenma finally shows up and helps in calming Kuroo down. He and Alisa manages to pull the two tall boys apart. Kenma forces Kuroo to get into his car while Alisa pushes Yuji back into the club.

“What’s wrong with you? You’re not the type to start a fight,” Kenma starts the conversation as Kuroo seems to calm down. The taller guy groans in anger.

“I’m just stressed from everything and let frustration over me. I’ll apologize to Yuji tomorrow,” Kuroo says as he finally relaxed himself.

“You’re not going to say sorry to (Y/N)? Alisa said you made her cry,” Kenma states in his usual tone. Kuroo leans his head on his seat and sighs.

“She said she loves me...” Kuroo says in a confused matter. Your words replay in his head and the more he repeats it, the more confused he got. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why does she love me? I haven’t treated her well ever since we’ve met. I made sure she knew that I hated her. I thought she not like being married to me too, because she moved out last year and then we never saw each other after that. Then when she returned, she offered to help me with Alisa. I don’t get how she can say that she loves me,” Kuroo explains and Kenma just nods.

“How do you feel about it?” Kenma pushes the topic. Kuroo looks out of the window, thinking deeply.

“It makes me rethink of our whole marriage and relationship. I feel sorry that I treated her like that while she had feelings for me the whole time.”

Kuroo honestly doesn’t know what to do. It’s not everyday he finds out that the woman who has hated since who knows when is in love with him. He takes in a deep breath and remembers what matters at the moment: your safety.

“I have to go home and check if she’s there. Do you want me to drive you home?” Kuroo changes the topic and Kenma shakes his head no.

“I drove here so go and talk to (Y/N),” Kenma tells Kuroo before leaving his car. Kuroo thanks him and drives quickly to your place.

What if you didn’t come home? What if you passed out on the streets? You were drunk after all. Kuroo suddenly regrets his choice of words. He should not have called you a slut. His words are eating him up and the more he thinks about it, the more sorry he feels towards you.

Kuroo enters the passcode to your shared flat and relief washes over him when he sees your heels on the doorway. He takes his shoes off and gets inside. He doesn’t go to his room, but knocks on yours first.

“(Y/N). Please open the door. Let’s talk.” Kuroo says loudly so you can hear it at the other side of the wooden barrier. And of course you hear him. You’re sitting on the floor, leaning on the door. You’ve stopped crying but you’re spacing out.

You can’t believe you confessed to him. You even dropped the L-word bomb. You don’t care about how he insulted you, you are too preoccupied by the thought of what’s going to happen now. It’s better if he didn’t know of your feelings but he already does.

“(Y/N). Let’s talk.” Kuroo continues to knock. Not in your right mind due to crying and alcohol, you got up from the floor and opened your door.

Even before he can speak up, you bowed apologetically. “I’m sorry for not coming out of club when you said so. I apologize for risking our front. I’ll be more careful next time. It won’t happen again.” You tried to close the door but he placed his hand in between the frame and door so his fingers get injured.

“Ouch!” Kuroo hisses. Worry takes over you and as if on instinct, you grab his hand and take a look at it.

“I’m sorry! Let me grab ice!” You step away from him but he tugs your hand back and pins your body on the wall in ease. His damaged hand is still entwined with yours while the other is on the wall at the side of your head. Kabedon. “Kuroo...”

“Look, I know you’re trying to avoid the topic but you can’t take back what you said. And don’t reason that you’re drunk because I’m sure you aren’t. So please listen to what I’m going to say. I don’t love you back.”

“I know. So please stop. You’re hurting me,” you lower your head, stopping your tears from falling.

“Let me finish. I don’t love you back right now but I’m willing to take a chance at our relationship. One year. Let’s try working our relationship out for one year. If I end up falling in love with you, then good for us. But if I don’t, then let’s end all of this,” Kuroo proposes, cupping your cheek. You let your facade go and start to cry.

You hate yourself because you’ll allow him to do this. You hate yourself so much be ause you’ll let him get away with everything he said. You hate yourself because you’ll let him act as if he hasn’t treated you badly for the past years. You hate that you love him so much that you’ll let your toxic relationship go on for another more year. You hate that you love him so much you’re willing to get intoxicated and hurt.

“Okay...” you reply, your hand holding his that is own your cheek. “In that one year, can you pretend that you love me even if you don’t?” You’re going to get hurt anyways, so why not inflict more pain?

“I won’t just pretend. I’ll actually try to.”

This is where your love story (hopefully) begins.

——————————————————————————

Facts:

Mattsun and company’s plan goes on. It’s only 5% complete.

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[percywinchester27]

A lot like ‘Us’ (Part-34)

Word count: 3.4K

Pairing: Sam X Reader AU

Warnings: Feels, fluff

Series Summary: Y/N Y/L/N is eager and honestly, still in awe that she managed to get herself an acceptance from Stanford Law School. On the face of it, her life seems as put together, mysterious and independent as one might hope for. On the insides, she carries the burden of past that haunts her till date. Seemingly, she’d left it all behind; that is until she sets foot in the class of the Law School’s youngest, most promising professor.

A/N: The story employs two different timelines. The present timeline for the story takes place in 2014. Please let me know what you guys think :)

Beta: @deanssweetheart23​​. I love you so much, darling <3

A lot like ‘Us’ masterlist

The rest of the week was hard.

There were things you wanted to do and then things that you had to do. Unfortunately for you, the Venn diagram of those two things were two circles that did not touch.

Normally, you loved your job, you loved studying and your classes. But sitting through Sam’s class was becoming a new, different type of torture. The pretension was wearing you down. You could see it grating him, too. You rarely spoke up in his class now, trying not to draw attention, neither did he call upon you like he did with other students. 

The library was still your second home, though, thanks to the untimely desertion of the other odd shifts librarian, you were left to run double shifts. Molly was sorry about it, but she didn’t have a solution for you, not until she had a new hire. That meant you were stuck in the library all the time. The guys in the apartment were starting to miss you. Kevin came over one evening to inform you everything sucked when you weren’t around. His face had made you hug him.

As for you? Without the free evenings, you couldn’t go over to see Max. You missed him terribly and it would do no good to whine about that to Sam, since you were still unsure about how he would take your excessive attachment to his son. 

Not that you didn't have the chance to talk to Sam. After Sam put Max to bed, each night he’d call. You would sit in the alcove of the library widow and talk to him for hours- about the day, the classes and everything under the sun. Sam told you about the cases he was working on, the judges he really disliked and the girl Chase was chasing. Sam thought he was named aptly. He was also your faithful informant about Max. Apparently the playground bullies were back at it with the mean words. You blurted out loud how you wanted to punch the kids and Sam piled on top of that. Cheerful conversations about shaking kids followed.

It felt so juvenile to talk with him over the phone, like when he worked in New York and you were stuck in Lawrence, but not quite. Now, it was exciting to imagine him blushing on the other end when you accidentally said something complementary. Or if a student decided to stay in the library late night, you had to giggle in hushed voices so they wouldn’t overhear your conversations. The thrill of it was exciting. Those few hours had become the highlight of your day.

So, when Madison asked you what you were smiling about in the last lecture on Friday, you had to make up a reason. You couldn’t very well tell her that the bruise Sam was sporting on his cheek was because Max outran him on the basketball court and Sam slipped and fell.

“Just thinking of something funny.”

“Wouldn’t have to do with the green eyed hottie from Monday, would it?” Madison wiggled her eyebrows.

“Who, Dean?” You burst out laughing. “Maddie! He’s married to my sister.”

She laughed with you, face apologetic. “Dang! He’s really hot. Is it bad that I’m sorry he is married?”

“Definitely not,” you giggled. The good old Winchester genes had caused many casualties.

On the dais below, Sam collected his things.

“Ooohh, Professor Winchester is heading out. I better catch him before he leaves. You wanna come? Talk about the assignment?”

“No, you go on.” Sam had given you a run down of the assignment last night. You wanted to pout that he was right. You could have done better.

“Still awkward about the whole drowning thing, huh?”

You looked away, not wanting to remember the pool.

Madison wasn’t paying attention. “You were… I don’t know, delirious. You kept calling him by his name and…” Madison looked at you warily. She did not complete the sentence.

“Y/N saw the opportunity and took it,” said Rebecca from the next row. “I would sell my soul to be lifted like that.”

You slung your bag around your shoulders and made a move to get up. For all you cared, Rebecca could get hit by a truck. Not only were you furious at her for planning that prank with Brad, it made you feel murderous when she objectified Sam like that, reducing him to some greasy creep of a professor. It was insulting.

“Wait up now, sweetie!” She came up from behind. “Don’t act so prissy now. We all know you’re not as innocent as you make yourself out to be.”

“Excuse me?”

“You think I’m blind? To not see how you’re playing with all these men to get what you want? First, you have Brad panting after you, so you get the attention? Then you’re dancing with some random blue eyed man at the induction dance. The very next day you’re swaying in the arms of Chase Lincoln of all people. The moment you touch the pool water, somehow Sam Winchester is miraculously saving you… and two days later you’re crying like a damsel in distress in the arms of yet another man!” She was counting off her fingers. “And people call me slutty! I’m going to find out what your secret is, Y/N. Because I know you have one! And when I do...”

“You know what, Rebecca?” You said as calmly as you could. “Why don’t you go screw yourself.”

With that you headed straight for the library. When Madison caught up with you, her face was red. “Can’t believe I was ever friends with that hag! Gave her piece of my mind.”

“Madison, you should catch professor Winchester before he leaves. I’ll be okay.”

She assessed your words against your expression, then nodded and left.

You wanted to be by yourself. 

Thankfully, cataloging was time-consuming and tedious. It took your mind off of Rebecca’s awful words. For the life of you, you couldn’t understand why she was so mean to you. 

“Excuse me, miss, can I borrow this book?” Enquired a sweet voice. 

You dropped the marker in your hand and looked up. Max was standing beyond the desk, a huge grin on his face. You gave a little yelp of your own and hurried from behind the counter to throw your arms around him, kissing him on his cheek. 

“Gosh, I’ve been dying to meet you,” you said, pulling back to look at him. 

He was wearing a plaid shirt over a small faded t-shirt and jeans. Such a mini-Sam. You couldn’t resist the urge to lean over and kiss his other cheek.

Max started blushing, looking down at his shoes.

“What’re you doing here?” You asked, leading him to one of the benches.

“Alex broke her arm last night. She couldn’t come over today. Dad’s got work. He asked me to hang out here.”

“Oh, no, is Alex okay?”

Max snickered. “Yeah. She was trying to sneak out for a party and fell out of the window.”

You pursed your lips trying not to laugh with him. “Poor girl.”

“Aunt Jody’s super-mad!” He added and you couldn’t help the giggle that burst through your lips.

“Max, is that you?” Molly asked, sticking her head from behind the shelves. “Darn kid! It’s been ages. Where did you run off to?”

“Mechanics camp!” He told her. “I know where an engine goes now. And how to hot-wire a car.”

“They taught you that at the camp?” You asked, skeptic.

“No, uncle Dean did.”

This time you laughed in earnest.

“You know Max?” Molly frowned.

You nodded. “Remember my little friend I told you about?”

“The one you were holding a bake sale for?”

“Yep, he’s the one.”

Molly put her hand to her lips. “Well, no shit! Do you know who his father is?”

You and Max immediately looked at each other, confirming your secret with a tiniest of nods. 

“He’s Sam’s boy, this cute little nugget here.” Molly pulled his cheek. To Max’s credit, he didn’t rub his cheek afterwards.

Which reminded you. “You wait right here, Max. I’ll be back in a minute.” You quickly found the stash of cookies you were saving for tonight's dinner and hurried back to him. Eating at the library wasn’t allowed, but Max was an exception to every rule. “Cookies for you. I know these are your favourite.”

Max’s entire face lit up. True to his nature, he offered you one before digging in. You watched as he took a few bites, sneaking looks to the book he was holding- Adventures of Sinbad. 

“I read one of those when I was kid. It had a monster bird that carried Sinbad away to its nest.”

“Oh, the Roc! That one’s my favorite!” Max clapped his hand and the cookies clattered to the floor.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, trying to pick up the bag.

You stopped him with a gentle nudge. “Let me.” After cleaning the cookie crumbs from the carpet, you unwound the scarf from around your neck and used it to clean the crumbs stuck to Max’s mouth and shirt, fussing over getting it all away.

When you made him stand up to clean the hem of his pants, you noticed Sam standing behind you, arms crossed over his chest. He had a peculiar expression on his face- tender but also guarded.

“You’re not supposed to eat the library, young man!” Sam tried for stern, but ended up sounding amused.

You straightened up. “I make the rules here. Max can do whatever he wants.”

Max gave Sam a smug look, before running to him. In a motion that must have been more of less a reflex, Sam reached out and hefted Max up in his arms. 

“Look, what I found!” Max showed him the book.

Sam made a face. “Sinbad again? That sixth voyage was lame.”

“I wanna find out how it ends. There’s only one adventure left!”

“Alright, but this is the last of Arabian tales for the year. I get second hand sea-sickness just reading about it. I’m starting to miss Charlie and the chocolate factory.”

“You hated Charlie and the chocolate factory!”

Sam smirked. “You’re this close to getting my point.”

Max turned the book over. “We’re out of authors,” he told you.

The words shook you out of your quiet and you smoothened your expression. The scene before you was making your throat close up. You had never seen them together before. Max’s entire body language changed- his shoulders relaxed and he became less polite… just a bit more demanding, the way a child should be. Sam on the other hand radiated contentment. His voice changed, becoming softer, loving when he spoke to Max. You were sure you had been staring at them hungrily as if you couldn’t get enough of the interaction.

“Any suggestions?” Sam asked, tone still mild.

“T-Tolkein,” you stuttered. “You should try The Hobbit.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Elven songs. Wonderful.”

Molly came over to greet Sam and you excused yourself to go back to the desk and take a stock of the emotions coursing through you. At any point it could get too much and you didn't want either of them to see that.  

On their way out, Max waved at you. “Bye, Y/N!”

“Bye, Max.” You blew him a kiss. “You turned my day around, bud!”

There were too many people in the vicinity, so when it came to Sam, you nodded. “Professor.”

He mirrored your gesture. “Ms. Y/L/N.” And with a look full of promise of later, he walked away. You waved at Max till he was out of sight.

“Such a lovely boy,” Molly sighed. “Horrendous business what happened to him.”

“Yeah.” You cut the topic short, still unable to think of Max’s past without feeling faint. Thinking about it was so hard for you, Max had lived through it. 

Molly was in no mood to change the subject.

“Sam’s an amazing guy to give up the lawyer life and settle down here for that kid.”

You narrowed your eyes. “What do you mean?”

Molly threw out her hands, slightly embarrassed. “It’s Sam’s personal choice and all that, but he had a solid career in LA. After that Simmons affair blew up in the media, he could’ve stuck around and bagged A-list celebrities as clients. He moved out to this place for Max’s sake- so there was some normalcy and stability in his life. Then, again, Sam’s had his share of downs.”

Your back felt like ice, knowing what was coming.

“I’m not supposed to talk about it but it’s just you.” Molly leaned in closer. “Did you know his wife left him?”

She must have interpreted whatever your face showed as shock, because Molly continued. “Don’t know much about the whole thing. I heard bits and parts from the grape wine. Some girl he met in Kansas straight out of Yale. Took a plunge in a couple of months and this girl bolted not even a year into the marriage. Can you believe that? I mean, look at him… What the fuck was she looking for that he didn’t have!”

You could taste the blood by biting into your lip too hard.

“Never heard of him dating anyone since. I think he’s still in love with her.” Molly whistled. “At least they have each other- Max and Sam. That kid spends a lot of time here. You’ll keep finding reasons to feed your little friend cookies.” Molly flashed you a grin. You couldn’t quite return it.

It was past twelve when your phone rang. You’d just locked the library behind you and had given up on all hopes of the call.

You hurried to pick it up.

“Hey,” Sam breathed. “Sorry it took me so long.”

“It’s alright,” you sighed in relief at the sound of his voice. The sinking feeling in your stomach since the talk with Molly began to dissipate. 

“It’s your fault really,” Sam said. “Max liked The Hobbit too much and went to bed real late. How am I supposed to wake him in time for his class tomorrow?”

His concerns were so normal, comfortingly mundane. Sam made it sound so easy, when in fact, all this must have been so hard. One time you heard someone say a mean thing about Sam’s wife and it had you rankled. Sam must’ve lived through years of whispers, stories and ugly rumours. He must’ve had to defend his choice of staying committed so many times. Hadn’t the words shred his heart?

“Y/N? Everything okay?”

You cleared your throat. “Uh it’s just… it’s good to hear your voice.”

He was immediately on alert. “What happened?”

“Nothing. Weird day.”

“Where are you?”

You looked about your dark surroundings. “Crossing the playground, almost to my building.”

“Do you want to come over?” He asked, voice hopeful but unsure. “We can sit in the front lawn if you want.”

You made an impulse decision. “Yeah okay.”

Ten minutes later you were sitting on one of Max’s swings. Your tan sweater wasn’t helping much as you shivered in the chill, waiting for Sam to show up. Weird how you made it before him. He lived right there!

Noiselessly the front door opened and closed. Sam walked briskly towards you. He was dressed in dark grey sweatpants and a black full sleeve t-shirt. In his hand he carried an afghan, a thermos and two mugs.

“Here,” he handed you the afghan. It was the same one that was wrapped around you on the night of the pool party. The memory brought blood to your face.

“We don’t have adult juice around here today, but we do have hot chocolate.” Grinning impishly, he tilted the thermos in your direction. He sat on the ground in front of you, carefully filling up the two mugs with the rich, brown liquid while you wrapped yourself in the Afghan. 

Eagerly, you took a sip and moaned indecently.

“Good, isn’t it?” Sam chuckled. 

This was very close to what heaven would feel like. 

“So, what’s the deal, huh?” He asked after a few sips. 

You hesitated, not wanting to admit what the real problem was. It would be the case of a teapot crying to a boiler.

“You know you can tell me things, right?” His voice was soft, beguiling. 

“It’s something Molly said after you left.” You gave in, selfishly spilling it all. 

Sam listened to the whole story, then shook his head at you in exasperation and beckoned you with his hand. You blinked a couple of times, then gave up and went in willingly. 

What the hell, right?

 Sam tucked his arms around your shoulder once you slid on the ground next to him.

“You and I, we know what the truth is,” he said. “How does it matter what anyone else says?”

“Is that what you told yourself all these years?” You asked in a small voice, unable to meet his eyes.

Sam sighed. “Why are you doing this to yourself, Y/N?”

“You didn’t answer me.”

His fingers curled around your shoulder over the afghan. “No, I didn’t have to tell myself anything. I knew I loved you. That was enough.”

“I don’t know if I can be as strong as you.”

“That’s because you’re so much stronger,” he said. “None of those people have lived your life, they don’t know what you’ve been through. I can bet my ass, they wouldn’t have made it out of half of it in one piece. It’s easy to judge.”

“That’s not my problem,” you argued. “I don’t care what they think about me. But I can’t stand how it makes you look!”

Sam surprised you by chuckling lightly. “You’re cute when you’re indignant. Especially on my behalf.”

“Quit making this into a joke, Sam.”

“I seriously don’t know what else to do.” He put a finger under your chin, tilting your face up. “Look at me. I’m the happiest I've been in years! Do you really think I give a rats ass about what anyone’s got to say about me? My personal life has never been anyone’s concern except mine and yours. The only other person who has any say in this is Max. And that kid doesn’t shut up about you.”

Sam’s eyes were scorching, melting against the night sky.

“Molly’s wonderful, and I know she has a soft spot for me. But by the end of the day, it's just gossip. There’s no substance to it. So will you please drop it?”

At long last you nodded. 

“That’s like my Y/N.”

A rustle from the other side of Sam’s fence made you stiffen. The bushes behind the planks began to shake.

“What’s that?”

Sam shrugged. “Probably Alex sneaking out.”

You frowned at him. “Didn’t she break her arm doing exactly that?”

He snorted. “When has that stopped teenagers? It does make life a bit difficult. Jody’s grounded her. She can’t babysit Max for a while and I got work tomorrow.”

You saw Alex creeping on the sidewalk in front of the lawn. She saw the two of you huddled and froze like a deer caught in the headlight. Sam winked and waved a salute at her. After a minute she unfroze, returned the gesture and went off on her way. 

“Why don’t you drop him off at the library in the morning? I’ll keep an eye on him. I’m covering the first shift.” You worked to not sound too excited.

“Yeah, that still doesn’t fix the afternoon. I won’t be back before four.”

“Easy. I’ll wait with him here.”

Sam looked at you, hazel eyes wondrous. “You’d do that?”

“Sure. I owe him a pie anyway.”

“You’re a lifesaver!” He exhaled. “Seriously, I could kiss you right now!”

All you had to do was look up. Sam was right there.

Another crash sounded over the fence, louder than the first, followed by a muted ‘ow.’  You saw lights flare up in what must be the living room. From somewhere inside you heard Jody curse. “Jesus fucking Christ! Claire, what’re you doing on the ground.”

“Why do you always have to catch me!” Claire whined in the darkness. “Alex just left!”

“What. The. Fuck!” Jody yelled. “Get in the fucking car! We’re going to find your sister.”

That did it for you as you buried your face in Sam’s chest, smothering the giggles. His arms wrapped tightly around you. Sam himself was shaking with silent laughter over you.

Yeah, this was pretty close to heaven.

*********************

A/N 2: Thank you for all the support over the last week. 

Sam was right when he said-  “You and I, we know what the truth is. How does it matter what anyone else says?”

I’m going to take his advice :)

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[ssvgawara]

Haikyuu boys and some oddly specific crime they’d commit

a/n: I come back and the first thing I write is a shitpost!! enjoy </3 tw for drugs, murder, alcohol and general crime committing xoxo

Karasuno

Daichi- he’s a cop sorry that’s all there is to it man

Suga- Suga has multiple charges of 1st-degree murder against him but they can’t seem to find his identity so he continues committing murder and will continue until he gets caught or ends up murdering enough people to be put in a position of power

Asahi- everyone is probably like “Oh Asahi is innocent” NO. He has learned that his slightly scary face will let him get away with a lot, he is buying alcohol illegally because he looks old enough to, and he’s buying so much other shit and just getting away with it

Nishinoya- This man gives fucking pimp vibes I can just see him in the big leopard print fur coat with a pretty girl in his lap and he calls himself big poppa but no one else will

Tanaka- Drug dealer vibes, probably runs an entire fucking drug ring with his sister and not just a Lil weed these mfkas have the hard shit too like you could probably buy meth from them, he’s not using it but it’s good business

Ennoshita, Kinoshita, and Narita- They literally rob a bank they have an entire scheme and get away with multiple bank robberies and this goes on for MONTHS

Kageyama- We know he’s volleyball smart but otherwise he’s so mfing stupid and I love him for it but he is a chronic shoplifter. Just picks something up and takes it, has walked out of a store without paying for an entire bed set once and got away with it somehow so idk props to him

Hinata- He is the little guy in any heist situation, he fits anywhere so he can sneak in and out the best, he gave himself the stupid ass code name tiny giant but everyone goes with it because somehow he is the best

Tsukishima- armed robbery, but he doesn’t have a gun just a knife like he’s tall and as an attitude, a knife will get him whatever he needs he doesn’t need the gun

Yamaguchi- He runs a catfishing scheme where he pretends to be a naive girl, scams old men out of their money, and then ghosts them and I think it’s what he deserves let him carry on especially because no one would believe it’s him. Also not really like a crime crime but still a crime in a way

Kiyoko- She kills men and I know it, Queen Kiyoko ending the patriarchy one shitty man at a time like she only kills men who deserve it bc some have rights.

Yachi- She’s too anxious to commit an in-person crime so she does a lot of cybercrime, hacking government databases and releasing info to the people, truly the anonymous we deserve

Saeko- She’s running that drug ring with Tanaka, and she loves it because there’s a thrill to it even though yknow she’s dealing literal meth but like its fine plus she loves rocking people’s shit when they get too handsy, which bring me to my next point underground MMA Saeko, like the illegal one with no rules yeah <3

Ukai- this man probably sells all kinda shit to minors that he shouldn’t he is so unbothered a 7-year-old could probably walk in ask for a pack of camels and get them and leave before he noticed what was going on.

Takeda- Did y’all see how scared Hinata was when Takeda gave him that lecture? This dude could kidnap someone and scare them into giving all the information he needed, a legend truly

Aoba Johsai

Oikawa- took steroids one time. And of course in sports, that’s not allowed. But he only did it once and regretted it for months afterward. Never told anyone and was just relieved he didn’t have to piss in a cup and have someone find out.

Matsukawa- Without hesitation, I know this man takes dead people’s bones and sells them on the internet. Has dubbed himself the bone man and he feels so much power when someone buys a femur or sumn. It’s kinda funny honestly he has a hoard of bones to sell, his fave is the pelvis.

Hanamaki- He’s in between jobs because he stole money from his last job, like he said he was sorry he just needed a little extra for gas but was sad to find out that’s a literal crime and he was laundering money.

Iwaizumi- he’s a street racer, like the fast and furious style and it’s so sexy of him like late-night races ugh to be in an expensive fast car with him where he has one hand on my thigh okay that’s enough of that.

Kunimi- Look me in the eye and tell me he does not do drugs. He does and if you don’t believe me you are wrong and I will fight you on this one. 

Kyotani- If there is a crime he will commit it for fun. Like he will do it with no hesitation. He has a record longer than twilight and I’m not sure how he is not in prison actually nvm he escaped and is  a wanted criminal lol

Shiritorizawa

Ushijima- Assault, he just reeks of getting into bar fights when he’s absolutely wasted. Like he most likely didn’t start it but he will be finishing it

Tendou- grave robbing, he just goes into the cemetery picked the oldest plots, and gets to digging. Has made thousands on dead people jewelry and probably won’t get caught, like besides the groundskeeper there’s no security he will never stop.

Semi- he breaks copyright laws on the daily. He’s sampling music in his all the time but he’s doing it so sneakily it’s fine its what deserves stream his band on Spotify right now,

Shirabu- His bangs are criminal enough. No, but he has stolen drugs from the hospital before he just wanted to try the Xanax, and yeah he could just write himself a prescription for it nut like it’s so easy to just go get some and no report it so that’s what he did.

Goshiki- y’all want me to say arson don’t you?? Fine. He commits arson multiple times and kills 7 people with fire before getting arrested and he doesn’t even feel bad so in prison he probably fucking runs a gang he is crazy.

Nekoma

Kuroo- he is a capitalist and class traitor and that’s crime enough I don’t care is he’s attractive or rich, He commits crimes daily by just existing but I still love him anyway.

Kai- Could not commit a crime he just wants to garden and live his life. Jk there’s at minimum one body in that garden let him kill a man he deserves it just let him have one dead body

Yaku- he keyed someone’s car once just because they pissed him off. Was it kuroo? Yes. But that’s fine because he also keyed Lev’s car but blamed lev for keying kuroo’s and Kuroo for keying Lev’s. He just wants to watch the world burn.

Kenma- cyberbullying but man he is mean. Like no bars held we will dig into every insecurity he can and that shit hurts and he doesn’t even feel bad about it he will just be as mean as he can if you’re not careful

Lev- his crime is being tall and dumb also doesn’t understand the economy and prints counterfeit money because why can’t we print more money? The government should get on that.

Inuoka- He released all the animals from a zoo, like snuck in one night and just let them all free, I’m surprised the tiger didn’t eat him but hey the animals are free, there’s still some missing uh oh he’s very proud of himself for it. After the rush, he starts sneaking into shelters and freeing all the dogs and cats

Yamamoto and Fukunaga- Have egged a house before, it was Kuroo’s he deserves all this bullying and you can’t stop me.

Date Tech

Aone- Criminal Conspiracy, sure he had an entire foolproof plan to get away with the perfect crime but someone found out, and now his plans are ruined, damn </3 and no one ever suspects the quiet guy either.

Futakuchi- Having a prostitute, he just wanted some company like mans is lonely so he paid a girl to just spend a Lil time with him it’s all good.

Fukurodani

Bokuto- I know we all haha funny laugh at tax evader bokuto and sure maybe he evades his taxes but he’s also committed vehicular manslaughter, he cannot drive and has killed someone with his car maybe even multiple someones but he always drives off in a panic because he doesn’t know what else to do.

Akaashi- Hasn’t actively committed a crime but has been an accomplice in every vehicular manslaughter Bokuto has committed why the fuck does he keep letting bokuto drive? He really needs to stop that.

Konoha- A master scammer he is so convincing everyone gives him money even if they’re a little sus because he’s just that good each scheme is so convincing.

Inarizaki

Kita- He grows weed, you can’t tell me those rice fields are just for rice he’s got all this space he is growing marijuana and selling it, let him do it I want him to be my plug.

Atsumu- "What is my perfect crime? I break into Tiffany's at midnight. Do I go for the vault? No, I go for the chandelier. It's priceless. As I'm taking it down, a woman catches me. She tells me to stop. It's her father's business. She's Tiffany. I say no. We make love all night. In the morning, the cops come and I escape in one of their uniforms. I tell her to meet me in Mexico, but I go to Canada. I don't trust her. Besides, I like the cold. Thirty years later, I get a postcard. I have a son and he's the chief of police. This is where the story gets interesting. I tell Tiffany to meet me in Paris by the Trocadero. She's been waiting for me all these years. She's never taken another lover. I don't care. I don't show up. I go to Berlin. That's where I stashed the chandelier."

Osamu- resisting arrest. He just said no and ran. Granted he shouldn’t have punched the cop in the first place to have to be arrested but like that’s not the point here.

Aran- accidental child abandonment, like he just forgot he was babysitting and left the kid alone for like a day. He felt terrible but he still forgot the kid and now is fearful of parenthood

Suna- owns an illegal weapon, like he just never registered it and keeps it around and would use it if needed Suna please just point the weapon at me maybe

Others

Terushima- Graffiti, he loves painting on the walls of buildings and tagging them, has so much spraypaint and his day isn’t complete if he doesn’t tag at least one building or train car.

Daishou- Public intoxication- he got a little too fucked up and stripped on the street he will forever have to live with everyone knowing he has an ass tattoo like damn bruh

Sakusa- Perjury he simply wanted to get out of court so he said some shit so he could leave granted he lied under oath but whatever, did they ever find out? No, so he’s fine and he’d do it again if it meant he could leave faster. Like sure he was a witness to a murder but bruh he pretends he does not see.

Hoshihumi- driving without a license he simply thought you didn’t need one because why do you need a piece of plastic to say you can drive a car like??? Just know how to drive it.

[jamespotterthefirst]

Fake Husband: Part II

The Reckoning

Pairing: Dr. Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Lilac Allende) Word count: 1,600 Warning: Some adult language Premise: Ethan pretends to be her husband again to spite her insistent ex. Part 2 of  Fake Husband Author’s Note: Seriously guys, the fake dating trope owns me

_______________________________

The frivolous, over-embellished ballroom was alive with laughter, conversation, and music. He watched with disgust as Boston's elite congregated in clusters, clad in expensive formal wear, champagne flutes in hand. Their ambitious smiles were just as false as their interest in the charities rallying for funds that night. It made him sick.

Ethan took a long gulp of his scotch. Why had he let Naveen bully him into attending the scene of his worst nightmare?

Instinctively, his eyes swiveled to meet hers from across the ballroom. Eyes sparkling even from a distance, she gave him a radiant and characteristically coy smile.

That was why.

Ethan forced his eyes away when he realized he was staring, his throat suddenly dry.

How could he not stare? The deadly combination of a shimmering black dress, dark hair that rippled in waves past her bare shoulders, and a delicate, crimson mouth made her look like a siren who could bring any man to his knees. By the interested glances she was attracting, many present would be willing to let her, Ethan included.

Privately, he made it his purpose to go twenty minutes without seeking her out.

He only managed ten.

By the time his eyes scanned the crowded ballroom again, desperate in their search, she was nowhere to be found.

It was no surprise he found her ten minutes later through the massive arched doors leading to a balcony. What was surprising, however, was that she was not alone. From where he stood, he could see the figure of a man that struck a sense of familiarity.  

“I can't stop thinking about you, Lilac,” he was saying. “I don’t think I ever stopped thinking about you.”

With a flash of shock, he recognized him as Lilac’s ex boyfriend, the one who had been wearing a ridiculous turquoise suit on their last meeting. Briefly, Ethan marveled at how his fashion choices remained as deplorable as before. He was wearing a wine colored tuxedo made of velvet.

What a prick.

Lilac was unmoved, her gaze cold as she watched him with disinterest.

It did not deter him. “Do you think about me?”

Ethan’s jaw tensed, clenched fists at his sides longing to connect with his pathetic face.

Lilac, on the other hand, did a better job at remaining composed. Her beautiful, crimson lips remained set in an inscrutable line. “Yes, I think about you sometimes, Alex,” she allowed, voice low.  

Ethan’s heart plummeted.

Then, with a vehemence that could strike a man down, she continued, “I think about how much time I wasted feeling something you did was somehow my fault.”

Velvet's shoulders tensed, the words no doubt a blow.

“All of that was a mistake,” he countered in what he, no doubt, considered a reasonable tone. “I never should've–”

“Slept with my best friend?”

“I regret that every day.”

“Which part? Sleeping with her or getting caught and facing consequences for once in your privileged life?”

Goddamn, Rookie.

She pulled no punches. A swell of pride burst in Ethan’s chest.

“In a way, you did me a favor,” Lilac went on mercilessly. “I never would've been free to fall in love with Ethan if you hadn't shown what a bastard you are.”

Love. Ethan clung to the word, enjoying the sound of it when paired with his name, when uttered so fiercely by her lovely lips. It almost made him forget it was part of the act they fabricated to spite him.

The bastard in question watched her with quiet fury, all pretense of politeness or faux charm vanished. “Who are you kidding, Lilac?” he proclaimed with a humorless laugh. “This husband of yours? You can't honestly believe that's love instead of some schoolgirl celebrity crush–”

He never finished his sentence because her hand flew up to slap him, the crack of her hand against his cheek so loud, Ethan was surprised the ballroom missed it.

“Don't seek me out again,” she said coldly.

She moved to sidestep him, but he was quicker, blocking her path with his body.

“Let me go,” she warned, her eyes boring into him.

She attempted her escape again, and his hands moved to stop her. “Lilac–”

“That's my wife you’re about to put your hands on,” Ethan said, his voice dangerously low as he stepped from the shadows, ears buzzing with rage. “And if you wish to keep them attached to your worthless body, you'll rethink that choice.”

They both glanced up at him, Lilac with relief and her ex with irritation. The latter seemed to consider challenging the threat, but his eyes coolly assessed Ethan’s imposing height, broad shoulders, and balled fists.

Hands dropping to his sides, he fixed Ethan with a harsh glare instead. “We’re just talking. No need to get defensive, pal.”

At the word pal, Ethan moved purposefully toward him, fist ready to deck him. Lilac, however, quickly impeded his path, a gentle hand on Ethan's chest.

“He's not worth it,” she told him in a soft whisper. When Ethan relaxed slightly under her touch, she fixed a glare at her ex. “You should go.”

Velvet looked like he wanted to say something else but didn't dare to in front of the man he believed was her husband. After a moment of hesitation, furious glare locked on Ethan, he wordlessly stormed off, disappearing into the crowd of the ballroom.

Once alone, Ethan glanced down at her, taking in her pale face and at once feeling his expression soften. “Are you okay?”

Lilac nodded quietly. “I'm okay,” she assured him.

“How the fuck was he here?”

She watched him with a troubled expression. “I came out to get some fresh air,” she explained quickly. “He followed me. I didn't even know he was at this thing. Apparently, his law firm is a sponsor and–”

The words blurred together in her rush to explain. When she broke off to catch a breath, Ethan shook his head. “I didn’t mean it like that, Lilac,” he assured her gently. “This wasn’t your fault. You don't have to explain anything to me.”

Lilac looked uncertain.

“Seriously, Lilac, fuck that guy. Don't let him ruin your evening,” he said, impassioned.

A tentative smile followed by a deep sigh. “This evening wasn't that great to begin with,” she confessed, voice laced with hints of her usual carefree tone. “Rich people are so insufferable and spectacularly boring.”

Ethan allowed himself to look impressed, his face relaxing into a laugh. “Couldn't have said it better myself.”

There was a small silence in which neither moved away from the other. A soft breeze rustled her hair, making her shiver slightly. Without a word, he removed his tuxedo jacket and draped it over her bare shoulders.

“Thank you,” she murmured, pulling it closer around herself. The gesture, small and seemingly insignificant, sent a wave of warmth through his chest that neither science nor logic could explain.

They were standing mere inches apart, the sounds of the ballroom distant and muted. All Ethan could hear was the thunderous beat of his heartbeat. He wondered if she could hear it too.

Unable to stop himself, his hand moved to caress her cheek, calloused thumb moving delicately over the ridge of her cheekbone. Briefly, Lilac closed her eyes, her own hand resting atop his.

They moved closer to each other still, so close that Ethan could see the cluster of freckles that dusted her nose. When she opened her eyes, her gaze descended to his lips.

It was all it took to shatter the fragile fragments of his resolve.

“Kiss me,” he instructed in a feather-light whisper.

Lilac obeyed, closing the distance and pressing her soft lips to his in a small, fleeting kiss. Ethan’s hand moved to her waist, but abruptly, she broke apart, eyes moving up to meet his. “Is he still watching?” she asked, breathless. Biting her red lip, she added, “You don't have to keep pretending if you don’t–”

“I don't give a damn about him,” Ethan hissed, thoroughly intoxicated by even the briefest of her kisses. “I'm through pretending.”

Untamed yearning pulsing through him, he roughly pulled her to him, their lips reuniting hungrily. In seconds, Lilac’s maddening mouth moved fluidly against Ethan’s, opening compliantly at his silent command. Her hands trailed down the front of his jacket, their warmth palpable even through the fabric, threatening to consume him whole.

Weeks of resisting her proved futile then. His body remembered hers dutifully, his hands gripping her hips to bring her closer still. This was foolishly unnecessary for Lilac urgently arched against him, sending his body into a frenzy.

“Ethan,” she panted, the delicious sound lost against his lips.

The scent of her flowery perfume mixed with the cologne of his jacket and Ethan found it so enticing that he forgot where they stood. Invigorated, his tongue pushed against hers, the small moan this provoked vibrating against his mouth. She retaliated with as much keenness, tilting her head to one side to deepen their kiss.

Ethan groaned.

Neither had the will to separate, their shared breath ragged.

At last, it simmered down to a string of small kisses. Every part of his body screamed at him to resume, his pulse a thundering storm. “Want to leave?” he asked her, pressing a hot kiss to her jaw.

“Desperately,” she sighed, the sound so provocative that it robbed him of his control.

Ethan kissed her again, fiercely, his need for her unquenchable. A small gasp erupted from her mouth as his teeth grazed her bottom lip, the tip of his tongue tracing a soothing line immediately after.

“Unfair,” she said in a heady whisper.

He laughed against her neck. “Have you seen yourself, Rookie?”

Lilac’s eyes fell to his lips again. She grinned up at him, ethereal in the moonlight.

“My lipstick’s all over your mouth,” she said, wrinkling her nose slightly. So gently it was utterly captivating, she moved her thumb over his lips. “Looks better on me,” she taunted.

Ethan, completely entranced, smiled. “Undoubtedly.”

____________

Prompt(s): sent by @caseyvalentineramsey​

2. A small, fleeting kiss - which is immediately followed by a passionate, hungry kiss. 3. A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond. 9. A kiss that lasts so long, they are sharing each other’s breaths. 15. A fierce kiss that ends with a bite on the lip, soothing it with a lick.

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Author’s note: THANK YOU for reading!

Also, I just realized this is too similar to Kelsey’s new fic. It was unintentional but you guys should know we’re like twins so it’s not surprise.

__________________

Tags:  @openheart12​ | @ethandaddyramsey​ | @noboundariesplease​ | @silverlitskies​ | @the-soot-sprite | @infinitiestones | @emotionalswift2 | @flyawayboo |  @paulfwesley | @hatescapsicum ​| @myusualnerdyself | @thatysn​ | @choicesyouplayandmore​ | @chasingrobbie​ | @trappedinfandoms​ |  @togetherwearerapture | @nooruleman​ | @caseyvalentineramsey​ | @axwalker​ | @parkerattano​ | @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​ | @kaavyaethanramsey | @edith-eggs1​ | @binny1985​ | @sanchita012​ | @lion-ess24 | @drethanramslay​ | @longneckramsey | @choices-lurker | @mvalentine | @axwalker | @jens-diamondchoices | @tefigranger | @ethanrcmsey |

(I forgot people, I know it. Please remind me because I’m a messy bitch who can’t keep track of her life).

[ruzek-halstead]

🌺 challenge accepted 🌺 prologue 🌺

pairing: luke patterson x julie molina 

luke and julie go to rival high schools, but come together at a party after their latest ‘friendly’ match. luke starts off on the wrong foot but redeems himself by the end of the night, by inadvertently becoming julie’s knight in shining armour.

“save it for your groupies, patterson.”

high school au

series masterlist || masterlist || ao3 

warnings: swearing, non-con elements (nothing graphic), fluffery

“Go Nick! You’ve got this baby!”

Julie rolled her eyes as her best friend Carrie screamed her support for her boyfriend directly in her ear.

She was never overly fond of these school events, what with all the testosterone, but Carrie made sure to drag her along to this soccer game. It was a friendly game, mostly for practice, but there was nothing friendly about it. Cornwall High School has had a rivalry with Illyria High School for as long as she can remember; it’d always been talked about in the local news. And now that she was a senior, it still hadn’t changed.

She didn’t know many of the Illyria students. All she knew was that her best friend Nick (who was also the captain of their soccer team) had an intense rivalry with Illyria’s team captain, and so she had no choice but to support him and hate Illyria’s soccer team too.

It’s friendship; you don’t question it.

“Yes baby, GO!”

Julie rolled her eyes again, shoving Carrie away from her. “Shit Carrie,” she snickered, “stop screaming in my ear!”

“I’m sorry,” Carrie replied sheepishly, “but I have to make it loud so he thinks I’m paying attention and actually know what’s going on.”

The girls pass the time by chatting about their latest English essay due this weekend; Carrie had most of it done already, while Julie merely had her topic picked out. It was then that they heard the tell-tale sounds of a goal. Carrie straightened instantly, getting ready to jump to her feet and cheer on her team, but was instantly silenced by the sea of red cheering excitedly. Player number seven, dressed in a red jersey with the name Patterson had scored a goal against Cornwall, and they were most definitely not shy about it.

Julie watched as Illyria’s team players gathered together for a group tackle (they literally tackled each other to the ground; seriously, what’s the appeal?). Player number seven, who she could now identify as Patterson, was smiling proudly, appreciating all the attention from his teammates. She recognized him as the team captain that Nick loathed.

Nick may hate him (which by extension, means she does too), but she had to admit, he was unfairly attractive. Like so much so, that it pained her to actually have to hate him so much (he had the cutest smile). But from what she’s heard from Nick, Patterson was a bit of a douchebag; however, Nick was a teeny bit biased.

“Damn, I’ll be hearing about that later,” Carrie huffed, eyeing her boyfriend on the field. Nick was wearing a royal blue jersey with the number fourteen and even from their distance away, they could pick out his sagging shoulders.

The referee blew the whistle for half time shortly after Illyria’s first goal and within seconds, Carrie was already tugging on Julie’s sleeve. She knew there was no point in fighting the tiny blonde, but she also wanted to check in with Nick, since she didn’t get to see him before the game. So, Julie allowed herself to be dragged down the bleachers to where her team was hydrating and cooling themselves down.

“Hey babe!” Nick greeted Carrie with a cheery smile, much to the ladies’ confusion. “Jules, you came!”

Carrie shared a hesitant look with Julie. “You’re not upset about Illyria’s goal?”

Nick’s jaw clenched so quickly, Julie would have missed it if she blinked. “There’s still time to turn it around; it’s just a friendly game.”

Julie raised an eyebrow.

“Fine. Coach said I have to ‘be the bigger person’ and ’set an example’ or we’ll be banned from finals if there’s so much as one fight.”

Julie laughed, “there it is.”

She surveyed the crimson team a few feet down and quietly admired how unbelievably attractive they all were. Aren’t boys supposed to be awkward and dorky looking in high school? She took notice of the team captain sauntering in their direction with some lackeys. Julie instantly knew it was a recipe for disaster.

“What’s the matter, Miller?” Patterson sniggered with a malicious bite in his tone. “Need your groupies to console you before your unavoidable loss?”

Immediately, Nick threw his water bottle to the ground and charged in their direction. “Are you kidding me, Patterson?” He snapped, as Julie, Carrie and a few of his teammates held him back. They cannot afford to get into any more fights.

“Who are you calling a groupie?” Julie whirled around and barked at him. If Patterson was surprised at her response, he didn’t show it. “Now, shut the hell up before I go over there and shove my foot up your ass!”

She could hear howls from all around her, including from Patterson’s lackeys. The captain himself just smirked as he backed away, hanging off his taller blonde friend. Then he had the audacity to drop his right eyelid in a wink.

“Ugh!” Julie groaned, whirling back around in disgust. “What a douchebag.”

Nick threw an arm around Julie’s shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. “Thanks for that, Jules,” he murmured softly, “or else I definitely would’ve punched him and gotten suspended.”

“Anytime bro, you know I’ve got you,” Julie replied, bumping fists.

Carrie smiled fondly in their direction, “wow, how did I get so lucky?”

“Not sure,” Nick quipped, “because we definitely got the short end of the stick.”

He doesn’t move fast enough when Carrie aims a punch at his gut.

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

The game ended 2-0 with Illyria taking the win. It was a tense finale, but everyone left the field in one piece and ready to blow off steam in other ways. A Cornwall student was throwing a party in their house (re: mansion) and both teams were invited out of respect.

It was honestly a recipe for disaster but Julie was excited.

So, when she arrived, she headed straight for the kitchen to grab herself a soda. She already knew Carrie would be spending most of her time with Nick, but it was alright because Julie respected that and she honestly liked being a free spirit at parties. She could mingle with whoever she wanted and do whatever her little heart desired.

She noticed Illyria’s students celebrated their victory in a respectful manner, which was surprising to everyone. It seemed as if both team’s players were getting along, and that was highly unusual and unexpected.

But Julie was alright with that. She highly expected someone to bust out the karaoke machine, because there was nothing better than watching soccer players absolutely butcher everyone’s favourite songs.

She decided to venture throughout the house and look for familiar faces. She spotted Nick and Carrie dominating at the beer pong table (they were playing with soda of course; while they could all be relatively reckless, none were above the law). She watched as Carrie sank the winning cup and Nick wrapped her up in a spinning hug.

They’re absolutely adorable, Julie thinks as she takes another sip of her drink.

“Hey!” She heard a soft voice from her right and turned to see a tall blonde boy with a friendly smile; he was the one Patterson was hanging off of earlier when he winked at her. “Sorry to bother you, I’m Alex.”

Julie shoots him a nervous smile, curious as to why the hell he went out of his way to talk to her. “I’m Julie,” she replied, shaking his outstretched hand. “You’re on Illyria’s team, aren’t you?”

Alex nodded his head. “Yeah. My best friends and my boyfriend are on the team too,” he explained. “I just wanted to apologize about what happened at halftime.”

Julie blinked in surprise. “Oh,” she mumbled dumbly, “it’s alright. I’m pretty good at dealing with ignorant douchebags.” She doesn’t think she's said anything wrong until she sees Alex’s awkward smile. “Oh no, was your boyfriend the ignorant douchebag I told off?”

“No,” Alex laughed, “I’m dating the goalie, Willie.”

Julie breathed out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.”

“That ignorant asshole is Luke,” he explains, grinning mischievously. “He’s my best friend, even though he definitely is a dumbass sometimes. But really, most of the time, he’s a total sweetheart.”

Julie’s nose scrunched up in disgust. “I wonder why I didn’t get that vibe at all?”

Alex laughed, stealing a glance behind Julie. “He really is,” he rushed, “and I’m so sorry but he’s coming over right now.”

In response, Julie whirled around to see Luke, roughhousing with a tall brunet dressed in flannel and another tall boy with his dark black hair tied up in a man bun,

“Hey,” the boy with the man bun greeted Alex, kissing him on the cheek; she assumed that was Willie. He quickly turned his attention to Julie and shot her a friendly smile (why were they all so nice? She’s supposed to hate them!).

The boy in the flannel started waving at her manically, even though he was only a little distance away. “Hi! I’m Reggie!”

She smiled back politely, and her eyes flickered over to Luke. He doesn’t seem to recognize her until his green eyes make eye contact and realization dawns on his features. “Oh hey! I know you! You’re Miller’s groupie!”

Julie watches as Alex’s facial features drop and he reaches across to slap Luke upside the head.

Julie rolled her eyes, because just one short conversation with Luke, and she remembered why she disliked (most) Illyria students. “And I’m leaving,” she responded in a clipped tone. “It was nice to meet you!” She directed towards Alex, and shot the remainder of the group a warm smile.

“Uh — yeah,” Alex replied, surprised she was singling him out. “We should hang out sometime! If you’re uh — up for that,” he trailed off, scratching his head. Julie smiled and moved along. “No? Okay.”

She continued to wander the premises, finding an isolated corner behind the pool. It was a small garden and she was admiring it, while trying not to trip and fall. She had a habit of being the clumsy one out of her friend group.

“Hey cutie,” she heard a deep rumble from behind her. “What’re you drinking?”

Julie whirled around (much too fast apparently) because the unknown figure grabbed her forearm to keep her upright. She didn’t recognize who he was, but she noticed the Illyria keychain hanging out of his jacket pocket.

“Thanks,” she mumbled breathily, moving uncomfortably away from the unknown man. The corner she was in was mostly deserted, but there were still a few people around. She kept her face calm and passive.

His eyes dart down to the red solo cup in her hands. “May I?”

She glanced down at the cup and thrusted it in his direction. If he wanted it, he could have it because she was definitely not taking it back after some stranger helped himself to it. “Yeah, take it. It’s all yours,” she replied, shooting him a small smile. “I should probably go find my friends…”

“Oh, don’t leave yet,” he insisted in a gravelly voice. “We should spend some time together.” Julie was starting to feel slightly uneasy. “Or we could get out of here, go somewhere quieter; have our own party.”

Now Julie was starting to get annoyed.

“No, thank you,” she pushed away from him to try and place some distance between them. She didn’t know who he was, and he was getting much too close for comfort. “I have to go.”

The stranger latched onto her wrist with an iron tight grip; Julie’s eyes widened. “You can’t leave yet,” he emphasized in a menacing tone. “You don’t just lead someone on like that and leave.”

“Excuse me?” Julie snapped angrily, attempting to rip her arm away from his grasp. “What the hell? I literally just met you.”

The unfamiliar stranger still didn’t let up. “You mean you didn’t come out here to a deserted corner so I would follow you?”

Julie’s eyebrows narrowed at the stupidity of his statement. “Of course, I didn’t! Now, let go of my arm, I’m leaving!” When he didn’t let go, she huffed in frustration. “Dude, I’m serious. Let me go right now!”

It felt like she was trapped in a game. She could see the stranger’s eyes and the unhinged glint in them, and she could feel his grip tightening ever so slightly. She was positive she could just throw her knee up and nail him in the groin to make a quick escape, but she found it ridiculous that it would have to get to that point.

Her mysterious stranger seemed to find this amusing, because he was smirking like all hell; Julie wanted to throw up.

She noticed he was starting to inch forward, and she could feel her brain starting to shut down. She could feel the panic bubbling in the pit of her stomach and all she could do was thrash around wildly in hopes that she could escape his grasp.

“Stop moving!” The stranger hissed, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Julie was five seconds away from kneeing him in the groin and making a run for it when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hey O’Donnell! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The stranger holding onto her arm instantly straightened and Julie felt herself stop moving as well. When she peered around O’Donnell, she spotted Luke Patterson. She let out a nervous breath at seeing a familiar face.

“You better let her go unless you want me to knock you on your ass.”

Julie shot O’Donnell a smirk as she finally rips her arm free of his grasp. She can see the marks he left on her skin and she wants to punch him in the throat.

“We were just having some fun,” O’Donnell replied, clearing his throat and meeting Luke’s eye line.

Julie scoffed; she can feel her confidence growing once again now that she feels more comfortable. “Have some fun, my ass!” She shouted in retaliation. “You are disgusting, get the hell away from me!”

She watched in satisfaction as he backed away, like a puppy with his tail between his legs.

“This isn’t over,” Luke threatened in a low voice; Julie had to strain her ears to hear it. “Get out of my sight.”

Julie straightened her clothes angrily; she was annoyed that happened and she was annoyed she wasn’t able to fend off his advances with the same badass energy she tried to exude in everything she did.

“Hey, are you alright?”

She nearly forgot about her saviour until he spoke again. He stood a few steps away from her; he seemed hesitant to approach her, maybe because she was just manhandled by some stranger and he didn’t want to startle her.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied softly. She’s perfectly aware she’s supposed to hate him, but she can’t think of a single reason why she should right now. “Thank you.”

“Please, don’t thank me for that,” he sighed in disgust, “I would do that for anyone. It just isn’t okay.”

There was a comfortable silence present between them, as they just stood there, listening to the distant thumping music. She couldn’t help but notice he looked really good; he was wearing a white band t-shirt with the sleeves cut off (that did wonders for his bright green eyes) and simple black jeans. She really couldn’t remember why she was supposed to hate him.

“You’re one of Miller’s friends, right?” He asked, looking to continue the conversation. He still kept his distance, and he was looking at her almost as if he was shy. Julie didn’t believe a good looking guy like that could be shy around anyone.

At the reminder of Nick and the rest of her friends, she also remembered how he referred to her earlier. “Yeah, I’m one of his groupies,” she teased with a smirk.

“Ah, I’m sorry about that,” he apologized, scratching the back of his head with a forced, painful smile. “I tend to say stupid things around pretty girls.”

The smirk Julie was wearing instantly dropped. She’s all good with fun and games when flirting, but as soon as it gets serious and someone shows an interest in her, she shuts down and becomes as socially awkward as they get.

She’s positive she’s going to say something stupid.

“Save it for your groupies, Patterson.”

There it is.

He doesn’t seem phased, mostly just amused. “I gave them the night off,” he chuckled. “My name’s Luke, by the way.”

“Hmm?”

“Luke Patterson.”

“Ah yes, you’re my best friend’s rival,” Julie recounted, feigning innocence. “Oh, he would absolutely die right now.”

Luke smirked, finally moving closer in her direction. “You really think he’d mind if I were talking to you?”

Julie seemed oblivious to his obvious interest in her. He was moving closer, maintaining eye contact and admiring all of her features. “Are you kidding? The only reason he didn’t beat your ass earlier is so they didn’t get banned from finals,” she explained, “but clearly I had no problem holding my own when it comes to pretentious, pretty boys.”

“Honestly, all I took away from that was that you think I’m pretty,” he admitted honestly. “And that you’re a badass.”

Julie’s smile dimmed slightly, remembering the earlier events that transpired.

“Hey,” Luke murmured softly, reaching a tentative hand onto her shoulder. “What happened before was not your fault. I have no doubt in my mind you would have kicked his ass to hell and back. I can’t imagine how you felt, but I’m really glad I was here.”

Julie glanced at his hand on her shoulder, but he didn’t move it. “I’m glad you were here, too.”

His hand gently trails down her arm, to where a large bruise is already forming on her wrist.

“You still haven’t told me your name.”

She sent him a shy smile. “I think you’re going to have to fix me a drink first if you want to find out.”

Luke’s smile widened, and Julie momentarily forgot to breathe because he had the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.

“Challenge accepted."

🌺

hope you all enjoyed!! a couple things to note:

the school names come from the movie she’s the man (best movie ever - go watch it now on prime) 

we don’t have a last name for nick yet, so i made one up. was inspired by new girl’s nick miller (best character ever - go watch new girl on netflix now)

[anistarrose]

Chapter Summary: Barry gets a job offer. Kravitz sees a new side of the moon. Taako has a long-overdue chat with his umbrella.

Characters: Kravitz, Taako, Barry Bluejeans, Angus McDonald, Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch, Noelle | No-3113, The Raven Queen, The Director | Lucretia, misc. BoB cameos, Julia Burnsides, Garyl

Relationships: Taakitz, Angus McDonald & Taako, Barry Bluejeans & Kravitz, Kravitz & Angus McDonald

Lately, I’ve been thinking of this fic as a story told in two acts. They’re not necessarily going to be equal in length, but this chapter is definitely the end of Act One.

***

“That’s basically the whole story, Your Majesty,” Kravitz concluded, after several minutes of talking at speeds that no being who needed to breathe could hope to match. Barry and Noelle stood on either side of him, mustering the most innocent expressions he’d ever seen on the faces of a lich or a robot, respectively. “Not that I’d blame you for having follow-up questions, because… well, holy shit.”

Holy shit, indeed, the Raven Queen agreed. A projected image of her visage was floating above a circle of five perfect raven feathers, having been carefully arranged on the cave floor by Kravitz. Istus said we were approaching unprecedented times, but…

She sighed. Well, I must admit that with the apparent exception of Istus, we gods hardly think about what lies outside our planar system. It’s… inconvenient, uncomfortable, how we hold so much power in this world yet understand so little about what’s beyond it. This threat, this Hunger, is news even to me — but didn’t you already know that, Barry, from all the Celestial Planes you’ve seen invaded before?

Barry nodded. “Yeah. I never saw stuff like that directly, of course, but Merle’s a cleric, so… he had his ways of knowing it was never a pretty picture.”

The Raven Queen let out a sigh, like wind escaping from beneath a whole flock’s wings. Then I have more important things to do than reconcile your undeath with the laws of this world, and you have more important things to do than defend yourself to me. Barry, Noelle, you are free to go at least until the apocalypse is averted — but if we get through that, and only then, I’d like you to start thinking about accepting jobs in the Astral Plane. Whatever state the world is in after the Hunger arrives, Kravitz and I will probably need your help.

Barry went dead silent, while Noelle’s whole display lit up with excitement.

“Are we talking afterlife office jobs,” she asked, “or something more along the lines of what Kravitz does?”

“We’ve got plenty of open positions, honestly,” Kravitz explained. “You could probably pick either.”

“Huh,” Barry finally muttered, so soft that Kravitz could’ve missed it. “I — I appreciate the offer, but — I gotta know one thing before I even consider it. Will I have to — to bring in any of my family? Anyone from the Starblaster?”

I’d like to speak with them all eventually, and I may ask you to facilitate that, the Raven Queen replied, but they won’t be punished.

Barry nodded. “Okay. That’s… that’s something I’m willing to consider, then.”

I hope you find out what happened to Lup. Her location is concealed from even me, but I know she’s never entered my domain, so I believe you’ll find her out there somewhere.

Barry’s eyes flickered, shedding drops of light that ran down his face for a few seconds before they coalesced back together. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

It’s the least I could do. From here, my priority shall be to warn the rest of the pantheon, but we’ll be in touch. The Raven Queen’s visage disappeared with a clap of thunder and a gust of wind that lifted the feathers into the air, carrying them back to Kravitz’s waiting hands as her voice boomed throughout the cave one last time. Good luck, my children.

“That went well, right?” Noelle asked when the echoes faded. “That felt pretty good for a conversation with the death goddess.”

“She’s a lot more reasonable than most gods, I think you’ll find,” Kravitz concurred. “But what’s the plan now? Because other than heading up to the moon, and bringing the boys back down for you to tell them what little you can, I haven’t got a lot of ideas.”

“I dunno either. I don’t like keeping them in the dark either, but it’s very little we can tell them aside from —” Barry paused. “Wait. You can go on the moonbase?”

“Yes? At least, no one’s tried to stop me. I guess I can see why you wouldn’t be allowed up there, but —”

“It’s more than a ban and a wanted poster keeping me off! It’s an anti-undeath ward —” Electricity crackled inside Barry’s silhouette, and he let out a laugh that could’ve woken the not-yet-reanimated dead. “But you, Kravitz, apparently possess enough celestial energy to balance out the undead elements of your soul — which is perfect! It changes everything!”

“Uh,” Kravitz began, reflexively taking a step back, “I think I’m missing some context here —”

“That ward’s the only thing stopping Barry from sneaking onto the moonbase and stealing the ichor he needs to inoculate his family!” Noelle explained, totally unperturbed by Barry’s mad scientist laugh. “I couldn’t steal it for him because the same ward keeps me from leaving my fuse for very long, and this robot body’s not exactly stealthy — but you can decorporealize for as long as you want on the moon, right?”

“I’m not sure I’ve actually tried,” Kravitz replied, rubbing his chin as the puzzle pieces fell into place, “but I’ve never had issues getting through anti-undead wards before, corporeally or otherwise!”

Barry rubbed his hands together, smoke and sparks pouring out from between them — but for the first time, Kravitz was sure he saw a glint of a smile flash on Barry’s face.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Barry asked. “Let’s head back to my place and plan a heist!”

***

“So what do we do now, Fantasy Columbo?” Taako asked, staring at the Umbra Staff in his hands. “I didn’t hear any jingles start playing for solving some sick higher power’s umbrella lich puzzle — how does this help us? What does it change?”

This should have been a revelation, Taako knew. This should have changed everything. But his mind was lagging behind his racing heart, struggling to fit together puzzle pieces that he knew should connect. Struggling to understand why he cared so fiercely about an evil ghost of an evil wizard being trapped in the arcane focus he’d looted her corpse for.

“I… I guess we should try to communicate with her?” Angus suggested. “She’s a Red Robe, so she must have something to do with —” He gestured wildly from his notepad, to Taako’s head, to the incinerated coffee table. “With all of this. Right?”

He removed his glasses, wiping off drops of sweat, and Taako realized that Angus, the smartest person he knew, had ran into an uncomfortable mental wall of his own — and after just a split second of looking at Angus’s pained expression, Taako made a decision.

“Hey, kid. I need your arguably expert opinion real quick — Magnus and Merle aren’t smart enough to be memory-wiping masterminds, right?”

“Oh, absolutely not, sir. We both know they’re no good at keeping their lies straight.”

“Could you check in on them for me? And try to bring ‘em back here — but, uh, only if you can do it without Lucretia or Davenport spotting you, and I need you to really focus on looking out for them. I don’t know who else I can trust with this —”

With a huge, determined smile on his face, Angus saluted. “I won’t let you down, sir!” He looked far less pained as he slunk out of the room, and Taako breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay. Kid’s gonna be alright with his mind off of this, and now we can have some peace and quiet, Lup.” His mouth lingered on the name Lup but his mind didn’t, giving no thought to the affection he instinctively voiced. “So… let’s chat?”

***

Lucretia’s office looked just as Barry had described, and not all that different from the Reclaimer’s dorms in terms of architecture. The sole occupant was not the Director herself, but a mustached gnome man who sat at the oversized desk, focusing intently on a game of solitaire. He didn’t even look up as Kravitz’ soul drifted past, steering clear of the desk and floating right through a heavy, closed door.

Kravitz kept inside the left wall of the corridor — Barry may not have reported any traps in this stretch, but the puzzle that Barry had reported was nowhere to be seen, and Kravitz knew a suspiciously empty-looking hallway when he saw one. He phased through a second door at the end of the chamber, ignoring the computer that looked even more foreign to him than his Stone of Farspeech, and recorporealized inside a second office.

This close to the source of the ward, a spinning disk imbued with radiant energy, Kravitz could finally feel its influence — a faint burn and refreshing cold that coexisted, an antipathy towards his undead body and a resonance with the Raven Queen’s blessing. Tempted as he was to knock down the disk and short-circuit the ward, it wasn’t poised do much besides mildly distract him, and he was making this visit with a much different goal — one that he’d expose, if he ended up dramatically trashing someone else’s holy symbol.

At the far end of the office sat a murky tank, and above that tank, an alarm was ringing. A few feet to the alarm’s left, a needle punched holes in a steadily scrolling paper, recording what Kravitz inferred to be times and intensities — and there was a lot of information to infer from, because the paper output had not just reached the floor, but piled up to almost waist height.

A massive volume of alarms had clearly been accumulating, and someone — presumably Lucretia — was far too busy to check on every message. Ever since he’d died, Kravitz had been notoriously bad at keeping track of dates, but a quick comparison with the dates at the bottom of the pile and the dates of the current output revealed that the alarms had started trickling in last night, before a massive influx took shape only about an hour ago.

This was all very interesting to the part of Kravitz that loved a good mystery, but his pragmatic side won out, knowing this alarm could attract unwelcome attention at any moment. He switched his attention to the contents of the tank — which appeared just like Barry had said it would, but was still plenty fascinating. A jellyfish floated in murky ichor, illuminated from within by a dark purple nebula pattern, and recoiling away from Kravitz as he rested a hand atop the tank.

“Now, now. It’s alright,” Kravitz murmured, in the same tone he might use to calm a distressed soul. “No need to be scared…”

The baby Voidfish hummed two chords, far lower and louder than Kravitz had expected from such a tiny creature — but music, at least, was something Kravitz knew he could work with. He summoned his scythe in the form of a lute, plucking out a peaceful melody he’d been fond of for hundreds of years… and only a few bars in, the Voidfish began to echo him, humming along with increasing volume.

“I’m just here to do my friends a favor,” Kravitz promised. “It won’t take long at all.”

The Voidfish seemed to relax, so Kravitz let go of his lute, allowing it to float at his side with a faint blue aura suspending it in air. He pulled a canteen from beneath his cloak, slowly submerging it in the tank until it was full to the brim with ichor — probably a slight excess, but he’d rather have too much than not enough.

“See? All done,” he whispered, reattaching the canteen’s cap. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

The Voidfish hummed the refrain of his song once more as he reformed his scythe, and as if to say farewell, waved a tentacle in his direction as he stepped through the portal off the moonbase.

Just a moment later, the very second Kravitz’s feet hit solid subterranean ground, Barry was at his side with a barrage of questions. “How did it go? Have you got the ichor? Did anyone see you?”

“Good, yes, and no in that order,” Kravitz replied, handing Barry the canteen. “The only thing I’m worried about is… well, you’ve seen how Lucretia has an alarm system in her office, right? It’s going a little haywire right now — and has been since last night.”

Barry’s relief morphed into frustration mid-relieved sigh. “I was hoping we could avoid that, since the boys haven’t had a run-in with me in a couple days — but I guess someone’s still trying to remember something, and it won’t be long ‘til Lucretia picks up on it. We gotta get a move on.”

“I did talk to Taako about the stars disappearing last night, come to think of it,” Kravitz recalled. “I hope he’s not still hung up on that, but it sounds like he might be.”

“Shoot, that coulda done it. No fault of your own, obviously.” Barry sighed again, picking up a couple of scrolls from his desk and placing them on a much more neatly organized bookshelf. “Sorry for the mess, by the way. You and Noelle have been my only visitors so far this whole decade.”

Kravitz had seen Barry’s home before he left for his heist on the moon, and it had already been pretty respectable as secret lairs went. Aside from the stalactites and the dubiously legal cloning pod, it had looked more like a disheveled academic’s study than a necromancer’s dungeon — but in Kravitz’s absence, Barry had apparently gotten up to some spring cleaning. He’d draped a sheet over the pod, which was still glowing bright green and far from innocuous, and somehow gotten his hands on a decent-quality couch, either from a pocket dimension or a conjuration spell or gods knew what else.

“Before you got involved, my plan never involved the boys coming in here while they could remember me,” Barry admitted. “They’d still be far from seeing me at my worst, but — well, I dunno if I can make this place look welcoming, exactly, but I’d rather not make them worry about me ‘cause of it.”

“If it helps, this is easily the nicest cave I’ve ever seen a lich holed up in,” Kravitz said, which got a quiet laugh out of Barry.

“Yeah, I bet it is.” He opened the canteen, pouring a modest sample of the ichor into a glass vial. “Hard to believe this is happening so suddenly, but… I think now’s the time. Lucretia could catch on at any minute, and I — I’ll be ready by the time you get back, I think.”

“Good luck remodeling,” Kravitz told him with a nod, and tore open a portal back to the moon.

***

“So… let’s chat?” Taako suggested. He didn’t know what kind of reply he was expecting, but he had to admit it stung when the Umbra Staff didn’t move an inch.

“Okay, what you do isn’t exactly chatting. That one’s on me. Can you just give me a sign, a little poltergeisting or something, if you’re listening?”

Still nothing, which continued to hurt more than it should have.

“Are you mad at me? I thought you smacked me in the face today to get my attention! ‘Cause you wanted to talk, but…” He glanced away from the umbrella in his lap. “I guess you really hate Kravitz, don’t you? And I was helping him hunt you, even before we started dating…”

He sighed. “And you’re only here because I stole from your grave! What was I even thinking? Of course you hate me, and maybe I half-deserve it —”

The Umbra Staff twitched in his hands, subtly yet so abruptly that he jumped to his feet with a yelp and dropped it onto the floor. It spun over ninety degrees as it fell, landing to point at the shelf of seldom-used spell components that Taako and Merle shared.

“You… want me to cast something?” Taako knelt on the rug, gently wrapping a hand around the handle but not raising the umbrella from the floor. He didn’t feel even the slightest movement. “Hey, if you’re not mad at me, then… do something. Do anything.”

He thought the handle might’ve trembled slightly, but wasn’t sure — it could’ve just been wishful thinking. “Okay, flip side. Do something if you are mad at me.”

This time, he was certain there was no response. “Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to either ‘you’re not mad’ or ‘you don’t want to talk to me,’ but I don’t get why you’re being so subtle about this. I mean, I’m not asking you to cast Sunbeam on my boyfriend again, but I know you could be giving me more obvious signs than —”

He happened to glace back at the component shelf, noticing the chest of spare wands he’d stockpiled — arcane foci, just like the ones the Umbra Staff consumed — then just like that, it clicked, and there was finally one quirk of his rogue umbrella that Taako had an inkling of an explanation for.

“Unless… you can’t give me a bigger sign because I haven’t beaten a magic user in a while!” he gasped. “You’re not trying to ignore me — you’re running out of power!”

He unlatched the little chest, grabbing two cheap wooden wands and snapping them both — and sure enough, the Umbra Staff inverted with more vigor than Taako had seen from it all day, swallowing them whole.

“Better?” Taako asked, and a tiny pink flame sparked to life at the tip of the umbrella. Lup must’ve summoned it with a variant of Prestidigitation, because it smelled less like smoke and more like comforting home cooking.

“Now I know why you chose me instead of Merle at the cave! You’re an adoring fan of Sizzle it Up!” Taako teased, and the Umbra Staff bonked him on the head. “Okay, fine, maybe not. Gods know that’s not the only thing I’ve got going for me over Merle.”

He glanced around the room, rubbing his chin. “I was going to say you could turn that flame on and off real fast, send me a message in Fantasy Morse Code, but then I remembered I don’t actually know Fantasy Morse that well. Maybe you could, like, burn something into the wall —”

The flame atop the Umbra Staff intensified, excited.

“But I guess we’d run out of space real fast — never mind explaining it to Lucretia, yikes! We’d be toast… just like the walls.”

The flame died down, replaced with a disembodied, glowing red Mage Hand. With an upturned palm, it made a motion that Taako guessed was meant to convey a shrug and a then what?

“Oh, you didn’t tell me you could do Mage Hand from in there too! I can work with that!”

He made a beeline for the dorm kitchen, ripping open a fresh bag of flour and dumping it directly onto the counter. “I really don’t wanna leave written evidence, so you write stuff in this, and I’ll erase it when you’re done. Sound good?”

Lup squeezed his shoulder, then traced four words in the flour.

I’ve never hated you

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Taako muttered, pretending he couldn’t feel his whole chest seizing up. With a bare hand, he wiped the flour flat, and only sent a little flying onto the floor accidentally. “I… I wanna let you out. Because this is a really inconvenient way to talk, but — but also ‘cause I know you didn’t mean to get trapped in there, and living inside your arcane focus sounds like it’s the pits. Is there a way I can free you?”

yes but not right now

“Why not?”

no liches on the moon

“Oh, have they got wards to block you off or something? I guess we wouldn’t be able to talk at all if I freed you, and that… that wouldn’t be great.”

I’d miss you :(

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Taako replied, and he said it before he meant it. The figure of speech slipped out right away, ingrained after years of overwhelmingly insincere conversations, but his emotions caught up to him more slowly — starting with the loneliness and the longing, before they ate away at him and left an emptiness behind, a dread of never being whole again and a temptation to tear the whole world apart, because what would he have left to lose?

It ended with a throbbing skull, with static clouding the peripheries of his vision, with a mind that couldn’t fathom why missing someone would hit so close to a home that should have never existed. The last year notwithstanding, he couldn’t remember a time where he’d be caught dead missing someone’s company… but now all he could think, all he could feel, was I’m not losing you again.

“There’s gotta be a workaround — right, Lup?” he managed. “Like, is there a way I could take the wards down?”

maybe, but

Lucretia would notice

“I’m gonna go out on a limb, and assume… she wouldn’t be too thrilled to know you’re here.”

Lup took longer to reply than usual, erasing the first few letters of her response to start over several times.

it’s so complicated

don’t think I can explain

“Right. Of course. ‘Cause of the Voidfish.” Taako rubbed his cheek, expecting to wipe away stray splotches of flour — but instead, he felt his fingers grow damp with tears that he knew weren’t just from the pain of his headache.

“I — I don’t know what to do, Lup. I want to help you, but Kravitz is probably in danger because of me so I have to make sure he’s okay, and I know he won’t like me helping you — then there’s Angus and Magnus and Merle, too, I have no clue if any of them are in as much trouble as us. And I just… I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to this. That the worst of all the bombshells still hasn’t dropped, and I’m about to lose all you while I still don’t know who I am, or who I can trust besides —”

The fingers of Lup’s Mage Hand interlocked with his, and it was a strange sensation — fuzzy and only about half-tangible, as simple magic constructs were expected to be, but warm like a living hand despite the lack of flesh and blood. Taako couldn’t say how long he was silent, just focusing on just that warmth and the inexplicable nostalgia that accompanied it, before he finally asked: “What do you think I should do?”

Lup withdrew her hand slowly, but didn’t hesitate nor erase as she traced four new words:

find Barry

trust Barry

“…I’m glad I’ve got you, Lup, ‘cause I never woulda come up with that on my own,” Taako muttered, chuckling in spite of himself. He didn’t doubt for a second that Lup’s advice was worth following, but he had to admit it was ridiculous how every time a problem came up in his life, someone insisted it could be solved by tracking down a denim-clad lich. “Do you know any of his favorite hangouts, or —”

As Lup’s Mage Hand zipped back into the Umbra Staff, Taako didn’t quite notice the scythe rending space behind him, but he whirled around at the sound of feet hitting the ground and an incredulous voice speaking up.

“Uh, Taako?”

Kravitz carried himself with considerably less poise than usual, wearing a tattered suit that had presumably once seen better days, but he appeared otherwise unscathed, and Taako’s heart jumped for joy.

“I — I — I’m sorry?” Kravitz’s words sounded less like an apology, and more like a sincere question of whether or not he should be sorry for intruding. “I should’ve just portalled to the hallway and knocked. I didn’t mean to walk in on — on whatever this is —”

Before he could stammer another adorably confused word, Taako rushed in for a hug — never mind how crazy he knew he looked, covered in flour and inexplicably teary-eyed over an umbrella.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe — I was so worried about you. I thought for sure you were in trouble and it was all my fault — it was all because —”

Kravitz slipped a cool, but unusually not cold hand under Taako’s hat, mussing up his hair to match the rest of his appearance. “I won’t lie, Taako — there were moments today where I was worried for me. But it turned out to all be a misunderstanding, which is always a pleasant surprise in my line of work — and even better, if you can believe it, one of my new friends knows what’s up with those deaths you can’t remember!”

Kravitz was beaming, but Taako’s blood ran cold like he was the dead man walking. Just when he’d been so sure, so relieved, that he hadn’t dragged Kravitz into the Voidfish conspiracy after all, it turned out that Kravitz had sleuthed his way right to its very center.

No wonder he gets along so well with Angus, Taako thought wryly. Two constantly endangered nerds of a feather.

“This friend can explain it much better than I can, so we’ll visit him by portal — but Magnus and Merle need to hear the truth, too,” Kravitz went on, still seeing no reason not to be enthusiastic. “Are they available?”

“Oh, those clowns? They’re off playing kickball with Angus or something — should be back soon.” Taako knew how Kravitz thought, and knew that Kravitz believed he was doing the right thing by digging up these secrets. He was fulfilling an oath to his goddess and helping Taako get some closure, which should have been great news as far as Kravitz knew — but now he was on the moon, speaking openly about truths a Voidfish had suppressed…

And Taako was conspiring with a lich, soon to be two liches, behind Kravitz’s back. He wasn’t expecting to like the truth behind his eight deaths, if he could even wrap his mind around it — and he had a feeling that when it came time to be judged by the Raven Queen, Kravitz would like the truth and its consequences even less, regardless of whether Taako could think clearly enough to defend himself.

So he withdrew from the hug, wiping the flour — and the incriminating mention of Barry — off the counter with a swoop of his hand. “Oh, drat! Did not mean to do that, ‘cause now I’ll have to mop the whole floor —”

“Okay, Taako. What’s wrong?” Kravitz asked firmly — and Taako didn’t know why he’d thought he’d be able to stall for time, given how Kravitz knew him pretty well, too. “You’re not in trouble with the Queen — I mean, we’ll probably have to invent and then fill out an entirely new form of paperwork about you and your pals, but I told her everything and she’s not mad, I can say that much. Same goes for Magnus, Merle, and — uh, forgive me, just Magnus and Merle. It’s been a long day.”

“Okay, that’s the second piece of good bird news you’ve dropped on me in like twenty-four hours, and I appreciate that,” Taako sighed. “But — okay, listen. We’ve got to be quiet about this, for both of our safety, but I think — I know I’m dealing with more than just memory loss here. I’ll try jumping through your portal and talking to your friend, but I really don’t think I’ll be able to understand —”

“Oh!” Kravitz gasped. “I think I know what you’re talking about — I ran into it with Angus earlier, and we should definitely have a way around it.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “My, uh, my new friend didn’t know if you could understand that there was a second Voidfish — but you heard that, right? It wasn’t garbled?”

Taako nodded frantically. “Yeah, and we’ve gotta get off the moon. If Lucretia finds out we know, I — I’ve got no idea how far she’ll go to keep this under wraps, and that’s the worst part. She’s already suspicious of me, and I —”

He felt a tug from his umbrella, and he cast Message as quickly and subtly as he could, hoping the Umbra Staff’s propensity to absorb magic like a sinkhole would somehow pull his unspoken words to Lup.

I’m not going to tell him about you. Not until I get more information.

Her reply must’ve hardly escaped from the umbrella, being little more than a distorted whisper — Be careful. Love you — but Taako’s legs almost gave out beneath him when he heard her voice, and Kravitz winced.

“We’ve really got to get you out of here, don’t we?” he murmured, taking Taako’s hand — and Kravitz’s skin was definitely warmer than usual, because of course this frankly adorable development would happen when Taako had a million other things on his mind. “You said the other boys will be back soon?”

“I hope.” Taako led the way into the living room, giving a wide berth to the remains of the coffee table. “I sent Angus to go find —”

On cue, the rattle of a doorknob and the sound of Angus’s voice rang out from the hallway. “Sir? We’re back! Could you unlock the door?”

The next sound was the telltale thump of a small child being affectionately shoved aside, followed by Magnus exclaiming: “Hey, I’ve got thieves’ tools now! Gimme a shot at picking it!”

Kravitz pursed his lips. “Don’t Magnus and Merle have their own keys?” he muttered under his breath.

“Of course they do,” Taako sighed, and the door swung open with a snap of his fingers and a Knock spell.

“Magnus, look!” Merle cheered. “You did it!”

While Magnus and Merle high-fived, Angus’s eyes lit up at the sight of Kravitz half-alive and well.

“You’re okay! I’m sorry I didn’t end up finding Noelle, but Taako said he was worried about you, so I started worrying too — did you have a nasty fight with a necromancer or something?”

“…Yes and no,” Kravitz responded after a moment of hesitation, “but I can explain that whole incident later. Right now, I need you all to come with me to —”

“A cool skeleton rave!” Taako butted in. “And… there’s also supposed to be skeleton dogs there! So you guys will definitely wanna get in on it!”

“Yes, exactly!” Kravitz corroborated without missing a beat. “It’s one of those, you know, very rare skeleton raves that receives the Raven Queen’s approval. Once in a century opportunity, so you won’t want to miss it!”

Magnus rubbed his chin. “I dunno about this. How do you pet a skeleton dog?”

“Only one way to find out!” Taako told him, then breathed a sigh of relief when it got an approving nod from Magnus.

“Fair enough! I’m sold!”

Angus narrowed his eyes, so Taako grinned and winked, hoping it came across as equal parts conspiratorial and don’t you dare blow this for me. It must’ve worked, because after a few seconds of surely intense mental calculations, Angus plastered on a convincing innocent smile and gave Taako a thumbs-up.

“Thanks for inviting me on this fun diversion, sir! I’m sure you could’ve come up with a more convincing lie if it was a trap or a prank, so I’m all in!”

Smiling awkwardly, Kravitz turned to the the lie’s final mark. “Merle, my bud, how about you?”

“Are we buds now?” Merle grinned. “You know what, sure! Anything for my bud!”

“Then away we go!” Kravitz tore open a rift and immediately stepped through, beckoning for the others to follow with the single arm that remained on their side of the portal. Magnus leapt through almost immediately, Merle hot on his heels, while Angus approached the rift more skeptically.

“Well, sir,” he announced softly once Magnus and Merle disappeared, “you and Kravitz owe me an explanation… but I trust the both of you.” He took Taako’s hand, and the two of them stepped through the portal together, emerging in a cold, dimly lit cave.

And Taako thought he’d been “moving fast” through a lot of things, lately — through worldview-shattering realizations, into a romantic relationship, into unofficially and semi-accidentally adopting a boy detective — but nothing could’ve prepared him for how fast everything moved in the next minute.

Kravitz faced Noelle and a now-familiar disembodied robe, very obviously struggling to suppress a mood-inappropriate laugh. “Can you believe I was planning to lie to Magnus about skeleton dogs, but then Taako interrupted and independently came up with the same fib?”

“That’s love, baby!” Taako exclaimed, in the moment before the absurdity of the situation dawned on him. “Wait. Why’s Barold here?”

As the rift fizzled and disappeared, Magnus drew Railsplitter, only to whirl around on himself with no idea who to aim at or threaten. “Hey, did we just get kidnapped? ‘Cause I’ve gotta say, this is the last combination of people in the world I expected to team up and kidnap us.”

“It’s not a kidnapping,” Kravitz began, “it’s just —”

“Did you kidnap a child, Kravitz?” Barry interrupted, gesturing at Angus. “When was that ever a part of the plan?! We didn’t need to involve —”

“With all due respect, Mister Bluejeans,” Angus butted in, “Kravitz didn’t technically kidnap me! I knew perfectly well that he was bullshitting, but I decided to come along with him anyway, out of my own free will!” He turned to face Kravitz, adjusting his glasses. “That said, he did deceive and therefore truly kidnap Magnus, Merle, and maybe even Taako by the sound of things — so if he could go ahead and explain his presumably very good reason for doing so, that would be just dandy!”

Barry sighed. “Real smartass kid you’ve dragged into the fate of the universe, huh, boys?”

“He was already involved enough in things that he deserves to know. We’re bringing him up to speed too,” Kravitz declared, and Barry shrugged.

“Alright, sure — but why the hell was there a child on the moon in the first place?!”

“He’s the world’s greatest detective,” Noelle spoke up, and Angus beamed. “I told you about him, remember? He’s the one who figured out that you were amnesiac when you were alive —”

“Oh, I do remember that, though I don’t remember you mentioning his age — so I guess it’s my bad, then, for assuming a secret lunar society would give a flying fuck about child labor laws!”

Kravitz ignored them both. “Merle, Magnus — I’m so sorry for the deception, and Taako, I’m sorry for not saying that Barry was my new contact. I didn’t want anyone eavesdropping on us on the moonbase, and I swear, I will explain myself as soon as I physically can —”

“Hey, hey, it’s cool!” Taako’s words were intended not just for Kravitz, but for Lup within the Umbra Staff, which had started trembling at the sound of Barry’s voice. “I would love an explanation, but I needed Barold’s help anyway, sooo… doesn’t this work out pretty great?”

“Needing Barry’s help is a new one, sir,” Angus commented, but no one in the room looked more incredulous than Kravitz and Barry themselves, who both froze in place.

“Um, that’s — that’s news to me too?” Barry stammered. “But if — if you don’t need any convincing, then…”

He floated a little taller, robe a little less ragged, voice a little more hopeful. “Let’s get you inoculated, bud.”

A glass vial appeared in Taako’s hand, and he sipped the dark liquid inside without a second thought, even though he gagged while passing the vial on to an apprehensive Magnus. No memories rushed back to him like he’d braced himself for, but he thought he felt the nature of his headache change — less like the roar of static, and more like the pressure on a dam about to burst.

“You should really sit down for this,” Barry told him, resting a cold hand on Taako’s shoulder. “Take it as slow as possible. You obviously figured out a lot, more than I thought you would, but you still won’t be ready for —”

“Relax, it hasn’t even hit me yet!” Taako interrupted. “So in the meantime, I can catch you up on this whole funny story about… my… umbrella…”

The metaphorical floodgates shattered, and the deluge of memories swept him off his feet.

Growing up bouncing between relative to relative, growing skilled as chefs and wizards on the road. The IPRE entrance exams, the best day ever, the Hanging Arcaneum, “back soon” —

His head burned as the static was expunged from his mind, displaced by visions of days and months and cycles that just kept hitting him. He was dimly aware of someone, two someones, clutching his arms and lowering him to his knees on the cool cave floor —

“Stay with us, Taako!” Kravitz pleaded, holding Taako’s left hand. “Listen to Barry —”

“I’ll walk you through everything,” Barry — the animal kingdom, learning to swim, “what if she’s just gone?” — promised from his right, clinging to the same arm with which Taako held the Umbra Staff. “Just don’t think ahead. I’ve been through this before, and I can get you through it now, as long as —”

“B-but — but Lup!” Taako cried. “How could I forget —”

“I know, bud,” Barry whispered. “I forgot too. I understand —”

“You fucking don’t understand!” Tears fell from his eyes, but his mouth twisted into a cautious, still half-disbelieving smile. “Barry, she’s right here!”

“What?!” The cave was plunged into red and black, blinding lights and impenetrable shadows, as the lich at its center seemed to fall apart and come together all at once. “WHERE?!”

Taako closed his eyes, and with a strength he didn’t know he had, snapped the Umbra Staff over his knee.

[harrystyleswatermelon-sugar]

Gas station encounter - Part VI

Part V

“What, no? I would never…no” I can see that he doesn’t believe me and sigh. We walk back to the elevator and before the elevator comes up, I face him. I gather a lot of my braveness and ask:

“Why are you bothered by him? He is a nice guy, absolute son-in-law-material” he snorts not very elegant and shoots me a glance.

“Just want to be sure you choose the right one” he shrugs his shoulders and steps into the elevator.

“And you think you know, who the right one is? Great, show me I am waiting for forever to find him” I reply sarcastically and add:

“Oh wait, maybe you should find yourself someone first because you are unsuccessful with it as well” his eyes are full of hurt and I feel bad because of my harsh words.

“You are right, I am not in the position to judge who you are dating” he agrees and now I feel even worse. He walks straight past me when we arrive downstairs and leaves the hospital. It is still snowing and I follow him, finally getting a hold of his arm. He tries to shake my hand off, but it only glides downwards and I take his hand, holding him back and trying to turn him around, so we face each other.

“Wait. Look, I am sorry. I didn’t mean that…I just hate it, when someone wants to tell me what´s good for me. And I am not interested in Phil, absolutely not” I assure him and he sighs, entwining our fingers a bit more.

“It´s okay and you are right. I can´t find someone who stays with me for more than a year, who am I to give you any tips?” his eyes find mine and we look at each other for a few seconds.

“I want your tips and I want your opinion. You are the most important person I have at this point in my life. And honestly, all those models are stupid for leaving you” he grins and pulls me closer.

“I missed you…are you coming home with me?” he asks and I nod. We haven’t had an evening together for ages. Hand in hand we walk back to his car and I am glad that we fixed our argument. At his house, we both change into some comfy clothes and he makes some tea while I tug myself into the blanket on his couch.

“And I?” he asks and I lift the fabric, so he can slide right next to me under the cover. I lean my head against his shoulder and he pulls me close, one arm around my shoulders. We sit there for a long time, not saying anything and I love that it is not awkward.

“All those men are idiots, who are not hitting on you” he mumbles and I lift my head.

“What?”

“You heard me…they are idiots. You are the best that could happen to any man” he says a bit louder and turns his head to look at me.

“I was honestly jealous today, when he looked at you with those hungry eyes and his hands all over you” I can hear, that he means it and I remember his hurt expression back in the hospital.

“His hands were not all over me, H. We are colleagues” I remind him and he laughs dryly.

“He is hitting on you, don’t you see it?” I shake my head and he cocks an eyebrow at me.

“What has a man to do, so you see that he is hitting on you?” he asks laughing and I bite my lip.

“Probably I wouldn’t notice it until he kisses me…” I shrug my shoulders and feel his soft touch on my cheek. He cups it with his big hand and I look up into his mesmerizing green eyes. I have never seen such beautiful green eyes anywhere else than with him.

“I would have punched him if he did that” I giggle and shake my head lightly.

“You should be happy when I finally find someone”

“Only if he is a good guy. Oh, my mom says hi and she invited us, you and me, over for Christmas if you´d like” he suggests out of the blue and I am a bit startled. I haven’t even met his mom in real life. I only joined a facetime session once.

“Erm…honestly I can´t I would love to but…” I reply and yes, I really would love to. He looks a bit sad but he nods.

“I understand, you have your own routine at Christmas. It´s okay” he smiles and I turn, to face him fully.

“Look, Dr Seymour has a family and Dr Sally worked last year on Christmas so this year it´s my turn. I´m sorry, I am free from the 26th to New Year though” I hope he understands what I want to say but I don’t have to worry. He smiles widely and nods.

“Great then how about coming up to Cheshire later? I mean if you want, it´s some time we both are free” he gets a bit nervous and I giggle, slapping his arm.

“Of course I want that. I will jump right in my car and come to Cheshire” he hugs me and I smile into his neck.

Korrigiert

The Christmas days are very quiet in the hospital, we usually allow the kids to go home. Only the very sick patients have to stay and I always hope that no one dies during those days, it would ruin Christmas for the whole family forever, but this year I am not lucky. A little boy dies and I have to be there only half a day before I want to go to Cheshire. Maybe it is not a good time to make a 4-hour drive. I call Harry when I have a bit time but he convinces me to come nevertheless and he promises to be there for me and make everything less bad.

When I finally get there around 10 pm I am fucking tired and annoyed. I stop in the driveway and take a deep breath. Anne's home looks lovely, everything is white and the house is decorated festively. The windows are light up and I can see Gemma and Anne in the kitchen.

I calm down a bit and grab my suitcase. As I put my stuff into my bag and lean into my car I can hear the front door open.

I smile at Harry and walk towards him. He steps outside in simple jeans and a T-Shirt.

“Hello there, ´s nice to see you. Merry Christmas” he says and hugs me tight. I sigh as I feel his warmth radiating against me and rest my head on his shoulder. I notice that his accent got a bit thicker, probably because they all talk like this.

“Hi, Merry Christmas to you, too” I reply and look up into his beautiful eyes.

“Are you okay? Or do I need to cheer you up before we get inside?” he asks a bit worried but I shake my head. Being here and with him already made the pain better.

“It´s okay. I am shy anyway, you know that. Let´s get in before you turn to ice” he laughs and takes my suitcase.

In the living room, I meet his mom. She is smiling so friendly that I don´t feel unwelcome or weird here at all.

“Mom, this is Y/N. This is my mom” he introduces us and Anne takes my extended hand.

“It´s so nice to finally meet you. Please call me Anne and feel completely at home. I can´t wait to show you Harrys baby pictures so you can annoy him with them” we laugh and my heart grows very heavy. I suddenly turn a bit sad, because I don´t have such a great family who is proud of me and supports me. I am all alone.

Gemma hugs me and hands me a glass of wine. We salute each other and Gemma tells Anne the story of how we met.

During dinner I watch them interact and try to get as much information as possible. I can feel the love in this house and I can see how proud Anne is of her kids and how much Harry adores his family. They mock each other but in a loving way and I love seeing it. Being part of it.

We clean everything up and while Harry and Gemma try to figure out, what we are doing now, I stay behind with Anne in her kitchen.

“You are a doctor? He told me about your job and I can´t imagine how hard this job must be” she asks and I nod.

“Yes, I graduated 2 years ago and I love my job and those kids. He probably told you that I try to not bond with other people…which seems odd because it was so easy with H” I laugh and she hands me a glass of wine.

“He is a sweetheart, I would doubt your heart if you could have resisted him in any way. How old are you?”

“I´ll turn 28 next February. You raised him right, you really got two gems there. Oh, by the way, thank you so much for inviting me over, I have a present for you” I remember and she laughs as I get her the present. I bought an expensive and very good bottle of wine and hand her the present.

“Oh honey, that wouldn’t have been necessary. But thank you, come ´ere” she hugs me and I am glad I chose the right gift.

“Mom, Y/N we want to watch a movie, are you coming?” I hear Harry from the living room and Anne and I smile at each other.

“I like you very much, it´s a bit of a disappointment that you are friends. Why can´t he bring someone like you as a partner” she sighs and I giggle a bit.

The siblings are sitting on the couch and Harry pulls me next to him while Anne and Gemma chat a bit and the intro of the film starts.

“I hope she was nice to you” he whispers and I look at him. The resemblance between him and Anne is enormous and I nod.

“I like her, now I know why you are who you are” he laughs a bit and kisses my forehead as I relax into his side.

I must have fallen asleep during the film because I wake up to quiet voices. I feel Harry's arm hugging me tight and I think I am lying half on top of his chest.

“Maybe we should wake her so she can go to bed, she is exhausted” Gemma suggests and Anne agrees.

“No, it doesn’t bother me that she sleeps. As long as we are awake she can stay right there” Harry replies and I sigh lifting my head.

“I´m awake but bed sounds good,” I say and rub my eyes. Harry pushes some of my hair out of my face and smiles at me.

“I´ll show you, come on” I wave goodnight to the ladies and stumble behind Harry.

“This is my room and yours is right next to it” he gestures as we are upstairs. He shows me the bathrooms and then leads me back to my room.

“I am so glad that you came, you can´t imagine,” he says as I sit on the bed.

“Me too. Tomorrow you could show me around town” I suggest and he agrees happily. I yawn and grab my sleeping clothes.

“Goodnight, Y/N. You can come over anytime, okay? See you tomorrow morning bright and smiley” I laugh and throw my arms around his neck.

“See you tomorrow” I reply and kiss his cheek, before he leaves me alone.

The next morning when I get downstairs Harry is already awake and sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and his phone.

“Good morning, love. Slept well?” he asks and I sit down next to him.

“Yes, can I get one cup of this too?” I ask and point to his coffee.

“Sure, mugs are up there and the coffee machine is easy to handle, I show you” he hands me a mug and shows me how to handle the machine. When we sit back at the table I feel him staring at me.

“What? You have seen me in the morning with no make-up” I say and touch my hair a bit irritated. Maybe I look weird. He chuckles and takes my hand. Usually, his fingers are full of rings but this morning they are clean and empty.

“I did. And I can´t get enough of it, you are so pretty” he bites his lip as if didn’t plan on saying that.

“Thank you, H” I squeeze his hand lightly and chuckle a bit.

“Mom said we behave like a couple and she is right…in some way. Guess you are the closest I have to a soulmate” we smile and I shake my head.

“Don’t worry, it´s the same with you for me. What about breakfast? Shall we make some for everybody?” I suggest and he nods.

“Absolutely. What about your delicious pancakes and will try myself on some beans and toast, traditional English?” he asks and I get up, pulling my hand out of his.

“Sounds delicious but you don’t try. You just do, because you are a great cook. That’s why you always cook when we have a sleepover” he laughs and gets the ingredients out of the cupboard.

I mix everything and watch him fiddling with the can opener for the beans. When the first pancakes are cooking I take the can opener from him and help him, he frowns.

“I feel stupid” he laughs and I wink at him.

“Well Mr Superstar, if you can´t even open a can…I´m joking, I´m joking” I giggle and try to scoot away from his hands but he pokes my sides and tickles me.

“You are mean” he scowls and I can´t stop laughing, patting my hand behind me on the kitchen to find the flour. I stick my whole hand in it and he raises an eyebrow because he can´t see what´s happening behind my back.

“What are you doing with your-“ he gets cut off when I smear my flour-covered hand right across his face. The expression of shock on his face makes me laugh even more and before I catch my breath he rubs his face against mine and shares the flour with me. I dug away and see him cleaning his face in the sink while I flip the pancake.

“I hate you,” he says and I chuckle.

“No, you love me” I reply and his green eyes shoot over to my face. “I- I mean- like a friend. Best friend” he nods very slowly and I am glad to hear someone coming down the stairs.

“Good morning early birds,” Anne says and smiles at us. She walks over to Harry, who is still looking at me with an expression, I can´t really read and hugs him.

“Morning, my favourite son” she smiles and kisses his cheek.

“Morning mum” he replies and turns his gaze to his mum.

“Morning Anne. I hope you like pancakes” she smiles and nods, while she makes herself some coffee.

We have a kind of quiet breakfast until the others wake up and join and I get a lot of compliments for my pancakes. Harry and I don´t really talk much but I hope everything´s fine between us. I mean, why shouldn’t it be?

Hello guys, here it is, a new chapter of my latest work. While I have to wait for my COVID-19 test results I have a lot of free time and being home again after 2 weeks of holidays is so boring. Hopefully I am back at work at monday. 

Stay safe everybody. 

Love, Julia xx

Taglist: @wotamelonsugar @lanallaa @highladyofelfhame-remastered @lucky-worm @theresthingsthatwellneverknow @nibabyy @magnificentbonkfarmlover

[yandere-daydreams]

Hello! I'm new to your blog but I have very much enjoyed your work! Esp your Dabi w Deku's darling series, you write Dabi in a way that makes my heart soft and it's a nice way to see him written. I was curious if you may share headcanons or a drabble following up the last part of their interactions, so further healing of the two of them moving on/coping w their respective past traumas? Maybe even some fluffy romance if possible! Hope this finds you well and best of luck with your writing! 💖💖💖

While I will leave the nature of Dabi and his Not-Darling’s relationship ambiguous, I figured I might as well give him the birthday present he deserves. Here’s a link to the Masterlist for this series, but it’s easier to take fluff for what it is, honestly.

TW: Past Abuse (Physical and Emotional), Guilt Over Abandonment, Panic Attacks, and Mentions of PSTD. 

~

“Do you have a lighter?”

Dabi couldn’t help but chuckle, watching as you sloppily threw together another round of shots with ingredients you had spent far too long looking for. Kurogiri had given up trying to limit the League’s alcohol consumption hours ago, instead turning his attention towards Shigaraki and the boy in pink he was sitting next to, Toga and her own guest having been deemed a lost cause as soon as they noticed an old dartboard hung on the back wall, Twice still attempting to edge his way into their game without ending up on the wrong side of half a dozen knives. “I am the lighter,” He replied, reaching out and letting a small, blue flicker of a flame form in his palm for emphasis. “Don’t say you’re trying to replace me, dollface.”

You pouted, batting his hand away, your elbow throwing a spare bottle of tequila off-balance. Dabi caught it without thinking, only earning another huff and a glare on your part, but the grin tugging at your lips betrayed you. “When you start letting me dip my fingers in your drinks, I’ll let you stick yours in mine.” Again, you ducked down quickly, pawing at something under the counter for a moment before you came back up, a dusty box of matches in hand and a renew glint in your eyes. “Besides, it’s your birthday, you’re not allowed to do any work. It’s, like, birthday law.”

It took him a moment to process what you’d said, no one had mentioned his birthday in years. He might’ve told you the date in passing, but that had to be ages ago, and the fact that you remembered somehow surpassed the shock that he’d forgotten. Still, he tried not to let you see that, only slumping forward and propping himself up on the bar-top. “When you’re seven, maybe,” He countered, trying to steal one of the now-finished B-52s, only to have you move them out of his reach. “What do you want me to do, bring in cupcakes for the class?”

“I want you to relax for once, but cake wouldn’t hurt.” You were only half-focused on him, now, sparking up a match and letting it brush against the drink’s surface, not pulling your hand away fast enough to out-run the combustion. But, much to Dabi’s relief, you shook it off in a few seconds, your fingertips hardly even reddened. He had to remind himself that you were capable, these days. More than he was, at least. 

Not that he’d set the bar very high. 

“Besides,” You continued, your voice quieter than it’d been before. You didn’t seem reluctant, no traces of hesitation breaching your tone, you were just… quieter. Calmer, in a way that sobered Dabi as much as it sobered you. If only slightly. “You… you made my birthday really nice, after you took me in. I don’t think I told you, but it was the first time I went outside. For more than a few minutes, I mean.”

Dabi didn’t have to think, he knew what you were talking about instantly. It’d been a struggle to get you to do anything on your own, back then. You’d had tears in your eyes as you’d stepped out of his apartment building, and you hadn’t said a damn word the entire day, only clinging to his arm and shaking your head whenever he asked a question, not unlike Shoto on his first day of school. But, he’d been in kindergarten. You’d been in a pervert’s basement. “I can still feel your fucking nails digging into me, sometimes,” Dabi commented, no real force behind the statement. “I’m going to make you take me out somewhere nice one day, to make up for it.”

“Put on a decent shirt first, and we’ll see.” The shot was shoved in front of him unceremoniously, a drop or two spilling over the side in your eagerness. You weren’t trying to stop yourself anymore, laughing at nothing and beaming as he blew it out, his narrowed eyes enough to make what would happen if you sung graphically clear. It was still smoldering as he swallowed it, singing at his throat and leaving a sickeningly sweet aftertaste, but the fruits of your labor went down easily. You seemed content too, slamming your glass back down on the counter, if only to giggle at the sound of wood against metal.

With a sigh, Dabi stretched, leaning back on his stool. “Is that all? I’m an old man now, (Y/n), and I’m not sticking around here long enough to see Spinner fist-fight Handjob in the stockroom. I’m not cleanin’ that shit up unless I get to punch one of the bastards myself, either.”

You groaned, already fed with his social aversion, but your resolve lessened at the threat of more whining. “There’s… there’s one more thing,” You admitted, reaching into your back pocket. He recognized the game advert you’d stolen from Shigaraki last week, but hadn’t expected to see it wrapped around a small, nearly flat container. You weren’t careless with this one, placing it delicately in the hand he offered. Like you were afraid he’d break it just from holding it too tightly. “Happy birthday, Touya.”

He opened it hastily, tearing through the thin paper without reserve. The box underneath was unmarked and unlabelled, and the inside wasn’t much better, just a scrap of paper with a few numbers and a street name messily scrawled across its length. All he could do was glance up at you, expression somewhere between entertained and utterly confused. “What the fuck is this supposed to be?”

“The address to a soba shop down the street, one that stays open until the sun rises.” You shifted awkwardly, clasping your hands in front of you. “It’s where your siblings hold a memorial every year. Just the three of them. I think Rei’s going too, but I’m not sure.” With a sigh, you glanced up, meeting his eyes and steeling yourself, if only to keep from looking away. “I thought you might want to see them.”

He didn’t hesitate, crumpling the note in his hands and letting it fall back into the box, pushing himself to his feet. “I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have to,” You assured, already walking around the bar. He could’ve left, he could’ve ran, but his pulse was suddenly beating in his ears, his heart pounding against his throat, the idea of speaking becoming as impossible as executing any plans he had to flee. A soft touch on his back made him jolt, shoulders squaring into a defensive position, but the look of pure concern etched into your face was enough for a forming attack to dissipate. “I’m not going to make you. I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to, either.” There was a pause, and you pulled away. Dabi wished he could say how desperately he didn’t want you to. “But, your siblings miss their brother.”

“Fuyumi’d never forgive me.” It wasn’t an opinion, to him, the thought as objective as any other fact. “Natsuo wouldn’t, either. Not a single fucking one of them should. I’d be lucky if Shoto doesn’t arrest me on the spot.”

You shrugged, but you didn’t correct him. “I don’t think you’re right but… neither of us really know, do we? You’ll have to go if you want to find out.”

He didn’t respond, and you lowered your head, taking his silence as a signal to leave him alone. It hurt, seeing you walk away, a thousand pins and needles driving themselves into his lungs, something as simple as taking in air becoming an act of resistance. It felt like he was trying to inhale smoke, like everything around him was ash and debris and crumbling, and he was stuck in the middle of it, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. As helpless and as weak as he was back then.

But, there was something he could do, even if it limited the damage. One thing that was within his reach, or… half a block away, rather.

He caught your hand tentatively, stumbling forward to reach you. He could hear the others muttering, whispering amongst themselves, but he didn’t care, focusing on what was in front of him as you stared over your shoulder. It took another hitched stutter before he could spit something coherent out, but you waited patiently. He wondered if he’d ever be able to tell you how much he appreciated that. “I’m not embarrassing myself alone, idiot.”

For a moment, he thought you would be the one to break down, your eyes fogging over as you brought up your free hand to rub at them. But, he was able to let go of the breath he’d been holding in as you smiled, then laughed, intertwining your fingers with his as tears began to flow openly. He couldn’t tell whose they were, at this point.

He knew he was smiling, though, and he knew he couldn’t stop as you started to tug him towards the door.

“I don’t know why I ever expected you to.”

[fandomanxiety-fa]

"Fluffy February"- Day Two

The Outerworlds

Maximillian Desoto X Captain Dottie

Summary: Dottie is teaching Max chess. After getting her hands on a old game board she paints it, transforming it into a chess board. She takes old service awards and paints them two different colors with little drawings of each piece from the game on top. After designing the board and pieces, she begins to teach him. One another begin to get to know each other and bond over their game.

Note: I am not following the prompts (if there are any), I am kinda just doing what I want. I also missed day one. So, yeah.

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

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, quite the intellectual game," he spoke as he admired the chess pieces, watching as she put some of the pieces back to ready for a match.

"Okay, you can move first, Vicar," Dottie spoke, and he scooted a piece down the board.

She watched, and quickly moved hers in retaliation. Max had been curious of the Captain as she hopped around the system taking up "little orphans" (as she called her newly found crewmates), and helped someone who seemed to be a madman. He didn't even know much about her as she did so, and she wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information either. She seemed to be protecting the notorious Welles, who was known to The Board and everyone else, as a criminal. A madman who was a well known thief and criminal who was commiting crimes against the colony. She wouldn't even allow people into her room, not even SAM. Well, not until now.

They were further into the game now, and she was beating him. He mumbled a curse word as she took one of his pieces, once again, off the board.

The Board.

The Board was definitely a soon-to-be problem, and she wasn't helping it either. Between bouncing back and forth between there good side and bad side, he wasn't sure the "peace" between The Board and the Captain was going to last for long.

"You thinking awfully hard, Vicar," she watched the board, not looking up at him.

"Just thinking about you, Captain."

As soon as the words hit air, he realized that he didn't mean it that way. He was just being honest, and now he was worried she took it that way. If she where to bring it up, he would try to play it off, like he never said it. Because how he felt for her was complicated, and that was it. He was frustrated with himself, because it was the last thing he inteded to have happen.

For Laws sake it was even intent.

It was a mistake, just like the sentence, yet here he was with odd harbored feelings that was so complicated for him.

"And here I was thinking your mind was boggled about chess," she nervously laughed, as she leaned back in her chair, eyes never leaving the board.

He peered up at her from his seat, and watched as she ran her fingers though her hair. Her eyes showed focus as he assumed she had thought that he meant that.

Law, was she nervous now. She couldn't bring her eyes off the board now, especially right now! She invited him into her room, and this was what she got? Not him bombarding her with questions right off the bat, but hitting her with that? Lovely...Law she needed to stop this. He was the ship's Vicar for pete's sake, and here she was thinking he flirted with her. In her room!

"I am worse than a teenager..."

"Well, you are quite secretive. This is the first time anyone has ever been in your room, and we have no idea what you affiliation with Welles is," the Vicar stated, and she gazed up at him.

"It's only fair you have questions, I guess. I mean, your traveling with someone who didn't even know what a Sprat was..." she spoke, and his eyes followed her.

They both watched each other for one moment. One moment they looked up from the board, and when there eyes met she smirked.

"I win."

His eyes darted to the board as she looked at him with pride. He found himself frustrated with the loss, and this was visible.

"How? I looked away for a second, how did she-?"

"You where never focused, Vicar. It takes a while to be able to think about perplexing, beautiful things such as moi, and play chess," she laughed, and he glared at her for a moment.

"You do that on purpose," he accused her, and she cocked a playful eyebrow.

"Do what, Vicar?"

"Use the French language to poke at me," he huffed, fixing the board back in place.

"That I do, but don't worry. I only know small things, and at least you don't know what they all mean," she chuckled, as she opened up a Purpleberry Punch.

He was tossed a candy, which fell in his lap, "A candy for effort, Vicar."

"You know I don't have a sweet tooth, Captain," he sighed picking up the candy and examining it.

"To bad, Vicar. Maybe that's why your so bitter," she joked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Maybe that's why your sweet with every person you meet, Captain. That'll get you hurt one day, you know," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"I could do with a lecture, haven't had one in years," she laughed, and he gave her a serious look.

"Speaking of years, Captain...how old are you?" He asked, and her eyes widened.

"How rude! You never ask a lady's age!" She scolded him, and he looked at her to see she was serious.

"I apologise, Captain. That was rude," he spoke, a bit embarrassed.

"He hated that. He forgot it was rude to ask-."

"Maximillian, your to serious. I was kidding," she smiled sweetly, and it could've made his tooth ache.

Sugar sweet smiles that not even Rizzos could create was one other thing that helped made things complicated. Because he had feelings for her. Terrible, terrible feelings, that he knew was not in his path. He was here to kill Chaney. That was it. Then try to figure out this book. Find a translator, get off this ship, and get as much space between him and this ship's sweet, yet mysterious Captain.

"Go first, Maximillian," she said, and then popped the candy in her mouth.

Law, his name sounded lovely coming from her...

"Captain, are you ever going to reveal why you are involved with Phineas Welles?" He asked, while moving a piece.

"He woke me up from cryosleep on the Hope," she stated, and she moved a piece.

"You expect me to believe that?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"I don't expect you to. Honestly, it's hard to believe myself. I'm still thawing out. Like frozen peas," she spoke softly, which caused him to look at her.

"Say I do believe you," he began, "why didn't you just leave after being set free?"

"Well, I owe him. He got me out of that human meat freezer. Plus, it's the right thing to do, and I definitely don't plan on slaving away for Spacers Choice. Have you seen what they've don't to poor Martin?" She said, and he moved a piece.

"Well, I suppose I can see that. What did you work for before? You never really said anything about it," he asked, and she glided a piece on the board.

"I was a bartender. Always been good with people, and don't mind hearing them yap on. Plus, booze was at a discount, which was nice. I am also very good a splitting and ending fights," she explained, and he looked at her from his side of the table.

"Have you ever been prone to fights then, Captain?" Max asked her, his curiosity peaked.

"Never looked for trouble, but I never ran from it either. How about you, Vicar? You a brawler?" She asked him, and he moved another piece.

"I have always have been violently enthusiastic," Max replied, and she chuckled.

"Should've known. You seem the type," she shook her head with a grin.

"What gave me away, Captain?" Max chuckled a bit.

"Your anger. You have the attitude of a natural blindly angered fighter," she stated matter-a-factly.

"I wouldn't say that. I just don't tolerate stupidity," he shot back, suddenly defensive.

"Fighting is stupid if not done rightously. I know I've been and will be in stupid fights. But also rightous ones," she spoke.

"And what makes you the person to decide that, Captain?" Max growled a bit.

He didn't like being scrutinized, especially by her. Who was she to say these things?

"Righteous fighting is taking up for your family and friends by socking someone in the jaw or using them to mop the floor. But someone you don't agree with or you just don't like- like how you feel about Felix, Max. Just fighting them because you don't like or agree with them? That's stupid," she said as she opened another candy.

"Your right, Captain," he sighed frustrated with himself.

"I don't need to get mad like that, I need to be above that. I need to find peace in the Plan. And she's right, whether or not I want to admit that. Plus, it's just her opinion. Find peace in the Plan. Ask another question. Get out of this topic."

"When are we getting to Monarch?" Max asked, as she popped the candy in her mouth.

"Yes, talk about something important. Something far more important than anything else. It's in the Plan. His path. He is destined to kill Chaney. That's all he wants right now."

"Soon? I suppose soon. Just have to get that Navkey from Gladys. Once we get to Roseway everything should be smooth sailing," the Captain replied with a long, drawn out sigh.

Max looked up at her and she smiled sadly at the board.

"Something vexing you, Captain?" He questioned her.

"Honestly, when you leave, the ship won't be the same without you. I'll miss this. I'll miss you."

"Then make this time we have now, last. Alright, Dottie?" Max replied kindly to her.

Suddenly, he opened the candy. Then, popped it in his mouth, watching as she beat him again.

"I believe I'll miss you too...Dot."

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

[currentfandomkick]

Miraculous and the Batboys - Week 3

So i am back(ish) and I bring the Update. Editting is for those with patience and time that i lack. ao3 link HERE

--

A weekend dodging Gina was… eventful. Even moreso when celebrating ‘No More Gabriel Brand’ time was cut short by a barrage of akuma.

All weekend.

Marinette is convinced the man has too much free time.

She would admit (ONLY when no one else was around) that having someone else checking info during battles was nice. Out of the visiting bats, she had come to rank them from least to most irksome: Red Robin (most helpful), Nightwing (helpful), Red Hood (… he was slightly less annoying—he seems to understand she is the leader of the team) then Robin (who can’t get that she knows what she’s doing, AND hurts the minions more than necessary).

Okay, maybe she’s holding a grudge from when they first met (Tikki enjoyed reminding her of that new found habit—grudge holding) but you don’t go around calling a bunch of magic jewelry powered superheroes incompetent before finding out what they’re fighting and how they have to fight!

And yes, this is a hill she will die on.

Chloe and Adrien are in full agreement, well, Queen Bee and Chat Noir are.

“Are you sure we can’t just…” Chat gestured with his eyes to where Robin was perched at the edge, “just a little?”

Marinette didn’t answer him. She turned to Queen Bee. “You need to influence chaton less.”

“Never.”

--

Tim almost collapsed when he saw Marinette on her own. Why?

Because he was Certain that he saw a, a red thing—creature? Poke something out of her purse.

Red was Ladybug’s color. Yep. She’s. Yep—mini Red Robin hard since he’s pretty sure she’s avoiding someone too.

She was too—he knew for a fact she’s avoiding Gina excellently (either hiding at the hotel with Chloe, the teashop or one Adrien Agreste and his… legal cousin but Tim is certain there is something off about that with the Holy Doopleganger Batman! Vibe he got from checking out the pair’s apartment. He now had a fun thing to look into when he’s bored and tired of Hawkmoth Shenanigans).

She’s also… yep. Dodging a bunch of teens he’s certain are her classmates.

And… Damnit demon spawn!

--

Marinette managed to disentangle herself from class parkour (miraculous training as civvies) when she got a text from Damian.

Apparently he wanted to ask how she was handling the whole… Thing with Bustier and Lila.

She wonders if he’s dealt with bullying too, and was looking for advice. She was certain hers was crap, but she did say she’d be around so…

She met up with Damian not too far from the park at a café, nothing fancy, and waited for him to start once they’d placed their orders.

“I know it is a personal matter and not my place to ask, however I would like to know how you have managed to endure the repugnant behavior of our teacher and the harlot.”

Marinette forgot she should think before responding.

“Pretty sure whores and sex workers are paid. She’s more con artist for attention than anything else.”

She missed Damian’s response as the waiter put down their drinks and raised an eyebrow at them.

“Remember the girl that framed me a while back and tried to expel me the first Scarlet Moth round?”

“Ah.” The waiter turned to Damian then. “Don’t insult whore by putting them in with that, well, work and I see my boss so I can’t say what I want again, but we both know what she is, and whores are no where near that level. Politicians, most, whores? No.”

Marinette snorted into her drink as they left.

“And to answer your question, well, I don’t really have a choice.”

Damian narrowed his eyes at that.

Marinette could feel his eyes on her, but couldn’t meet their gaze with this topic. (It still hurt, even though it’s a been years since it began.)

“Lila had everyone charmed or uncertain if she was lying until two weeks ago. Bustier said I had to be a good example and class representative putting that above everything else in my life. Even though everyone knows I’ve been helping run three different businesses on top of handling my program and own business and clientele, and help take care of Fu with a few other small business kids. Nothing could come before the class’s harmony—nothing.”

Marinette took a small bite of her pastry.

“So I saw someone who could force her to listen or have to deal with actively and knowingly violating anti-akuma laws—something she’s only managed to narrowly avoid since, well,” Marinette gestured to herself. “I got tired of constant akumas in class and managed to convince the school board as my last act as class rep to require daily and weekly mental health checks and mitigate potential akuma triggers during weekly checks, daily being more ‘answer these questions honestly’ for stress levels. The system flags major changes, and the students affected see one of the counselors immediately to find ways around what’s bothering them.”

Marinette missed Damian staring at her for that, or how his mouth opened ever so slightly.

“When I stepped down, everyone noticed I wasn’t comfortable alone with Bustier, so it became a rule to stop it whenever they could. The other classes are field specialty and ours is the only one for people doing more than one program or close to.”

Marinette looked up at that with a  smile. “Fashion is my official program, but since I do so much business outside of school, I kept having to take classes to help out early on. I never enrolled in the program officially like Chloe did, but the school has me credited as able to graduate with both programs, so until they can justify opening another multi-program class, I’m not allowed to transfer out of the class and stay in Dupont.”

Her eyes hardened when she said, “And I’m not letting a liar and a Bustier be the reason I left the only school that’s willing to go as far as they have for me program-wise—especially not when I only have a year left.”

Damian nodded at that, deciding he’d have to sic Drake on the harlot either way… perhaps Todd and Gina too. He was feeling spiteful.

--

Marinette decided that when she meets Hawkmoth, she is not only punching him in the face, she is going to do, she doesn’t know exactly what (Tikki has a few ideas that Marinette is certain involve torture) but it will hurt.

Why?

Third akuma on a Sunday. THIRD! What is this man not doing that he was before? She wants to know since whoever freed up his time is on her list now.

Robin was being less annoying (re: tracking the akuma and leaving the minions less battered than usual) while Red Robin was helping the police evacuate affected areas with Nightwing. Somehow Red Hood got it in his head to stick with Chat for “on the job training” her team is trained asshole and she is debating how far she should go when they finish off Hawkmoth for good.

--

Monday was… interesting. The emancipation was approved—Adrien Agreste legally required no legal guardian.

When Gabriel tried to fire Gorilla, well, Adrien pointed out Gorilla had been in Adrien’s employ this whole time as mother hired and paid him from her accounts. Which transferred to Adrien when she was declared dead.

Marinette dreaded the akuma Hawkmoth might cook up using Gabriel. How he wasn’t akumatized again was anyone’s guess.

Class was…

“So last night Damiboo said—“

Marinette put her head on her desk, and decided to raise an eyebrow at a… for some reason ill-looking Damian.

“Is it because you guys share a name?”

Damian blinked.

Adrien turned around then. “Or because someone has commitment issues.”

Marinette squinted at Adrien because… “What?”

Nino sighed. “Adrien is on another MatchMaker spree.”

“ah. Who are the victims?”

“Not touching it dudette, not touching it.”

Marinette snorted. “It’s not like he’s going to match anyone with well,” Marinette gestured at herself.

“Your infamous army.”

“They are not an army.”

“How many ‘relatives’?” Nino used air quotes.

Marinette narrowed her eyes. “Well under a hundred thousand, so not an army.”

“I am counting the fans.”

Marinette scoffed. “They do not count.”

“They do, and I’m pretty sure Adrien’s fan girl army is applicable.”

“Okay, just because they made up titles and help out during akuma evacs does not make them an army—they’d need weapons training, clear chain of command, coded strategies—”

“And the fact you know this only proves my point, you have an army.”

“Who has an army?” Chloe asked as she walked over.

“Marinette.”

“I do not!”

“You do,” Chloe agreed. “Kim!” the boy looked over at that. “Marinette’s ‘family’ is a small army.”

“I, yes?” Kim’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Any one that picked her up had how many knives on them when we were kids?”

Damian turned to her with a suspicious eye.

She blushed. “Nonna’s friends.”

Damian nodded slowly.

Marinette wondered if the earth could just… swallow her up now.

--

The rest of the week was in a similar vein. Constant attacks, the batboys helping, her class being weirdly fixated on her family (they aren’t violent, just… prepared.)

Her gymnastics classes were a godsend, and her instructor was checking up on her more than usual, but that might be her more or less running her own classes and lessons as she worked out her routine, music choice, and requirements for her teammates and partners for her routines on trapeze.

Tim was around more. He got it in his head that she needed “guidance” (and okay, she does) on how to conduct corruption investigations into the whole company’s practices and staff.

Then there was Damian being… distant? She was busy but they weren’t talking as much as they were at first and fine, whatever, she got it. She’s not someone he wants to be around…. It happens.

It just… hurts a little is all.

At least she had Adrien and less secrets there. He was fixated on Damian having “commitment issues” and she thinks he’s trying to set him up with someone (Chloe maybe? Why else would he be this focused…. It’d be interesting explaining she’s pretty sure Chloe like girls better than boys and that Damian isn’t her type. At a later date—she’s too busy to now).

Then she had chores and was called in for a hearing on Bustier which was… interesting…. (her duties weren’t too bad for class president. she wasn’t making lesson plans or anything. The role model and forgiving everyone for hurting her and being told to let Lila walk all over her for years was not okay at all, but any teacher would have said that, right?)

Oh and Gina was now convinced Marinette needed protection and now semi-stalking her (Jason was weirdly close to Jason now and talking to him a lot). So random Grandma Attacks when she wanted to draw in Peace.

Lord Murder was her best stress buddy, and Gina is now well acquainted her. She was also given Gina’s Seal of Approval to take over her house for the purposes of keeping Lord Murder and staying there once her current tenants were out (no seeing it until then… unfortunately. She did get dimensions for cat things though. she may browse a bit obsessively… only a bit.)

--

Tim froze when he ran into Jason with Civilian Chat Noir. And a giant man (Gorilla). At their base. Playing videogames.

“Hey Tim, this is Adrien, Adrien, Tim. Adrien is your mini’s buddy and this is the guy that keeps the harpies away, Gorilla—yes he refuses to tell me his real name—and they’re family now. B can suck it.”

Adrien waved at him before turning back to the game. “I have no idea why he keeps saying that.”

Tim took a deep breath. Apparently adopting strays was just another Bat-thing. “So its nurture, not nature.”

Damian came out, sighed when he saw the group still there, and took a drink into his room while saying. “I did not adopt him.”

Adrien looked back at him then. “You have too many commitment issues to. Don’t worry, though, I’m good at destroying pesky problems like that.”

Tim blinked at that.

Damian sighed as they had this conversation too often now. At school and apparently, his home now. “I am not going to—”

“That’s just your fear talking—we both know that.” Adrien spoke like he was talking to a petulant child. “Why don’t you text your friends and see what they think since I already know the answer and you need more convincing.”

Damian narrowed his eyes. “Jon thinks you are annoying.”

“I’m a delight.” Adrien turned back to his game then.

Jason grinned proudly next to him. A bit too much like a proud parent for Tim’s comfort. (He may also be realizing his keep-his-mini-from-Damian-dating may end up in vain thanks to one Adrien Agreste(?))

--

Dick sent Bruce exactly (1) update: You are a grandpa now—Jason has a blond cat-hero son who can’t dodge.

Bruce may have had a small heart attack as now he has a magic grandson that he never met, apparently controls raw destruction, and is deeply traumatized. (It was the grandpa part that freaked him out—the rest is par for the course as Batman. He’s a Grandpa Alfred—he’s too young for his children to pull a him and adopt tiny traumatized children and train them into (heroes) vigilantes. Alfred stop laughing, he’s being serious!)

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

HEY so thanks for patience with the updates as life is Extra Hell now between puppy training when i'm finally home and work being Extra Hell with longer shifts and more to do during.

And before anyone asks about the peacock!marinette thing, look at the two series I have going with Bronywn as those are ongoing as my stress writes.

Any preferences for next update? Open to ideas as my mind is too stressed to do more than work off a prompt of some kind for the time being, and next to none of this story has been planned so far, so ideas are very welcome to keep it moving forward.

--

@worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @littleredrobinhoodlum @northernbluetongue @kceedraws @pirats-pizzacanninibles @theatreandcomicfreak @daminett4life @catthhay @weird-pale-blonde-person @amayakans @chocolatecatstheron @tired-butterfly @multplelifes @yin-390 @area51qt @toodaloo-kangaroo @bzz75 @ilovefluffbutsmutisalsogreat @freshbark @soup-served-chilling @daminett4life @smolplantmum @karategirl119 @goblinwhoships @melicmusicmagic @maribat-is-lifeblood @spartanxhunterx @maribat-is-lifeblood @toodaloo-kangaroo

[thekytchensynk]

Ain’t No Picnic (7/9)

Summary: They were just supposed to head over to the island real quick, just to see what was going on. After all, if pirates were trying to ambush and kill the Straw Hat crew, how could Coby NOT go? And how could Helmeppo let him go alone? It should be simple enough, but nothing can be taken for granted in the New World, and when things go awry, Helmeppo finds himself separated from his captain on an island chain full of pirates who probably won’t be too happy to see a Marine if their paths cross.Oh yeah. And one of those pirates is the infamous “Surgeon of Death,” Trafalgar Law… Warnings: Occasional strong language Read it on AO3

__________

As they approached, Helmeppo heard someone shout out another line of words. This was followed a few seconds later by explosions, off to their left.

“This is a … sniper?” Helmeppo asked. It sounded more like a small artillery unit crossed with a demented gardener.

Law’s answer took so long to arrive that Helmeppo half thought the man wasn’t going to answer. “I guess maybe that’s not exactly right,” he amended. “But it’s the easiest way to put it. Let me go first.”

They stepped around a cluster of three massive leaves, Helmeppo letting Law lead the way. On the other side, they found a dark-skinned young man with a truly massive slingshot in hand. His sodden clothes and damp hair suggested he’d also taken at least one dunking today, and somewhat recently. He must have figured out the same thing Law had, then. He watched growing smoke plumes about half a mile off through a pair of goggles, a look of grim satisfaction on his face.

“Nose-ya,” Law said as he approached. His voice startled the sniper, who hopped in surprise and whirled on the pair. “Where is he?”

The sniper’s face told a whole story -- from relief at seeing it was someone he recognized to surprise at seeing a second person behind Law, to a searching glance away from them, off in the direction of the smoke plumes, as he considered the question. Whatever their relationship, apparently the guy trusted that if Helmeppo were a problem, Law wouldn’t have allowed him over here. Which … fair. So rather than asking the obvious question himself, he just said, “A little under a mile that way. I don’t know what exactly is going on, but I think they could use you.”

“Something wrong?”

“Maybe. Something’s going on near her tank. Everything I try gets intercepted. And Luffy should have already ended this. For some reason they can’t get to her and it’s hamstringing them.” Frustration weighed down his words. His attention kept going to the horizon, though there was too much distance and foliage for him to be seeing a mile off clearly. Haki. Definitely.

“And everyone else?”

The sniper looked like he wanted to protest the query, then thought the better of it. “Beppo was over there last I knew.” he pointed at about two o’clock from where he’d said Luffy was. “Shachi, Penguin, Franky and a couple others went back to protect the ships, in case they got rushed. Brook is with Luffy. Nami and Robin are with Chopper on one of the other islands.” He idly pointed in the direction of the stormclouds. “Zoro and Sanji both keep moving. For different reasons I assume.” He added the last partly under his breath.

Helmeppo couldn’t help it. “And Coby?”

For the first time, the sniper looked directly at Helmeppo, studying his bedraggled state. Then his eyes slid over toward Law, asking a question he didn’t want heard.

“That guy who showed up right before the island swallowed everyone,” Law clarified.

“Ah.” He looked off toward the battle’s center again, then back to Helmeppo. “Can’t be sure, but I think he’s up there too. Not too many people just hopping around in the sky, and I know the other one.”

Some internal spring that had been wound so tight for so long that Helmeppo had stopped even noticing it relaxed at that. So he’s still alive and fighting. He’s OK.

“Thanks,” he said, trying to pass it off as nonchalant. But this close, he could see the guy’s eyes through the lenses of his goggles. And in those eyes, he saw two things. First, the sniper was not buying his tone.

And second, the guy understood. Understood the relief of knowing a friend was safe, and understood the need to pretend that things were otherwise.

So- “Thanks,” Helmeppo said again, and this time it sounded like he meant it.

“I’ll cover you guys if you’re going in,” the sniper said. “Oh, and here.” He tossed something small, one to Law and then, after a brief hesitation, one to Helmeppo. Helmeppo glanced at the item -- a clear capsule with something green inside. Green and squirming. “Snap it if you need to get some distance. And cover your ears, I haven’t had much of a chance to test them yet.” He grinned.

Helmeppo pocketed the item, still a little unnerved that the guy was just accepting his presence -- and honestly still weirded out that Law hadn’t just ditched him once they got back here. Grateful, sure, but also very weirded out.

The pair moved through the ruined undergrowth in the rough direction of the first battlefield. The fighting must have been intense, and the ammunition types the Straw Hat sniper -- God Usopp, wasn’t it? -- used were doing it no favors. Large patches were open all the way down to the dark water,the surface littered with little torn bits of plant material. Massive leaves had been knocked over, letting the sun beat down on their path. Unconscious pirates lay here and there, often with no visible damage. Helmeppo tried not to be too impressed with the pirate, and maybe it was the stress of the day or the heat of the sun, but he was finding it difficult once again.

Despite the story not getting out to the public at large, Helmeppo had heard a fair amount from gossip around headquarters. Of a guy using a slingshot to out-shoot the crew’s guns from the top of one of the towers. If this was him -- the guy who’d shot the World Government flag, the one with apparently superhuman range as he protected Nico Robin -- well, he was glad they were on the same side for now.

Now and then, something would go whizzing past them, close but not too close, and something would explode or erupt ahead of them, and dismayed pirate voices would shout. And thus, Law and Helmeppo made it to the main battlefield without actually having to fight anyone else. Helmeppo wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The battlefield featured far fewer combatants than it had earlier, but that just made the specific clashes easier to see. There seemed to be two big knots -- one by the mermaid’s tank, which still stood where it had been before and one all the way across the clear area. Like the last time he’d arrived on this battlefield, the guy he was following didn’t even hesitate, and that left Helmeppo trying very hard to keep up while attempting to even begin formulating a plan.

Coby was indeed on the battlefield, engaged with a wiry-looking fighter with bright red hair wearing loose, flowing clothing. They were darting around the space, clashing and parting and clashing again. Helmeppo could see the grim focus on his captain’s face. The other man said something, distance rendering it just movement for Helmeppo, but it led Coby to swing hard at the guy’s face.

It was a clean hit.

It should have been a clean hit.

It was a miss.

Helmeppo’s pace lagged as he tried to make sense of what he’d seen. The guy hadn’t moved. Coby’s punch should have caught him square in the jaw, but somehow slid off target, ruffling the ends of the guy’s red hair but causing no damage. The guy laughed, then countered, but Coby slid under his return strike.

Despite wanting to help, Helmeppo forced his attention away from that. He’d only be a distraction. Coby could take care of that guy, no problem, as long as he could focus.

Law was going to help out at the mermaid’s tank, where a press of people stood guard still, mostly watching the other fights. Though now, one or two had noticed Law’s approach and were pointing him out to the others.

Guess that’s the right place to go, Helmeppo thought, adjusting his angle.

From behind them, he heard another of the sniper’s projectiles whining across the island, growing closer. It shot overhead, on the dead-on course for the area near the Mermaid’s container.

Until it wasn’t.

At the last second, the projectile took a hard turn, veering into the undergrowth and exploding out of sight.

Law stopped at that, whirling to look back the way they’d come from, then toward the thin plume of smoke coming from, presumably, the impact site. Helmeppo stopped as well. What had the sniper said? Everything I try gets intercepted. That push and pull power -- was this related to that? That might also explain the weird difficulty Coby was having with his opponent.

“Hey.” Law’s voice cut through his thoughts. Helmeppo looked at the pirate, who gestured toward thesmoke with a tilt of his head. “The person who did that should be near the impact site. Can you take care of them?”

How was he supposed to know? But the guy did seem to have a quick mind for figuring things out. Would he ask if he thought the answer was no? And it might be the place he could be most useful.

“Sure.”

“Then go.”

He said it as though giving Helmeppo orders were an everyday thing. Maybe it was just a captain thing? Well, whatever. He wanted to watch Coby’s back, but maybe the best way would be to figure out what was going on. Law certainly seemed to have a better grasp on this situation than he did. So he only hesitated for a moment before changing his bearing yet again.

Ahead of him, a couple pirates moved to intercept him, though most eyes were still on other folks on the battlefield. Helmeppo pulled his weapons free, ready to cut his way through.

Then they were gone.

No. He was in a whole different place.

Slowing, he glanced over his shoulder to see those two pirates looking around, as confused as he felt. He’d been moved from there to … here. Near the edge of the clearing.

Well, that was unsettling. But again, he wasn’t going to let the moment escape. He shoved aside a leaf taller than he was and pushed into the dense vegetation yet again.

He wasn’t moving very quietly, but luckily the island was alive with massive noises -- shouts and explosions and the susurration of wind in the leaves. So he didn’t worry too much about it as he headed for the thin plume of smoke that indicated where the sniper’s attack had ultimately hit.

He wasn’t far from the battlefield when he caught sight of movement.

Slowing his pace, Helmeppo crept closer. Up ahead, a small cluster of pirates stood a little ways from a charred leaf stump. Smoke trailed from its sizzling ends in a thin line.

“I’m telling you, it’s not working,” one of them was saying as he got in earshot. “We lost the element of surprise. We need to run. And now that other pirate’s there!”

“No. Not yet,” another said. “We still have both twins. They’ll be calling him in any moment, as soon as someone takes care of that sniper. They still don’t really understand what they’re in for. We have to take this opportunity.”

“It’s not worth it. We’re going to lose!”

A slap echoed around the area, accompanied by a shocked sound from the first speaker. Helmeppo peered through a fan of long, grass-like leaves, trying to ignore that he’d stepped in something super oozy.

“You want to run, run Darvell,” the second person said. Helmeppo could see it was an older man, hair going salt and pepper, with a build and skin color that suggested there was shark fishman somewhere in his blood. Captain Darvell, presumably, stood a few feet away from him, one hand on his cheek, eyes furious. The captain wore a flamboyant coat over plain clothing. All looked dry.

“I just want us to be reasonable,” Darvell replied, voice tight and careful, enunciating every word. “Sure, Straw Hat killed the slave trade, but ain’t much revenge if you let the guy who ruined your life take it as well.”

“He ain’t taking anything yet,” the second man said.

In addition to the two arguing pirates, Helmeppo saw three others -- A woman in tight clothes and wearing two crossed belts full of little knives watching the pair with narrowed eyes, a scrawny young man with bright red hair who was looking up at the sky and a massive, older man with short hair with his back to everyone, talking to what Helmeppo assumed was a den den mushi in his hand.

Any further squabbling got cut off as the scrawny young man tilted his head and said, “Someone’s trying again. Watch out.”

He said it nonchalantly, as though commenting on the weather, while he walked toward the sizzling stump. The rest of the group shifted subtly away from the spot. The scrawny guy tilted his head the other way, then reached up into the air with both hands, closed his fingers as though grabbing the sky itself, and pulled.

As he did, Helmeppo heard it -- the whistling sound of another of the sniper’s shots, coming closer. The scrawny guy scampered away as something came hurtling out of the sky. On impact it unfolded into a series of vines -- not the same sort as had grabbed Helmeppo earlier, but clearly looking to do something similar. With no one close enough, they just waggled about impotently.

“He’s persistent,” the graying man said as the lady wandered over to peer at the vines from a safe distance.

“They all are,” the scrawny guy replied, looking at the sky once more. The others mirrored the movement. “We can’t let our guard down while we wait for the call.”

So, as if the hair wasn’t proof enough, that guy was the other twin. He didn’t understand the power, but figured that guy was the most important out of this group here. He felt like anyone else with the sort of power to match the Straw Hats would be out there fighting. So maybe they were here as a privilege of position or as a token defense force for that guy until he went to the battle? They definitely looked stronger than the ones from the cave, but he saw no guns and there were fewer of them. The power user looked like a kitten might be able to knock him over. Helmeppo thought he could take them.

Probably.

Assuming they didn’t have anything hidden up their sleeves.

At the very least, five on one wasn’t the worst odds he’d faced today.

He shifted his fingers, changing his grip until the kukri sat comfortably in his hands. The scrawny guy could use a pulling power, so he might lose his weapons fairly early. That meant he needed to move quick, get at least one of them out of the way very fast. If he went for the devil fruit user right away, they’d just gang up, and at this point, he didn’t want to deal with that. But if he took one out, that would mean fewer attackers and the others might hesitate.

He decided on the maybe-fishman first. He looked strongest of the four nearby pirates, and was the closest. Plus, he didn’t see a weapon, which might give Helmeppo a slight reach advantage. After that, he’d need to go for the power user. Either the woman or Darvell could be dangerous, but hopefully if they were, they’d display their strength quickly.

What was it people said? No plan survives contact with the enemy? No point in overthinking it. He focused on the fishman and rushed forward.

His target was caught off guard, eyes still turned toward the sky instead of the surroundings, but he recovered fast, crossing his arms to block Helmeppo’s strike. The blades bit in about half an inch, drawing blood and leaving a pair of long slices down his gray forearms.

“Attacker!” the guy shouted, pivoting and striking out at Helmeppo, who narrowly dodged. He could feel the strength of the punch as it split the air by his face.

Ok. This would need to end quickly.

Planting one foot, he spun and put the speed of that move into the next strike.

“Ren, duck!” Darvell shouted.

The shout disrupted them both. Helmeppo lost focus on where he intended to strike. As he was turning, the man started to duck, more out of knee-jerk reaction to the shouted suggestion than because he planned to. So what was intended to be two strikes near his elbow, to hopefully render it temporarily useless, turned into one knife into the shoulder.

And one in the neck.

Helmeppo froze as the fishman stumbled back away from him, one hand clapping to his wound. Blood spilled -- not to where Helmeppo thought he’d hit an artery, but enough. A lot.

“Shit. Get back to the ship, Ren! We’ll handle him,” the woman barked, casting a murderous look at Darvell, who shrank from her. The fishman backed off a few more steps, then turned and ran, presumably to do as she said.

Okay, four on one… wait, where had the one with the den den mushi gone?

No time to think about it. He’d take the better odds.

The woman had begun moving toward him, maybe angry about what he’d done to her friend. He considered just fighting her next. In all honesty, she looked stronger than Darvell, and her eyes showed more intensity than his. So while the man in the ridiculous coat was still closer, Helmeppo ignored that and eyed her.

Nope. Don’t draw this out. You have something to do.

He whirled toward the scrawny guy, blades ready. The man looked not at Helmeppo, but at the woman -- for orders? No matter. Helmeppo felt sure he could get to that guy before she could stop him. So he charged, trying to bypass her entirely.

The woman seemed ready for it, pulling one of the small knives from her belt and throwing it, not at him, but angled behind him.. To Darvell? But that man had a sword already, and the little knives didn’t even really have a handle -- they were meant for throwing, so-

He realized belatedly what might be happening, but understanding came at the same time as a sharp pain, lancing through him from a point low on the left side of his back. He stopped, startled, and reached back to yank the item free. The knife. Blood warned his fingertips and made a spot on the hilt of his kukri sticky. Looking up he saw the red-haired man’s hands balled into fists in front of him, not as though ready to hit him, but like he was holding something.

Fantastic. The guy had pulled that sniper's attack toward himself earlier, yanking it out of the sky. He’d realized he might lose his kukri to it. He’d had all the information he needed to realize that the guy could do the same thing with a tiny knife, he’d just been an idiot and not thought about it.

The woman already had another pair of the little weapons between her fingers. His understanding of the situation must have made its way to his face, because she grinned at him.

“Still time to run,” she said.

Not a bad idea.

So he did.

“Hey, hey!” the devil fruit user shouted, falling back a step as he saw Helmeppo again pounding in his direction. The guy almost bolted, then something caught his attention. He reached out, grabbing at the air.

Helmeppo threw himself to the left before the guy pulled. A knife soared by Helmeppo, flying straight toward the devil fruit user, who shrieked in an undignified manner and tried to dodge, but coordination didn’t seem to be a strong suit. He turned more than actually moving. The knife sunk into his left bicep. Then Helmeppo was there, channeling his first fight with Butterfingers.

At least this time, it only took one solid strike to the temple to put the guy out. Or maybe he wasn’t pulling his punches this time. With the water right there, he caught the guy by one limp arm and lowered him to the ground.

Jeeze, with the way this fight was going, maybe he could understand why these folks had been left out of the big fight.

If Darvell had kept his mouth shut, the blind-side attack he tried next might have actually hit home. Fortunately for Helmeppo, the guy let out a loud shout as before swinging at his back. There wasn’t enough time to move, but he did swing a weapon up and across his back before the sword struck home. The strike carried incredible weight, forcing his arm to an awkward angle and pushing the blunt side of Helmeppo’s weapon against his back hard enough that he felt sure he’d have a bruise across his shoulders later. Better than being split down the spine, he thought.

“Darvell, we’re getting beat by some sort of castaway,” the woman shouted in frustration. He thought she sounded closer. “Stop screwing around!”

The pressure on his blade let up enough that Helmeppo could shove it away and turn to face the two remaining fighters. “You should leave,” he said, both blades up in a ready stance as he tried to keep both of them in sight. “The Straw Hats and their allies are back together. They’re going to be cleaning up the ringleaders soon.”

The woman held fast, but Darvell had been primed for this. At Helmeppo’s words, he stepped back a few paces, glancing over at his sole remaining teammate. “Anne, I told you guys-”

“He’s trying to scare us off because we still have him outnumbered,” she replied with a patience that suggested this sort of dialogue was common between them. “We can take him if we just treat it like always. You always overreact.”

“Then where did Cap go?” Darvell said. “He was getting the reports from the guys with the mermaid. He booked it. Maybe this guy’s right.”

Anne’s eyes slid from her teammate to Helmeppo’s ready form. “Well if that’s the case, let’s kill him first. Maybe give us more time. Plus I’m mad now.”

As they discussed, Helmeppo took stock of his situation. Coming for the devil fruit user had put him at the edge of the huge hole in the lilypad -- not a great place to be, especially with the memory of those vines still fairly fresh. Plus, he wasn't exactly in great shape anymore. He didn’t have the free hand to check the wound in his back, but it definitely still hurt, and he could feel his clothes sticking to him worse where the blood soaked them. He didn’t fancy getting another dozen or so of those in him. He’d taken out the devil fruit user. Was that enough? If so, maybe a retreat of his own was in order. Maybe he could even draw them after him, so they couldn’t wake the guy back up.

Carefully, he side-stepped around the devil fruit user, edging toward the long, concealing leaves of the nearby forest. “Actually,” he said, “Maybe I’ll just go call one or two of them over here.” Come on, come on...

“Stop!” Anne shouted.

He pivoted and ran for cover, feeling a sense of relief as the plants closed around him.

Then something stepped into his path, too quick for Helmeppo to stop. The collision didn’t move the thing, but sent him rebounding back a step, caught entirely off guard. Before he could properly register what it was, a powerful kick slammed into his midsection, driving his breath from him and forcing him back out into the open. He tried to keep his balance, but the uneven ground tangled his feet and he fell backward to the ground.

“Cap!” Anne said. “Finally. Where did you go?”

“I was making sure this Marine didn’t run for help,” growled a voice.

“Marine?” Darvell sounded scandalized.

On the ground Helmeppo had released one of his weapons to wrap an arm around his chest. Oh boy. Something had definitely broken with that kick. Breathing in too deeply sent pain radiating from the center-right part of his torso. Got to get up,” he thought, pressing the knuckles of his other hand shakily to the ground. Got to get up now

“One of the two who showed up uninvited,” the new voice continued. “Weren’t you idiots paying attention to anything?”

The figure stepped out of the underbrush. In a petulant voice, Darvell said, “We had other things on our mind, Cap. You remember -- everyone getting dumped in the water?”

“So we should definitely kill him,” Anne mused.

Helmeppo looked up, gritting his teeth against the pain -- and stopped. His breath knotted in his throat for a second.

No.

The figure stopped just beyond the edge of the undergrowth, arms crossed. Helmeppo had to force his gaze up to the man’s face, just to confirm what he already knew in just those few words and that posture. The newcomer gazed down with a glower, all irritation and impatience, at the injured Marine. There was nothing like recognition there, and nothing like pity. But Helmeppo couldn’t stop one word from slipping past his lips.

“Dad?”

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 10

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi’s Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste’s Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi’s Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we’re all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone’s well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila’s brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary: How to Piss Off Gabriel Agreste

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9

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Gabriel Agreste was displeased.

Honestly, that was an understatement.

Gabriel Agreste was infuriated.

He had allowed Adrien his little temper tantrum, the slamming of the door and stomping to his bedroom, expecting to let the boy stew for a bit until he had calmed enough to be reasonable. In the meantime, he had assured Mlle. Rossi things would progress as planned.

That had been a miscalculation. Adrien’s behavior had only escalated, as he somehow managed to escape the mansion—something Gabriel had only discovered later, when Nathalie had brought the tablet to him, with that picture on the Instagram social media account that was meant largely for Adrien to promote the brand. He had been permitted to use it for additional reasons, but clearly that had been a mistake.

Gabriel had been struck by the smile on Adrien’s face, though, carefree and happy… and alongside that of a boy he’d never seen as they cuddled in an intimate way that was wholly inappropriate for the brand. He never would have allowed such a picture with Mlle. Rossi.

But his hands were also tied by Adrien’s move—if he were seen to disapprove, many of his employees would be livid, not to mention critics. The LGBTQ+ community was well represented in the fashion industry. At this point, Gabriel would be seen as homophobic.

Furthermore, a third party had taken those pictures, meaning Adrien had found allies.

Nathalie had attempted to regain control of the account, to no avail. Hopefully the furor would die down quickly; Gabriel had the Gorilla out searching for his wayward son so they could nip this in the bud. But he’d come up empty thus far.

Mlle. Rossi had called, raging, and had required a lecture about tone and entitlement. She had been seething by the time he hung up on her, but Gabriel didn’t particularly care. She was outliving her use with her childish assumption he’d give in to her demands.

He had used the roiling emotions of a jealous fan to create an Akuma, but it had been defeated far too quickly for his liking,

Nathalie had returned with the tablet shortly thereafter, with a new photo and that hair. His hair had been pristine, never adulterated with anything so aggressive as dye. And now—! He matched his ‘boyfriend’—Gabriel was certain this was a fake relationship, but if he said such a thing publicly it would receive backlash—and they were feeding each other ice cream and laughing. Another picture taken by a third party.

Gabriel hadn’t even noticed the caption, or the following post essentially accusing the company of forcing him to work, until Nathalie pointed them out. Worse, there were comments from fans angry that Adrien was not permitted to play with that ridiculous band.

theofficialchloebourgeois: I didn’t know it was that bad, Adrikins. I’ll talk to Daddy.

alya.ladyblogger: @theofficialchloebourgeois Pretty sure this violates child labor laws, too. #LetAdrienGoToSchool

theofficialchloebourgeois: @alya.ladyblogger Will bring that up.

The Instagram tag the Ladyblogger had created had started going viral, even spreading to Twitter.

The TVi news was even using it. Curious, Gabriel clicked on the article they’d linked to.

Model Adrien Agreste Comes Out, Alleges Being Forced to Date New Gabriel Muse, Lila Rossi

Leaked Rossi text messages include threats

When he saw the image of the text messages, he hurled the tablet against the wall.

Nathalie gave him a reproachful look and he glowered at her. “You were due for an upgrade anyway,” he hissed, still trying to contain his rage.

Clearly Mlle. Rossi had become more than an inconvenience.

“Inform Mlle. Rossi that her association with Gabriel has ended, as she has provided an unsavory image for the brand. Announce that on the official social media. Make sure the announcement planned for tomorrow is stopped.”

A stress headache, perhaps even a migraine, was coming on.

--

Marinette returned home with freshly painted pink fingernails, and Jagged loudly praising her nonexistent design ideas.

“Marinette Dupain-Chang, would you care to comment on your relationship with former Gabriel model Lila Rossi?”

Oh, that had been tempting. ‘Former’? They hadn’t seen that bit of information before she’d left—she’d have to text that to Kagami and Luka, who would share it with Adrien. They’d agreed that he’d need to keep his cell phone off to avoid the GPS locater, until they’d gotten enough done.

Jagged posed for the camera, hugging her one-armed. “That horrid girl has been bullying my niece here. Kept her too afraid to say anything. But Uncle Jagged’s here to take care of his Marinette.”

Then he pushed past Nadja Chamack to enter the bakery—let in by her parents despite it being after hours. They presented him with a large box of macrons to thank him, and asked if he would be free to join the family for dinner the next night—specifying that ‘the team’ was welcome, too.

Adrien, Luka, and Kagami had been insistent that she should bring them in on the plan, that they have some adults they could lean on aside from Jagged, whose stay in Paris would only be so long.

Marinette hadn’t been certain about letting them in on the fake relationship details, but they had been appropriately horrified at Adrien’s treatment and had immediately been on board. Everything had fallen into place, and maman had insisted after tomorrow she would take her break from the bakery to coincide with Marinette’s walk to school, so she could escort her for her protection.

They had a plan, a script, for Luka and Adrien’s relationship. She just had to be ready early tomorrow to be escorted to school, and be ready for any media attention.

And they had decided that Luka should be seen with Adrien, saying goodbye before the school day with appropriate closeness. They hadn’t specified what it should be, but that part could be ad-libbed. Regardless, the media would eat it up.

She updated her parents over dessert fruit tarts, then pleaded exhaustion and headed up to her room to get ready for bed. On her way up, she texted Luka and Kagami the news about Lila.

Tikki looked a bit exasperated when she was finally able to leave Marinette’s purse, and for a moment she was worried the kwami disagreed with what they were doing, that she’d be disappointed.

“I didn’t realize Adrien had it so bad,” Tikki said instead. “That poor boy. I’m glad you came to his side; I know it might be hard to watch him in a pretend relationship with Luka.”

Marinette relaxed. Tikki was on her side.

“I knew his father was awful, but I didn’t know it was this bad, either. If we do this right, M. Agreste will be under enough scrutiny to give Adrien some freedom.”

“He deserves better,” the kwami commented, taking the cookie Marinette offered her.

Marinette nodded. “Do you think I’m doing enough?”

“You’re doing everything you can.” Tikki set down the cookie and put one tiny hand on Marinette’s. “And… I think Luka was right. You expect too much of yourself. I know you’re Ladybug, but you’re also Marinette. You don’t need to bottle things up. You don’t need to be perfect.”

Marinette was silent for a bit, thinking about that. She’d always tried to stay strong on her own—even during the worst of Chloé’s bullying, she hadn’t reached out. Part of it was learning that Chloé could get away with a lot because of her status; teachers were rarely willing to punish the daughter of the mayor, so instead Marinette had been told she was being too sensitive, or that she needed to be the bigger person and be an example. All she’d wound up being is an example of a doormat.

In the past year, she’d learned that what her teachers had done was considered gaslighting. She’d managed to let them convince her that her feelings weren’t important. Marinette had been afraid to tell her parents everything, because if they told her the same thing…

Ever since Alya had come, she’d been able to start growing out of that—all it had taken was someone standing up for her.

“Thanks, Tikki.”

The kwami sighed. “Honestly, I should have helped you take care of this Lila situation earlier. It’s gone on too long. I let you flounder, even after you were almost Akumatized. I didn’t even think about how this was effecting you. I’m sorry, Marinette.”

Marinette brought Tikki up to her face and kissed her cheek. “I was doing what Luka said—putting on a front. I need to trust you and my parents and my friends more.”

“We’ll learn together,” Tikki told her with a smile. “I’m so proud of you, Marinette!”

They snuggled cheek to cheek for a moment, and then Marinette went to the bathroom to prepare for bed, leaving Tikki to her cookie.

[fandomanxiety-library]

"Fluffy February"- Day Two

The Outerworlds

Maximillian Desoto X Captain Dottie

Summary: Dottie is teaching Max chess. After getting her hands on a old game board she paints it, transforming it into a chess board. She takes old service awards and paints them two different colors with little drawings of each piece from the game on top. After designing the board and pieces, she begins to teach him. One another begin to get to know each other and bond over their game.

Note: I am not following the prompts (if there are any), I am kinda just doing what I want. I also missed day one. So, yeah.

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"Do you understand?"

"Yes, quite the intellectual game," he spoke as he admired the chess pieces, watching as she put some of the pieces back to ready for a match.

"Okay, you can move first, Vicar," Dottie spoke, and he scooted a piece down the board.

She watched, and quickly moved hers in retaliation. Max had been curious of the Captain as she hopped around the system taking up "little orphans" (as she called her newly found crewmates), and helped someone who seemed to be a madman. He didn't even know much about her as she did so, and she wasn't exactly forthcoming with the information either. She seemed to be protecting the notorious Welles, who was known to The Board and everyone else, as a criminal. A madman who was a well known thief and criminal who was commiting crimes against the colony. She wouldn't even allow people into her room, not even SAM. Well, not until now.

They were further into the game now, and she was beating him. He mumbled a curse word as she took one of his pieces, once again, off the board.

The Board.

The Board was definitely a soon-to-be problem, and she wasn't helping it either. Between bouncing back and forth between there good side and bad side, he wasn't sure the "peace" between The Board and the Captain was going to last for long.

"You thinking awfully hard, Vicar," she watched the board, not looking up at him.

"Just thinking about you, Captain."

As soon as the words hit air, he realized that he didn't mean it that way. He was just being honest, and now he was worried she took it that way. If she where to bring it up, he would try to play it off, like he never said it. Because how he felt for her was complicated, and that was it. He was frustrated with himself, because it was the last thing he intended to have happen.

For Laws sake it wasn't even intent.

It was a mistake, just like the sentence, yet here he was with odd harbored feelings that was so complicated for him.

"And here I was thinking your mind was boggled about chess," she nervously laughed, as she leaned back in her chair, eyes never leaving the board.

He peered up at her from his seat, and watched as she ran her fingers though her hair. Her eyes showed focus as he assumed she had thought that he meant that.

Law, was she nervous now. She couldn't bring her eyes off the board now, especially right now! She invited him into her room, and this was what she got? Not him bombarding her with questions right off the bat, but hitting her with that? Lovely...Law she needed to stop this. He was the ship's Vicar for Pete's sake, and here she was thinking he flirted with her. In her room!

I am worse than a teenager...

"Well, you are quite secretive. This is the first time anyone has ever been in your room, and we have no idea what you affiliation with Welles is," the Vicar stated, and she gazed up at him.

"It's only fair you have questions, I guess. I mean, your traveling with someone who didn't even know what a Sprat was..." she spoke, and his eyes followed her.

They both watched each other for one moment. One moment they looked up from the board, and when there eyes met she smirked.

"I win."

His eyes darted to the board as she looked at him with pride. He found himself frustrated with the loss, and this was visible.

"How? I looked away for a second, how did she-?"

"You where never focused, Vicar. It takes a while to be able to think about perplexing, beautiful things such as moi, and play chess," she laughed, and he glared at her for a moment.

"You do that on purpose," he accused her, and she cocked a playful eyebrow.

"Do what, Vicar?"

"Use the French language to poke at me," he huffed, fixing the board back in place.

"That I do, but don't worry. I only know small things, and at least you don't know what they all mean," she chuckled, as she opened up a Purpleberry Punch.

He was tossed a candy, which fell in his lap, "A candy for effort, Vicar."

"You know I don't have a sweet tooth, Captain," he sighed picking up the candy and examining it.

"To bad, Vicar. Maybe that's why your so bitter," she joked, and he rolled his eyes.

"Maybe that's why your sweet with every person you meet, Captain. That'll get you hurt one day, you know," he replied, and she rolled her eyes.

"I could do with a lecture, haven't had one in years," she laughed, and he gave her a serious look.

"Speaking of years, Captain...how old are you?" He asked, and her eyes widened.

"How rude! You never ask a lady's age!" She scolded him, and he looked at her to see she was serious.

"I apologise, Captain. That was rude," he spoke, a bit embarrassed.

He hated that. He forgot it was rude to ask-.

"Maximillian, your to serious. I was kidding," she smiled sweetly, and it could've made his tooth ache.

Sugar sweet smiles that not even Rizzos could create was one other thing that helped made things complicated. Because he had feelings for her. Terrible, terrible feelings, that he knew was not in his path. He was here to kill Chaney. That was it. Then try to figure out this book. Find a translator, get off this ship, and get as much space between him and this ship's sweet, yet mysterious Captain.

"Go first, Maximillian," she said, and then popped the candy in her mouth.

Law, his name sounded lovely coming from her...

"Captain, are you ever going to reveal why you are involved with Phineas Welles?" He asked, while moving a piece.

"He woke me up from cryosleep on the Hope," she stated, and she moved a piece.

"You expect me to believe that?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"I don't expect you to. Honestly, it's hard to believe myself. I'm still thawing out. Like frozen peas," she spoke softly, which caused him to look at her.

"Say I do believe you," he began, "why didn't you just leave after being set free?"

"Well, I owe him. He got me out of that human meat freezer. Plus, it's the right thing to do, and I definitely don't plan on slaving away for Spacers Choice. Have you seen what they've don't to poor Martin?" She said, and he moved a piece.

"Well, I suppose I can see that. What did you work for before? You never really said anything about it," he asked, and she glided a piece on the board.

"I was a bartender. Always been good with people, and don't mind hearing them yap on. Plus, booze was at a discount, which was nice. I am also very good a splitting and ending fights," she explained, and he looked at her from his side of the table.

"Have you ever been prone to fights then, Captain?" Max asked her, his curiosity peaked.

"Never looked for trouble, but I never ran from it either. How about you, Vicar? You a brawler?" She asked him, and he moved another piece.

"I have always have been violently enthusiastic," Max replied, and she chuckled.

"Should've known. You seem the type," she shook her head with a grin.

"What gave me away, Captain?" Max chuckled a bit.

"Your anger. You have the attitude of a natural blindly angered fighter," she stated matter-a-factly.

"I wouldn't say that. I just don't tolerate stupidity," he shot back, suddenly defensive.

"Fighting is stupid if not done rightously. I know I've been and will be in stupid fights. But also rightous ones," she spoke.

"And what makes you the person to decide that, Captain?" Max growled a bit.

He didn't like being scrutinized, especially by her. Who was she to say these things?

"Righteous fighting is taking up for your family and friends by socking someone in the jaw or using them to mop the floor. But someone you don't agree with or you just don't like- like how you feel about Felix, Max. Just fighting them because you don't like or agree with them? That's stupid," she said as she opened another candy.

"Your right, Captain," he sighed frustrated with himself.

I don't need to get mad like that, I need to be above that. I need to find peace in the Plan. And she's right, whether or not I want to admit that. Plus, it's just her opinion. Find peace in the Plan. Ask another question. Get out of this topic.

"When are we getting to Monarch?" Max asked, as she popped the candy in her mouth.

"Yes, talk about something important. Something far more important than anything else. It's in the Plan. His path. He is destined to kill Chaney. That's all he wants right now."

"Soon? I suppose soon. Just have to get that Navkey from Gladys. Once we get to Roseway everything should be smooth sailing," the Captain replied with a long, drawn out sigh.

Max looked up at her and she smiled sadly at the board.

"Something vexing you, Captain?" He questioned her.

"Honestly, when you leave, the ship won't be the same without you. I'll miss this. I'll miss you."

"Then make this time we have now, last. Alright, Dottie?" Max replied kindly to her.

Suddenly, he opened the candy. Then, popped it in his mouth, watching as she beat him again.

"I believe I'll miss you too...Dot."

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[fandom-necromancer]

… Is another man’s treasure

Now to the second part for a wonderful anon! Enjoy the Feels!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

Nines had worked hard to gain confidence in himself. All his time in New Jericho he had worked for the other people there. He didn’t spend that long at the sanctuary to accommodate to his freedom. Without a life in slavery, or at least not one he had been allowed to remember, freedom wasn’t that difficult of a concept and not that overwhelming of a treasure to him. No, he had needed time to understand what Markus had meant when he said no one was without purpose and even more to build a fragile confidence. He still doubted it sometimes. There were days when he came back from work to sit in an empty room and felt lost. When he wasn’t working, what was the point of it all? If he was just killing time, then why had he ever left the landfill where he belonged? So far, he had managed to shake the feeling off by making the small flat his home. Plants that needed him for water, furniture that needed him to stay clean. They were small things, but it helped remind him in times he felt lost that if anything, they needed him. And then the next step was thinking of the next day, when he had to head back to work with the Detective…

They got along… kind of. On good days, they stayed professional, except for the occasional curse or a discussion getting louder than strictly needed. On bad days, Nines had to try hard to contain his urge to throw something heavy at the man. They didn’t particularly liked each other for the first weeks. The Detective had still hoped he could bully him away and Nines had still hoped for someone else to scold the man. Neither did happen, so they ended up begrudgingly compromising. It still wasn’t a companionship of the kind where you would agree to meet with a co-worker after work, but they didn’t hate each other outright. At least they liked each other enough to realise they actually were a very productive team with abilities that complemented themselves. A few close calls on the job, a few examples of trusting the other and lately a huge competitive ambition towards their cases as Gavin had found out they were close behind on Connor and Hank’s closed ones, had worked wonders and Nines hoped to think that they finally made it to friends. A friendlier tone from the human and accepted shipments of coffee to his desk seemed to finally prove it and Nines was happier than he would ever thought he could be.

A friend. They hadn’t called each other that yet, but Gavin didn’t seem to be a fan of labels anyways. Still, a friend. It made his insecurities take a step back and for the first time, he thought about his decision to leave the landfill as a good one to make. He wasn’t sure yet, but he was more willing to give this new life a try and not doubt any move he made with these poisonous words in mind.

You are obsolete. You aren’t needed. You are a danger and have to be disposed of.

With every day these words were shoved further back, but Nines would never forget them. His new experiences overshadowed the few memories he was allowed to keep, but these words lingered and only waited for an opportunity to rise again. Nines hoped that when that happened, he would have someone to look out for him. To help him realise they were memories of a life he was about to leave behind completely.

Right now though he had bigger things to worry about:

‘Detective, you are speeding.’ No answer. ‘Detective, not only is this a violation of the laws you are to protect, it is also a huge safety hazard as human reaction time is-‘ ‘Shut the phck up, tin-can.’ Nines had very early decided that he disliked three major things about the human: His smoking habit, him calling him names and him interrupting him at near any given occasion. ‘I just wanted to point out that-‘ ‘And I don’t give a damn!’ Four things. ‘Gavin, I get that you are frustrated, but how will speeding through the city help us in any way?’

The man gripped the steering wheel hard enough the leather was creaking. ‘I am frustrated, yes. And an android like you should know to leave me alone in such situations.’ He looked pointedly at him and turned into the DPD’s parking lot with far too much momentum. The Detective made a show of bringing the car to a halt abruptly, opened the door and slammed it behind himself. Nines’ LED flashed red for a moment, then followed the human, easily catching up to him with his long legs. He rushed past him to stop Gavin by pressing a hand against his chest and stepping back before the Detective could get violent. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’, he hissed, having understood the threat and not taking it. ‘I mean’, Gavin pushed back unrelenting. ‘that you are supposed to be the big bad robot that always knows how to handle a situation.’ ‘How do I get the impression you refer to more than me telling you to slow down?’ Nines knew that giving in just to avoid confrontation would never change Gavin letting his anger out on the people around him. This time he wouldn’t back down. ‘Hmm, figured that out all by yourself, did you?’, the human mocked. ‘What do you want? An A+ for phcking up an entire mission?’ Nines was honestly surprised. ‘You are blaming me for this? You are blaming me that our suspect fled the scene, our witness is dead, and the crime-scene left us with nothing because it was tempered with? You can’t be serious!’ ‘I can’t? Tell me one reason why.’ ‘Because if anyone of us is at fault at all in this, then we both are!’ ‘And that’s where you are wrong’, Gavin whispered low and dangerously enough for Nines to regret not having given in and taking the blame until the human had calmed down enough. He stepped closer, pulling at the android’s jacket to get him down on his level. ‘I am human’, he hissed in his face, near enough so Nines could feel the movement of air. ‘I make mistakes and I cannot process everything at once. But you! Aren’t you supposed to be the most advanced robot ever?’ ‘I am the superior model to the RK800, yes, but that’s no guaranty-‘ ‘Oh yeah?’, Gavin interrupted him again, letting go of his lapels and stepping back. He grinned evilly, spreading his arms to his sides. ‘So that’s why you ended up in a phcking dumpster?’

Nines went completely rigid, staring at the human as if he had physically hit him. His LED flashed brightly red and his hands were twitching in anger. In ice cold rage. How dared this mere human? How dared he shattering what he had build up just like that? Something inside him pulled the switch and the next moment, Nines had the man by the neck and threw him against the brick wall of the building. ‘You don’t know anything about me!’, he shouted, watching satisfied as Gavin groaned and pulled a grimace. That was only a fraction of the pain he himself felt right now and-

You are a danger.

Nines looked at his hands and the man on the ground. It was incredible how quickly his anger could switch to fear and panic, as the words came crushing down, incredibly red as if they were the walls of his programming that had to be broken. Walls that shouldn’t exist. Or should they?

You are obsolete and should be disposed of.

Nines ran.

-

‘God… phcking… toaster…’ Gavin cursed as he finally managed to get up. That would most definitely bruise. ‘Damn phcking piece of metal shit… Has one hell of a punch.’ He very well knew he coud have ended worse, if the thing actually wanted to kill him, but he doubted it. ‘Hey, Nines, you okay now? Vented your frustration?’ He looked around the parking lot, but couldn’t find a trace of the bot. ‘Alright’, Gavin sighed. ‘To everyone his own. Leaving me to write the report for this goddamn mess, of course. Like hell one of them sticks around when they are actually needed…’

He went inside, trying not to move his shoulders too much. No one had to know he had been decked by one of the RKs again. He sat down on his desk and started the terminal, pointedly ignoring the curious looks of anyone in the bullpen. He had loaded their case file so far and continued noting the events of the day.

He managed to get the first few paragraphs done until someone stepped up to his desk. ‘What do you want?’, Gavin barked, not looking up from his screen. ‘Where is Nines?’ ‘What’s it to you Connor?’ ‘Gavin.’ The other android pulled his chair towards him, so Gavin had to look at him. Gavin hadn’t forgotten how intimidating puppy-eyes here could get, but to see it again was something completely different to remembering it. ‘Gavin, what did you do? Where is he?’ ‘He went home early’, Gavin snapped at Connor, the lie flowing easily from his lips. ‘The mission went wrong. Probably wants to sleep it over or whatever you androids do instead of drowning yourself in alcohol. Because that’s what I would do!’ ‘And you ever so generously agreed to return to write the report? Sorry, Reed, I don’t believe that.’ ‘Hey, asshole, it’s not like I have a choice! One more misstep Fowler throws me out! And your asshole superior model simply phcked off. Didn’t exactly ask me, just ran off. Now I advise you to do the same unless you have a real good reason to keep me from working!’

Very reluctantly, Connor let him be and Gavin got back to his report. He finished it without further interruptions and looked at the clock before uploading it to the databanks. It was near the end of his shift, maybe he should really just call it quits for today and get a fresh start tomorrow. Maybe use his free time at home figuring out how to apologise to Nines come morning. If he realised once while writing the report, then that really neither of them were at fault. They had been called to the scene first, the witness had been told to wait for them. How could any of them had known someone ready to commit a second murder would come to get rid of any traces of the first, if they were not one and the same person? Gavin and Nines had arrived as the witness had already been killed and the suspect was on the run far out of reach of both police officers. Gavin knew he had been wrong to start a fight with his partner over this, he had been frustrated and the complaints about his driving had just been that last drop to make his anger spill. But he would never admit that to anyone. He would simply apologise tomorrow, and they would get back to work. As they always did.

But what if he had done it again? His anger issues had driven away a lot of people already, maybe the android had finally realised he wasn’t worth it? Maybe tomorrow morning he would be alone again, because the RK900 asked for a rightfully deserved transfer? Maybe-

Gavin sighed, finding himself next to his car ready to drive home. No maybes. He couldn’t risk losing another partner, especially not one who took so much of his shit and made it a challenge. No, he couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning to apologise, he would drive to Nines’ flat and apologise right away.

Only that when he finally stood in front of the door and rang the bell no one answered. He pressed the button again and held it, but still no sign of movement in the flat. That made Gavin get back to something he swore to never, ever do: He called Connor.

‘Hey, dipshit, is Nines with you?’ ‘No, why should he?’ ‘He isn’t home.’ ‘Why are you at his home?’ ‘Because we had a fight and I wanted to apologise, okay?’, Gavin near screamed into his phone. ‘What did you say to him?’ ‘None of your phcking business, plastic!’ There was a sigh on the end of the line. ‘Go to the Solid Waste Landfill’, he then said, sounding reserved. ‘Hey, asshole if you think I’ll wade through shit and dirt just you get a laugh out of it then-‘ ‘Reed! This is the most important thing in your life right now. If you don’t want me to kill you tomorrow morning, you will go there, and you will find Nines! Whatever you said, you can’t imagine how it must have hurt him. You will go there, and you will return with him tomorrow morning or this will be your last day on this planet, am I understood?’ ‘Yes, Jeez’, Gavin near yelped at the sudden threat, ending the call. Why the hell would the damn android return to this hell? Well, it didn’t matter now, Gavin had to drive up there now, if he wanted to see another day. Because he didn’t think Connor was bluffing.

Solid Waste Landfill had simultaneously become better and worse since all the androids had been rescued. For once it didn’t look like some nightmarish landscape with humanoid figures crawling and spasming and killing each other for parts anymore. Instead there was all the more trash and rotting matter to be found. At least one thing was easy know: spotting the only blob of white in the endless hills of rusted metal and dirt. He cursed, before skidding down the hills of trash to climb towards the android that was sitting on the top of one of them. His aching back didn’t help at all.

‘Nines?’, he asked cautiously. Being thrown off this hill would be far worse than against a wall. ‘What are you doing here?’ Gavin hadn’t expected an answer, but he got one: ‘Waiting.’ ‘For what?’ ‘For my battery to run out.’ ‘Oh, okay.’ Wow, what the hell, Gavin had not expected that. ‘May I ask why?’

‘Because they were right. I don’t know their names anymore, but they were right. They were all right. You were right too.’ ‘Hey, Nines, you’re making no sense right now. Why weren’t you home?’ ‘I am home, Gavin, I belong here.’ ‘Bullshit.’ ‘I belong here. I am obsolete, I am dangerous, and no one needs me.’ ‘Who the hell told you that?’ ‘I already said that, I don’t know. My first memories are of these words uttered by someone who I trusted. Maybe a handler, I don’t know anymore. I walked down into this landfill, hid and waited. Markus found me and tried to convince me it wasn’t true. That they lied to me. I wanted to believe him, but well, in the end it was him who was proven wrong.’ ‘Nines’, Gavin muttered, not really understanding what the android was saying but realising he had really phcked up this time throwing the worst thing he knew about someone right in their face whenever he got angry. He decided to walk up to him and sit down on the metal sheet right next to him. ‘Nines, that’s not true. You are none of these things.’ ‘Oh, really?’ The android laughed humourless. ‘How’s your back then? I hurt you, the one I have to protect. I am dangerous. I failed to catch the suspect or anticipate that the murderer would come back to the scene to get rid of the witness. Sounds pretty obsolete to me. And just look at me! An android without a past, without friends or family or memory, who would need that?’

‘I do’, Gavin said. ‘I need my partner and friend back on the job to protect my reckless ass from being shot. I need you because I won’t ever find someone else like you. I need someone who tells me when I am an asshole again and can defend himself from myself.’ Gavin didn’t like speaking his mind and this was no difference. So, he added: ‘Also I need you so Connor won’t kill me tomorrow.’ That made Nines look up to the human next to him. ‘Why would he do that?’ ‘Dunno. Guess he considers you his brother or something. I have no idea how family works with androids, but I’m sure he thinks that way.’ ‘Brother… You… You are not lying to me, are you?’ ‘You tell me, lie detector. Wouldn’t work telling you if you think I lie to you, would it?’ ‘I suppose not’, Nines mumbled. ‘And… The friends part is true, too? We are… friends?’ ‘Of course we are. What did you think we were?’ ‘I don’t know. I don’t know how this works.’ ‘Idiot.’ ‘Says the right person.’ ‘Got me there’, Gavin chuckled. ‘Now what? Will you let me drive you home now?’ ‘I don’t know yet…’ ‘Nines. I know I am an asshole when I’m angry, but let me tell you: You are not obsolete. You are needed. And you are dangerous, fine, but so is Connor, so am I and so is my damn cat when she’s pissed. No one needs any justification to exist or to be happy or to do what they want to do. Whoever told you that is an even bigger sack of shit than I am. You understand? Come on. Let’s get home.’

Gavin was immensely relieved, as the android stood up after him and followed him out of the landfill without a word. Just outside Gavin’s car he stopped, and Gavin turned. ‘Hey, don’t worry, I will heed the speed limit, okay?’ Nines just looked at him, before stepping next to him and pulling him into a strong hug. ‘Thank you, Gavin’, he whispered, and Gavin flushed red in embarrassment. ‘You’re welcome’, he pressed out. ‘But. Watch the back. Ah.’ Immediately Nines let go, face tinged blue. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot about that…’ ‘It’s fine, just…’ ‘yeah…’ ‘Ah, phck it’, Gavin let his defences fall and pulled the android in a second time. No one could see them, and no one would believe them anyways. Why not enjoy it?