#i just. i wish. diego had been given the opportunity to sit with her in some capacity.

[twicecut]

oh my stars wait also. diego's stutter when he realizes he's lost grace???

diego loves his android mom SO much. SOOO much.

he'll 1v1 anyone who treats her like anything less than a living, loving, existing person who was just as much a victim of reginald hargreeves' abuse as anyone else.

[indigobackfire]

26 and 30 for aspen and Diego!! -thimblerigshuffle

Thanks @thimblerigshuffle <3 <3

30) Who is embarrassed when they have to wear their glasses and who thinks they look super cute?

Aspen would definitely be embarrassed because she most certainly spent several years mocking Indigo and her glasses lovingly ofc. But then Diego would be all loving brushing her hair behind her ear, going "What's the shame in wanting to see the world clearer?" "Don't worry, we'll still be kissing eyes closed."

26) Who kissed first?

Aspen kissed Diego first. Given this opportunity, I'll try and write it 🙈 (damn is longer than I intended oops) (takes place in y6 during winter).

“Blimey, it’s dreich out here! Is this really a good idea?” Aspen asks.

Diego marches through the crisp cold air of the training grounds with confidence and excitement as if he was under the spring sun, not even his thick sweaters seemed to limit his movement. Aspen on the other hand kept her steps short on the sheet of snow and herself retracted under her two layers of sweatshirts and her chunkiest Slytherin scarf.

“Have I ever had a bad idea? Don’t answer.”

“Ya ken we can use the dueling club room.”

“It’s occupied.”

“Ugh! What about the Dragon Club?”

“They don’t appreciate my dueling very much over there since Indigo and I smashed the place. We apologized, fixed the mess up, but they’re not the most forgiving kind, unfortunately.” He turns around and holds a stance, signaling for her to stay in place, about three meters apart. “Besides, I want to duel you here!”

“But why!? It’s like two degrees right now!”

“You think a dark wizard would invite you in for a fight? ‘Oh, please, the weather is dreadful, let’s move this inside.’ I want you to get used to dueling under adverse circumstances. And with that attitude, I can’t help but wonder, are you even a Scotswoman?”

“Wow, now you—” She unwraps her scarf letting it loose around her neck, if he hadn’t such a pretty face she would’ve walked straight to him and shoved her wand in his eye. “Now you’ve offended my honour!”

“Ready your wand then!”

But Aspen wasn’t prepared, he shoots an Incendio that misses her for a hair’s distance.

“Diego!”

He smirks opening his arms. “Thought you might want a little heat.”

She shouts an Immobulus his way, but he ducks and sends an Expelliarmus making her wand fly over her head, falling behind her. Now, if she could stop and focus on something instead of her numb fingers or how her nose felt like it was about to fall off, she would’ve remembered his lesson on how to act in case a wand was lost, but her mind was still reacting to her body and instead of lowering to the ground, she tries to go after it on foot… on a straight line. He only gives her the time to pick her wand up before shouting, “Stupefy!”

She falls hard on her back and is left too embarrassed and angry to even get up. He walks to her. “What have I told you about turning your back to your opponent, Aspenita?”

“Is the duellers worst sin.”

“I even gave you a leeway, in a serious duel you wouldn’t even have time to process where the spell came from, you would be dead or worse.”

“Or worse…” She sits up. “Ah, great, my trousers are soaked! And my hair full of grass.”

“That’s what you get for not paying attention.”

She rolls her eyes. “Oh, ugh—”

He furrows. “What’s wrong?”

“Uh, I think... ah, could ye…” And as he gets nearer, she pulls him by the ankle dropping him to the ground on his stomach. She’s cackling. “A new dueling rule for your playbook, Dieguito!”

He makes a both perplexed and impressed face to her, and as he kneels to try and advance towards her, she throws herself over him to get him back down, and with the weight of her torso, holding his arms back by his wrists, manages to keep him down.

“Does the snow feel good?” She says between teeth, pressing him down on the icy grass with her own body.

He struggles to free his wrists from her grip. “When did you get that strong?”

“Barnaby’s my best friend… or was, ah dinnae ken. I might’ve lost a couple of brain cells, but at least I put on some muscle. By seventh year I’ll be just as ripped.”

“Has Indigo and him… resolved their issues? Whatever they are.”

Aspen crosses her fingers and rests her chin on his chest, she can feel his heartbeat under her hands. “He refuses to tell me what’s wrong and she’s out acting like everything’s fine when it’s not. So no, they haven’t resolved a thing.”

“Barnaby still shows up for our fortnightly training but he’s usually quiet. Very strange for Barnaby, but on the other side, he’s never had a better performance before.”

“It breaks my heart to see them apart…If there was a pair that made me believe in true love, it was them.”

“Then there’s Phoenix and Ismelda—”

She holds his face. “Now, you stop. It’s frustrating enough the stuff with Indie and Barney, and now there’s also those two idiots—”

He holds her hands away from his face. “Ugh, your hands feel like ice needles!”

“And how are yours warm!? Bastard!”

He laughs making his chest vibrate against hers. “I’m always pipping hot, dear.”

“Blergh!”

Still holding her hands, he nears it to his mouth and blows hot breaths on them, her eyes focused on the plump of his lips, all the while her stomach flutters with snowflake-like butterflies. “And what about you?”

She blinks. “What about me?”

“Your relative’s hearts are breaking like glass, but how’s yours?”

She swallows hard. “You really asking me this? Seriously?”

He holds her hands against his lips, his voice comes as if a whisper. “I wanna know if I still hold possession of your heart.”

She drops her head to his chest. “I don’t wanna give you something you can’t hold… but it’s not like you don’t already have it.”

“Indigo asked patience of me and I’m attending to her request cause I too want what’s best for you. I’m still earning her trust in this regard. You’re too young and I might’ve not given the best examples in the past.”

“Too young my arse! You’re barely two years older.” She scoops up until they’re nose to nose, and the air in Diego’s lungs feels rarer. “I’m no bairn, Diego, I ken I want to be with ye, why isn’t that enough?”

“I love you too much to screw this up with haste.”

She opens up a smile with joy blossoming in her chest. “You… you love me?”

“Why you think I haven’t even looked the way of another girl? I’ll wait for you, the time I have to wait. Because there’ll come a time it won’t be an option to wait, we both know that.”

At the same time the weight of the world left her shoulders, a hot burden grew in her chest — laying as they were, even encapsulated in freezing air and with soaked bottoms, she couldn’t stop her blushing cheeks, the redness spreading to her whole face, speechless, leaving Diego to wonder if she was okay.

But before he could ask, she presses her lips against his and he doesn’t feel like breathing anymore or existing beyond the encounter of their mouths. He takes her scarf in handfuls and opens his mouth for her tongue, mindless about her still freezing hands on his neck. The kiss isn’t sloppy but is desperate, considering how long their wait had been, every second of it had to be made up for in this right moment.

It’s her to pull away first with burning lungs while he fishes for another and another feel of her lips — she still had a lot to learn about kissing with passion and he’d be more than willing to teach her. She stops for a moment to admire the redness her kiss left on his lips and smirks.

“You might be patient, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t wait to do this.”

He runs his thumb over her lips, tracing her skin discolorations. “Who am I to deny you of your wishes?” His stare makes her feel as if she won’t ever be as solid as she is under his eyes. “Aspen, you have me, my kisses and my victories and my dreams and all my love. I’m all yours.”

She gives him another soft kiss. “And I’m no different.”

He smiles. “And I don’t wanna ruin our moment, but I’ll get a frostbite on my buttcheeks if I don’t get up now.”

“Oh, sorry, love.” She releases him and helps him up. She looks around the training grounds, empty unless for the training dummies on the corner white with frost. She chuckles. “Damn, we didn’t duel at all.”

“I’ll make an exception just today, cause I feel like my ass is about to fall off and because I won’t be able to stupefy this pretty face. For today.”

She wraps an arm around his waist as they make their way back inside. “Perhaps I better find myself a new dueling partner…”

He looks down at her with a smile. “Never.”

[lochrannn]

@pepperf and I challanged each other to three Whumptober fics. Here’s my first contribution

No. 1 - ALL TRUSSED UP AND STILL NOWHERE TO GO “You have to let go” | barbed wire | bound

Warnings: Canon-typical Violence

Tags: Hurt/Comfort; Canon-Typical Violence; Injury; Implied/Referenced Torture

Relationshipts: Diego Hargreeves/Lila Pitts; Diego Hargreeves/Hargreeves Siblings

Characters: Diego Hargreeves; Lila Pitts; Five Hargreeves; Allison Hargreeve; Klaus Hargreeves; Hargreeves Siblings

Summary: Stuck in an unfamiliar 2019 the Hargreeves have struck an uneasy truce with Reginald and his Sparrows until Diego and Five are summond to the academy to identify an intruder who was captured by their father while looking for them.

They’ve struck an uneasy truce with Reginald and the Sparrows.

It’s caused no small amount of strain amongst the siblings. Fuck, Diego can’t say he’s in anyway pleased about it himself, he was probably the one who argued the hardest against it, but it’s not like he can’t understand Five’s logical pragmatism either.

There is no immediate benefit and only very real danger to fully antagonizing the most powerful group of people in a place where the original six Hargreeves siblings (Diego is confused himself sometimes about how to refer to all of them) have no resources, no allies, and no history to speak of.

They already had a scuffle with the Sparrows when they first arrived, and maybe if they hadn’t been exhausted and confused and completely overwhelmed to see not-Ben in the Sparrow academy uniform they might have had even a sliver of a chance. But as it stood then, they were very quickly overpowered and the only thing that saved them was Five’s ability to compartmentalize.

Somehow Five convinced Reginald to let them leave the mansion. Whether their father genuinely doesn’t think they are a real threat to his world and his timeline is entirely unclear, but Diego and his siblings know that they have been free to move about the city and stay at a motel on the outskirts only because Hargreeves is letting them. If and when he decides that he can’t risk leaving them alone any longer, they will be in real trouble.

They are all sat around the bedroom Allison is sharing with Vanya, arguing over how to continue, Five firm on his stance that his siblings need to sit on their asses until he is done calculating how he can bring them back to their original timeline (nobody wants to say out loud what they all know to be the silent continuation of that phrase - if it even still exists), while Diego thinks Five can juggle his silly little numbers, but in the meantime they should try and establish just exactly how dangerou the Sparrows are and if they should actually take the opportunity they’ve been given to protect the city from their father’s twisted sense of justice.

Allison, unsurprisingly, is with Five, and considering that she has lost the most in their original timeline, Diego can’t actually blame her for it.

To his utter surprise, he thinks Luther might actually be coming around to his point of view. Vanya is trying to find a compromise and though Diego has started appreciating her need for harmony, right now he really wishes she would stay the fuck out of it.

Klaus is sitting by the cracked window, intermittently taking drags of his cigarette and watching the discussion, but clearly uninterested in taking part.

Some part of Diego is worried about him, but he neither knows how to approach Klaus about how he’s feeling, nor does he think he has the time to stop and deal with his brother’s grief. It can wait till later, he tells himself.

“... you imbecile!” Five is shouting at Diego, the two of them squaring off in the middle of the room, Five’s lack of height doing nothing to make him any less ferocious, “If we draw dad’s attention like that he might figure out that we’re trying to restore our own timeline. And I might not know the old man that well, but he’s not an idiot. He wouldn’t risk the possibility that us trying to restore our own timeline could destroy his. He might not have killed us yet, but I have no doubt he will if he thinks we might bring about the end of his world.”

That stops Diego for a moment, he hasn’t thought of the fact that that could be a genuine risk. He doesn’t know how to feel about that, but he catches a glimpse of Allison out of the corner of his eye, the way her eyes are big and bright, her lips pursed, and her arms are crossed so tightly it almost looks like she’s physically trying to hold herself together, and he decides that that is another thing to think about at a later stage, or hopefully never.

Diego is just about to respond to Five when there is a knock outside.

It’s not particularly loud, but it isn’t gentle either and they all freeze and stare at the door.

Then there is a flurry of hand signals going around and it doesn’t seem like they are really communicating anything through them, except that nobody is quite certain what the best course of action is, and in the end Allison, who is the closest to the door, rolls her eyes, untangles herself, and turns around to open the door a crack.

Diego can’t see who it is but he can tell by the way Allison tenses and squares her shoulders, that it’s not a welcome guest. It would have been highly unlikely anyway, it’s not like they know anybody good in this place.

“What do you want?” Allison says. Her tone is cold and razor sharp. She doesn’t need the Rumor to be commanding even when asking a question.

“My father would like to talk to your brothers,” a man’s raspy voice responds.

“Yeah, well, why didn’t your father come here to talk to them, then?” Allison doesn’t budge an inch and continues blocking the door with a foot behind it so it can’t just be shoved open.

“My father is a very busy man, Allison, he doesn’t have the time to trudge all the way out here,” the man on the other side of the door responds, clearly one of the Sparrows, and Diego can see Allison's knuckles go white where she has her hand on the doorframe at the casual use of her name.

“We’re a little busy, too, right now, so if Hargreeves wants to talk to any of us…” Allison begins but then Five interrupts her and calls out from where he’s stood next to Diego in the middle of the room, “Who does he want to talk to?”

There’s a beat in which Allison starts fidgeting by the door, clearly as enraged with her brother now as with the man standing outside the motel room. Then she pushes the door open far enough to reveal a man that Diego recognizes as the Sparrow with the scarred up face, but Allison doesn’t let go of the door, making sure to signal that he is not coming in, even if she’s letting him talk to the rest of the Hargreeves.

“You,” the man says in an even voice, pointing at Five, then shifting his finger just a little to point at Diego next, “and him.”

-

They are greeted in the entrance hall of the Sparrow Academy by a Pogo that looks like the butler/teacher/guardian they grew up with but who has only the slightest hint of recognition in his eyes when he looks at Five, but none whatsoever when he looks at Diego.

He takes them to the elevator that they were never allowed to go near when they were children and presses a combination of buttons that makes the contraption descend.

When they stop and Pogo opens the grate, Diego realizes that at least they haven’t arrived at the floor with an anechoic chamber at the end, but it doesn’t make him feel any less nervous about being in the Academy’s basement. They have nowhere to run.

And the way their father is standing halfway down the hall shrouded in darkened shadows certainly also doesn’t help. On the contrary, it makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“At last you’re here,” Reginald says, his voice not particularly loud, but it echoes off the empty walls and is dripping with sarcasm, “I haven’t got all day. Pogo, tell Number Four that I expect him to bring our honoured guests here in the fastest fashion possible, if I ever ask him to retrieve someone again.”

Diego and Five give each other a look and clearly silently agree that apparently they're expected to follow Hargreeves when their not-quite father turns on his heels and starts marching down the hall, Pogo bringing up the rear.

“We have had an intrusion into the Academy last night. But fear not, with only a very small amount of difficulty, we were able to subdue and capture this interloper. However, though we applied our most thorough interrogation methods, we haven’t yet been able to establish her identity,” Reginald declares grandly and Diego feels his blood run cold in horror.

“That being said,” Hargreeves continues, voice still clipped and impassive as he opens a heavy metal door and ushers in Five, Diego, and Pogo, “Before she started putting up a fight, she seemed to be under the impression she might find you here!”

Hargreeves is looking at him expectantly, but Diego is taking no notice of him, because they have walked into a cold, tiled room, with very sparse furniture, at the center of which is a large metal chair.

Handcuffed to the chair’s arms is Lila, looking badly beaten up and possibly unconscious, head lolling on her chest, and Diego can see a white piece of cloth tied as a gag around the back of her head that’s highlighting even more how messy her hair looks.

Diego sees red and three things happen at once.

He wants to call out to her and go to her and get her out of here, but all he manages is to stammer, “Luh-” before the word gets stuck in his throat and as he takes a step towards her, all of a sudden, everything stops.

Irrationally, Diego has the sudden burning urge to suck in a breath, despite the fact that he doesn’t actually need to and also he realizes that even though it feels like even the air around him has gone completely still, he has no actual trouble breathing.

And then he feels the hand grabbing his wrist and when he looks down at it, he sees that Five is holding on to him with fingers that are glowing blue and an expression on his face that is split between concentrated, enraged, and in pain.

“What the fuck?” Diego says, staring around them at the way everything suddenly seems like it’s two dimensional, the complete and utter lack of any movement flattening the world around him weirdly.

“I know you are about to do something really fucking stupid, Diego, but I need you to stop and think for a second,” Five says. He sounds a little out of breath and strained.

“Have you stopped time?” Diego almost shouts, incredulous.

“Yes, but I won’t be able to hold onto this for very long so I need you to understand that there’s nothing we can do to help her right now!”

Five almost tips forward at the force with which Diego pulls his arm free from his grip. He’d like to punch the little twerp for saying something so aggravating, but he already looks like he’s standing on shaky legs, so Diego balls his hands into fists in frustration and stares his oldest brother down.

“Don’t be so dramatic, idiot! We’ll come back for her, okay? But for now, we can’t let dad know that we know who she is or give him any information about her. What do you think he’s going to do if he finds out about the Commission? It’s too dangerous for us. And I presume for Lila, too. So, Diego, I need you to let this go!”

Five barely finishes his sentence when everything starts up again.

It feels like a tidal wave crashes in on him as air begins flowing around him again and low humming noises that he would not have noticed before assault his senses.

His father is saying something but Diego can’t hear what it is because Lila, apparently not unconscious, lifts her head and looks right at him.

Diego’s chest feels like someone has cracked it open and his heart has fallen out.

There are spots of red on the gag in her mouth, and dried blood is running from the corner of her mouth down her chin. Her lip is split but that’s not where the blood is coming from, and the top of one of her cheekbones is bruised red and purple and looks slightly swollen.

He doesn’t quite know how he sees it, because he can’t actually tear his eyes away from hers, but he registers that her knuckles are bloodied and bruised and he can guess that the rest of her body is no better but it’s covered in a long sleeved black top and matching pants. Her feet are bare, though.

Even if he wanted to ignore Five’s instructions, he’s not sure he could make his limbs move to go towards her, rooted to the spot by the intensity of Lila’s eyes on him, as she struggles against the cuffs holding her arms and legs to the chair. Her shouts and screams are muffled by the gag, but Diego still thinks he can hear her calling his name, begging him to help her.

He feels sick.

He is staring at Lila and is willing her to use Five’s powers to teleport out of there. He doesn’t even care if she disappears again, as long as she gets away from these ruthless so-called superheroes and his dangerous father. Diego realizes at that moment that some part of him never actually expected to see her again. He thinks he could live with her disappearing for good this time, if only it means that she’s no longer here, in his psychopathic father’s torture chamber, getting interrogated because she made the mistake to come after him.

“She was quite the handful,” Reginald explains, “it seems she has powers of her own. But I have injected her with a mild sedative of my own design that will continue to suppress her powers until we have decided what to do with her.”

Diego’s eyes flit from his father back to Lila and he can feel his heart simultaneously hammering in his throat and the pit of his stomach. His ears are ringing. And once again he is unable to protect someone who is so important to him, like Eudora, like Mom, and in that moment he can feel his eyes stinging with tears that he has to hold back if they don’t want to tip their father off.

“Well, can’t say I’ve seen this woman before, I wouldn’t know why she was asking for us,” Five says, his tone so casual that Diego would almost believe him if he didn’t know it was a complete lie.

“Diego?” Five turns to him, one eyebrow quirked up in question.

His tongue is sticking to the roof of his mouth and his throat is seizing up completely. And all he can do is watch Lila struggling, stare her down, and try as best as he can to communicate to her that this is not real, that they will come back for her, that he made her a promise of family and that they won’t leave her behind.

“Apparently he doesn’t know who she is either.” Five has gotten impatient next to him, waves a hand in what seems to be half a shrug and also half a non-verbal see? and turns back to Reginald.

“If that’s all, I think we’d best be getting back to our siblings. You understand, we’re still reeling a little from arriving in this very unrecognizable time.”

Five doesn’t wait for an answer, instead he turns around towards the door, grabs Diego by the elbow and the last thing he sees as he’s dragged out towards the elevator by his much smaller brother, is Lila beginning to struggle frantically and his father’s very skeptical look.

For some incomprehensible reason they aren’t stopped from leaving the mansion and they only get to round the first corner before Diego doubles over, hands on his knees, and dry heaves into the gutter.

-

Five wants them to wait another day before they go back to the academy to grab Lila as he expects the Sparrows to be on high alert after their visit today, but Diego explains in no uncertain terms that he is going back tonight, with or without his siblings’ help, and even Allison backs him up when she hears about the obvious signs of torture.

The plan is that Diego, Allison, and Five, the best trained at stealth combat out of all of them, go to the mansion, while Luther, Klaus, and Vanya cause a distraction in a different part of the city, hoping to create at least a small window where some or all of the Sparrows are out of the house.

That actually works significantly better than any of them could have expected. Or Reginald knows they’re coming and doesn’t care, and right now, neither does Diego, because for some reason Five blinks into the mansion and only a minute later blinks back out into the alley that they are hiding in, just about able to support a very unconscious Lila for long enough to set her halfway gently down onto the dirty ground.

Diego is by their side in a flash, hands nervously hovering over her body, eventually deciding on supporting her head and stroking the hair out of her slack face.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What did he do to her?” he’s whispering frantically, not actually expecting an answer, but Five pipes up and says, “Oh yeah, that was me.”

Diego freezes and then slowly turns to look up at his brother, thinking he must have misheard.

“What’d you say?” he asks, deliberately making his question sound as threatening as possible, though Allison’s hand that lands heavily on his shoulder does take a little bit of the wind out of his sails.

“Diego, we have no idea why she came here. For all we know she came to finish the job and kill us all -” Diego opens his mouth to protest, but Five just holds up a hand and maybe because Allison squeezes hers on his shoulder, half in warning and half in support, he lets Five finish.

“I just want to make sure we know what we're dealing with and that we’re properly prepared for whatever that might be.”

Diego can actually see the logic in that, it’s not like he hasn’t got good reasons to distrust Lila, but it still doesn’t sit right with him, not after the promise they all made.

So he huffs in annoyance as he snakes his arms under her knees and shoulders and lifts her up easily, maneuvering her until her head is lying against his shoulder, gentle breath tickling his neck, and he is struck by how quickly he’s forgotten how small and skinny she really is with how energetic and forceful she is when awake.

Diego thinks he doesn’t ever want to see her this vulnerable again, but nevertheless the feel of her body against his is an instant comfort for his nerves that have been pulled taut since he first laid eyes on her this afternoon.

-

Diego is livid with his siblings as he paces the tiny floor space in the motel room.

It’s just him and Klaus and Lila, still unconscious, lying on the bed, both wrists cuffed to the frame.

Five’s idea again. All of the siblings whose powers Lila could use to escape have taken their leave while Klaus has been left in charge of the key to the cuffs, because Diego can apparently not be trusted with them. And Five seems to believe Diego wouldn’t go through Klaus to get to them.

He’s thinking for probably the thirtieth time in about as many minutes that he might just like to prove Five wrong on that one, when Lila begins to stir and mumble incoherently.

Klaus, who’s been doing an impressive job of ignoring Diego’s hyperactive fury, stubs out his cigarette and glides over to the foot of the bed where Diego is standing, frozen to the spot, watching Lila come around.

“You fucker!” she says, finally, when she’s managed to pull herself half upright against the headboard where the cuffs are also attached to the decorative cut-outs in the wood.

Diego stares at her, now completely incapable of saying anything.

“You left me to rot in that fucking torture chamber!” she shouts at him then, thrusting her torso forwards as far as she can go to put more force behind her accusation.

That jolts Diego into action and he tries to rush out an explanation when Klaus just talks over him, and Diego is really beginning to resent that, but his brother seems completely unbothered.

“Are you here to murder us, missy?” Klaus asks in the voice of a not particularly strict school matron.

“I fucking might, now! All that talk about family and then you abandon me to those psychopaths! I know you have daddy issues, but I didn’t know you have no fucking spine when it comes to that monster!” She's jangling the cuffs aggressively and Diego’s stomach twists, both at her words but also at how the cold metal is digging into the already reddened skin at her wrists.

“So you’re not here to kill us?” Klaus tries again and it’s almost like he’s cut Lila’s strings with his perfectly even, practically friendly question.

She falls back against the headboard, turns her head away from them, deflated, and says quietly, “no.”

“You wanna hurt any of us?” Klaus adds.

“Yeah, I really do, but I won’t,” Lila grumbles off to the side, clearly more drained than she first let on.

“Wunderbar!” Klaus exclaims and then tosses the key to the handcuffs up in the air and when Diego manages to catch them, only fumbling a little, because this is not what he expected, Klaus is already halfway to the door.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” he shouts over his shoulder as he leaves and slams the door shut behind him and after all of his angry and frantic struggle to get Lila back to their motel and have her wake up, Diego wishes Klaus hadn’t left.

Because, what’s he supposed to do now?

He’s given a clue when Lila shifts, doesn’t look at him, but the motion makes her cuffs clatter against the bed and Diego decides that whatever else he needs to do, the first thing is to let her out of the handcuffs.

He makes his way around the bed, sits down on the edge and leans over her to unlock the cuffs.

Lila doesn’t look at him, just pulls her arms back down now that she has her full motion and cradles her hands against her chest protectively.

Diego notices that her eyes are shining but she’s not blinking very much, probably holding back tears and now he knows even less what he’s supposed to say.

On instinct he thinks that if he can’t talk about things, maybe there’s at least something more immediate he can fix and he gently pulls her hands away from her to inspect her wrists.

Lila lets him, but still doesn’t really acknowledge him.

The skin there is reddened but doesn’t look raw, so Diego rubs it carefully with his thumbs and when Lila flinches he sets her hands into her lap, just glad that she’s not quite so curled up into herself anymore.

He takes a look at her face, they haven’t yet taken care of the cuts and bruising on her cheek and lip. There’s even still the line of dried blood down the side of her mouth.

Momentarily grateful that that gives him something to do, Diego gets up and swiftly makes his way to the small bathroom. He picks up one of the fresh white towels and runs it under lukewarm water and then grabs their meager first aid supplies on his way back into the room.

When he comes back in, Lila is busy cleaning dirt - probably dried blood - out from under her fingernails, but she looks up at him and while it had bothered him before that she was avoiding his eyes, he now feels like the skin on his entire body is heating up as she won’t look away.

Diego sits back down on the side of the bed and half expects her to take the wetted towel and scrub her face with it herself, but instead she is just waiting, chin tilted up a tiny bit, as if in challenge.

Never one to back down, he nods, not quite sure what he’s agreeing with, and lifts the towel up to her face to gingerly wipe the dried blood off.

“You just left me there!” she says coldly and Diego lets his hand drop again.

“We didn’t have a choice...” That sounds like a feeble excuse even to his own ears and Diego drops his head with a sigh.

“Was that some kind of fucked up retaliation for when I left at the barn?” Lila shoots back immediately, sounding far more angry than before.

“What? No!” Diego’s head snaps up to look at her. She’s baring her teeth furiously, the slight pink blotches from where he wasn’t able to properly clean the blood off her face making her look almost wild, but her eyes are shining brightly again and Diego suddenly feels a lump forming in his throat.

“No, Lila! We couldn’t risk my dad finding out about the Commission, if he thought he could have gotten that kind of information out of you, I can’t think about what he might have done! But I didn’t want to leave you there like that, I swear. I was going to help you! I tried to, but Five stopped me!” He’s desperate to get her to understand that the last thing he wanted to do was abandon her after everything she’s been through.

“Well that would have been pretty stupid!”

Lila’s interjection completely stops him in his tracks and Diego can’t help but stare at her a little dumbfounded.

“What?” he says, looking her dead in the eye, her expression a mixture of annoyance and exasperation, but also softer than before.

“Your idiot hero complex could have fucked us all over, huh?” she adds, and Diego is just about to argue when his protest dies away in his throat as Lila moves to tuck a strand of his hair behind his ear and then leaves her hand at the side of his face.

All the tension Diego’s been holding since he first saw Lila tied to that chair, or possibly even earlier, possibly since he saw her disappear out of Sissy’s barn, seeps out of him and he leans heavily against her hand, eyes closing with how drained he suddenly feels.

“You came back for me,” Lila says and Diego doesn’t know how to respond to that other than to cover her hand with his own.

He feels the mattress shift and then without warning her lips press against his and he makes a strangled, involuntary noise at the back of his throat as the intensity of the relief he feels then, for Lila being safe, for her being back with him, is almost painful.

Diego wraps his arms around her and pulls her against himself, deepening their kiss carefully, not wanting to be too forceful considering her injured state, but Lila presses into him hungrily, so Diego tightens his grip on her and very much plans to never let go again.

[dawnwriterimagines]

Stay with Me: Luther Hargreeves

Request: So, instead of Allison, Vanya ends up hurting the reader, Number Eight, instead. Who's also dating Luther, Number One, and when he finds Allison and reader, reader is dying. Lot of Angst please! Love your writing! Warning(s): Lots of Angst, Blood, Grief, etc.

"Do you think Diego will be ok?"

Allison looked at you as she drove the car down the road, smiling softly, "Of course he will, don't worry," she placed her right hand on your lap, the other tight on the steering wheel. "He'll be fine. He's got connections there, I'm sure he'll talk his way out of this too."

You breathed a small sigh of amusement before sitting back into your seat. "Your right," you nodded before looking back to the road, holding the police report tightly. "So, how long do you think it'll take to get to Vanya?"

Allison bit her bottom lip, "I'm not sure, maybe a few hours. You can take the last few hours, I've got it from here," she looked to the road, keeping focus and pushing her foot to the gas at she merged onto a highway. "You should get some rest."

You pressed your lips together nervously, nodding as you turned to your window, watching the trees pass by, the midnight sky with its beaming stars. The same ones you used to watch illuminate the roof of the Academy you both grew up in, Luther and you used to watch them late at night. Sneaking up to the rooftop when everyone else was asleep, sometimes falling asleep in his arms under the moonlight.

Everything had changed when Luther went to the moon, he was gone for four years and you tried to move on, you focused more on your ballet career, kept tabs on Vanya, dated back and forth but nothing lasted. Then, Luther came back, you were so...so angry at him, he had left you here and if father hadn't died you knew he'd be gone for years more. But he wooed you, he kissed you and held you just like before, he missed you deeply, kissing you hard the moment he had seen you in the hallway, holding you close and sweeping you off your feet as if he had never left. Under the stars of the night, he told you about the moon, how he had your picture at his bed stand, how he had a second chair next to his to watch the sun rise while he imagined you beside him.

On the rooftop is where you both had your first kiss, under the stars. You almost regretted leaving Luther to retrieve Vanya without saying anything, but you needed to get to Vanya, she was in trouble and you had to know that she was okay.

Vanya and you had always been close when you were young, even up to adulthood, until the publishing of her book which not only tore a rift between her and the other but you as well. It was harsh, Vanya even regretted writing those words about her beloved (y/n), but it was too late to take any of it back. And yet, you had embraced Vanya, the only one she could confide in for years despite the cruel reminder everytime you saw the book she had written in the window of the book store. But still, you loved your sister, you supported her through her first violin audition to her first performance.

She even had a concert coming up, she had told you earlier and you had been so excited for her, she was going out with Leonard later that day. How you wish now that you had stopped her, maybe took her out for dinner to celebrate getting first chair, maybe listened to her play Violin, you've always loved the 'Phantom of the Opera'. But, it wasn't too late, you could still get her back home, still make up for all that lost time. So, as you closed your eye's, you breathed softly and thought back to simpler times.

●

Finding a cop that knew Allison Hargreeves and was a big fan of your sisters work was quite the adventure, you were very tempted to leave the man behind as he freaked out every 10 minutes on her various roles. You gave Allison a look as he walked you both through the hospital while talking about her latest movie. Allison enjoyed the attention at some points but today wasn't one of those days as she sighed, exasperated. Luckily, you both met a nurse that recognized Vanya's picture from the back cover of her book, "Yeah, her and Mr.Peabody left earlier," the nurse nodded before heading back behind her desk, something about a missing patient.

"They must've been here when we stopped by the house," Allison looked at you, you nodded before smiling widely as now we understood we had had to go back to the cabin.

"Thank you," you smiled at the nurse before beginning to walk off, "We've gotta go, now." Allison nodded before following you.

The officer however stopped us, "Hey, wait! No, stay right here! I'll go for back up," he said, quickly turning around to jog down the hallway back to his patrol car.

You sighed heavily but Allison took your arm, "We can't wait for him, we need to keep going. We can do this on our own," Allison assured you, pulling you along before you were walking beside her.

"Yeah, you're right." The two of you were quickly making your way back to the cabin of Leonard Peabody, so close to getting back to your sister and then all this madness will be over.

●

Luther took another lazy swig of his third beer, slamming it back down onto the table, an audible crack in the wooden table following. The faint sound of pool balls slamming against the edges of the pool tables behind him, the low hum of music above him as the slow song 'Yesterday' floats through the solemn pub. He stares down at the mug in his grip, his lips in a thin line as his mind wanders, humming lightly as a memory consumes him. His grip on the thick handle of his drink growing tighter until it breaks, the glass narrowly piercing his gloved hands.

"Why do you have to leave, Lu?"

He held you in bed, running a hand down your arm absently, "I...well, Dad says it's important. It's to save the world," he stated, he was doing something important, it could save lives, he was going to the moon to save the world. "You know that."

"Well, how long do you think you'll be gone?" You looked up at him, you didn't want to tell him how upset him leaving had made you but he could see it, "I mean...it's the moon, Luther."

Luther opened his mouth, closing it before opening it again, the same result, he didn't say anything. The truth was...he wasn't sure. Dad hadn't given him much to work with, only that he was gathering data samples in order to correctly protect the earth. He could be up there for months, years...maybe even..."I'm sure it's just a few months," he smiled, trying to assure you as he sat up, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

"But, what about France? You told me you'd come with me," you pulled away, sitting up with a frown. "I'm leaving for the ballet company in January for the semester, we could--we could start a new life there," you reached your hands out to him, placing your hands on his chest, running them up to his neck, to his jaw. "We could make the family we've always wanted."

Luther's eyes widened, you still wanted to have a family...with him? And he looked like this? Like a monster? "What--family?" He said it as if the thought disgusted him, but he didn't mean to say it like that, but he was alarmed, you couldn't want him like this.

You pulled your hands from him, surprised, your eye's wide in hurt. "W-what? We've always talked about it. Don't you still--?" You reached out to him once more. "Lu?"

He stood quickly, you fall back onto the bed, sitting up, beginning to cave into yourself but he couldn't see this, he shook his head. "That's--that's what you wanted. I didn't--I couldn't--," he stopped himself upon seeing your face, your horrified expression, the tears pooling in your beautifully gleaming eyes. "No, no. (Y/n), babe, I don't mean it like that," he started before you began to quickly make your way out of the room. You sucked in a heavy breath, holding your stomach as you suddenly felt sick it his words, he followed you. "(Y/n)! (Y/n), please. You know that isn't what I meant, it's just--I mean, we can't!" He tried to explain but you then whipped around, angry tears running down your reddening cheeks that broke his heart at the sight of.

You put your hands on your head, taking your hair by the roots. "I don't need babies, Luther! I just want us to be a family! I want us to have a life beyond all of this!" You directed your hands around you, referring to the academy, you were ready to get away from it, ready to stop taking orders and live your life as your own person. "Why can't you let this all go?" You asked him, tears still dripping down your chin.

Luther couldn't understand how you could turn your back so easily on the only home you've ever known, where you'd both always be considered heroes because within these walls that's all that matters...saving the world. And that's all that Luther was concerned about, that's all he thought was worthwhile and when he did, when he saves the world, then you'd understand. How wrong he was... "I'm leaving tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be back, but I'm doing this for you. For us," he reached forwards, he looked down, sighing as you stepped back away from him.

You shook your head. "You don't need to go, Lu. You don't. You don't even know when you'll be back," you closed your eye's, covering your face, Luther's hands balled up fighting with himself. "I can't watch you go, Luther. Just stay. Stay with me," You begged him, you knew he wouldn't be coming back for a long time but he had the opportunity to drop it all and run away with you from all of this. Make friends, build a life for himself, a home, be with you. "Don't go, Lu."

But he made the worst mistake of his life.

"I'm sorry, (y/n)." Luther brought his hands up to his face, running his palms down his jaw as he sucked in a hopeless breath. He messed everything up with you by going up to the moon, god, he wished more than anything that he could take it all back. He had wasted so many years...so many memories...so much time he could've spent...

The audible ding of the pub's opening doorway elicited his attention, pulling him away from his thoughts, he looks up, his expression darkening upon seeing his brothers entering. He frown's deciding to take another bitter swig of his beer, Diego comes up beside him and takes a seat. "Trying alittle hair of the dog, are we? Hm?" Klaus asked, sarcastically, although sympathetically taking the seat at the table in front.

"Leave me alone," Luther sighs.

Diego waves his brothers off. "Give us a minute."

Klaus shrugs but Five sighs, annoyed at the hindrance of time. "Okay. Come on," Klaus says to Five. "Maybe they'll brood each other to death." Luther doesn't react, Diego rolls his eyes as the two move to sit across from them, watching carefully.

"Look, Dad was wrong to lie to you," Diego started. "To all of us."

Luther's tired of hearing how much Dad had taken from all of them, he's suffered through the old man's abuse like all of them and he's had enough go talking about him. "Look," he interrupted. "I did my time, all right?" He frowned, "four years up there, watching and waiting because he said the world needed me," he looks back down at his mug, bringing it up before he realized he'd already broken it.

He sighs opening his palm, glass shards falling from his hands. Diego watches them drop, raising a brow. "All that time wasted...I--you know...you know me and (y/n) were gonna go to France? Run away together, start a life together. A family," Luther humorlessly chuckles at the fondness of a false memory. Diego's shoulders drop, his expression softening as his brother continued. "But no," Luther takes the fourth mug from the corner of the table taking a heated drink from the glass, "I pushed her away and...and I've lost all that time I could've had with her," Luther drags a hand over his head, taking a shaky breath. "Four years of nothing but soy paste and processed air. Because I was naive enough to believe that Dad's don't lie to their kids," Luther sneers down at his beer, before tossing it away, it flies into the side wall and shatters. "But guess what? The jokes on me."

Diego presses his lips together in a thin line, then looking towards his brothers at the other side of the room, who stay silent.

"I'm done," Luther said. "With all of it. With him. With you. With this family. You wanna save the world? You go right ahead." He scoffs, "I'm fine to sit here, finish my beer...then maybe I'll just finally get those tickets to Paris for (y/n) before the world goes to shit." He then glances at Diego, eyes narrowed. "Where is she anyway? Where's (y/n), why isn't she with you?"

Diego cranks his head to the side, "Oh? Now you're concerned about her? I thought this family didn't matter to you," Diego snickered, Luther glaring at his brother. "Well, we got ahold of Harold Jenkins' police file. Turns out Vanya's boyfriend is a convinced murderer," Luther raises a brow in surprise. "Who would've saw that one coming? Alittle hard to trust anyone who wears a corduroy." Diego shrugs.

Luther's eyes narrow. "Wait, so...where's (y/n) now? Allison?"

"Well, they decided to go after Harold Jenkins." Diego's eyes flicker up to Luther's knowing full well that he's got the man in his grip now. "Alone."

Luther's eyes widen, then he gaps at his brother in disbelief. "Why didn't you just start with that?!" He hauls himself to his feet, annoyed now to have been wasting so much time when you're currently in danger. Everyone else follows Luther's lead, backing up as Luther rips the glass door open, glass shattering as it hits the back wall. All of the brothers race out of the pub towards the running car, Five getting into the drivers seat and speeding off.

●

You both had found Vanya, the winds had picked up, the trees were practically shaking with vibrations as Vanya's beautiful violin flows through the house outside and through the air. It's glorious, you climb the steps absently, looking across the sky and around the cabin as it feels as though sound is physically moving through the air. And when you both open the door, you realize...it's from Vanya.

Allison doesn't wait, everything spills out and it's too fast for Vanya to process. It hurts to see your sisters reality crumble and you wish you could've broken it down slower, given her more time to understand. But it's all out in the open now.

"It just--it just doesn't make any sense," Vanya put her hands to her head, squeezing her eyes shut as she sank down into the arm chair. You quickly walked over, Allison kneeling down in front of Vanya. Vanya sniffles as you run a hand through her hair, your thumb brushing over her forehead in a comforting manner. You take her hand to which she holds it tight, "And this power...I--I don't know. I don't know what's going on." She sucks in a breath, scared of her new abilities and the process. "I don't know what to do."

"Hey, Vee," Vanya leans into your chest as you cradle the side of her face, rubbing her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry, ok?" You move a few messy strands from her face as you lean down to look at her, giving her the best smile you can muster. "We'll figure this out together, yeah?" Vanya's face brightened alittle, nodding with you. "We're here for you. You're not alone in this. This is amazing, Vanya," you laughed to brighten her mood as you smiled brightly at her, "I knew you've always had a power, of course you did. It only made sense," she held your hands tighter, her eyes glistening as she sniffled with a tiny laugh.

"You knew I was special?" She wondered.

Your gaze softened before you reached out with your right hand, caressing the side of her face, she leans into your touch, melting. "Oh, Vee," you hummed. "You've always been special." She seems to only cry harder, leaning her head against yours, then nodding as she finally begins to accept the position she was in. She needed her family, she needed you. She'd forget about Leonard Peabody if it meant she could finally feel normal again and understand what this all was inside her. You'd help her, she knew you would.

"It all makes sense now..." Vanya and you turn to look at Allison who seems to come to a horrifying realization as her eyes narrow and her expression twists. "I didn't understand then..." Allison begins, a hand to her temple. "When we were four, Dad told us you were sick. You had to be isolated. We were so young, none of us knew to question," her head is low, she glances at you, to which your eye's narrow in confusion. "But then, he asked me to do something I never understood...until now." ....I heard a rumor...you think you're just Ordinary. "He made me an accomplice." Your eye's are wide in shock, your expression changing to sadness as you feel Vanya stiffen in your grip. Allison can't look at either of you, her eyes held low to the ground, guiltily recalling her past actions.

Vanya can't do anything but stare at Allison, her heart stops at the realization. "You did this to me?"

Allison looks up, opening her mouth before closing it. "I-..I didn't realize..."

"You knew all this time...that I had powers!" Vanya rips her hands away, standing to her feet, bow and violin in hand. "Vanya!" You cried out to her worriedly.

"No, no! I didn't really understand until I came today, until I saw it!" Allison defends.

Vanya scoffs, turning. "Well, now it all makes sense. This is why you never wanted me around!"

"What? No!"

"Vanya, just listen,"" you reach out, the betrayed woman turns turns to you, her eyes narrowing in hurt.

"Did you know? Did you know about this?" She gestures to Allison.

"Of course I didn't, Vanya. I wouldn't keep this from you, just let her explain," you said, the dark haired woman seems to calm slightly at your words but the moment she looks back at Allison she seems to lose it.

"Then what was it, Allison? You couldn't risk me threatening your place in the house, your--your dominance." Vanya over thinks, different scenarios popping into her head, each worse then the last.

"That is not true!"

"You couldn't handle the fact that dad might find me special!"

Allison shakes her head. "You are special Vanya! With or without powers!"

"Don't--Don't say that!" Vanya yells.

"We have a chance to start over." Allison begins.

"You destroyed my life!" Vanya screams, your eye's widen at her outburst.

"Oh, please, Vanya. Everything is out in the open. We can move on!" Allison extends her arms around her, speaking carelessly.

You put a hand out, "Stop, no. Vanya, we know this is alot, we can talk all of this through. I promise, we can get through all of this," you try to assure her. "We'll be better than this."

"We can finally start over," Allison adds.

Vanya shakes her head. "Oh, I'm moving on. But, not with you, with Leonard."

"You mean Harold?" Allison corrected.

"No! With Leonard!" Vanya seethed. "The only person who has ever loved me for me!" You frowned, your heart clenching at the state of your sister, how distraught and conflicted she seemed.

Allison scoffs, a disapproving curve of her lips irks Vanya.

You look away, knowing this will all get worse. "Allison, I think--I think you should go."

She looks at you like your crazy, alittle hurt. "What? You think you can control her better than I can?" She asks sarcastically. "She's taking everything out of proportion." Vanya's fists ball up, the tuning of the silverware and Allison's own voice echoes through her ears, resonating through her body.

"And you're making things worse!" You harshly whisper, beginning to pull her out to the back door. "I don't think you should stay, just wait in the car till--," she snatches her hand from your grip, you sigh heavily.

Vanya steps forwards, looking straight at Allison as she turns. "Look me in the eye," she glares. "And tell me you're not threatened now." The winds pick up in the room, the windows remain closed, a low breeze runs through your hair and the cabin rumbles. There's a low whistle in the air that makes the both of you pause to look around before it all points to Vanya.

"I don't wanna argue with you," Allison starts, feigning ignorance of the situation.

"Then go!" Vanya screams.

The blinds of the curtains hit the glass violently, you jump in surprise. "Vanya, calm down."

"I'm only trying to help," Allison tries.

"I don't want your help!" Vanya roars, angrily, her emotions spike and the winds grow violent.

"Vanya, I love you!" Allison confesses, trying to get through to the woman as she glares menacingly.

"STOP SAYING THAT!"

The room seems to shake, the windows shutter as if on the verge of breaking, wood splinters as sound waves pass in and out. Allison looks around, you keep your eyes on Vanya but she can't look at you, almost ashamed of her uncontrollable power, then she shakes violently. "Are you ok?" Allison asks, worriedly.

"I SAID GO!" The light above shatters, three bulbs going out, dimming the room while two remain to keep it bright. You both gasp, covering your heads, you lift a hand, a thin white barrier waves over you both and the glass bounces off around you.

Your eye's soften, your eye's filling with tears. "Vanya, I know you're scared. But, we we can help you. We won't let anything happen to you, please, just calm down."

Vanya turns on you, her skin almost as pale as a sheet of paper. "You said you love me, (y/n), then prove it! Come with me, and Leonard! Come with me and you can teach me, we can be a family!" She sniffles, her face wet with freshly she'd tears as she reaches out to you. Your hand reaches for Vanya's, she's your family, you won't abandon her for anything, you could protect her from Harold and take her back home if you did go with her. It would be okay.

Allison pulls you back. "Are you crazy?! Stop this, Vanya!" Vanya's eyes darken, she takes a heavy breath that's followed by a stunning wave of air, Allison pants, her own eyes tearing up as for once she's afraid for her life. "Please don't make me do this!" She begs. Vanya breathes deeply, her eyes narrowing before she understands. "I heard a rumor--"

You don't understand how you knew, but as Vanya raised her hand, her bow in a tight grip and a visible swirl of air looping through the opening, you knew something was happening. Your hand goes up, you don't think to cover yourself up, your hand waving an intricate pattern and your barrier is springing up in front of Allison. Sound, however, can travel felt one place to the next, bouncing off the walls and that's exactly what it does, the violent wave of energy meets your barrier and curves. It breaks off, Allison's gasps as something pierces through the nape of her neck, she covers it with her hand looking at a stunned Vanya. Until they hear you gasp.

You don't feel it at first, not until the blood forces it's way through the clean slice through your chest up to your neck, you stumble, your hands dropping. You curve over, your hand over your chest, you whimper before gasping harshly as you try to catch your breath. Both your sisters scream, running over to you, Allison stumbles as blood fills the incision to her neck, catching you in her arms and into her lap.

"No! Ah, no!" Vanya cries ad you fall to your knees, her hands on your shoulder's as you fall backwards. Your eye's wide as blood pools along your chest, you choke back a gasp of pain, Allison strokes your face, her eyes tearing up in horror, unable to speak. "No! No, please! (Y/n)! (Y/n)! No! I didn't--I didn't mean too!" She shook her head, pressing her hand down onto the bloody slit through your chest. "Please, no! No! I love you! I love you, I'm sorry!" She cried, Vanya sobbed harder, screaming, horrified horrified at her actions. "Oh, (y/n)! No! Pleaee, somebody help! Help!" She cries harder as blood leaks from between your lips, blood filling you rope throat, but still your hand shakily climbs her shoulder, she takes your open hand and she's sobs uncontrollably as you press your palm onto her cheek, even now trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She looks up at Allison, who's sobbing just as hard, the cut having missed her hardly but cut into the side of her neck, she couldn't bring herself to speak, her vocal chords stretching painfully. "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it! Please, (y/n), I'm sorry!" Vanya presses her hands into your chest, but blood leaks from between her fingers and she caves into herself, hyperventilating.

"Vanya, wait--!" Leonard-- Harold Jenkins storms into the cabins, the door swinging open. But, he finds a surprising scene, his lips tilting up in glee for a second before he attempts to hide it as Vanya turns to him. She screams out to him, desperation written across her face, he walks closer seeing your bleeding out form below her. His smile fades slightly, you had been nice to him when he was younger, the only one who had attempted to be his friend until he killed his father. Now, you were bleeding out on his floor, he guessed it was always the good ones that went first, this was the plan, kill the Academy. "You did what you had to."

"Please--please get help! Get help! (Y-y/n), I didn't--I didn't mean too! Please, Leonard!" Vanya sobs, your eye's cross, you gasp for breath, your hand begins to slip from Vanya's. "No! No! NOO! LEONARD, GET HELP! HELP ME!" She sucks in a heavy, painful breath. "Please!"

Leonard, however is doing the opposite. Quickly taking Vanya's bag and Violin in hand, her blood-stained bow making its way into his palm. Allison notices this, opening her mouth before instead reaching out to take Vanya's arm, her eyes glare meaningfully into hers, Allison shook violently, if Vanya leaves she would never be able able to forgive her. But, with a harsh yank to her feet, Leonard is taking Vanya by the arm, "We've gotta go now! We have to go!"

"Oh, no, no..." Vanya pulls away, but is pulled off once again. Allison attempts to scream, crying out with a soft whimper of pain ass she tries, tears streaming down her face, she sniffles, holding you close as your body drains of blood. Desperately trying to stop it with the cotton sweater you were wearing but it had already soaked through. "Please! Please, no! I can't tell just leave them! I can't, leonard! Noo! No! No! No!" Leonard holds tight to Vanya before she becomes convinced someone will truly be after her, then reluctantly following. Crying harshly as she bangs along the windows, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! (Y/n)! I didn't mean too! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She screams until they get to the car, driving off, where she stares at her blood-stained hands the entire trip. Only one thing on her mind, that would destroy her everytime: I killed (y/n)...

[benscursedkid]

synopsis: being a twin is hard, but maybe diego can help with that.

pairing: lyubomira andreeva x diego caplan

genre: just lots of fluff :))

a/n: the first finished product from my followers special! to my other winners, there really isn’t an order in which I’m doing these, just whichever I feel like in the moment until one of them is ready. also, I’m sorry for the delay, I was much busier this week than I planned. 💙

tag: 1/2 of @blubxtch request!! lyubka belongs to her!

It was rather cold.

With the fall beginning to bleed into winter, the air seems to be thinning and the world appears to be losing its color. Preparing for the chill the passing of the seasons will bring, Lyubka is starting to regret not bringing an extra layer to practice.

“Andreeva!” The Captain shouts, successfully gaining the Hufflepuff’s attention. “You remember the plunge play?”

Lyubka nods.

“Good,” He says and her grip on her broom tightens. “Then do it.”

Their newest recruit, a third year chaser, readies himself for the onslaught. He shivers involuntarily, pressing his lips firmly together to stop his teeth from chattering. She offers him a reassuring smile before launching off.

He holds himself well, executioning the dive almost flawlessly. Cadmus, she remembers his name was. After having watched them going through their entire playbook on multiple occasions, it seems as though he’s finally ready to prove himself.

Their captain gives him a curt nod of acknowledgement, the slight attention brings a smile to his face, dimples poking into his numb cheeks. As for herself, Lyubka offers him a stiff thumbs up. His smile widens.

They continue on, going over each of their plays for the next match, Lyubka’s focus sharp and concentrated. It’s only when a certain flash of gold meets her eyes that she takes pause.

Diego. He sits in his usual spot, in the middle of the temporarily empty stands, nose buried into his characteristic striped scarf. When she catches his eye, he waves, his fingers wiggling effortlessly in a flirty hello.

She tries to scoff, but the corners of her mouth betray her, unable to restrain from smirking back in kind. Well, she assumes he’s smirking, not that she can actually tell with that scarf.

It’s another half hour before the captain calls it a day and a chorus of relieved groans erupt from the players. Landing their brooms, they disappear into the lockers, more than ready to be out of their sweaty practice gear.

Lyubka steps out, feeling the sharp chill that permeates the air nip at her uncovered cheeks. Her hands begin to shake and she pulls them up to her mouth to blow hot air across them. Rubbing them together, she starts on her usual trek up to the stands to join Diego.

“You know,” She calls upon reaching her destination, having pulled her practice gloves back on for some form of warmth. She sits down to his left. “I’m the one who expels all my energy in practice. The least you could do is meet me down there.”

Diego grins, all soft angles and bright eyes. “But the view up here is so much better.”

She arches a bemused eyebrow. “It’s just the Quidditch pitch.”

The boy sighs, dragging out an unopened water bottle from his bag, passing it to her instinctually. “Come on, I know you’re a Quidditch star,” He jests, and she pauses with the water halfway to her mouth, smiling. “But surely even you can see past the stands.”

Her head tilts in thought. Truthfully, she’s not sure she ever has. It’s not as though she physically can’t see beyond the pitch, she’s just never given herself reason too. A right shame, if she’s honest.

So, taking a quick gulp from her water, she closes it and finally casts a look around the place.

With the castle being off in the direction behind her, she finds the pitch surrounded on all sides by thick forest. Large trees and vast green grass spreads out for miles, brought even more to life by the setting sun, getting closer and closer to the horizon. The sky pales, a calm before the storm so to speak, before the vibrant colors tear through it.

“See?” Diego winks, pulling out a bag of snacks, offering her a cookie that no doubt came from Penny. “Told you it’s worth it.”

Lyubka returns the expression. “I suppose you’re right.”

“But you do have a point,” At her questioning look, he sighs and sets his food aside. “You work hard and I should be more considerate.”

The brunette shakes her head, her hand reaching out to lay across his arm of its own accord. “Diego, you come out here every practice to keep me company and hydrated,” She proves this by shaking the water bottle he’d given her. “No matter the weather, no matter the time, no matter whatever else is going on. You come and that’s more than enough.”

“But I could do more,” Before she can protest, he holds up a hand, silently asking for permission to continue. She gives it. “I just wish you wouldn’t work yourself so hard, Lyubka. You’re already exceptional, you could stand a rest every now and again. Between Quidditch, the vaults, and everyone else’s problems, you’re wearing yourself thin.”

Lyubka shrinks, knowing he’s right. It’s always been a habit of hers, second nature, to take on everything that she can. Sometimes she forgets that she has a limit.

Diego hesitates beside her, but eventually unwraps his scarf from around his neck. Instead, he drapes it across her shoulders. Her instincts tell her to fight it, insist he should keep it, but with the soft way his eyes shine with the kind of satisfaction only selfless kindness can give, she decides against it.

It’s soft against her skin, warm, and smells starkly like mint and honey.

“I don’t know if it’s any of my business,” Diego murmurs, voice slightly more clear without the scarf. “But is there a reason behind that?”

“Behind what?”

He shrugs as if unable to find the words. “Your, uh.. competitive streak?” He asks slowly, testing the sentence on his tongue.

“Competitive streak?” She gasps dramatically, though it’s a half effort.

A low chuckle sounds from his throat. “What else can you call it?” She ponders this for a moment but, as expected, comes up short. “See?”

A lull drifts in the conversation, the two of them falling quiet. But thankfully, much to Lyubka’s relief, it is not uncomfortable. She feels like she doesn’t need words. It would be impossible for them to compare to the ache in the apples of her cheeks whenever she seeks his company. Or the constricting of her chest whenever he looks at her with those eyes, full of passion and mirth and genuine interest. It’s nice, she thinks, to feel this way.

After all she’s gone through at Hogwarts, all the chaos and adventure, it’s refreshing to have someone who puts her at peace whom she can come back to. Truth be told, she wasn’t certain she’d even have the opportunity for something as trivial and exciting as a crush. Makes her almost feel her own age. For once, she has the chance to be normal.

But she will never be normal.

“It’s a bad habit, my competitiveness,” She explains and Diego nods from beside her, passing her a pretzel. She smiles. “I think it’s a twin thing.” She wrinkles her nose.

“Why do you say that?” He asks, a sincere curiosity lacing his tone.

“Well, when people are always pitting you against someone, it becomes second nature to try and prove yourself.”

She turns to him now, and her breath catches in her throat.

It seems that she had not taken into account the bleeding sun. The rich hues and vibrant shades of yellow and orange and gold strung out across the skyline. Currently, the sun is barely peeking out behind distant hills, bidding the beautiful land a dutiful farewell.

Yet all her focus is on Diego. The halo of golden light surrounds him as if the strands couldn’t help but to touch him, bask gratefully in his presence. Whisks of amber cast a warm glow across his expectant expression, his face a radiant canvas for their natural works of art. For who could ever find a muse better than him?

The image before her is a stark contrast to the chill around her and she’s suddenly unsure exactly how it happened.

His brown eyes crinkle with a knowing smirk and she looks away to hide the flush in her cheeks that is in no way related to the cold.

“That doesn’t seem very fair,” He remarks and a small chuckle escapes her.

“It’s not,” she sighs, a frown tugging at her lips. “It’s hard to be my own person sometimes. I can never just be Lyubka, or even Lyubomira Andreeva. It’s always Lyubka and Bori or Bori and Lyubka. People are always comparing us. If Bori can do something, I’m expected to be able to do it too and at the same level of expertise.”

“And if not?”

“Then it makes me weak,” The very thought, and all her pent up frustration, almost pulls pinpricks to her eyes. She blinks them back. “Or thick and dull and just altogether… less. And my family does not settle for less.”

He doesn’t speak, sensing that she isn’t finished. He doesn’t have to wait long. “It’s not usually the kind of thing that would bother me,” She admits, voice wavering. “But when you spend all your time with someone, only to never measure up..?”

“It’s enough to drive anyone mad.” Diego finishes and her eyes snap to him.

Atanas.

Will he become the measure by which all Andreevi are judged? She worries about this on nights where her brain is tired yet sleep does not grace her. Will people look at her and see Bori? Or will they catch her eye and think of Atanas?

Will she ever be Lyubka?

Is she destined to be just another branch on her family tree?

“Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Diego whistles, giving her a sideways glance. “I know tons of things she can do that you can’t.”

She blinks. Once. Twice.

Come again?

“For example,” He starts, seemingly oblivious to her entire reaction. “Liz tells me that she can sleep for hours into the day if left undisturbed! And that she can never remember where she leaves her wand. Also, did you know she never laughs at my jokes?”

For a moment he appears so absolutely offended, Lyubka can’t help but laugh. It bubbles from her throat unbidden and soon Diego is joining her. The sound twinkles pleasantly in her ears like wind chimes.

“What was that about?” She questions after the laughter has died down, unable to help herself.

For a moment, he stutters, and Lyubka swears the red of his cheeks match hers.

He shrugs, trying his best to appear nonchalant. “I don’t know. I guess I just wanted you to know that what you can and can’t do makes you you,” His shoulders raise as he takes a deep breath and laces their fingers together, an all too earnest look in his eyes. “And just so you know, there’s so much that you can do that she can’t.”

“Like what?” She hears herself ask before she even registers she’s speaking.

“She doesn’t practice dueling with me, or sneak down into the kitchens to swipe some midnight snacks,” The words leave his mouth in a flurry of jumbled thoughts, but really, when have genuine emotions ever made sense? “Bori can’t challenge me like you can, or see me the way you do. She can’t make me smile or make me lost in thought like you do…”

Diego reaches out a hand to tuck a stray strand of hair she hadn’t even realized was there behind her ear. He allows it to linger there. She doesn’t push him away. “She can never be you, Lyubka.”

Neither of them are quite sure who leaned in first, but suddenly his lips miss hers. They land centimeters away, on her cheek. Her eyes flutter shut as her heart skips uncontrollably. His lips, soft and chilled on her hot face, move slightly closer, catching just the corner of her mouth. Hers twitch as if they want to pull into a smile but are too preoccupied with other thoughts to do so.

Suddenly, he stops. His eyes wander up her face until they find hers and without any pretense, Lyubka leans forward.

He kisses her softly, gently, but in earnest and with the vigor of someone who has ached to do something for a very long time. The entire world around them falls away until Diego Caplan is the only thing in her mind. She smiles into his mouth.

They pull apart and Diego grins in disbelief. “Yeah,” He drawls, his cheeks a pretty pink. “I don’t think Bori could do that either.”

She laughs and pulls him in, her arms wrapping around his neck as the sun finally sets beyond them.

[carewyncromwell]

[After showing Merula the cursed corridor, Carewyn decided the next step was to practice dueling spells that could come in handy when dealing with a non-human opponent. Merula had seemed reluctant to return to the Forbidden Forest and insisted on having “her dueling instructor,” Diego, come with them. Fortunately Carewyn liked Diego enough that she readily agreed to the terms, so the three headed out to the Forest together.

After a bit of a trek, they arrived in the Forest Grove and, as Carewyn had hoped, ran into her old friend, Torvus.]

“*smiling broadly* It’s good to see you too, Torvus. How have you been? Have you been able to return to your camp?”

Torvus: “Yes. My herd welcomed me back after I returned the restored arrowhead and completed a series of tasks. And you? Was the Sleepwalking Curse broken when you returned to Hogwarts?”

[Carewyn’s smile faded, but she kept her face soft despite its solemnity. She didn’t want to project how worried she was.]

“Yes...but I’m afraid another curse has replaced it. It’s been trapping students in the castle portraits.”

[Torvus’s eyebrows came together tightly over his eyes.]

Torvus: “That sounds awful. So then you are searching for another Cursed Vault in the Forbidden Forest?”

“No. We’re actually not sure where the vault is yet -- but we do have a lead.”

[The word “friends” made Carewyn bristle slightly.]

Oh, come on! When I thought someone would have to be an idiot to think Merula and I were friends, I wasn’t trying to insult Torvus!

[Carewyn glanced out the side of her eye at Merula and Diego. Both of them were facing Torvus, but they were both close enough that they would definitely hear her response.]

I do consider Diego a friend -- I mean, how could I not, after he helped me fight that troll? But it seems kind of callous to go out of my way to say that Merula’s not my friend, even if it’s true...

[She resisted the urge to sigh in aggravation.]

There’s no point in dwelling on the word choice -- just accept it and move on --

“...Yes.”

[Torvus, for his part, didn’t seem to notice Carewyn’s halfheartedness.]

Torvus: “I remember you, Merula Snyde. You, however...”

[Diego straightened up slightly, his mouth spreading into one of his classic dashing smiles.]

Oh my GOD, Diego -- you’re giving Torvus the sleepy eyes too!?

[Carewyn felt her mouth drop open in an amused, shocked grin, forcing herself not to let the laughter shuddering through her make any sound.

Torvus looked rather taken aback as well.]

Torvus: “Are you always so...bold?”

[Carewyn was forced to cover her mouth with one hand to contain the giggling that wanted to bust out of her. Merula rolled her eyes.]

Merula: “Yeah, he’s like this with everyone.”

[Diego looked from Merula and Carewyn to Torvus, surprised by their reactions and almost looking a bit sheepish.]

Diego: “I’m a friendly wizard, that’s all! And I’ve never met a centaur!”

[Carewyn forced down her laughter, though she could still feel her cheeks flushed with amusement as she lowered her hand away from her broad grin.]

“...Hn...well...I doubt you’ll meet a better one than Torvus. I never would’ve been able to break the curse on the Vault out here if it weren’t for his help.”

[Torvus inclined his head respectfully.]

Torvus: “You are most kind, Carewyn. So tell me -- how can I help you prepare to enter this new Cursed Vault?”

[Carewyn crossed her arms seriously.]

“...According to what Rakepick has said, I think there’s a strong chance that Merula and I might encounter a dragon in this Vault -- ”

[Carewyn gave a halfhearted, uncomfortable chuckle.]

“...So I do.”

Not by choice...oh, Jacob, you better get me a damn great present for all of these stupid things I’ve had to do to try to get to you...!

[Torvus looked rather solemn as well.]

Torvus: “Dueling a dragon is very serious...and very dangerous, as well.”

[Carewyn’s eyes softened grimly.]

“...I know. But that’s why Merula and I need to be prepared...and I thought that dueling with a strong beast like you would be a good place to start. If it’s all right with you, of course.”

Torvus: “Of course, Carewyn. I would be happy to help.”

[Taking out her wand, Carewyn glanced at Merula out the side of her eye.]

“I’ll go first, Merula -- then it’ll be your turn.”

[Merula looked very startled.]

[Carewyn couldn’t completely fight back a grin at Diego’s excited interjection, but she gave Merula a rather beady glare.]

“Merula, you agreed that I’d train you so you’d feel prepared to go into the Cursed Vault. Dueling Torvus is part of that training.”

[She faced Torvus and bowed, just like she would in a regular duel. Torvus bowed in return, his right arm coming up against his chest as he lowered his upper half.]

“Torvus -- don’t go easy on me. I need you to give me your all, if I’m going to be ready.”

Torvus: “If you’re certain that is what you wish, Carewyn...then I won’t hold back.”

[Carewyn smiled widely.]

“I’m sure.”

[Diego stepped back a few paces, his gaze drifting from Carewyn to Torvus as he raised both hands.]

Diego: “Let the duel commence on three. One -- two -- three!”

[Both Carewyn and Torvus struck in unison. Torvus shot an arrow, which Carewyn quickly deflected with a Shield Charm, before he charged right at her, rearing back onto his back legs. Carewyn leapt back and crouched, trying to evade his kicking feet as she raised her wand.]

“Incarcerous!”

[Several black ropes shot from her wand and wound around Torvus’s legs to bind them together. The centaur fell back, losing his balance, and Carewyn ran forward, her wand aloft.]

“Flipend -- ugh!”

[Torvus used his still-bound legs to kick up some dirt, lodging it right into Carewyn’s eyes and blinding her. Her Knockback Jinx missed its target, colliding with a tree in the distance.

Carewyn wiped her eyes on her sleeve, blinking frantically to try to get the dirt out of her eyes, and Torvus took the opportunity to cut himself free with one of his sharpest arrows.]

Torvus: “Your skills have improved, Carewyn!”

[The centaur galloped forward, holding three arrows in one hand as he swiped at her. Carewyn ducked, running past Torvus so that she was now behind him.]

“Ugh -- you too!”

[Tears still prickling at the corner of her irritated eyes, she raised her wand.]

“Fumos!”

[A heavy smoke screen covered the scene, obscuring both Torvus and Carewyn from view. Carewyn took the opportunity to better clean the dirt out of her eyes.

Unfortunately, the smoke screen did not seem to slow Torvus down much: he galloped forward blindly, peering through the smoke for familiar shapes. Carewyn looked up in time to see the shape of the centaur coming towards her as he fired more arrows -- one actually managed to swipe right through her hair and grazed her face, just below her left ear.]

“Ack!”

Diego: “Carewyn!?”

[Carewyn caught the sound of Diego’s concerned voice on the other side of the fading smokescreen. She could feel a wide line of blood trailing down her cheek. Her eyes narrowing sharply, she quickly swiped the side of her face with the back of her hand to temporarily halt the flow, leaping out of the way again to escape Torvus’s next few arrows.]

Can’t disarm Torvus exactly, since he doesn’t have a wand -- but I reckon those arrows have got to go, if I’m going to get close enough to aim properly --

[Carewyn dug her heels into the dirt as Torvus charged at her again. Then, at the last minute, she dashed sharply to the right, pointing her wand at Torvus’s quiver of arrows.]

“Diffindo!”

[The strap attaching the quiver to Torvus’s back snapped. Because Torvus was still mid-run, the quiver was flung off his back and out of his reach.]

“Bombarda!”

[The force of Carewyn’s spell catapulted Torvus off his feet, slamming him backward into a tree with a loud THUD.]

Torvus: “Ugh!”

[Before Torvus could fully get up, Carewyn scampered forward, raising her wand again.]

“Petrificus Totalus!”

[At once, Torvus’s limbs seized up at his sides, making him unable to move. Carewyn came up to him, pointing her wand squarely at his chest to signal her victory, even as she gasped for breath.]

“...Hah...I...win.”

[Diego dashed forward, his face flushed with excitement and something oddly like relief.]

Diego: “Well done, Carewyn! It’s the dueling lessons I’ve given you, no doubt!”

[Merula ran over too, her face oddly pale.]

Merula: “Cromwell -- are you bleeding?”

“I’m fine...”

[Still gasping for air, Carewyn adjusted her wand still pointing at Torvus.]

“....Finite Incantantem.”

[With the Full-Body Bind deactivated, Torvus sidled back up onto his feet.]

“Are...you all right, Torvus?”

Torvus: “Yes...”

[He glanced around until he caught sight of his quiver on the ground, and he clopped over to go pick it up.]

Torvus: “I’m sorry for the injury to your face, Carewyn -- I thought to aim for your shoulder, but I miscalculated because of the fog...”

[Merula looked scandalized.]

Merula: “That’s supposed to make it better?!”

[Carewyn shook her head, swallowing as she finally caught her breath.]

“It’s fine, Merula -- Madame Pomfrey would’ve been able to heal a shoulder wound. And I asked Torvus to go all out -- after all, any dragon we face isn’t going to go easy on us, either.” 

Merula: “Thanks for that reminder.”

[Despite her cynical expression, however, she took out her own wand and faced Torvus.]

Merula: “All right, it’s my turn now! Get ready for the most Powerful Witch at Hogwarts!”

[Once Merula and Torvus’s duel had started, Carewyn sat down on a nearby tree root to watch. Diego came over to sit beside her, bringing his wand up to the side of her face.]

Diego: “Here...let me help you with that. Episkey.”

[Carewyn felt the stinging wound on her cheek sealing up and fading. She smiled at Diego.]

“Thanks. Now all I have to do is worry about getting the blood out of my shirt...”

What a pain.

[Merula’s duel didn’t last much longer than Carewn’s, but by the end, she seemed to be getting frustrated. Torvus was able to keep Merula from getting too close thanks to his arrows, so her spells weren’t landing the way they should have. Then, out of nowhere, Torvus reared at Merula, catapulting her backward, and Torvus pointed his bow and arrow at her chest the same way Carewyn had pointed her wand at his, signalling the duel had ended.

Carewyn and Diego both hurried forward, but Merula snapped at them defensively.]

Merula: “Stand back! I want to try again!”

[But Carewyn shook her head.]

“Don’t worry about it.”

[Sensing that Merula would try to debate the issue, Carewyn quickly added,]

“Really -- it’s my fault. I should’ve prepared you more beforehand. Fighting a centaur is different than fighting a wizard. We’ll just try something else.”

Torvus: “...You and Merula will be stronger together than you would be divided. I learned my lesson the hard way, being exiled from my herd...and I appreciate Firenze and the other centaurs all the more, now that I am back in the fold.”

[Carewyn frowned slightly.]

“So...you think Merula and I should’ve dueled you together?”

Diego: “But of course! After all, we dueled that troll together, didn’t we? Dueling is a dance -- once you have trust in your partner, then you can support each other and do things one could never do alone.”

[Torvus gave Diego a bemused look.]

Torvus: “You are an interesting human, Diego Caplan...but yes. You’d be less exhausted, Carewyn, and Merula less frustrated, if you had teamed up against me -- and you will need a formidable team to break this latest curse.”

[Carewyn had to admit that Torvus had a point...though she really couldn’t envision herself dueling well side-by-side with Merula. Dueling with Diego had actually been rather exciting in its own weird way, since they’d had to sort of predict each other’s moves and build on each other’s strategies, but Carewyn couldn’t see her and Merula being able to team up like that.

Merula seemed to agree.]

[Carewyn smiled wryly.]

“Well, then perhaps my next training idea might be more up your alley.”

---->To Be Continued...

(OOC: GAH, this took forever to write out!! It was so fun to see Torvus again, though! And I will always be happy for more Diego content. ^.^)

[aesthyuckic]

AVENOIR | l.dh - SEX

(gif not mine - credits to rightful owner)

Genre: High School AU (at beginning) ; Tarot Reader!Witch!Hyuck

Word Count: 2.5k

Warnings: (for future chapters will bold if in use) belief contradictions, mentions of r*pe, blood, swearing, violence, mentions of abuse, slow but with a purpose

Pairings: Lee Donghyuck (Haechan) x Reader (F)

ACE OF PENTACLES - opportunity, prosperity, new venture

They had been in San Diego for quite some time now. Everyday seemed the same in the way they lived. Wake up, hang out at the beach in hope of getting money from tourist, wait until sunset to work on the streets, get something to eat and preferably find a cheap motel room. It’s not at all what Donghyuck signed up for and he was starting to really regret his decision.

He looked back at the past few months with Cosimia. He found it difficult to get close to her, not just mentally or spiritually but also physically. He remembered there was one time after they had just arrived here that they were in the store, getting something to eat. When he tried to tap her shoulder to ask her something, she flinched away from him. There was that familiar sense of fright in her eyes. They always tried to get a motel room because they hated the homeless shelters and due to money, they only got one bed rooms. She would never sleep in the bed if he was there. She would lay on floor if she had to, or go outside. It was only recently that she would get in with him and even then, she was practically teetering on the edge.

He understood the weird behavior was due to what she experienced in that deceivingly happy orange house. Nevertheless, it didn’t help him because he felt like he was doing something wrong. He never asked her about anything of it, mostly because he didn’t know how. As it was, it was hard to get close to her on that level but it was easier than anything else.

People walked around them in swimsuits while eating ice cream. They sat on the warm sand of the spring day, under a big umbrella. It was good for shade but didn’t do much for the still hot air that surrounded them. The tarot card box rested next to the boy while he sat back on his hands. His sunglasses didn’t do much to keep the glare from the light reflecting off the sand from blinding him. He looked to his left to see the girl sitting on the sand who was attempting to build a sand sculpture.

He questioned how she could seem so content at their current situation. They hadn’t eaten anything, nor did they have any money as of the moment. He envied it as he scrunched his nose.

“You lied to me.” He muttered, aloud as he turned his attention to the sea to avoid eye contact.

“About what?” She asked.

“The night we left, when I asked you if we’d be okay and you said we would.” He reminded her.

“I didn’t lie. I said we’d be okay, I never stated a time as to when.”

“I hate you.”

“Please, if you hated me, you know full well you could’ve left by now and gone back.”

It was true, they had discussed it multiple times. Donghyuck could go back home, whenever, if he wished. She made it clear she wouldn’t go back with him though. She had given him plenty of opportunities to leave and continued to do so but he still stuck by her anyway.

“Besides, this is okay to me...” She mumbled.

“How?” He huffed. “This sucks!”

“It’s just much better than what it was like a few months ago... I feel freer, like I can breath and just be. Not all of us had parents that loved us.”

He noticed his blood start to boil at her words. She wasn’t wrong, in fact, she was right, she was always right. He did grow up in a loving home it’s just he was overworked to an extreme. He just hated the way it sounded like his life was so much better than hers. He had a short temper, and honestly, he had no reason to get upset about but he did. He was just stressed out from their living situation. He stood up, looking like a child who just got done throwing a tantrum.

“I’m gonna go find seashells or something.” He frowned before stomping away from their spot on the beach.

“Have fun with that!” She yelled as he continued to stomp further and further away.

She rolled her eyes and let out a sigh as she still played with the sand. She didn’t chase after him, only because they had disagreements and arguments countless times. He always came back but he only went away to think anyway. He would always come back and remain silent, which was odd for him but it’s because he knew he overreacted, sometimes he was in the wrong.

He had come back around sun set. A pout occupied his lips as he walked up to the girl that sat on the towel under the umbrella that no longer protected from the sun. He thought she looked pretty under the golden hour light which broke his pout. She noticed the few seashells he cradled in his arms. He straightened his posture as he saw the look on her face.

“What? I said I was gonna collect shells or something...” He mumbled as he walked pasted her to sit on the other side of the towel.

“I never said anything about it.” She responded.

“Yeah, but you were thinking about it.” He muttered.

He got up shortly after only to take their umbrella down as the sun set. He didn’t say anything else or even look at her as he did so. She started to help with packing and assuming Donghyuck wanted the shells he collected, she wrapped them up, gently, in the towel. She put it away in a backpack that they had to shared, making sure they wouldn’t get crushed and ruined. He was already standing up with the umbrella on his shoulder as she finally slung the backpack over one of her own.

They walked into the streets together but didn’t stray far from the place they were staring to call their closest sense of home. They went into one of the sketchy and messy alleyways to pull out a foldable table onto the side walk. They also dragged out a few milk crates for seats along with the table. Cosimia was the one to grab a piece of crumbled paper from the bottom of the backpack. She uncrumbled the piece of paper to reveal words written in red marker. She taped it to the front of the table before sitting down next to the boy.

‘Tarot and Psychic Readings, 5$’ the sign read. No one seemed attracted by it though, not this evening anyway. Countless tourists and teenagers walked pasted them on the busy Saturday evening. Eventually, a couple of people had stopped by for a reading. Donghyuck was finishing up the second one for tonight. He smiled out of politeness and bid the elderly lady a goodbye and thank you.

“Do you think we’ll be able to get a motel room tonight?” He asked as he handed the money over to the girl.

“Maybe, it’s still early...” She shrugged. “We’ll have to get chicken nuggets or something from the Loop again though.”

“Please, no,” He groaned. “It’s gas station food, I throw up every time!”

“We don’t have a lot of money right now...”

“We never do.”

It became very quiet between the two of them. Though, the sounds of the city helped the air from getting too awkward. Some conversation, muffled music and sirens kept their minds occupied. He turned his attention toward Cosimia to see a frown on her face as she looked down at the dirty side walk with her arms crossed.

“I just hate the way we’ve been living since we’ve left, that’s all.” He admitted while playing with his fingers. “It stresses me out and I thought this was going to be fun...”

“Me too,” She nodded. “But we’ll be okay soon.”

“You say that,” He started. “But I’m not sure if it’s true. Yeah, you say you can predict the future and all but how do I know you’re not lying? I’m eighteen in three months and that’s really scary to me... If things don’t get better between now and then, I wanna go home but I don’t want to leave you here by yourself. It’s not just dangerous for you, but me. We’re still kids and you’ll still be one by the time June comes around. Literally some creep could snatch you up off the street and no one would ever see you again.”

“You really don’t think I can take care of myself? If you want to leave, then go, that’s your choice but you’re not dragging me back with you if you do.”

“But-“

“No buts, Haechan, our lives were very different and you don’t know what mine was like. I worked hard to earn that money to get down here and I let you tag along. I told you earlier I was happier here, in this moment, regardless of how shitty it may be. Doesn’t that say something?”

He never sees that part of her often. The last time she snapped like that was the night they left and she had every right to. For the most part, she was quiet and calm. He thought he’d seen tears prick at her eyes after she yelled at him. He hadn’t seen her cry for months but he felt extremely guilty because of it. Maybe it was because he knew if what his eyes had told him were true, it was his fault, he shouldn’t have gotten into it like that... He meant well, though...

“The cops are coming,” She uttered. “Help me get the table before they get here.”

She was quick to grab the makeshift sign off the front of the table and shove it into the backpack. They folded the table up and rushed into the alleyway with it. They kicked their crates to the sides, out of the way. They stood in silence under the yellow light of street lamps. A dog barked in the distance but it didn’t do much to ease the thick air.

He wanted to say something but it was most definitely the worst time to do so. The cop car came from around the corner, the blue and red lights flashed down the brick walls of the alleyway. Truthfully, they could’ve better spent their time than taking down illegal setups and such. The two watched as the car slowly cruised by until it disappeared down the street.

“They won’t be back for awhile.” She informed him as she grabbed her end of the table.

They brought the table back out into the side walk and grabbed the crates to sit on once again. He noticed she was sitting further away from him before and while she was generally a quiet person, the silence given to him was scary. He could tell she was upset, unsure if it was with him or with the things he said. He got upset with her too but over stupid things, so, it was fair. Their personalities clashed often but he guessed it improved their relationship and kept things interesting.

A lady with platinum blonde hair approached their table. She was nicely dressed and with no doubt pretty. She stood tall in her black heels that contrasted with the frilly, white lace top she wore. She seemed like a tourist, only by the way she seemed so excited to be there. The young woman talked to Cosimia in Spanish. Donghyuck was only able to pick up a few words here and there. He only understood the action of the blonde sliding a five dollar bill to his friend on the other side of table.

Cosimia smiled, kindly at the lady after she pocketed the bill. She took the lady’s hand and looked up with her. Judging by the smile on the blonde’s face, she was saying sweet things. Though, everything was quick to fade when the young girl’s expression drop and she let go of the customer’s hand. Her own hands grip the edge of the table as she took deep breaths.

“¿Qué pasa?” The young women asked, seeming concerned for the girl.

“Nada, nada.” She reassured her before she continued with the reading.

She said minimum things to the customer after the weird moment. Though it was obvious something was wrong, the blonde was still sent away with a smile on her face. He wish he payed attention in Spanish class to know what she had said.

“What was that about?” Donghyuck asked.

“She’s doing to die...” She sighed. “In a place crash on the way back to Spain. Her girlfriend was going to propose to her as soon as she got back, too. I only told her the part about her girlfriend proposing, though.”

“What?!” He exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say something about it then?!”

“If I told her it wouldn’t do anything, anyway!” She frowned. “I can’t prevent things no matter how hard I try, I can only predict. Even if she did know and avoided getting on that flight, she would still die somehow. If you’re meant to die at a certain time, it happens. The only thing telling her would’ve done was change the timeline of how things happened. If things change like that, I can’t see anything.”

“How are you ever able to tell the future again if that happens to the timeline?”

“It’s like a ripple in a pond, it eases eventually. How long it takes depends on how big the thing was that caused it, you know? I don’t do it or at least, try to not do it often. I need to see what’s coming, I’m not use to things bring unclear.”

“So, did you know I was coming with you?”

“Yeah, I did. I don’t know what would’ve happened to you if I did mess with the timeline.”

“Do you know everything that will happen? With us, I mean.”

“Yeah, I do. I only see the important things and no, I can’t tell you anything. If I tell you anything I’m not suppose to I know and it will mess things up for me.”

There was an abrupt slam on the table that both startled them. They looked to see a black, gloved hand on the table. A tall, rather handsome looking young man towered in front of him. He wore white glasses with black shades despite it being night. His hair was dark and slightly wavy. His lips were plump as well. He finally took off his glasses which revealed sharp eyes. He smiled at them.

“You’re a psychic?” He asked.

“This some American Horror Story shit.” Donghyuck leaned over to whisper to Cosimia.

[cacpartmobile]

sparc! interviews Teaching Artist, Maddu Huacuja

"I know what's in my heart and what's on my mind and I start creating images and have a conversation with the canvas."

This interview took place on the Zoom platform on June 10, 2020 Ekua: I want to introduce Maddu Huacuja, who is a friend, an esteemed artist, a very passionate involved community member who works with sparc! as a lead artist for our Paint Nights - along with many other things that she does with sparc! She attends and participates in Paint Jazz, she's done community based murals for Paint Salsa, so she's a part of our family.

We thought we would start our series by interviewing her with maybe some questions that I had and maybe some questions that you also had.

So welcome Maddu.

Maddu: Thank you it’s a pleasure to see your face.

Ekua: My first question for you Maddu, was how do you begin a painting?

Maddu: *chuckles* First I take a nap, after my canvas is ready I go to sleep in the studio.

Doesn't matter what time it is, day or night. I just lie down. I guess it’s a meditation but I feel like I’m dreaming the painting first and then I just make a mark anywhere on the canvas, just to break the whiteness of it. I generally have a vague idea of what I am going to paint. I never have a finished sketch or anything like that, it’s a general idea. I know what's in my heart and what's on my mind and I start creating images and have a conversation with the canvas.

Ekua: I think that's very admirable, given the beauty of your work. Another thing that I think is very admirable is how large you are able to work sometimes. Can you tell me, why do you work large, what's important about working large to you?

Maddu: Even though I seem like a very calm person and I am, I need to be moving. So the large canvas - I can move from one end to the other. Sometimes I have to get on a ladder or a step stool, and then I really feel like an artist, but I like the movement. I feel that if I’m moving the image moves. I also always have music playing, often loud and active music. I have a lot of different music. I put it on a roll and the mood of the song or piece moves me in a certain way, so that becomes part of my imagery. I feel like the movement is really important. I don’t want to paint a painting that isn’t moving.

Ekua: So you're not sitting down, you're not standing in one spot, you're moving around that canvas. Do you work in oil or acrylic, what kind of mediums do you use?

Maddu: I often mix acrylic with drawing. I rarely work with oil. I think again because of the movement, acrylic is faster, but I do like oils. Everytime I think about it I'm like, “Oh I want to paint with oils”. But when I get to the studio it’s like I’m in acrylic. I like having a bucket of water near me, maybe that’s all it is.

Ekua: Well It certainly does dry faster, which allows you to move through a very large painting a little bit faster. Do you feel that your subject matter is in a particular area that you don’t really stray from? Is your storytelling about a particular kind of story or do you move around? How would you describe that aspect of your artwork?

Maddu: It’s not a decision, it's sort of how it works out. My focus is mostly… well, I do a lot of abstract but also I don’t know if I’m mostly figurative. When I do figurative work I am focused on people that “don’t matter”, either symbolically or specific people. For instance years ago there was a massacre in Mexico and all these men were murdered and the women were left as widows and the children were all orphaned. They were very poor to begin with. So they went to the local city hall to make a statement to try to get help, etcetera. There was a tiny photograph in the magazine of these women with their babies and every single one of them was barefoot, and I decided to paint their portraits. As I was painting I was like, “Why am I doing this, here in the United States no one even heard of this place, let alone cared about it?” I just thought, “Well If I don’t do it nobody is going to do it” and it seemed important to me. So I struggled through all those toes and little baby feet. It was in the show that you saw at the Roxbury Community College gallery many years later. So sometimes an event that touches me is my theme. I think I am very connected to my Mexican roots, so it's not just in the events that happen but in my image making. It really is part of my DNA; the colors, the kind of images I create. I think it is influenced a great deal from my childhood in a city that was thriving: vibrant with public art, murals everywhere, beautiful fresco murals, with the famous three muralists Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros , José Clemente Orozco. And also by Frida Kahlo's work. My mother was a painter, so even though she wasn’t painting I knew she had been a painter and her oils were in the closet. So, you know, it just became part of who I am. I think that still comes through. Sometimes my focus is specifically on women.

Ekua: So we mentioned RCC as the sight of one of your exhibitions. I know recently you’ve been spending some time over at Bunker Hill Community College and you had an opportunity to do some teaching. I am wondering how you feel teaching influences your artwork or has an impact on your artwork. Working with young artists, not just young artists but artists that you are mentoring within a classroom setting or within a community arts setting like sparc! the ArtMobile. How does that seep into your consciousness or into your work?

Maddu: I love teaching. I enjoy teaching spanish or art. I like all ages, so sparc! in particular is perfect for what I love because you have 2 year olds and 82 year olds and everything in between. I think teaching is fun, and as far as what I paint it’s freeing, it just loosens my hands, my mind. At Bunker Hill most of the teaching I did was around the exhibition that was up. It was called Open the Way and it was up from October through the end of February. So it was a long stretch and a lot of classes came in, and I learned a lot about my painting from my teaching these students.It was fascinating because, particularly in Bunker Hill, there's a really international student body. Every time there was a class there were at least 10 countries represented and several continents. It was very interesting because I said in one class that in a previous class people were not speaking up, and a student from the African continent, I don’t remember which country, it might have been Ghana, said “That’s because they are being polite. You don’t just speak in front of your elders.” I was like, “Oh.” I was humbled by that. Also, about my paintings, they saw things and told me things about how the work affected them and what they saw in it. That was wonderful for me to hear, really an eye opener for me.

Ekua: That’s so interesting that you can learn about your art from a viewer.

Maddu: Yes, totally.

Ekua: Revelations about the richness of your own artwork.

Maddu: Yes, I wish that I could have recorded everything that was said. Of course nothing was recorded and I always regret that I didn’t take half an hour afterwards to write down the things that I heard. That’s something that I definitely want to make part of my practice.

Ekua: When you're teaching at an event like Paint Night, and you have this audience from 2 to 92 and everything in between, do you come in with one sort of thing that you want everyone to leave with?  You know some people obviously have more skill with painting. Children are interested in mixing all the paints together and sticking their hand in it. Everybody’s entering from a different standpoint, but what do you as an artist hope to impart as a takeaway for each person?

Maddu: You know, the didactic part of me wants them to learn one thing at least. Even if it’s just what blue and red make, or something. I really want them to learn how to use a brush. There's always something that is very gratifying for me that they learn. But mostly, I usually come after my day job to a Paint Night because they are always on a Monday night, and very often I am like, “God, how am I going to make it through this class?” I’m so tired and my mind is mush and I get there and I just get this energy from sparc!. From all the helpers that are amazing, and without it I wouldn't do it, and from the students because they come with their own positive energy. So I hope they leave the class like I leave the class, which is feeling really happy. You know it’s uplifting to me to do the class. I figure if they are happy they are going to like art because it is a happy experience, and so I like them to feel good about what they did, and about themselves. I like to bring each kid up and show his work or her work and introduce themselves, and say something about the painting, which I think is a good thing regardless of what you’re teaching or what they are learning. Just to be able to get up in front of a group of people that they mostly don’t know and introduce themselves and speak up. It leads me to my other piece of my art and being an artist is, in this time - where I feel we are on the brink of many things - I think it’s really important for people to speak up. If they learn to speak up, to say “Hello! I’m over here and I have this much to say!” and to be able to say it. I think if they learned that we have accomplished something

Ekua: I totally agree with that. You know, initially I thought people would be very shy about getting up and talking about their work, but the overall atmosphere of a Paint Night seems like an environment where people feel comfortable, safe and feel welcomed. Little kids or people who have never spoken before a crowd get up and talk about their painting. They receive so much warmth and appreciation. I think it's such a key part of the Paint Night experience and I believe that you are the artist who started doing that, and now it has become a part of our best practices. So thank you.

Maddu: I’m very happy to hear that. I remember one kid in particular - putting her on a chair because she was so tiny. ”You stand over here and show everybody.” It’s like 45-60 people in the room, and it's a wave of “Aww that’s beautiful, that's wonderful!” Clapping. “Congratulations!” And the kid just seems to overcome their shyness. So yeah, I love it.

Ekua: Well I am sure you know we miss being able to do our Paint Nights this semester and we are looking at an uncertain fall. We don’t know if we will be able to be together in that room with 50-60 people. We will have to create something new. If you were speaking to some of the folks at home, sheltering at home during this pandemic, how would you encourage them to bring more creativity into their life - even though they aren't at a Paint Night, or they might not even have paints or supplies. Is there anything you can share with them about your life as a creative maker that they can apply to their lives now?

Maddu: I think the only way anything gets done is if you make room for it, and that goes for everything. So we tend to give prime importance to our job. You have to be there by 9 o’clock no matter what happens there you are. But when it comes to our own personal stuff we tend to give it less importance, like going to your exercise class or going to your studio seems to be less important - but it really isn't. I think the only way, particularly when we are sitting around and no one’s telling us that we have to be anywhere, we have to initiate on our own.  “Today at noon I’m going to drop everything and go to my studio.” Or “I’m going to pull out my little art stuff.” Whatever you have at home, put on some music or tapes whatever it is that inspires you and motivates you and just do something. It doesn’t matter how much you get done for an hour - or maybe that’s stretching it.

Ekua: I guess that can even be dancing or singing. I mean it’s not necessarily all visual art but just the idea that each of us has a creative spirit that is longing for expression.

Maddu: Right. Or sit down and write for an hour regardless of if it's your masterpiece or not - or your future novel. I signed up online for an app called Ulysses that is a writing app. I love it because it is very intuitive and you just write. You don’t have to save or anything, whatever you write is saved automatically. You don’t have to format. So it makes it easy. You have to find ways to know yourself enough to make it happen for you, make it easy.

Ekua: Well here is my last question. I was in another zoom meeting the other day and someone said we need to reframe all of our work as social justice work. I thought that was really interesting to think about everything I do in the context of social justice. So as not just an artist but an arts activist, how would you apply that to your life in this sort of immediate time? Being an activist and reframing as a social justice activist?

Maddu: Well the fact that this is a pandemic and we are all locked down - but here we are. We can still influence and speak up through all the media. We all need to be political. There is no option. It's not like, “Oh I’m not into politics.” Everybody has to be into politics. Making art, the decision to create is, in my mind, a political statement. The one thing I would say is, vote at every level, not just for the presidential elections but all your local elections. Find out who your local representatives are, call them up. You can do that, it's not hard. Write letters if that is what you are prone to do. Again it's a matter of everybody has to act and find what it is that you deeply care about and act on that even if it is about saving polar bears. You know if it's about politics or if it's about...

Ekua: Global warming, climate change.

Maddu: Everything is so dire, you know.

Ekua: Mhm feels that way.

Maddu: If you just hold it in you're going to die, so just do something, do anything. And do it with somebody else. Join a group and see what is going on. Meet on zoom and see what people are talking about. Together we rise. I think it’s always been a crucial moment, but this one is really obvious. People are dying everyday, thousands of new people are sick. This is really life and death, and if we allow the current president another 4 years I dont know whats going to happen.

Ekua: Heaven help us.

Maddu: I mean really seriously it’s not even like “Oh I like this candidate or that candidate”. Forget that. I think everything you do to influence the social fabric and what's going is literally saving the world. Saving the world for our children, for our grandchildren, for ourselves. And if we let this moment pass it’s going to be that much harder.

Ekua: And all of the tools at our disposal include painting, poetry and dance - things that touch the heart and soul.

Maddu: Absolutely.

Ekua: So everybody can do something.

Maddu: Everybody! Children can do something. They can write letters.They can study. They can read books and find out their history, find out what's happened before. I also don’t mean everybody has to go around in a panic and freaking out. I think we need beauty, we need to feed our heart and our soul and our mind with poetry and beautiful paintings, or intense paintings. But it’s not just about the intensity, but about the beauty and the love.

Ekua: Love is at the center of everything good, I would say.

Maddu: I think Rumi said “Love is the bridge between you and everything else”.

Ekua: Like that! Well, I want to thank you for taking this time out to be with us. I’m sure you and I could talk for another hour at least but I want to keep it within a framable amount of time that people can squeeze in or listen to while they are painting or whatever. We don’t know what will happen in the fall but whatever we're doing Maddu, we know that you're going to be a part of it, in terms of sparc! the ArtMobile and the Center for Art and Community Partnerships. We thank you so much for being a part of our family, contributing to the beauty in the world, and we will be back in touch with you very, very soon.

Maddu: Thank you for everything you do, especially for this community. And I am a total fan. I think you're a hero.

Ekua: Thank you so much.

[ticklishfiend]

Fifty-Fingered Monster

Summary~ It's finally October 1st, and Allison reeeally wants to have a nice birthday dinner with all of her siblings. Five, however, is refusing to budge. Luckily, however, his siblings remember a little trick from their childhood to get him to do just about anything they want.

A/N : this is my first time posting a fic on Tumblr, but i’ve already posted this fic on my Ao3, so yeaaa. just decided to post it on here anyways since i made the blog lmao. enjoy !! xx

October 1st. It was the one day of the year that actually made all of the Hargreeves siblings similar for once. They hadn’t all been together for their birthday in forever, and Allison wasn’t about to let this opportunity just slide out of her grasp.

“We’re getting dinner tonight. End of discussion,” she crossed her arms, her “mom voice” crawling it’s way out of her throat and into the unsuspecting siblings’ ears.

“Oh come on, you can’t be serious. Let’s just order takeout or something. I’m really not interested in going somewhere ‘nice,’” Diego said, fingers in the air like quotation marks at the end of his sentence. Klaus hesitantly nodded his head in agreement, Ben hitting him in the shoulder unbeknownst to everyone around them.

“I hate to say it, Al, but I kinda agree with temper-tantrum over here,” Klaus said, pointing over towards a now annoyed Diego. “I just haven’t been somewhere ‘prestigious’ in quite the moment, and not really sure my first time back should be with a celebrity.”

“Well, I think it’s a great idea, Allison,” Vanya spoke up. “I mean, I never really got to celebrate my birthday with all of you guys growing up. I just think it’d be nice…” That made a sting of guilt shoot through everyone at once, almost instinctively making everyone agree with Allison. Almost everyone.

“I’m not going,” a voice said from across the room. A pair of legs were resting crossed on a coffee table, the rest of the body hidden behind a newspaper too large for the voice.

Allison groaned, “Five, are you serious right n-“

“Yes, I’m serious! Birthdays are an illusion to the mind, none of you could even comprehend how dumb they are. I’m not moving from this fucking chair.”

“Well, we’re all going, and we aren’t leaving without you. Right guys?” Allison turned towards the rest of the group, seeing a hesitant Diego among the crowd. She gave him the hardest stare Diego had ever been given. “I said, right guys?!”

“Y-Yeah. Right.”

“Dear sister of mine, I’m an assassin. Nothing you could ever do could get me out of this damn house to eat cake with you idiots.” That’s when they all heard Klaus giggling to himself from behind them.

“ Oh, my apologies all. It’s just Ben here just made the most remarkable comment,” Klaus suppressed another laugh before giggling to his side all over again. “You can’t just tell me you’ve all forgotten about how we used to make Five do stuff as children, right?” He looked to them all, not seeing any results of knowingness in their faces. He sighed a large breath of annoyance before reminding them all of an almost forgotten childhood memory. “Come on, you guys remember? The Fifty-Fingered Monster?” that name alone made 3 faces light up, 1 face turn completely confused, and another turn bright read.

“Excuse me, the what now?” Vanya said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Please, guys, you really don’t have to do this-“ Five breathed out, a small, very tiny grin appearing on his face that he wished he could smack off.

“Oh, Vanya doesn’t know!” Klaus excitedly let out, clapping his hands together like a child. “Tell her, Diego!”

“Five here is singlehandedly the most ticklish person we know, and to make him do shit as kids we’d tickle the pee out of him until he agreed to do so,” Diego grinned, now turning his body towards the small frame sitting in front of him. “You care to join, sis?”

Vanya was so excited. Not only was she about to participate in a sibling tradition she had never even heard of, but now she gets to tickle the snot out of her brother.

Everyone found their positions very quickly in front of their smaller brother, his eyes wide and terrified.

“Have you changed your mind on going yet?” Luther asked, his fingers in a claw-like position in front of him. Five sighed.

“Unfortunately…I have not.”

“Then you asked for this.”

All at once, everyone found their designated spot, Ben’s old spot being handed down to Vanya. Ben watched over everything unfolding and smiled to himself.

Luther, being the brawn of them all, grabbed Fives wrists with one hand, holding them above the top of the chair, while the other dug into his left armpit. Allison squeezed at his right side while Vanya had his left. Klaus gently scribbled his painted nails at his lower belly, while Diego had both knees to himself.

Five was absolutely dying. He laughed so hard his throat became almost sore, eyes scrunched so tight he could barely see his siblings tickling him nearly to death. His legs kicked out from Diego’s skilled fingers, but nothing ever came of it. His upper body wiggled from side to side as Vanya and Allison worked his sides, trying to get any sort of relief. Every once and a while Luther would squeeze up and down his ribs, eliciting shriek after shriek from the small being. Klaus wiggled his fingers in his bellybutton and his laughter went silent.

“You changed your mind yet?”

“Nehehever! You’re all derahahanged!” Five could hardly get his words out.

“Jesus, he’s just as ticklish as I remember,” Luther chuckled out, switching arms out to give his right armpit some attention. The squeal that left Five’s lips made them all giggle themselves.

“Hey, Diego? My fingers are growing ever so weak, d’you mind going in for the finisher so we can wrap this all up?” Klaus said, faking a pout.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Diego said.

“NO! WAHAIT! DON’T DO IT! PLEHEHEASE!” But no one listened to Five’s pleads of mirth. Instead, Diego began scribbling on the underside of Five’s thighs, knees, and calves. His body convulsed, giggles going so high-pitched Vanya swore only dogs could’ve heard it. “OKAY! OKAY! I GIHIHIVE! I PROMISE I’LL GOHOHOHO!”

Everyone jumped off their brother like nothing had even happened. Five curled up defensively in his chair, panting and giggling as he tried to regain his breath.

They walked out the door no more than 5 minutes later, Klaus poking Five in the side about every 15 steps. Vanya was stood beside Allison, and a question popped into her head.

“Hey, Al?”

“What’s up?” Allison said, looking over at her sister.

“Why didn’t Five just teleport away from us?” The question made Allison grin fondly, looking at her smaller brother yards in front of her dodging at Klaus’ prodding fingers.

“‘Cause he didn’t have a reason to.”

[howtohero]

#249 The Death of Your Nemesis

(Note: This is Part Two of a three part story. Part One. Part Three.)

Uh. Ok, so your nemesis has died. The person you’ve gone head to head with for years and years. The enemy of yours who, without fail, always strives to make things as personal as possible, is gone... Good! You’ll be better off, and the world will be better off with them. You can finally dedicate your time to dealing with more systemic ills in your neighborhood. No longer will you have to alienate everyone you love because there’s always the slim chance that on any given day your nemesis could discover who you are and take vengeance on your friends and family. When your nemesis dies, that’s a reason to party. You’re free of them! Forever! Huzzah! You may not have been able to kill them due to some complicated moral code that only allows you to kill their henchmen, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate their demise!

(Oooooook buddy, why don’t sit this one out. You’re going through a lot right now.)

I’m fine! Why shouldn’t I be fine! My nemesis, Dr. Brainwave, a convicted supervillain who was living, rent-free, in my basement, is dead. I’m free of him. I’m doing great!

(All right, totally. We can all see that you’re handling this with dignity and poise. Why don’t you let me deal with this one.)

Well I suppose I have been training you as my apprentice so that you could one day write blog posts on your own...

(Sure, that’s what our relationship is. So why don’t you go outside, take a breather, and let me handle today’s entry.

What the man says is true. Dr. Brainwave is dead and I guess, technically speaking, he was our nemesis. He’s threatened our lives more times than we count. {We are notoriously bad counters though.} He’s destroyed our home, our place of work, our garden filled with one-of-a-kind miracle veggies. {Immortality radishes, vampiric celery, tasty kale.} And yet, he’s always been there, and I think we kind of just assumed he always would be. You see, a nemesis is not just another supervillain that you’ve got to fight with alarming frequency. They’re a major part of your life. Oftentimes your nemesis will know you better than anybody else in your social circle. Sure, they only took the time to get to know you on this deep level so that they could inflict all manner of psychological torture upon you, but still, it’s kind of nice that they invested that time in you.

A superhero’s relationship with their nemesis is always going to be complicated. You’ll usually see them more than you see your family. You’ll see them at their highest {when they believe that they’ve killed you} and at their lowest {surprisingly enough, after they’ve succeeded in killing you and find their life to be devoid of all meaning and purpose} you’ll occasionally find yourself fighting alongside them and yeah, in some twisted way, you’re going to form a kind of meaningful relationship with them. So what are you even supposed to do when they’ve died? Granted, you’re not as fanatically dependent on them for your continued existence and purpose as they are on you. There will always be crimes to stop and evil to vanquish. But any superhero would be hard-pressed to deny that their lives would be a little bit emptier without their nemesis. Perhaps that’s the real reason why so few superheroes actually kill their nemeses.

If you feel like you need to mourn the passing of your nemesis, that’s ok. You should allow yourself to space to do that. Do something that they would’ve loved. Hold a {vacant} bridge hostage, kick a {robot, stuffed, already dead} puppy into the sun, burn yourself in effigy! If you’re worried about getting attacked by other supervillains if you attend a funeral or memorial service for your nemesis don’t worry! Supervillains usually are not friends with one another. That funeral is gonna be hella empty. You can go there with no problem. Besides, supervillain funerals have been poorly attended ever since Lady Richter used her “funeral” as an opportunity to drop many of her fellow supervillains into a bottomless chasm. Ever since then, supervillains have had a hard time believing that any of their colleagues are actually dead. If any other supervillains attend your nemesis’ funeral, they’ll be lugging around giant ladders in case a bottomless chasm opens up beneath them, and they will be too exhausted to fight you.

The whole How To Hero crew {me, Parentheses Guy, Zach, Lawyer Guy, Dr. Brainwave’s Greatest Shame, Diego A. Wayghosts, Todd The Bomb-Disposal Bot} attended Dr. Brainwave’s funeral and, lo and behold, the only other person in attendance was Dr. Brainwave’s other nemesis, Professor Brain-Scrambler. {There was also, of course, a large contingent of mutant alligators.} He actually spoke quiet beautifully about his mad scientist colleague, after which we pulled him over to the side and told him that he was a hack and that he could suck it, in line with Dr. Brainwave’s final wishes. All in all it was a very emotional 2 am-4 am. {Supervillain funerals almost exclusively take place during this time which is colloquially known as “the witching hour.”} The funeral home was a bit cold, and I would say it was definitely haunted, but overall, it was a pretty solid funeral I’d say. 

Once you’ve spent some mourning the loss of an important and ever-present figure in your life, there is some housekeeping that you need to do. Reach out to your nemesis’ loved ones and express your condolences. The last thing you want is for their loved ones to vow revenge on you and beginning the cycle anew. If you can, talk with their loved ones, estranged family members, sidekicks, or unholy creations and make them understand that you were not responsible for the death of their loved ones. The quicker you do this the better. Blaming a superhero for the death of a loved one is 17th most common supervillain origin story. {number 68 is having your coal company run out of business by windmill farms but number 33 will blow your mind.} In our case, we sat down with Dr. Brainwave’s legions of mutant alligators and several hours of teeth baring and jaw snapping, a fragile peace agreement was forged. {The alligators for their part, behaved remarkably well. Not a single bared tooth or snapped jaw among them!}

Once that is taken care of you must attend to the rest of your nemesis’ personal affects. Their goons will be directionless, and this is a great time to many of them off the board. Have your friends in law enforcement scoop them up before they can find employment under a different supervillain. Or, if you really wanna get wild, invent a new identity for yourself, pose as a new supervillain, take control of your nemesis’ cronies, and then have them perform tasks that seem like crimes, but actually good deeds. Stuff like, “this old woman is an ancient evil spirt, help her cross the street” or “this is my territory now, nobody else is allowed to commit a crime here. If you see another villain doing crimes here, stop them!” Arrange operations against your nemesis’ lairs and begin systemically dismantling their operation. Since they were your nemesis you have the unique advantage of knowing where they’re likely to have kept most of their really cool stuff. And remember, in the souvenir game, it is first come, first serve. So lead the operation against their main fortress or stronghold yourself and claim all of those spleen-discombobulators and parasite helmets for yourself! For us, that just meant going into our own basement and, honestly, reclaiming a lot of stuff we thought we’d lost! We also blew up all of Dr. Brainwave’s stuff, as per his last will and testament. [Hi, again, a hastily scrawled note scratched into a chalkboard that says “destroy all of my Earthly things in the same manner in which I died” is not a will.] Well, we did it! And it was awesome! We didn’t even need to buy any explosives, it’s astounding how much of his stuff was already made out of bombs! {You know what? It’s actually pretty alarming how many explosives there were just under our house this entire time.})

Wait, how many bombs were there?

(I thought I told you to take the day off because you were being weird!)

You’re being weird! How many bombs did you find in Dr. Brainwave’s room?

(I don’t know, probably around 660. What do you think Curly?)

{I’d say around 664, maybe 665.}

Oh you have got to be kidding me.

(See, you’re being weird again. Buhbye! Now, any real superhero can’t exactly be without a nemesis. People will start to talk. “Oh yeah, that guy? He’s not really very superheroic, he doesn’t even have one evil person whose sole purpose in life is to destroy them. Poor guy.” So you need to find a new nemesis! {We recommend reading our advice for finding your first nemesis.} Try calling up all of your old enemies and see if they’d be interested in engaging in an eternal struggle between good and evil with you. Or, just go through the supervillain phonebook and pick a name that kind of seems like an inverse of your own name. {Or, if it’s still too soon for you to even think about replacing your dear departed nemesis, just prank call about of villains until you’re all cheered up.} Without Dr. Brainwave gone, we’ve obviously needed to start looking for a new supervillain correspondent... and, well... I guess just take a look at some of the auditions we’ve received.

Al “Da Boss” Marconi: “Ayyyy, da best way to save da world is to stab a twerp right between the eyes and laugh as he bleeds out on the pavement!” {Factually incorrect.}

Dr. Python: “So this job comes with a free room right? My last roommate turned out to be Ultiman so obviously that wasn’t going to work out and I kind of very badly need a new place to live.” {Seems to believe that living with Ultiman is a bad idea because he is a superhero but living with us is fine. Which leads us to believe he either doesn’t really get who we are, or does not respect us.}

Giorgio the Evil Mime: “...” {This guy was Zach’s top choice, but he is clearly grieving and not in his right mind. He seems to have forgotten that our supervillain correspondent needs to be able to speak and make intrusive comments on our blog posts.}

As you can see, we have been having some trouble, but luckily we’ve got interviews with Jhonny McBarn-Burner, Mustard Man and the dreaded Karalaxus who is actually a very pleasant guy once you agree to give up your free will and join his horde of mindless zombies. So hopefully one of those guys pans out.)

Stop everything! We don’t need a new supervillain correspondent. (Dude, for real, you need to take a break. You’re going a bit cuckoo you know?) No, I’m serious, and your face is a bit cuckoo actually so how about you step the heck off.  (Rude.) We don’t need to replace Brainwave, because I don’t think he’s actually gone {What are you saying! Wait, did we actually all die in the explosion? Was he the only to survive? Is he mourning us? Which of us did he mourn the most? Me?} No, I believe that he’s dead. But I also believe that he died on purpose. (Well sure, we all saw him unrepentant supervillainously sacrifice himself so that we could live!) I don’t think he sacrificed himself at all actually. I think he planned on dying, and that he planned on benefitting from it in a way that none of us could have foreseen.  (Ok, you’re gonna have to walk us through that.) Ok, so remember when we went through Brainwave’s stuff, we found a grand total of 665 bombs right?  (I guess?) {We are notoriously bad at counting.} True, but I think we got it right this time. I think that there were only 665 explosive devices in Brainwave’s lair/our basement. [Only?] Yes only! What kind of fanatical supervillain builds so many explosives but stops before hitting 666! The devil’s number! I think he did have 666 bombs, until he mailed one to our office! (Wait, what? You think Brainwave sent us that bomb? That seems like a stretch.) Oh? Does it? The most evil person that we are acquainted with sent us a bomb? That seem awfully farfetched to you? (Well, when you put it like that...) And he was wearing rocket boots the whole time! We could’ve strapped the bomb to one of his rockets and launched it through the skylight without him having to carry it! {That reminds me, our landlord called and said that we definitely lost our security deposit because of that skylight.} (Ah DANG IT!!!!) I think that he waited until the timer was low to reveal that he was wearing rocket boots so he could make his sacrifice play. And hey, he knew that the time on the bomb was displaying the wrong time and yet he knew exactly when the bomb was actually going to go off. That isn’t suspicious to any of you??? (Look, if I made a big deal about everything I found suspicious our coworkers we’d never get anything done!) {Is this about my outstanding deal with the devil?} (No, actually.) And Parenthesis Guy, you even said that the funeral home seemed haunted during the funeral! What if that was Dr. Brainwave! What if he devised this whole scenario so he could die and become a ghost!  (Why would he do that? And doesn’t this all seem a little convoluted.) Yeah, dude, he’s a supervillain! Something the rest of you seemed to have lost sight of. Of course he would come up with an absurdly complicated plan to become a ghost. From a supervillain’s perspective, being a ghost would be way better than being a frail old human with the physique of a scientist.  (I don’t know man, I’m just not seeing it.) What! It makes total sense. He freaks us out with a bomb. Classic supervillain move. He puts us on an emotional rollercoaster by making us think he sacrificed himself to save us, causing us to question everything we thought we knew about the sort of person he was. All while shedding his physical form in order to commit crimes as a ghost. It’s a classic Brainwave move!  (I think maybe you should lie down buddy. You’re starting to go a bit crazy. And not in a fun way like the rest of us.) {Yeah when you make us look like the sane ones you’ve gotta throw in the towel man.} Yeah. Yeah ok, maybe you’re right. (Yeah, maybe we’re right. Let’s call it day, we’ve still gotta go feed the mutant alligators.) You guys go ahead I’ll catch up. {Ok, remember to put on your armor before you enter the alligator pen this time.} Yeah, yeah I’ll remember. All right Brainwave, the others are gone. I know you’re here.

<Uch fine. You got me.> You absolute bas- <Listen, you’re right. I’m every name you’re about to call me. But can we do this later? Right now, I need your help.>

[epacer]

SD Unified Ed

Excited and stressed, San Diego’s educators prepare for first day of in-person school Monday

Danny Blas, who teaches middle school history and social science at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, is excited to see his students again. Some students have had their Zoom cameras turned off this school year, so Monday will be the first time he sees their faces.

But Blas also is scared. He is vaccinated so he’s not scared about his own health, but his “worst nightmare” is if one of his students contracts COVID, he said.

“I wish there was a support group I could go to and just be able to have someone telling us, or someone telling me, everything’s going to be okay,” he said. “It’s just a very complex collection of thoughts and feelings and stresses.”

His classroom has multiple safety measures in place, including a MERV-13 air filter, an air purifier, an air monitor and windows he can leave open to improve air circulation.

Besides COVID, Blas also is stressed about how he will make hybrid learning work, where some kids will learn in class while others simultaneously learn online from home.

He plans to use his iPhone and his tripod to livestream his classroom to students at home and will use a Bluetooth earbud to hear those students respond on Zoom, he said. He also has been studying techniques for hybrid learning in the last few days before school starts.

“I feel like I’m being inundated with so much information … so I feel like I’m falling behind,” Blas said. “I just want to do a great job for these kids because they are my happy place and they give me so much joy.”

This week hundreds of teachers like Blas in San Diego Unified and other long-closed districts will welcome back tens of thousands of students to classrooms for the first time in more than a year.

Schools have been outfitted with face masks, hand sanitizer, air purifiers and filters, temperature check stations and lots of posters reminding students to mask up, stay six feet apart and wash their hands.

While teachers say they’re thrilled to see students again, many are nervous about hybrid teaching, serving students in-person and at home at the same time. About half San Diego Unified students are expected to learn in person this week while the rest stay home in distance learning, district officials said.

About three quarters of San Diego Unified schools will offer students four days of in-person instruction, while the other schools will provide it two days a week, depending on classroom space. That complicates things for some parents and teachers.

At the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, less than half of Blas’ students chose to attend school in person.

Some said they don’t want to go back to school, only to have to switch back to distance learning if there’s a COVID exposure or if county COVID rates surge again. Others said they love waking up right before class starts.

“I thought my students would be so happy they’re returning, and it’s just like it wasn’t so exciting to them as it was for me,” Blas said. “So I had to kind of recalibrate my enthusiasm.”

Hancock Elementary

At Hancock Elementary, kindergarten teacher Trace Cimins says all but two of her 24 students chose to come to school in person. For most of them, it will be their first time ever learning in a classroom.

“Ever since we announced it, they are so excited. They cannot wait,” Cimins said of her students’ families.

The school will be on a two-day hybrid schedule, so Cimins will have 12 students in person on Mondays and Tuesdays and 10 students on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

On one hand the two-day schedule is a relief, Cimins said, because it halves the number of students who will be in her classroom at a time.

“I’m a kindergarten teacher, and so the thought of even trying to keep 12 kids six feet apart when all they wanna do is socialize and play and interact with each other … I’m worried about how that’s going to play out,” she said. “But we’ll do the best we can and do everything we can to keep everybody safe.”

On the other hand, hybrid learning means she will have to teach students on Zoom and in her classroom simultaneously.

It was hard enough getting youngsters engaged in learning on computers at home. Now it will be even harder, she said, because she will be dividing her attention between in-person and at-home students.

“I’ve been teaching for 25 years, and I feel like a first-year teacher because I’ve never taught this way before,” Cimins said.

Just because schools are reopening doesn’t mean distance learning is gone. Cimins said adults at home will still need to help students learn during their at-home days, she said.

“If anything, I feel like this new situation is putting more stress on the distance learning part,” Cimins said, “because the idea of teaching students sitting in front of me as well as keeping kids on Zoom engaged the entire time … I’m not gonna lie, it’s freaking me out.”

Still Cimins is excited and believes having kids in class will be “a great opportunity” to get her kids ready for first grade.

“I really think this is going to be a positive end to our school year,” Cimins said.

Hilltop Drive Elementary

Rosi Martinez, bargaining chair for the teachers union in Chula Vista Elementary School District, said she is pleased that the safety measures the union asked for have been put in place in schools, including personal protective equipment, air purifiers for every classroom, protocols to limit bathroom capacity and student chairs placed six feet apart.

“I’m ecstatic about coming back. I’m completely ready,” Martinez said.

Distance learning has been “extremely difficult” this past year, she said. Her students had trouble getting sufficient internet connectivity, even after the district gave them free WiFi hotspots. Most of her kids did not have an adult at home helping them daily with distance learning.

“Kids were bored,” said Martinez, who teaches third grade. “As much as we tried to make it fun, sitting in front of the screen was very difficult for them.”

In the spring when it was time for parent-teacher conferences, Martinez struggled to tell parents what their children actually learned because she has not been able to see all of their work or to work with them closely.

Out of her 25 students, 20 are coming back to school, Martinez said. Most parents keeping their kids in distance learning said the district’s two-and-a-half-hour, in-person school day doesn’t work for them.

“I know that’s going to be quite a challenge for parents,” Martinez said of the half-day schedule. “But even though it’s a short amount of time, I think it’ll be so much more productive.”

Vista Square Elementary

Vista Square Elementary in Chula Vista has been preparing to reopen for at least the past nine months. There are six-foot distancing markers on the ground, clear dividers set up on student desks, and devices at school entrances that check temperatures and dispense a pump of hand sanitizer.

Out of roughly 600 students, a little more than half are coming back and the rest are staying home, Principal Marissa Allan said.

About a third of the school’s teachers also are staying home. They will only teach students in distance learning, so the in-person teachers can focus only on in-person students.

Many teachers wanted to remain at home, Allan said, but priority was given to medically at-risk teachers and teachers with seniority.

Third-grade teacher Samantha Thompson, who is returning to school, has been vaccinate and feels confident she won’t bring COVID home, she said. But she worries about her students.

“I’m definitely anxious. I’m nervous because you have to look out for the well-being of students,” Thompson said.

But, Thompson said, “We had to rip off the band-aid at some point.”

Julieta Castruita, a fifth-grade teacher, said 10 of her kids are coming back to school while 19 are staying home. Some are staying home because their parents are working and can’t make the mid-day commute to school; others are waiting until kids can get vaccinated.

Nevertheless, she said she is excited to have students back in class after a year of struggling with distance learning.

Online it was hard to give extra help to students who need it, she said, and she wasn’t always sure what students were doing.

“I’m here, I’m ready to teach,” Castruita said. “These kids have to be in the classroom.” *Reposted article from the UY by Kristen Taketa, April 11, 2021

[90simaginesandfanfics]

Cradle Broken Glass - Chapter Four

The song soon finished and Layla knew she had to face up to what she wished she could ignore. A part of her wished he wouldn't remember her since it happened a couple of weeks ago, but a small part of her brain wanted him to remember her, wanted to believe that she was somewhat memorable. Stone turned to her as soon as the song finished.

"Glad you finally decided to grace us with your presence, your majesty." He jokingly said to her, making Jeff and who she assumed to be Mike laugh. The drummer, who Stone had told her was called Dave, was too busy messing around with his kit to pay her much attention. She glanced towards the singer, and noticed that his eyes were on her, amusement shining in them. She could feel her cheeks heating up, and looked down as to cover her blush.

"Layla, now that you're finally free from that hellhole you call a job, I would like to finally introduce you to Mr. Eddie Vedder our new singer." Jeff gestured happily towards cute guy from the record store, who offered her a shy smile in return and waved, less confidently than he had done when she left the record store the other day.

"And Eddie, I would like to introduce you to our main critic and one of the best waitresses south of pike market, Layla McKenna." Jeff then gestured to me, like my appearance was a gift waiting to be unwrapped, rather than what it really was, which was covered in a baggy cardigan fleece and ripped jeans. So his name was Eddie. It suited him. A cute name for a cute guy. She once again told herself off for even entertaining the thought of him being attractive, as she knew that no matter how hot he was, she was still the ugly mess she always had been. She offered him a smile in return with a quiet "hi".

"You had a chance to listen to the record yet?" He asked, wondering back to the day they had first met, with a dazzling smile on his face. She was caught of guard with him bringing up that they had already met in front of the others.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Was quite a find really." He smiled and she thought she saw pink tinting his high cheekbones as he looked down.

"Wait, you guys know each other?" Came Mike's confused response to the apparent inside joke. Before she could response, Eddie answered for her.

"Yeah. Well, kind of. We met each other at that record store you told me about and I helped her get something off a shelf she couldn't reach." He said this, every now and then glancing at her through his thick lashes, as if to see if anything he said was wrong. Stone however, jumped in at the first opportunity he got to make fun of her.

"You couldn't reach a shelf? God, I would kill myself if I was a midget like you." The others laughter, except Eddie who looked down at his hands. She put her middle finger up at him, only making him laugh at her even more.

"Well rather than watch the asshole and the dwarf bicker, how about we go get something to drink, cause I'm just about ready to get fucked up." Mike said from the corner of the room.

*****

They all walked the short distance to McFadden's Bar. Layla knew that if Phil had any idea she were here, especially with a group of good looking guys, he would lock her up for a week and do God knows what. She silently pushed the though out of her brain, trying to forget about him since he wasn't here, and she was determined to enjoy herself. Mike bought the first round, claiming that since he had an Irish surname, he might get lucky and get a discount, which didn't go to plan as he ended up pissing the barman off instead. Once they had all gathered round a booth in the corner, with a pint of Guinness in front of them all, the conversation naturally flowed. Layla noticed that Eddie, like herself, didn't talk very much when he was in a group. He seemed so confident at the record store that she wondered if they were more similar than she had already thought. When he did speak, though, he captivated her. He spoke with such passion that she found herself getting lost in the way he moved his hands when he talked and the way certain words rolled off his lips. She noticed that he only spoke when he felt the need to. When he felt there was something important to say. He shared stories of being back in San Diego, of surfing from dusk till dawn whenever he got the chance. It explained the light blonde streaks in his hair and the bronze tan he had, something no one who lived in Seattle would get unless they left the state. Whenever she spoke, he listened to her intently, smiling as if to encourage her that there was some worth to what she was saying. No matter how shy he was, she felt like he understood her need for social reassurance, even when the others made fun of her at every given opportunity. Everything was going well, and she was having one of the best days she'd had in years, when Jeff decided to open his big mouth.

"So where's Phil, isn't he like your guard dog? I'm surprised he didn't come with you." Jeff laughed, signalling for Stone to do the same, like they were twins. Her gut twisted when that name was mentioned. And while it twisted for the normal reasons it usually did, there was also something else. She wasn't delusional enough to believe that Eddie for one minute could have any sort of interest in her, and she knew that he was only being nice because she was the guys' friend, and that he was just a nice person in general. The thought of him even finding her remotely interesting, let alone attractive was laughable. But at the same time, the thought of him knowing that she had a boyfriend bothered her. Only because, if he knew she was with someone, she could no longer pretend that he liked her, which is what she had been doing. She had fantasised the whole night about him wanting her, knowing that it is not and never will be possible, yet if that fantasy was broken by him knowing that she had a jealous boyfriend waiting for her, she could no longer pretend and fantasise anymore.

"He's on a business trip." She replied curtly

"In Colorado." She added, knowing that they would be curious.

"Ahh. How long you been together now, weren't you dating when we first met you?" If Eddie had any doubt about her relationship status before, Jeff just cemented that she wasn't single.

"A year and a half." She suddenly became very interested in the glass she was drinking from, not wanting to look up and make eye contact with anyone who was sitting at the table.

"Well he's a very lucky man." Came the response from the person sitting across from her. She looked up quickly and made eye contact with Eddie who was smiling softly at her. She could have sworn the smile had a falsity to it, but he looked away before she could wonder why. The rest of the night went by quickly, with Layla sitting and daydreaming about who she wished she was, someone who wasn't what she turned out to be.

*****

Had so much work to do tonight, but managed to finish this in time. What are your opinions on Layla so far? And what did you think about Eddie's reaction to Phil being mentioned?

[artificialqueens]

Hearts, Not Parts (Adore Delaska) Part 1 - Osiris

hello! i’ve written on here before but my old works are embarrassing, so just call me osiris. this is a deeply personal story to me because i’m a trans boy who wants to be a drag queen.

this is about a young trans boy danny who does drag as adore delano, and he meets pre drag race alaska and they feel a connection to each other, but danny’s afraid to come out in fear of rejection. starts off with a bit of adore/jinkx, but i promise it’s focused on adore delaska eventually.

i don’t know how many parts it’ll be. this is part 1.

Danny’s life had been anything but easy. A diagnosis of depression at 13 led to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria at 15, and that led to a lot of confusion within the family. Luckily, his mom was in his corner and let him start hormones by the time he was 16. The kids at school looked at him funny, as he had been there since elementary school and they knew him when he was nowhere near masculine. That led to most of his friends leaving him in fear of being harassed along with him.

The best thing that happened in his teenage years was meeting Jerick. They were a kid in Danny’s theatre class who actually showed interest in him even though they knew about his situation. He soon found out why: they’re genderfluid. Most of his friends that stuck around were in the LGBT community some way or another. Roy was gay, Carmen was transgender too, and Katya just sort of went with the flow, sexuality-wise. Jerick was just the first to show a romantic interest in him.

The two quickly jumped into a relationship, which lasted almost a year before they both agreed they were better as friends. It wasn’t one of those breakups where they claim they’ll stay friends but never talk again. Jerick remained Danny’s best friend for years. They even stayed close when Jerick moved to Los Angeles to pursue their drag career when they were 21 and Danny was still 19. Texting every day and video chatting at least once a week, they maintained their relationship for years.

Danny started doing drag when he was 21 in his hometown of San Diego, but he didn’t really have the reaction he wanted. His friends always came to his shows, praising Adore Delano, his drag character. Even though he tried his best and pursued his dream, the happiness he always expected from doing drag just wouldn’t appear. In fact, the amount of money he spent on his drag was more than he was bringing in.

He ended up taking a break from drag, uninspired. Not only was he not as successful as he had hoped, he was discriminated against in the community. “Why are you even doing drag if you’re a trans guy?” he was always asked, as if drag is only available to cisgender people. His depression symptoms started to come back, and he needed out for a while. When he called Jerick and explained the situation, they offered to let him stay with them for a couple of weeks, just to get away and have a change of scenery and meet new people.

He packed his bags and boarded the soonest flight to Los Angeles, not wanting to wait any longer to just get the fuck out of there. When he got to Jerick’s apartment, he ran into a tall man who just seemed to be leaving. Literally ran into him. “Shit, sorry,” Danny immediately apologized, but was just met with soft laughter. “It’s fine, really,” the other man told him. “You okay?” he asked Danny, helping him pick up one of the bags he had dropped. Danny could barely speak, just nodding and smiling slightly. He hurried toward the door.

Damn, he was cute. Danny shut himself up immediately. After he and Jerick broke up, he told himself he’s not going to fall for anyone. Nobody will ever understand him, and he’d rather not end up with his heart broken after they find out he’s trans.

Startled when the door opened, Danny was let in. Arching an eyebrow, Danny motioned behind him. “Who was that?” he asked, setting down his bags.

“That’s Justin. He’s one of the other queens I perform with,” Jerick explained.

Danny nodded slightly, crossing his arms over his abdomen, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the moment. He definitely felt something, and he didn’t want to. He wished he could make it go away, but part of him wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and go for it. Sensing Danny’s tension, Jerick spoke up. “Do you want me to introduce you? He’s going to be performing with me tonight,” they offered.

“Sure, yeah,” Danny said quietly, smiling gratefully at his best friend. Knowing he was probably done talking for the moment, Jerick took the opportunity to help him take his bags to the guest room.

While Danny was finding a new outfit to wear, Jerick went back to their room and began the long process of putting on Jinkx’s face. It didn’t take Danny long to change into his skinny jeans and graphic t-shirt, so he decided to go sit on Jerick’s bed to keep them company while they got ready. The conversation was easy, and so was the silence. They felt comfortable enough to sit in silence together without it being awkward.

Danny was mesmerized by the transformation he was seeing. Jinkx was beautiful, so different from Jerick but he could still see them through the layers of makeup. Once the makeup was done, Danny stood and gave them a hug from behind, just missing the physical contact that was so normal for the pair. “I can’t wait to see your performance. You’re gonna be great,” he assured them before letting them go so they could change.

Once they had taken a lyft to the club, Jinkx brought Danny backstage with them, wanting to introduce him to the other queens.

The first one they met was a small blonde with a distinct Australian accent named Courtney. She seemed very nice, and her and Danny got on very well. There was another queen in the dressing room with red hair similar to Jinkx’s. Jinkx introduced her as Ivy, and Danny noticed a distinct blush on their cheeks. Danny knew Jinkx had been seeing someone, but he had never been given any names.

Finally, Jinkx took Danny to their dressing room, where another queen with long blonde hair styled up into what looked like a beehive, eyebrows arched practically to heaven, and a perfectly cinched waist. Without Jinkx telling him, he automatically knew this was the man he had seen earlier. Part of it was the height of the queen, the other part was Jinkx’s face. They were smirking, as if they knew he was attracted to the man - Justin, apparently. The queen heard the door open and turned her head toward them, giving them a big smile when she saw them.

“Hiiiieeee,” she greeted, standing up and walking over. She took Danny’s hand in both of hers. His heart raced, and he hoped he wasn’t blushing. He imagined he looked like one of those people in a rom-com who can’t stop staring like a creepy idiot. He just hoped he didn’t.

“I’m Alaskaaaa,” she drawled. “You’ve got to be Danny, right? Jinkxy here was just telling me earlier that you’d be coming. I assume it’s Danny because I saw you going to their apartment. Am I right?” Danny wasn’t even able to speak. Luckily, Jinkx took over.

“Yes, this is my Danny. He’s actually a drag queen too, down in San Diego,” they told Alaska. Danny finally found his words. “Adore Delano,” he added, “That’s my drag name.”

Alaska finally let go of Danny’s hand, going to the mirror and puckering her lips a little. “What do you do, Danny slash Adore?” she inquired. “Comedy, lip syncing, singing..?”

“I sing,” Danny told her, tone turning extremely shy at this point. He didn’t feel like he was good enough to be having this conversation with a queen who obviously knew what they were doing. He was still a beginner, and lots of people didn’t even think his drag was valid since he was trans. He wasn’t going to say that, though, because he did not want to fuck this up.

Alaska seemed to sense his nervousness, so she decided not to ask him to sing for her, though she did make a little mental note to herself to have him sing for her one day. “Me too,” she replied, and she left it at that.

The queen known as Ivy that he had met earlier poked her head in the door. “We’re starting in five,” she notified the queens in the room. Danny awkwardly backed up toward the door. “I suppose I’ll see you after the show,” he said, trying to make it sound like he was just talking to Jinkx.

Once Danny was out the door, Alaska turned to Jinkx, a smug expression on her face. “He’s cute. And he seems nice. A bit shy, though,” she noted. Jinkx chuckled softly, putting on another coat of their lipstick.

“He’s afraid to get too close to anyone, though, so good luck. Be careful,” Jinkx warned, knowing exactly what was running through Alaska’s mind. Of course, Alaska couldn’t help but wonder what exactly happened to make him so scared of letting people in.

She wasn’t going to ask, though. She understood perfectly. Her relationship with another queen named Sharon didn’t go too well, and for over a year after they broke up, she wouldn’t let anyone she had feelings for talk to her. She wouldn’t risk anything happening that would give them an advantage over her.

Alaska checked her makeup one last time and headed towards the door.

Danny watched with awe as everybody performed. Jinkx almost made him cry with their singing, which sounded like an angel. That wasn’t surprising, though, as they had been singing together for years now. What he hadn’t expected was that Alaska’s voice was so beautiful. Maybe it was the overdramatic look that made him think it would be more comedic, but she was actually a beautiful singer. Later on in the show, his expectations were fulfilled as she did a comedy number. He loved everything Alaska did, and he knew he was in trouble. He could’ve sworn he caught her eye many times during the show.

After it was over, he made his way back to Jinkx and Alaska’s dressing room. He gave Jinkx a big hug and kiss on the cheek. “That was great!” he told them. He turned to Alaska after a few seconds. “You were really good. Like, really good,” he said awkwardly, earning a chuckle and smile from Alaska.

“How long are you staying here?” Alaska asked him, tilting her head a little. Danny’s heart sped up a little. Surely she wasn’t trying to imply anything, was she? His mouth all the sudden felt dry.

“Two weeks,” he told her, watching as she took off her wig and began removing her makeup. How could she still look so good in the process of wiping away makeup?

“That’s too bad,” Alaska told him. “If Jinkx wouldn’t mind, though, I’d love to hang out with you sometime,” she continued.

Jinkx looked almost guilty, afraid they would be caught by Danny. They had been talking to Alaska before Danny showed up, trying to set them up together. They didn’t want to set them up for selfish reasons; they just really wanted Danny to be happy, and Alaska is the person they trust most apart from him. If they like each other, Jinkx is going to help them any way they can.

Danny must’ve looked surprised, because Alaska started laughing, finally getting all the makeup off. “It doesn’t have to be a date, Danny slash Adore. Unless you want it to be,” she teased, walking to the back of the room to change. Danny shot Jinkx a look, one that said ‘we’re talking later’, and tried to think of any positives that would come out of it. It could end up wonderful, but there was no guarantee that it would work out after he was out as trans.

Alaska, now fully back to Justin, walked back out, carrying a bag. He sat down in one of the chairs again, looking fully smug as he looked over Danny. “What do you say?”

[sailorgreywolf-legacy]

Legacy - Chapter 19

Mexico laughed “I would have loved to have seen his face when you called me Mexico for the first time in front of him! I bet it was priceless!” America thought back on it and joined in on his boyfriend’s laughter “It was pretty amazing now that I think about it. Although I shouldn’t have blamed Texas”. Mexico shrugged “Why not? He deserves every chance he gets to suffer. Although he may just be masochistic, he is in love with your sister after all”. America suppressed a laugh with difficulty “My sister is not that much of a bitch”. The other shot him a look that clearly showed he didn’t believe him “Do I need to remind you what she did to you? Her and Diego, as a matter of fact”.

America sighed and lay back on the bed “No, I think I will remember that my whole life”. Mexico smirked “Good, it was a prime example of karma being a bitch”. Then he looked over at the expanse of tan skin that was America’s shirtless torso, it was very tempting. He swung one of his legs over America’s waist and put his weight on America’s hips. He leaned closer and whispered seductively “Do you know how much it turns me on that you fought with Spain over me?”

America blushed “Alejandro, you know I would do it again in a heartbeat if given the chance.” Mexico leaned forward and kissed America. The blonde’s lips were pliable and easy to separate, soon their tongues were entwined. Mexico buried both his hands in America’s blonde locks. They were entwined in each other for a couple seconds before America broke away and said “I still want to know what happened next. You can’t leave me hanging”. Mexico sighed and sat up, but didn’t get off of America.

He smirked “Are you referring to the part where we pretty much reenacted that scene from West Side Story?” America nodded awkwardly “I was wondering how you could possibly be there when you were with Juan, who I am glad never actually made a move on you.” Mexico responded, his finger dancing absentmindedly over America’s chest, “How do you know he didn’t? I wouldn’t object. A guy that tall…well you know what they say about tall guys”. This got the exact reaction that Mexico had been expecting.

America blushed and looked at himself self-consciously “I know you didn’t, at least not that night, I mean…you didn’t, right?” Mexico decides to not answer that question, just to make America agonize. He would have to talk about it eventually, but he was not required to do it at the moment. Instead, he continued recounting the story.

Argentina, judging by his large body mass, should be able to hold a lot of alcohol. But, he somehow was able to drink enough to knock himself out. This left Mexico sitting by himself in a slightly tipsy state, casually petting the cow behind the ears. But the cow, like his master, seemed to be slowly falling asleep. Mexico’s mind was on other matters, mostly the English colony that had ignited Spain’s rage. He had become far more intriguing since he had become the subject of Spain’s ire. Mexico denied to himself that he had any romantic inclinations towards the boy, he was simply interested. No one else dared to be so open and defy Spain.

He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew where to find America. The question was not how, but if. If it was a good idea to do what he was thinking of doing. Thanks to his lowered inhibition, he decided that he was going to do it and the consequences be damned. He stood up, making sure to carefully deposit the half sleeping cow next to Argentina. He walked out into the hall, making sure that his footsteps made almost no noise. The last thing that he wanted was for Spain to catch him in the hall.

Most likely, Mexico’s rejection had caused Spain to revert back to his conquistador self. Rape was almost guaranteed if Mexico ran into Spain tonight. Getting out of the house was the smartest thing he could do. He made it out without incident and started formulating more of his plan.

America was not at all happy with how the night had turned out. In his mind, this had played out much better, including him and Mexico getting to know each other much better. In his fantasy, he ended the night with him making out hotly with Mexico. None of that had happened and it was depressing. America pulled off his jacket and folded it angrily. He was terribly upset, but he understood how expensive this jacket was and how he needed to keep it nice.

He kicked a piece of furniture as he walked by it. This hurt like hell and left him limping around the room. Now he was even more unhappy and in pain. He decided to sit down on the bed until he was able to calm down. Slowly, sleep started to take him. He lied down on the bed and closed his eyes. It was soft enough for him to start to forget what he was so mad about. He even started to drift into a dream. It was because of this that he didn’t quite believe it when he heard a sound of a small rock hitting glass.

It took a few more hard clinks for him to realize that they were real and not part of his dream. He opened his eyes and looked around for the source of the noise. His eyes lighted upon the window that was right next to the balcony just as another pebble hit it. Slightly annoyed and intrigued, he walked out onto the balcony. Nothing could have prepared America for what he saw. Mexico had been poised to throw another rock, but he dropped it when he saw the blonde. He frowned “What took you so long?”

America wondered to himself whether he was still dreaming. Mexico sighed and said with some exasperation “Close your mouth, idiot, before something flies into it.” This statement was so like the real Mexico and unlike the fantasy version of him that America was forced to accept that Mexico had in fact appeared outside his balcony. The boy on the ground shifted his weight from one foot to the other and rolled his eyes “I’m climbing up there, whether you like it or not. Don’t try to tell me not to, I’m really not in the mood to bicker”. America was still too dumbstruck to speak, so he just nodded.

It only took Mexico a few seconds to scale the wall, using a series of acrobatic skills that America could barely comprehend. Before he could completely understand how exactly Mexico had done it, the darker boy was sitting on the balcony railing looking at America with an expression of deep amusement. The blonde finally formulated a question for his visitor “How did you find me?” Mexico laughed and leaned back slightly “You forget, this is my country and I know it, quite literally, like the back of my hand. It wasn’t hard to guess where Spain had put you”.

America wondered for a moment about how Mexico was balancing in the position he was and how he could possibly be comfortable. Then he asked a question he actually thought Mexico could answer “What are you doing here? I thought you would want to stay as far away from me as possible. Spain was livid”. Mexico smirked in reply “I wanted to make sure you were alright, I figured that Antonio would be incredibly mad at you. I wanted to make sure he hadn’t cut your throat”.

America could hardly find comfort in this answer, although Mexico had, in a way, admitted that he cared about America. He had wanted to hear that Mexico wanted to see him because he felt the attraction between them. But, Mexico had come to see him, and that was definitely something. But, his need for answers was not yet satisfied and this was a perfect opportunity “You are so blunt around me and yet, around Spain, you are so complacent. Why is that?” Mexico looked fully convinced after this question that America was a complete idiot.

He sighed deeply before saying “Simply, Alfred, because you do not hold my leash. Antonio can do whatever he wishes to me without fear of repercussions because he owns me. You cannot deny that England is similar in the way he acts towards you”. America shook his head “He doesn’t act like Spain. I am allowed to have my freedoms. I am allowed to steer my own government”. A couple seconds of silence passed. This was strange, that Mexico could be silent for so long, although America didn’t realize how rare it was. Then the Aztec boy responded “If that is true, I envy you more than you know. I would give anything to have a hand in my own fate”.

Mexico’s voice had lost its edge. In a way, it had softened to a point that it almost sounded vulnerable. The realization dawned upon him that this was the most honest thing Mexico had ever said to him. It was touching that Mexico was opening up to him. Without a thought, America reached over and touched Mexico’s hand, which was holding on to the railing of the balcony. This time Mexico didn’t say anything or pull away. The golden eyes closed as soon as America touched him and then they opened again slowly. He turned to America and asked in a carefully measured voice “Now I want to know, why do you risk Spain’s wrath for me? You have no reason to.”

America thought carefully about what he was about to say. He didn’t know how much he could say without risking making Mexico angry. He had gotten a long way as far as getting the other to show some emotional vulnerability, but to push more was a huge risk that he wasn’t sure was worth it. He decided to say “I don’t know, but the first time we met, I felt something. It was like a longing in the pit of my stomach. I don’t know if you felt it too, but I feel the need to make sure Spain wasn’t going to hurt you”.

Mexico blinked blankly for a moment. His expression changed back to unreadable. America could almost feel the wall go up between them. Mexico quickly whipped his hand out from under America’s and said “That’s sweet. It’s nice to know that you are a hopeless romantic as well as being a complete idiot”. The blonde’s heart fell, he knew it was over.

He might as well think back on the little bit of vulnerability he got. But, not being one to give up on a lost cause, America said “Listen, Alejandro, I really like you and I don’t know how you feel about me. But I am sure that you felt something when we met”. The other fixed his cold golden eyes on America and said “You know what I feel? Irritated. Don’t presume that I am attracted to you just because you’ve developed some sort of crush. And don’t use my human name, I never gave you permission to and I never will” ___________________________________

Mexico interrupted this time “Yes, I know I lied about that. But, I wasn’t very comfortable with you then”. America responded “Could you get off of me? My legs are numb.” The other scoffed before dismounting the other “Have it your way then, but you know you want it”. He then grabbed Nantucket and softly ran it between his fingers. America had looked like he was about to sit up, but the sudden surge of pleasure kept him lying down. Without even pausing, Mexico continued speaking “No matter how cold I was to you, what you said next was pretty unforgivable” _________________________________

Mexico was being cold on the outside, but on the inside he was freaking out. America had just described the exact feeling he had that was making him feel so uncomfortable. But there was no way in hell that he was going to tell America that. Opening himself up like that was just like asking to be hurt. America looked hurt, but that was exactly what Mexico had been trying to do. But America’s pain seemed to quickly turn to anger “Oh, I see how it is. You save that kind of romance for Spain. Do you let him talk to you that way?”

The English boy could have hardly said anything more shocking to Mexico. He said, still surprised, “What did you just say to me?” America laughed and saw that he was quite suddenly on the offensive “Don’t act like you don’t know, the whole world is aware that he fucks you.” Mexico blinked blankly before responding “Who told you that?” If America had more observational skills, he would be able to see that Mexico was attempting, with difficulty to restrain a bubbling rage that had just been ignited inside of him.

The coldness and the choice of words both clearly indicated that he was livid, but America did not know Mexico’s mannerisms well enough to detect the difference. That being the case, he said the stupidest thing possible “It’s common knowledge, didn’t you know? I guess you two haven’t been subtle enough.” To America, this seemed to be a smart, witty response; he seemed to be winning this confrontation. If he couldn’t have Mexico because the Aztec boy was hooking up with Spain, then he wanted to know. He had no idea how wrong this conversation was going.

Mexico swung his legs over the railing and landed squarely next to America. Only then did the blonde pick up on the aura that Mexico was exuding. He took a few steps backwards and ran into the railing on the side of the balcony. Mexico’s eyes had turned to fire; the sparks were dancing in the gold of his eyes. Mexico stepped forward, making America extremely uncomfortable. He hissed, clenching his back teeth to keep his anger in check, “I am going to say this once and only once: I do not sleep with Spain. If you ever say that again, I will personally cut out your lying tongue and I will enjoy it too”.

America swallowed what he had been about to say and instead responded, “I understand. I just…it’s the gossip I’ve been hearing around.” Mexico looked far from satiated “It’s not true, it never has been. Spread that gossip.” America realized how he had been playing with fire; it was too close for comfort. Worse, now he knew that he had a chance to sleep with Mexico and he had completely blown it. There was nothing he could say to make this better. Mexico continued to glower at him, but didn’t say anything else. Instead, he quickly vaulted back over the railing and disappeared into the night. America rested his elbows on the railing and then cradled his head in it. America said to himself “Oh my god…I fucked that up”

[ask-jackie-chan]

This is probably going to be the last Jackie Chan Adventures High School AU in a sequence like this. After that, if any ideas come up I’ll just post it. 

Behold, Jackie Chan Adventures Part VI!

J-Team Members at the end of the school year:

Jun ‘Charlie’ Zhou, 9th grade, 14 years

Rocko Elio Baranello, 9th grade, 14 years

Yu ‘Jade’ Chan, 10th grade, 15 years

Paco Fernando Tejedor, 10th grade, 15 years

Frank Maghnus, 11th grade, 16 years

Jackie Chan, 12th grade, 17 years

Esther ‘Viper’ Levi, 12th grade, 18 years old

Tohru Yamamoto, 12th grade, 19 years

Eduardo ‘El Toro’ Diego Tejedor, 12th grade, 19 years

Zi ‘Drago’ Long Huo, 12th grade, 19 years

When Drago gets home, he wants to ignore what Jackie had told him but found that he couldn’t. No matter how much Drago would refuse to listen to Jackie’s advice, he found that Jackie was right, and if he didn’t change soon it would be too late to fix anything. When Drago comes back to school on Monday, he finds that it’s easier to say something than to actually get it done.

It takes Drago the rest of the school year to bend his back backwards and every which way to get the approval of Jackie, then later the J-Team. It was everything from public school humiliation, extra work given by the Principal and Vice Principal and pretty much being treated like a servant by each member of the J-Team. It’s gotten to certain points where Drago really wanted to go back to being the mean asshat he was before, but someone was always there watching him to make sure he’s doing the right thing.

Viper, Jackie and Jade were the last people to fully trust Drago mostly bitter Viper and Jade. They desperately wanted to put Viper’s pet snake in Drago’s bag, but Jackie had to restrain the girls from doing so.

For a while, Drago’s friendship journey made his other “friends”, the Ice Crew, angry but Drago had learned to ignore them over time. They hadn’t really done Drago any favors to begin with.

Drago loves bad puns and cheesy, annoying jokes. Of course it’s irritates everyone, but that was one of Drago’s pieces of childhood that made him happy, so the bad habit stuck to him.

There’s a thing at 13 High that most students and faculty refer to as an ‘Incident’, or ‘The Day... ’.‘The Chicken Noodle Soup Incident’, ‘The Day Jackie Beat Drago’, ‘The Viper Incident’, ‘The Day of the Museum Field Trip’, ‘The Senior Prank Incident’. A lot goes on at this school, so the easiest way to remember them all is by properly labeling them so people don’t get confused.

Now the Field Trip one I want to explain. The J-Team and their World History/Geography class go to the San Francisco Natural History Museum for a whole day. The class is a pretty big class, so Mr. Kasahara organizes everyone into buddy systems to take notes on what they see. Jackie + Drago, Charlie + Frank, Paco + Viper, El Toro + Jade, Tohru + Rocko. According to Mr. Origami, if anyone causes any sort of trouble, they will be held responsible.

Drago is “too cool” for Jackie, so he goes off on his own. Jackie has to go find him and ends up deep into the museum for him to find his way back. When Drago finds the opportunity, he locks Jackie in the janitor’s closet and runs away to do his work. Luckily for Jade + Rocko, they learned how to get through the museum as they were looking for the bathroom. It took around 10 minutes to get Jackie from the janitor’s closet, which costed the three of them 10 points from their assignment.thanks a fuckin lot Drago

Jackie has a very good memory and is very observant. On the first couple of days in school, he was able to remember all of everyone names he’s encountered. It helps him with his studies and of course, helping people in the school when they have trouble with memory.

Jackie’s had more than one encounter of waking up on a Saturday for school. This lead to a couple of Jade’s pranks to which Jackie disliked.

All the teacher work days, extra holidays, Spring Break and Winter Break confuse Jackie, as he didn’t have too many of them in China.

Jackie’s hair goes down a little bit past his shoulders. He takes very good care of his hair, which is probably why everyone has their hands in it constantly. Not that it bothers Jackie, since Uncle used to have to tie his nephew’s hair up a lot. Sometimes, if Jackie gets lazy, Jade offers to do Jackie’s hair in the morning, which results to many interesting hairstyles.

Jackie was okay with school lunch at the beginning of the year until he ended up getting sick from eating a not-so-well-cooked chicken sandwich. This resulted in Jackie having to stay home for a week with a bad case of the stomach virus. After that incident, Jackie takes food to school and if there’s a case where he has to eat school food, he’s very cautious of it. to be fair Jade and Frank warned him and he chose not to listen

Over the school year, Jade takes many, many pictures of Jackie and the J-Team. At first, Jackie is a little uncomfortable and slightly bothered by the constant clicking of the camera, but then he begins to not mind.

The reason why Jade is doing so is to take all the pictures and turn them into a slideshow to show Jackie and the school, since the school can’t seem to get enough of Jackie. At first, Principal Black and V.P Hartman aren’t okay with Jade constantly having her phone out but after she told them her plan, they were fine with it also.

The weekend before graduation, 13 High’s tradition is to do a Senior Picnic day, where all the seniors can choose not to come to school and hang out in the park for a day of fun. El Toro, Tohru, Viper and Jackie show up, but Drago decides not to show. The J-Team seniors are a little concerned for Drago and they all call him, but his phone doesn’t answer.

Graduation is coming up, and Jackie is a little bummed because he wants Uncle to see it. Sadly, he doesn’t have enough money to buy Uncle a plane ticket as he had used it for other generous things. He would ask his uncle and aunt, but he doesn’t want to bother them with something that wouldn’t matter. But Jade knows her cousin enough to see that he wishes his uncle was here, so she asks her parents instead and they are delighted to. The money is sent to Uncle and when he finds that the nephew he’s raised is going to graduate, he gets his best formal clothes and quickly arrives to the U.S. ASAP.

On graduation day, Jackie, Jade, her parents and the J-Team are of course very emotional. The only people who know about Jackie’s surprise are Jade and her parents, as the rest of the J-Team know nothing. When Jackie’s name is called for his diploma, he looks out into the crowd and sees his friends, family and Uncle? There on stage he freezes up, unable to move. It had been so long since Jackie was away from his uncle that happy tears fall from his face as he runs down from the stage to give his uncle the biggest embrace he could.

Jackie’s reunite with Uncle is pretty happy, which makes a lot of people cry. V.P. Hartman is wiping her eyes, Capt. Black is blowing his nose, Aunt Mei and Uncle Shen are trying hard to keep their tears suppressed. Drago himself has a tear, claiming it’s just ‘sweat going into his eyes’. 

When Drago’s name is called up on stage, he notices a familiar shadow into the large crowd of people. After the graduation is over, he goes by himself to find that shadow to see that it’s his Uncle Seymour. Whether Drago likes to admit it or not, he’s actually quite close to his Uncle Seymour.

“Unc? What’re you doing here?”

“I was let out for good behavior. As for your dad... euh, it’s weird. He said he wants to talk to you. He’s at your house waiting for you,” Seymour explains.

“Why would I want to see that deadbeat?”

“He said it’s urgent.”

Seymour drives Drago home as fast as he can and there Mr. Huo is, playing with Henri. He tells Drago to sit down and begins to actually talk to him. Even though Mr. Huo is speaking in a somewhat harsh tone, this would be one of the first civil conversations Drago would have with his father in who-remembers-how-long. what they talk about is something i’m not even sure of

The day after graduation Jackie is packing up his bags in his room, ready to go back to China. Aunt Mei and Uncle Chen catch him. Jackie prepares to formally say goodbye to them, but they aren’t dressed to go anywhere. Aunt Mei tells Jackie that Capt. Black had called and said that he got a full ride scholarship to the San Francisco State University told you jackie’s smart. Jackie is skeptical about this because he’ll feel guilty about not being able to take care of Uncle.

“Oh nephew! What’s the point of taking care of Uncle in China if Uncle’s coming to America?” - Aunt Mei

[thisdaynews]

Swing-district Dems face blowback from progressive voters

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/swing-district-dems-face-blowback-from-progressive-voters/

Swing-district Dems face blowback from progressive voters

Moderate Democrats in battleground districts, like Rep. Conor Lamb (D-Pa.), are facing growing frustration from liberal constituents over inaction on progressive policy proposals. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Congress

An energized base is pushing moderates to the left, even as the lawmakers try to appeal to the middle.

ALLISON PARK, Pa. — Freshman moderate Rep. Conor Lamb won his Republican-held district last year by dodging his party’s leftward drift toward “Medicare for All” and the “Green New Deal.”

But when the Pennsylvania Democrat returned home this month, he faced dozens of progressives begging him to sign onto some of the most liberal legislation the House has ever seen.

Story Continued Below

Liberal suburban voters, including in swing districts like Lamb’s, are turning out in droves at town halls to complain about Congress’s inaction on their progressive wish list — even as their representatives remain firmly in the centrist column. It highlights the quandary the vulnerable Democrats find themselves in: Remain moderate enough to appeal to the middle but risk the ire of the invigorated progressives.

That mood of frustration is heightened as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) continues to block even the more modest House-passed bills, dampening some of the energy that helped hoist Democrats into the majority last fall.

At public events this week, freshmen in battleground districts in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and California heard from voters clamoring for Medicare for All, drastic climate action, gun control and the impeachment of President Donald Trump, among other priorities. And it’s not just sign-holding, T-shirt clad activists coming to the mics: It’s white-haired men in golf polos, and moms in work dresses and heels.

“Many of us who ran for office for the first time last year are as frustrated as you are,” Lamb told a group of more than 100 people in the affluent town of Allison Park said of the Senate’s inaction on gun control. “What I have heard from my constituents time and time again is, please, do something to address the fact that Washington can’t get anything done.”

But the freshman centrist also rejected calls to back Medicare for All from at least a half-dozen constituents — a move that’s been repeated by many other moderates, though it frustrates some in their own base who are growing restless on the bigger issues.

“We have a lot of work to do on health care, there’s no doubt about it,” Lamb told a middle-aged nurse this week who urged him to support the bill. “I happen to think the issue of prescription drug prices is the alligator closest to the boat, the one we absolutely have to deal with in this Congress.”

Lamb, instead, said most people in the district are “pretty happy” with their current insurance plans. Later in the night, he took another swipe at the ever-growing scope of the bill,and at 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders: “It seems like each time Sen. Sanders introduces it, he adds another thing.”

Even swing-district Democrats who have embraced the progressive agenda, like Rep. Mike Levin of California, are coming home to voters who are irked by the stalled progress. Many are pivoting to McConnell, turning him into the boogeyman in 2020 for his so-called “legislative graveyard.”

The mood of the August recess in many districts this summer is one of exasperation. House Democrats have a majority for the first time in eight years — but not enough to show for it, according to some voters.

At a town hall in the San Diego suburb of Del Mar on Thursday night, a frustrated Levin mentioned McConnell more than two dozen times, often lamenting that so many House-passed bills — from gun control to election security — are “sitting on Mitch McConnell’s desk,” and blasting the news media for “the narrative that we’re not getting stuff done.”

“We talk about the McConnell graveyard as if it’s a binary, take it up-or-down on a vote. But they can also mark bills up and amend them. That’s how it’s supposed to work,” Levin told voters. “It’s maddening … That’s why I think it would be good if Mitch McConnell found a new line of work.”

Republicans have used a similar line of attack to quell anger among their base — most notably during the rise of the tea party movement that took aim at Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But now the spotlight is on McConnell, who relishes the “grim reaper” moniker that Democrats have given him.

“I don’t know if it’s beneficial or not,” Levin told POLITICO when asked about his repeated criticisms of McConnell. “I bring it up because it’s true.”

“[Voters] say, why isn’t the House doing more? Well, we are. We are moving forward. It’s the Senate, and it’s Mitch McConnell specifically that’s unwilling to do his job,” he added. “They didn’t run for positions as a United States senator so that they could watch Mitch McConnell block all of the legislation that we send them.”

With control of just one chamber, Democrats have also struggled to make progress on even on the least contentious of their campaign promises, like drug pricing and infrastructure. That puts a strain on the dozens of freshmen like Levin and Lamb who clawed back their seats from the GOP last fall, largely campaigning on local and pocketbook issues.

But key parts of the base are also keen to show Democrats they’re more interested in fighting Trump than simply trying to fix potholes.

Democratic Party bosses, they say, are still playing it safe on the more divisive issues that are reenergizing voters on the left — an attempt to hold onto a “big tent” base in 2020 and protect vulnerable members like Lamb and Levin without alienating increasingly vocal progressives.

That’s a tough task, especially as trademark ideas, like Medicare for All, have gained prominence with help from a more-liberal-than-ever field of 2020 presidential candidates.

The tone of the town halls is far from the scathing public showdowns of the post-2010 Obamacare era. Still, the events this week drew standing room-only crowds in some cases, with dozens of people looking to take the mic and occasionally prompting outbursts of “impeach now!” or “Moscow Mitch.”

Levin has embraced many of the agenda items progressive voters are pushing. Still, the California freshman was confronted over his support for a Senate-passed humanitarian aid package for migrants at the southern border, which most Democrats opposed over concerns it didn’t go far enough.

He also took heat from a constituent who abandoned the Democratic Party over “repulsive” and “anti-Semitic” comments from some of Levin’s colleagues in the House — a reference to accusations that the House’s first two elected Muslim women, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.),are anti-Semitic.

Levin, who is Jewish, noted that he has criticized members of both parties for anti-Semitic remarks, but that wasn’t enough for the voter — underscoring the extent to which vulnerable lawmakers like Levin are being forced to manage GOP-fueled blowback in their historically conservative districts.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, another freshman who won a longtime GOP stronghold, also faced calls from some constituents to help dampen the more extreme voices within the party — who often give Republicans an opportunity to paint the entire party as extremists.

At a town hall in the upscale suburb of Verona, N.J., on Monday, the Sherrill had to personally intervene in a dispute among her constituents after she was asked for her response to Israel’s denying entry to Tlaib and Omar.

One man, who called himself an independent, spoke up: “Israel has every right to ban them, they are anti-Semitic.” That prompted shouts from people in the back, some of whom were holding “Impeach Now” signs, who said, “That’s completely false!”

“I have spoken out against anti-Semitic comments, and others have as well,” Sherrill said, after quieting the crowd. “We’re not always the loudest voices, but we are the majority of voices.”

In the course of the 75-minute event, Sherrill also faced an intense push for Medicare for All, impeachment and robust climate action, with many people in the room applauding loudly each time a progressive issue was raised.

Sherrill, too, turned down multiple requests to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill, to visible disappointment in the crowd.

“Right now, I think it’s critical that we bring down health care costs and get everybody covered. That is my goal,” Sherrill said, who made it clear she understood the pain of rising drug prices and insurance bills with stories about her own families’ costly treatments.

Undoubtedly, each Democratic battleground district is more than just a pocket of wealthy suburbs with massive town hall turnouts. Lamb’s district, for instance, includes shrinking Rust Belt cities like Beaver Falls.

In more rural districts, members like Rep. Antonio Delgado of New York are hearing more about local problems like a wind turbine project and shrinking populations than progressive priorities — though at a town hall last week, the New York freshman fielded questions about impeachment and climate change.

Separately, in the Dallas suburbs last week, freshman Rep. Colin Allred faced a barrage of questions on confronting Trump’s policies — related to immigration, white nationalism, Russian hacking and impeachment — in between questions about Social Security and infrastructure

Many of the freshman Democrats received a hero’s welcome at their town halls, several of which took place in bluer parts of their district, mobbed with supporters. Levin heard mostly positive comments from constituents in the beachside city of Del Mar; his district includes a sliver of Orange County, a historically conservative bastion that is trending blue.

Still, the issue of stalled promises kept returning.

Sherrill was pressed hard on House Democrats’ inability to make change on infrastructure, guns, and immigration.

“We have got to get the Senate to start taking up these bills,” Sherrill said on the background checks bill, appearing to speak directly to the dozen-plus women wearing bright red “Moms Demand Action” T-shirts who’d come to push for gun control. “I am talking about it nonstop. We can’t get derailed. We just have to be myopically focused.”

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