#i rigged it to happen once in high school with a guy who didn’t even like me back

[butchtisms]

goddd being kissed under the mistletoe this year by a hot dyke would fix me actually

[scarlettriot]

Mina Ashido Headcanons!

@jewel116 requested some headcanons of our Alien Queen and I am here to deliver!

Some of these also could be considered BakuSquad HCs, hope that's alright.

I also went ahead and included some Adult Mina and 18+ Mina Headcanons too. Both are below the cut and clearly stated. Warnings are posted at each header mark.

If anyone has any other requests, lemme know!

Basic Mina Headcanons

Warnings: It's as fluffy as her dang hair! (Swearing)

. Most definitely has ADHD! In class, she is constantly tapping her foot on bouncing her leg as a means of trying her best to keep focused.

. Has a collection of shirts that she has designated for sleep and loungewear because she's burned acid holes in them by accident. Sometimes she'll wear them to concerts and shows if the design is cool enough.

. Loves piggyback rides! Frequently will run and jump on the backs of the guys in the BakuSquad. Even Katsuki himself puts up with it after a while.

. While Katsuki is the 'mom' of the squad, Mina is the one everyone goes to when they need comfort. Denki will curl up in her lap after a long day, Eijiro frequently goes to her when his insecurities creep back in, Hanta shows up late at night and they talk in her room about nothing just because he doesn't want to be alone, and Katsuki, well, he shows up to her room, slams the door and complains for a solid half-hour after reading a particularly heartbreaking scene in a manga while she listens to every word and validates his feelings.

. Mina worries far more than people believe she does. Her bubbly, loud, personality usually masks it but she knows when people are lying to her about what's going on in their heads.

. Sitting properly in a chair physically bothers her. She'd much rather be hanging upside down off it.

. She lowkey likes that the boys get protective over her.

. Mina is the type of person who gets A LOT of random thoughts that pop up in her head and one of the few people who actually will engage with the sheer randomness of the ideas is Shoto. Not only does he engage, he comes up with his own! The two can talk for hours.

. Loves hosting 'spa parties' in the common area of the dorms, everyone is welcome to join.

. When road trips happen, she's making the playlists (technically, she and Kyoka switch off).

. Tries teaching Tenya, Izuku, and Shoto how to flirt. After a very embarrassing first hour, Shoto didn't learn a single thing, Izuku was only good at it when paired with Shoto and Tenya... Tenya had her SHOOK! Man has game and she made sure everyone knew!

. Has weekly meetings with Yuga where they drink tea and spill the tea.

. She is so damn ticklish. Hanta was teasing her one day, she warned him to stop, he received an elbow to the face for not listening.

. Tried to grow her hair out once but it didn't grow down... it grew OUT. Mina thought she rocked it, and she totally did but ended up having it cut back down so poor Tsyu could see in class.

. Wakes up early three days a week to practice her hand-to-hand combat with Eijiro. Mina wants to improve her technique and Eijiro needed to work on his mobility, it benefits them both.

. Just Dance is her favorite game, she dominates.

. Easily forms new interests.

. Won't admit it but she gets jealous super easily.

. Will be the first to attempt to throw hands for a friend! I HC she was picked on as a child for looking so different but it never really phased her too badly, she likes looking different but understands that not everyone thinks like she does. So, if someone were to say something about Mezo's facemask, she's stepping in to defend the guy without hesitation.

. Knows every TikTok dance EVER. If a new one comes out, she's mastered it by end of the day and her account is always up to date.

. (Popular idea but important to reinforce) Mina and Eijiro co-founded a club, Horn Buddies, specifically to make Eri feel more welcome. They take her on trips and group outings. The only horned person who's not allowed to join is Pony because she was rude as heck to Mezo.

. Mina gets extra competitive over board games.

. She can ice skate and roller skate like a champ.

. Mina is resilient, dedicated, and passionate. She has goals and the girl will achieve them.

Pro Hero - Adult Mina Headcanons

Warnings - Mentions of alcohol use and swearing

. Gets several tattoos and piercings.

. Starts a roller derby club with most of the girls from 1A.

. Loves going out to the hottest dance clubs just as much as she enjoys staying in and munching on take-out food with friends.

. The Horn Buddies club she formed with Eijiro has now expanded into regular society and both young heroes couldn't be more proud. Together they've formed a foundation that strives to help those with non-flashy, unconventional, or misunderstood quirks feel welcomed and loved.

. Does her best to shop small whenever she can. Mina wants to help her community in as many different ways as possible.

. Becomes a fashion icon for many small, just starting out, alternative clothing lines. They love her look and the standard she sets.

. Goes to fashion and runway shows with Momo on the regular. While Momo prefers buying right off the rack, Mina goes to thrift stores and buys items that are coming back into style.

. Does her best to stay in touch with her classmates. She really cherished the friendships she made and goes the extra mile to make sure everyone stays connected.

. Has told off Shoto's father. Sent the man an anonymous bag of flaming dog shit as well for making his son so damn stressed. Sorry, not sorry.

. As long as she isn't in the middle of a fight, Mina will always stop to take a photo with a fan or sign an autograph. In or out of costume, she doesn't care.

. In high school, Mina's room was always decked out for the holidays. She goes decoration crazy and it is always done well. But, now that she's an adult with that pro hero money and her own place, she's the best house on the block decorated for each and every holiday! Inside and out! Also throws holiday-themed parties.

. Got absolutely trashed with the BakuSquad one night and taught them all how to twerk. By the end of the lesson, she deemed Katsuki was the best of her students.

. Loves to drink. Is a lightweight. Katsuki and Eijiro have carried her home more times than they can count.

NSFW 18+ Mina HC Below - Minors DNI

Warnings: Drinking, rough sex, mentions of orgies, handcuffs, impact play, and praise kinks. Subtle sexual relations with BakuSquad, Jiro, Todoroki, and Ochaco.

. The Queen of stripteases and lap dances.

. If any of her friends are at a party or some event and they need a fake date, Mina is their go-to person. She's handsy. She's flirty. And has no problem with platonic make-outs.

. Always encourages kissing-themed games at parties. Seven Minutes in Heaven, Spin the Bottle, those sorts of games. Mina also loves to play cupid and has rigged a game or two to get people together.

. Has made out with every member of the BakuSquad at least once as well as Kyoka, Shoto, and Ochaco simply because she was curious.

. Has attempted to start an orgy with the BakuSquad before when intoxicated. Still mentions it in passing just in case they change their minds.

. Has gone further with Katsuki and Eijiro though. Maybe both at the same time once or twice or several times...

. Wonderfully filthy dirty talk. Can even make Katsuki blush.

. (A personal favorite of mine that was in a previous post) When they were first years, Eijiro asked innocently enough, to touch her horns. He was gentle but that didn't matter. Our poor girl was so damn flustered! Her face turned red bright, she felt hot, and she had to go take a very cold shower!

. Ei felt terrible about it. It took them both maturing for her to explain exactly why she reacted that way... and then asked him to do it again.

. Is likely to send NSFW texts and photos while people are indeed at work. She is a Pro Hero though so only certain people are allowed to have those photos. A scandal is the last thing she wants.

. Very good at communication and is not afraid to speak her mind about what she wants and needs out of a relationship and her sex life.

. Loud, very loud, very needy.

. Fuzzy handcuffs in every color she can think of and adores impact play.

. Let her know she's doing a good job, Mina responds well to praise.

. Big cuddler after sex. Wants to snuggle into you and more than likely take a nap.

[toots-senpai]

Anxious Smoke Circle

Author: @toots-senpai

Fandom: BNHA

Pairing: Kirishima Eijirou x Reader

Rating: R 18+

Word Count: 3.9k

Warnings:  tw: exhibitionism, tw: voyeurism, drug use!(just mary jane), drinking!, orgy! mention?, dry humping, blowjob, fingering, choking, slight daddy kink, kiri’s a little too high and now irresponsible

Quick A/n: Idk if i like this, just getting it outta the drafts, also i kinda edited this but i dont think it did much lol

MINORS DNI 

i don't except follows from ageless blogs, you will be blocked!!

nsfw under the cut

 It started off just as simple senior party. It wasn’t a party hosted by anyone in the UA but hosted by someone popular in one of the local schools, in the basement of their house. They had invited anyone and everyone that was graduating in the city, even some senior university kids who mostly were just leaning against the walls. In these medium full rooms full of hot bodies, the a/c blocked, during the summer break, you felt droplets of sweat dripping down the back of your tube top. Taking a sip of the cool alcoholic drink in your hand to attempt to cool down. You shoved past other sweaty bodies trying to get back to where you last saw the bakusquad in the back corner of the a large library room. The group of 5 now disintegrated into 2, Mina and Denki. Though Denki instantly perked up at the sight of you and patted your shoulder on the way past you, walking back the path of where you came from. Mina was a bit drunk and you didn’t want to leave her alone, even if this room was quite vacant compared to outside it but when some guy grabbed her dance, she didn’t seem as excited to stay with you. Leaving you in a back corner where a bunch of people started gathering inside because of the empty space. You stood up and decided to go in the path that Denki did. The hot bodies, led lights and the tipsiness from the 2nd cup of alcohol in your hand had you feeling a little hazy, but you continued to push past everyone.

 When you finally walked in another, you could see the nothing but smoke. People were laying on the floor, probably tripping off tabs or what not and one of those galaxy projection lights lit up the ceiling. It was quieter than all the other rooms, people hitting bongs, pipes, rigs, joints and blunts. Hit after hit was being blown into the air everywhere you looked. In a way it was like heaven in the smoke of the room, or you could be getting a contact high. A bunch of huge beanbag chairs were around the room fitting up to 5 people on each, yet there were people laying on top of each other or even connecting by the legs on the floor. A large tv was playing warzone and the player no other than the host smoking a blunt, viciously tapping away at his controller. 

“Y/n!” a voice perked up and amidst the smoke and sat the rest of the baku squad and Kirishima, who’s fingers called you over along with a dazed smile. Sero and Bakugo moved a bit making room for you on the large bean bag chair in the corner of the room. When you settled into the foamy ball, you joined their small smoke circle. The room cold compared to outside. Sero’s rip from the bong blew into your face before he handed it over to you. It was a nice couple of rounds passing it around to each other but once again everyone started leaving again just leaving you and Kiri. High as balls almost cuddling each other while you two relaxed. Eyes closing together, and you saw a couple minutes of rest, until this really fucking geeked out girl came in, throwing soft throw blankets at everyone before throwing one over the host and slipping her self underneath the blanket. He played her off just being annoying but the bob of her ponytail underneath the blanket said otherwise, even through the thick cloud of smoke in the room. You looked away from the host but locked eyes with Kiri. His red eyes blown and his body relaxed around you still, a faint blush was on his cheeks. I mean of course he could also see what was happening there. Yet playfully he brushed it off as he starts pulling you closer to cuddle better, blocking out the sight of them for both of you which was actually terrible due to the already hot room.

It was a tad awkward in his arms, even though you’ve laid with him countless of times before. On the way home from hero trips and when you guys relax and study or whatnot but the aura around his bulky arms was nothing compared to those before. Maybe it was the hot room, the really fluffy blanket, maybe it was just the way you’re really realizing that Kiri isn’t the man who held you close for comfort anymore. He’s a machine, his body itself is taking up most of the beanbag. It kind’ve has you wondering how the other part of the bakusquad wasn’t affected by his size, you pushed the thought away. Even though he is bigger, you should’ve been lying when you said he isn’t there for comfort, because he really is. A big man just cuddling you, in a party.

“Kiri?” You croak a bit, voice accidentally squeaking when his startled fingers tapped at your side at the sound of your voice.

“Yea Y/n?”

“What are you doing laying with me here, there’s legit a party going on?” 

“I could ask the same thing to you... I could also ask why you came to the party so late..” He stopped a second collecting his thoughts. While he did so the arm holding you readjusted underneath you back. “You get.. caught up with that guy from the tournament?” Their was a tinge of jealously layered underneath his voice and you really did try to ignore it and it honestly wasn’t his fault for pushing a nerve he didn’t even know was there.

“What does that even have to do with the party Kir-”

“I can be curious about things Y/n..” He stated just sitting up in full, making you sit up with him. Your eyes locked once more and he just kept going.. “I mean you tell me everything anyways-”

“Alright Kiri, I haven’t talked to him in a couple days. Turned out to be a major douche, I was only late because my tire popped on the way here and I had to..ugh..” You stopped, and so did Kiri when he realized he hit an edge and he just flopped a bit back in defeat, sinking into the beanbag chair. Your eyes was now looking to your lap and his were up at the ceiling. That aura was still there between you two and underneath the blanket just held too much warmth and with warmth becomes comfort anyways and you just slipped back into his arms anyways. There was only comfort in your guy’s silence for a couple of minutes before a gasped moan interrupted your comfort. Both of your body’s went tense, even more so as tiny wet slaps are echoing, no in the room seemed to notice besides the group of females behind him. There was alot more than just the host happening now that you looked around the room. Girls were making out in the corner and on one of the beanbag chairs a girl was grinding on some guy through his pants. You blushed a bit at the sight and tried to go back to your comfort but you were right about your earlier presumption. Kiri, really wasn’t built for comfort. When you scooted back into him, the tip of his dick curved between your ass through the thin sweats that he wore. It wasn’t on purpose of course, but you knew you couldn’t move in this situation. Not when he’s tucked so nicely in between your asscheeks and he’s hissing a curse far too close to your ear. 

Your thighs went to rub together from the devious act but it only pulled him closer in, he whined a little in your ear. He clearly didn’t mean to though, so preoccupied in the fact that he’s..... so close to you. He can feel that his dick is already under your skirt, he can feel that his tip has caught a hole and the friction’s too much for him. That’s not even counting the fact that he can smell your conditioner, your skin, and he swears he can smell the sweat fuming from your cunt. Your skirt is pushed up underneath the blankets and you can feel his covered dick rubbing into your thigh, and raising the holy material off your skin with his dick.

You can just feel that he’s already so hard. His dick is caught in your fishnet between your asscheek and you, have just had such a bad week. It’s still, so oddly comfortable with him holding you even if he’s breathing so heavy, so nervous about your next move. He’s breathing down your back and you can feel him flex through the loose clothing when the girl on the host starts full blown moaning semi-softly in the hosts ear. The tension between you and Kiri is just too much, too stressful. Whining of annoyance softly in your throat you went to turn around and kiss him but the hold on your hips so you didn’t move any further on his dick prevented you from doing such. You couldn’t even lean your neck back either. 

“Kiri.” You whispered. He responded with a hum, pushing his face into your neck, still breathing so heavily. Goosebumps rose against your neck from his breath forcing you to let out a whine, the girls making out in the corner following. Someone closed the door and Kiri’s lips experimentally placed along your neck and you couldn’t help but squirm. Kiri was exploding behind you, equally stressful week and the girl of his dreams has her fishnet stuck around the tip of his dick, even through his sweats. He tried to pull his dick off of it but your squirming self pushed his knuckle against your clit and you fully pushed back on him looking up at him. He was so flushed and his knuckle was already getting soaked just from the outside of your panties. He just, went on an overdrive mode. His head so foggy from the high and the shot contest with Bakugo that dealing with this situation manually was too much for him. All he could do is look at your face as he slips his fingers past your panties and in your cunt. Wet noises surrounded the two of you. Music, moans, whimpers and slapping of skin, echoing in the room,  so much stimulation for the two of you especially when you’re dripping down his fingers pushing back against his dick with your grinding hips. He couldn’t handle it, it’s just too much and when your cunt fully pulls his fingers in and your spreading your legs to fully let him curl up against your spongy spot, he breaks. He moves you quite harshly abandoning the blanket but he doesn’t mean to when he’s pulling you up with him and walking out of the room. Your hips are  nicely against his dick as he’s attempting to walk to somewhere secluded. You whimper into his ear as you grind down on his fat dick even through the crowd of partying people. 

“You’re gonna stop? Gonna leave me unsatisfied.. daddy?” You teased into his ear licking up to his neck and sucking a nice bruise into the crook of his neck before finally pulling him into that kiss. The two of you were stuck in the crowd for that minute, led’s flashing across the two of you as your tongues are rolling around each other, alcohol and weed burning through your combined saliva. His hands are occupied on holding you up by your ass, squeezing with each roll of your hips and your hands are running through his hair. You don’t even notice he’s making his way through the crowd again until you’re pushed up against a door and both of you are inside and he’s locking the door behind you and putting you on the sink counter. 

In this new lighting you can really see Kirishima fully in front of you. His shirt is drenched in sweat and he’s really fucking high, his eyes red and his dick.. oh my god. It’s the first time you’ve actually seen it and your body’s getting hot just at the sheer size of it from just outside his sweats. He doesn’t seem to notice your gawking as he attempted to come closer to you but you stopped him with a hand and at his pelvis, running your hand under the sweaty shirt and pushing it up and as much over his body as possible before he grabbed the rest of it. On your way up his chest with your hands you got off the counter starting to kiss down his chest, making him gasp as your fingers trailed down to his sweats. He whined a bit at the lack of your speed and slipped out his cock with a fluid motion, his dick fat and your cheek from the swift motion. You could’ve swore you felt your heart swell from just he feeling of his thick pre smacking against your cheek. His dick leaking down your exposed cleavage already and you couldn’t help but take the full weight of his dick in your hand and smear the access pre down to the base of his dick, kissing the vein connecting to his balls. His hand went to gather in your hair as he let out a relaxed sigh.

“Oh shit baby.. you gonna take all of me in that pretty mouth?” He swooned a bit hazy while looking down at you and pursing his lips in anticipation. Your tongue flattened under the base of his dick before you let him fully shove his dick down your throat and you’re squatting so that you can keep him properly in your throat. You gagged and slightly choked on his thickness but with your wet eye lashes staring up at him with tears running down your face and your hands softly on his hips almost as if conformation for him to keep going, he couldn’t stop. His hips thrusting his dick in and out of your mouth until foamy spit was dripping from your lips and to the floor. 

“If I knew you would take my dick down your throat like this baby-” He stop hissing as he twitched down your throat. “Oh, I would’ve asked so much. fucking. longer ago-” He stated thrusting into your throat with almost every word of his until his hips started to stutter and even then he didn’t stop his brutal thrusting until he spilled down your throat, praise whining from his lips. “Good fucking girl, drinking me all up like a proper fucking slut.” His cum filled your throat and spilled out the sides of your mouth when you moaned at his praise and all you could do is attempt to swallow him all up. When he finally pulled his dick away from your lips you tried to swallow the rest of the cum, though most of it was already in between your cleavage sticky along with the saliva. You didn’t get the opportunity to think about it when Kiri pulled you back up and onto the counter pulling the skimpy crop top off of your body. You weren’t wearing a bra tonight but that just made cleanup easier for him as he laid you back a bit so he can lick up the dripping mess in the valley of your chest and spread it with his tongue to your perky nipples, making work at your chest.

His dick bare against your fishnets as he pulled you closer by your hips. The large holes in your fishnets and the thong you were wearing helped him once again occupy his fingers against your cunt. Once his fingers are finally back on your cunt, your cunt is actually dripping. Thong soaked along with some parts of your fishnets while your wetness dripped down your inner thighs. “Oh princess, what were you hiding from me?” His voice deep and possessive as he pulled away and flipped you over on the counter by your hips, you bare tits rubbing against the cool porcelain of the sink. You looked up through the round mirror in front of you. Though you couldn’t see yourself, you could see him perfectly. Feeling him peel away the sticky thong from your cunt and ripping the fishnet slightly so it could also move to the side with just the natural grip of his hands. You could just hear the squelch if your cunt when he pulled your lips apart and the groan that left his lips at the sight had you clenching around nothing. 

“Please tell me you want me to fill you up baby. Please princess.” He pleaded behind you smacking his hand on your asscheek and tugging the fishnet so it caught against the lips of your cunt. Instead of giving him the begging, you just reached behind you and spread your juicy cunt apart looking back at him with your eyes low and your hips wiggling your ass into his hands. He didn’t even bother to make you beg more. Though the voice in his head was telling him to, you were intoxicating him more than the weed ever could, his judgement out of mind as he pushed into you slowly. 

One of his hands were at the small of your back making you arch more and the other one was right beneath your chin on your neck, making you look up at him as he fully bottomed out into you. A whine escaping your lips as you adjusted to the actual girth of his dick and a whimper from Kiri as he very badly struggled to keep his hips still as you clamped around him and sucked his dick deep into your womb as you adjusted. Once he was fully bottomed out the hand on your back went to the counter, splintering it beneath his hand as he attempted to grip something to distract himself from his long-time crush’s cunt desperately gripping him deeper. The grip on your throat tightened when you finally pushed yourself full of his dick and he was already hammering at your cunt. Thank god it wasn’t your first time otherwise you wouldn’t have handled the way he was going at you. He kept his head tucked into your neck as he kissed alongside your jaw but his hands couldn’t stay in one place. Going from gripping your ass, gripping the splintered counter and gripping your hips and every time he went from the broken counter to your skin his quirk activated a quick seconds to shake the splinters out of his hand. Keeping his quirk active as he smacks at your asscheeks, reddening quite quickly after only a couple of smacks and burning as he kept going a couple more times. The loud music outside must’ve been covering your moans or something because he’s aching to hear them. Running his hands up and down your body, twisting at your nipples and gripping at your hips as he drills you into the counter himself. 

“A-ah! Kiri-!” You whined as his fingers finally found purchase against your clit, his mouth sucking bruises into your exposed skin and his other arm circling around your waist. 

“Fuck baby, you’re so fucking good, too fucking good!” He groans into your ear as he’s slowing his snapping hips. “Fuck princess i’m gonna... shit!” He’s pulling out before he spills into you, his dick dripping as he’s flipping you over as he starts using both of his hands on your cunt. Fingers dipping into your dripping sex and curling against the spot that makes your toes curl. He’s also rubbing your clit with his other hand and spitting down your ass just to watch your cunt catch it. He’s waiting until you start writhing so he can stick his twitching dick back into your sloppy pussy and go back to ramming into you. No seconds wasted he’s connecting your lips once again, his wet fingers gripping your thighs so he can push his dick in at a better angle. Moans being shared between your mouths as you two are pulsing around each other, body’s dripping sweat and smearing against each other. Almost slipping because your legs are shake ontop of his hands as he’s drilling into you. He’s grunting out whines, out of air, and teetering over the edge as he’s watching you submit underneath him.

“D-daddy, you’re gonna fill me up?” You’re asking while gasping for air as he’s connecting your sweaty foreheads together, brows furrowed as he’s drilling into you. “Right?”

“Please don’t talk.. fuck, like that baby, Fuuck-” He drags out clenching his teeth. “Holy fuck, I can’t handle it. You’re too fucking good princess.” He’s putting your legs on his hips and when you wrap around his waist locking him in, his hands move a little too fast. One locking around your throat and one easing down to your clit once again, harshly rubbing and laughing down at you in amusement. “No, you’re not gonna do that, fucking whore.” He’s somehow drilling even faster against the broken counter and your sore inner thighs and your vision’s starting to go white. He’s only when he starts to feel you flutter and squeeze around his dick he’s letting go of your throat and fully shoving you to the base of his thick girth sending your body to your orgasm. All of the weed and your orgasm combined making a wave of euphoria that has stars passing your vision for a little bit too long. Your body shaking and sending Kiri over the edge as well, pulling out and letting his warm cum shoot across your chest and hit your face, getting in your hair and what not.

You’re too out of it to complain, both of you settling down while the music outside is somehow back in the tiny bathroom along with heavy breathing from the both of you. Kiri was hunched over while he was re-cooperating but he came back to reality a bit before you could, pulling back up his sweats. The waistband covered in your slick, but easily hideable with his shirt. He’s cleaning you up and softly kissing your neck when you finally come back to your senses. The infamously kept and strong Red Riot completely disheveled, above you as he takes a warm cloth and wipes off the cum from your crop top and your hair. Once he realizes that you’re conscious, he’s smiling, poorly attempting to hide his anxiety as you sit up, legs a bit shaky. He moves you a bit to the other side of the counter so you don’t hurt yourself.

“Are you gonna fix that big guy?” You joke while rubbing your shaky legs and he just lets out an exhausted sigh.

“Maybe I can get away with leaving it here and leaving with you instead.” He says much more cocky than usual stepping over to you and laying his head on your shoulder.

“Oh really?”

“Mhm.”

“Who’d you come here with? Maybe they can-”

“Doesn’t matter, they haven’t been with me, you have. Fuck it, I...” He yawns holding you. “Just wanna get out of here. With you.” He cooed kissing your neck lazily, high most definitely taking over his senses. He’s most definitely gonna have a hard time dealing with the consequences of all of his actions in the morning but for now, your place already seemed so much closer than his anyway.

“Can you take me home? You can stay at mine?”

“Sound’s good sweetie.”

That’s all it took to get out of the sweaty party, just the two of you walking home together in the middle of the night. Anxiety forgotten in the party as you two walked side by side, fingers interlocked as you two enjoyed the silence of the neon lit city night.

[realcube]

ARCADE

summary ★ she needs to get the action figure that's in the claw machine for her sister’s birthday, so saiki does her the favour of using his a telekinesis to win it...along with a few other favours.

trigger warning ★ gambling, god, swearing, fem!reader & reader has a younger sister

construction on the new arcade near pk academy had finally come to an end. the grand opening was today after school so of course, nendou suggested that they attend as a squad. usually, saiki tried to avoid getting roped into outings like this but for a change, he actually agreed without the need for any further prying. that's because the arcade was attached to a small cinema where they'd be premiering the latest action movie — based on the TV show adaptation of the game — 'Olfana's Story X-2'. as it turns out, a few months after saiki gave the game a shot, it became a craze and a massive hit among speed-runners. so from it's new-found popularity, they developed a TV show series which inevitably flopped so now they have created a movie. only the most elite people among the gaming community were allow to see it before the official release date and they all said it was incredible; but there was not a doubt in saiki's mind that they were being paid to sing it's praise. a crappy game turned into a crappy show, now adapted into a movie was sure to be crappy. so you may be wondering why he even wanted to view the movie if he was set on it being awful. Well, there are two simple answers; curiosity and the mystery. since it was so exclusive, he had yet to overhear spoilers through his telekinesis and he now had a germanium ring in his possession so he could watch the movie in peace. also, having played the game but not seen the show, he was curious to see how bad the movie is going to be and perhaps he'd be able to get a good laugh out of it. but he made the mistake of mentioning his plan to see the movie which screened a few hours after the opening of the arcade, as now kuboyasu, nendou and kaidou were all going to see the movie along with him. In theory, it shouldn't be a problem since he'll have his germanium ring on but in practise, the world seems to be against saiki so one of his friends will probably end up stealing his popcorn or chatting throughout the entire movie. he'll just have to wait and see. kaidou and nendou did not even stop to take breaths as they raced on about how excited they were while they were all walking to the arcade. "i'm sure the movie is going to be sick!" kaidou exclaimed, followed by rapid head nods from nendou as he replied, "yup! And i can't wait to see what sort of games they have!" saiki was a bit excited himself but he didn't care to show it like the others did. but when he saw the vaporwave building covered with bright neon lights come into view, his lips curled into a small smile. though it was short-lived as he noticed the massive queue to get in; it appeared as though they weren't the only ones who had the idea to visit the arcade after school as he noticed many familiar faces standing in line, amongst crowds of others. all of their cheery auras dissipated for a few moments until kuboyasu perked up, approaching the doors to the arcade with a smug smirk, cutting in front of everyone in the line and gesturing for the boys to follow him, "don't worry about the queue, guys. follow me." nendou followed without any further questions but saiki and kaidou were a bit apprehensive. all three of them watched as kuboyasu stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the guard by one of the doors, muttering something in the man's ear, causing him to sweatdrop and hesitantly open the door with a shaky smile; allowing all four of them inside. "woah, that was awesome, aren!" kaidou yelled, not only out of awe but so he could be heard over all the cheering, laughing and game noises from inside the arcade. "yeah, that was so cool! but what did you say to that guy? he looked freaked out!" nendou inquired, surprising saiki with his actually intelligent observation. kuboyasu's hand found it's way behind his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he chuckled, "oh, nothing! it's not important-- hey! how about you guys start playing your games and i'll go get the tickets we reserved, yeah?" "yeah!" kaidou and nendou cheered in unison, high-fiving the purple-haired boy before the all ran off in different directions, leaving saiki standing alone at the entrance. he fidgeted with his germanium ring, contemplating taking it off as he stared at kuboyasu; he really wanted to know what the teen boy could've said that'd incite such fear into a grown man, but he decided against it — merrily making his way towards the claw machines, leaving kuboyasu's secrets alone. ★★★★★★★★★★ "shit." he cursed under his breath as he watched the cyborg cider man plushie that he's been trying to win — for yuuta — for half an hour straight slip out of his grasp once again. 'these things are rigged. and what's the point in having psychic superpowers if i can't use them.' he thought to himself but had to quickly shake off the idea, as there was no way he could risk using his powers in such a crowded place, especially for a plush that wasn't even for himself but rather for an annoying kid. he sighed, slipping another coin into the slot and about to find the right state of mind until he heard a loud "fuck!"  from in front of him. his head jerked up, scanning the area for the source of the noise until his eyes landed on you. the claw machines were lined up, back-to-back, and playing on the machine diagonal from him was a girl with enchanting (e/c) eyes which contrasted greatly with her disheartened expression as she stared at the box. the only emotion she wore was sadness as she stared at the machine, so out of curiosity, saiki slipped off his ring in order to read her thoughts; feeling no guilt in listening to the affairs of a complete stranger. 'c'mon, stupid claw machine, i need this!' your silky yet whiny voice rung through his mind, 'what's she gonna think about me tomorrow when i tell her that i couldn't get her the gift she's wanted? she's gonna hate me- even more than she already does. and now i've spent all my money on this silly game so i can't even try get her a crappy gift with the little money i had. Wow, (y/n), you're the worst big sister in existence.' saiki cocked his head to the side, peering through the glass of the machines to see the contents of the claw machine you were standing in front of and when he saw the limited edition, silver cyborg cider man action figure sitting on a pedestal — almost as if it was taunting the poor girl — he finally connected the dots. your hand dug through your pockets until you found the smooth metal surface of your final coin, 'just once more try. if i win her this action figure, maybe she'll finally respect me as her big sister! and this toy will surely make her more happy than any gift mom could've possibly thought of. i'll make her sixth birthday one to remember!' the dejected look on your face slow lifted into a determined one, but it wasn't very convincing as saiki — and anyone else — could see the worry and shame in your eyes as you dropped your last coin into the slot of the machine, giving you one more chance to redeem yourself and claim the title of 'best big sister in the world'. saiki watched you maneuver the claw of the machine with bated breath, admiring how your pretty nose crinkled and your tongue poked out from the corners of your perfectly glossed lips in concentration — 'ew, stop being a simp, kusuo.' he mentally rebuked himself before engaging with your scene one again. your fist slammed down against the big red button, followed by the claw opening and lowering over the box of the cyborg cider man action figure, slowly closing it's jaws around the box and grasping it perfectly, resulting in a slight gasp to escape your throat as your lips pulled into a grin. the claw kept it's grip in the toy as it lifted up, slowly making it's way over the hole where it would drop the action figure, straight into your possession.  that is, if the grip didn't falter hence allowing the toy to fall down, off it's pedestal and onto the bottom of the compartment to join the rest of the more average action figures. "fuck!" you screamed in an almost identical way to which you did earlier, expect this one held more pain. 'this can't be happening; is this the third year in a row that i'm going to show up to my little sister's birthday party empty-handed?' you thought, your bottom lips quivering so you quickly bit down on it, staring at the damned toy before turning on your heels, shuffling away from the game with your head hung low, the thoughts which cried in your head about how much you budgeted and how hard you worked made saiki's heart sink. 'maybe i could take out a mortga--' your thoughts were abruptly cut off when you heard the noise of something falling behind you. whipping your head around to see what happened, you exhaled a sigh of relief upon seeing nothing out of the ordinary. however, you caught a glimpse of inside the machine which you had been cursing at and realised that the toy wasn't with the packaging peanuts where you left it, as if it magically disappeared in the few seconds you had averted your gaze. creeping up to it, your gaze darted around in search of anyone who might've won it in less than 5 seconds but that was unlikely. now that you were closer, you peered through the glass once more to confirm that the toy was in fact missing and you were right. recalling the noise of falling you heard just before you turned around, you dropped to your knees and lifted the flap to the compartment which held the good that people would win from the machine. you almost screamed with delight and shock when you laid eyes on the limited edition, cyborg cider man action figure that was tucked snugly inside. yanking it out, you pressed it to your chest and the tears you were choking back finally came running down your cheeks, but now they were from joy. "thank you, god." you whispered to yourself, making saiki chuckle from his spot at the claw machine which he hadn't moved from. he wasn't god — nor was he friends with god — but he didn't mind not being able to take the credit for his kind actions of using his psychokinesis to drop the box into the hole for you. honestly, he found that seeing you happy, sitting on the floor with brightest beam gracing your features along with your now cheerful thoughts in his head, was enough of a reward for him anyway. also, he appreciated how you didn't question how the box ended up in the hole and instead you just deemed it a miracle as you were too overjoyed to use logic; that sort of thinking saved saiki a lot of trouble. 'i should probably go home and wrap this.' your internal monologue had now calmed down slightly as you were now able to produce a thought that wasn't just a squeal of delight, 'hm, maybe once i am done i could come back and see the new movie that's premiering-- but i've not got much money left so i guess i shouldn't get ahead of myself.' you hummed, picking up the box along with yourself, dusting yourself off before heading towards the exit. saiki must've been staring for a tad too long though as you caught his gaze while brushing off your clothes. he cringed, instinctively darting his eyes away so you didn't think he was an ogling creep but the fact he appeared defensive probably didn't help. so he fully expected you to frown or cast him a dirty look, judging him for his actions but to his surprise, you simply chuckled. waving at the pink-haired boy before strolling off with the box under your arm. 'he seems cool. where i can get clips like those?' why were you thoughts making him blush like an idiot? time to put the germanium ring back on. ★★★★★★★★★★ as it turns out, nendou is surprisingly good at poker. he figured this out after he stumbled across the casino section of the arcade, and since he looks way older than seventeen, nobody questions it when he took a seat at one of the slot machines, under the impression that it was a fancy, old-timey arcade game. he was then offered a round of poker with some old dude with way too many gold teeth and nendou ended up taking the poor, stubborn guy's entire fortune. god-knows how many games with how-many people later, nendou was sitting on stacks of cash at a round table with a tired dealer, and two grown men — one crying into the shoulder of his arm-candy and the other weeping into the sleeve of his suit — while the three boys who had came to give him his ticket stood by, all wearing matching confused expressions. "uh, nendou." kuboyasu tapped his friend on the shoulder, waving the ticket in front of his face, "the movie is gonna start soon, we should start heading over there right now so we can buy snacks and get good seats." nendou raised an eyebrow, puzzled until he recalled that he was supposed to watch a movie today, "oh, that sounds cool and all but i'm having a lot of fun right here." he smiled, motioning to the large casino area. kuboyasu chuckled awkwardly, backing away from nendou slightly as he turned on his heels, ushering the two other boys away, "alright, well, have fun, nendou! don't stay out too late!" nendou sung an okay in response, sliding a kaidou some cash for the extortionate theatre snacks before he was rushed away by kuboyasu, the purple-haried boy not wanting to spend anymore time in the casino than needed. "if nendou isn't joining us for the movie then we have a spare ticket. here, saiki, you should have it!" "why me?" "uh, because you said you saw reita earlier. so if you see him again maybe you could offer him the spare ticket." 'absolutely not.' was vocalised as "sure." by saiki as he took the ticket from kuboyasu's outstretched hand, fiddling with it before stuffing it into his pocket along with his own ticket. "what i said to nendou was kinda an exaggeration" aren mused, glancing at his watch before looking up at his two pals, "we still have some time left before the movie starts. i'm gonna go handle some business — you two have fun, and try find reita!" kuboyasu said before pivoting on his heels in the direction of the staff only closet. the only thing saiki could think to do during this free-time was escape kaidou's pestering to play dance dance revolution — since saiki didn't want to dance, dance or revolute, he darted outside as soon as kuboyasu left, leaving kaidou alone and confused in the middle of the arcade. 'finally, fresh air.' saiki inhaled, filling his lungs with the cool air rather than the stuffy, arcade oxygen. scanning the surrounding area, his eyes caught a glimpse of a figure standing by the ATM, which he immediately recognised to be that of the girl he had helped earlier. so naturally, he flicked of his ring to figure out the reasoning behind the awkward look on her face. 'do i really want to withdraw money to see some stupid movie? i mean, i could leave that money to accumulate and buy something nicer later.' without thinking, saiki hummed in agreement with your thoughts as he had been in your position many times before. 'but then again, i should treat myself! when was the last time i saw a movie that wasn't pirated? hmm..' your indecisive thoughts matched perfectly with your conflicted expression as you stared through furrowed brows at the screen of the ATM. a soft breeze passed, followed by something light smacking against you face. you winced slightly, your hand snapping your cheek and grabbing at whatever it was; just by the texture, you could tell it was paper. holding it in front of you, upon further inspection you realised that the mysterious sheet that had flew into your possession was in fact a ticket to tonight's showing of 'Olfana's Story X-2'  row G, seat 9. you double, triple checked it out of fear that this may be a cruel prank but no, this was completely real! you cheered, bouncing up and down and away from the ATM since you no longer needed it's services as god had blew the desired item straight into your hands — or your face, rather. either way though, you were over the moon, clutching the ticket to your chest and basking in your second miracle of the day. unbeknownst to you, saiki's smile was almost as wide as your own. you thanked god for your relief and saiki had no problem with that; seeing your little happy dance and squeals with your free ticket was enough for him. but actually, perhaps he might benefit himself after all, since the ticket he had given you previous belonged to nendou. meaning that saiki was seated at row G, seat 10; right beside you. ★★★★★★★★★★ saiki forgot to send a few notes flying your way in the wind, so you walked into the theatre and took your seat, completely snackless since you couldn't afford the exorbitant prices that they sold food for at the cinema. but perhaps that wasn't all bad as it revealed the possibility for saiki to offer you some of his popcorn as a conversation-starter, as he's usually not too good at socialising with new people — forget starting a conversation. however, he didn't need to work up any sort of courage to talk to you as the first thing you did when you plopped down in your seat beside him was turn to him and chirp, "oh, you're the guy i saw at the claw machines earlier! i love your clip thingies." your buoyant-adrenaline allowing your to be more bold than usual. the movie had yet to start, low murmurs of chatter coming from across the theatre as the trailers played in the background, "yes. and thanks." 'good grief, curse myself for not being more talkative. she probably thinks i'm dull now. perhaps i should channel my inner nendou..if i have one.' instead of ending the conversation right there like he assumed you would, you continued talking and saiki was..glad? why did he want to interact with you so much? he spends most of his days trying to avoid interacting with people; why were you any different? "no problem- also, did you get what you were playing for?" you inquired, tapping your lip in genuine curiosity. his ring remained on his finger, despite the fact he wanted to know what you thought about him, he didn't want to invade your privacy any more than he already has. "no. did you?" "yeah, i did, actually!" you chirped, not noticing the smirk creeping onto saiki's lips as you were too engulfed in your memories, "i thought those games were rigged but maybe they're not 'cause i managed to win this super special action figure that my sister has been on the top of my sister's wishlist for like- forever! and her birthday is tomorrow so i'll be a--" you cut yourself off, crinkling your nose in embarrassment, "sorry, i'm over-sharing, aren't i?" your enthusiasm made his heart flutter in a way he wasn't used to, if you didn't know any better, he would have thought he was having a medical emergency. his eyes widened slightly as you halted in your speech, "no, you're fine." he said, the uncharacteristic softness in his voice catching the attention of his two pals sitting on the other side of him. you shook off his comment, "i mean, i'm telling you my life story and i don't even know your name." you said, laughing sheepishly at the reality of the reality of the situation. 

“saiki kusuo.” he blurted out without a second thought.

you blinked a few times, shocked that he’d give his details away so easily as you somewhat expected him to be more of a reserved type of guy but evidently, you were wrong. “uh, i’m (l/n) (y/n).” you choked, biting down on your bottom lip slightly before continuing you story as he seemed to wait expectantly, “as i was saying, today’s just been the best day ever! everything has been going so well, i’m a bit scared as to what is going to happen when it hits midnight.” 

saiki nodded along, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth before remembering his plan, “oh- would you like some?” he asked, offering you some popcorn from his bucket. unfortunately, the plan was a last-minute thing so he had only bought a small, but he still wasn’t opposed to sharing. 

you shook your head, trying to grin foolishly wide at his kind offer, “no thank you.” 

saiki nodded, about to open his mouth to reply until the blaring music from the beginning of the movie started, putting a swift end to your conversation — despite the fact saiki would much rather talk to you than watch the crappy movie — out of theatre etiquette. 

★★★★★★★★★★

it was worse than you or saiki could’ve ever imagined.

it was painfully trying not to burst out laughing right in middle of it or lean over and giggle in each other’s ear at the silly dialog but out of respect for the other people in the cinema, you both stayed silent and just cast each other occasional knowing glances whenever something cringey happened on screen. 

you both let out audible sighs of relief with the credits began to roll, accompanied by a slow indie song. “that was..something.” you mumbled, grabbing your purse and jumping to your feet, wanting to exit the building as soon as possible and hopefully leave your memories of the movie behind you. 

“definitely.” he snickered, absently flicking the side of his empty popcorn bucket, “i stopped paying attention once i finished my popcorn.” it felt weird to vocalise — or rather, telepathically communicate — the comments he’d usually keep to himself; why did he feel so comfortable speaking to someone he only just met?

he began gathering his things, stuffing all of his rubbish in the bucket so he could dispose of it all at once. his mind was fixated on crappiness of the movie and how a five-year-old could’ve shot a much better film, until you grabbed his attention by calling out his name, followed by a question which made him blood run cold.

“before i go, it gotta ask’ how’d you do it? or more importantly, why’d you do it?”

he blinked several times before putting on his best bewildered expression, with the idea that maybe if he played dumb, he could gaslight you into thinking that it never happened or that he had nothing to do with it. “what?”

“oh, don’t give me that!” you scoffed, narrowing your eyes at the boy, “i’m not stupid. every time something good happened to me, you were nearby. i’ve connected the dots so fess up. why did you do all those nice things for me? was it out of pity or are you that nice to everyone?”

“i’m that nice to everyone.”

“i don’t believe you.” you snapped, fixing your tone when you remembered that even though he was lying to you, he still helped you get the present for you sister and gave you his spare ticket. “i don’t care if you’re not gonna give me a straight answer, but at least let me make it up to you.”

he huffed, an unimpressed look covering his features before you even proposed your idea. there was really nothing he could possibly need from you. what were you going to give him that he wasn’t capable of obtaining on his own? so he frowned, ready to decline your offer. 

“i saw that you bought one of those jelly pots from the snack stand and i actually work at a little café in the town, so i might be able to get you few things for free or discounted?”

“yes.” wait, that wasn’t refusal. 

“great!” you chirped, glad that you wouldn’t have to pry further, “does later this week sounds good? we could meet up here then i can walk you to the café- or i could give you my number and we can arrange a date later?” 

“sure.” saiki said without thinking once again.

but it wasn’t as though he regretted it when you slipped the piece of paper you had scribbled your number onto, into the front pocket of his shirt, tapping it with a smile. “alright! i’ll see you later then- unless you want to walk home with me?” you fidgeted with your fingers slightly, instantly regretting what you just came out with. not because you didn’t want to walk with him, but due to the fact you highly doubted he was going so say accept so you mentally prepared for the impact of his harsh rejection.

“sure.”

★★★★★★★★★★

BONUS 

saiki ended up walking home with some girl he met at the theatre so that left kuboyasu and kaidou to fetch nendou once the film finished. they both searched the casino area for almost half an hour but neither of them had any luck finding nendou. that was, until kuboyasu had to take a step outside to escape the casino as he noticed an old friend of his playing on the slot machines, and he found nendou crouched by the garbage cans, on his phone. 

“nendou! we’ve been looking all over for you- why are you out here by the trash? and what happened to all your money?!”

nendou chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his spare hand, “fun story actually. i was doing so well and i was on my way to becoming a millionaire until these schoolgirls came marching in and absolutely slaughtered me! it was so embarrassing and the only way i could escape them was by running away so i hid back here.”

kuboyasu’s aura just screamed ‘disappointed but not surprised’, “so you’re telling me that you lost millions to highschool girls?”

“they might’ve been middle-schoolers, i’m not too sure. i didn’t get a very good look at ‘em but they were all wearing creepy red uniforms.”

all kuboyasu could do was massage his temples to ease his headache at the stupidity of his friends, “so you lost all your money to school girls in creepy red uniforms?” he repeated aloud, just to make sure he was hearing things correctly.

“yes. but not all my money.” he said, pulling out his wallet and grandly opening it to reveal a few notes and a button, “i’ve still got enough to spend on ramen with my bros!”

[boredfanwrites]

Buddie #1

There is not a bone in my body that can accept that in any other universe they wouldn't be perfect together. Post 4x14 so SPOILERS for that. This got so much longer than I thought it would be. Sorry in advance, there's much more under the cut.

· Eddie tells him about the will. Chris goes to Buck if anything happens to Eddie. Which it very nearly did.

· It causes Buck to actually stop and think things through before rushing into danger.

· The rest of the team question it while Eddie's recovering but he just says there's someone relying on him now.

· They take it to mean Taylor - well Chimney and Albert do, Hen and Bobby are more clued in.

· Buck talks about Eddie and Chris like he did when they quarantined together - like they're living together again.

· They are.

· Buck moved in to help Eddie and his recovery, with Ana stepping in when he was on shifts - even if she tended to undo everything Buck had done.

· He tells himself it's because she's not used to the way he and Eddie do things - yes that one singular bowl and plate live in the lower cupboard, it's so Eddie can reach them easily. Chris always picks the movie on movie nights, Eddie and Buck alternate when he's gone to bed.

· Eddie is stubborn as always, but has managed to allow Buck to help him dress and shower - Ana is very much not allowed, despite her protests they're barely in a relationship.

· Eddie explains to Buck that yes, they've been together for six months but they've not really been togetherand he quietly admits that he regrets telling Chris so soon.

· Buck calms him and says that it was right to introduce Chris to the idea of Eddie dating, but yeah, maybe it wasn't smart to spring Ana on him so early - especially because she decided she had to be a bigger part of his life now he was aware.

· Chris manages to get to the station once while Buck is on shift.

· Buck comes back to Albert making him pancakes and Chris scribbling with the things they keep for the school trips.

· 'What are you doing here, bud? Does your dad know?'

· 'Kinda.'

· 'What does kinda mean here?'

· 'He knows I wanted to see you. I don't think he knows that I came here.'

· Albert quickly jumps in saying he's texted Eddie and he and Carla are on their way, it just happens that the rig got back before they got there.

· Buck sits down with Chris, leaning his head on his arms and looks at the picture. It's him, Eddie and Buck with Carla and her husband in the background.

· 'What's wrong, Chris?'

· 'Ana.'

· 'Ok, what did she do?'

· 'Tried to get me to bath before I ate and then said I had to do my homework before TV time.'

· 'Buddy, you always have to do your homework before TV time.'

· 'But she tried to help me.'

· 'Your dad and I try our best to help you. She's a teacher, she's better use than us.'

· 'No that's not it.'

· Chris has tears in his eyes and a death grip on his crayon.

· 'She told the poor boy his handwriting was ineligible and took his pencil, tried to get him to tell her the answers and that she would write them for him.' Carla sighs.

· She stands with her arms open and Chris runs into them. Eddie looms behind them, looking sad.

· Well, neutral really, but Buck knows his micro expressions well enough.

· After that Ana is banned from the house in the afternoons/evenings and Carla steps back in. The new problem is Ana turning up when Buck has days off - their schedule was she was here when Buck wasn't, for multiple reasons.

· Ana's great, there's just something about her that Buck doesn't like and she definitely doesn't like Buck. Maybe it's because they're just opposites.

· Eddie tries to gently tell her that he barely gets to see Buck anymore and he needs it for his mental health. Ana starts pestering about the fact that he should want to see his girlfriend more than his best friend.

· It's one of their biggest fights and turns into a screaming match one night (Chris is at Hen's with Denny but Buck is hiding away in the guest room) where Eddie shouts that she had decided that she was his girlfriend without asking Eddie if that was what he wanted and she was suffocating.

· She leaves pretty quickly after that and Buck is incredibly happy as their paths never cross again.

· There's an emptiness settling in his chest when he finds out that the two are still together and are treating the relationship as though they're just dating again. He hates that he really doesn't like the idea that it's working out now that they're on even footing.

· He decides to push it away and starts getting reckless again. Taylor's hanging around the station more like she wants more from Buck, but he'd given up. She liked being chased and now that he's tired of it, she wants him. He knows she'll get bored if he shows interest again.

· It's interest he doesn't have. Eddie had called him Evan and told him he deserved more. How was he supposed to go back to normal after that?

· Why doesn't Eddie see how life changing that was?

· Eddie does. But in typical Eddie fashion, he pushes it deep down and replaces it with his content being with Ana. She makes his parents happy, which makes him happy. She gets along with Pepa and Isabel and his sisters, but they act a lot more familial with Buck.

· It makes sense, he tells himself - they've had years with Buck.

· Nothing really changes for Buck until TK and Judd find themselves in LA. Buck hastily explains to TK that he wasn't asking him out back in Austin, he just wanted a friend and really he wasn't attracted to guys.

· TK just straight up laughs at Buck.

· 'Buckley, you checked me, Carlos, and the barista out in the span of like five minutes. You're a little attracted to guys.'

· 'Wait, you mean you and Diaz ain't datin'?'

· Judd's question throws Buck through a loop.

· 'What? No...we're just...we're friends. Best friends.'

· TK laughs again, patting Buck on the shoulder.

· Once they're on their last day, TK takes Buck out for a drink like he'd promised. Buck tries to ignore the fact he's brought him to a gay bar.

· He gets hit on at least three times in an hour, not to mention the building collection of beers for both him and TK and he decides he doesn't actually mind it.

· 'Ok, I want you to do something for me. Scan the crowd and pick a guy, any guy, and tell me what you find attractive about him.'

· Buck picks out a shorter man, tanned skin and dark hair.

· 'He's got a cute smile.'

· 'Oh boy, you have a type.'

· 'Huh?'

· 'He looks like Eddie.'

· And he does. Like a Walmart version of Eddie though. He didn't laugh like Eddie, didn't have the same laugh lines. Or frown lines. His eyes weren't as warm when he met Buck's nor did he smile as fondly. And...

· 'Fuck.'

· 'You just now realizing your feelings for him?'

· 'Yeah. How did I not know?'

· 'Honestly, it was probably such a subtle shift. From what you've told me you've basically been a couple for a year and a half, so you didn't realize anything had changed for you.'

· 'I've never denied it.'

· 'I mean you clearly must have.'

· 'No. I meant that there have been so many times people assumed Eddie and I were a couple and I never denied it, I went along with it all.'

· 'Shit man, you had it bad before you even realized.'

· Buck groans as TK throws an arm around him, leaning against his shoulder.

· Things change after that. Buck is hesitant with physical touch with Eddie - it's his main love language and he needs to make sure he's not overdoing it and making Eddie uncomfortable.

· Eddie notices because of course, he does. Buck has pulled away from him for seemingly no reason. The second Eddie can dress, shower, and reach the high cabinets himself Buck is talking about going home.

· He is home.

· Eddie doesn't say it, he just hums, not really agreeing. He's gotten used to Buck being around and so has Chris. They'd easily fallen back into their quarantine routine and now Buck would be leaving again.

· A quick thought of getting shot again fills Eddie's head. Though this time it's nothing to do with his PTSD and more so that he doesn't want Buck to leave. So he exaggerates just a little.

· 'You know, my PTSD is still acting up. Maybe, you could stay until it balances out a little?'

· 'You'd want me to?'

· 'Yeah, you're great at getting me out and calming me and Christopher down.'

· 'You don't think Ana should start taking up some night shifts?'

· 'I don't really want her to deal with that side of me yet.'

· 'Okay.'

· 'Okay?'

· 'Yeah, I'll stay.'

· Eddie keeps an eye on Buck just as much as he keeps an eye on Eddie. He quickly realizes that Buck is holding in his own troubles. He knows from experience that Buck does not think his problems are anywhere near as bad as everyone else's. He has a lot of unlearning to do.

· Subtly, Eddie starts talking to him about his mental state, his worries, trying to let Buck know it's ok to do the same.

· When he and Ana inevitably break up not even a month later, it's Buck that he tells first.

· Buck, who has his back.

· Buck, who loves Christopher as his own.

· Buck, who is insecure about everything he does except saving people.

· Buck, who thinks he is unworthy and undeserving of love.

· Buck, who shows his love through acts of kindness and physical affection.

· Buck, who Eddie is so unapologetically in love with and probably has been for years.

· The revelation doesn't shock him like he thought it would. More so, it was a natural progression of their relationship.

· Friends. Best friends. Co-parents. Co-habiting. Partners. Partners.

· Eddie sees a future with Buck, a future he'd only ever seen with Shannon but it's so much brighter.

· He comes home from his first shift back - Buck wasn't working and offered to look after Christopher so Eddie knew he was safe - to find Buck on the couch, staring into an empty beer bottle.

· 'Hey?' it's broken and Eddie drops his things to rush over to him.

· 'You good?'

· 'No. I'm not.'

· Buck looks up, tears in his eyes, cheeks red and puffy.

· 'What's going on, Evan?'

· That's all it takes. He breaks. He babbles about watching Eddie die over and over in his dreams. How sometimes the shower will splash his face just so and he's thrown back with Eddie's blood on his face. How he was trying to get through it with Dr. Copeland but it wasn't helping.

· Nothing was helping.

· 'It's ok. I'm here, I'm okay.'

· 'You weren't. You died, Eds. You died on me.'

· 'You saved me.'

· 'What if I hadn't? I don't know a life without you anymore. I can't lose another person I love.'

· 'You love me?'

· 'Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?'

· Buck registers his words, quickly backing away from Eddie and tries to make a break for the open door. Eddie isn't letting him run away anymore. His wrist snakes around Buck's.

· 'Evan. I told you there wasn't anyone else I'd want to look after Christ. I told you you weren't expendable. I said that because I love you and you needed to hear it. You had to learn you deserved love. Love that Chris shows you. Love that I can show you. I love you so much, Evan Buckley.'

· Buck crumples in Eddie's arms, Eddie rocks him gently until the sobs subside.

· It's not an immediate or obvious change. There are still things the two need to work through.

· It's different but the same. There's more contact now; hugs, tactile hands on waists, and backs at work. Kisses in the bunk, soft and slow.

· It's new and exciting. Especially when they finally get together, officially and exclusively.

· Chris loves telling everyone about his two dads.

· Eddie and Buck are happier, closer.

· Buck had always been a Diaz. He'd always had a family who loved him. The big change was he got to love them both endlessly in return.

[thetravelerwrites]

Urgan (Orc)

Rating: Mature Relationship: Male Human/Male Orc Additional Tags: Exophilia, Monster Boyfriend, Orc, Male Reader, MLM, Gay Reader, Football Captain, College, Friends to Lovers Content Warnings: Alcohol Poisoning, Children, Kids, Pregnancy, Unwanted Pregnacy, Mention of Abortion, College Drop-Out, Strong Language, Drug Use, Angst, Super Angst, ALL THE ANGST Words: 4385

A super duper angsty commission by the wonderful @severedreamerbeard​​! Urgan is the captain of his college football team and all around cool dude. He's an extremely reliable guy with his whole life ahead of him... until the woman he's been dating winds up pregnant, which turns his entire world upside down. The reader, Urgan's best friend, tries to help as much as he can while watching Urgan's life fall apart. Please reblog and leave feedback!

The Traveler's Masterlist  

Urgan had been your best friend since preschool. You were human and he was an orc, but you were both jocks growing up, both in sports, both athletic. He’d been there with you through all the major events in your life. He was there when your parents divorced, when you came out as gay in middle school, and when the teammates who had once been friends started bullying you because of it. He was always there.

You hoped you had been as good a friend to him as he had been to you. You were there when his dad died, when his mom remarried someone he hated, and when his highschool sweetheart cheated on him. After all that, the two of you were closer than brothers.

College life was easier on both of you. You both had gotten a sports scholarship and found a friend group that was a lot of fun to hang out with. Parties were epic, classes were less so, but you were living the life and loving every second of it.

Then it changed. Not for everyone, not even for you. Or at least, it didn’t have to. You could have made different choices. It would have been far easier if you had, you were sure. But…

“How long have you been dating Kelly?” You asked him over a beer. The two of you were sitting out on the front porch of a house party currently in full swing.

“Who?” He snorted, half-asleep. He’d pulled an all-nighter the day before preparing for his psych exam.

“Kelly,” You said, pointing into the open door at the girl wearing a halter with a half-empty vodka bottle in her hand, some of which she’d spilled on her chest, grinding on another girl who was sucking the vodka off of her clavicle.

“I wouldn’t say we’re ‘dating’,” He replied, throwing back a large swig of his beer. “Fucking, yes. I’m not trying to date anyone right now. I don’t have the time.” He threw his beer bottle into a large trash barrel and stood up. “Where’s Derek? He owes me fifty bucks.”

“For what?” You asked, standing up and following him through the house. He slapped Kelly’s ass as he passed her on the way inside, and she laughed.

“I borrowed it to buy coke three weeks ago,” He said.

“Didn’t he almost OD?” You asked.

“Yeah, but that ain’t my fault, I want my money,” Urgan said, muscling his way through the crowd.

“Don’t be an asshole, bro,” You said, still following him.

“I’m not being an asshole! It’s not like he learned anything, I bet you five bucks he’s doing coke right now.”

“Yeah, I’m not taking that bet,” You laughed. “I don’t know of a time when he’s not on coke. I think he was high when we first met.”

“That’s my point. You know I’m cool about that stuff normally, but it’s affecting his performance on the field,” Urgan grumbled. “I’m team captain, and if he doesn’t straighten up, I have to kick him off the team, friend or not. We lost to E.U. because of him.”

You grimaced. E.U. had been your school’s rival for generations. The loss hurt and was a huge blow to Urgan. It didn’t help that it was televised nationally.

“If you kick him off the team, the other guys will be pissed,” You reasoned.

“I know that,” He said grumpily. “But managing the team internally is my job. If I don’t do something about it, coach will either demote me or kick me off with him for not handling it when I should have. I can’t afford to lose my scholarship over some douchebag’s coke habit.” He made his way into the garage at the opposite end of the house and smacked a seated Derek on the back of the head. “Hey, Derek! Money! Now!”

“Dude, back off!” Derek protested. “I’ll get it to you when I get it, damn!”

“Not good enough,” Urgan said, kicking the mirror that was in front of Derek. Powder went flying.

“Hey!” Derek said, standing up and taking a swing at Urgan. Urgan ducked and caught Derek’s arm, pinning it behind him. He was always quick.

“Quit the coke or quit the team,” Urgan said, snarling. “We’re not losing another game because you’re too high to play.”

“The fuck are you talking about, man?” Derek said, struggling. “Don’t blame that shit on me! It’s not my fault you can’t organize your team!”

“I’m serious, dude,” Urgan said, pushing Derek to the ground. “I’m not getting punished for you. Straighten up or fuck off.”

“Suck my dick, asshole,” Derek said. He jerked his chin at you. “Or get your boyfriend to do it.”

Words like that were water off your back at this point, but it always riled Urgan up. You could already see him tensing.

“Let it go, dude,” You said, pulling him back. “Derek, seriously, you’re bringing the whole team down. Lay off the drugs, at least until after the championship.”

“Get the fuck out of my house if you’re going to act all high and mighty,” Derek said, pushing past you. “And you can forget that fifty bucks. It’s all over the ground now.”

Urgan’s fists were balled up and he was breathing hard.

“He’s not going to stop,” Urgan said.

“Come on, dude,” You said, smacking him on the shoulder. “You’re not going to accomplish anything here. Take it to the field. Show him why you’re captain.”

“I guess,” He said. “I’m hungry, man, let’s grab something.”

“Sure,” You said. “Kelly’s coming over to your place after the party, though, right?”

“Yeah, but she won’t be any shape to do anything but sleep. She knows where the key is, she’ll be fine.”

Finals were coming up, and most people were holed up in their rooms or dorms studying. Urgan was a decent student and never really worried about tests, though you hadn’t heard from him in a couple of days, which was odd. He could have been working a lot; he had a part-time job to pay for his own studio apartment. He said the dorms were too small for him.

“Urgan? No, I haven’t seen him in a week.” Joey said. Joey was a coworker from the bar where Urgan worked and also an ex-boyfriend of yours. You bumped into him at the university’s library while looking for Urgan. Urgan hadn’t answered his door when you went to check on him, so you figured he had to be here.

“Is he sick?” You asked, taking out your phone. You’d texted him awhile ago and you saw that he had seen it, but he hadn’t responded.

“I dunno,” Joey said. “All I know is that he asked the boss for some personal time. It could just be finals getting to him.”

You frowned. “Hmm… I’m going back to his apartment. He’s never been this quiet before. Something’s not right.”

“Tell him to come back to work. All the girls try to flirt with me when he’s not there. I need him to be my shield.”

You laughed and waved him off, heading out.

“Urgan!” You called, knocking insistently on his door. “Open the door! Are you alright?”

No answer. Frustrated, you got the spare key that was hidden in a slit of the doormat and unlocked the door. His apartment was dark and looked normal. Urgan was a fairly tidy guy, and nothing was really out of place.

“Urgan!” You called again, walking around the partition that obscured his bed. There he was, passed out on top of his blankets. There were empty bottles of liquor everywhere. Your heart stopped.

“Oh, fuck, please don’t be dead,” You said, crawling on the bed to slap him in the face. “Urgan, wake up!” His skin was cold, which scared the shit out of you, but after a minute feeling for a pulse on his neck you found a heartbeat, and you could see him breathing very slowly, so at least he was alive. But he wasn’t responding to your attempts to rouse him.

“Shit.” You took out your phone and called and called emergency services.

“911, what’s the nature of your emergency?”

“Hey, I need an ambulance, I think my friend has alcohol poisoning.” You said quickly, hoping it was intelligible, and gave them the address.

“Okay, sir, how long has this been going on?”

“I’m not sure, I just found him. I haven’t heard from him in days. He’s got a pulse, but he won’t wake up.”

“Is he cold to the touch?”

“Yes.”

“Is he breathing?”

“Slowly, but yes.”

“Can you make sure his airway is clear?”

You put the phone down and opened his mouth. There didn’t seem to be anything in the way.

“It’s clear,” You said.

“Alright, sir, I’ve got an ambulance on the way. Do me a favor and turn him on his side and bend the leg that’s on the top. Keep his airway clear and keep an eye on his breathing.”

“Okay,” You said, doing as the operator said and trying to keep calm.

The ambulance arrived within minutes, and after several moments of the EMTs attempting to wake him and failing, they loaded him in the rig. You were able to ride with him to the hospital. They took you both to a room, and you stood back as they began hooking Urgan up to all sorts of tubes and wires. They put a tube in his mouth because his breathing was weak and slowing down. They put him on a heavy saline drip and debated whether or not to pump his stomach. Eventually, they left him to rest and you sat with him.

“What the fuck is happening with you, man?” You asked him quietly as he slept.

Eventually, you fell asleep, and when you woke up, they were taking the air tube out of his throat. Urgan was awake and groaning in discomfort as it was removed.

“Dude, what the hell?” You said, standing up.

His eyes were bloodshot and he looked extremely sick, but at least he was awake. He waited for the doctors and the nurses to leave so that it was just you and him before he answered you.

“Kelly’s pregnant,” He said hoarsely. “It’s mine. She’s sure of it.”

“Oh, shit,” You said, sitting back down in the chair next to him. “I thought you used protection.”

“I do,” He said in frustration. “The condom must have broken or something. She told me she was on the pill. I don’t know what happened. I’m so fucking screwed.”

“You may not be,” You said, trying to comfort him, but you knew he was right. Being team captain meant that you put the team before everything. If you had another priority, you couldn’t be team captain. Not to mention the scandal of having a kid during the height of his college career would destroy his reputation and make him seem irresponsible. A baby right now was going to ruin him.

“Don’t bullshit me. I can’t show my face at school. Coach is going to kick my ass as soon as he finds out. My life is over.”

“Don’t talk like that, man,” You said. “What’s Kelly saying about all this? Has she told anyone?”

“No, not yet,” He said, covering his eyes. “Well, she hadn’t when I started drinking, but I don’t know if she has now.”

“She wants to keep it?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t get farther than ‘I’m having a baby and it’s yours’. And then I just started drinking and didn’t stop.”

“How far along is she?”

“Three months, she said.”

“How does she know it’s yours?”

“I was the only person she was sleeping with at the time. We were thinking about dating seriously, but it didn’t work out that way.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I don’t know. We’ll find out, I guess.”

You frowned deeply. “She’s… been partying pretty hard in the last three months.”

Urgan rubbed his face. “I know. I’m scared shitless the kid is going to be born fucked up.”

“Do you… think you can talk her into giving it up? For adoption, I mean? She doesn’t seem like mom material.”

“I don’t know,” He said. “I don’t know what she’ll do.”

“What about…” You hesitated to mention it. “What about an abortion?”

“That’s her decision,” He said vaguely. “It’s her body.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?”

“No, don’t,” He said. “I’ll do it when I’ve got my head on right.”

“Dude, look where you are right now,” You said, gesturing vaguely. “Let me at least call her.”

He sighed. “Fine.”

You took Urgan’s phone, which was in his back pocket when he was brought in, and called Kelly. She was surprised to hear about Urgan’s condition and said she’d come up to the hospital.

She arrived an hour later and you gave them some privacy to talk. It was a while, so you went to grab a soda. When you came back, Kelly was leaving with tears on her face. You went in and saw Urgan sitting up in bed. His eyes were red from crying.

“Hey man, are you okay?”

“No,” He said, wiping his face and sniffing. “She’s going to keep it. I’m leaving school.”

“What?” You said, coming around. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m gonna finish out the semester but I’m leaving before the baby is born. I have to find a better job. I’m hoping I can come back when the baby is a bit older, like when they start school or something, and finish my degree.”

“But you only have a year left! Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

“No!” He shouted. “I don’t want to leave school! I’ve been dreaming of this scholarship since I was a kid! It was my dad’s dream! But I’m not going to be a deadbeat! I have to find a decent job before the baby is born. I don’t have a choice.”

You were stunned to silence and just listen to him breathe through his tears.

“Are you and Kelly staying together?”

“Fuck no,” He said vehemently. “We both know that would be stupid. She’s going to stay in school as long as she can. She’s supposed to be due in winter sometime, so I should have enough saved up by then to give her for the baby, to make sure they’re comfortable.” He scowled. “I’m sure Derek is going to be thrilled. I can just see the look on his face now.”

“Don’t worry about that jackass,” You said. “Dude, I… Is there anything I can do to help out?”

He shook his head. “Kelly and I are going to keep this quiet until the end of the semester so that we don’t have to deal with anyone bullshit. After that, we’ll start telling people.”

“You’re not going to tell your mom?”

“Not yet. I can’t face her yet. She’s going to be so disappointed in me.” His tears began to fall again, and all you could do was put a hand on his shoulder and be there for him.

“I won’t say anything to anyone,” You told him. “I’m still your best friend, no matter what. If you need anything, you know I got you.”

“Thanks, man,” He said, his voice breaking.

Urgan finished out school as he planned, barely scraping a passing grade, and then notified everyone that he wouldn’t be returning. As expected, his coach was furious, his mom was disappointed, and the team was dumbfounded. Derek was the only person who seemed to be enjoying the situation.

During summer, he asked for an amniocentesis, both to prove whether or not Urgan was the father, and also to check for any genetic conditions, since Kelly’s family had a history of genetic diseases. Urgan was hoping that she was lying about only sleeping with him around the time she conceived and that he would wind up not the father so he could go back to school, but the test was conclusive. The baby was his.

Urgan found work pretty quickly at a seafood processing plant near town. It was grueling work and it didn’t pay much, but it was a full-time job and had healthcare benefits, which was the best he could hope for in these circumstances. He began saving immediately to buy clothes and diapers for his kid, which he recently found out was a little girl, and was in frequent contact with Kelly. He didn’t attend any of the doctor’s visits at Kelly’s request. Not that he wanted to be there in the first place.

You continued with college and partied like a normal college guy, stayed on the football team, and was promoted to captain. Urgan seemed happy for you and gave you pointers on leadership. If he resented you for it, he gave no sign.

Many of Urgan’s old friends, mostly team members, dropped him immediately. They no longer invited him to parties or events, and when you mentioned inviting him, they shot you down. As far as you knew, the only one who still stood by him was you, and you couldn’t be there as much as you wanted to as you now had responsibilities with the team.

Even still, if he called, you dropped what you were doing and went over. You promised you’d be there, and you were going to keep that promise. He was your best friend and you were going to stand with him. No matter what.

Urgan’s daughter, Roga, was born in November. She was small, even for a half-orc. You were there in the waiting room for the birth with the grandparents. It might have been your presence that stopped them from being at each other’s throats; the animosity in the air was palpable. Kelly’s dad was there, looking not-best-pleased at Urgan’s mom, despite her being nearly twice his size, but no harsh words were said.

Urgan came out in the full paper surgical outfit, holding the baby. He even seemed happy.

“Here she is,” He said, holding her out for the grandparents to see.

“Oh, isn’t she precious,” Urgan’s mom, Reana, said. “She’s got your eyes, Urg.”

“Yeah,” He said, smiling. “She looks a bit like dad, don’t you think?”

“She does!” Reana said brightly. “That nose definitely looks like his.”

The grandparents took turns holding the baby, and then went in to see the mother.

“Hey,” Urgan said to you, the only one left in the room. “Do you want to hold her?”

You chuckled nervously. “I dunno, man, I’ve never held a baby.”

“Neither have I, before today,” He said. “You don’t have to. I just wanted to offer since everyone else got to.”

“Yeah, but they’re family.”

“You’re family, too,” He said, looking at you like you were being an idiot.

You smiled a little and held out your arms, and Urgan carefully lay the baby into them. She was small and squishy and her face was all wrinkly. Babies all looked like potatoes to you. But she reached out and yawned and grabbed at your hand, and you couldn’t help but smile.

“She’s cute,” You said, letting her grip your finger.

“Yeah,” He said, grinning.

“How’s Kelly?”

“She hates my guts, but she’s okay.” Urgan reached out to take the baby, and you handed her over. “I should take Roga back. The lactation specialist wants to work with her.”

“I didn’t know there was a such thing as a lactation specialist,” You said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah,” Urgan said. “The last nine months have been extremely informative.”

You snorted. “I bet.”

He took the baby back to Kelly and you sat in the waiting room, feeling a little awkward. Why were you here? You weren’t really family. You knew you were supporting Urgan, but… he didn’t really need you there right now. He seemed fine. Happy even, considering the circumstances. Maybe… maybe you should go. You really didn’t belong here.

You texted Urgan to let him know something had come up and to call you if you needed him, and he told you that it was okay, and to be careful going home. As you left, you sighed in relief. But you also felt a little guilty.

Six months later was graduation. You finished top of your class and made valedictorian. You knew that if Urgan had still been in school, he’d have gotten that honor, but…

Urgan didn’t come to graduation, and you understood why. Kelly crossed the stage and accepted her diploma, and you couldn’t help feel a little resentful at her, despite the fact that it wasn’t her fault that Urgan wasn’t there, either. They really had done everything they were supposed to do--used protection, used birth control, was careful--but things just happen sometimes. Even still, it felt like Urgan was the one who had sacrificed the most and had gotten nothing in return.

You managed to get a job at an accounting firm almost immediately after graduation. It was a boring job but the money was good. You were hoping it would be a stepping stone to a better career later.

Since getting the job, you hadn’t really seen or spoken to Urgan much. You were still his best friend, but… you had your own life to live. You felt guilty about it, but your world couldn’t stop just because his had.

Urgan was still working at the fish processing plant, working long hours to support Roga. Urgan was basically paying Kelly’s rent and bills plus everything Roga needed for both homes, since he took her on the weekends from Friday night to Monday morning, when he dropped her off on the way to work.

However, a month after graduation, Urgan called you in a panic.

“Kelly’s gone,” He said. “She’s left. I got a text from her saying she’s gone to Canada.”

“What?” You asked in disbelief. “Did she take Roga?”

“No, I’ve got her here.” He said, his voice shaking. “When she texted me, I was scared she had run off with the baby, but she left Roga with her stepdad. I just picked her up and I’m bringing her back home with me.”

You felt terrible for hoping Kelly had taken Roga with her to Canada. Even though you knew it wasn’t Roga’s fault, all you wanted was for Urgan’s life to go back to normal. You just wanted him to have the things he should have had if Roga hadn’t been born. And you hated yourself for thinking that.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” He said. He sounded extremely distressed. “Can you meet me at my apartment, please? I need someone to talk to. You’re all I have left.”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll be right there,” You said, picking up your keys.

“Thank you,” He said, and then hung up. He was audibly crying.

You made it to Urgan’s apartment before he did, and you saw him step out of the elevator carrying a ton of baby stuff in one arm and hauling Roga in her carseat in the other.

“Can you take her, please?” Urgan said. He looked pale and in shock.

“Yeah, of course,” You said, taking her carrier and looking inside. She was sleeping with a stuffed griffon clutched in her baby hands. “Is she okay?”

“I think so,” He said, unlocking his door. His apartment was strewn with kid stuff. It was so much different than the last time you’d seen it.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” He said, dropping the load he was carrying in the middle of the floor.

“Dude, I don’t care about the mess, are you okay?” You asked.

“I…” He ran his fingers through his hair. He was visibly shaking. “I don’t know if I can do this alone. I had accepted being a dad, but I don’t know if I can be… the only parent. I… I don’t know any babysitters for when I’m working. I don’t… is she off breastmilk? When was her last check up? When is she supposed to see the doctor again? Kelly didn’t tell me those things because I.. I figured she had it handled. I was making sure they had everything they needed. I didn’t think I’d…”

“Okay, calm down,” You said. “Roga is fine. You can find all of that stuff out. I’ll help, I’ll help however I can, okay?”

“Okay,” He said, sitting on his couch heavily. “Okay.” He reached down into her carseat and unstrapped her, putting her against his shoulder, clutching her as if she was a warm stone and he was freezing. He was certainly shaking like he was.

This was the first time you’d seen Roga since she was born. Now that she’d had a chance to grow, she did look a lot like Urgan. It made you feel worse for resenting her.

“Look, can you watch her for a few minutes?” He asked suddenly. “I’m almost out of formula and I didn’t expect to have her right now. I was going to go Thursday to stock up. I don’t want to run out.”

“I…” You hesitated.

“Please,” He begged quietly. “Please. Ten minutes. I promise.”

You sighed. “Okay.”

He transferred Roga from his shoulder to yours. Uncertainly, you gripped her firmly.

“I’ll be right back, I promise,” Urgan said, and he was out the door.

There was a rocking bassinet near Urgan’s bed behind the divider, and you settled Roga in it, staring down at her peacefully sleeping form.

“I wish I didn’t hate you,” You told her, tears welling up in your eyes and falling down your cheeks. “But you took everything from him. I know it’s not your fault, but it doesn’t change anything. He’ll never be the man he should have been because of you.”

Roga sighed in her sleep and snugged into her bed without waking. You did nothing but sit on Urgan’s bed and stare at her the entire time Urgan was gone, allowing yourself to hate her and Kelly and the team at school and everyone who turned their back on Urgan when he needed them the most. When Urgan returned, your tears had dried, and you left.

Roga was still sleeping.

Since my work is no longer searchable, please do me a favor and reblog this story if you enjoyed it. Help me reach a wider audience! To help me continue creating, please consider becoming a Patron or donating directly to my PayPal!

Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[mrs-biases-recommends]

𝕃𝕖𝕖 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕙𝕠 ℝ𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕄𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕥

>>I recommend stories! Because I feel like (even) more people need to read it!

You will not find any smut in this recommendation blog, if you are specifically looking for it, you will not find it here, because there isn’t any.

>>Personal favourites:  ♡♡

Edited on: 25-04-2022

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prince! minho x reader (angst) (by @chulobangtan) ♡♡

Genre: angst

Summary: in which minho’s mom plots against you. it seemed to work, didn’t it?

Request: Felix lee x reader historical au? Like a prince!felix where he falls in love w/ someone he’s not supposed to fall in love with?

Warnings: lowercase

fake boyfriend (by @moonlightskids)

Genre: suggestive, fake boyfriend au

Ficstyle: Drabble?

poor unfortunate souls - lee minho (by @kamino-ink) ♡♡

genre: Disney!au, hella fluff, minor angst?

word count: 6.8k

pairing: neutral!reader x lee minho

summary: you’re not exactly the most interesting of fairytale characters in town, the offspring of a couple that maybe appeared once or twice in a background illustration; but that was it, nothing special. yet, somehow, you’ve managed to catch the eye of ursula’s son - and he would do anything, anything to protect you.

warnings: this is a rewrite of the original story, “brawl” that I posted ages ago on @kamino-ink

A/N: I hope I have credited the right person, because I had some trouble finding them for some reason

the bad to good date | lee minho (by @treerachas)

Genre: carnival booth operator!minho x reader ft. jisung; fluff, kinda angst?

Word count: 2.1k

Summary: after a bad date at the carnival, minho rigs his booth’s game so you can win a teddy bear and he can win your number

Warnings: some language, blind date gone wrong

I love you, you know? (by @mrs-i-have-too-many-biases)

Genre: Fluff, slight angst

Word count: 1,1k

How to win over the ice prince (by @mrs-i-have-too-many-biases)  ♡♡♡♡

Genre: Fluff/ slight angst

Word count: 10,3K 

Scenario: Every year, a big Christmas party was hosted at the palace of the Lee Family. But this year, a special guest seemed to attracted the cold-hearted prince’s eye.

Tropes: Strangers to lovers | Royal!AU

Pairing: Prince!Lee Minho X Lady!Reader (Knight’s daughter)

Warning: This little guide will be divided in 10 steps and a fanfic story.

barista au | lee minho (by @luvknow) ♡♡

Genre: Fluff

“Hey, how’s it goin’~? Are you ready to order?”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

LEE MINHO Afternoon/ early night shift has tasted every item on the menu the DJ ™ dances behind the counter when he thinks no one’s watching ofte forgets which customer he was helping

lee minho|fuckboy au (by @softstraykids)

genre: fluffy & flirty

AU: fuckboy!au, best friend’s brother!au

summary: you were the one girl that Minho could never get his hands on. and for good reason Chan would kill him if he ever touched you but why would your heart not stop fluttering when he gave you that cocky and infuriating but completely heart melting smirk

pawprints | lee minho (by @sparklingskz)♡♡

genre: fluff, college au

word count: 3.4k

description: you weren’t allowed to have pets in your sudent dorms. however, that didn’t stop minho from knocking on your door with a kitten in his arms.

warnings: none i think!!

All I Want For Christmas (by @hanniiesuckle17)♡♡

Genre: Christmas au, enemies to lovers au, fluff, romance, slice of life au, forced to share bed trope, Fem reader

Word Count: 5.4k

Summary: Minho and Y/n have never gotten along for reasons unknown to anyone. After circumstances arose, Y/n is stuck with Minho driving him up to the cabin the boys rented. It seems that things go terribly wrong at every turn as Y/n is kept from her long desired Christmas vacation. Will she be able to change Minho’s mind about Christmas….and possibly his view on her?

Warnings: cussing, lots of sexual tension maybe…idk

a marriage story | lee minho (by @scxrlettwxtches)♡♡

Genre: fluff, angst, best friends to lovers

Word Count: ~6.0k

Description: Your incredibly rich best friend, Lee Minho, barges into your apartment asking you to marry him. You say yes, of course, because what could go wrong?

Warnings: none, except it get a little spicy at the end ;)

Ruin My Life (by @skzsauce01)♡♡

Synopsis: Six times you and Minho “ruin” each other’s lives, and the one time you almost actually did ruin his.

Word Count: 3.9k

Pairing: fem!reader x Lee Minho; friends to lovers

Warning: none

Flowers For You (by @skzsauce01)♡♡

Synopsis: The flower shop next door to Minho’s usual tattoo parlor has a new employee, and he is smitten as a kitten. Same universe as Flowers and Ink.

Word Count: 2.2k

Pairing: fem!reader x Lee Know

Warning: none

Happy Valentine’s Day!

𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 (by @yyxgin)

Genre: 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟

Word count: 𝟗𝟎𝟎 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

Tags: 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐮 

Pairing: 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐨 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

haunted house!au with lee minho (by @skizmin)

prompt: minho falls in love with the actor that jump scared him inside the haunted house at a carnival

genre: fluff???? would it be anything else???? in my happy angst-makes-me-cry household???? pfft.

for: im sorry this one is lightly gender specific for females!! but the only female not made is about dressing as wendy for a costume party which some of my male readers might be uncomfortable with!! (i didnt even think abt it when writing it bc me and one of my guy friends have respectively gone as peter and wendy to costume parties)

warnings: gore mention stuff but its haunted house costumes, swearing ofc but nothing extreme (no slurs).

Unwell (by @runalongwith-skz)

genre: slight angst with fluff ending, implied crush au, one shot

pairing: female reader x best friend!Minho

word count: 1.4k

context: you’re terribly sick, you haven’t told anyone but your best friend somehow knew something was wrong when you wouldn’t reply to his numerous texts.

he’s just like a cat. (by @blueprint-han)♡♡♡♡

♡ pairing: minho x (gender neutral) reader ♡ genre: domestic au; fluff. ♡ warnings: this is just cuddling with minho 🥺 even though this has no suggestive implication, there’s a little making out in this, because I know maxine won’t mind. :3 ♡ word count: 1.4 K ♡ disclaimer: this writing does not aim to represent the activities of the real Lee Minho, nor does it represent JYPE in any form. Events are pure fiction. ♡ ♡ type: drabble.

i’ll be here, always and forever. | lee minho (by @scxrlettwxtches)♡♡

genre: sick!fic, angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, female!reader

warnings: description of migraines

prompt: i called you at 2am because i need you

description: no matter the situation, lee minho would never hesitate to drop everything to come to your aide, even if it was ass o’clock in the morning.

word count: ~2.7k

A Chance│Lee Know (by @staywritten)♡♡

Synopsis: You fall the heartbreaker. College!AU

Genre: Slow Burn, Angst (if you squint), Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 3k

[ i hate you ] (by @etherealino)

Request: a character mishears one word which changes the meaning of the entire sentence + minho

Genre: Fluff, angst

Ficstyle: Drabble

[ 11:08 pm ] (by @etherealino)

Request: I need sweet boyfriend minho 🥺 i’m so soft for him these days and your style of writing tickles my heart strings cbsbajgsisis

Genre: Fluff

Ficstyle: Drabble

Minho Video Imagine (by @ohhmyheart5678)

Imagine: You and Minho break up due to long distance

problems – lmh (by @etherealino)♡♡♡♡

synopsis: you would always have problems on minho’s girlfriends. that was until you realized you were the problem.

genre: college au. f2l. fluff, angst.

warning(s): cursing, you might cringe at how cliché this is

word count: 6,920 omg pls be proud

Heather | Lee Minho (by @milknchannie)

Word count: 3.8k

Genre: one-sided love au, slight angst, mentions of Weki Meki Doyeon

Of poison love & never again (by @sleepylixie) ♡♡

6k words, Romance (Fluff/Angst), Royal AU, Enemies to Lovers, Beware of swearing Crown Prince! Lee Minho X Crown Princess- Fem! Reader Dear SKZ, with love with @districtninewriters Music: Dynasty by MIIA, Ashes by Celine Dion, Speechless by Naomi Scott, Reflection by Christina Aguilera, My Tragedy by Taeyeon

lee know — secret letters (by @luv-skz)

request: Can I request a stray kids lee know confessions after he finds out your his secret admirer

NEW!

[10:07] (by @twisted-tales-of-all​​)

Genre: Fluff

Ficstyle: Short oneshot

Mistletoe kiss (by @lotus-dly​)

pairing: lee minho x reader

genre: winter elements, christmas party antics, friends to lovers, unrequited love (if you blink), slight angst, jealousy

Drive-thru (by @sxfthyunnie​)

Parings: LeeKnowXFemaleReader

Word Count: 730

Genre: Fluff and angst if you squint.

Warning/s: None that I know of!

enemies to lovers project (by @softukiyos​)♡♡♡♡

𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙩𝙮𝙥𝙚: 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵; 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘶, 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘴𝘵, 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘧𝘧

𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 – 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺, 𝘭𝘦𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘰, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵. 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.

𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩: ~18𝘬+

𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨

[aellynera]

Beat the System (Poe Dameron x f!Reader; high school AU)

BEAT THE SYSTEM

My darling @autumnleaves1991-blog is doing a Writer Wednesday thing (click that link for details) and today’s challenge was:

...so I wrote this little thing. may or may not be based on things that might have somewhat happened during my years as a summer amusement park lackey.

Word Count: ~2100

Summary: You see a lot of people at your summer job, and you didn’t really want to see him or for him to see you, but that’s not how the system works.

Warnings: Female reader. High School AU. References to clowns. Complaining. Nothing else really, just a lot of fluff. As usual, mostly kind of proofread.

You kind of hated your summer job. 

It wasn’t so much that you hated having to get a job in the first place, after your parents insisted that’s what you’d need to do if you wanted your own car. And the job itself was actually pretty easy, at least in theory.

The ring toss stand at the local amusement park was your domain. Your days were spent surrounded by giant stuffed elephants and aliens and teddy bears, taking money, handing out rings, watching people throw them at bottles. Ninety-nine percent of the time this also meant watching them lose. The losses generally led to another futile round of buying and tossing. And, invariably, cussing; never mind that this was a family establishment and there was a five-year-old standing three feet away from the offender.

No, it was the job on repeat for eight hours a day, five days out of the week. It was seeing all your friends come by and have fun while you literally had to watch them (but hey, at least you got paid.) It was having to work every single weekend. And it was all the people. People you’d known your whole life, people who lived in neighboring towns, busses full of people from who knows where that flocked to this place every single year.

And it was just weird to think of this place as a destination. It was just the amusement park that was there all your life, that your parents went to when they were in high school, and maybe their parents did too. This place was freaking old. But why people felt the need to come by the busload from hours away--

“Hey, I didn’t know you worked here.”

The voice broke through your ranting brain and you looked up to see a familiar face grinning back at you from the other side of the booth.

Poe Dameron was a senior. He was captain of both the football and the soccer team, treasurer of the student council, sang on the chorus, played bass in the jazz band, was in the drama club, and you were pretty sure there were at least a dozen other things he just did because he was good at everything. 

He was also ridiculously hot and the last person you wanted to see you in your ridiculous, brightly colored work uniform. He stood before you looking like he just crawled off the cover of a romance novel, all tan skin and dark curls and defined muscles, and there you were with a high ponytail and baggy shorts and a shirt that would put a clown to shame.

Honestly, all you needed were the giant floppy shoes.

He was also there with a group of his rowdy, juvenile football friends, which only promised to make this hell even more scorching. At least for now, they seemed to be occupied with ogling the girl who ran the tilt-a-whirl across the path and completely ignoring you.

You scrunched your face at him. “Poe, I’ve seen you here like twenty times this summer. You’ve even played this game before. You know I work here.”

“Okay, you got me,” his grin didn’t falter. You weren’t sure, but it might have even gotten a little bigger. He handed over ten dollars. “A bucket of rings, please.”

Great, he was going to hang around. You glanced at your watch, and it solemnly informed you that your break wasn’t for another hour and half. So you were stuck there. In a virtual clown suit. With the hot senior you might have had a little crush on.

Not like you ever doodled his initials in your notebooks or on scraps of paper when the crowds at the stand died down. You denied all knowledge of these supposed incidents.

You could act like a normal person in his presence.

You sighed and took the money from him, handing him a bucket full of red plastic rings in return. “You know this game is rigged, right? They all are.”

“So I’ve heard.” He picked up his first ring. “But I am determined to beat the system.”

You rolled your eyes. “Do you have to be good at everything?”

Poe shot you a quick side-eye before turning his attention back to the sea of bottles in front of him. He tossed the first ring and it flipped end over end before bouncing off a bottle top with a spectacular ding! His brow furrowed as he reached for another ring.

“Apparently not,” he muttered. “But I’ll still beat it. You see, there’s this girl I want to impress, and…” He tossed the second ring and watched it ricochet off another bottle top.

“Of course there is,” you snorted. “There’s probably a whole horde of them.”

He chuckled. “Nope, just one.”

You waved your arm in a grand gesture toward the playing field. “Well then, have at it, Romeo. You know the rules. No leaning over the rail, and you have to land five rings to win. Let me know when you need another bucket.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” he replied as he tossed yet another ring. You tried, you really really tried, to ignore the way the tip of his tongue stuck out between his teeth as he concentrated.

And so it went until the entire bucket full of rings littered the floor of the stall, with nary a single one landing on its intended target. You grabbed the sweeper and started pushing them back into the bins underneath the counter.

Poe growled in frustration. “Seriously?!” He waved another ten in your direction and you handed him another bucket, giggling as you made the exchange.

“I told you, it’s rigged. But…” you crooked a finger to motion him closer. And then tried to remember how breathing worked as he leaned in, now just inches from your face.

“Yeah?” he whispered.

The attempt to subtly clear your throat was only half successful.

“Well, I didn’t tell you this,” you pointed toward the bottles, “but the table is slightly higher on that side, and so is that one part in the middle. If you aim for those bottles, you can probably bounce the rings onto the lower ones.”

The grin he flashed almost blinded you. “Beat the system.”

“Beat the system,” you agreed.

You leaned back and watched. After the first six rings or so, Poe seemed to figure out which bottles to aim for and how to toss the ring (with a bit of spin, of course) and before you knew it, his fifth ring landed on the center bottle and he was shouting “yes!” with a little fist pump.

“I am impressed, Dameron,” you said, clapping. “I bet this girl will be too.”

“I hope so,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. Did he suddenly look kind of shy? No, that wasn’t Poe Dameron. He was the polar opposite of shy.

“Which one?” you asked, pointing to the prizes hanging above you.

“Which one would you pick? If you just beat the system and you were trying to impress someone?”

“Uhhh…” Why in the world was he asking you? It didn’t matter, this was his deal, you just worked there. And quite honestly, you probably wouldn’t pick any of these monstrosities. They were huge. And kind of weird looking. And neon colored.

After a few moments of confused contemplation, your eyes finally landed on a giant purple teddy bear, half hidden behind a chartreuse alien and an orange thing that was trying to impersonate an octopus. You pulled it down and handed it over.

“Here you go, the least weird thing you just spent twenty bucks on when you could have just gone to the mall and bought something more reasonable.”

“Nah, this is perfect,” Poe replied, grabbing the bear. It was nearly half as big as he was. You often wondered how anyone dragged them around the park for the rest of the day, much less managed to get them home. “Thanks for the advice.”

You couldn’t help the smirk that rose on your lips. “It was either that, or have to explain to my supervisor why you would have ended up hanging around until the park closed.”

He laughed loudly. “Rey would have understood. She’s cool like that.”

“Geez, you’re good at everything, do you know everyone in the entire galaxy too?”

Poe didn’t seem to hear you, though, as he looked over his shoulder and around the area, and you followed his gaze. His friends were nowhere to be seen and vaguely, you wondered when they’d wandered off and why they hadn’t very loudly announced it to him. He glanced back at you with a sheepish smile.

“I, uh, I should go find the guys,” he said. “And let you get back to work.”

“Yeah, okay,” you replied. All of the easy-going rapport from the past however long Poe had been there suddenly evaporated and every ounce of awkwardness you normally felt around him returned. “I’ll see you.”

You might have been looking anywhere but at him, but you didn’t miss the small wave he gave you as he walked away, and you definitely felt the heat that rose in your cheeks.

Poe was quickly forgotten as a swarm of ten-year-olds rushed the stand and the incessant clanging of misthrown rings once again took over all your waking moments. You didn’t think about him for the rest of your shift. All you could think about was how tired you were, how hot the day had been, how much you wanted to shower and sleep and pretend you didn’t have to do this again tomorrow and--

Your feet ground to halt in the employee parking lot and approached your beloved car, the entire reason you had this forsaken job in the first place. Your car, which, you would have serious questions had you not known exactly where the thing came from, had a giant purple teddy bear sitting on the hood.

As you got closer, you could see something sticking out from beneath the bow tied around its neck. It was a slip of paper, with a phone number scrawled on it. And a little “P.” with a heart.

What was even happening right now.

Before you knew it, your phone was out of your purse and you were calling his number. Sure, you might have had to dial it four times because your nervous fingers kept pressing the wrong digits, but who was counting? And never mind that it was almost midnight. It was summer, he’d still be awake, right? 

Finally you got it right, and the call picked up on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” you breathed.

“Hey,” you could picture the trademark Dameron grin behind it. And he sounded...relieved? “I’m really glad you called.”

“How did you get into the employee parking lot?”

“I didn’t. I asked Rey for a favor. I figured she might know which car was yours. Told you she’s cool like that.”

You laughed softly. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess she really is.”

“So I do have a really important question for you. Well, two actually.”

“I’m listening,” you said. It was hard to hear anything over how hard your heart was thumping in your ears, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Question one. Can I take you out on a date?”

“Yeah,” you said again and closed your eyes, partly out of a need to center yourself and mostly out of sheer embarrassment. Maybe one day, you would remember how to speak to Poe Dameron in multiple word sentences, but right at this moment was not that time. Oh well.

“Awesome,” he breathed out. “I was hoping you’d say yes.”

“Yes.” Thankfully he didn’t seem to be deterred by your current lack of language skills.

Poe laughed warmly. “Now, second question. Did it work?”

This time you couldn’t even come up with a verbal response. You just erupted in a bout of giggles, Poe Dameron laughing along with you. And somehow, you got that ridiculous monstrosity of a teddy bear into your back seat.

The somehows kept coming. Somehow you remembered how to use words. Somehow it was well after midnight now without either of you giving it permission to get that late. Somehow your phone refused to end the call. Somehow the hours were slipping by until you had to be at the park for an early opening shift in the morning, and somehow you suddenly didn’t care at all about getting any sleep.

Maybe this job wasn’t so bad, after all.

~end~

Taglist:  @anetteaneta @autumnleaves1991-blog @be-the-spark-flyboy @deeandbobbymcgee @huxdameron @itspdameronthings @jitterbugs927 @nathan-bateman @poedjarin @rosemarysbaby13 @sergeantkane @spider-starry @woakiees @writefightandflightclub @veuliee2 @yourbucky084 @waatermelon-sugaar

Poe Dameron taglist:  @millllenniawrites @the-fifth-marauder-03

>>join the taglist here<<

[actlikeyoudidntdoit]

ASSASSIN’S MODERN DAY PROFESSIONS

—————————————————

ALTAÏR

College Professor

-We all know that Altaïr has spent most of his life teaching, so what better job does he have than a college professor?

-He knows what he’s talking about, that much is certain, but sometimes he gets a little too lost in his lesson to realize that his students are scratching their heads. So it’s normal to have students staying after class, but they leave understanding every word of what he said.

-He’s not the fun teacher, but he’ll be able to teach you what you need and still remember it at the end of the day.

-He’s pretty lenient, and even with the obnoxious students who cause a scene, he calmly gets them to at least do their work.

-Other teachers always use him as a reference when it comes to the perfect teacher.

EZIO AUDITORE

-I can see Ezio being a public speaker since he’s not all that scared of crowds and spends a lot of time giving advice, so I think he’d really enjoy being able to help a crowd of people whose lives are falling apart

-Ezio would be the single anchor in a sea of storms because he always seems to have an answer for everything. He’s a man whose words are turned into inspirational quotes that people hang on their walls.

-When he says that things will be okay, no one doubts him since they know that he lost his father and his brothers very early on and that it took years for Ezio to accept the loss the way he had. If he could soldier through it, why couldn’t they?

-He doesn’t involve himself in politics, finding them to be a waste of time and breath despite how many people ask for his input on the political status of the country he’s staying in.

-He speaks to a lot of people in private, letting them speak their minds and giving his advice if they want it. He’s a therapist without a license, and you always feel hopeful about life leaving his office.

Connor

Construction or Sports

-This boy was designed for heavy work, and I’ve heard some good points in saying that not only would he be amazing at sports, but he’d also really enjoy it too.

-In my personal headcanon, I think he’d be a good construction worker as well. Not the high end kind that build skyscrapers or anything, but I can see him building simple houses for small communities, taking the lower jobs that can’t afford much help like the sweetheart he is. He definitely volunteers to make houses for the homeless.

-Since most of the homeless he helps don’t have much money, he makes sure to offer them baked goods because he’s definitely a baker.

Edward Kenway

-As a young man, he joins the navy

-Once he’s on his own, he buys his own boat and treats it like royalty.

-He’s not a pirate himself, but he does let less legal people on board for a price. At the time, it was just an easy cash pay since people paid good money when they were desperate.

-When he’s older and gets a grip on some of the people he’s helping (like the REALLY bad criminals) he quickly lets it go.

-Yet after seeing some of the more decent people and the places they were running from, I can see him being a sort of smuggler, but instead of smuggling drugs or weapons, he sells medicines, canned foods, and clothes to the regions where they’re scarce or hard to pay for.

-When he’s older and found a fortune over time, he starts up his own official charity, hiring various sailers to sail supplies to more places than he himself could alone.

SHAY CORMAC

-Okay, I have to say it. Shay would DEFINITELY be an FBI spy. Maybe I haven’t thought of it as heavily as I could, but he just strikes me as a man who could kill someone in plain sight and still not be seen.

-He already knows everything he can about infiltrating and getting vital information

-He knows exactly how to manipulate people to get what he wants.

-He’s like Macgyver but as an agent.

-He does things that make sleeping at night impossible, but he tells himself that every long night for him is another person somewhere else having a peaceful night, and peaceful nights means he’s doing his job. Right?

-Constantly questions his morals, but he can’t bring himself to stop, not knowing that he’d do if he stopped, because at least here he’s doing something. He’s contributing.

-That and maybe I might or might not want to see Shay in a suit 🤷‍♀️

AVELINE

-Actress. And a damn good one. She’s one of the kind of people who get paid millions each job and gives most of her cash on people who really need it. Not only that, she’s a fan favorite everywhere.

-She takes extra jobs in smaller businesses barely staying afloat, and public morality boosts has nothing to do with it. In fact, she keeps her fame life out of everything, choosing to see it just as another job.

-I can see her sharing similarities of Zendaya or Zoe Zaldana

ARNO DORIAN

-High school teacher or actor, I can’t decide.

-Because let’s be honest, this guys brain is more wrinkled than a raisin. He knows his stuff.

-He’s good at simplifying what he’s saying, and that happens to be a very useful trait when it comes to teaching.

-If he was a teacher, he’d be a damn good one, that’s for sure. No one will fail his class because he’s so good at explaining things, and he’d be the one who actually cares for his students.

-When it comes to acting... just admit that Arno’s a theater boy through and through. If you need proof, he’s the only one with a crazy amount of fancy robes and colors. FOR GODS SAKE HE OWNS A THEATER! So on modern day, I could totally see him as an actor as well.

-He’d be the Ewan Mcgregor of the modern day, because everyone recognizes him from SOMEWHERE because he’s really tested his acting ability on multiple various roles. Well read, charming, and level headed, he’d totally rock being an actor. He’s good friends with Aveline, and when they both have time in their busy schedules, they stop by for coffee and fill each other in on their life.

JACOB

-Boxing

-I saw the photoshops of Jacob in boxer life, and I have not been the same because oh my god that is amazing.

-but absolutely he’d be a boxer. He’s the shortest guy in the entire match, but he doesn’t need a stool to knock you on your ass before you can laugh about it.

-His opponents are lucky shattering bones is against the rules because he knows how to make someone wish their dad wore a condom.

-A lot of people think that his rounds must be rigged, and his sister had to physically hold him back every time Jacob threatened to give him a close up of how ‘rigged’ his fights were.

-Jacobs a powder keg, so it doesn’t take much to make him explode, and a lot of the less respectful people he has to fight picks particularly sore spots to do just that.

-He might be pissed, but his punch isn’t the only thing that stings. He knows exactly what words to use, and when they’ve gone too far, he doesn’t hold back.

-Might have a temper, but he has a good heart despite it all. He visits schools and completely turns his personality around with kids. He signs autographs, takes pictures, and makes sure that every one of them have a fun day because he knows that there’s some kids in this school that don’t have those kinds of days. He pays the school for field days each time, making sure they all get out. They bring out the scooters, parachutes, capture the flag, and ‘wrestling’ matches for the kids who want to face him. He loses every time. He never has a bigger smile on his face than when he has children fans walk up to him.

EVIE

-She is totally a lawyer and you can’t change my mind.

-Logic and Facts are her strongest weapons, and so far she has yet to lose a debate.

-Every other lawyer knows that seeing Evie walk into court is an instant death sentence, because like her brother, her words are sharp as a knife and her mind is even sharper.

-If they didn’t look identical, no one would believe that she would be related with Jacob the hot headed boxer, because she was level as water and was near impossible to make angry, but god help the poor sod that presses her.

-Her clients almost always get the best case scenario with Evie by their side by how good she is.

-Also like her brother, children are her weak spot, and her hard composure melts whenever she needs to speak to a child in the witness post, making sure that the child feel comfortable unlike the others that drill the kid with questions when they’re too skittish to answer. She takes her time and gets the kid feeling safe, and gently asks their side.

-Evie might not do it as a profession, but Evie has beaten Jacob in the boxing ring in the gym. She knows damn well how to handle herself, knowing she’d need it since she’d be fighting corrupt politicians or gang members who have too often tried attempts at her life. Every time she emerged unscathed, using the attempt at even more evidence against them and insuring a spot in jail. No one dared try attacking her again after that.

BAYEK

-I’m thinking police officer or motivational speaker for trauma.

-Either way, he’s a guardian who takes care of the people he’s in charge of. He knows words well, and having been down the dark path himself, he knows exactly what people experience and what they want to hear.

-Be the change you want to see in the world, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.

-He’d be a well respected officer, and he’s not afraid of telling off a comrade if someone is wrongfully accused. He’s not very popular in the police station, but as long as he’s doing his job, he’s satisfied.

-He’s saved several people over the course in his life, and his word is well honored since he’s on no ones side. He sees things as what they are and doesn’t twist events he disagreed with to his point of view. Even if it hurts him personally, he doesn’t lie.

-He’s divorced, but they’re still best friends with each other and visit when they can.

AYA (ran out of gifs. Sorry)

-She is hands down a self defense teacher for women

-She sells hidden self defense tools for less than ten dollars, always sure to keep constantly supply of them since many have confessed that they’ve saved them from dangerous situations.

-Like her former husband, she’s a protector and makes sure she provides her students with the best.

-She teaches children what to do if they ever get grabbed, and she’s had many parents in years thanking her when that information ended up saving their child’s life.

ALEXIOS

-Hands down he is a stunt double

- Preferably Arno’s since he relies more on flexibility than brute strength. Then there’s the fact that they look similar enough in features

-He does the moves that would probably be safer if they were just CGI, but he hates those computers with a passion, preferring to do the real thing instead of giving out something fake. He’s broken more bones than he can count, and the companies he works with always have a medic on standby when something goes wrong.

-They tried convincing him that they only needed him for a few spots, but after realizing that he wanted this (and him assuring them that he doesn’t bother with suing), they let him do his thing. The results are fruitful since the most nitpicky movie fans are absolutely thrilled when there’s a particular move done right.

-He teaches Arno a good few things about how to do action scenes, and they’re definitely good friends.

KASSANDRA

-Roller Derby

-She lives for throwing people and smacking them without being judged for it, so the Derby’s her safe spot.

-Everyone on the opposing team is terrified of her, always scared when they see her devilish smile, knowing that they’re about to get their asses handed to them. Like her brother, she’s an adrenaline junky, and when she’s not doing the derby, she’s going off into car races in a water trench. She’s surprisingly very good with cars too, knowing the inside and out of a car like the back of her hand.

-She loves it when men try to catcall her. It gives her a perfect opportunity to punch them in the face.

-She loves the races themselves because no one expects it. Sometimes she pretends to act like a beginner and absolutely slaughter them, giving them a nice wink before driving out with her cash.

-Only has a soft spot for the girl who visits her on weekends. She’s practically her older sister, and there will be hell to pay if her favorite kid gets hurt in any way.

EIVOR

-BACA(Bikers Against Child Abuse)

-The moment I saw this, I instantly thought about them.

-they would absolutely be a part of this

-Looking all badass in leather while turning into a softie for children? That’s Eivors entire character right there.

-Eivors not afraid to get physical with an abuser. They’d beat the abuser to a pulp and right after take the child out for ice cream.

-No one messes with Eivor, knowing that their lenience was stretched only for children. Anyone else tried to pressure her? Your teeth would be shattered and they’d wear the bits for a necklace.

-Children are much more brave around them because they’re tougher than their parent and on their side, so they’re not afraid to give them to the police

[simp4fictionalguys]

If you feel up to it may I request a megumi x foreign fem reader? Her first language is English and she was drawn to their town bc of the curses ? Please take care of yourself too btw !!

Hey! Tbh, I didn’t know how to write this one HAHAHA I mean, my first language is Spanish so it was kinda difficult 🤧 I enjoy it tho! I love reading xreader where the reader is foreign! Thanks and take care too! 🥰

Also, the bold line is when Y/n talks in English, it’s just once HAHHA but anyway! I hope you like it!

Fushiguro and Y/n where chilling in his room. The two of them didn’t have any mission for the day. Y/n suggested to spend the day relaxing and avoiding Gojo-sensei while he annoys Itadori and Kugisaki.

Fushiguro wouldn’t let a chance to avoid Gojo slice. And spent time with his girlfriend, cuddling in his room? His favorite activity. Not like he would admit it.

It’s funny how they met. Y/n arrived at the High School since her parents had decided for her to learn Sorcery. Her family was a well known clan that had left Japan in search for knowledge about the curses out of the island. She was born and grow up out of Japan. Her parents sent her to learn about Sorcery and train to be a Shaman in the best School.

Gojo had come one day, knocking on his new room to tell him about his new classmate. Fushiguro went to met her.

The downside? Y/n didn’t know how to talk Japanese so well yet.

Gojo assigned Fushiguro to help her with the language, forcing them to spent a lot of time together out of missions.

Even so, the two of them bonded and a friendship was born.

After a while, Itadori came into the picture and things got a little mixed.

You see, in between ‘teaching’ her Japanese, Fushiguro had caught feeling for the female. The same for Y/n but the two of them were in denial. When Itadori came up in the picture, Fushiguro began to feel jealous of how friendly the two of them had become in such a short time.

When Itadori was introduce by Gojo, Y/n was happy and relieve to have another classmate. Her feelings for Fushiguro began to make her feel nervous whenever the two of them were alone. What if she embarrassed herself in front of him? But she had no one else to talk!

Itadori being the friendly guy he is was more that happy to talk to her. And so, their friendship was born.

Kugisaki was the same, Y/n could finally confide on someone about her feeling for Fushiguro.

However, Fushiguro felt jealous of Itadori. One day, Fushiguro saw Y/n laughing with Itadori and Kugisaki. He felt left out and jealous at how happy she looked with him.

Kugisaki noticed how Fushiguro was looking at Itadori and smirked at the situation.

The girl then dragged Itadori by the arm, leaving Y/n. Before she left, Kugisaki told her to just confess to Fushiguro who was looking from afar. Y/n was left blushing while Itadori yelled at Kugisaki to let him go and to tell him ‘Confess to Fushiguro? What does that mean?!’

While Y/n began walking to Fushiguro he began to panic inside. Why did Kugisaki left? Did he do something?

He was so worried about what made her be alone that he missed her confession completely.

Y/n had thought that he rejected her. Fushiguro saw her impatient and nervous expression without knowing what to do.

From the distance, Kugisaki yelled at him ‘Y/n likes you, you moron!’

In the end, if it hadn’t been for Kugisaki, they wouldn’t be together.

Back in the present, Fushiguro is laying on her stomach using his phone while Y/n is comfortable laying in his bed, reading a book.

The silence that had overcome them for a while was interrupted by the rigging of her phone.

Y/n is quick to pick up, mouthing a sorry to Fushiguro. He dismisses it with a shake of his head and a faint smile, reassuring her to not worry about it.

Y/n answers the phone. She had forgot to check the number before answering, missing the number of her parents in the ID caller.

“Hello?”

“Ah! Hi dad, mom!”

Fushiguro gaze at her from the corner of his eyes. It had been a while since he heard her talk in English, it caught him off guard.

Her conversation with her parents wasn’t long. After she hung up, Y/n let out a sigh.

“Megumi, you won’t believe me...”

Fushiguro put down his phone, his attention now on her.

“What happen?”

Y/n laughed a little before talking. Fushiguro didn’t know if what she has to say is serious or not but if she is laughing it shouldn’t be serious, right?

“I think I’m getting to used to Japanese that I’m forgetting a few words in English!”

Y/n laughed again at the irony of it while Fushiguro just looked at her admiring her features.

“Hey, Megumi?”

“Mmh?”

“Did you heard me?” Y/n laughed again. She has notice that Fushiguro has a tendency of spacing out sometimes. Just like when she had confessed to him or in other occasions when she is talking about something and he’s just looking at her.

“Sorry... Can you repeat it...?” But the reason is that Fushiguro is just admiring her and he misses to listen whenever she talks to him.

“Looks like I’m forgetting English!”

Fushiguro laughed at her words.

[space-whalesharks]

So this ‘Rebooting’ breadcrumb has got me all up  in my thoughts about the SR gang (ha) and I realized I never did the thing I was going to do for Reiss, so here it is... like, three years in the making. Whoops.

Cats in the Cradle

Reiss Abernathy reflects on his struggle with single fatherhood in Stilwater and coming into power in Steelport as he watches his daughters climb the ranks of the 3rd Street Saints and make the same mistakes in life he did. 

Reiss Abernathy knew he wasn’t a good father. Sure, he didn’t qualify as the Worst, but he didn’t make it on the ‘average’ list. Maybe not even subpar. He and Anna had been a mistake from the start, so when they had two children by the time they were just getting into college and Anna had proceeded to cut and run, leaving the kids with him, there hadn’t exactly been high hopes. He had been a lost soul even back then, so he had bought them a shitty little house in the shady area of Stilwater and tried. Until he realized that raising a baby and a preschooler all on his own with no leads in life was harder than expected. And so he had stopped aiming for a reputable career and had decided to fall in with some… less than decent people. But the money was good and if he kept his mouth shut and his head down, even better. 

He had met Leo that Summer; an FBI agent with a quick wit, a sharp tongue, and a knack for justice… … for the highest bidder. Still, that tended to be him as of late, so they were fast friends. It didn’t hurt that he was fantastic with kids without any less than savory motive. He’d go out for drinks with Reiss towards the end of the week, go on whatever make-believe adventure five-year-old Quinn had cooked up for him and little Audrey for the day until she was exhausted, and headed home. 

As the years passed Leo had become more of a father to the girls than he ever was, and Reiss knew it. A lack of a nine to five day and dangerous work made for him coming home exhausted, content to do the bare minimum to make sure the girls lived another day. Leo would stop by after his shift and the Bureau and pick up the slack, asking them how their school days were, who their friends were, and all that, while Reiss nursed his wounds and headed to sleep early, cutting in on a question when he could. 

Then the teenage years hit, the girls found their voices and… it had been less than ideal. 

Quinn was filled with rage, fighting him on everything with an insult or a nasty comeback to almost anything he said. 

Audrey, ever the peacemaker, had tried to mediate things to the best of her pre-teen ability. 

They didn’t deserve her. 

And then a job offer from one of those questionable types came in- a spot as muscle for a ‘group’ in Steelport with steadier and better pay than what he was making, so he had jumped on it. 

The girls were old enough to be left alone, and he was only a couple of hours away, he’d visit often. They’d probably be better off on their own with Leo stepping in on occasion anyway. 

And despite Leo’s initial reservations and meaningfully disapproving looks, it had worked. He had become an eventual heavy hitter in the Steelport Saints and things were looking up. 

Until one night that Leo had called him in a measured panic because the girls had been in the wrong place at the wrong time - ‘they’re fine, relatively unhurt. But I think Julius Little tried to recruit them, and… I think they’re gonna do it, Reiss. Quinn looked pretty tempted.’ He had heard of the man. There had been a gang in town that was slowly coming into their own- the Saints, if he recalled. It was headed by that man. He had met him in passing a few times. Smart man - that’s what made him lethal. He had gone and joined a gang to try to keep his girls out of one, and now they had apparently fallen in with one anyway.

 He had told Leo to keep an eye on things and he had rushed home - only for Quinn to just about cut him off at the pass at every single protest. She had been tempted by whatever the Hell he had missed. Quinn liked power, and while Audrey seemed less convinced, she had been very adamant in telling him that where Quinn went, she would go - she had raised him more than he did. A hunger for power even if it came from shady sources, unyielding loyalty to favorites, ‘stick to your convictions’ - how did that song go? ‘And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me, he'd grown up just like me, my boy was just like me’ - that had rung true here and now, and it had almost undone him then and there. He had protested at first - and Quinn had thrown a bottle at his head. When Audrey had gone to step in he had barely had time to yank her out of the way and behind him to protect her from the second one that Quinn had sent flying.  He really had lost Quinn then. He had arranged a meeting with Julius after that, trying to gauge if they were in any further danger than… The Life had called for. The two he had talked to- a skinny guy clearly from Brooklyn- Troy, the one Audrey had talked about all the time and apparently taken a liking to, and some guy who thought visors were still a decent fashion choice- Dex, if he recalled correctly. Quinn had name dropped him once. Something about the man unnerved him. He had constantly felt like he was getting sized up. Regardless, he had made his case for a meeting, had named all the right people from the Knights, and Julis himself had called off his two guard dogs to talk to the man. He had initially been condescending, drawing attention to the fact that a father was trying to run interference with his two ‘grown-ass children.’ Reiss had laughed it off, saying that if he had been a decent father ages ago, maybe that would’ve been the case, but no. He wanted to get a feel of the group, make sure they weren’t signing up for disaster. 

Julius hadn’t been convinced, but he had let the guy  walk away after their talk, so there had been that. Still, there was something disarmingly fatherly about the man. He briefly thought of Leo with him, wondering if the girls would be better off without him and with the other two regardless, so he had taken his turn to cut and run. But at least they were just short of adults by then. He returned to the Knights, and asked Leo to keep tabs. And as he had climbed the ranks in the Knights, evidently the girls had done the same in the Saints. Like father, like daughters. And when the current Boss of the Knights had gone after him in a grab for power, pulling a gun on him, he had won that fight and earned his place at the top, and felt on top of the world to boot, his world had come crashing down when Leo had called him shortly after, evidently a drunken mess, and informed him that the ‘Saints had been up to no good on the Mayor’s boat the previous night, there had been an Accident, and the girls were on death’s door, and he needed to get there now.’ 

And so he had. And when he had reached the hospital, the people at the desk had been very adamant that ‘one of the girls’ hadn’t said anything about any other family ‘besides Leonidas’, nor had they been informed of anybody by Julius Little. He had made a mental note of that, content that he would make Julius pay for his lie until the rest of the statement caught up with him. One? What the Hell did that mean? Had one of them died? He had opened his mouth to start asking all the questions when he had heard Leo’s voice behind them and turned so quickly he nearly tripped over his own feet. 

And there Leo was, arm tucked securely around Audrey’s shoulders as she leaned against him to walk. She had stitches on a couple of spots on her head and she was bruised to all Hell, but she was alive. He had run to her then, gathered her into his arms and hugged her, trying not to sob, blubbering apologies as he heard her hiss in pain, but she didn’t move to pull away either.  He had been angry then, casting an accusatory look at Leo and demanding why he hadn’t been mentioned as their actual father, until Audrey had stuck up for him, claiming she wasn’t sure if Reiss would show, and his heart shattered again. He had failed them. So badly. 

And then she had caught him up on everything. The Mayor had tried to set the Saints up, but he had been smarter and rigged the thing to blow up. The only reason she had gotten minor damage compared to Quinn, who was hanging on by a thread because she had been at the exact brunt of it was that that Troy kid had called to tell her to keep away from the boat- and had confessed he was an undercover cop all along. 

Again, one was determined, lethal, headstrong, and the other was level headed but also had a knack for getting attached to surprise cops. He had looked at Leo then, who gave him the same exact look he was sporting back. They really were his children.

Leo had put him up for a few nights after that, waiting for Audrey to get discharged, and once she did he had taken her back to their new, shiny apartment- apparently the Saints had been good to her- he had made a few meals and fussed over her until she had said she appreciated it but it was almost, almost too late to care. Still, ‘almost almost’ was better than ‘definitely.’ He had asked her to tell him about her ‘cop friend’ after that and she had gone rigid and dismissive, claiming he was dead to her now. 

Extreme, but understandable. Maybe she had more sense than him after all. 

She had fallen asleep with her head pillowed on his thigh that night, and his heart had shattered all over again.

Of course, the next morning his second in command in the Knights had informed him that someone was trying to make a grab for power.  Evidently, not having learned anything in all that had happened, he had left again. The last thing he wanted was instability on both fronts of his life. He had left a furious, protesting Leo to look after the girls again and headed back to retain his throne. He justified his own actions by promising himself he’d keep a closer eye on things in Stillwater in the meantime. 

And to his credit, he did. When Quinn woke up and broke herself out of the prison hospital, he had watched the news unfold nonstop. And then had been proud when the girls had gotten back all the footing in the city they had lost in the time since Quinn was in a coma and Audrey had been laying low. 

When he was keeping his throne secure, his girls ascended closer to theirs. Quinn was thriving now, and last he heard she was the Big Boss, and if he wasn’t careful, she’d come for Steelport. Audrey was apparently perfectly comfortable in her spot of being third in command in the Saints, and that was probably exactly why she was the smartest one in the family. 

He had been thrilled that things had evened out for a while, until once again Leo had called him in a panic because things were certainly not fine. Quinn had apparently shot Audrey in a power grab to ensure that her and some Johnny fellow wouldn’t have to deal with anything, and Reiss’ world shattered again.

It occurred to him then, finally, that perhaps his influence had been the problem, and maybe it was best if he had stayed away for good. 

Leo had been livid, hurling insults immediately about being a ‘goddamn father for once in your life’ and such. When Reiss had insisted that’s what he was doing, distance might’ve been good, might have served them well, maybe they would grow to resent him entirely, to grow and make sure they were his polar opposite. That had apparently diffused Leo enough. He had gone sympathetically quiet for a while. And then his dear, loyal, Leo had made an offer Reiss knew pained him as much as hearing it himself did: “I can kill Quinn. If you think this is too much. If you think it’s too late. She loved that kid, if the old Quinn’s gone… … I’m not saying I will, but if there’s nothing of your daughter left… I can do it. If she’s crossed the line, you just tell me.” 

That might have been the most heartbreaking thing yet. Leo was more of a father to the girls than he ever was, and here he was offering to end his own surrogate daughter’s life for threatening the other one. For becoming a problem for everyone. 

“No. Just… she made her bed, let her lay in it,” Reiss had dismissed it. Then, carefully. “You’re the best man I know, you know that, right?” 

Leo had laughed then, raw and pained. “That’s not saying much with the company we keep.” 

“Just… keep an eye on things. I don’t want her dead, I just… keep Audrey safe if Quinn’s a lost cause.” 

“I will. But that’s another thing. Audrey’s got that covered, too. I tailed her after she got shot. Didn’t hear me when I called her a few times. Get this: she’s with the fuckin’ police chief. That Bradshaw Fellow. He took her in with open bloody arms and probably a certain other choice appendage.’” 

Reiss groaned in disgust at the implication and the fact that Leo had dared to say it- probably revenge for not being there. Still, he saw the irony. Audrey had two dirty cops in her life, and the pair of them were clean enough to not trust each other when it came to her.  “Just… be her backup, then.” 

“Fine. But it should be you.” 

At least the man didn’t stab him in the back with that. “I know,” was what he went with before hanging up the phone.

And so he did as intended and steered clear for a couple of years. And despite meaning well, the gravity of all the time he had missed hit him hard. He kept track of everything, dimly aware that at some point Julius had been revealed to be the mastermind behind the boat bombing. He had been in the process of arranging a plane to Stillwater to go handle that himself, only to find out that Quinn had beaten him to it, murdering him at one of the old tourist spots. Audrey had evidently been content laying low with Bradshaw, and it had all been confirmed when Leo mentioned seeing the pair ‘looking awfully cozy’ when he passed the chief’s house and spotted them through the window a while back. ‘You’re practically a father-in-law.’ 

Leo, the rotten bastard. Always had a way of wording things to ruin every ounce of conviction he ever had. Father-in-law. How much of Audrey’s life had he missed willingly that she was a grown woman with a serious boyfriend? Christ, maybe he had been wrong. Maybe he was an awful father after all, despite having good intentions. He really had fucked up.

And so he made plans to go back to Stillwater just to catch up with them in person. 

Of course, as per usual, his plan had backfired when Quinn and Audrey beat him to the punch - by dropping out of an aircraft carrier directly above his city, apparently on some rescue mission gone wrong. 

He had thought they were threats at first with all of the gunfire going on. He recognized the Syndicate colors - a gang that was trying and failing to usurp him constantly now, and… were those Saints? No, the purple was off. But they had rebranded if the rumors were true, so there was that possibility. Still, he had gotten in a plane and had the pilot fly up to meet them in the conflict because no people were going to fuck with his city. That too had backfired when, after jumping out of the plane he had grabbed the nearest goon not flying any colors that was also falling, shoved a gun under his chin, only to see that the man had been tied up. The man was shouting protests now and he had known that voice. Sounded like an idiot, heavy with a Brooklyn accent. Fuck. Some reintroduction to the man that was supposedly on the fast track to being his son-in-law. He had opened his mouth to protest, only to get knocked clean off the man by another one - and he knew his youngest daughter’s voice too, once she started hurling insults and demanding that she ‘leave the other guy alone.’ He had made quick work of yanking open his visor to show his face, and Audrey had practically shrieked ‘Dad’, and well, at least that conflict was over. He still had no fucking idea what was going on. 

He took small comfort in the fact that once they were on the ground, Audrey had kept him safe with cover fire when they had dispatched the leftover Syndicate members. 

She caught him up once the last one was dead. This was an inter-gang conflict gone wrong. The Saints and Syndicate had gotten into a turf war. The Syndicate had taken hostages- even from ‘retired’ Saints, she had explained, motioning at herself and Troy before returning to the details. One of theirs was dead, a man named Johnny. He was apparently dearly loved by everyone, judging by the tone and everyone’s reactions. 

It was then that Quinn had showed up, yanked her helmet off, pointed her gun straight at her father’s heart and announced that Steelport was hers now, because she needed every single Syndicate member dead for taking Johnny from them. Apparently he hadn’t been the only one keeping tabs. 

It was in that moment that Reiss had promptly decided he was too old for this shit. Especially if his own blood was willing to murder him point blank. He had fucked up entirely, and now was the time to mend things. Better late than never, even if he had cut it close. “I still get a cut of everything, I still get to run the Blue Steel,” was his only request- the little venue he poured a lot of his soul into. He could handle letting his kid inherit his throne if he kept his life, his other kid’s life, and his lot in life. 

Quinn had stared him down for a while, finger still resting on the trigger, and briefly Reiss figured this was it, he had tried and failed, and that just fucking figured. But then: 

“Fine,” Quinn had lowered her gun. “Still fucking hate you.” She wandered off then. 

Well, that was just going to have to work. “Okay.” He cut his losses then, and promptly turned to Troy. “Hi. You probably don’t remember me. Name’s Reiss. I’m Audrey’s father. ”

“Kinda figured.” 

“Yeah. You and I should go get a drink sometime and get to know each other if we’re almost family.” 

Troy stared at him for a few seconds, then glanced Audrey’s way. “Dree, what the fuck is happening here?” 

Reiss waited a beat, then laughed as the perfect solution occurred to him then and there. A way to patch things up as much as possible without fucking it all up again.“Taking this as a retirement opportunity and making up for lost time,” he replied. He turned his attention to Audrey. “If the one who turned out the least like me will have me.” 

She frowned at him, then after a beat, she sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, she’ll have you. Unless you disappear again.”

“Not a chance. Unless you want me to.” 

Audrey looked from him, to Troy, to Quinn, staring out at the city skyline a few yards away, then back. “Then welcome to the Saints.” 

Welcome to the Saints. Sounded a Hell of a lot like ‘welcome to the family’- meant nearly the same thing too, if his hunch was right. It was their family. Not his. But maybe that’s what they all needed to be their family again. Or for the first time, considering they weren’t much of one to the start. “Glad to be here.” 

And for once, he realized he meant it entirely. 

[sweet-symphony0]

Despair

  Hey hey, guess who’s back and finally had time to write! Happy Twin Tuesday! This one is...current, I’ll say. That’s all I’m going to say.

Summary: 01/06/2021. Rami and Sami can’t believe their eyes. They cope the only way they know how.

 Tags: @the-real-ramimalekpeen @xmxisxforxmaybe @killerqueengigi @txmel @laminy @ramimedley @rathernotmyname @ramilicious @sherlollydramoine @edteche2 @hah0106

---

Sami’s phone was ringing, he could hear it vibrating in his bag from he stood next to his desk, surveying his thirty students, their attention quickly diminishing. He ignored it, even as it rang a second time. 

“Alright guys-hey, don’t pack up yet, this is important-reading for tonight is chapter 12, your essays on Slaughterhouse Five are due Friday, so don’t forget.” There were groans heard from around the room, and Sami continued, “and no, I won’t be accepting any late papers; I gave you a month and a half for this. That’s more than generous, get it done.”

There were more groans and Sami smirked inwardly to himself as the bell rang and students began shuffling out the door, with a few calls of “see ya, Mr. Malek!” and Sami smiled. “Yeah, have a good day guys. Nice work today.”

When the last student was out the door, Sami took a moment to himself, glad he now had a free period before his next class. He cleared his throat, and began erasing the notes from the smartboard in preparation for the next round, when his phone vibrated and he remembered someone was trying to reach him, idly wondering what was so important that someone would call him at work.

Skimming his notifications, he frowned. Three texts from Rami, a missed call from him, and two texts from friends which he ignored for the time being, instead reading Rami’s messages:

“I know you’re at work, but you need to see this.” and underneath, in a separate message, a link to a CNN article that read “Rioters break windows and breach US Capitol.”

Sami stared, bewildered, and then read the third message Rami had sent.

“Turn on the news.”

Sami reread the headline, clicking the link Rami had sent, and he skimmed the article, his mind reeling.

“What the fuck...?”

Rami’s response was instant:

“You need to turn on the fucking news. Now.”

Sami wasted no time in rushing to the staff room, thanking his stars he had a break for the next forty minutes. It didn’t surprise him that nearly a quarter of the staff were already there, and he slipped inside, spotting a few of his colleagues from the English department. Even though the second bell had rung, no one in the room bothered to move, their eyes transfixed on the news coverage blaring from the TV. And as Sami turned his gaze to watch too, he felt his stomach sink in dread.

There were a cacophony of murmurs around the room, Sami catching tidbits here and there.

“What are we going to do?”

“There’s nothing we can do right now-”

“No, we can’t just-someone has to explain to the kids-”

“No, they’ll find out soon enough, we keep teaching like normal-”

“This is a high school,” one of Sami’s friends in the history department finally sighed tiredly. “You really think those kids don’t know by now? They have social media and cell phones. They know. And we can go about like usual, but this is something we’re all going to be talking about tomorrow.”

Sami’s eyes drifted back to the television, watching intently as he drowned everyone else out. They were inside the building now, hoards of them, a never ending sight. Sami watched with wide, disbelieving eyes, horrified as people scaled the building walls, smashed through windows, and he couldn’t help but think frantically: why wasn’t anyone doing anything?

He snorted to himself. Right. You know why.

He didn’t think he’d be able to go back to work after this. Slowly, one by one, his colleagues filtered out as most of them had classes to attend to that period and couldn’t push being late anymore. Once he was alone, Sami sank into one of the chairs, eyes glued to the newscast, feeling frozen from what he seeing.

He felt sick.

He texted Rami back and forth, a steady stream of furious conversation, not even realizing when the bell rang. Scrambling out of his seat, he rushed back to his room, just in time for when kids started filing in.

“Hi guys,” he pasted a smile on his face. “Settle down, and we’ll get started.”

He taught on autopilot, the forty minutes going by without him realizing, and before he knew it, kids were standing up and he was calling out the same thing from before: “read chapter twelve tonight, your essays are due Friday...”

Whatever previous intentions Sami had about sticking around the rest of the school day to get his work done, he threw right out the window. Racing home, he dug through his fridge for a beer, and then after better judgement, grabbed another, before he turned his TV on and called Rami.

Sami didn’t even let him say hi. “Are you safe?”

“Yeah,” Rami nodded. He was moving through his apartment, Sami could see, presumably to get to a quieter spot, and his gaze was off to the side, watching something. “I’m fine. Nothing here has happened yet, thankfully.”

“Listen,” Sami said urgently. “Stay inside okay? Don’t go out today if you don’t have to. You don’t-no one knows what will happen. Please.”

“I’m not moving,” Rami said. “I can’t-fucking after this, I can’t concentrate. I’m supposed to be rehearsing lines for tomorrow but fuck that. This is insane.”

Sami watched as the mob of people made their way inside the Rotunda, and he sank onto the couch. Then a few minutes later, they were inside the Senate chamber, pushing things around, and when he changed the channel to find another possible view, there was a photo up of a man carrying a confederate flag.

“Oh my fucking god.”

Rami’s voice was low. “I know. It gets worse.”

“Oh no, don’t say that.”

“They-they took down the American flag,” Rami said with barely restrained rage. “And replaced it. With a fucking Trump flag.”

Sami choked. “You’re not serious.”

“I wish I weren’t. And our president,” Rami scoffed. “is encouraging it. Fucking-” he stopped short, thinking for a moment on whether or not to complete what he wanted to say, before he shook his head in exasperation. “It’s all so exhausting.”

“That’s unconstitutional,” Sami murmured, flipping channels again, and he dropped his beer when he saw the constructed noose on the other side of the Capitol, staining the carpet, but he didn’t care. “Who is that for?! What the fuck!”

“What? What am I missing?”

Sami didn’t answer, still rooted on the spot, watching as officers finally brought out tear gas. “Fuck...is there any update on the Senators?”

“Not that I can tell. Though they are saying a few Republican ones are agreeing with this bullshit.”

Suddenly everything clicked, and Sami realized why today, of all days, this was happening. As he watched the coverage of Trump’s tweet, the rally earlier that morning, he idly wondered how much damage had already been caused, and whatever else he’d missed.

“I’m not drunk enough for this,” he sighed, and Rami chuckled flatly.

“I’ve had a bottle of wine open for the last hour. Wish you were here to join me.”

“Well,” Sami stood up, grimacing at the mess he’d made from the spilled beer. “I can join you from afar. What are you drinking?” Rami gave him the name of a Cabernet they were both fond of, and Sami grinned triumphantly when he found a spare bottle in the back of his wine cooler. Propping his phone up on the counter against the block of chopping knives, he made quick work in opening and pouring himself a generous glass. “Cheers, man.”

“Cheers. What are we cheers-ing to?”

Sami hummed, licking the bit of wine that had dripped down his finger. “To the compete and utter fuckery that has been...the six days of this new year.”

“That works,” Rami was silent for a moment, both of them lost in their thoughts, watching the news again. “You know, I...obviously after the last four years there’s been a lot of unrest and contempt. But to this extent, for thousands of people to..to believe-”

“Say an election is rigged and then stop the process in almost every way they can?” Sami took a generous sip of his wine. “To destroy the Capitol? Yeah. I know.”

“Unbelievable,” Rami said succinctly, and after a moment: “I should’ve stayed in London.”

“They’re not much better,” Sami snickered, glancing at his twin. “Besides, London doesn’t have me.”

Rami laughed. “You think I plan my life around you?”

“What, you mean you don’t? I’m shocked. That hurts.”

“Definitely not,” Rami smirked and Sami laughed.

“Alright hot shot, don’t let that hair gel go to your brain too. There’s enough on your head already.”

“Oh, fuck you,” Rami was grinning, and Sami grinned back.

“Just trying to keep you humble, you know. I don’t give a shit if you have a shiny gold toy now.”

“Wow,” Rami muttered. “You wish your hair looked as good.”

“A greasy mess? Yeah, no thanks.”

Rami laughed again, and Sami grinned, pleased at the fact, sipping his wine again as they turned back to the news. “Fuck, it really is a shit show isn’t it?”

“I’ve always said he would leave the White House, but he’ll burn it down with him as he goes.”

“Yeah,” Sami sighed, his anger boiling all over again. “Looks like it. I wish you were wrong.”

“Me too.”

Glancing at the clock, he saw it had been a hour since he’d gotten home, which meant it was around 4pm on the east coast. Tuning back to the coverage, the mob outside the Capitol had grown, more people were scaling the wall to get inside, and Sami couldn’t help but think how all too easy it was for them.

“So uh...where’s the tear gas? The rubber bullets? The arrests?”

Rami snorted. “You’re fucking kidding, right? C’mon. Like that applies to them.”

Sami snorted too, and then laughed weakly, which turned into a laughing fit, and he could hear Rami calling his name. “Sorry...it’s just...fuck all of them.”

Rami raised his glass in a toast before he downed it in one go, pouring another serving. “Amen.”

“God, how am I supposed to explain this to my kids? You’re telling me I have to go to work tomorrow after this?”

“Same here,” Rami said. He was moving again, and Sami could see he was back in the kitchen too, digging through his refrigerator. He produced a bunch of grapes, a platter of salami, and a block of cheddar cheese, and Sami watched as he began to assemble an antipasti platter for one. “I don’t want to head to work. Seems pointless, after this.”

Sami bit his lip thoughtfully. “It’s not...useless. Use it. You’re angry-”

“Angry? No, I’m well passed pissed off at this point.”

“There you go. Use it, use that rage towards your scenes and whatever your character is. It’s...” Sami shrugged meekly at Rami, who was watching him intently. “It’s the only thing we can do at times like this, right?”

“I suppose,” Rami muttered, a tired expression on his face, and popped a grape into his mouth. He turned around, opening the fridge again and came back holding some hummus and olives in his hand. “I imagine it’ll be the only thing anyone will talking about for the next week. Rightfully so.” He opened the olives, laying a few of them out next to the salami, and stuck the jar back into the fridge. 

Sami was bemused. “How much are you eating?”

“As much as it takes to get through this shit show. I’m supposed to be on a diet right now, but I don’t give a shit. If I’m going to wine and dine watching this, I might as well do it properly.”

“Now I really wish I were there.”

“Yeah, me too. It would make it more bearable. But...this will do for now.”

Sami went silent, watching the TV again, which was now reporting about gunshots and a woman wounded. “Jesus Christ.”

Rami was muttering under his breath. “Shit, shit, shit, shit-”

They didn’t speak after that, both of them too lost in watching the news coverage, and Sami gripped his glass tightly as took a breath in to ease his anxiety.

Swallowing, he poured another glass, knowing he wouldn’t be finishing the bottle, and instead capped it and placed it in the fridge for tomorrow. It was an odd feeling, one that “scared” wouldn’t be able to cover. It was a looming, threatening feeling; something like this was so deeply entrenched in the fabric of the country. It wasn’t something that would go away on January 20th, as much as he wished for that. He wasn’t surprised that people had so much hatred for anyone other than themselves were coming out of the woodwork, blindly following what their commander in chief told them. The repercussions of this day would be something that would take a long time to repair.

“I’m tired,” he said suddenly. Rami’s voice was quiet, and though Sami didn’t elaborate, Rami seemed to understand what he meant perfectly.

“I know. So am I.”

---

When the crowds eventually thinned out, and Sami went back to work the next morning, he read the highlights of things he’d missed, flipping through the photos of the wreckage before the first period bell rang. When students trickled in, he was met with a sea of somber faces, and he knew he wouldn’t be teaching his regular lesson plans for the day. He felt enraged all over again.

Instead, he hopped up onto his desk, sitting cross legged and observing his students. “Alright. I would be...a very poor educator if I didn’t bring up what happened yesterday to all of you. And I know you’ll hear about it later in the day, I’m sure, but what we do here as teachers affects you guys for the rest of your lives. Now I don’t really care if you can’t tell me the imagery themes in The Great Gatsby, but I do care if you can’t think for yourselves. You’ll be reading and hearing a lot different things in the next coming weeks from people who think they’re right. And you’re all old enough, in my opinion, to have your own opinions on this. That being said, we all know what the banned book list is, correct?”

There were students nodding, and Sami nodded too, and he hopped off the desk to pull said list up. “Good. Pick a book from here, read it. There’s a reason all these books are banned from certain school curriculum, and I want you guys to pick one, and tell me why. It’s January. For every book you manage to get through from now till June, if you give me a one page analysis on your thoughts, I’ll give you extra credit that counts towards your final.” His students perked up at that, and he smiled inwardly. “Five points for every book, sound good?” There were murmurs of approval, and Sami continued, “it’s not mandatory, so don’t feel pressured to this. But I would...appreciate it if you did.”

“What if we read them all?” Someone asked.

There was always one.

Sami’s lips quirked up in amusement. “Good luck. You’ll notice there’s plenty of books on there we’ve read already.”

His students started chattering excitedly, and Sami cleared his throat, glancing at his copy of The Color of Water, which is what they were studying now. They would be finishing that tomorrow, the test for it was Monday, something which Sami had to make over the weekend. He hadn’t decided what to teach next, his gaze drifting to the copies of To Kill A Mockingbird in the back of the classroom, which was what he was planning to start Monday, after the kids took their test.

He debated on it, and then Rami’s words came back to him from the night before.

“He’ll leave the White House, but he’ll burn it down with him as he goes.”

He cleared his throat. “Guys, we’re just going to finish reading for the rest of the period, and we’ll go over the whole book for tomorrow before your test. So if you’ve got your books, take ‘em out.”

Later, once his classes were over for the day, he headed to the library, intent on finding Maria and asking for his next lesson plans.

“Hey Sami,” she greeted. “Back again? How’d they fare with Color of Water?”

“Not bad,” Sami said. “We’re finishing it up, test is Monday.”

“So, you’re here for Mockingbird?”

“No I’ve got Mockingbird,” he murmured, scanning the bookshelves. “That was what I was going to go with originally, but I’ve had a change of heart. Do you know if any of the faculty is teaching Orwell at the moment?”

“The freshmen, some of them are doing Animal Farm. But none of the AP classes right now. Which one?”

Sami spotted what he was looking for, and based on the piles of books they had, no one else had taught it yet, or he was late to the game.

“1984.”

[gothic-safari-clown]

The Mind’s Power Over the Body

Part 19: Hands Off

Story summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they're reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they've both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan's side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18

Word count: 2587

TW for self harm

"So you're tellin' me absolutely nothin' is goin' on between you two?" Between sessions, Harley had come to visit Elianna in her office for a chat. "Aren't you still staying at his place?" It seemed that the blonde still had yet to give up on the idea of El and Jonathan together; the only difference now was that she had ended up being right (a fact that the redhead had made sure to remind him of as they laid in bed catching their breath the day before. He hadn't found it quite as funny as she did).

"Yeah—wait, how did you know that?"

"I was pullin' into the parking lot behind you guys this mornin'."

"Uh-huh, we drove separately, stalker." El quirked an eyebrow with an expectant smile.

"Right, so you just happened to arrive at the same time? Just 'cause you didn't take the same car doesn't you're not comin' from the same place."

"Alright, alright," El laughed. "He's got some errands to run after work, so I promised to make dinner."

"Aww," Harley exaggerated the syllable, knowing it would get under her friend's skin.

"Oh, cut it out." El rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I already told you, nothing is going on." The blonde just laughed in response. "Hey, how's your big case coming along?"

As Harley enthusiastically began to tell whatever she could about her sessions with the self-named Poison Ivy, El used the distraction as an opportunity to recall the day before smugly to herself.

Already, the recent change in their relationships had its ups and downs. On the one hand, it almost seemed like a dam had burst; their dynamic flowed more smoothly, and for her part, she felt as though a weight had lifted from her shoulders. On the other, when he had told her that morning that he had to oversee the handling of that night's delivery personally (since Batman had effectively put Falcone out of commission), her usual worry for his safety had doubled.

Something that Elianna and Jonathan had in common was a lack of experience with real relationships. As such, they shared a sense of profound importance in regards to the new arrangement. It would take some work to balance the now heightened concern they held for each other.

Meanwhile, Jonathan was in his office trying in vain to occupy his mind by shuffling through the stack of administrative paperwork that the warden's office couldn't be bothered to sort through before sending it to him. Between the unexpected hitch in the master plan and trying as hard as he could to not think about El (on that count, Scarecrow was actively working against), he was struggling to make it through even the very basics of his job.

At that moment, for example, he was grappling with his schedule for the day. Falcone had been taken to Blackgate and apparently had been asking to see him for a few days. Jonathan had been putting off visiting the mobster since he had found out; he had been caught by a civilian in a cape and a mask; what could he possibly have to discuss with such a disappointment to the underworld? Today, however, he had received word that the older man had cut his wrists, and the administration at Blackgate had sent for him specifically.

As if that weren't enough, he had already had to clear his schedule for that night to oversee the shipment, given that Falcone was now indisposed.

There was no getting around it, though, he supposed, and found himself back in the car en route to Blackgate. However, the drive wasn't nearly long enough for Jonathan to quell his frustration in Falcone's incompetence, and before too long was meeting with the mobster's caseworker.

"Doctor Crane, thanks for coming." There was a thinly disguised urgency in her voice as she greeted him.

"Not at all," he replied, barely remembering to keep his tone patient. "He cut his wrists?" How irritating it was to fake concern.

"Probably looking for the insanity plea," well, at least the woman was pragmatic, "but if anything should happen..."

"Of course, better safe than sorry." He nodded as they approached the door to the private room that Falcone had been brought to. With that, the caseworker unlocked the door to let Jonathan in and let the door swing closed behind him.

Falcone didn't skip a beat. "Hey, Doctor Crane, I can't take it anymore. It's all too much; the walls are closing in, blah blah blah," the old man rambled dryly. "Couple more days of this food, it'll be true." Jonathan found himself steeling himself against the urge to let Scarecrow come out as he settled into his chair.

"What do you want?"

"I want to know how you're gonna convince me to keep my mouth shut." The ego of a powerful man is truly something indigestible, isn't it?

"About what? You don't know anything about the operation."

"Maybe not specifics, sure, but I know you don't want the cops to take a closer look at the drugs they seized. I know about your experiments with the inmates of your nuthouse." Jonathan listened and watched as patiently as he could as the tiresome man continued to talk. "See, I don't go into business with a guy without finding out his dirty secrets." At this point, Scarecrow was banging against the proverbial walls of their brain, desperate to retaliate. "Those goons you used. I own the muscle in this town. Now I've been bringing your stuff in for months. So whatever he's planning, it's big. And I want in."

Can you believe the balls on this guy? Let me out, Jonny.

Not yet; he still doesn't have a leg to stand on.

"Well, I already know what he'll say. That we should kill you." Just because we haven't yet doesn't mean that we won't, old man.

"Even he can't get me in here. Not in my town." Jonathan was growing tired of this conversation very quickly.

"Your town." The psychiatrist repeated, not a question—a mockery. The older man's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Oh, did I forget to ask? How rude of me, I forgot the most important part. How is your little lady friend from the asylum?" here the mobster leaned in threateningly, "Does she know what you're doing? What's gonna happen to her once you go down, I wonder. Maybe I'll send some people to make sure she's not alone, huh?"

Now that caught Jonathan's attention. The rest of Falcone's little threats were easily avoided; even he didn't have the power to endanger Ra's Al Gul's plans. He did, however, have the power to have unspeakable things done to Elianna. That would not stand.

Jonathan made his decision from there quickly. Scarecrow was overjoyed that El had been brought into the discussion, knowing that Jon would have to take it seriously, and was raring to be in control.

Jonathan sighed and removed his glasses, hearing the straw man begin to cheer in the back of his mind. "Would you like to see my mask?" He asked, opened his briefcase without waiting for an answer, popped open the false bottom, and reached for the mask, ignoring the several full syringes waiting to be used. He had added a new rig to the case, and it was as good a time as any to test it out. "I use it in my experiments. Now, I'm probably not very threatening to a guy like you," he continued, holding up the mask for emphasis, "but these crazies? They can't stand it."

With that, he made to put the mask on and let Scarecrow take over.

He could barely hear Falcone's quip about the nut taking over the nuthouse over the ever surreal feeling of taking the backseat in his own brain.

Once his face was secured, Scarecrow took great pleasure in pressing the button to release the cloud of toxin. The screams of terror began almost instantaneously, much to his delight, and he rose from his chair to loom over the mafioso.

"They scream, and they cry," he teased with menacing glee. "Much as you're doing now." Jonathan allowed Scarecrow a few more seconds of enjoyment before regaining control. They still had to leave undetected, and Scarecrow couldn't be trusted to be professional. As much as Jonathan enjoyed hearing the man who had dared to threaten El scream, he was more trustworthy when it came to subterfuge.

"Well, he's not faking," Jonathan cleared his throat as he reentered the hallway, greeted by the caseworker's concerned face. "Not that one." He was still a bit flustered by the rush of inflicting such horror upon someone. Move on, Jonathan, act normal. It was a bit of a blur after that, promising to talk to the judge and get Falcone transferred to Arkham before making his way back to the Asylum himself. He still had a few patients to see before he could punch out to oversee the shipment that evening.

However, once the rush wore off, Jonathan found his mind wandering back to what Falcone had said about El. Who knew what he could have told his people already? He stopped by El's office before returning to his own and was surprised to find her no longer there. A quick phone call to the secretary at the front desk told him that she had already left for the day—another phone call to find that her cell phone was dead.

Shit.

Jonathan forced himself back to the matter at hand, telling himself that she was fine, but the lingering worry stayed in the back of his mind.

For about an hour and a half at least, when he decided that he was done with work for the day. The sooner he could take care of business, the sooner he could rush home to make sure she was there.

In the car on his way to the meeting site, Jonathan tried calling her again to no avail.

I really need to get a home phone for the apartment; he cursed to himself.

He found himself unable to focus on the task at hand as he parked his car and got into the one being driven by the goons provided by Falcone. Any of them could have received orders at any point to take El, hurt her, anything. He had no way of knowing if instructions had already been given or what liberties were allowed should anything happen to her.

Behind his impassive expression, Jonathan was operating almost solely on autopilot, getting out of the car and entering the old apartment that served as a drop point. This one had already been used twice before, and given how close the end date was, he had already decided to eradicate any and all evidence once the job was done.

He looked disinterestedly over the pile of stuffed bunnies, appraising the shipment's size, doing quick calculations in his head to the best of his ability. After concluding that it was, in fact, the correct amount, he gestured to the goons to retrieve the substance from inside of the toys. "Get rid of all traces."

Jonathan couldn't help the disgusted look around the dilapidated apartment. He couldn't think of anywhere he wanted to be less at that moment. Distracted by the sheer quantity of distasteful thoughts swirling in his mind, he was almost startled when Scarecrow spoke suddenly.

There's someone else here.

That statement froze all other concerns as he tuned in to his environment. He barely registered one of the thugs telling the others to torch the apartment as he noticed a prickling on the back of his neck, as well as the open window.

Jonathan remained calm and in control as the other men began to douse the furniture in gasoline while he moved to examine the window.

Are you sure?

Before the straw man could answer, the sound of shattering glass from the other room stole Jonathan's attention from the window.

Yes, came the smug response. Wasting no more time, Jonathan let the other goon move to investigate and instead moved into the shadows to retrieve his mask.

You're up again, Scarecrow. Do it fast; we have to get home.

Yeah, yeah, you've been annoying me for hours; she's fine. Would you shut up about it? Retaliated Scarecrow as he forced Jonathan out of the driver's seat and took over, relishing in the drama of wearing his face again.

That moment didn't last for very long before his suspicions were confirmed, and the Batman himself burst into the room, swiftly incapacitating the leftover thug. Luckily, Scarecrow's reflexes were just as fast, and he released a cloud of toxin from their sleeve rig, which hit the caped crusader squarely in the face.

The effects were almost instantaneous, judging by the wide eyes behind the cowl and the erratic, flailing movements. Scarecrow stifled a laugh as the armored man toppled backward away from him.

"Take a seat," he taunted, thoroughly enjoying his playtime, "have a drink." Here he seized a bottle of vodka abandoned by his now useless goons. The staw man snarled mentally, understanding Jonathan's intolerance of incompetence. They would be eradicated along with the evidence of their crimes. Splashing the booze on the caped man in delight, he continued to tease him.

"You look like a man who takes himself too seriously." Scarecrow abandoned the now empty bottle and replaced it in his hand with a zippo lighter that El had left in their pocket.

Wait, she loves that thing-

We'll buy her a new one, pipe down.

He had corraled Batman in front of the window and sparked the lighter, extending it in front of him menacingly. "Do you want my opinion? You need to lighten up." With that, he tossed the lighter, which ignited the caped crusader and the old rug in seconds.

This allowed them a swift escape, as Batman threw himself out the window and plummeted with the rain onto the pavement several stories below. Wasting no time, Scarecrow had them outside and in the getaway car. Luckily, there was a spare key in the visor, and they sped down the street in the direction of where they had left their car.

Slow down! We're attracting attention; we don't need that.

You're the one who's been bitching about getting home for the past few hours.

Not letting up for a second, Scarecrow turned a fifteen-minute drive back to Jonathan's car into a five-minute one before finally retreating to his place in the back of their mind. Of course, on principle, Jonathan was still irritated with Scarecrow for behaving so recklessly, then leaving him to deal with any potential consequences. Still, he was glad for the saved time.

By this point, Jonathan was so frenzied with panic about El's wellbeing that he couldn't even think about their own run-in with the Batman. Still ten minutes away from home, he tried to call her cell once again. Still no answer.

Why the fuck won't she pick up?

Scarecrow didn't respond, finally picking up just how agitated the whole situation had made his counterpart. Best not to rile him up further.

Jonathan nudged the car faster. Only a few minutes away, but it felt like forever. He was so frantic to get home and see Elianna safe that he couldn't even think of what he would do if she weren't. No game plan, not even a shadow of one because she's okay. Or so he kept telling himself.

[potionsprefect]

Locked In (Ethan x F!MC)

Pairings: Ethan Ramsey x Victoria Clarke, Danny Cardinal x Sienna Trinh

Summary: Two young children are brought to Edenbrook suffering from a deadly disease. Can the team control it before time runs out?

Word count: 4.3k

Warnings: mentions of disease/illness, angst

A/N: Back at it again with a fic from A03. This one was inspired by ER episode season 8 episode 22 and season 9 episode 1. Also, imagine a world where the senator attack happened but Danny survived. I think we could all do with some more Danny x Sienna content.

Chapter 1- Fight to Survive

“Where’s my patient from exam one?” Jackie Varma said at large to the staff around her.

“Discharged herself. Had to get home to pick her kids up from school.” Danny Cardinal said not looking up from the computer.

“Damnit.” Jackie sighed taking a seat.

“Tough case?” Victoria Clarke said standing next to her.

“Something like that.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Victoria asked.

“No it’s ok. I’ll move on.” Jackie smiled.

“Doctors why are we sitting around, I think we have patients to see.” Zaid Mirani said handing out charts.

No one argued with the senior doctor. He was right but he’d never sat down once. It was a surprise to everyone that his legs hadn’t clotted up in the years he’d been working.

“Doctor Trinh, lab test back on the kid in exam three.” Danny handed Sienna a sheet of paper.

“Thanks Danny.” Sienna smiled and headed off to see the said patient. Danny’s gaze lingered on her as she walked off and when he turned away he was met with the amused faces of Jackie and Victoria.

“What?” Danny said turning a bright shade of red.

“Are you ever gonna act on your instinct?” Jackie chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“She likes you. And we all agree you’d make a cute couple. So hurry up and do it already.” Jackie grinned.

“Plus we’ve got a bet on with Aurora and Elijah who think she’ll act first.” Victoria smiled.

“I have a patient that needs an IV.” Danny said hiding his red face and embarrassment as he walked away.

“Nurse Cardinal is busy doctors why aren’t you?” Doctor Ethan Ramsey said walking up to the two ladies.

“You call it busy, I call it ‘making an excuse to avoid answering a relationship question’ Doctor Ramsey.” Victoria said.

“He doesn’t let it affect his work. Who’s the lucky lady?” Doctor Ramsey asked with a small smirk.

Victoria pointed to Danny who was chatting to Sienna. She was laughing at something he said.

“Called it from the beginning.” Ethan said.

“Since when are you aware of hospital relationships?” Jackie asked.

Ethan didn’t answer instead he shot Victoria a quick glance before excusing himself to check on a patient.

“Him as well? I thought Ramsey was married to the job.” Jackie huffed.

Victoria didn’t answer, she was busy watching Ethan walk away. “He’s clearly aware of hospital gossip.”

Jackie wasn’t listening at this point. She had her head in another chart when Bryce’s voice suddenly broke the silence.

“Alright what’s the big emergency I’m here?” Bryce winked.

“Possible gallstones in exam four scalpel jockey.” Jackie shoved a chart in his hands before wandering off to the vending machine.

“Damn what’s got her so twisted?” Bryce said sitting down.

“A patient discharging herself without her approval.” Victoria replied.

“Happens all the time. People get sick of staring out at Massachusetts. They’d rather be exploring it.”

“Doctor Clarke rescue 7’s coming in with two children, suspected chicken pox, eta 2 minutes.” Marlene turned to Victoria.

“Their parents called 911 on chicken pox?” Victoria asked.

“Apparently they’ve got a high temperature. Plus their parents say it looks more like pus boils rather than red marks.” Marlene replied.

“Okay page Dr Ramsey.” Victoria said.

“Right away Dr Clarke.”

Victoria headed out to the ambulance bay and waited for Ethan. The cold November air ripped through her and she folded her arms, trying to keep as warm as possible.

“What have we got?” Ethan asked.

“Two children suspected chicken pox.” Victoria said. When Ethan looked at her bewildered she continued “yeah I know but Marlene said the parents think it looks worse than it probably is.”

“Give them some cream and be done with it. There could’ve been a sick patient out there who didn’t get the ambulance they needed. Now we’ll have to deal with the body that rolls into Edenbrook when the patient was delayed necessary medical treatment.” Ethan rolled his eyes just as the ambulance parked up. Rafael Aveiro jumped out the drivers seat, a concerned look on his face.

“You took the chicken pox case?” Victoria asked.

“Two children, Nathan aged eight, Rosie aged six. Bad spots, high temperature. We don’t think it’s chicken pox.” Rafael said.

“What do you think it is?” Ethan asked.

“See for yourself.” Rafael said a grave look on his face as he opened the ambulance doors. Victoria and Ethan’s jaws dropped at what they saw.

Two children were bundled up in what looked like duvet covers. They had big white spots on their face, arms and legs. Rafael’s colleague Tamara also had a grave look on her face.

“Oh my god.” Victoria breathed.

“Is it what we think it is?” Tamara said.

“Yes, park up the ambulance and find an empty room even if it’s a trauma room. Victoria go grab those tubes from the lounge and bring them to exam five. And tell admin the protocol.” Ethan said picking the girl up.

Victoria ran back into the building trying to squeeze past as many people as possible. She burst through the doors of the lounge and searched for the white tubes that the hospital were sent every month. When she found what she was looking for she hurried out the room.

“What’s happening? Why was Ramsey rushing through here with Rafael and Tamara?” Jackie asked as all the other doctors and nurses looked at her for an answer.

“Lock the doors, don’t let anybody leave, move all stable patients out, close us to trauma and call the contacts in the emergency response book. And page Ines and Zaid.” Victoria said holding the tubes.

“Why what’s going on?” Bryce said.

“We’ve got two suspected cases of smallpox.”

— — — — — — — — — —

Donned in the necessary protection equipment, Victoria entered exam five where the two young children were sat with their parents. Both children were pale and wheezing, breathing in and out slowly.

“When did you first notice the spots?” Ethan was asking the parents. Victoria put oxygen masks on the young children.

“How are you both doing?” Victoria asked them.

“I feel really tired. And these spots are itchy.” The young girl spoke.

“Don’t worry we’re going to help you. I need you to keep these masks on ok?” Victoria said stroking her hair.

“Is this because we played outside with the other children?” Rosie asked.

“What do you mean?”

“We played football with the other kids in Kenya. They said they weren’t feeling well. Have we got what they got?”

“That’s what we’re going to try and find out. Ethan.” Victoria motioned Ethan away from the prying ears of the parents and the children.

“Four days ago the spots came up. Four days! And they waited until now to call 911. They should’ve brought them in themselves.” Ethan complained in hushed tones.

“Ethan they were in Africa. Kenya to be precise. They played outside with other kids who had symptoms. They’ve caught it off them.” Victoria said.

Ethan was silent. He looked at the children who were being comforted by their parents then ran a hand through his hair.

“Oh god ok uh, go and tell Rafael and Tamara. Get hold of their supervisor and tell them the rig needs to be scrubbed down. Are public health on their way?” Ethan said.

“Hopefully. I’ve paged Ines and Zaid. What about Naveen?” Victoria said.

“No. He’s not coming near here. Get someone to get ahold of him and tell him not to come in.”

Victoria entered trauma one where Rafael and Tamara were sitting on a gurney. “You guys are stuck here. It is suspected smallpox. Get your supervisor to decontaminate the rig.”

“It’s gonna be stuck there. We obviously can’t move it.” Rafael said.

“We’ve closed to trauma. Nobody’s coming in or out.” Victoria said putting protocol wristbands on Rafael and Tamara. “Did they say why they were in Africa?”

“Dad works for a wildlife conservation programme. It was either go with him or the children don’t see their dad for ten months.” Tamara sighed.

“Their breathing is shallow. There’s still a chance though.” Victoria said.

“This feels like…. like last time.” Rafael sighed.

“No Raf. Don’t think like that. We’ll fight it just like last time.” Victoria reassured him. She knew what he was thinking and she’d be lying if she said it didn’t cross her mind.

“Are they gonna be ok?” Tamara said.

“I hope so.” Victoria said. She walked out the trauma room and headed back to admin where everyone was sorting everything out.

“We’re closed to trauma. That was a fun conversation with Mass Kenmore.” Ines said.

“All the elevators are closed off. Doors are surrounded by the police department. No one gets in, no one gets out.” Elijah said.

“Look I don’t care where your administrator is we’ve got suspected smallpox cases here now get your asses down here otherwise we risk exposure to the city!” Zaid slammed the phone down on its hook.

“Public Health are on their way. They say to lock it down.” Ines said.

“The entire hospital?” Sienna said.

“The ER.”

“Are we 100% sure? Smallpox has been eradicated. There’s a vaccine for it. We haven’t had a case here since the 1940s. Are we not jumping the gun?” Zaid said staring at Victoria.

“Go and look at them in exam five. All the suspected signs and symptoms. This thing killed half of Europe. We can’t risk exposure to the city.” Victoria said.

“Looks like my gallstones operation will have to be put on hold.” Bryce said.

“Who’s gonna explain to them that they can’t leave?” Jackie nodded by the door.

Outside the police were standing blocking anyone from leaving or entering. Police strips were being put in place and people were anxiously looking between the door and the doctors.

“Where’s the tannoy? We had it here before.” Ines said looking between the shelves.

“Try the lounge.” Zaid replied.

“What are their symptoms?” Sienna said to Victoria.

“Fever, high temperature and white spots all over their arms, legs and face. It’s all there in black and white.”

“She’s right.” Danny replied obviously googling the said symptoms on the computer.

“Right well you’re gonna need our help. Bryce, Elijah you help Ines reassure the patients what’s going on and inform public health when they get here, find the other doctors and nurses on this floor and see if there’s any extra security to guard the entrance doors. Sienna, Jackie, Danny, Marlene they’re gonna need all the help they can get. We’ve got Rafael and Tamara to look after as well.” Zaid instructed.

“Where are the extra masks?” Sienna said.

“Try curtain one.” Zaid replied.

Everyone went into action but Victoria’s eyes were glued to the entrance doors. She could see people asking the officers what was going on, the crowd being pushed back further.

“Hey, we’ll solve it. We’re gonna be ok.” Bryce put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“It, it just feels like last time.”

“I know it does. But you got through it and you’ll get through this.” Bryce said.

Despite her fears, Victoria knew he was right. There were two sick children counting on her to help them. The entire ER was preparing for a situation like no other. They were all in it together and no one was being left behind this time.

— — — — — — — — — —

Victoria watched the breathing of Nathan and Rosie. It was shallow but they were still alive, that was the main thing.

“We need a list of anyone you’ve come into contact with. Have they been to school or seen any friends since you got back?” Ethan asked the parents.

“They went to school a couple of days after we got back but they were off from last Wednesday with a cold. Then the spots appeared on Thursday. We thought it was chicken pox.” The dad answered.

“Any other family members or friends?” Ethan asked, Victoria could hear the agitation in his voice.

“Ross’s family came to visit the weekend we were back.” The mum answered.

“Do they live nearby?”

“No they flew in from Ohio.”

Victoria and Ethan shared a startled look. “You need to contact them and tell them to isolate as quickly as possible. Get them to contact the airline and tell them the flight number they flew on and also get in touch with anyone they might’ve come into contact with. Get them to tell people what’s going on and so on. ” Ethan said.

In the other room, Rafael and Tamara were having their temperatures taken and their blood pressure checked.

“Both BPs are fine your temperature’s a little high.” Danny said.

“Ok monitor them and check again in the next hour.” Sienna nodded.

“It’s become national. Family travelled in to visit from Ohio.” Victoria said opening the door from the next room.

“You’re kidding.” Rafael gasped.

“Go tell Ines.” Victoria said. Jackie nodded and hurried back to the admin desk. “How are you doing in here?”

“As good as can be. High temperature but normal BP.” Danny said. “What about the kids?”

“Shallow breathing at the most.” Victoria replied.

“I wonder how long we’ll be stuck in here.” Tamara wondered.

“We’ll all be together at least. Can’t die from boredom.” Rafael nudged her which made her laugh a little.

The sound of commotion from outside the room caused them all to turn their heads. They could see people arguing as Zaid and Ines tried to calm them down whilst explaining the situation. Ines reached for the tannoy and her voice rang out.

“You may have noticed we have security at all entrances and exits. There is a potential public health concern which is why for your own safety we are asking that no one enter or leave the building. We apologise for the inconvenience and we are working to try and get this solved as quickly as possible. But we need you to work with us. If we work together, we can get through this otherwise we could be stuck here for a long time.”

Ines’ words did not help calm down the crowd. The minute she finished speaking they started protesting and arguing. Victoria teared her gaze away from the window shaking her head. “I don’t blame their frustration. Little information doesn’t help.”

“We’re on the news.” Jackie said entering the room, wearing her protective equipment. “CNN are outside the hospital. Aurora is outside as well as Naveen. They’re talking to Harper who’s by the emergency door on the OR floor. He doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”

“I thought someone called him and told him not to come in.” Victoria replied.

“We did but you know what Naveen’s like. This is his ER. He doesn’t want to be left in the dark.” Jackie said sighing.

“Victoria Nathan’s sats are dropping.” Ethan said from the other room. Victoria rushed in followed by Marlene and Jackie. “Take Rosie to trauma two, we need to work on him.” He instructed Marlene.

“Pulse ox is 82.” Jackie said looking at the machine.

“Go grab a paeds intubation kit.” Ethan said, Jackie hurried out the room.

“What’s happening?” The parents asked.

“Nathan’s not getting enough oxygen so we need to intubate him to help him breathe.” Ethan calmly explained.

“He has to be put on a machine?” Ross asked.

“If we don’t intubate him right now he’s going to die.” Ethan said. Victoria and Jackie looked at each other unsure if Ethan handled that well.

“Oh my god.” Imogen, the children’s parents gasped and headed to the door on instinct. Victoria understood why she wanted to get out there as soon as possible.

“Don’t leave the room! You’ve been exposed to a deadly airborne disease.” Victoria stopped her from walking out the door.

The three doctors worked on the young boy trying to get him stable before the lack of oxygen caused much further consequences. Jackie hung IV’s whilst Ethan slipped the tube down his throat. Once the tube was attached Victoria squeezed the bag trying to get as much oxygen back into Nathan as possible. A few seconds later, the beeping of the machine slowed down.

“Pulse ox is up to 95.” Jackie smiled.

“Nice work ladies.” Ethan smiled at the two younger doctors, his gaze lingering on Victoria. He moved out the way so Nathan’s parents could be closer to his bedside.

“I’ll go check on Rosie.” Jackie said leaving the room.

“Let’s check on the paramedics.” Victoria turned to Ethan.

Rafael and Tamara were lying on two separate beds, Sienna and Danny were sat on the floor.

“What is going on out there?” Ethan asked as he heard the commotion.

“People want to leave but they can’t. Tempers are flaring.” Sienna replied.

“They’re hungry too by the sounds of it. You know we’re on the news.” Rafael said.

“Of course we are.” Ethan sighed running his hands through his hair. These kids belong in the P.I.C.U., they’re both critically ill.”

“Doing that would mean exposing the rest of the hospital. Are you willing to take that risk?” Victoria looked up at him.

“Doctor Ramsey you know you can’t. There’s sick patients all around the hospital.” Tamara sat up.

“Go ask Naveen, he’ll know what to do.” Victoria reassured him. Looking as if he could kiss her, Ethan withheld himself and hurried out the room to call Naveen. Just as he left, June and Baz entered the room, covered in protection.

“Where do you need us?” June said.

“How did you get here? I thought you were upstairs.” Victoria asked.

“Word of advice. Never piss off an angry Brit.” Baz grinned looking at June.

“Yeah well we are a force to be reckoned with. Still, my words forced them to let us here otherwise I’d send information out to every British newsroom and explain how the US government withheld a potential health concern from the public.” June shrugged with a smirk.

“Nice one.” Victoria smiled. “The younger one’s in there. Her name’s Rosie and she’s six. Older brother had to be intubated after his oxygen levels dropped. Both are critical.”

“It is what everyone’s been saying isn’t it?” Baz asked.

“We think so. It doesn’t look like anything else.”

The two doctors nodded and headed into the next trauma room to see Rosie. Victoria looked out the window where Ethan was on the phone. He made eye contact with her and shook his head. This can’t be good. Victoria thought. She left the room and was met with ambush.

People began crowding round her but she was quickly pulled from the crowd by Ethan who had the megaphone. The surrounding doctors tried to calm down the people so Ethan wouldn’t have to use the megaphone but the people weren’t cooperating. Ethan’s voice suddenly ripped through the megaphone.

“Listen! We have two critically ill children with what looks like smallpox. Now most of you will probably have heard of it but have never seen it live and that’s because there hasn’t been any cases of smallpox in the United States since the 1940s-“ the rest of Ethan’s words were drowned out by the complaints from the crowd, most of them losing their temper at the fact that they allowed a deadly disease inside the hospital. Before Ethan could attempt to drown them out and finish what he was saying June had strolled out of the trauma room and taken the tannoy out of Ethan’s hands.

“The American’s tried to tell you now the Brit is going too. And this time you’re going to listen.” June glared at the crowd. The doctors and nurses around her looked shocked but impressed

“Who cares about the Brits?! There’s a reason we won the independence war!” Someone from the crowd cried.

“That was 300 years ago it’s the 21st century! There’s two young children who are very sick at the moment. We know you’re frustrated but spare a thought for the parents who don’t know if their children are going to survive. We’re not denying you your rights, this is about helping you. Now if you work with us, trust me, this will be over a lot quicker. Let’s work together so we can get through this.” June said.

The atmosphere had changed. People were mulling over June’s words. They didn’t know the ill patients were children. Suddenly it made things much more realistic. People retreated to their beds or the chairs in the waiting area much quieter than before.

“Damn June that was badass, remind me to never piss you off.” Elijah grinned.

“Where’d that come from anyway?” Bryce grinned.

“Never piss off the British. We are lethal.” June smirked as she retreated back to the trauma room to look after Rosie.

“How’s everything out here?” Ethan turned to his fellow colleagues.

“The crowd outside are getting restless. We’ve got critical patients outside as well who never got the call to say we were closed to trauma.” Zaid said.

“Why is Naveen outside? I thought he was told to stay at home.” Ethan said.

“You know what he’s like, he doesn’t want to be far from the action. He’s tried to come in several times but the officers have held him back.” Ines said looking at the crowd outside.

“Good. He’s vulnerable if he’s exposed to this.”

“Sam Palmieri from Public Health, we’ll take over from here.” A man in a white coat walked up to the doctors with a clipboard in his hand. “Where are the patients?”

“Exam five and trauma two, both critical.” Ethan said. The man then walked off in the direction of Nathan and Rosie. The phone then rang making everybody jump.

“ER? Dr Emery? Yes I know but we’re struggling down here too. We’ve got two- yes we were asked to do that take it up with public health if you don’t like it!” Ines put the phone down and put her head in her hands.

“What did Harper say?” Ethan asked.

“She wants to know why it’s 100 degrees up in recovery. Public health asked us to turn the air conditioning off so we don’t blow the germs around.”

“Well that explains why we’re all sweating.” Victoria sighed.

“Doctor Ramsey! Nathan’s siezing!” Sienna cried from down the hall. Victoria and Ethan sprinted back towards exam five, barely registering the sound of glass smashing as they hurried to Nathan’s side.

“What happened?” Ethan asked as he and Victoria put on the necessary protective equipment before rushing into the room.

“His sats have dropped and he started seizing.” Sienna explained.

“Give him two of Ativan quickly.” But the seizing was the least of their worries. The sound of the monitor averted their eyes.

“Lost a pulse.” Victoria said.

Sienna started on CPR as Ethan hurried to try and get as much oxygen into Nathan as possible. In the corner of the room. Imogen and Ross huddled together, their eyes rimmed red.

“Have you got the crash cart?” Ethan looked up at Sienna.

“It’s in trauma two.” Sienna looked at Victoria. Victoria nodded and hurried to the room to grab the necessary equipment. The seriousness of the situation was now escalating fast.

“Woah crash cart?” Baz said as Victoria wheeled the equipment.

“Yeah we’ve lost his pulse.” Victoria said trying not to let her voice betray her feelings.

“We’re in v-fib.” Ethan said. He charged the panels and they shocked the young boy.

“Nothing.” Sienna said, squeezing the oxygen bag.

Ethan did this multiple times before finally after what felt like hours, the monitor beeped at a regular pace. Victoria, Ethan and Sienna breathed a sigh of relief.

“We’ll have to watch him very closely now. Go be with the others, I’ll watch him.” Ethan smiled at the two younger doctors.

Victoria and Sienna retreated to trauma one where the others were. Everyone looked exhausted, still trying to come to terms with what was happening.

“They’ve broken the vending machines outside. Everyone’s hungry.” Danny said.

“Did you manage to get him back?” Rafael asked.

“Yeah but he could have brain damage. Seizure and a loss of pulse is never a good sign.” Sienna replied.

“You did what you had to do.” Rafael smiled. Before anyone could speak Ines dialled the phone outside the room and pressed a button that allowed her to talk to those inside the trauma room. Bryce, Elijah and Zaid were all with her, they all had grave faces.

“We have to evacuate. Public health have said this has gotten too out of hand, with it now being spread as far as Ohio, not to mention everyone here being exposed to it.” Ines said.

“Just the ER?” Victoria asked.

“The entire hospital.” Ines sighed.

Nobody spoke for a few minutes. This was now a drastic situation. What would happen to all the patients in other parts of the hospital?

“The children are going to be moved up to the P.I.C.U. we’ll evacuate everyone up there and then they’ll be taken up. Public health are prepared to take them so you can stay down here.” Zaid spoke this time.

“How long for?” Jackie asked. Everyone was avoiding asking how long they’d be stuck for even though they had a rough idea.

“Two weeks minimum.” Ines said.

“No, no no no no no. Minimum? What about maximum?” Victoria said.

“At least a month, it depends on when we can get the vaccine.” Zaid said.

The reality was beginning to sink in. Two young children, both critically ill with smallpox enter the ER, now the entire hospital has to be evacuated. It’s still unsure whether the kids are going to survive or not. Those who had treated the kids were now going to have to be quarantined. Which means they were all stuck downstairs. Two weeks wasn’t guaranteed.

How the hell were they going to get through this?

A/N: Hope you enjoyed chapter 1!

[deniigi]

@puffins-studio is my Selkie Verse enabler.

We were chatting about where Mike would fit in the Selkie Verse and then this AU of an AU happened lol

Title: twin hearts twin coats

Summary: Mike’s an unruly little seal who wants nothing more than to give Jack high blood pressure and he is on a crusade not to make a single friend in Ireland. Unless they’re Matty’s friends. In which case, he needs to steal them.

Context: Matt and Mike are born as rare twin seal pups. This bit assumes that Mike was there for all of Whispering Seas but then fades out of view for a bit as he does his own thing until Matt gets his coat back.

-------

For as long as the two been walking, Jack had been missing a twin.

Usually, it was Mike.

Usually, Mike was trying to sink his sharp little teeth into something he knew Dad did not want him too.

Usually, whatever he was trying to swallow whole would result in a call to poison control and Jack would be on the line for half an hour, reading through ingredients with a patient but stern woman while Mike beamed up at him, proud of his latest accomplishments.

After Matt’s year of hell with foster care, however, Mike had been traumatized. And had taken to keeping Matt within sight at all times.

You would have thought that that would have prevented Mike from being the missing twin these days.

But no.

No, now Jack wasn’t missing one twin.

He was missing two.

Constantly.

Both of his children were un-findable at practically all times.

Grace did not have these problem with the boys. Grace simply made a sound in her throat that Mike called back to immediately, regardless of where he was.

Jack did not have this power.

Over Mike, anyways. Jack had more power over Matty because Matty had a deep-ingrained instinct to only want Daddy when he was upset. But that shit didn’t exactly have range, now did it?

Grace told him he should simply learn how to make the throat-noise, which was easy for her to say: as if Jack could make seal noises.

Jack could barely speak a form of English that folks around here understood. He wasn’t makin’ any damn seal noises. He’d just figure out how to find his kids, thanks.

He was good at it, anyways.

His boys were eight.

They were on the way to being geniuses and criminal masterminds, but they were not there yet, so Jack had a good 76% chance of finding them in the first place he looked.

The bathtub.

He always looked in the bathtub. And, like he said, 76% of the time, there they were. Both of them. Looking guilty as hell—big liquid seal eyes or not.

Matty usually got quiet and scared of punishment around then and would make sad tiny seal noises at Jack and let himself be hauled out of the water and rubbed down with a towel.

Matty was the good twin.

The extremely traumatized twin. Jack didn’t like to think too much about how compliant he became in the face of a stern tone. It was enough that he was home again and that he was healing. Slowly. Very shyly.

It was enough. Matty was allowed to be a little fragile.

Now Michael had no shame and, true to character over the last eight years, refused to feel anything about his disobedience but ‘caught.’

Jack loved Mikey, the little shit, with his whole heart, but that big smile and those baby blues did not work on him anymore.

Up you go, monster-child. And into towel-hell—yeah, yeah, whine all you want. Look how nicely your brother did it.

As soon as towel-hell was over, Mike went tearing out of the bathroom, turning back only to hiss at Jack and then run into the door. Jack watched him vanish out of sight and then sighed. Matty pawed at his side, making those little throat-sounds.

“You’re okay, baby,” Jack said. “No one’s in trouble.”

Matt clung to him and hid his face in Jack’s belly.

Really, he was the one who should have been trouble. He was the one who Jack should have been chasing after to grab the hand of—to be keeping a constant vigilance over to prevent him from falling off cliffs and getting too far out into the surf.

But no.

That would be Mike.

That would always be Mike.

A pot banged and clattered in the kitchen.

Matt covered his ears and made even more urgent sad chirps.

Jack sighed harder.

“Come on, let’s go make lunch before your brother destroys the whole lighthouse,” he said.

 ----

 Matty had Foggy and thank fuck he had Foggy because that gave Jack time to go pry Michael out of whatever deathtrap he threw himself into after school.

Jack didn’t understand what this kid wanted from all the dark places he crawled into.

Was it adventure?

Was it the bugs?

Was he trying to fish?

Mike was more seal-like than Matt. Grace noted this with approval. He jumped into the water and swam deep and ate fish whole and let Mags groom him with minimal fuss while Matt wailed and whined like all those things were a death sentence.

He was simply more human, Grace said. The seal behavior didn’t come as naturally to him, so he was resistant.

Jack thought it was more like Matty had enough sense in him to not want to be suffocated by pelts and people prodding and prodding and dragging his fuzzy little coat this way and that.

Matty was a sensible child.

Foggy was slightly less sensible, but he had the right spirit. He was a good friend for Matty.

Mikey refused to make friends.

“They’re boring and human,” he told Jack. “I want a friend with more style.”

Mikey was a New Yorker through and fuckin’ through and he talked like a fuckin’ Newsie no matter how hard Jack tried to get him to imitate his mama’s cadence.

That accent would serve him no decent purpose when he was older, whereas something more Irish would at least make him come off as friendly. Jack knew—boy, Jack knew.

“Why don’t you try making friends with Foggy, too?” Jack offered, once the Trouble Twin had been dumped in the boat. Mike popped up and immediately tried to jump ship. Jack pushed the boat further away from the dock with his foot and got a face of pure betrayal.

“I don’t want a friend like him,” Mike snapped. “He’s gooey. I ain’t got time for some fruit snack.”

For fuck’s sake, child.

“Just because Foggy doesn’t wanna steal footballs with you, doesn’t mean he’s not a good friend,” Jack said. “He don’t like the church, Mikey. It’s not you, it’s the church, son. I told you this a thousand times.”

“If he’s scared of the church, he’s gonna be scared of shenanigans, Dad,” Mike said. “I live for shenanigans. No, we just ain’t compatible, Father.”

For.

Fuck’s.

Sake.

Jack wasn’t letting this one watch any more tv. No more Guys & Dolls. It was bad for everyone.

“Michael,” Jack said.

“Jonathan,” Mike shot back, haughty as hell with his arms crossed and back straight as a board.

“Son, you need to make friends,” Jack said.

“I got loads of friends at home,” Mike said. “And we’ll be home in no time. I don’t need any more ‘til then.”

Mike hated Ireland.

Jack could not understand this.

There were rocks to climb and there was sand to dig in, there were clams to bang against each other, bricks to throw, a local witch to antagonize—this was Mikey paradise. Or it should have been.

But no.

Mike had learned the word ‘cosmopolitan’ and, even though he thought it meant ‘good enough to be in a magazine,’ he’d declared Ireland not that and had set out on a crusade against being happy with it.

Grace said he was too much of a city boy was all. She said that he’d realize after some time that he was lonely and he’d do what he’d always do, which was charm half the girls at his school and become a popular kid within days.

It had been months now, though, and Mikey was still refusing to budge.

It was exhausting.

“Boy, you’re givin’ me heartburn,” Jack told him.

“Well, you’re givin’ me Lupus,” Mike said.

God.

No more House either.

 ---

 Matty came home around four thirty, which Jack could tell made Mike green with jealousy. Mike wanted to stay out like him, but he didn’t want to be associated with Foggy or his sister.

They weren’t cool enough, apparently. Or tough enough.

Jack didn’t know what that meant. Foggy had helped them relocate Mike’s brother. That was plenty bad-ass to Jack, but what the fuck did he know about kids?

Clearly nothing, since Mike had outsmarted him again and somehow managed to watch a whole three Emergency Vets reruns while he wasn’t looking.

This child wanted to give himself nightmares.

“What did you and Foggy do, hm?” Mike nagged as Matt struggled with his shoelaces. Matt sat down to go at them better and Mike flopped down next to him.

“Hm?” he pressed.

“Made homes for ants,” Matt said. “They live in hills. So we made some for them. Put leaves on top to make sure they stay dry ‘nd stuff, you know?”

No. Mike did not know.

“Ants bite you,” Mike said.

“Only if you’re mean,” Matt said.

“No, they got grains of sand for brains,” Mike said. “They’ll bite you.”

“Well, they got a home now, bitey or no,” Matt said.

“Hey, let’s make a cave—”

“I want a snack.”

“Cave then snack.”

Matt tried to work through that order of events and Jack sighed before he agreed.

“Boys,” he said. “Close the front door. It’s gonna storm. No caves for now.”

Mike turned back to him mutinously.

 ---

 After an hour of shooing the babes away from windows and then telling them that it was time to settle down and do indoor activities or listen to a book on tape, the house had gotten quiet.

That was trouble.

Jack put a lid on the pot on the stove and began the Hunt.

The kids were not in the tub. They were in their room.

They’d made a blanket fort.

It wasn’t a good one—they didn’t have that many blankets, but they had some pillows and Mike had a flashlight. They’d cuddled up in the middle of the room with a pile of pillows from the couch and the spare duvet and were nestled up against each other in their coats.

Mike hissed when Jack parted the sheet curtain they’d gerry-rigged around the perimeter of the nest. Matty turned his way and made a happy throat-sound.

“You two getting into trouble?” Jack asked, folding himself into a pretzel to join them on the duvet. Matt immediately wriggled up to climb into his lap, which Mike scowled at.

Mike was of the opinion that this was ‘baby’ behavior. He was highly concerned that his sibling was still exhibiting it, as if Mike didn’t immediately bury himself into Grace’s side when she came up to take the two of them out for a swim.

Jack pulled Matt into his arms more comfortably and reached over to snag his coat to drop over him.

“Are we telling ghost stories?” he asked the boys.

Matt said yes. Mike told him they weren’t ‘doin’ nothin’’ which meant ‘yes, I am trying to give my brother dreams about banshees again and your presence is destroying all of my hopes and life goals.’

“I have a ghost story,” Jack told them.

“Lana’s not dead, Dad,” Mike said. “You can’t tell ghost stories about ladies who aren’t dead.”

“You ain’t gotta be dead to haunt stuff, son,” Jack told him. “Lana will haunt the blue apartment long after we’re all gone.”

“Nuh-uh,” Mike said. “Me and Matty are gonna live forever. Selkies live for hundreds of years.”

Oh really, now?

“Come here, oh ancient one, then,” Jack said, holding out a hand. “Come indulge a poor, aging human.”

Mike huffed but allowed himself and his coat to be dragged over to join Matty in Jack’s lap.

“A long, long time ago,” Jack told them, “There was a guy trying to raise two squirmy little kids.”

Mike rolled his eyes by rolling his whole head into Matt’s so that he’d giggle.

“Was he a boxer, Dad?” Mike asked.

No, oldest child.

He was a lighthouseman.

Mike sighed harder than ever.

Damn, everyone’s a critic, huh?

“One day, the lighthouseman’s two squirmy kids went out to play on the beach in a storm,” Jack said. “They transformed into seals. But the sea was strong and the tide rose high and it swept them away from shore. They went all the way out to sea, far from their home. And they were lost and scared. But soon they decided that being scared wasn’t any help anymore, and they picked a direction to swim for shore. They went from island to island, asking the people there if they’d seen the lighthouseman because the kids were worried you know? Because their old man was just human, unlike them, and the sea back home had been so strong and the tide so high that it might have crashed against the lighthouse and taken the lighthouseman away. But no one had even heard of a such a guy.”

Matt dug fingers into his sleeve and made a soft distressed sound.

“One day,” Jack said, kissing the top of his head. “The kids came across a load of swans in the middle of the ocean. So they asked the swans, ‘have you seen our dad? He’s kinda tall with a busted up nose.’ And they said, ‘no, we lost our dad, too. Maybe we can help each other find them?’”

“Did they?” Mike asked reluctantly.

“Of course they did,” Jack said. “The swans were secretly the children of Lir. They knew what it was like to be separated from their father, but, unlike those kids, they knew their father wouldn’t recognize them. So they flew up and the kids swam after them all the way back to Ireland, so that they wouldn’t end up like the Children of Lir, waiting hundreds of years for their dad to bring them home.”

Matt did not like this story.

Matt had had plenty of bird people in his life. He wanted no more. He wrapped himself around Jack’s neck and made grumpy sounds to indicate that he was done with this whole story business.

Mike’s little brow stayed furrowed.

“You’d recognize us right away,” he said. “We wouldn’t be like the Children of Lir, Dad, first off, ‘cause we wouldn’t ever leave you by yourself. Second off, because Mum’s carryin’ your soul for forever, so even when you’re old and dead, we’ll still have ya. And third off, ‘cause you’re a hero. We could find you just by sniffin’.”

Matt made louder grumpy noises to remind everyone that he didn’t like this conversation.

Jack hummed and rubbed Matt’s back and used the other hand to smooth down Mike’s hair.

“Maybe you’re right,” he said. “But that don’t mean that I don’t miss you guys while you’re paddlin’ around in the sea without me.”

“TUNA,” Matt snapped.

Jack was startled.

“Tuna?” he asked.

“I’m hungry,” Matt said. “Let’s eat tuna.”

“You hate tuna,” Mike reminded him. “I’m the one who likes tuna.”

“Well I hate tuna less than I hate stories,” Matt snapped. “So I wanna eat tuna.”

Ah.

Bless him.

Okay, tuna it was.

 ---

 Grace told Jack to stop telling the kids that he was going to die. She said it was making them cry out in the sea. She reminded him that she didn’t take the damn kids to the sea to cry. She took them to fish. And they were still both shit at fishing.

Jack apologized.

But he didn’t feel too bad.

The fae in the woods told him he didn’t have too much longer in human form. He didn’t want the boys to be surprised.

Lord knew that they’d already been surprised enough over the last few years.

 ---

 Mike decided that he wanted to learn how to sail and, in lieu of him finding children his age to play with, Jack set to teaching him how to row. It was a good start. Grace approved. She even went out and found a little tub with a set of oars for Mike to play around in.

He immediately nearly drowned by taking it out into the bay.

Jack set him on the other side of the sandbar by the lighthouse and he did better. He was closer to where Matt and Foggy liked to play too, so if something went wrong again, the other kids would start shouting.

After a whole afternoon of no shouting, Jack went out to collect the munchkins and found Foggy out in the bay chatting with Mike with hands on the edge of the tub.

That was surprising.

What was not was the fact that Matt and Candace were digging a fuckin’ hole in the sand. Again.

Foggy must have gotten bored of them.

Jack watched as Mike took ahold of his wrist and heaved hard and brought Fogs over the end of the little tub. They both tumbled down into it.

Then Foggy popped up and leapt right back out into the water. Mike nearly followed him, shaking his oar after him.

Jack couldn’t help but snicker. He left them to it for another ten minutes before calling the boys in.

 ---

 It was hilarious.

It was adorable.

It was the cutest fucking thing Jack had ever heard, indignant as Matty was, standing on his toes, all puffed up and agitated.

“Mikey’s got a crush on Foggy and he won’t clear off,” he’d told Jack.

He didn’t appreciate Jack’s giggling.

“Foggy’s my friend,” Matt told him. “Mike can play with Candace.”

Uh-huh.

Sure, son. That was gonna go down real well.

“Daddy.”

Jack forced himself to stop laughing. He cleared his throat.

“That’s not how these things work, bud,” he said. “Why don’t you talk it over with Mikey?”

“I did,” Matt said. “An’ he told me to bug off.”

Ah, you poor child.

That was older brothers for you. Jack knew the feeling intimately.

“He’s rude,” Matt complained. “An’ he’s stealin’ my friends. He’s already stolen my identity, Dad. Tell him to stop.”

It would never not be funny that these kids thought that people confused them out of spite.

“You can both be friends with Foggy,” Jack told him. “Unless Foggy only wants to be friends with one of you.”

Matt puffed up and then deflated.

“Mikey’s got loads of friends at home,” he mumbled. “Why do I gotta share my one friend when he doesn’t share any of his?”

Oh, baby. No, it wasn’t like that.

It was just that Mike was outgoing, that was all. He just had that special knack for being around people. Jack didn’t know where he’d gotten it from, both he and Grace were not people-people. Matty was the natural extension of their mutual social awkwardness. Mike was more like Jack’s own brothers, actually. Smooth, suave, and oh-so likable.

Dangerous shit, that was.

He would be unstoppable after 14 years old.

“Here, come here, you,” Jack said. “Having friends isn’t about the number of ‘em. It’s about having fun. You have fun with your brother all the time, don’t you? And Foggy brings Candace along with you two all the time. Why don’t you guys try to be friends as a group of four, huh?”

Matt didn’t love this idea, but he relented.

“Only if Mike stops tryin’ to be a pirate,” he said. “He keeps hittin’ me with that stick.”

Ah. Okay. Well, that Jack could do something about.

 ---

 “But I am a pirate, Dad. I’m stealin’ Matty’s friends.”

For.

Fuck’s.

Sake.

Jack could not with this boy. He simply could not.

“Son,” he said. Then paused.

No. Mike wouldn’t hear anything he said.

This was a job for Grace.

 ---

 “Is that what Jesus would do?” Grace snapped.

Mike sulked.

“No, Mum,” he groaned.

“Then why’re you doing it to your brother?” Grace demanded.

“Cain didn’t like his brother,” Mike mumbled.

“Michael. You are named for a saint.”

Mike groaned with his whole body somehow.

“I’m sorry God,” he said.

Grace vibrated.

Jack didn’t know who to protect here.

“I just wanna be a pirate,” Mike explained. “And pirates steal things. They gotta, Mum. It’s how they make a livin’.”

Grace’s eyes narrowed.

 ---

 Grace did this occasionally.

She kidnapped one of the twins for some personal time with them. Jack was grateful for it because that twin was usually Mike and he usually came back looking guilty as hell.

It wasn’t that Jack didn’t love his kid. It was just that Mike didn’t really show much regard for his authority.

Affection? Oh, sure. Both boys wanted nothing more than to show Jack everything they’d ever done or made. They wanted to be cuddled and tossed around and tickled. It had been ages before they understood why Dad didn’t come out swimming with them anymore—they couldn’t show him their cool seal tricks that way.

But authority? For Mike?

Nope. This kid was on the path towards trouble, and he’d probably already be there if his mama didn’t routinely take him under her flipper and remind him that he needed to think about other peoples’ feelings.

Matty, of course, had decided early on that personal time with Mum was a punishment, however.

When Jack came home without Mike, in full awareness that Mags was probably just gonna throw him in the water and tire him out until he was pliable and open to suggestion, Matt sniffed all around him and came up in tears.

It took a good ten minutes to convince him that Mike would be coming home.

What helped were some cheerios and letting Matt smell the tuna that was to go into the tuna salad sandwich that his brother was currently obsessed with. Jack reminded him that he wouldn’t be making two different kinds of sandwiches for dinner if there wasn’t gonna be someone there to eat them.

Matt played with the dry cheerios in the bowl Jack had given him and quietly asked him if Mike would be mad if he learned that Matty wanted to be a human hero like Jack.

Jack’s heart melted.

Grace had told him that Matt had told her this. But Matty hadn’t said it to him directly and he sure as hell hadn’t told Mike.

That was fair—the second bit. Mike, like most other selkies, tended to see humans as replaceable things. Kinda boring. Kinda selfish. Not overly worth his investment unless they were investing in him.

Jack thought that Mike might change his tune if he realized that his twin thought humans were kind of grand.

Or maybe not. Who knew what Mike would think.

“I think that if you tell him, he might be really confused for a while,” Jack said.

Matt dropped his handful of cereal back into the bowl and squirmed all the way back in the chair.

“’M not hungry,” he said.

Aw.

It’s okay, little one. Things will get easier with time.

 ---

 Objectively speaking, it wasn’t long after that that Jack died.

It was what it was.

His kids were ten. They were safe. Mags tried to wrangle them.

Jack went to sleep.

Five years, he slept.

He woke up to Matty having a breakdown and Mike nowhere to be found and it was another three years before Jack managed to have enough awareness and mobility in the afterlife to get both of them to not fuckin’ do that shit.

Then it was another four years before Mike reappeared out of thin air and announced he was stayin’ in the city and where the fuck was his evil twin, which coincided with Matt showing back up from orientation at law school to shriek at Jack that Foggy was there! Foggy was back! Foggy was studying law with him and staying in his dorm and OH MY GOD, DAD, IT’S FOGGY.

Kid was love-fucking-sick.

Grace told him to watch his mouth. Matty didn’t know yet. They needed to let him figure it out on his own.

Jack thought that it had already taken Matty a good 16 years to realize that the reason he hated his brother crushing on Fogs was because he was crushing on Fogs. He was not the most self-aware of people. He deserved a little help.

Grace told him that he would speak to their younger son only upon pain of being stuffed into her flute.

Jack did not like the flute.

So he kept mum. But only in Matt’s presence.

This did not include Mike’s presence. Because Mike had other problems which looked like him trying to join a local mob, deciding that they weren’t cool enough for him, and then bouncing off to go join a pod of selkies, making enemies of all of the guys in it and then coming back to New York from a trip to Florida in the arms of a pixie who was actively trying to kill him in his sleep.

Mike was, predictably, a hot mess.

And he loved it.

God help this boy. He required all of Jack’s energy.

“Michael,” Jack reminded him exhaustedly when he stopped in the street as a gal with butterfly wings glanced over her shoulder at him. “You’ve got one at home and she’s mad enough to spit.”

“Uh-huh,” Mike said without listening.

This fucking kid.

“Hey, pops, why don’t you go be someone else’s angel for like, twenty seconds over there, huh?”

Hm. No, you’re right, what a great idea—AHAHA. No. Nice try. Jack wasn’t born yesterday.

It was his new purpose in death trying to keep this one on the straight and narrow. He’d been assigned the mission by a nun. It was now a holy quest.

“You can’t say that about everything Mom tells you to do,” Mike scowled.

He did not, however, pursue Ms. Butterfly wings.

“Where’s Matty, anyways? None of you will tell me where Matty is,” Mike pouted.

Matty was, according to Grace, being heartsick because Foggy had gone home for the holidays.

“Mass,” Jack said.

Mike rolled his eyes.

“I’m not goin’,” he said. “I’ve got a job, Dad. Tell Matt to get one, too.”

A job, huh?

What a job. Sluggin’ people on behalf of other humans.

“I can feel your disappointment and—oh, wait? It’s my life? I can do what I want? I am allowed to sustain myself with offerings however they come? Oh my god, Father. What sense you speak. You’ve turned over a new leaf, truly.”

This?

This was a Grace problem.

 ---

 Jack didn’t expect Matt to be the one who came home with a secret violent identity.

Then he didn’t expect Mike to be the one to break down Matt’s door and stand over him and ask him what the fuck he was thinking.

Then he didn’t expect Mike to be the one to bodily drag Matt out to sea in an attempt to bring him back to his roots.

Mike nearly drowned his brother.

It was certainly one way to get everyone back on the same page. Jack wasn’t about to lie and say it was the best way, but it was definitely a way.

Mike came to church and accused him and Grace of keeping Matt’s secrets from him. Not just the devil, but the coat situation and Foggy.

Mike was justifiably upset, but Grace pointed out that Mike’s current approach to humanity did not exactly jive with his brother’s existence, and not even Mike could argue with that. Although he did try. Let it be known that he tried.

He kept cutting himself off though, saying that Matt was different from other humans. Matt wasn’t like them. He was better than them. Which was exactly what Matt took issue with. And unfortunately for Mike, his brother had supersenses, and that included super hearing.

Grace asked Jack out to go calm Matty down.

He was pretty upset.

He tucked himself into Jack when Jack got to his hiding place on the roof of his loft and asked him why Jack had told Mike about the coat to begin with.

But Jack hadn’t told Mike about the coat. No one had. Mike found out these things on his own. He was clever like that.

“He’s always treated me different,” Matt said. “I thought it was ‘cause I’m blind, but it’s always been ‘cause I’m more human, hasn’t it?”

Horrible things to hear your kids say to each other.

Also untrue.

“Mike doesn’t treat you different because you’re blind or you’re human, bud,” Jack told him. “He treats you different because you’re his brother and he’s protective of you. That’s where this is coming from. It’s nothing you did.”

“Doesn’t feel like it,” Matt said.

Well, no.

It probably didn’t.

 ---

 Mike came around. And he came around by encountering the Hell’s Beast that little baby Franklin Nelson had become.

Foggy, to put it kindly, was one hell of a selkie.

He was huge, to start with. He’d grown from a chubby, pale little glow worm to a good three hundred pounds of enormous, white seal. He was staunchly traditional, if flexible, in his dealings with other fae, and he had zero patience for humanity while somehow acting entirely in their favor.

Foggy was a selkie in a textbook somewhere. He had to be. He was paranoid and untrusting of humans, but he would throw himself in the line of fire to protect anyone who he dealt with. And Mike, who’s relationship with humans tended to be more on the Trickster spectrum than the whole Noble Being one was a smidge intimidated.

At first.

Then he was violently jealous.

And let’s just play this record once more, shall we? Take it from the top.

He nagged Matt to bits, asking him to give up his bond with Fogs and to entrust his human soul to Mike.

We’re twins, Mike argued, it’s only right that I guard your soul.

Matt told him he’d lived his mortal life in plenty of dumpsters, thanks. He was looking for a change in the afterlife.

Mike told him he’d get him the nicest dumpster blood money could buy.

Matt told him to try to take the question to Fogs and see what would happen.

Mike took that to heart.

Grace asked Jack what they’d done wrong to end up with a stubborn devil-child and a vulture selkie.

Jack thought it was probably the tugboat.

Foggy, however, thought that it was the fact that Mike had zero impulse control, manners that only came out when he didn’t have the upper hand in a situation, no respect for boundaries, and shit fashion sense—not to mention a lack of interest in fae hierarchies, a fondness for antagonizing people, and, in Foggy’s opinion, a brain that didn’t properly register pain chemicals or empathy.

He told Mike that Matt’s soul was his and that if he wanted, he could fight him for it and Mike decided that that was a vow good enough for his little brother.

He switched tact and began trying to court Foggy instead and, to his credit, it sure as hell de-escalated the situation.

 ---

 Grace told Mike that Matt was going to get his coat back, but they didn’t hear from him. Jack wasn’t sure what to do, but Grace said that they didn’t have time to wait.

When they got home and Matty was trying to relearn how to swim and struggling like a zebra on a tightrope despite having both Grace and Fogs there to keep him from sinking, Mike reappeared in a pew at the church.

Jack found him and settled in next to him.

Mike asked him if Matty was okay.

He’d gotten the message only a few days ago. His hands were a little shaky when Jack smoothed his hair back and told him that he was just fine.

And not only was he fine. But he was very recognizable now. Or he should be, to Mike more than anyone else in the world.

Mike asked if Matt was still angry with him. If Foggy was still hellbent on chasing him off.

Jack thought that maybe, what Matty really needed right then wasn’t his mama or his bondmate, but his brother. His twin.

It had been a long time since Mike wanted a hug.

He told Jack that he was sorry for being a dick all these years.

Jack told him that he wasn’t a dick. He was fiercely independent and even if Jack didn’t always agree with him, he was still proud of him and proud of that drive and that passion.

He asked him if he was ready to go make up with his brother and Mike nodded instead of saying yes out loud.

 ---

 Matty’s new coat was white for the time being and Mike would not and could not drop that. He cooed at Matt and told him he was too fluffy to swim. Grace had to break them up before they got to neck-slamming.

But at the end of the day, Mikey was right.

Matt’s new coat was a baby’s coat. And Matt was a good 14 years out of swimming practice. His muscles had forgotten how to work as a seal. He was angry about it, which was endearing, but not especially helpful.

He explained to Mike that he’d made a deal with Fisk and Mike went dead quiet before exploding at him and once they’d mutually worked through that argument, the intensity of the swimming lessons rocketed up. Grace stood back and pulled Foggy back with her and they watched on as Mike harassed Matty back into fighting shape.

After the third night of Matt’s refresher course, Jack went to go check on them and found them piled together in their coats on Matt’s couch.

You couldn’t tell where one began and the other ended and to Jack, it felt like home.

He found threw a blanket over them both and took the time to kiss both foreheads before turning off the light and letting the purples and pinks of the billboard outside wash over them.

It was its own kind of rippling sea.

---

[leverage-ot3]

notable moments from The Nigerian Job

(PART ONE)

leverage 1.01

note: there are A LOT of scenes in this one, but they are all important in one way or another in terms of notability, character-building, etc

Dubenich: I’m sorry Mr. Ford, sorry, I know who you are I’ve, uh, excuse me. I’ve read all about you. I know for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing and you saved your insurance company I don’t even know how many millions of dollars but I just know that when you needed them… What happened to your family is the kind of thing--

Nate (slams glass down): You know that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times? We’re coming up on that pretty quick.

- - - - -

Dubenich: I’m serious. Look, look at the people I’ve already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?

Nate (going through file): Uh, yeah, I’ve chased all of them at one time or anoth-- Parker? You have Parker?

Dubenich: Is there somebody better?

Nate: No, but Parker is insane.

Dubenich: Which is why I need you.

Nate (laughs): No. I’m not a thief. (closes file)

Dubenich: Thieves I got. What I need is one honest man to watch them.

- - - - -

Hardison: I’ve been doing this since high school, bro, I’m Captain Discipline.

[Flashback]

(New York City Hotel, Five Years Ago)

Manager: They came straight from the airport and up to their room.

Security: So you never actually saw any of them then.

Manager: No, but the credit card numbers checked out.

Security: Break it down!

(Doors open to reveal Hardison sitting on a couch drinking orange soda while three beautiful women dressed as Princess Leia fight with lightsabers)

Security: Does that look like Mick Jagger to you?

Hardison: This is not the room you’re looking for.

what a fucking GEEK oh my god

like, his flashback is so tame compared to the others???

like, his version of criminality is hanging out with cosplaying pretty girls and watching them fight with lightsabers, all under the guise of pretending to be mick jagger

- - - - -

Hardison (holding up an earpiece): It’s a bone-conduction earpiece mic, works off the vibrations in your jaw.

(Hardison tosses it to Eliot who holds it to his ear)

Hardison (whispering): You can hear everything.

Eliot: You’re not as useless as you look.

eliot being subtly impressed with hardison is my religion

- - - - -

Hardison: I don’t even know what you do.

[Flashback]

(3 Years Ago Eliot, wearing glasses and drinking from a mug of tea, enters a room full of men in Belgrade, Serbia)

Eliot: I’m here to collect the merchandise.

(Most of the men pull guns. Eliot takes a long sip of his drink. Outside, the windows flash with gunfire. Moans and the sound of a body falling fill the air. Inside, Eliot calmly takes another drink. One man sits at a table surrounded by bodies that litter the ground. He places a baseball card on the table. Eliot smiles)

am I the only one that wants to know the context of this???

- - - - -

(Parker drops down between Eliot and Hardison, hanging upside down from scaffolding)

Parker: Can I have one?

Hardison: You can have the whole box.

(Hardison holds the box of comms up for her. She takes one and pulls herself back up)

Eliot: What are you going to do when she finds out you live with your mom?

Hardison: Age of the geek, baby. We run the world.

Eliot: You keep telling yourself that.

(Parker puts the comm in her ear, smiling)

ot3 moments from day one baby

also eliot goes from ‘baby’ to ‘oh god, I’m baby’ in 0.0000005 seconds

- - - - -

[Flashback]

(19 Years Ago in Kansas City, a ten year old Parker stands in her living room watching her foster parents fight. The foster father turns to Parker, holding a stuffed bunny while the foster mother stands in the background, crying)

Bill: You thought I wouldn’t find this? You don’t get bunny until you do what I say. So be a good girl or, I don’t know, a better thief. (walks out of room)

Foster Mother: Bill!

(Parker walks outside and down the walk. Behind her, the house explodes. She hugs her bunny and smiles)

for the LONGEST time I thought she blew up the house with her foster parents until I saw that john rogers confirmed they weren’t home at the time

also this gives HEAVY insight as to how even the smallest part of Parker’s childhood was

abusive, emotionally manipulative, etc

- - - - -

(Parker adjusts her repelling gear, caressing it as if it were a lover)

Parker: Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003

Nate: You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?

- - - - -

Eliot (examining earpiece): Is this thing safe?

Hardison: Yeah, it’s completely safe, it’s just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness.

Eliot (puts earpiece in): You’re precisely why I work alone.

shut up eliot you’re about to be so far gone for them it will be amazing

- - - - -

(Parker dives off the roof)

Parker: Yeehaaaa!!

(Eliot and Hardison run to the edge and watch her fall)

Eliot: That’s twenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag.

what’s the opposite of foreshadowing? because I’m thinking about the long goodbye job and it’s reference to this (also the SIGNIFICANCE in that episode in how both hardison AND eliot repeat this line, finishing one another. because they both are on the same wavelength by that point, so in tune with one another and in constant awe of parker.)

- - - - -

parker just ??? drops the fucking glass ??? onto the sidewalk below ??? like ??? what if it hits someone ???

- - - - -

Nate: Okay, you got any chatter on their frequencies?

[Electrical Room]

Parker: No. Why?

[Unfinished Office]

(Nate checks records)

Nate: There’s eight listed on the duty roster, there’s only four at the guard post.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: I can’t even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who’s who?

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: Haircuts Parker. Count the haircuts.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: I would have missed that.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: What?

[Electrical Room]

Parker: Nothing.

mastermind father and daughter in episode ONE

- - - - -

we love to see eliot beat up four guys in the time it takes hardison’s bag to fall to the ground

- - - - -

Eliot (empties gun and smiles): That’s what I do.

(Hardison looks impressed. Behind him, the door clicks open. He and Eliot smile and enter the server room together)

the FLIRTING ENERGY in this scene

- - - - -

Eliot: Did you give them a virus?

Hardison: (chuckles) Dude, I gave them more than one virus.

hardison doesn’t half-ass, pass it on

- - - - -

Parker: Problem. Those guards you ganked?

[Electrical Room]

Parker (looking at monitor): They reset all the alarms on the roof and all the floors above us. We can’t go up.

[Hallway]

Eliot: Every man for himself then. (starts to move away)

Hardison: Go ahead I’m the one with the merchandise.

[Electrical Room]

Parker: Yeah, well I’m the one with an exit.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: And I’m the one with a plan. Now I know you children don’t play well with others but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now get to the elevator and head down. We’re going to the burn scam.

[Elevator]

(Eliot and Hardison enter an elevator and begin changing their clothes)

Hardison: Going to Plan B.

[Unfinished Office]

Nate (packing his things): Technically that would be Plan G.

[Elevator]

(elevator doors open and Parker runs in. She begins changing while the men look away)

Hardison: How many plans do we have? Is there like a Plan M?

[Unfinished Office]

Nate: Yeah, Hardison dies in Plan M.

[Elevator]

Eliot: I like Plan M.

there are SO MANY things about this scene I want to discuss but here are the top ones:

1- nate calling them out as children? amazing

2- eliot and hardison canonically changed in the elevator together BEFORE parker dropped in, but they weren’t necessarily looking away in a backs-turned way when she came in (when they were still getting finished getting dressed)

3- parker being completely nonchalant changing with two men in the elevator? she must not really care about being naked in front of other people (as seen later in what I think is the morning after job (?), for example)

4- the boys look away to be polite but there is definitely interest in BOTH of their faces

5- so this is what the burn scam entails

- - - - -

parker takes shotgun while the two boys are in the back. I need to see the scene of them awkwardly sitting together in the back. possibly bickering.

- - - - -

Nate: All right, all right. The money will be in all your accounts later today.

Hardison: Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?

Eliot: Yeah, well, one show only, no encores.

Parker: I already forgot your names.

Hardison: It was kind of cool, being on the same side.

Nate: No, we are not on the same side. I am not a thief.

Parker: You are now. Come on Nathan, tell the truth. Didn’t you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?

(they all walk away in different directions)

smh you’re all 0.000005 seconds away from becoming a family

“no encores” my ass

+ I love how hardison is the FIRST one to (immediately) bring up how awesome they worked as a team

- - - - -

(Nate walks slowly down a toward a large room where voices are coming from)

Hardison (holding gun): You mind telling me what happened to the designs?

Eliot: What makes you think I know what happened? Stupid.

Hardison: Look, forget you man. You did it when we were coming down from the elevator.

Eliot: Yeah, that makes sense doesn’t it? You had the file every second.

Hardison: Hold up Kujo, I did my part, I transferred the files.

Eliot: You better get that gun out of my face...

Hardison: What did you do?

Eliot: …or else I’m gonna feed it to you.

Nate: Hey!

(the men turn, Hardison pointing the gun at Nate)

Eliot: Did you do it? You’re the only one that’s ever played both sides.

Nate: Yeah, you seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at him.

Eliot (looks at Hardison): Safety’s on.

Hardison: Like I’m gonna fall for that.

Nate: No, no, actually he’s right, the safety is on.

(Hardison looks at the gun and Nate grabs it)

Nate (to Eliot): You armed?

Eliot (shakes head): I don’t like guns.

(Eliot looks pointedly past Nate’s shoulder. Nate turns, pointing the gun at Parker who is holding a gun on him)

Parker: My money’s not in my account.

(She walks around Hardison, raising her gun as Nate lowers his)

Parker: That makes me cry inside in my special, angry place.

Nate: Okay, Parker. (slowly reaches out to lower Parker’s gun) Now did you come here to get paid?

Hardison: Hell no. Transfer of funds man. Global economy.

Eliot: It’s supposed to be a walk away. I’m never supposed to see you again.

eliot could have IMMEDIATELY taken the gun away but it made hardison feel safe so he was humoring him

and how easily nate took the gun away? interesting, for a former insurance agent

“you armed?” “no, I don’t like guns” eliot sweetie I love you

also parker’s entrance tho

- - - - -

Nate: Then the only reason you guys are here is because you didn’t get paid. And you’re pissed off. (laughs) As a matter of fact the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time is to tell us that we’re not. Getting. Paid.

(a look of realization goes through the group and they all start to run. Nate opens a garage door and directs them out. Hardison trips on the stairs and Eliot pulls him to his feet)

Nate: Come on, come on, get up. Let’s go, hustle. Go.

(the others exit and Nate looks back to see a ball of fire headed toward him)

eliot: I hate you all, I work alone, I don’t care about any of you

eliot 0.000005 seconds later: hauling hardison off the ground so he doesn’t die in an exploding building because ‘I guess he’s by boyfriend now’

- - - - -

Nate: Have we been processed?

(Eliot waves ink covered finger tips at him)

Eliot: They faxed our prints to the State Police.

[Hospital Room B]

Hardison: Yo, if the staties run us man, we’re screwed.

Parker: How long?

Hardison: Thirty, thirty-five minutes depending on the software

- - - - -

Nate: Parker! Get me a phone. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to get out of here together.

Eliot: This was a onetime deal.

Nate: Look guys, here’s your problem. You all know what you can do, I know what all you can do, so that gives me the edge, gives me the plan.

[Hospital Room B]

Parker: I don’t trust these guys.

[Hospital Room A]

Nate: Do you trust me?

Eliot: Of course. You’re an honest man.

Nate: Parker, Phone.

[Hospital Room B]

Parker: This is gonna suck.

(she sticks her fingers down her throat and bends over)

Hardison: Oh. Hell no

the amount of times eliot brings up that it was supposed to be a one-time thing is HILARIOUS considering just how fast he imprints on them lmfao

also how they all immediately trust him, I’m soft

- - - - -

(Parker nods compliantly. The doctor and nurse leave the room. Officer checks her handcuffs then leaves. Parker and Hardison hold up the phones they stole. After a quick glance, they switch phones. Parker holds up the keys she stole and tosses them to Hardison before standing up and talking to the vent into the next room)

domestic pardison

- - - - -

(Hardison leads Eliot to a police cruiser that Nate and Parker are already inside of. As Hardison guides Eliot into the backseat he hits Eliot head on the top of the door frame. Eliot turns and growls at Hardison)

Hardison: Walk it off. Walk… get inside. Get inside.

(Eliot gets in the car)

I love chaotic (pre)boyfriends

- - - - -

Eliot: I’m gonna beat Dubenich so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed.

Parker: You won’t get within 100 yards. He knows your face. He knows all our faces.

Eliot: He tried to kill us.

Parker: More importantly he didn’t pay us.

Eliot: How is that more important?

Parker: I take that personally.

Eliot: There’s something wrong with you.

okay to be fair eliot at least is open to and listens to parker’s reasoning before concluding she’s crazy

- - - - -

Eliot: What’s in it for me?

Nate: Payback, and if it goes right a lot of money.

Parker: What’s in it for me?

Nate: A lot of money, and if it goes right, payback. Hardison?

Hardison: I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, hell yeah man, let’s kick him up.

these characterizations are so on point

- - - - -

SOPHIE’S INTRO LMFAO

+ how everyone else is horrified but nate just looks entranced

- - - - -

[Flashback]

(In Paris seven years ago, Sophie is cutting a painting out of a frame with several empty frames nearby. The door burst open and Nate enters with a gun in hand)

Nate: Freeze.

(Sophie grabs her gun and shoots Nate in the shoulder. He responds by shooting her in the back. They both clench at their wounds)

Sophie: You wanker!

so are we, as a fandom, EVER going to talk about this scene ???

- - - - -

(so apparently there’s a 250 text block limit for posts on tumblr so I guess I have to make more than one post for this now. the following part will be reblogged on this post immediately after. reblog that version instead please lol)