#i think i am now officially in an art slump

[refinedstorage]

I remember him

[msschemmenti]

The Bodyguard

Melissa Schemmenti x Reader

summary : reader hasn't mastered the art of self-care yet and melissa helps.

a/n: been sitting with this for a bit, hoping to post more now that i'm kinda getting my adult life together :) i also could not tell you what happened at the end of this...

“Good Morning beautiful educators! Are we ready to change some lives?” Janine called, bounding into the teacher’s lounge. All eyes rolled and a collective sigh fell over the room. Despite the less than enthusiastic response, Janine’s smile remained in place as she shoved her lunch in the refrigerator and sat next to Jacob. 

“What’s got you so chipper this morning?” Melissa spoke, eyeing the younger woman over the cat-eye reading glasses she had perched on her nose.

“I just woke up well-rested. With the new schedule I’ve created for myself I’ve had loads more time to get things done. I’m worrying less and feeling my best.” Janine proudly spoke, causing the older women in the room to observe her thoughtfully. 

“That’s great Janine. You have seemed much more confident and that’s great to see.” Barbara smiled. 

“Good for you Kid. That’s often the hardest part of teaching in a school like this. It’s hard to take time for yourself.” Melissa smiles over her reading glasses, leveling the younger woman with a congratulatory nod. Janine beamed at the camera over the older woman's shoulder and turned to Jacob to listen to his spiel for the morning. As everyone went back to their own morning routines, Y/n slumped into the room heading straight for the coffee machine. The cameras followed her as she pulled a mug from her bag and filled it to the brim with the bitter liquid gold. As soon as she added the sugar and creamer she needed she gazed at her watch gauging how much time she had before school officially started. With twenty minutes to spare she trudged over to the couch and sighed as she slouched into the chair pulling out some homework she wasn’t able to finish before bed. With the young woman’s attention focused on her work and coffee, she missed the green eyes that seemed to track her as closely as the camera did. Melissa watched as the fifth grade teacher busied herself with stacks of paper and a book. It didn’t look to be the work of her students, so Melissa’s curiosity peaked. She watched as the younger woman wedged a highlighter between her teeth and flipped through pages of tiny text. Her eyes moved across the screen frantically as if trying to memorize as much of the information as possible in the next 20 minutes. She didn’t realize how long she’d been watching until she felt Barb bump her shoulder subtly. Melissa’s eyes landed on Barbara and was instantly met with a soft smirk lining her friend’s lips. 

“Don’t look at me like that.” Melissa grumbled under her breath, peeking back over to the couch to see if the younger woman had relaxed a bit but she seemed to only have tensed more.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Barbara smirked allowing her eyes to fall to the younger woman as well. “It seems someone hasn’t mastered the ‘taking care of yourself’ part of all of this.” 

“What’s she working on anyway? It doesn’t look like anything the kids would be working on. I know she’s upstairs but they’d hardly be reading anything that long.” Melissa asked, finally turning back to Barb. 

“I’m not sure, but you know she’s still in school so that could definitely be some homework of her own.” Barb shrugged. 

“She’s still in school? What do you mean?” Melissa asked.

“She’s getting her masters. Which you’d know if you weren’t always being so standoffish. She does all her classes and coursework after we get off.” 

“I am not standoffish,” Melissa huffed indignantly, “I just don’t like new people.” 

“Mmhm, I don’t think that’s the case with one though.” Barbara grinned as she watched the red-head’s cheeks heat almost instantly at being called out.

“Oh shut up.” Melissa grumbled as the bell rang for the school day to finally start. She rose from her seat pointedly ignoring Barbara’s chuckle behind her as they made their way to their classrooms. 

-

“Alright, who has an answer they’d like to share?” Y/n asked from her place in the front of the classroom. Lunch was still about 10 minutes away but she wanted to at least finish the rest of the worksheet her students had been working on before sending them off. She let her eyes roam over the classroom patiently but as she saw no hands raise she knew she’d need to entice them a bit. “I know it’s hard you guys, but if we finish the last two problems I’ll let you head to lunch earlier.” 

She waited to see if anyone would take the bait and it seemed to work when Mariah raised her hand from the middle of the room. “Alright Mariah, what ya got for me?” 

“4 over 12.” She spoke timidly. 

“Uh Huh, and what’s 4 over 12 simplified?” Y/n prompted with a smile. Mariah seemed to be working through it but seemed a bit overwhelmed so Y/n opened it up to the rest of the class. “Anyone? What number can we divide both 4 and 12 by?”

“2.” Jamal called from the back row. 

“Yep, but is there a bigger number we could also use?” Y/n asked with a smile glad the students seemed to be getting closer and closer to the right answer. 

“Oh! I know.” Jasmine’s hand shot up from the front. 

“Alright Jasmine, what number are you thinking?” 

“4.” 

“Excellent! That’s exactly right. And if we divide them by 4, 4 over 12 becomes?”

“1 over 3!” Everyone answered. 

“Very good everyone. Let’s do the last one together and then we can head off.” Y/n smiled, heading to the white board and grabbing a marker. 

Melissa really isn’t sure how she found herself in the fifth grade hall. She’d dropped her kids to recess and somehow she’d found herself peeking through the glass window in the door of Y/n’s classroom. She watched as she patiently guided the students through the fractions. She could tell the students really appreciated the atmosphere she’d created in the classroom. Even when someone wasn’t right, there was nothing but support flowing through the space and Melissa had no choice but to admire the work she’d done to capture that. Realizing if anyone saw her up there she’d have no explanation for her behavior, she quickly turned on her heels to head back toward her classroom with the hopes of not being caught. In her descent of the stairs, she missed the camera man down the hall collecting footage.

-

Melissa hurried into the teacher’s lounge hoping to grab a snack before she needed to pick her students up from their art class. She pushed forcefully on the door and headed for the vending machine, letting the door swing behind her with little care. As the door clanged against the doorframe she heard the startled gasp within the room. She turned quickly with her fist up and ready to attack whoever was in the room. She only relaxed when she saw Y/n sat on the couch with her hand over her chest and wide eyes. There was a book in her lap and highlighter poking out of her hair. Melissa figured she was doing homework again but as she looked closer, she could see the grooved pattern of the couch fabric on the younger woman’s cheek. 

“Oh Melissa,” The younger woman sighed as she leaned back into the couch as she started to calm down. 

“Sorry Hon. Did I wake ya?” Melissa said, coming to lean on the back of the chair that was closest to the couch. 

“It's probably for the best. That was a complete accident.” Y/n shook her head a bit and pushed her hands down her face in an effort to liven up a bit. 

“Must not be too interesting, if it’s putting you to sleep.” Melissa commented, nodding her head toward the book still in Y/n’s lap.

“Unfortunately it is not. It doesn’t exactly help that I’m already sleep deprived. A recipe for a great nap.” Y/n chuckled lightly before turning her eyes to her watch. “Looks like it’s time for me to pick my kids up.” As Y/n gathered her things, Melissa watched and hummed in agreement. Once Y/n was done and her eyes met Melissa’s the older woman could see the exhaustion setting back in place. “See you around Melissa.” 

Y/n moved to walk past Melissa to the door, but Melissa hand wrapped around her forearm keeping her in front of her. “Hey, make sure you get some rest hon. We can’t have you collapsing on us like Janine.” Melissa squeezed her arm in emphasis and released her arm when she saw the younger woman nod in understanding.

-

From then Melissa found herself checking in with Y/n more often. She’d shed her ‘standoffish’ behavior and had become one of the teachers Y/n talked to the most. She never spent a lot of time with anyone on the elementary level teaching staff besides Barb, but now she seemed to be running into Melissa more and more. She’d be in the teacher lounge poured over a textbook or a stack of spelling tests and Melissa would appear with a hot mug of coffee. She’d gradually started bringing the younger woman lunch everyday of the week. It had started on a day about two weeks after Y/n had been caught napping on the couch. The fifth grade teacher had waltzed into the room carrying her laptop and textbook and that seemed to be it. It only took Melissa about 5 seconds of seeing her work on homework before she cleared her throat with a raised eyebrow. She, Y/n, and Barb were the only ones in the lounge so far so Y/n was quick to turn her attention to the older women’s table. 

“Oh hi.” Y/n said, meeting Melissa’s eyes. Assuming the redhead was upset she hadn’t greeted them when she arrived, she looked back at her work. 

 “Hello but that’s not what I wanted. Where is your lunch?” Melissa asked, eyeing the younger woman intently. 

“Oh I forgot it. I’m just gonna grab a snack after work to tide me over through class tonight.” Y/n shrugged, lifting the textbook from her lap. 

“You mean after school?” Barb cut in looking at the younger woman skeptically. 

“Mmhmm. No need to worry, I’ve done it loads of times before. I forget my lunch a lot more than I care to admit.” 

“Oh sweetheart, well that’s not healthy.” Barb said, shaking her head disapprovingly. 

“I know, I know. I try not to but I think I’ve done it so often that I hardly notice anyway.”

“Well that’s not happening anymore, get over here.” Melissa said, pulling out the chair next to her. Y/n looked at the older woman in confusion, not fully understanding what was happening. She didn’t move but watched as the older woman pulled a fork from one of the drawers and wedged it into the tupperware dish she’d been eating. When her eyes landed on Y/n’s face she looked at her expectantly. When the older woman didn’t say anything, Y/n grabbed her books and moved over to the older women’s table and sat in the seat obediently. With Y/n situated, Melissa slid the food in front of her and patted Y/n’s back, “Now eat.” 

Y/n went to protest but before she could even speak there was a fork-full of pasta in her mouth. Her eyes widened in shock initially but melted shut when the food hit her taste buds. “Oh this is so good.” At the praise Melissa smirked and went back to scrolling on her phone as Barbara laughed with a smile. From then on Melissa made it a point to pack a bit more food for lunch. And if Barbara asked about it she simply shrugged citing her large portion sized cooking as the reason. As Y/n and Melissa became closer, it seemed easier for the younger woman to take care of herself. With someone checking on her as often as Melissa had taken to, it became second nature. 

One day after a particularly demanding week of homework and tests, Melissa found Y/n sprawled out on the teachers lounge’s couch once again. It was a very similar scene to the first time but unlike last time, when the door closed Y/n didn’t start awake. If anything, she burrowed further into the couch and threw her arm over her eyes. Melissa paused briefly watching the younger woman sleep and sighed. She only looked at Y/n for a few more seconds before making her mind up. She sat her things at her table and pulled her jacket off of her arms. She walked over draping it across the younger teacher and then made her way to her table. She positioned her chair toward the door and watched the door. It wasn’t long before the door swung open revealing Janine ready to talk about God knows what, but as soon as her eyes met Melissa’s she closed her mouth. The older woman sent a menacing glare her way before placing her finger up to her lips. Janine, though confused, tip-toed further into the room and took a seat at one of the other tables in the room. By the time everyone was in the room, Melissa had quietly declared that the teacher’s lounge was experiencing a quiet lunch and with her reputation no one questioned her. 

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch and that seemed to be the only thing to rouse Y/n from her sleep. By this point everyone had made their way to their own classrooms and the only two people remaining were Melissa and Y/n. The younger woman groaned as she opened one of her eyes to scan the room. She paused briefly as her senses were overwhelmed with a very familiar fragrance. She looked down seeing the familiar leather jacket draped over her shoulders and felt her cheeks heat at being caught asleep again. Before she could say anything Melissa spoke leaning against the back of the chair next to the couch. 

“Good morning hon,” She spoke, leveling Y/n with a soft look of concern. “I thought we talked about you taking care of yourself?”

“We did, I’ve just been cranking out a lot of papers this week. Had an extra late night last night trying to finish one before the weekend.” Y/n explained placing her feet on the floor and facing the older woman. 

“Well when is it due?” Melissa asked moving to sit on the arm of the chair. 

“Not until Sunday night, but I use my weekends to plan for the week here and catch up on grading.” Y/n explained. 

“And when do you take time for yourself?” Melissa prompted. 

“When I sleep it’s just me and my dreams. So I count those few hours every night as self-care.”

“Haha, very funny hon. You know that actually does not count right? You just slept through lunch. I think we need to think of some new ways to make sure you’re getting things done. Ways don’t include skipping meals and hours of sleep.” 

“I slept through lunch? I slept through Janine’s latest life update and Jacob’s flailing? I really must be tired.” Y/n said, shaking her head before moving to rise from the couch. “And I gotta go get my kids for recess.”

“Don’t worry about that right now. I told Jacob to take them with his kids. And as much as I agree that you are extremely tired, the teacher’s lounge was having a silent lunch today. But I don’t think we can do that every day so we’re gonna have to figure something else out.”

��Jacob is taking my kids to recess?” Y/n asked, looking at the redhead in disbelief. Before Melissa could confirm, Y/n seemed to pick up on something else she said. “Wait, did you just say silent lunch?”

Melissa shook her head in amusement at the fifth grade teacher, “Yes to both. And before you ask how? Think about who you’re talking to.” 

Y/n nodded with red cheeks realizing the redhead had done quite a bit for her during her slumber. “Thanks.” She finally mustered up the courage to say. 

“You’re welcome, I’m glad to help. But I’d be even happier if you’d meet me halfway with this.”

Y/n nodded in understanding, “I’m sorry, I’ve always just been like this and I overestimate how much I can actually handle. I didn’t realize anyone would care so much.”

“Well I do. Listen, how about we find sometime to get you set up with a healthier schedule? I’ll even  make you dinner and everything.” Melissa suggested hopefully. “I’d really like that. I have to be honest,  I didn’t take you for the mentor type of the group.” Y/n said with a shrug unconsciously pulling the older woman’s leather jacket closer to her chest. 

“Oh I’m not. That’s definitely more of a Barb thing, but I have my moments. And my reasons.” Melissa smiled softly at Y/n. 

“Well I appreciate it and I won’t take your help for granted.” 

“Good girl. Now come on, recess is almost over.” 

Y/n’s cheeks heated at the older woman’s words before she nodded and stood to walk out of the door with the woman. Melissa collected her things from the table and grabbed a tupperware container from the fridge and met Y/n at the door. She pushed the food into her hands as she’d been doing for the last couple of weeks and moved to head out of the door. Just as they were about to cross the threshold of the breakroom she extended the jacket toward the woman. “Oh, probably need this back. Thanks.” 

“No problem hon, don’t leave before seeing me. We can find a night sometime soon. Alright?” 

“Yes ma’am.” Y/n saluted before both women parted ways. 

-

“Knock knock. You ready to go?” Barb asked as she leaned against the door frame of Melissa’s classroom. 

“You can go on without me, I’m waiting on Y/n. We’ve gotta figure out when she’s free.” Melissa said casually turning in her desk chair to face her best friend.

“You finally ask her out?” Barb asked with a smirk causing Melissa’s cheeks to heat. 

“What? No? What are you talking about? I’m just gonna help her figure out how to take care of herself a bit better.” Melissa sputtered. 

“Right because you’re so good at that yourself.” Barb rolled her eyes. 

“Hey! I’m pretty good. And you do the same thing with Janine.” Melissa defended.

“Yes, but I don’t want to take Janine to bed. We are not the same Melissa.” 

“Oh would you get out of here before she hears you!”

“You didn’t deny it!” Barbara grinned. 

“Bye Barb.” Melissa groaned. Barbara smiled in victory before sending a wink over to her friend and leaving the building. 

[auspex]

VtM Fangfest 2024 Prompt 7: The Lovers

Hello! Here is my seventh fic for Fangfest 2024 :)

All my fics will be about characters that are previously established, so you might not have context for everything mentioned or hinted at within :( Feel free to reach out to ask I love explaining!

I've never really posted my writing before so be kind!

my first fic is here

my second fic is here

my third fic is here

my fourth fic is here

my fifth fic is here

my sixth fic is here

This fic is about Mark and Cassidy, of course!!! Art of them here

They've done quite a bit together which I reference but could not fully explain below... so apologies for things mentioned without context!

I love them so much though <3 this is set just before they become a couple officially :)

Mark found himself overthinking his outfit as he walked down the endless stairs to the chantry entrance. Was wearing a whole new outfit, the one that he had picked out no less, too much? He hoped not. Surely it makes sense. Yeah. It didn’t matter, probably. Or maybe it did. Cassidy did seem to care about taste. Mark attempted to reason with himself though; one outfit wouldn’t make-or-break this. Either he was reading things correctly, and Cassidy was simply playing coy by not initiating things, or he didn’t like Mark, and nothing he did at this point would change that. 

Such were Mark’s thoughts as he made his way all the way to Cassidy’s haven. He took a deep breath before knocking. He will definitely be able to tell I’m nervous. 

Cassidy was already smiling when he opened the door. Mark couldn’t help but smile back and his nerves eased a bit. 

“Hello, Mark. I am glad you could make it. Come in.” 

“Ah, of course. I’m glad things are settling down.” Cassidy’s haven was as put-together as always; the blue couch he had helped Cassidy pick out was neatly decorated with matching pillows, and the bookshelves were finally both filled and organized. It was odd to see the room only lit by lamps; Mark missed the artificial sunlight previously provided by Gaius. He looked around and listened for anyone. “No Lillian?”

“No, she is making her report to Dr. White soon and so when I mentioned you were coming she went to her laboratory to focus.” Cassidy sighed. “I will have to make mine to him soon as well. Though it will be a successful report, I am not looking forward to the loss of free time.” He slumped onto the couch as he finished the sentence. 

Mark went to sit next to him. “Oh, yes, that makes sense. Erm, how often do you think we’ll be able to see each other, after that?” 

“It’s hard to say. I only know that it will be less.” He gave Mark a sad smile. “When I have time, I will certainly reach out to see if you are available.” 

“I would like that a lot, Cassidy. I should have a predictable schedule. Things have changed for me lately.” 

There was silence for a moment before Cassidy hesitantly spoke. “Ever since your sire met final death, yes?” He opened his notebook. 

Mark raised an eyebrow at the notebook but answered anyway. “Yes. He was, well, he asked a lot of me. And obviously entirely uh, changed my life, for the worse, I suppose. But there was a level of direction, and even of safety in a way, that I don’t have now - no one is telling me what to do, or asking what I’ve been doing, so. There’s a lot to figure out.” 

“I understand. What’s the phrase - ah, things have been turned upside down for you. And I know you said you were doing just fine, but sometimes, one’s emotional response to such a large change is delayed, so please remember, you can always talk to me.” 

“Thanks Cassidy. I’m doing ok though, really.” Mark attempted a smile. 

“Hm. I had asked you before what you wanted, Mark. Remember, after we were investigating that supposed Anarch party? At that time you said safety, and people you could talk to. Has that remained the same since your sire’s death?” 

Mark pursed his lips in thought; it was a question he had asked himself already yet still had difficulty answering. Before he got to that though: “Well actually, at the time of answering, I did want those things, but what I was really working towards was freedom from him, though as you might guess I had mixed feelings about it even then.” 

“This makes sense, and it is wise to keep such things close to your chest.” Cassidy made a note. “And what do you want now, then?” 

“I’m still not sure.” He made eye contact with Cassidy as he continued. “I have found people to talk to. And I’m finding some measure of safety, especially considering I won’t be asked to complete deadly tasks by my sire anymore. But I don’t know, Cassidy. I had a whole, uh, living life just a year ago and so much has changed. I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m still struggling to find my footing.”

Cassidy was writing quickly now. “And the sudden breaking of the bond didn’t help with this, as well as losing his direction, I am sure.”

Managing a weak smile, Mark replied. “No, it did not. I’m managing okay though, I think. Still, a lot changed. There are people and things I miss.”

“Certainly. It will get better with time.”

“Yeah, I guess so. You uh, help too.” Cassidy’s pen pauses for a moment. 

“You as well.” Cassidy replies quietly. “I appreciate you sharing all of this with me. I find it interesting, yet I am sure it is hard to talk about.” 

Mark scratches his neck as he speaks. “Well, like I said, you help. What do you mean by me helping you too, though?” 

Cassidy pauses first, and then speaks deliberately. “I suppose, I meant that there are things I miss too, and you remind me of them, in a good way. How is Bartholomew, also? Has he scratched up and destroyed any of your new furniture yet?” 

Mark adjusted his glasses, somewhat taken aback by the shift in topic. “Oh, not yet, but he does enjoy hiding under things. If you would like to see him, I am sure I’d be able to invite you somewhat soon, I would just have to discuss it with my roommate.” 

“Yes, I do remember you mentioning a roommate; I am curious. What is his name?” 

“Erm, JP.” 

“How did you come to live with him? Is he someone you are perhaps considering to allow into your coterie as a new member?”

“Ah, I don’t want to go into it too much, but it really just makes sense. We both are in basically the same situation and I wanted to help him out. There aren’t any issues, he just wanted some alone time and I should let him know if you’ll be coming over.” Mark smiled. “Unlike Lillian, he doesn’t have another private space to go to.

“That certainly makes sense, then. Shall we watch Fight Club now?” Cassidy was already moving to set the movie up. 

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Dammit. Mark had wanted to ask him before the movie started, but despite wracking his brain, he could not figure out how to ask. 

“You haven’t explained this movie to me yet. What is it about? Or is it intended to be a surprise?” Cassidy placed the movie in the player, and sat back down on the couch.

Was he sitting a bit closer or am I just hoping he is? Mark roused the blood to make his skin warm just in case as he replied. “It’d be better not to spoil it. I really do think you’ll like this movie, though it's not as, erm.” Mark shook his head from side to side and adjusted his glasses as he sought the right words. “Well, the themes are not as… explicit as the previous two we saw.” 

“I see. Will that be made up for in other ways?” Cassidy’s voice was entirely deadpan. 

“Oh, I’ll let you judge that for yourself.” Mark glanced at Cassidy’s notebook, which was in his lap as usual. His pen was poised to take notes. 

This time, Mark struggled not to sneak glances at Cassidy to see his reactions to the movie. Last time they watched a movie together, Mark hadn’t seen it before and had found it engrossing, making it much easier to focus. Since Mark had already seen this movie, he was much more interested in Cassidy than the screen. It didn’t help that they were sitting so close this time. Maybe he really had sat closer intentionally? 

Cassidy made notes frequently, and overall Mark observed that he appeared quite interested. He adjusted how he was sitting periodically, seemingly lost in thought, and tilted his head towards Mark. In these adjustments, most brought him closer to Mark - he still couldn’t tell if it was on purpose, but it was becoming harder to deny that it was. 

During a quiet scene, Cassidy caught Mark looking at him. By this point, Cassidy had maneuvered himself quite close to Mark, close enough for Mark to make out his eyelashes behind the reflected light in his glasses. 

They held eye contact for a long moment before Mark abruptly stared straight ahead at the movie. He felt the sleeve of Cassidy’s shirt brush against him as Cassidy then also turned his attention back towards the movie. If Mark just sat back a bit… 

And now they were touching, sitting with their arms against each other’s. Cassidy’s arm was cold for only a moment before he reciprocated Mark’s warmth.

Mark tried to relax, and failing that miserably, attempted to be very still instead, which was not so hard since he did not need to breathe. The positioning was awkward, but moving would either move Mark further from Cassidy, or require him to more overtly hold him, neither of which he wanted to do. 

Some time passed, and then, without looking at him, Cassidy spoke in a neutral tone. “Is this comfortable for you?” 

“Um. N- I mean, uh, I don’t mind.” 

“Hm. Is this better?” Cassidy shifted both forward and then closer to Mark; he was now somewhat leaning into his shoulder, with Mark’s arm almost around him. Without saying anything, Mark then moved to change that ‘almost’ to an ‘actually.’

Cassidy’s head was now close enough to Mark’s where it was in his peripheral vision even if he looked at the screen. Both kindred made slight adjustments until they were quite comfortable. 

“Yeah, that’s better. Th-thanks.” 

Cassidy did not reply, seemingly focused on the movie. Eventually, he pulled his legs towards his chest, placed his notebook in his lap, and leaned fully into Mark, crossing his arms. It was quite comfortable, really. 

This meant Mark had to shift to look at him again, which he did, unable to suppress a smile. Cassidy was right there; Mark could not have told you what was happening in the movie. He gave in to a sudden urge to touch Cassidy’s hair; tucking it behind his head, smoothing a strand, while being careful to not actually touch his face. 

Cassidy was still at first, then leaned into him more, so his hair almost brushed Mark’s cheek. Mark wished he could see his face, even if he knew he likely wouldn’t be able to read his facial expression anyway. 

Soon, the end of the movie came. As “Where Is My Mind?” played over the end credits, neither kindred moved. When the song was ending, Cassidy reached for his notebook. 

Still being essentially held by Mark, he started their customary discussion of the movie. “I quite enjoyed that, though unfortunately I do think some cultural references may have been lost on me. If anything, I should study this film further. I am curious, were you able to predict the ending the first time you watched it?” 

~ 

The credits had long since finished rolling and Cassidy had run out of questions about the movie. Fight Club had been the only thing they had discussed, neither giving any acknowledgment of their intimate position. Once they both had stopped speaking, Mark was very conscious of himself and his movements, no longer occasionally playing with Cassidy’s hair. The pair was sitting still in silence, faced by only a blue screen. 

Mark mustered his courage to say something and turned to Cassidy’s head, who at the same time turned to face him. Cassidy’s face was illuminated by the bluescreen, and his eyes looked directly into Mark’s. Their faces were closer than they had been before, in heavy silence. 

“You look handsome in this light.” Mark managed to choke out just above a whisper. “Though, you always do.” 

Cassidy’s eyebrows furrowed in a look of surprise and almost disbelief; vulnerable. He opened his mouth as if he was about to respond, but instead turned and buried his face in Mark’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around him in a hug. Mark felt Cassidy’s glasses press into his shoulder as Cassidy essentially nuzzled into him. 

“Oh.” Mark found himself holding Cassidy and slowly rubbing his back, unsure if he should say something else. 

They sat like that for a minute before Cassidy pulled away and made eye contact with Mark once again. His face was composed, though his hair had gotten somewhat tangled, when he finally replied. “Mark, I share the sentiment. I.” He closed his eyes for a moment, apparently recomposing himself. “I appreciate you sharing that. You, ah, probably will not be surprised to hear that I am not very experienced in this.” 

“This?” Mark raised an eyebrow, slightly teasing. 

“You know.” Mark felt Cassidy’s arm strain for a moment as if to gesture before Cassidy realized it was pinned behind Mark’s back. “Um.” 

“Yes?” 

“Well, what would you call it?” Cassidy gave a surprisingly awkward smile, slightly showing teeth even, which Mark had only seen him do once before when he first offered him a TV. However, this smile looked more anxious than happy. 

“Wha- Cassidy. You’ve said it yourself that you’re not experienced in many things. How am I supposed to guess which you mean now?” Emboldened, he reached around to fix Cassidy’s hair. 

Wait, hang on, was he about to cry? Mark got a glimpse of Cassidy’s composure breaking once again before he quickly set his glasses aside, and returned to Mark’s shoulder, face hidden. It was more comfortable than before without the glasses digging into him. 

“Oh, um, it’s alright. It’s ok.” Mark tried to make his voice reassuring; he wasn’t sure exactly what was wrong but clearly Cassidy wanted comfort. He checked his watch as he went to start rubbing his back again. Good, it wasn’t even 11 yet. “I, I like what is happening right now, if you do too. We can just do this for a while.” 

Mark felt him nod and hold him more tightly. Resolving to go at Cassidy’s pace for the rest of the evening, he refrained from teasing him further and returned to stroking his hair. He really loved Cassidy’s hair. 

The room was quiet save for the low buzzing of the TV. Mark continued for several minutes before Cassidy sat up again. This time, he sat up a bit straighter, took Mark’s hands into his own, and looked down at them.

Cassidy took a long, slow breath, seemingly just to steady himself, and finally spoke. “What I mean to say is, I suppose, is that I am not used to…” he trailed off. “To any of this.” He closed his eyes as he took another breath he didn’t need, and continued. “I don’t know what I’m doing, so once again, I will follow your lead.” Cassidy slowly started to run his thumb across Mark’s knuckles, but stopped himself, as he waited for a reply. 

“Right. Uhm, this is nice. But we should be clear on where we uh, stand.” Mark cleared his throat, prompting Cassidy to look up. Mark wasn’t used to seeing him without his glasses, nor Cassidy looking so wistful, or maybe worried, or maybe even hopeful - he had managed a trace of a smile. He stumbled over his words. “Uhm, right. Cassidy, I, well, I am, glad that I’ve met you and that we can spend time together. I uh, I like you. I’m romantically interested in you, is what I mean. Which I’m sure you can tell. God.” Mark’s voice lowered. “You know, it’s hard to confess when you’re looking at me like that.” 

Cassidy said “oh” in a very soft voice. He swallowed, but managed to maintain eye contact after a quick glance down at Mark’s lips. “I feel the same.” 

The two just looked at each other for a few moments, before Cassidy continued. “What now?”

“Whatever we want. I can stay for longer.” He started moving closer to Cassidy’s face as he whispered, “a lot longer.” 

Cassidy tilted his head and closed his eyes.

Mark felt his nose brush Cassidy’s own, and shifted to meet his lips. He started kissing him slowly, and was able to tell that Cassidy was mirroring his own movements - following his lead. Mark held Cassidy’s head with one hand and his waist with the other to shift him to a better angle; Cassidy similarly held Mark, though did not change his position. 

Mark enjoyed being able to almost teach Cassidy, in a way - the thought that this may be Cassidy’s first kiss, or perhaps first kiss with a man, or at the very least his first kiss in decades, rang in Mark’s head and he did everything he could to make it a good one, while not going too far. He kept his mouth mostly closed, only using hints of tongue. 

Cassidy whimpered softly, very nearly overwhelmed but not quite. 

Mark smiled as he kept going, maintaining the same mild intensity, holding Cassidy close, enjoying the feel of his lips and shy reciprocation of everything Mark did. This was his first time kissing anyone since his embrace, and it felt odd that his breathing remained steady despite his intense nerves. God, he couldn’t believe this was really happening. 

He pulled away briefly to look at Cassidy. He looked beautiful, staring up at him. 

After only a moment though, when Mark leaned in for another kiss, Cassidy leaned away. Seeing Mark’s look of concern, he took a breath and spoke. “That was wonderful, Mark.” Cassidy’s voice was full of emotion for a moment, making Mark’s heart hurt, before shifting to his moderate tone. “However, it’s… not something I’m used to. I need some time. As always though, I enjoy our time together, and I am sure I will even more in the future.” He stood up, and waited for Mark to follow him towards the door.

“Ah, what? Um, I mean. Ok.” Mark was not able to hide neither the surprise nor disappointment from his voice. “We- we can go slow I guess. We have eternity, after all.” 

“Indeed. I will see you soon, before I return to a formal schedule, hopefully.” He held the door open for Mark. 

“Right, uh, I will see you soon.” Mark paused in the door. “Goodbye?” He gave an awkward wave.

“Have a good evening, Mark.” Cassidy’s face was a mask.

~ 

It was very awkward leaving Cassidy’s haven. Sure, it had been awkward in the past, but it was different this time - Mark wasn’t sure why Cassidy wanted him to leave so early, even though they just admitted feelings for each other, and even kissed. Why did eternity have to wait? Why did Cassidy have to be so formal, after all of that? 

The walk up the stairs back from the chantry entrance felt like it took hours. 

Bonus:

Cassidy closed the door after Mark’s final wave goodbye. He stayed there for a moment, resting his head against the door, leaving his hand on the handle. 

Looking at his hand, Cassidy thought about how it had looked holding Mark’s. It was something he had only been able to imagine; now, it was something he could remember. He kept thinking about the sensation of Mark’s lips on his own, how his facial hair felt against his own face. The warmth of another pressed up against him - how badly he had craved that and how it was just as good as he half-remembered from over a century ago. 

Speaking of, he should write all this down. 

That thought brought him back to reality. 

The notebook was left abandoned on the couch; his attention had focused elsewhere and it had been left half open. This negligence concerned Cassidy. Even if it was in code, in the privacy of his own haven, on principle it should never be open and visible to others. 

Looking at it, Cassidy knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from crying for much longer. He quickly took the notebook and retreated into his private study, so that if Lillian got back early (against his wishes) she would not see him. 

Cassidy grabbed a cloth he normally used for cleaning and slumped into his new armchair. He missed his old one, but that had been destroyed when Lillian’s chimera got out of control. 

Now it was safe for Cassidy to let himself break. 

He started smiling and crying at the same time. The tears welled slowly, and Cassidy wiped his face deliberately each time; he knew it was healthy to cry, but it still did not come easily. He hadn’t wanted Mark to leave, though he was more patient than the fledgling and didn’t mind waiting to spend more time with him. But he could not cry in front of Mark, however, he could not have stopped himself from doing so much longer. 

He should have predicted this would happen. Perhaps he could have prepared himself better, or asked Mark to go slower, so he could keep his composure. Too late now.  

Steadying himself enough to write, he took out his pen and began recording, in his customary way, what had happened. The familiarity of it was calming. 

What did Mark say, exactly? ‘I’m romantically interested in you’, or something? 

Of course he would phrase it like that. 

[pyropaw-studios]

Half of this is copied from discord: Not so happy news for:

@everyone

I hate to break this news to everyone… but here goes..

<@&1004117175554023576> <@&1017464516952465480>Its with heavy hearts We are sunsetting <#1059559508042600549> temporarily til we can make a easier project to get some money off of, we've been working on this game since late 2021 with no progress, we've had too many scammers, allegded groomers/predators here, r15/cosmo, along with other chaotic stuff, lot of staff members left, and more recently our cheapest 3D modeler went missing, and we do not know how long they have been missing for, so me and <@755924638349131866> feels its best to work on the comic <#1171308144031453224>. Im sorry to everyone who was hopeful this game was coming quickly at the time we didn't realize how hard it was to make a game especially a MMORPG even if we can write and draw we do not know how to program nor 3d model even with the amount of staff we have were sorta outnumbered. with this out of the way i want to point out some things and get some unanswered questions out of the way.

so What will happened to <#1059559508042600549> and its respected channels?

nothing, we will let people ask questions about concepts, and lore and ideas here the channels will stay despite our inability to make the game

What will happened to <@&1017464516952465480> ??

I have already been thinking about this before the decision to call it quits temporarily and if everyone is fine with it i am thinking on promoting staff to the <@&1034906676840628244> to promotee the comic, give their ideas, background designs and more! i will give staff their time to gather their thoughts on this, maybe even have a meeting on it, no one will loose their roles and will keep their respective <@&1017464516952465480> roles

What is the future of pyropaw??

To be fair me and ozy are not sure yet, we rather need time to think before jumping into another project as big as draco warriors, phurelz is most likely our only backburner to help us right now, as its also my dream and the interest of a few others that we work on this comic, even though if it doesnt make it to become big of the likes of lackadaisy or glitch i will continue to work on it til i can't no more along with any other people who decided to join this project

Was there any official <#1059559508042600549> art completed?

Some but i never got pass one npc, and a few pets along with some playable characters and one more made by a staff member/admin who decided to leave

Is this sunset permament?

Never, as much as we care about draco warriors we would not completely cancel it nor stop it this is temporary til we have more money, staff, and energy to work on this, working on a comic for now is easier though, and <#1171308144031453224> actually has been in the works since around 2018/2019

To add on to this we've had other complications such as our head founders running into issues with love ones trying to force our staff to stop working on the game, forcing staff to control our heads to change rules around such as not people to not ask for monetary value at all cost and getting staff members leaving us, and an anonymous person harassing a staff member who lefted the server, and even when the staff of the server enforced them to stop they didnt and it resulted in the owner blocking them from the server and the staff blocking them personally, everything is so stressful to the point the secondary founder did not want to be the 2nd owner of the game anymore due to money issues and scammers as well, and it caused the owner of pyropaw and phurelz, and draco-warriors to go into a creative block and slump, lots of staff also started to work on concept arts left without notifying other staff while some did, so at the end of the day thats why we are calling draco warriors quits til 2026 or 2027 it's too much stress and there's barely any staff to work on it and too many people including scammers and IRL people got involved and destroyed our game, Were still working on our comic phurelz which can be found here:

Phurelz will be entirely different from draco warriors but we hope this will interest you :3, we sorry for anyone's inconvience and hope we can make exciting things for you guys in the future!

Discord

[strrgrrrlz]

My Goals goals for the month (Kind of).

As I started to write on the last post, which was an official journal entry, I decided to create a little list of goals to achieve this month. I guess the pourpose could be an incentive to keep writing, but in all honesty, I've been ating to get out of this mental slump I've been in for such a long time, so I hope this can help me to feel better.

On the "Self Improvement" area:

Create a good routine that works for me and is not crazy

Elaborating on that: Just like most people who decides to improve themselves and their lives, we set up goals that sounds great but turns out to be unachiveable. waking up at 5 is impossible since I have college classes at night, so I woul usually go to bed at midnight, the sleep would be awful. I also can't compromise on super scheduled routines, because I live with my family so I don't have a lot of control over my enviroment all the time.

So, I want my routine to be, basically, Wake up at a reasonable early time (like 7), wash my face, get ready for the day, make a little coffee and study my management material. Then I take a break to have breakfast with my mom, then I'll go back if I have something to finish. Then I'll do house stuff, help my mom, IDK, work on our little project. By 3:30 I'll start getting ready for my classes, then go to college etc etc.

Journal, Journal, journal.

This is why this blog was made for. I need, desperately, to make sense of it all. Jokes aside, I need to write for my mental health. Just get things out, nothing crazy, just a safe space for me to talk and make it look cute.

exercise!

No need to elaborate on that one

Improve my confidence, and my behaviour

I don't believe I have always been like this. I was a confident kid, like a very confident one, but the other kids did everything they could to put me down, and they won. I became a very sensitive, very insecure and isolated teenager, I am better now, but honestly, adult life has been hard. I feel like I have grown a little thick skin, but I'm definetly not at my best, and sometimes I feel like I am at my worst, because no matter how much you grow, at a certain point the level of difficulty of life gets higher, and you realize you really don't know a thing.

I have a feeling my recent bad behaviour will fade a little as I work on myself. A lot of my problems internally reflects on the way I act and I hate that, so I want to change.

learn more, but actually learn more

I don't want to be someone who's online all the time doing nothing all day long and being a brainless zombie. I want to LEARN things, Languages, history, art, things, actual things, not just stuff. Pick up on reading again. Becoming excited about things and not just resenting people and situations.

On the study field:

Read more than what is asked from me

Study more at home

Be more upfoward when it comes to group projects

I think that's it so far

[sassybookworm2020]

^My face this morning when I saw notifs with your username 😆🎉

HELLO DARLING!!!

How are you?? How have things been going?? I know you have been swamped so I hope you have some time to just relax and breathe for a bit ♥️✨

I’m also looking forward to any art pieces you may have been working on during this time 👀👀👀👀 ☺️

Thank you for all of your wonderful comments and suggestions. I have been in a slump the last few days and now, after reading through all of them, I feel rejuvenated!

You really know how to make someone’s day 🥰✨

Please take care of yourself! 🩵 or else! Haha

Hi Em!!!

I am doing much better now that finals are over! I am officially on summer break for a little while and honestly it feels weird to not be studying 🤣

Omg yes I have so much new artwork I need to post! I’m so excited to see what you think of the finished pieces! ☺️

I’ve had so much fun catching up on all your beautiful artwork and amazing W&D content! You continue to amaze me with your world building and you know I always love getting to know more of your OC’s. *Rishida and Ryuji being a grumpy bat 🦇 shipper for life!*

You’re a gem and I hope you have a fantastic day!🥰💕

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 210

Weekly installation of mostly fluffy slice of life neurodivergent queer fiction in SPACE space space space!

October was a super busy month, so I’m glad to be through it.  HRT, Inktober, real life camping trip, one of my ersatz children making good trouble while the other one rebelled a little bit... Onwards to November, when I still have to decide if I am spatchcocking Cornish hens or just frying them.

I actually can’t do reader shout outs this week, because Inktober did get my notes all wonky.  However! @janeshadow, @necromancer04, and @drbibliophile were all extremely supportive of my clumsy attempts at art, so I do want to give them special acknowledgement.

As always, shout out to @baelpenrose for sticking it out through this chapter... It veered hard left for a minute, but he hung in there until it actually made sense again.

By the time I got back to my office, Else had done an admirable job clearing the ceiling and working their way down the walls. Tyche and Parvati were nowhere to be seen, which was just as well.  Given the near-fluorescent quality my workspace still had, it was in everyone’s best interest that Parvati was scheduled to shadow my sister today.

“Good call on Charly,” Hannah announced as I took a seat. “She was halfway through making a fresh batch of paint when I got ahold of her.”

I slumped in relief. “Xiomara is less than pleased with her homework, but not much else I can do. She has been warned, just in case, blah blah blah.” Roughly, I rubbed my face. “I need a vacation.”

“Don’t you usually go camping or something?  I know there was a camping trip last year.”

“Mmm hmm.” Alistair had kindly handed me another coffee - mostly hot this time, no straw. Things were looking up. “But we make planetfall in less than four months.  The next giant leap for mankind waits for no one.”

She blinked at me, skeptical. “The world won’t end if you vanish for three or four days.”

Shrugging, I shook my head. “I’d be camping alone. Schedules are all over the place right now, between essential projects in community shifts and essential tasks in work shifts. Hell,” I sighed, “I think the guys and I are only all home at the same time for maybe four hours a day?”

“That sucks,” she whispered emphatically.

“Can’t be helped. We’ve talked about it and come to terms with it.” Remembering the food I’d brought, I looked around. “Where are the - “

“Eaten, with salt and butter,” Alistair interrupted. “What hasn’t been demolished was absconded with to Tyche’s office with muttering about soups?”

“The Soup,” Hannah corrected. “Clearly, you haven’t had it, or you would know that.  Hey!” She perked up again. “You could do a picnic instead of camping? Small daycation?”

That set me groaning, leaning my head down to rest in my hands. “They’re deconstructing BioLab2 for biomass,” I half-wailed mournfully.  “I’m pretty sure the only reason Nixe hasn’t smashed my door down is because she’s too busy trying to get as much PT in with Teeth as possible before they drain the lake.”

Alistair drummed his fingers on the table, chewing his lip thoughtfully. “I am going to hazard the guess that either Mister Rodriguez has not been told that the same will happen to his tanks, or he has elected not to inform Her Majesty?”

I winked and waggled a finger at him. “Very close. Simon’s prodigious aquarium set ups are among the last to go.  They are currently being used to study mineral aquatics, and will be cycled out to become life pods for Else.”

“That explains the breathtaking lack of weapon marks on the doors, thank you.”

“No problem.” Taking a steadying breath, I looked around again. The pumpkins were vanishing slowly but surely. A reassuring sign. “On more official matters, the votes from the Ark are showing an eighty-twenty trend toward the From cave system, with seventy percent reporting already.” I called up the relevant map. “Which means we need to start figuring out where exactly to put everyone. These are the most recent geological scans, so let’s start taking inventory of who has preference of where they don’t want to be…”

That bought me a scant few minutes of relative silence before Hannah tapped my hand to get my attention. “What about a Halloween party? Or a harvest party?”

“Once we get down there? Sounds like a plan. Sort of a new Thanksgiving.”

She rolled her eyes. “I mean for you, dummy.”

I tilted my head questioningly. “You want me?” I pointed at my chest. “To relax? By planning and throwing a party?”

“You love feeding people,” she pointed out.

My hands went up. “Four or five at a time, yeah! After that, it gets exhausting.”

“There is this fascinating invention,” Alistair started, adding his two cents. “It’s called a potluck, I do believe. Apparently, it occurs when you allow other people to bring dishes to a gathering.” He zoomed on a particular cavern, not even looking at us. “Revolutionary, I know. What will they think of next.”

“Asshole,” I muttered, wiggling down into my chair to sulk.

“Other people can cook, Sophia.”

“Et tu, Hannah?”

Five years ago, she would have flinched from my glare. Now, she just stared back.  It was clear that overexposure had acclimatized her to my wrath. “You let Tyche bake for you all the time.”

“That’s different. I can’t bake. Like, at all.”

“Arthur made goulash that one time. And you let Charly make popcorn.”

Yet again, my assistant felt the need to add insult to injury. “I understand that Mister Rodriguez is quite adept at sugar confections.  And you, yourself, extoll Councilor Kalloe’s aptitude with curries.”

“We could throw Xiomara and Mona together,” Hannah suggested. “Mona will stuff buns with anything given the chance.”  It only took a beat of silence for her to realize what she had said and start glowing red. “Bread buns! Like fluffier bao oh my gods kill me now…”

“Mini curry bread bowls do sound delightful,” Alistair mulled.

“Y’all - “

He kept speaking, ignoring me completely. “I think Farro and I can duel British versus American pigs  in blankets.”

Hannah clapped, despite my attempts to argue. “Oh, that would be fun!  I bet Charly and Coffee can pull together some really interesting dips and sauces.” Her tone dropped just as she clamped a hand over my mouth. “I hear Coffee makes a mean roux.”

“Do you think he can make us a gumbo?”

“How would we make it portable? Hmmm….”

I stood up and stomped my bare foot ineffectually before shouting. “Y’ALL!” They turned to look at me, faces frozen mid-word. Pointing a finger like it was a loaded gun, I started with Alistair. “I know what the hell a potluck is, but a good host should be able to feed the people they invite. Arthur got away with the goulash because he didn’t exactly ask.”

“The boozy donuts didn’t hurt,” Hannah added.

“AND YOU!” I whirled on her. “How am I supposed to ask people who probably can’t even attend to make food or help?  I adore Mona, but she is busy. We all have access to her work allotments and hours, none of us know when she sleeps. I don’t care how good those mini bread bowls sound, if I find out she is making even ONE, I will assign you to BioLab Four so fast you won’t have time for a rebreather.”

She started muttering and I vaguely heard names being listed, but chose to ignore it for the sake of my blood pressure. “And finally: WHY DOES THAT PUFF HAVE A HAT??” I darted across the room to where Else was roughly halfway down the walls now, fingertip less than an inch from a bright yellow ball of fuzz with a bright purple cowboy hat.

“Hat?”

“Puff?”

Both of them stood and inched toward where I was standing, eyes following my arm until they saw what I was focused on. “That’s a hat,” Hannah murmured in a dazed tone.

“I see it as well,” Alistair confirmed.  I couldn’t tell if his confusion was the rapid change in topic or the bizarre sight in front of us. “It is very purple.”

I didn’t want to take the object away, in case it upset Else…. Lately, they’d been known to emit a jarringly high pitched noise when upset. Instead, I stared at it with them, fixated.

“Does Simon have sea urchins?” Hannah finally asked, apropos to literally nothing I could figure out.

“Four?” I answered, curious.

She nodded without taking her eyes off the wall. “Urchins sunburn, and from what I’ve read, wild ones would carry stones or other objects to protect themselves. People who kept pet urchins would make hats for them. Like that.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly. “I don’t think I want to know how Else stole a hat from one of Simon’s urchins.”

“Perhaps someone made it for Else, based on similarities?” Alistair suggested.

“No clue,” I admitted.  Finally, I turned from the wall, took a deep breath, and opened my eyes. “Fine. You’re right. We can do the potluck.  It’ll be nice to hang out with everyone and not have to cook everything.”

Immediately, I winced and Else scattered as Hannah started squealing. “This is going to be great! Just you wait and see.”

“No costumes?” I begged.

She gave a small huff. “Fine. No costumes. I can work with that.  Unless Else shows up with hats.”

“The hat is pretty cute,” I conceded.

“Do not inform Miss Harper of that.” Alistair turned and stared at us both. “If I am forced to see even one glittery accoutrement for our fine, fluffy friends, neither of you will ever have a proper cup of coffee again.”

Oh. He meant it.

“Won’t tell Charly,” I hastily promised.

“How the hell are we supposed to keep her from making them without telling her about it?” Hannah hissed at me as soon as his back was turned.

“Fuck if I know,” I responded. “But we’re going to figure this out. My caffeine depends on it.”

<<Prev       Masterlist     Next>>

[yourlocalfictionalenthusiast]

IN LIFE, IN DEATH...

PART THREE

Part One, Part Two

Warnings: just some swearing

May 1995

“We’re totally gonna get a record deal!”

Luke said for the tenth time in the past hour as he bounced in his seat.

It was Friday night and normally, you would all be messing around at the park, the beach, or just watching a movie in the studio. But when your phone rang and it was the booking manager for the Orpheum telling you that Sunset Curve is officially the new opener next month, the boys insisted on being there the second your shift at the diner was over.

So instead of arguing about having another Star Wars marathon or playing at the pier, you were all packed in your regular booth at Cece’s for celebratory milkshakes. You sat on the very edge of the booth, practically falling asleep on Alex. Ever since you got the call that morning, every cell in your body felt supercharged with excitement.

But now that the day was coming to an end, you could hardly stay awake enough to pay attention to the conversation.

Bobby, who was in your usual spot, pinched Luke’s arm. “Don’t jinx it, dude.”

“It’s not jinxing if you know for sure.” Luke said. “I mean, we’re awesome! And we’ve worked so hard to get to this point. It’s all gonna pay off.”

As much as you wanted to believe him, you were still nervous. There was nothing you were prouder of than your music, and you knew that a crowd that big would be good for gaining a lot of new fans. But the idea of that many people seeing you perform and hearing your lyrics was nerve-wracking.

You could tell the others felt the same way. Bobby was biting his nails, Alex was bouncing his leg so hard it almost hit the table and Reggie was slumped against the wall. Luke just stared at all of you, his bright smile never fading.

He snapped his fingers so loud that you jumped at the noise, then he started digging in his pockets. “I know what’ll cheer you guys up.”

Luke pulled out a safety pin, then brought its point down into the table, his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth in concentration. After a few minutes, he brushed off the table and presented his design proudly. It was four words in huge slanted letters.

‘SUNSET CURVE WAS HERE’

“Seriously, Luke?” Alex said, his eyes wide. “Cece’s gonna kill you!”

Luke just smirked and handed him the pin, gesturing to the space under the words. “‘C’mon, man. You’re up first.”

It took a lot of convincing, but Alex eventually gave in, and one by one, you all signed your names.

‘Alex,

Bobby

Reggie

Luke

(Y/N)’

You heard the sound of Cece’s heels hitting the floor as she exited the kitchen. Panicking, you shoved the pin in your pocket just in time as she came up to the table. 

Before she could even see that anything was different, Reggie pointed at Luke.

“He did it!”

Cece frowned before inspecting the table, letting out a deep sigh and putting her hands on her hips.

“Are you vandalizing my diner, Patterson?”

Luke paled. “It was a group effort.”

“But it was your idea,” Alex said with a smirk, no doubt trying to pin the blame on Luke to keep his spot as Cece’s favorite. You had to bury your head into his shoulder to contain your laughter.

You could tell from the way that she was struggling to keep a straight face that Cece wasn’t actually mad but you weren’t gonna tell Luke that. He tried to kick Alex’s leg under the table but he hit yours instead. You hissed in pain and Luke paled even further.

“Shit, sorry, (Y/n).”

“And abusing my staff?” Cece joked, shaking her head.

Luke flashed her a charming smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, Cece. Just got a little excited.”

“I can see that.” She laughed then turned to you. “Hey. Get up. I got you something.”

You looked up at her in confusion but she didn’t offer you any answer as you dragged yourself up. Cece pulled a small blue box out from behind her back and handed it to you. “What’s the occasion?”

Cece rolled her eyes. “Just open it.” 

The first thing you saw was a folded piece of paper with your name on it, under it was a silver key. You picked it up and held it in between your fingers as you carefully unfolded the paper to see three words in Cece’s careful handwriting.

just in case

You looked up at her, eyebrows knitted together. “Cece?”

She just winked as she put her hand on your cheek. “Honey, you know that I couldn’t have more faith in you and your rockstar dreams. But just in case things don’t work out...well, I couldn’t imagine giving this place to anyone else.”

You flew into her arms and hugged her so tight it was a little painful. Of course, all you wanted was for Sunset Curve to get signed to a label and take over the world. But this place was like home to you and the idea of owning it some day made your heart swell. “Thank you!”

The booth erupted in cheers and Cece playfully glared at them as she tucked you under her arm. “But you have to promise you’ll keep these boys of yours from doing any more damage to the property.”

Bobby scoffed. “Hey, we’re not-”

You slapped your hand over his mouth before nodding at Cece. “I’ll try my best.”

The bell on the door jingled to announce the arrival of another customer, and Cece left to greet them. You twirled the key around in your hand and looked at the boys' smiling faces, unable to hide your own.

As you settled back in the booth and took a sip of your milkshake, you couldn’t help but feel like everything was coming together.

2020

L.A was somehow so different, yet exactly the way you remembered.

The way the bright lights flooded the streets, to the way that every surface you see was decorated with a piece of art, made you anxious to re-explore the city you loved so much. 

You couldn’t help but stare through your swinging legs at the crowds walking around below, listening to the soft buzzing of the Orpheum’s sign above your head.

An hour ago when Luke had suggested walking around the city, you figured you would end up here eventually. But now that you were actually here, you couldn’t help the hollow feeling that settled in your stomach.

It must’ve shown on your face because Luke launched into one of his motivational speeches. “C’mon, guys. I know being dead wasn’t our first choice. But you gotta admit, it is easier to get around.”

Reggie pouted. “Easy for you maybe. I lost my shirt on that one.”

You hadn’t even noticed that he was shirtless until it reappeared in a flash and he sighed in relief.

“So, why did you bring us here?” Alex asked Luke. “Just another painful reminder of where we never got to play?”

You smiled sarcastically. “Yeah, thanks, Luke.”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Because, we’re not done yet!”

He slung his arm around Alex’s shoulder, and gripped yours as he poofed you all down to the sidewalk, pulling away from you as fast as possible once your feet were back on the ground.

“I’m telling you.” Luke said. “We’ve been given a second chance. Let’s go see how many clubs we can hit before sunrise!”

He started walking down the street and Reggie was quick to follow, leaving you and Alex behind. As you watched them skip down the sidewalk, Alex let out a sharp ‘hey!’ and you whipped around to see him rubbing his shoulder.

A man in a long black suit stared straight into your eyes before tipping his hat to Alex and disappearing down the street. Every hair on your body stood on end as you stared at the spot where he was just standing.

“That was weird.” You said, turning to Alex. “You okay?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’m good.”

You could hear Luke and Reggie’s excited shouting as they ran down the street, but you and Alex kept your distance. He reached his arm out to you and you took it automatically.

Over the last six months, Alex had become your best friend. You had always been close but last summer when things got bad with his parents, he turned to you.

And when things started to get weird between you and Luke or you had a fight with your mom, Alex was the only one you wanted to talk to. 

“Alright.” Alex sighed. “Out with it.”

“Out with what?”

“I know you’re dying to talk about Luke.”

“I am not!”

Alex raised his eyebrows, clearly not convinced.

“Besides, there’s nothing to talk about.”

“Nothing-” He took in a sharp breath. “(Y/n), for someone so smart, you’re acting like a dumbass.”

You put a hand on your chest, dramatically gasping. “Alexander Mercer! I had no idea you were capable of using that kind of language.”

He flashed you his middle finger before unlocking his arm from yours and pulling you into his side. “Seriously though. What’s rolling around up there?”

You were quiet for a few minutes as you rested your head on his shoulder. “I just want to know what I did, you know?” 

Alex nodded, but didn’t say anything, as he knew that you were just getting started.

“I mean, he’s always been there. He's always been my person. The one who I could count on for anything. Then that night in the studio, I thought…” 

You trailed off and Alex held you a little tighter. Even though he wasn’t there, he could probably describe that night in exact detail from the amount of times you had told him about it. “I just miss him."

“Yeah, I know.” Alex said, his eyes glued to Luke’s back. “But, hey, you know that he loves you, and that didn’t change because of one night.”

He started to say something else but cut himself off as he saw Reggie and Luke approaching, both with big, goofy smiles. Reggie took your arm that wasn’t around Alex’s back and locked it in his.

“What are you guys talking about?” He asked.

“Nothing!” You said way too fast, cringing to yourself as you dragged Reggie down the sidewalk. “Come on, Reg. Let’s go see if that old comic book shop is still around.”

As the night wore on, you became more and more thankful that you weren’t able to get tired.

You spent the whole night sneaking into concert venues, clubs, and pretty much any place you wanted now that there was no chance of getting caught. It wasn’t until you passed a small street-side café that you let yourself think about the one place you hadn’t been yet.

Cece’s Diner.

When Julie told you it had been 25 years, you assumed that it had closed down. That Cece had moved away. Maybe even reconnected with her son and lived out her life. It seemed like such a perfect thought that you didn’t want to ruin it with reality. 

But now that you had seen the way things had changed in the time you had been gone, you were now filled with a sense of urgency. You launched up the sidewalk until you were in front of the boys.

“Hey, guys?” You asked. They all stared at you curiously as a smile slowly spread across your face. “Anyone up for milkshakes?”

-

When you walked up to the diner - for only an instant - it was as if no time had passed. You felt the urge to run inside, throw your hair up in a ponytail, and make a beeline for the kitchen before you got in trouble for being late for your shift. 

Only as you got closer, you realized how much had changed. The building, which had always been a little ordinary and worn like a well-loved home, now felt about twenty stories tall. You dragged yourself forward toward the door, unable to look away.

The boys lingered behind you, but no one said a word. 

Your hand reached for the doorknob before you remembered that you wouldn’t actually be able to touch it.

I really gotta get used to that, you mumbled to yourself as you walked through the door.

It looked so different that you almost didn’t recognize it.

The bright blue paint had been replaced with brown on every wall, bookshelves lined the corners of the room, and long leather couches had replaced the booths and tables. The old jukebox had disappeared, and some old jazz song was playing over speakers over your head.

“Can I help you?” 

A voice asked from behind the counter. It was a boy that looked a little older than you, messy black hair and an uninterested smile. He dragged a blue pen across the margins of a book as he waited for your answer.

“You can see us?” Alex asked, to which the boy rolled his eyes.

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” He said, raising his eyebrows when you all failed to answer either of his questions.

“My, my. Aren’t we chatty.”

“Who are you, exactly?” You said, trying to mask your annoyance with a smile.

“Teddy.” He said, pushing himself off the counter and making his way around until he stopped just a few feet ahead of you. “And you’re (Y/n).”

A shiver ran down your spine. “How do you know that?”

“You were a friend of my grandma’s.”

Before you could ask what the hell he meant by that, a man came walking out of the kitchen. He looked so much like Cece that it made your stomach flip. It was her son.

And as you looked back at Teddy, your mind slowly connected the dots. “You’re Cece’s grandson?”

He nodded.

“Okay, this is just too weird.” You said as you rubbed your temples. There was no way that this was actually happening, right? Maybe you somehow fell asleep and are having some weird ghost dream. 

“Okay, well I definitely feel old.” Alex sighed.

Your head was spinning. “What is even happening right now.”

Teddy smiled. “Well, it’s too bad we’re dead or else I would buy you coffee and explain it to you.”

You internally cringed at his pick-up line but you couldn’t help but laugh a little. Normally, random guys flirting with you made you uncomfortable but behind his cocky attitude, he seemed like a genuine guy.

Maybe it was the way that he twirled his pen between his fingers the way that Cece used to, but something told you that there was more to him than meets the eye.

Before you could answer, Luke spoke up. “Well, it was nice meeting you. But we really should be getting back home.”

You could see that he was right as the pale light came in through the windows as the sky started to lighten.

But you couldn’t help but notice that this was the first time he had interjected in the conversation since you got there, and a small part of you wondered if that had anything to do with the way that Teddy was staring at you.

You shook those thoughts from your head, giving Teddy a soft smile.

“Maybe next time.”

Though you weren’t capable of getting cold, you still shivered a little as you walked through the door and back out onto the street. You could feel Luke’s eyes on the side of your face, flickering down to the sidewalk when he saw you looking.

You gave him a light nudge on the shoulder, and he gave you a soft smile that you couldn’t quite decipher the meaning behind.

That was pretty much all you got from Luke these days.

“So,” Luke said, his enthusiasm returning in full force as he threw his arms over Alex and Reggie’s shoulders. “I think it’s safe to say we’re officially back in business.”

-

The second that you landed in the studio, your jaw dropped.

Julie was sitting at the piano, her voice shaky but full of passion as she belted out the most beautiful song you’ve ever heard. Her fingers hit the keys expertly and you smiled.

You closed your eyes, listening to her voice echo through the room and getting lost in the warm feeling the lyrics filled you with. It wasn’t until she stopped singing and sniffled quietly that your heart dropped.

Both you and Alex surged forward to comfort her but Luke shook his head and swirled his finger, signaling to meet up outside. You wanted to protest. To stay and comfort your new friend.

But Julie sniffled again and you thought that maybe it would be a good idea to give her space. You made a mental note to talk to her later and poofed out of the garage.

-

In Life, In Death Taglist:

@ifilwtmfc @instabull @wanniiieeee @tenaciousperfectionunknown

JATP Taglist:

@caitsymichelle13

Let me know if you want to be added!

[mabyn-mabyn]

Barista JK Live Now fic by mabyn art by Kellyfineart_

Jungkook/Hoseok M | WIP

With his art career stagnating and relationship in ruins, Hoseok flees Seoul to hide out in Jeju Island. Will the mystery coffee vlogger with the muscular forearms and vibrant tattoos be enough to get him out of his slump?

Hoseok is a mess.

It's not like he doesn't know it. If he didn't know it, he wouldn't have flown himself on impulse to middle-of-nowhere, Seogwipo, Jeju Island right after Junho—devastatingly handsome but decidedly a prick—officially dropped him to date some beautiful but brainless model in Seoul.

And. Okay. Maybe he hadn't been in love with Junho. But they'd clung onto whatever they'd had for a year and some change, and Hoseok had gotten used to having someone by his side. Someone to go with him to art exhibits. Someone he could take to receptions, whom he could gesture to with his flute of champagne and say, he's here with me, I have everything together: emerging artist, sexy boyfriend, expensive clothes.

He'd gotten used to being wanted.

Jimin had called him the instant Hoseok texted he was on a flight to Jeju for a little "R&R."

"What's going on with you, hyung?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're not fine. The Hoseok I know plans for vacations months out. He needs weeks to lay out his outfits. He's a control freak who likes to organize things down to the last detail. He is not the kind of person who hops on a plane on a whim."

"Okay fine. If you must know, Junho dumped me. He's out with some hot young thing who gives good head as we speak."

"What??"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But you will."

"I'll consider it. But not now. Now I am hiding my puffy eyes behind dark sunglasses and I am going to soak up the sun and ocean air for a week. Return triumphant."

"You do know that it's the winter."

"Details."

"Well, fuck that guy. I'll take you out clubbing when you get back. And I need you here, hyung! There are some people I want to introduce you to at Kim Kibum's exhibit. Some big names."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Jimin. I just need to get this out of my system."

"I get it. I love you."

"Love you, too."

But things haven't turned out as he planned. One week in Jeju has grown into two and Hoseok still has no interest in going back to Seoul, especially when his remote contract gig at the animation studio means he can work from just about anywhere.

On the contrary, the very idea of returning to Seoul fills him with dread.

No, he much prefers the anonymity of his obscure little rental, a third-floor walkup in a dilapidated building at the edge of the older part of town. Definitely not a tourist spot.

From here he can just glimpse the water. The sight of it soothes him, like he has an escape route if he needs one. His neighbors, a young couple to his left and an older man living alone to his right, nod at him when they pass each other in the ill-lit hallway, but otherwise make no attempt to get to know him.

It's perfect.

Maybe his funk is deeper than he realizes. Maybe he should heed Jimin's increasingly urgent texts and head back to Seoul. Maybe the trip is enabling his depression rather than helping him.

But when he thinks about making small talk with his career-climbing neighbors in Seoul, wrangling fashionable outfits for the next exhibit for someone else's art, stretching his mouth into an apologetic smile when acquaintances ask where Junho is tonight, he only hunkers down further in the lumpy bed in the rental.

Maybe things haven't been all right for a while now.

He loves his art. He does. And his work with the animation studio pays the bills—barely. But, after the first shower he's taken in days, as he looks in the mirror under the fluorescent glare of the bathroom lights and rubs a hand over his unshaven cheeks, he has to admit the reality.

Despite all his attempts, and despite his connection with art-insider Park Jimin, he's just not making it as an independent artist in Seoul.

His last exhibit six months ago was a somber affair with a handful of attendees and only two pieces sold at humiliating prices. Other than a small gallery in Itaewon accepting a few of his works, he hasn't managed to find much of a home for his art.

Hoseok sighs as he gives his hair one last rub dry with the towel. He pulls on a clean t-shirt and some boxer shorts, then returns to the rickety kitchen table where he's spent so much of his last two weeks in Jeju.

The clock reads 2:16pm. Outside there's a December chill in the air and the rain is pitter-pattering against the window. Next door, one of the neighbors drops something with a clatter.

He adjusts his laptop and opens the drawing he'd been working on. This piece is due tomorrow by end of business, and he's still far from being satisfied with the coloring. His usual motivation to pour all his energy into his work, even if it means not sleeping, has deserted him.

To ease his loneliness as he draws, he props his phone on its stand and raises the volume. Barista JK—real name Jungkook, or so he says— is still mixing drinks on the vlog. This time it's strawberry milk.

He watches as two tall glasses are filled with a bright pink mixture. There's a clink clink clink against the glass as the barista swirls the liquid with a long silver spoon.

It's soothing. The gentle rush of liquids, the changing colors as different ingredients seep into one another, the whir of the espresso machine. ASMR. It doesn't usually work on him, but this one does.

Jungkook's does.

Since Jungkook communicates only through subtitles, Hoseok has never heard his voice, but he imagines it would be as soft and warm and soothing as the ASMR of his videos.

He's never seen Jungkook's face, either. He's never seen anything more than hands with long, agile fingers and strong forearms. Jungkook keeps the camera tightly focused on the drinks he whips up, and nothing other than Jungkook's apron-covered torso edges into the frame.

Read the rest on ao3

[snow-leopard-7772point0]

I'll Change My Crown, from Light to Dark

The akuma landed on Marinette's windowsill, the girl not even noticing as she sat in the tattered remnants of her designs. Luckily she had dropped off most of her completed works the day before to be delivered to the appropriate patrons, though everything she had yet to send off was ripped, cut, burned, there wasn't a scrap of cloth that was usable for anything but as a guide for buying more. Her sketchbook was in shreds on the floor, paper scattered like confetti over the remaining slivers of all her hard work. 

The akuma danced in place. It's master was urging it to go forward, to possess the girl, but… there were so many objects to choose from! Should it just possess the entire room? The sewing machine? One little scrap of fabric? A piece of paper? What about her emotions? This butterfly had made some of the strongest akumas to date, though the strength behind her feelings was astromically larger than any other person they had targeted. The little insect itself was slightly afraid to act as a bridge for her. It finally flew forward, choosing the scraps of the dress the girl had been making herself for the Wayne gala.

Marinette froze when her emotions intensified, hearing Hawkmoth cooing in her ear. "Greetings, Mistress Hawthorne. They all accuse you of being the bully, of being a liar, never paying attention to the proof you give them. They destroyed your designs, your livelihood, and expect to get away scott free.  I'm giving you the ability to turn all your ruined dreams into hawthorn bushes that force people to see the truth, whether they can accept it or not. No more hiding behind lies or masks, everyone will have to be honest and pay for their crimes. All I ask in return is for Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous."

"I refuse, Hawkmoth "

The villain froze for a second. Only one other person had ever resisted him so easily, and that was due to her love for Ladybug. Nothing about Marinette Dupain-Cheng screamed that she truly cared for the heroes, so why would she resist? He was giving her the perfect way to get revenge! If he didn't fear that it would give the heroes a clue to his identity, he wouldn't have even asked for the Miraculous for this offence! "Why do you refuse? Imagine how great it will feel, trapping them in their castle with your thorns until the truth comes out!"

"Oh, make no mistake, revenge will be divine. But I'm already looking at little to no sleep for the foreseeable future so that I can press charges against them, email all my patrons whose clothes were destroyed about the delay, buy all the fabric to remake their outfits, and get my own dress together for the Wayne gala. Luckily I'm not starting completely over with it, their mindless destruction gave me an idea for my dress, but there is still much to do. I have no time to become an akuma, I have to get to work immediately, and it will be tomorrow before my classmates are all in the same place again."

"What… what if I didn't ask for the Miraculous in return, and you miss a few days of school to get everything completed?

"While missing school may become a necessity before everything is over and done with, I still have much to do. It would take far too long to force the truth out of Lila Rossi, and I am uncertain if Ladybug's Miracle Cure would erase any progress I made on designing as an akuma. You seem like a reasonable businessman, I'm sure you understand."

"Ah, yes, I do, actually. Cut me some slack here, I've been trying to akumatize you for over a year now! What kind of cloth are you cut from?"

"A different kind from my classmates. I refuse to stoop to their level. Besides, I have pride in the fact that I am not helpless, and the costumes I see akumatized people in are atrocious. Please have a nice day, but I do need to get to work."

"I-very well then. Good luck. Please at least make your classmates suffer."

Marinette's smirk alone was fuel to create a fear-based akuma. "They'll pay. But on my terms." The purple butterfly left her dress, and Marinette caught herself as she slumped to the floor. Resisting Hawkmoth had taken much more out of her than she had anticipated.

⏳

Gabriel rose from the underground room, surprising Nathalie. "Sir, surely she didn't-"

"No, Nathalie, she didn't loose. She didn't even accept my offer. I even offered to not require the Miraculous this time, but she still refused. Her mental strength is highly admirable, especially when her guard is at its lowest. She would be a great asset to us."

"In what manner?"

"Any way I can get her. She is one of the best designers I have seen in a long time, especially at her age. I caught a glimpse of her revenge plan when my akuma possessed her and it was astoundingly terrible, and she is kind and independent enough to make an amazing daughter."

"Sir, kidnapping is illegal."

"I don't have to kidnap her, I'll throw Adrien at her." Gabriel started to wave his hand in dismissal, then noticed the look on Nathalie's face.

"Sir, I think you should watch the rest of this." Nathalie walked forward, bringing up the video from earlier. Gabriel had only watched a second of it before rushing to his butterflies, it was easy to recognize the girl's room by her designs. He'd been gunning for her since she lied to him to help keep Adrien in school and made the feathered hat. Her spirit and dedication let him know that she could be a great ally or terrible enemy. She didn't (yet) have the money or power to come after Gabriel Agreste on her own, but he was certain that the girl was being considered for a Miraculous. He knew she didn't already have one, she hadn't responded to Miracle Queen, after all, but several of her classmates had used one. He actually paid attention to the video this time, watching all the way through. The first people seen on camera were the blogger girl and Lila Rossi, several other classmates cropping up through the video. He didn't notice Timebreaker, Evilillstrator, or the Bourgeois girl, though he did see his own son halfway through the recording, happily cutting at a gown that had been carefully beaded with a hawthorn pattern with a pair of scissors, cutting off the beads and chunks of fabric. 

Gabriel's frown deepened. "Cut all ties to Lila Rossi immediately. We will be making a public apology, telling the public that we did not know of her abhorrent tendencies, nor did we expect her to pull Adrien into her schemes. Adrien will be appropriately punished, and we will offer Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng compensation for the destruction of her property, along with a small team of designers that will know to make every stitch to her preference, no matter their opinion on the piece."

"Of course, sir. How would you like to make your statement to the public?"

"Call that news anchor, Najda Chamack, and ask her to come here. I will speak to her in person as soon as she is available. I also want the apology posted to every social media outlet we use, including our official website."

"Sir, is this not overkill? This isn't Audrey Bourgeois."

Gabriel glared at Nathalie. "No, she is not. She designs for more famous people than Audrey does. She is the main designer for the Wayne gala this year. Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, Tsurugi Tomoe, even the Wayne's commissioned her work. All of her designs are paid for in a split payment plan, the money for the materials is required upfront while the rest of the payment can wait until after the person received their design to make sure it is what they want. That means there will very likely be several highly influential individuals and families gunning for us because of Rossi and my son."

Nathalie paled. She hadn't imagined that the small girl who stumbled and stuttered every time she saw her would have that kind of power backing her. Everyone knew that the girl had Jagged Stone backing her, MDC was his main designer for everything and anyone who personally met the girl and the rocker knew who MDC was, especially since they were supposed to have their identity reveal at the Wayne gala. Jagged Stone by himself would be bad and the company would take a hit, though she was positive Marinette would stop him before he went too far. But with so many others working with Jagged… Gabriel (the company) would not survive. 

"I will get everything arranged." Nathalie quickly left the office.

⏳ 

Marinette's first order of business was to email all of the clients affected by her classmates's actions. She informed them that they did not need to worry, as she was suing all the students for the costs of what they destroyed- not just materials, but labor as well, and would be buying new material for their clothes out of her own pocket until she got retribution. She also informed them that their orders would come in slightly later than planned, though not by much. Clara, Jagged, Kagami and her mother, and the Wayne's all responded to her email with assurances that things happened and to take her time. Bruce Wayne offered to delay the gala so that she would have plenty of time to rectify the situation, though she was quick to assure him that it was not necessary.

Her next order of business was cleanup. She collected every scrap of fabric big enough to make so much as a small patch or strip and sat them in a small box next to where her personal dress was. Everything else was collected and thrown in the trash. She dug out her receipts for all the fabrics destroyed, including the fabrics for projects intended for her classmates. She quickly pulled up the video Alya had posted, writing down who destroyed what. She matched the fabrics to the people, then calculated the time she would have spent on each piece. She reviewed the video one more time, noticing that none of the art students, including Chloè, were in the video. Though it was to be expected. The whole class knew how important all art was to the art students; those students would have stopped them if they were in the know. Chloè was not only in the art club, but also still exiled from the class, though her relationship with Marinette had gone from bully to ally. They still weren't friends, but they stuck together against most of the class, only Nathaniel and Alix leaving them alone. The class may have had five braincells in the entire room, Chloè, Marinette, Alix, and Nathaniel each having one all to themselves while the rest of the class, including Madame Bustier, shared the other one, but they used that one braincell to know who could be brought in on a scheme like this.

Marinette had just finished calculating who she would she for what and was on her way to buy fabrics when her phone rang. She grabbed it as she opened her hatch, activating her recording app as she answered. "Hello?"

"Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, it has come to my attention that Adrien Agreste and Lila Rossi have vandalized your property. Lila Rossi has already been terminated and Adrien will face suitable punishment for his actions. I wish for you to come by the manor at your earliest convenience for us to discuss payment."

"If you're free now, I was just about to head out."

"Of course. I'll send a car for you."

"Merci, Monsieur Agreste." Marinette pocketed her phone and made copies of the expenses each of her classmates would be charged. She had no way of knowing where, exactly, Gabriel Agreste stood, but she refused to leave anything to chance. The original, along with the receipts, was stored in her diary box while one copy was left on her desk and another found its home in her purse. She stopped by the kitchen to inform her parents that she was headed to the Agreste Manor and would explain later before walking out to wait on the car.

⏳

Adrien was smiling after school. He had never realized how freeing it was to tear clothes apart, especially clothes made by someone who refused to listen to him. Marinette deserved everything she got, plus some. He wondered what of hers he could destroy next.

He was surprised when he returned home to see his father glaring at him from in front of the stairwell. "We need to have a talk, son." The designer's voice promised pain. "About your friends and actions today."

Adrien stared at his father, confused. "Why? What happened?"

Gabriel growled. "Nathalie."

"Sir?"

"Show him the video, then leave us to our discussion."

"Yes sir." Nathalie quickly pulled up the video of the class destroying Marinette's designs and held the tablet out to Adrien before taking her leave. 

Adrien watched the video, unable to understand what had angered his father. "Do you understand what you have done?" Gabriel demanded.

Adrien shrugged. "I got payback. She wouldn't listen to me when I told her to lay low, so I decided to help the class teach her a lesson."

Gabriel coldly glared at his son. "You have cost me over a thousand dollars just in the hours that girl put into her work. That does not include the cost of the materials, deformation of private property, or potential unlawful entry and vandalism charges. How do you know that Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng is not currently an akuma gunning for your head? Or that her clients aren't going to press charges? Her clientele could ruin your entire class, your entire school, with a single phone call."

Adrien scoffed. "She doesn't have that many big clients. Just Jagged Stone. And Marinette can't get akumatized. She's too stubborn to listen to anyone."

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "Adrien, I'll tell you this as your classmate is revealing it in less than a month. Marinette Dupain-Cheng has been taking the world of fashion by storm while using her initials, MDC. Only certain celebrities and rich people know who she is, mainly people she has worked or designed for. Jagged Stone is the first and main one, yes. But Clara Nightingale has been using her more and more. MDC is the main designer for the Wayne gala, not only Monsieur Stone and Mademoiselle Nightingale commissioning her, but the Tsurugi family and the Wayne family, along with several friends and supporters of the four families. Aubrey Bourgeois supports her, perhaps even more than she supports me, and I have admired several of her pieces done for contests."

Blood began to drain from Adrien's face, though Gabriel doubted that the boy fully understood anything yet. "Her mother's best friend is Najda Chamack, and Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng babysits her child. Her uncle is a famous chef who loves his family dearly, especially since his great niece learned Mandarin to be able to talk to him and help him with his French. Alix Kubdel is friends with Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, and also comes from a respectable family- as well as Chloè Bourgeois becoming her ally after she helped with her mother. Not to mention that the Dupain-Cheng family is not hurting for money, as they are the best and most popular bakery in Paris. They get orders from all over the city, plus serve at almost every party that has edible food. You attacked the livelihood of one of the most powerful children in Paris. Not only that, but you destroyed the property of some of the most prolific people in the world." Adrien's face had lost all traces of blood, though Gabriel did not expect it to be from shame. No, his son was afraid because he had been caught. "You will not return to school until Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng has revealed herself as MDC to the world, nor will you have access to any of your social media, messages, or phone. You may return to being homeschooled. I shall have to reassess the situation at a later date. If I do allow you to return to school, it will not be François-DuPont. You will drop contact with your current classmates. You are dismissed." Gabriel turned from his son, pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

⏳

Marinette was escorted straight to Gabriel's office upon arrival. The man shook her hand before gesturing for her to take a seat. "Mademoiselle Dupain-Cheng, my assistant showed me the video of what your classmates did. My sincerest apologies. I assure you that my son is currently being punished and Mademoiselle Rossi's contract has been terminated. I also wanted to offer you compensation for your loss as well as a team of designers that will follow your instructions to the last stitch."

Marinette eyed the elder Agreste. "What do you want in return?"

Gabriel blinked at the girl. He knew she was smart, though he hadn't expected her to ask that. "For this? Nothing. My son deserves every lawsuit you draw up. I remember what it was like when I was first starting my company; something like this would have been devistating."

"Well, Monsieur, covering everything will not be necessary. I have already calculated the damages each student did and how much they owe for it. I am not holding you responsible for the actions of any of my classmates, not even Agreste or Rossi. I'm sure you have paid your son for working for you," Marinette felt viciously victorious when he nodded, "in which case he should be able to pay for damages himself. The same holds true for Rossi; she was a contract model for your company and was paid as such. They should both be able to afford my work- custom or not."

"Might I see what you've drawn up? I heard from Aubrey that you have a tendency to undercharge for your work, and, as you just said, my son and former employee should be able to afford your work. The beaded dress my son ruined, for example, should cost twenty-five hundred dollars, bare minimum. I would charge much more than that, especially with how much work is put behind hand-beading." Marinette could do nothing but gape at her childhood idol. She had been expecting a bribe, a threat, something to try to protect his son.

She pulled the paper out of her purse when he raised an eyebrow, pulling the video up on her phone. "Césaire was stupid enough to put her phone in the corner where I could track everyone's movements, and I can figure everything out if I can get Markov. I figured out who destroyed what and calculated what they owe from there. I don't know who picked the lock to the upper floors, or to my room, though my money's on either Césaire or Rossi. Césaire's obsessed with being a great reporter while Rossi is a liar and a thief. Harleprè, Lavaillant, Bruel, Couffaine, and Lahiffe owe the least, they didn't do much. They just ripped a few pages out of my sketchbook. Raincompx, le Chein, Césaire, Rossi, Agreste, and Kantè did the most damage, and so will face the bigger lawsuits. I have already contacted my clients and informed them of the slight delay. Your team of designers, while most appreciated, will not be necessary. It shouldn't take me more than a few days to recreate the Wayne's suits and send them off, I sent the dresses yesterday. Jagged and Clara will both be in Paris next week and can stop by my house to pick up their outfits and have a final fitting. I can easily deliver the Tsurugi chensogams to their home. That covered everyone that had their outfits for the gala destroyed. I had finished the majority of them yesterday and done the final checks before sending them off. I was supposed to send the Wayne suits off today, though that plan was foiled. I was lucky that I went ahead and finished my commissions rather than more personal projects. Most of what got destroyed were projects my classmates requested of me rather than important works."

"Are you positive you don't want help? At least on your beaded dress?"

Marinette pulled up pictures of what she had. "I have several different scraps of colors, most of them either on the darker end of the spectrum or metalic, from the works they destroyed. I'm going to use those scraps from my other works to make a pair of wings on the back of the dress, the colors getting darker the further down they go and metalic fabrics making the outline of the wings."

Gabriel considered the dress. "You'll look like a fallen angel. I hope you're still planning on charging my son the full amount for the dress."

"Most definitely. There will be some alterations I make besides the wings, putting some pieces back together, cutting or tearing others, partially rebeading sections, I have some work to put in. Your son added to my work load when it was already full, he personally destroyed not only my dress but Jagged and Penny's outfits as well. Might I know what punishment he is suffering?"

"So you can plan revenge accordingly?" Gabriel questioned. He sighed at her innocent expression. "He will no longer attend François-DuPont. He will basically be under house arrest for everything except shoots until after the gala. I am undecided as to whether he shall go to another school or be permanently homeschooled. He is not allowed any contact with his former classmates nor access to social media or his phone. So if you wish to strike, do it right after a photo shoot. You can do it before or during as long as you don't ruin the clothes on display."

Marinette's grin was pure evil. "Don't worry, Monsieur Agreste. I have too much respect for the work designers put into their work to be so crass. Will Agreste still practice fencing with Kagami?"

"I shall allow it on a trial basis."

"Very well. It was nice meeting with you, Monsieur Agreste, but I must take my leave. I have too much to do before I traumatize, I mean get payback, I mean revenge, wait, no, deal with my classmates after the gala. But before I go… You wouldn't happen to know anyone that would be able to teach me how to, how should I phrase this… I guess basically be an Ice Queen?"

Gabriel smirked. "Actually, my nephew, Felix Graham de Vanily, will be at the gala. He's a model from England, and many consider him an Ice King. He'd be a great teacher." And perhaps potential mate to bring you into the family. I wonder how many love akumas it would take to get you two together… perhaps Adrien needs a good influence his age around the Manor…

Marinette slightly felt as though she had signed her future away, though that was ridiculous so she simply thanked Gabriel before leaving.

⏳

The next few days flew by in a rush of designing and lawyers. The lawyers her parents got were more than willing to come to the bakery and talk to Marinette as she sewed, especially since she had eyeballed them and given them all scarves and beanies the next time they were there. Marinette didn't bother to pay attention in Bustier's class, electing to nap instead. She was awake for Mendeleiev's classes, though. She liked her dragon-like teacher as the woman actually taught her students. She managed to finish her clients' clothes with time to spare, having gotten so used to designing for Jagged, Penny, and Clara that very few adjustments needed to be made. A couple Wayne suits had come back with notes on where they needed to be adjusted and how, and those were shipped back out that same day. Her own dress took until the last minute, Marinette completely finishing it, including adjustments, the day before she was set to leave for the gala. She would be staying with Jagged and Penny in the Wayne Manor for the two weeks she was to be there, a week before the gala and a week after. Her classmates's parents were horrified to hear what their children had done, making sure the kids paid every penny of what Marinette was suing for without even going to court. Alix and Nathaniel had nearly gotten in trouble with their families, though Marinette was quick to personally visit and explain things. Apparently the other families had contacted the Kurtzburg's and Kubdel's about the scandal with the children, no one noticing that some of the children weren't involved.

She already had her traveling designing kit packed so that she could make sure the Wayne's outfits all fit properly. Chloè and Kagami were traveling with her, determined to make sure their former rival was well taken care of while their parents took care of the hotel. Jagged was fuming beside Marinette whole they rode through Gotham, the girl talking to her friends.

"So, Mari-hime, you told me that you would explain what was going on if Adrien refused to before we left." 

Marinette gave Kagami a highly stressed smile. "I think watching the video would explain things better. I didn't want you to get akumatized because of me while we were in Paris."

"So you knew Adrien would refuse to tell me what crime he committed against you. What video?"

Marinette pulled it up on her tablet. "For the record, I simply suspected that he would keep his mouth shut. Though Monsieur Agreste is making sure that his interactions with anyone besides himself, Madame Sancouer, and his bodyguard are highly limited." She passed Kagami the tablet, Chloè leaning over to watch it with her.

The Japanese girl dropped the tablet in her lap as she watched, clenching her fists so hard that her palms bled. "How- how dare that baka! They all have no honor! They should meet my blade!"

"Kagami. Calm down. I have it handled. I want you and Chloè to teach me how to be a vengeful Ice Queen while we're here. Monsieur Agreste suggested talking to his nephew for lessons as well. By the time I'm back in Paris, I don't want our classmates to be able to recognize me. I already have some revenge planned, the wheels for those are already in motion. I messaged the Césaire and Lahiffe families to inform the entire family that I will be unable to babysit for them for the foreseeable future. Ambassador Rossi has a request in her inbox to visit the school while we are gone, as Rossi's classmates would love to hear about what it's like to be an ambassador. The le Chein family was sent a list of tutors for their son's failing grades, unfortunately all those tutors work at the same time as mandatory swim practice. I sent Luka a copy of the video, so Kitty Section is about to loose their lead guitarist so that he can learn under my dear uncle. Agreste will be facing a startling amount of bad luck for a good chunk of time whilst loosing all of his beloved friends. By the time I am finished, even Hawkmoth won't want to work with them."

Chloè stared at her friend. "Did you really just say 'whilst?' Who hurt you? I just want to talk."

Jagged continued to sulk. "She won't even let me send my rockin followers after those bloody rats. She's only letting me steal away a new guitarist!"

"Because I have everything planned out. And Agreste will become even more isolated once we return. No matter what I say, Kagami is going to duel him to the, figurative, death before informing him of her distaste for him and his actions."

Kagami mock glared at Marinette. "So what if I do? He deserves it. He deserves much worse. But how will he become more isolated? I will still be sparring with him twice a week."

"A person is more isolated surrounded by people that don't care about them than all on their own. Yes, you will physically be there. But your obvious emotional distance will leave him more isolated than him being stuck in his room all day."

Chloè stared at her new friend. "Where was all this evil cunningness when I was your bully?"

Marinette smirked. "I had a wake-up call. Césaire, ironically, taught me that it's okay to stand up for myself, and Hawkmoth helped release a part of me I had blocked out."

"What? Were you akumatized? How did I not know?" Chloè demanded.

Marinette waved her hand dismissively. "It was a few days before we actually became friends, and he didn't manage to akumatize me. He possessed my dress, but I refused to work with him. Apparently he's wanted to akumatize me for a while, but I'm good at forcing myself to calm down."

"What was he going to call you?" Chloè was highly excited to finally have someone who knew what it was like to fully resist Hawkmoth. Not calm down before the butterfly reached them, not resist for a second before giving in, but fully resist the man.

"Mistress Hawthorne." Marinette laughed. "I was going to have the ability to turn my ruined dreams into hawthorn bushes that would trap everyone in their castle and force them to see the truth." Marinette had to stop, she was laughing so hard. "I told him no, and he was so shocked that he only argued for a second before wishing me luck with revenge!"

Jagged continued to sulk through the teens laughter, refusing to give in. He wanted to crush those bloody teens. No one gets away with hurting his niece.

⏳

As soon as she arrived at the manor and had her bags unpacked, Marinette began tracking down the Wayne's, one by one, and dragging them back to her room with their suits or dresses, forcing them to put them on so that she could fully alter them to her preference. Dick was scared of the tiny Asian girl that slung him over her shoulder before grabbing his suit and forcing him to come with her when he hesitated and then worked silently, ignoring his attempts at friendship. He was so scared of her that he sprinted the other direction the first time he saw Kagami. Jason and Bruce both wanted to adopt the girl- she blended in perfectly with their family, and Jason had witnessed both, the girl's kidnapping of his brother and Dick running away from Kagami. He had to respect someone who could instill more fear than Demon Spawn himself, and Bruce wanted to cultivate that talent until he got a Nightingale. Damian and Cass both respected the girl for her professionalism and silence (and word of her traumatizing Dick had already spread through the manor). Tim instantly fell in love with the girl, as she asked him if he wanted coffee or tea while they were doing his fitting, as he looked dead on his feet (he did not choose both or cry tears of joy, and no one can prove to Alfred that he did). Selina purred at the amount of pure chaos she could feel pouring off of the girl, even with her suppressing it while she worked. She needed a kitten. Bruce already had his litter, it was her turn. Kor'i bounced in place the whole time, trying not to inturupt the girl as she adjusted her glorious creation.

Jagged disappeared with Bruce after his fitting, explaining to the billionaire what Marinette had been going through, even showing him the video of her work getting destroyed, before asking for his help to get revenge. He explained Marinette's known plans, and the rocker and vigilante began planning around hers, using their collective contacts and knowledge to open the class's wounds even deeper.

Dinner that night was chaos. Jason, Selina, Bruce, and Jagged were in a constant argument, with Penny occasionally interjecting, that abruptly cut off any time Marinette drew near, she was only able to catch the words adoption and revenge, Kagami and Cass spent their time in silence, eyeing each other. Chloè didn't breathe while swapping between berating Dick and Tim for their fashion choices and interigating them about Gotham and its foreign student transfer policies. Damian scowled at everyone the entire time from his seat next to Marinette. Marinette did her best to emulate him, not noticing Dick slowly sliding his chair further and further away from her.

Damian decided he liked tolerated Marinette five days into her stay. Dick had been complaining to him and Jason about how much Asian girls scared him and Kor'i wanting them to live with them. Marinette had somehow heard his complaints and came storming up to them, cussing Dick out in a mixture of French, Mandarin, Arabic, Italian, and English. Damian did not know why that caused a blush to creep up his face, though he admired the way her accent curled around the words, making everything seem like a language all of its own. 

Jason chuckled when she walked off. "That. That was the art of cussing at its finest. I'm getting Alfed and we're going to go teach my new little sister how to shoot guns. Angel's my favorite, you can all suck it." Jason walked off in the same direction the girl had left in. It didn't take but forty-two minutes for the sound of gunfire to echo around the house. 

⏳

The night before the gala, the women in Wayne Manor gathered in Marinette's room. The night was spent coaching her on how to act and reveal her identity, both on the carpet and during the gala.

"Don't fret so much, kit." Selina advised. "You are a queen, act as such. Keep you head up and keep your cool. They'll all be tripping over themselves to speak to you, and you don't give them the time of day." Chloè nodded her agreement, even as Kagami objected.

"You're approachable and professional at the same time. Just let people see both sides of you."

The women continued to argue, Marinette finally escaping to talk to Alfred. She spent the night under his tutelage, learning all she could about presentation. The man finally ushered her off to bed. "You have a long day tomorrow. You will need sleep to get through it."

⏳

Once arriving at the gala, Marinette kept her head high as she glided down the carpet, the press quickly stopping her to ask if she was a new Wayne and what happened to her dress. "No." She offered a small smile to them. "I'm the designer MDC. The Wayne's hired me to design their suits, and were kind enough to offer their home to me and my aunt and uncle, even letting two of my best friends, Tsurugi Kagami and Chloè Bourgeois, spend the majority of their time with me at the Manor. My parents live in France, where I will be returning to in a weeks time. My room was broken into a few weeks ago, and some of my classmates ruined the outfits I had in there, including my dress. I decided to take what they did to my dress and use it as proof that nothing will bring me down. Excuse me, I need to go. I do not wish to keep my companions waiting." Marinette offered them a small bow before leaving them, giving the press a good look at the drooping angel wings sewn on the back of her dress.

"Angel," One of the reporters breathed, leading to a frenzy. MDC was announced to the world that night as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angel of Gotham.

⌛

Finding her group was easy, and it was almost just as easy to spot Felix, Gabriel's nephew. She grabbed Damian by his forearm, the boy too startled by her random action to react, and drug him over to the boy she assumed was Felix.

She tapped.the boy on his shoulder. "Excuse me, are you Felix?"

The boy gave a hesitant nod. "Great! I want the two of you to teach me as much as you can about being a vengeful Ice Queen."

Felix raised one eyebrow, looking between the girl and the scowling boy. "What do we get out of it?"

"You get to live with the knowledge that I am going to use your teachings to traumatize idiotic classmates and I can keep the girls from making passes at you, as you are already occupied with entertaining a lady."

The boys both quickly gave their consent, refusing to let the girl leave their side for even a moment the entirety of the gala. They were appeased enough with the girl that her lessons continued throughout the following week, the boys enchanted enough with her to seriously consider following her to Paris and watching her strike like a coiled viper.

⌛

When Marinette returned to school, she had changed. Not just in personality, no, she changed everything. Her personality (at school), her hairstyle, her clothes, everything was redone to fit who she had become. Flowy black pants, a black sleeveless top held up by a ribbon that wrapped around her neck, a red leather jacket loosley hung on her frame, and black boots could be seen under the pants.. Her gaze was frozen as it swept over the class. She was unsurprised to see Adrien sitting in his usual seat, Gabriel had informed her of his decision to place Adrien back in Bustier's class for the time being so that Marinette could teach him a lesson. Alix and Nathaniel had transfered out of the class as soon as they had learned of what the students had done, moving to Madame Mendeleiev's class. Chloè was also leaving, though she was transferring to Gotham after the week was up. She wanted that week to be able to watch the havoc Marinette would wreck on the class. Kagami had already decided to join the class, and Marinette spotted her in Nathaniel's old seat. She was not expecting to see Felix frowning next to Kagami, nor Damian smirking at the back of the blond's head. Thanks to those very boys, though, it was amazingly easy to hide her surprise. A smirk crawled its way across her face, even as she stepped far enough into the room that everyone could see her. She had timed her entrance perfectly. As soon as the class went to explode with praises and questions, the bell rang, Madame Bustier walking in and asking them to all take their seats. Marinette made sure her steps were conscice enough to make it seem as though she was gliding up the rows, refusing to shoot her classmates so much as a glance. 

Lila walked into the room moments later, late, her gaze zeroing in on Felix. "Felibear! It's so nice to see you again!" She squealed, rushing up the steps. 

Felix stopped her with a cold glare. "Do I know you?"

Alya glared at the blond. "How could you ask your girlfriend if you know her? Especially since everyone knows you transfered to François-DuPont for her!"

Felix looked scandalized. "I did no such thing! I came here on request of my uncle. There are very few people here that I know from previous endeavors."

Lila burst out into tears. "H-how could you treat me like this? At least my Damiboo didn't do this!"

"Damiboo?" Marinette asked. Clearly Bustier wasn't going to stop the girl.

"Oh, I forgot you weren't here!" A sly grin crawled across Lila's face. "I suppose Damiboo didn't speak to you the whole time you were in Gotham, otherwise you would have known I used to date Damian Wayne!" The girl boasted.

Marinette looked at the horrified expression on her deskmate's face, and began her countdown. "I would never date a harlot like you!" He burst out, unable to stop himself. The class turned to stare at him, then realized that he had been just ahead of Marinette when the Wayne's and Jagged Stone arrived at the gala.

A slow smirk crawled across Marinette's lips, erasing the smile she had given her friends. "Do tell, Lila. I would love to hear all about your relationship with the Wayne's. Or about you dating Felix here. Oh! What about your relationship with my uncle? Save any of his cats lately? Let's not forget Clara Nightingale! Since she steals her music and dance moves from you, perhaps we could get a preview for her next video?"

Adrien frowned at Marinette. She seemed… different. "Mari, don't be so mean! Your supposed to be our everyday Ladybug, the better-"

"Agreste, if example is the next word to come out of your mouth I will steal Chloè's six inch stiletto right off of her foot and shove it down your throat while I laugh at your struggles." Adrien's mouth snapped shut as he paled, the class staring at Marinette in shock. 

"Marinette! That was uncalled for!" Madame Bustier frowned at the girl. Perhaps letting her go to Gotham was a mistake.

"Really, Madame Bustier? From where I'm sitting, it was perfectly called for. Agreste is not going to use my emotions to manipulate me into being the perfect placemat anymore. You are not going to manipulate me into being the perfect victim. I will no longer tolerate this class's treatment of me. Four people in this room have the authority to call me by a nickname. They know who they are. Four people have the ability to ask something of me. None of them were the ones that destroyed my sketchbook or commissions. None of them told me that I always have to be the better person and set an example for my classmates. I refuse to allow myself to be used any longer."

Alya glared at her friend as the rest of the class stared at the noirette in shock or turned their head away from her in shame. "Girl, what are you talking about? First you want us to pay you a while bunch of money, and now you don't want to do anything for us?"

Damian started to retort himself, stopped by Marinette's hand on his arm. Her voice was frosted fire when she commanded the room. "Everyone in this room, excluding my four friends and our teacher, had a hand I destroying commissions for the Wayne gala, requests from all of you, and my sketchbook. That is why you were sued for damages. Some of you paid more than others because Alya was gracious enough to post a video she had taken of what you did on her blog that allowed me to see who destroyed what. That allowed me to see exactly who has hell to pay." The dangerous smirk several of her classmates had noticed danced across her face yet again, like a sword would dance in the hands of Robin. 

Adrien scoffed. "you're just a baker's daughter. What could you possibly do?" He paled not long after the words flew out of his mouth, remembering what his father had told him.

"You look like you just remembered that I am not just a baker's daughter. Why don't you share with the class?" Marinette offered up one of her customary sunshine smiles, though Adrien was not fooled this time, quickly yelling the class exactly what his father had told him. 

Lila blanched. Forget the Agreste's and that stupid reporter, she should have set her sights on Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

Marinette smiled down at the class, her court sitting in the back two rows with her. Chloè had kicked Felix out of his seat next to Kagami, and Felix had nudged Marinette into the middle of the bench, sandwiching her between Damian and himself.

Her blue eyes were frigid as she glared down upon her kingdom. The time for the Queen of Light was over- Darkness had come for her, and she welcomed them with open arms. Her crown darkened, from gold and diamonds to silver and onyx, and her reign had only begun.

[koocycle]

if not forever | jk drabble

pairing. jungkook x reader

summary. “i wanted to be with you for a long time, if not forever. you ruined that. you ruined many things.”

wc. 1.6k

warnings. none

a/n. kinda messy post break up drabble. wrote this in one go and did not (!!) proof read nor edit ahaaa my sincere apologies if this is the worst thing u ever read

masterlist

“what’s so funny?”

your voice comes out a little harsher than you had officially intended to and for some odd reason, you had hoped to throw him off guard with it. however, the same beautiful yet forced grin keeps its place on his face. the smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes yet he makes no effort into erasing it, maintaining his gaze on the plates of seafood in front of him.

“i’m sorry, i don’t mean to laugh at you,” he speaks with his mouth still stuffed with the fried shrimps you ordered earlier, showing you he kept his old habits you always told him to get rid off. “but it’s kinda funny to me.”

“i don’t know what you’re talking about.” you lie as you reposition yourself in your seat. he doesn’t need to see it, but he knows your fingers are nervously fumbling with the edge of the table cloth.

“you do, though.” the man in front of you places his chopsticks neatly back in place whilst speaking, still not making any eye contact.

“you don’t even like the dude. you’re making him look ridiculous sitting here.” he dares to state out loud, chewing on the last remains in his mouth.

the urge to roll your eyes at the man is getting stronger, and at first you decide to not give him the satisfaction of an answer. you have better things to do, you keep repeating to yourself. you don’t have time for such childish acts, you decide. that until he speaks up again.

“what even was that story about? dude keeps talking about his art galleries and shit. as if you could care less.” he snickers cockily into the warm air.

“drop it, jeongguk.”

“oh and don’t get me started on when he began to show off his paintings.” he huffs, “he was literally fishing for compliments. couldn’t be more obvious.” he continues on, taking another sip of his sparkly water. “he thinks he’s the shit because he owns a pair of designer shoes and a gucci bag.”

“excuse me, taehyung is a very fine man. thank you very much.” you snap at him, not taking his harsh words any longer.

“sure.” he holds his hands up in the air. “i’m just saying, he isn’t what you’re looking for.”

“and what am i looking for, jeongguk?” you ask almost immediately, fed up with his attitude and big ego. “since you know me so well, tell me everything about it.”

“i’m not trying to invade your life, since you decided i shouldn’t be a part of it any longer-”

you hold your finger up in the air, shushing him mid-sentence, “give me a minute to take notes, yeah?”

a beat of silence passes through the both of you, each of you way too stubborn to break the intense eye contact you are sharing. bubbles of laughter erupt on the tables beside yours, happy couples and families making the most out of their night, the tense atmosphere on the table next door going completely unnoticed by them.

and for the first time this night, you and jeongguk are actually, sincerely looking at each other. the previous hour before taehyung excused himself to the bathroom was filled with awkward small talk and tacky glances that didn’t last any longer than a second.

you didn’t plan to find your ex in this restaurant this exact night. fuck, you didn’t plan to see him ever again, you assured yourself it was better for your own mental health. and when your tinder date decided to meet up at his favorite restaurant? what would you do then? you’d go nonetheless. because what were the odds of seeing the one person you didn’t bet on seeing tonight? the chances were small, that for sure, but with your luck, you should’ve seen it coming.

and what would you do when your ex introduced himself to your new date as an old friend of yours? of course you’d sit down at his table. of course you would, because your prince charming for the night was a beautiful social butterfly. as talented as he is, as breathtaking as he looks, it wasn’t enough and he just had to be social enough to accompany this so called old friend on his table.

“i just don’t get how you can date him.” he sighs into the air, leaning back in his chair with a huff.

“he seems like a cool person to be around, whether or not he reaches your standards,” you say, slumping down your own seat now. “and we’re not dating.”

“you’re going on dates with him.” he corrects himself. “and you bring him to places i’ve been bringing you to the past three years?”

you hate the sharp edge to his tone. you hate the desperate search for answers which is evident in his voice. you hate it. you caused it, you’re aware. and the pang in your chest grows each second of taehyung’s absence.

“how could you throw us aside like that?”

his voice is booming loud and clear through your ears, and even though you had been expecting this question sooner or later tonight, you still hadn’t figured out a solid answer for him. you wish you had.

“did those three years mean nothing to you?” he has so many questions bottled up inside of him, so many questions he has collected over the past months, unable to form any solid answers himself - so now that you’re in front of him, he has to take his chances, no?

the sight of you not making any eye contact is irritating him, though. he doesn’t see, but he knows you’re staring at your fumbling fingers under the table, folding the edges of the napkin placed on your lap. your pretty lips are shut tight, the beautiful toothy smile he was once able to appear on your face, has disappeared. your silence is killing him.

“did they mean nothing to you?” he asks again, his voice slightly cracking halfway.

you feel his stare burning on your face, you hear the way he holds his breath for a few seconds. and it pains you. “they did. they still do.”

“then why did we stop? we were perfect together.” his voice lowers a few octaves, “we were perfect.”

“jeongguk..”

“i planned to stay with you for a long time, if not forever.” he says, unable to keep his stares away from you. he hates how you’re able to stay so silent, proving all the assumptions that had been swerving in his mind to be right. he wants to yell at you for being so calm, he wants you to know how he’s been feeling the past couple of months. like total shit.

he loves you so much. he loves you so much that it hurts. he loves you so much that he wants you to go through the pain he’s been going through. he may know it’s selfish, but the way you’re sitting there, slumped onto your seat, giving him answers filled with silence - he doesn’t care no more. doesn’t want to care.

“don’t say stuff like that, guk. you don’t mean that.” you rub your temples in a tired manner. “we both know that wasn’t going to work with the way things were going between us.”

they way his name leaves your lips in such an unfamiliar manner makes his head spin.

“you thought it wasn’t going to work.” he snaps, and loudly so, making a few heads turn in your direction. “you thought so many things and you made a rashed decision that isn’t better for neither of us.”

he continues on, “i wanted to stay with you for forever. you ruined that - you ruined many things. you ruined the beautiful things we had.” he rambles, and you can feel your heart beat against your ribcage now. “i bet you didn’t even think twice about the break up. bet you just went up and left. probably for this guy too. you didn’t care - you don’t care about those years. you’re selfish.”

“you gotta stop it, guk.”

“i have to remind myself to not be sad when i go home to an empty house when i leave work.” he says, an accusing finger pointing your way. “i loved you and you didn’t give two shits. i have to wake up and go to bed with a shit feeling whilst your out here going on dates with guys you barely know?”

you catch your breath in your throat. you want him to know how much he meant to you - how much he still means to you. how you’re going through it as well. you’re not sure if he’d still believe you, considering the circumstances you were in.

“i’m going through it as well, jeongguk. i swear i am. just as much as you.” you reach for his hands resting on the table, needy for some contact.

he pulls himself away from you, though. so your hands fall on the wooden table in defeat. “this is as hard for me as it is for you. but i had to do this. what we had wasn’t healthy.”

he nods as if he understands you. he doesn’t. his lips purse and his glossed eyes are the last thing you see before he tears his gaze away and grabs his stuff on the chair next to him.

“you don’t understand.” he mumbles, right before he goes up and leaves.

you call out for him a couple more times, but he’s not listening, so you watch him from afar, just until you hear the heavy door of the restaurant go to a shut.

and you cry.

[pyropaw-studios]

Bad news for draco warriors.

Half of this is copied from discord: Not so happy news for:

@everyone

I hate to break this news to everyone… but here goes..

<@&1004117175554023576> <@&1017464516952465480>Its with heavy hearts We are sunsetting <#1059559508042600549> temporarily til we can make a easier project to get some money off of, we've been working on this game since late 2021 with no progress, we've had too many scammers, allegded groomers/predators here, r15/cosmo, along with other chaotic stuff, lot of staff members left, and more recently our cheapest 3D modeler went missing, and we do not know how long they have been missing for, so me and <@755924638349131866> feels its best to work on the comic <#1171308144031453224>. Im sorry to everyone who was hopeful this game was coming quickly at the time we didn't realize how hard it was to make a game especially a MMORPG even if we can write and draw we do not know how to program nor 3d model even with the amount of staff we have were sorta outnumbered. with this out of the way i want to point out some things and get some unanswered questions out of the way.

so What will happened to <#1059559508042600549> and its respected channels?

nothing, we will let people ask questions about concepts, and lore and ideas here the channels will stay despite our inability to make the game

What will happened to <@&1017464516952465480> ??

I have already been thinking about this before the decision to call it quits temporarily and if everyone is fine with it i am thinking on promoting staff to the <@&1034906676840628244> to promotee the comic, give their ideas, background designs and more! i will give staff their time to gather their thoughts on this, maybe even have a meeting on it, no one will loose their roles and will keep their respective <@&1017464516952465480> roles

What is the future of pyropaw??

To be fair me and ozy are not sure yet, we rather need time to think before jumping into another project as big as draco warriors, phurelz is most likely our only backburner to help us right now, as its also my dream and the interest of a few others that we work on this comic, even though if it doesnt make it to become big of the likes of lackadaisy or glitch i will continue to work on it til i can't no more along with any other people who decided to join this project

Was there any official <#1059559508042600549> art completed?

Some but i never got pass one npc, and a few pets along with some playable characters and one more made by a staff member/admin who decided to leave

Is this sunset permament?

Never, as much as we care about draco warriors we would not completely cancel it nor stop it this is temporary til we have more money, staff, and energy to work on this, working on a comic for now is easier though, and <#1171308144031453224> actually has been in the works since around 2018/2019

To add on to this we've had other complications such as our head founders running into issues with love ones trying to force our staff to stop working on the game, forcing staff to control our heads to change rules around such as not people to not ask for monetary value at all cost and getting staff members leaving us, and an anonymous person harassing a staff member who lefted the server, and even when the staff of the server enforced them to stop they didnt and it resulted in the owner blocking them from the server and the staff blocking them personally, everything is so stressful to the point the secondary founder did not want to be the 2nd owner of the game anymore, and it caused the owner of pyropaw and phurelz, and draco-warriors to go into a creative block and slump, lots of staff also started to work on concept arts left without notifying other staff while some did, so at the end of the day thats why we are calling draco warriors quits til 2026 or 2027 it's too much stress and there's barely any staff to work on it and too many people including scammers and IRL people got involved and destroyed our game, Were still working on our comic phurelz which can be found here:

Phurelz will be entirely different from draco warriors but we hope this will interest you :3, we sorry for anyone's inconvience and hope we can make exciting things for you guys in the future!

Discord

PS: this is not the end for draco warriors we will return in 2026 or 2027 to resume production on it.

[notchesandbullets]

Saving Her (Ojiro Mashirao x Wolf!Reader)

Art credit: @ mudubu00 on Twitter

Part 13: After Aizawa gets hurt, you and Shinsou speed over to the hospital to make sure he’s okay and yell at him for worrying you like that. Ojiro tags along to give his support as well as check in on the four of his classmates that were hurt in the yakuza fight. A week later, Aizawa brings you in, hoping that you can connect with the little girl that they rescued and encourage her to eat something. He didn’t expect it to go so well but now he has one more little joy to look after.

Word Count: 6.7k

“Dad, are you sure it’s okay for me to be here?” You asked worriedly as you two came to a halt in front of the hospital. The two of you were officially skipping school for the day. 

But this white building sure was a familiar sight.

You hadn’t been with him when he and a bunch of other pros, along with Kirishima, Asui, Uraraka and Midoriya had infiltrated the yakuza and rescued the little girl called Eri.

You had watched it on the news in the dorms, on the edge of your seat, hands clasped over your mouth fearfully with the rest of your classmates as the events unfolded right there on the screen. 

How the press was able to capture a battle of that size in person and not be shaken with fear their core was beyond you. 

But after seeing how much they went through, you couldn’t help but sprint out of the dorm along with Shinsou as the media caught a glimpse of Aizawa being dragged out by Rock Lock. 

It was far away, but he was slumped over as if he was unconscious. 

You needed to be there. He needed you.

Ojiro chased after you just in time to see you crash into two teachers just outside of the dorms who were also beside themselves with worry. 

They were already on their way to where Aizawa was getting treated, and you didn’t waste any time begging Mic to let you see him while Shinsou won over Midnight. 

It didn’t take too long to receive their permission and Ojiro tagged along with the two of you because he was equally worried about his friends who were injured in the battle as well as how you were taking it.

Upon arrival, the hospital was so busy that both boys beside you made sure not to take their eyes off of you as they steered you through the crowd, following Yamada and Kayama as they weaved in and out.

Since you were legally Aizawa’s daughter and Shinsou held a special bond with him as well, it wasn’t too hard to let you both see him first when the nurses asked who wanted to see him first as soon as he woke up from the anesthetic.

Ojiro held you the entire way there as your body racked with sobs, wrapping his tail around you in the waiting area despite the numerous odd glances that passed through even though Shinsou did a good job of fending off the nosy civilians with a sharp glare. 

You sniffled, fingers tightening on the lapels of his school-issued jacket as you fought the urge to cry. “Why won’t they let me see him?”

Brushing the hair back from your eyes, he petted you gently. Your ears were pinned flat against your head in distress and your nose was blotchy, watery eyes staring up at him with such pain that he couldn’t help but feel it too. 

“They need to check up on Aizawa-sensei first before we can see him, Y/N.” Ojiro told you, sensitive to the conflicted emotions you must be going through.

You sobbed quietly, beyond worried since the doctors haven’t let you see him yet. They wouldn’t tell you anything except that he was alive and stable. Shinsou sat quietly, apart from the two of you, unable to bring himself to make small talk with Ojiro who was holding you gently.

Things were still a little awkward between them. They hadn’t talked to each other since their encounter at the UA Sports Festival. 

Now, it would seem that they couldn’t avoid each other since they both held an important place in your life.

This would need to get resolved. And quickly. 

It felt like hours, but when the doctors finally gave you permission for the three of you to step in and see him, asking for immediate family only, you nearly sprinted into his room.

Ojiro, who already suspected that was going to be the case, reassured you prior that it was okay for you and Shinsou to visit your dad. He was going to pay a visit to Uraraka, Midoriya, Asui and Kirishima, who were also in the same hospital, and meet up with you once you were done.

“Dad!!” You cried out as you flung the door open, racing over to where he was laying on the cot. “Dad!!!”

His head was wrapped in bandages and his shoulder was in a sling. There was a single window and no other patients in the room. That was lucky for you because you were bawling your eyes out.

Aizawa groaned tiredly, turning towards you and smiled softly as you hit his rail and yelled at him for being so reckless and not telling you where he went. “You’re so noisy, kid.”

Your body racked with sobs as you cried, not even registering when Shinsou caught up to you, Yamada and Kayama stepping inside quietly before shutting the door.

“You look terrible.” Shinsou drawled nonchalantly, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he tried to appear as if he wasn’t worried.

Aizawa rolled his eyes, peering past him to find his two best friends waiting for him to notice them.

He groaned more out of feigned annoyance than pain as Mic squished him in a hug. “Not you again.”

Yamada’s cry of outrage almost caused the windows to crack as he accidentally used his quirk. “Shouta, you’re so mean!!!”

 You and Shinsou shushed him so harshly that it evoked a giggle from Kayama.

“You better listen to them.” She teased a now guilty looking Yamada. “They’re his kids after all.”

“Nemuri~” He whined.

“Mic, quit being a baby.” She snapped, before marching over to Aizawa and scolding him for being so reckless just like you had done a minute prior.

After dramatically proclaiming how his pride was wounded, Yamada calmed down. Kind of. 

Nobody in the room said it, but you could see how his fingers shook as he latched onto Aizawa’s bedside rail and the click of Kayama’s heels as she paced back and forth, giving away her anxiety.

You and Shinsou exchanged a look, then left to go outside without a word. Aizawa didn’t stop you, already suspecting what the two of you were doing.

All three adults froze as the door clicked close and Aizawa sighed heavily. 

“I didn’t mean to worry you.” He told them quietly, his voice scratchy and Kamaya was immediately fetching some water for him from the sink, ordering him to drink before he said anything else.

Yamada crossed his legs as he sank to the ground, his eyes flitting up to meet his best friend’s. His insanely stupid best friend who had landed himself in the hospital yet again. 

“You’re an idiot, worrying us like that.” He mumbled and Aizawa cracked a smile.

“Yeah, I suppose I am.”

Outside, you sank down to the ground that was honestly probably not very clean while Shinsou leaned against the opposite wall.

He exhaled forcefully, rubbing the back of his neck in subtle relief. “Close call, huh?”

Your fluffy ears twitched and you nodded, causing them to flop back and forth. “Yeah.”

Thank goodness his injuries weren’t extensive. Other than a shallow knife wound to the shoulder and back, he was okay. He would be fatigued for awhile thanks to Recovery Girl’s quirk but that was all.

You hoped.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” You asked quietly.

Battles weren’t just about physical exertion, they were also draining mentally. You didn’t know how much of a toll this one would take on him or the repercussions that would follow.

Shinsou stayed quiet for a moment, thinking it over. If it was anyone else, he would’ve brushed them off or replied in his blunt, instinctual way but this was you he was talking about. He cared more than most others. 

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” He said slowly, choosing his words carefully. “Da— Aizawa-sensei’s strong.”

A broad, toothy grin split across your features.

“You almost said ‘dad’~” You sang merrily, a teasing light in your eye and he rolled his eyes.

“Whatever.” Shinsou muttered, ignoring you now that you had switched on your annoying side. 

“It’ll happen one day.” You stated firmly, hands balling into fists determinedly as you declared your stance. “And when it does, you can’t take it back. And I get all rights to boast about it in the future.”

Shinsou waved you off and an easier silence encompassed the two of you.

Kayama came back out to get you both after an hour approximately passed, a rare apologetic expression on her face as she apologized for taking so long. Shinsou brushed it off and you reassured her that it was okay.

You were all worried about him. Apparently, he had been dipping in and out of consciousness ever since he arrived due to the pain meds but he was going to be okay.

Yamada was slouched over Aizawa’s bedside and when Kayama came in after you and Shinsou, she planted herself down next to the unusually quiet loudmouth. 

You and Shinsou took up the other side, eyes growing heavy with how taxing today had been and it wasn’t long before you two drifted off, the adults following suit soon after.

When Aizawa came to and saw the four of you near him, he couldn’t help but smile tiredly. The sight was rare and no one was squabbling incessantly over something that wasn’t important. Instead, only the sound of silence filled his hospital room. 

Aside from the brush with death, he could get used to this.

Once he had fallen asleep again, you were being shaken away. 

Ojiro sent you a soft smile, kneeling down on the floor and rubbing comforting circles on your back. 

You bolted upright, your tail knocking into Shinsou and startling him awake as it thumped against his back.

“Mashirao?!”

He held a finger up to his mouth to shush you quickly, motioning to where Aizawa, Kayama and Yamada were all asleep. 

You followed him outside so that you didn’t disturb the three of them, Shinsou grumbling about how abruptly he had been woken up but trailed behind you begrudgingly. 

Once he closed the door behind him, you immediately burst out with endless questions on how your classmates were doing. Ojiro was quick to reassure you that aside from Kirishima, everyone else seemed to be doing okay, only sustaining minor injuries.

Seeing as how Midoriya was lumped in with that group, you were shocked that he hadn’t managed to get hurt too badly.

Grateful, but shocked.

Ojiro asked if you would like to see them and you eagerly nodded, inviting Shinsou to come along with you but he awkwardly declined.

It felt too weird still, he wasn’t used to people talking to him so easily, since his quirk was the main reason why so many people avoided him in middle school. 

Your ears drooped a little bit, having a feeling of where his head was at but gave in. You weren’t going to pressure him when he was so obviously uncomfortable. You could only hope that it faded with time because once he joined the hero course, he was going to have to deal with everyone in Class 1-A, regardless of whether or not he actually chose A over B. 

Ashido, Midoriya and Kaminari had been especially keen on getting to know him better. 

You extended your hand out to Ojiro without thinking about it, only to blush when you realized how easy that simple action was. You had gotten so used to it that you hadn’t realized how intimate the gesture actually was. 

But before you could retract your hand, his fingers wove with yours and he tucked you under his arm, making sure to keep you close while you walked down the hall filled with heavy traffic on the way to Kirishima’s room. 

Another hour and a half had passed. You had visited all four of your classmates, even meeting the Big Three for the first time since you were absent during the day that Togata laid pain on your class. 

Asui and Ururaka smiled when you entered with Ojiro by your side and you hugged them both tight, relaying how glad you were that they were okay. 

Kirishima was unconscious when you visited his room and you decided to let him rest, writing him a little note that wished him a swift recovery, leaving it on his pillow.

Midoriya was happy to see you, automatically asking if you were hurt. You had to rush to explain that you were visiting your dad and thought it would be good to check on them while you were at it. He gave you a brief rundown on what they were doing, what the news failed to cover, and your brow furrowed as he told you about the little girl that was the focus of their rescue operation.

That must have been so hard to go through.

“Are you okay?” Ojiro asked you quietly as you worked your way through the maze of the hospital, on your way back to the waiting room where Shinsou was undoubtedly waiting for you.

Ducking your head, you nodded but it was more out of instinct that actual acknowledgement. “Yeah, I just wish I could’ve been there. Maybe I could’ve done something.”

His eyes grew conflicted at the emotion in your voice and he inclined his head. He understood where you were coming from but you shouldn’t fault yourself for not being there. The four of them who were involved with work-studies were ready for this. They managed to save her.

“I know.” Ojiro finally whispered quietly, patting your head softly in reassurance. “But they’ll be okay.”

You heaved a sigh. “I hope so.”

As soon as you made it back to the waiting room, the sun was setting outside and your stomach rumbled with the need for food.  

Your hand slipped out of Ojiro’s as you left him with Shinsou, racing to the cafeteria with hopes that they would have some kind of meat for you to chow down on before it was time to leave. 

Kayama and Yamada were already waiting in the car for you three, knowing that you took a little extra time to visit your friends.

Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Ojiro’s tail drooped as he realized that they still weren’t able to hold a conversation.

“Erm, how’s Aizawa-sensei doing?” Ojiro asked tentatively.

Shinsou exhaled sharply. “He’s fine.”

The guarded tone he took with him made the tailed teen drop the subject, his heart twisting painfully as he realized that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he had hoped. Then again, he couldn’t necessarily say that he blamed him. 

Shinsou’s indigo hues cleared a tad when Ojiro’s tail fell limp and he closed his eyes briefly before they snapped back open.

“If you have something to say then say it before she gets back.” He grumbled.

Ojiro’s eyes widened at the opportunity handed to him before recovering quickly. Shoulders straightening, his eyes squinted a fraction, determined to follow through with what he wanted to say.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow when the other gestured for him to sit but did so without arguing. 

And without saying anything else, Ojiro began. 

When you approached them, smoothie and empty wrapper in hand from where you had inhaled the food you had bought with Uncle Hizashi’s credit card, you tilted your head curiously at the sight of the two of them engaged in a deep conversation. 

And as the day ended, the five of you headed back to UA, leaving you forever in the dark about what they were talking about.

Now, a week later, you were back at the very same hospital but for very different reasons. Nighteye had made a full recovery, thanks to some of your blood which had an advanced healing property no one was aware of before. 

After you quietly admitted to keeping it a secret due to it being one of the reasons the Quirk Traffickers took you, Aizawa told you that you didn’t need to apologize and had All Might keep the doctors who transferred the blood off the record so that it couldn’t be traced back to you. 

Even though Aizawa had been cleared and released within a day or so, thanks to Recovery Girl’s quirk, there was still something else he had to do.

He thought it would be a good idea to take you along when he visited the girl they saved. She got scared at everything that moved and was jittery all the time, which was taxing on her already exhausted little body.

He hoped that by seeing you, someone who had also been through something traumatic, you could help her by understanding what a lot of others failed to see.

Look, doctors were great, up until the point where they just couldn’t stand on the same ground as the little one. 

No one knew what Eri had gone through. Sure, they had the papers and the evidence, enough to lock Chisaki away for life, but that didn’t mean they really knew.

They didn’t know what it was like to live a day in her life. How traumatizing it must have been for her to get taken apart and put back together again, all for a drug that would only spread chaos in society.

She didn’t deserve any of that. And while they all knew that, no one could tell her that without it sounding hollow. Because they didn’t know what it was like to live in the same fear that she had felt for every single day of her life. 

Which is where you came in.

Yamada was covering his classes for the time being and you hoped no one questioned why you were also absent. 

“Yes, it’s fine.” Aizawa reassured you emotionlessly as he held open the front door for you to let you go in first. 

You stepped inside and blended in with those that milled about the hospital, following Aizawa until you came to a stop in front of a quarantined area. Inside a room, sat a little girl on the hospital bed. 

Your jaw dropped. “Is that—”

“Yes.” Aizawa answered without looking as he signed off on the agreement given to him by the police officers stationed by the door. 

After hearing from Holly when you had your playdate together and seeing how you interacted with any kids you came across, he was hoping that your energetic presence would help bring this traumatized little girl out of her shell. 

“She’s been through a lot, hasn’t she?” You asked quietly as you watched Eri fumble with the bandages on her arms and legs, your eyes shining with tears at how clearly it was stressing her out. 

Aizawa sighed under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“That would be an understatement.” He mumbled.

And that was with only having a fraction of an idea of what had happened to her.

Aiawa motioned for the nurse in the room trying to feed the reluctant girl to step out and she did so with zero hesitation.

“How is she today?” He asked her once she closed the door and you looked around both of them so that you could observe Eri. 

The nurse’s gaze was sympathetic but it was clear she was at her wit’s end. “She’s stable and her quirk has not activated once, but she still refuses to eat anything. I’m not sure how much longer we should hold out, I think we should tube feed her unless her vitals are going to drop.”

“Let me try.” You piped up, an usually serious expression stark on your normally friendly features.

You glanced to your dad for approval but Aizawa merely nodded and after the nurse confirmed that it was alright for you to go inside so long as he was with you, she ushered the two of you in while she monitored things from outside.

Careful not to startle Eri, you knocked lightly before announcing yourself and coming in. She looked terrified at an unknown face but you didn’t blame her one bit, remembering what it was like when Ojiro first rescued you. 

Your heart had been filled with fear but the hand that he stretched out was warm and inviting. And you never once regretted taking it.

“Hello.” You greeted, setting down a tray of food that had one characteristic in common all around. All the food was sealed to ensure that nothing was tampered with. “Are you hungry, Eri-chan?”

She blinked up at you, staring at the food skeptically but you weren’t offended in the slightest. While you didn’t know what it was like to be exactly in her shoes, you certainly could empathize.

However, her eyes lit up with curiosity at the sight of your fluffy ears and tail. You were different from the others that came to visit and while she wondered if perhaps that was a bad sign, she couldn’t help but be in awe.

Aizawa was leaning against the door frame, watching you both. He had been in the room quite a few times during routine check-ups from the doctor and such but he never really interacted with the little girl. He wasn’t the greatest with kids, they tended to cry whenever they saw him.

Another reason why he was an underground pro where the contact with children was limited to professional interactions only. 

You tried to offer up her portion of the meal but she scurried back, her knees tucked up frightfully and you immediately let it go, drawing back to give her some space, murmuring soft reassurances.

Now Aizawa could see how you two really were similar. Abandoned by family and forced to do things you had no awareness of or couldn’t understand, it was sickening. 

“I know it’s scary.” You said quietly as you set down the spoon when she shied away from the foreign object. “I was scared too.”

Eri looked up at you with her big eyes, not daring to hope that you could understand what she had been through. Her knees trembled as she drew them up tighter to her chest for comfort.

You smiled reassuringly and kept your distance as you explained your own story, your history with dangerous people just like Chisaki and how you were healing from your own experience.

“It’s hard to trust people when you’re scared that they’re just going to do the same things that those scary people put you through, but trusting that guy,” You pointed over your shoulder to where Aizawa was standing. “Was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.”

Eri blinked owlishly. “R-Really?”

Her small voice came out so fragile and shaky that you had to physically stop yourself from tackling her in a hug, knowing that it would only frighten her and not comfort her like you were intending. 

“Yes,” You nodded vigorously, your tail fluffing up the barest bit to emphasize your point. “And I know you don’t know me, Eri-chan, but I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe too.”

Bit by bit, you could see something changing inside her and hesitantly, she reached for the metal utensil, halting in place before she touched it and looked up at you for permission.

“You’re safe here.” You whispered softly, motioning that it was okay. “You can eat as much as you want.”

This time, Eri tentatively took the spoon and balancing the bowl carefully in her hands, she gazed at it curiously.

You were ecstatic at her progress. You didn’t think she would drop her walls around you so fast. While she looked at it, you picked up your own bowl. Showing her how to blow on the foot first so that it didn’t burn her tongue, you took a small bite, demonstrating that the food caused no harm.

Eri was timid at first, but she gradually grew more confident until she was eating with a gusto that not only surprised you, but also Aizawa.

You motioned him to come over after asking Eri if it was alright so that your dad didn’t spend the majority of his visit standing awkwardly by the wall. The little girl was hesitant but she nodded that it was okay and after a beat, Aizawa came closer. 

Once he was within arm’s reach, you scooted over to offer him a spot next to you on the bed. 

“Does it taste okay?” You asked her as your dad sat down beside you.

Eri halted, her cheeks bulging with food and she nodded slowly. Cupping her small hands around the bowl, she took in the heat.

“It’s… warm.” She said softly and your heart broke in two.

Sniffling, you managed a wobbly smile for her. “I’m glad.”

You were going to rip Chisaki a new one if he ever got within a ten mile radius of her again. 

Eri polished off her food in a little under an hour, her swollen stomach not quite used to taking in food so rich with nutrients and you fought to keep your tail from lashing back and forth angrily at all she had been through. 

Aizawa collected the empty bowls, placing them back on the tray and giving it back to the nurse outside monitoring Eri’s progress while you played with the little one.

Lowering your head, you let the tips of your ears brush across her cheeks, evoking a small giggle from the little girl as she latched onto them with her fingers, being gentle not to pull on them. 

Eri kicked her feet up and even though she didn’t smile, you could see it in her eyes; a light that wasn’t present before.

“They’re fuzzy...” She trailed off quietly before hastily retracting her hands, her gaze dropping down to her lap.

Your eyes softened understandingly at her reaction and you were careful not to move any closer. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Eri still flinched as you drew back slightly to give her some breathing room and you bit your lip to contain the snarl threatening to spill onto your face from where her hands trembled fearfully.

“I’m not going to hit you.” You told her gently, careful to be as soothing as you could to put her at ease. 

Aizawa was watching attentively from the doorway to give you both some space while you calmed her down, ready to erase her quirk if need be but so far so good.

“People hurt me too.” You whispered softly, rolling up your sleeves to show her the multitude of scars on your arms. “And I don’t know why or what I did wrong. But things get easier.”

You smiled encouragingly when she looked up at you, as though she was asking for permission to touch them and outstretching it slowly so you didn’t startle her, you let out a shaky breath as her fingertips barely skimmed over the marred skin.

Reminders of where you came from.

“Eri-chan.”

The little girl looked up at you as you gazed at her imploringly.

“I can’t promise that you’ll feel okay all the time, but when you’re ready, I’d like to show you what the world outside looks like.” You offered, standing up and curling your tail around your hip to beckon to her. 

Eri’s ruby-red orbs glistened and she swallowed hard. “Will... Will you be there?”

You nodded reassuringly. “For as long as you want me there.”

“I-I—” Eri looked down, struggling with what she wanted to say and you gave her a moment to collect her thoughts. 

The hospital gardens were nothing extraordinary but it would beat this room with white-washed walls everywhere you looked. A pop of color would be good for her soul and you hoped the fresh air would steady her heart.

You held out your hand, letting it be known that she didn’t have to go if she didn’t want to, the unspoken sentiment hanging in the air from where you regarded her empathetically. “What do you say, Eri-chan?”

She hesitated and for a beat, you weren’t sure what she was going to decide. But then she raised her head, her eyes shining with something that vaguely resembled determination and you smiled as her small hand slipped into yours.

“... Okay.”

Two months had passed by since then.

Eri had been moved out of the hospital and since Aizawa was the only one who could keep that quirk of hers under control until she learned how to do it herself, he was granted temporary guardianship of her. 

The authorities had entrusted her to UA but on paper, she was his foster child for the time being. 

Just like you had been, once upon a time.

Togata and Midoriya made the transition back into civilization easier for Eri, though the first week she wouldn’t leave their sides unless it was with you. You three were the ones she trusted the most. 

Though, Aizawa came really close.

You suspected it had something to do with the small cream-colored teddy bear he bought for her while walking past the hospital gift shop on your way out that first day he brought you to see her.

They always sold things to help comfort patients during their stay and while he hesitated buying it, he ended up getting it anyway and giving it to her during her last week at the hospital so that she would have something to hold at night. 

Eri had looked confused and it was almost funny how Aizawa tripped over his words trying to explain to her that he had bought this girl, who he didn’t know and wasn’t related to, a stuffed animal to bring her comfort because he was worried about her. 

You, and even Shinsou, teased that he was such a softie, earning both of you a towel to the face after training at his house. 

It was hours after school had let out and the sun was just starting to set. 

Most students had already gone back to the dormitories. You had promised Ojiro to stop by his room before you went to bed when you got back and with that, you two parted ways.

Aizawa had taken you and Shinsou to his flat for training once you sprinted into the teachers’ lounge where both of them were waiting for you, along with Eri. Even though all the teachers had their own dorm, courtesy of the principal, he had already paid off the mortgage on the flat and he was not keen on selling it for a number of reasons. 

Besides, Vlad King was allergic to cats so it wasn’t like he could just take Coffee with him.

So, while he lived in the teachers’ dorm, he went to his flat on the weekends and on their days off. 

Aizawa dodged his student’s punch with a slight smirk. “Too slow.”

You were in the corner of the training arena inside of his house, playing tea party with Eri in the corner. 

Aizawa had bought her a truckload of toys to entertain herself with so that she could bring things to keep herself busy when he was teaching at school. Luckily, she wasn’t fussy at all so it had taken barely any time to pick out what to buy.

Though you suggested it might have been a bit unnecessary to purchase nearly half the store.

It didn’t matter. Eri had been ecstatic once she had been told that these new toys were all hers to play with. Aizawa had to reassure her over and over again that yes, they really were hers and no, he didn’t particularly care if she broke something or decided that she didn’t want it.

She was honestly so careful in handling the neat little gadgets and play sets that he couldn’t even envision her breaking something.

You ignored the grunts and taunts coming from the middle of the room as the Shinsou and your dad sparred, flicking your tail to tickle the tip of Eri’s nose and she giggled, beaming widely at you when you exaggerated an eye roll when a thump reverberated through the ground as Shinsou was knocked onto his feet.

Eri had smiled for the first time at the school festival and you roped Midoriya into teaching you how to make candied apples so you’d always be prepared if she ever got up the courage to ask you for one directly. 

For now, you were just content to have some on hand whenever she came to Heights Alliance when Aizawa needed to put out yet another fire that Bakugou set off with his explosion.

While you and Eri were playing, Shinsou was practicing his hand-to-hand combat with his mentor but every time he struck, Aizawa was always one step ahead of him. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he wiped it off with a grimace before doubling back to strike again. 

Aizawa maneuvered out of range easily, shoving him flat onto his back.

“Concentrate, Toshi.” He urged strictly and the teen slammed a fist on the ground in frustration before popping back up to his feet and coming at him again. 

It had taken a while for Eri to get comfortable watching them spar, always worried that someone would get hurt but you had explained that Aizawa was helping her unofficial brother get stronger.  

Shinsou hadn’t necessarily been taken to the idea of being someone she looked up too, it was too much pressure. He never had to be an older brother to anyone and you didn’t count since you were the same age as him. 

Eventually, he warmed up to the idea, though he never told Eri that and he always denied it whenever Aizawa asked him straight out with a knowing smirk on his face. 

Eri could be very persuasive when she wanted to, with her doe eyes and bright, blinding smiles that could disarm All Might himself.

Cute.

Shinsou huffed at his mentor’s impromptu rebuttal, redoubling his efforts to be able to land one hit on him before this round was over. Moving faster and faster until they both became a blur, he measured each strike and kick until his burning limbs were shrieking for him to stop.

“C’mon, Toshi, hit Dad where it hurts!!” You egged on from the sidelines and Eri threw her hands up excitedly. 

“You can do it, Papa!!” She cheered. 

She had gradually grown more and more comfortable calling him that, it took almost no time at all after hearing you call him that. But you all figured she deserved to have a loving father figure after all she had been through so no one teased her about it. 

Even Monoma was surprisingly docile when it came to the little girl whenever you guys ran into him in the hallways.

Aizawa smiled slightly at the little girl’s encouragement but never took his eyes off of his student. Blocking his fist, he stepped closer, sweeping his leg at his feet, which Shinsou was able to dodge just in time. 

“That won’t work on me twice!!” Shinsou shouted.

Hooking his foot around the elder’s ankle the second he landed firmly on his feet, Shinsou yanked him down to the floor and he landed hard.

His breath knocked clear out of his lungs, Aizawa coughed a couple of times before flashing his student a proud grin.

“Good job.”

The rare praise was curt but it transformed the expression on Shinsou’s face into one of unbridled happiness that was rare and far in between to see. He didn’t say anything but he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading from ear to ear as his mentor acknowledged his victory. 

“Alright, way to go, Toshi!!” You cheered alongside Eri.

“Toshi-nii, Toshi-nii, Toshi-nii!!” Eri exclaimed repeatedly in that soft voice of hers as she scrambled forward onto the training mat, raising her hands up as an indicator that she wanted to be picked up. “You won!!”

Shinsou bent down to pick her up, bouncing her on his hip a few times in the way that he knew made her laugh, poking her on the nose and grinning when she scrunched it up cutely.

“I did.” He boasted, puffing out his chest ever so slightly to make him appear manlier and you sputtered out laughing at how ridiculous he looked, to which he shot you a glare.

Eri’s eyes were shining. “You were so cool!!”

“Hey,” Aizawa frowned, feigning disappointment as he patted the back of his sweaty neck with a clean towel. “What about me?”

“Dad’s acting like a child again.” You commented as you handed him a glass of water you had previously gotten from the kitchen when you heard their fight going on. 

On the way to the training area, you had run into Eri on the way there and invited her to come along so that she wouldn’t be alone. And also so that you could play with her.

Shinsou flashed you a grin. “It’s cause I kicked his butt.”

Aizawa flicked both of your foreheads to chastise you two for such an informal tone but it was light and even though you cried out dramatically and Shinsou rolled his eyes, you knew he didn’t actually care.

Much like Asui, who you found out what happened during the USJ incident had made her have a unique understanding with her teacher, you knew when to be serious and when to push the limits of your playfulness and cause no harm to your relationship in the process. 

Eri reached out for you and you took her from Shinsou, sticking out your tongue in the process. 

“Hah!! She likes me better!!” You gloated in his face.

He rolled his eyes, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with a rag as he echoed your words from before. “You’re such a child.”

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“Am—”

“Okay, and that is the last of that.” Aizawa interrupted before you could carry on into a screaming match and then he would have to be the one to somehow get you two to stop fighting all the while calming Eri down, who would be crying cause her siblings were arguing.

Much like you, she was sensitive to loud noises and raised volumes and he couldn’t always use pats on the head with her since her interactions with Chisaki mostly consisted of—

Aizawa shook his head. He couldn’t even bring himself to say it. The things that man did to this child was horrifying. It almost made him wish he was a villain just so that he could have the satisfaction of killing him. 

But what mattered most was that Eri was out of there and that she was never going back. 

Gazing fondly as Eri petted one of your ears that you offered to her, a soft smile slipped onto his face. The two of you were damn cute. And he was so proud that he got to call you his own kids.

Sensing movement out of the corner of his eye, he quickly sidestepped Shinsou’s surprise attack, the shocked look that crossed his student’s face at his reaction time was priceless.

“C’mon kid, you can do better than that.” He smirked, balancing on his feet and drawing up his fists for another bout. “One more round before dinner.”

Shinsou nodded determinedly. “Bring it on, sensei.”

Needless to say, that one was a draw. But only because Shinsou couldn’t get out of his mentor’s headlock. 

Aizawa was too smart to fall for the brainwashing trick.

As they started to argue over who won, Aizawa clearly going to win the battle of words, you ushered Eri out of the room.

You jabbed a thumb over your shoulder as she grabbed her tea party set on the way out. “Want to help me start dinner until those two get over their ego?” 

Eri nodded eagerly even though she didn’t really understand what an ego was. All she heard was dinnertime and that meant food. 

“Yes!!” She cheered excitedly and you picked her up as she lifted her arms. 

A growl of annoyance sounded from the other room. 

“Y/N, I heard that.”

You could practically envision your dad’s glower and quickened your pace, holding in your giggles along with Eri.

It was rocky, but somehow in the midst of all the bad, you had come out with the perfect family.

[mrsackermanbrat]

Chapter 7: SENSE OF NORMALITY

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

BENEATH Official Cover/Poster

By: @riiikkkaaa__ on Instragram

Hi! Hello! I apologize for the delay on the updates. I have been so caught up with life with my dog dying and I started in med school.

BUT I’M BACK! For a month! Yay! Thank you for all those who waited for me!

As a token of gratitude, I would like to announce that Beneath now has an official cover/poster! Well it’s been ready since July and I was initially planning on launching it on the 10th chapter but I figured why wait any longer? And well med school happened and it has stalled me.

So this art was made by my bestest friend. You can follow her on Instagram (@riiikkkaaa__) to see her other superb crafts. She is open for commissions and she is hands down 👌🏻💯 You may message her to see her other official works.

I literally have no words. She has done an absolutely amazing job bringing Claire’s character to life and I am just so speechless. I cried the first time I saw it.

She has been working on launching Claire’s character sheet on her Instagram so please stay tuned! She is the sweetest and most golden person and I hope you support her work! ✨

“Sweetheart, how many times do we have to tell you? You must get away from the windows, hm?” Agnes chided her daughter gently.

Claire sat by the window, staring into the practically deserted street. Save for the barely moving figures slumped unto the filthy mossy walls and dark small corners.

The ever-present flicker of light from the torches, barely illuminating their features. It was hard to tell if they were even alive.

Her mind floated back to the men she tried to help when she and Levi were making their way back.

“Were they even alive?”

Levi.

It has been a month.

Claire never saw him again. She was disappointed to find him gone after she finished washing the dishes that night.

Her mother had reassured her that he would be back the next morning and so she waited, giddy with anticipation. But he never came.

She couldn’t help but remember the chase they tried to escape and the scuffle that unfolded that day. Somehow, despite having just met him for a short time, she worried.

The obvious threat, the imminent danger, and the display of violence.

“Is he even still alive?”

Her family had warned her about the terrors of this place. She saw it firsthand with Levi and she couldn’t help but think something bad may have happened to him.

He is dangerous himself but he is not invincible.

Or is he?

Claire looked back at her mother to offer a smile with a matching eager look in her eyes that lightened the mood in the place they now called their home.

“Good morning, Mama. Shall we get going?”

Agnes stared for a moment. She knew that her daughter knew what happened the night before. But still, here she was.

Whether Claire still hasn’t fully understood the circumstances of last night’s events which Agnes doubted because her daughter is quite insightful after all or she was simply being herself, effortlessly brightening everything around her which Agnes knew would be an act if that were the case.

The older woman sighed, dejectedly watching her little girl walk towards her with a smile on her small face.

An effort of a child, like only Claire could in her age, to feel and make everything is just like usual in her own way.

That is no small effort.

Eitherway, Agnes was grateful.

She refuses to see her daughter be tainted by this place. If only Claire could be completely untouched by horrors of this hellhole by not even being in here.

“Of course, honey. Wouldn’t want to be late for your first day now!” She feigned enthusiasm as she took Claire’s hand but not before securing the beret on her head to ensure her long hair would come flowing out. The twins trailed behind them at a safe distance.

Today, Claire is officially working with her mother in the hospital. Albeit just running errands like delivering medicine to those of better fortune in the Underground, assisting in procedures, or incinerating infectious waste.

Agnes had found a job in the hospital they saw when they arrived. It was barely operational with only a few patients per day. Not many could afford medical attention anyway.

She had let her daughter tag along just like she used to when Claire didn’t have school on the weekends or when her duty wasn’t toxic enough.

Besides, it was better to keep Claire close after the stunt she pulled with her brothers that day.

Dr. Paul Babin, the lone doctor left running the pitiful excuse for a hospital in the Underground, finally agreed to employ Claire and so she starts on her mother’s third week.

It is currently 6am but down in the Underground, it was hard to tell. Hence, the Fords family were extremely delighted when one day, Marius brought home wall clocks for each room.

That was also the day he last appeared to be the man and father they knew.

It had given them a sense of normality. As if they could get a better grasp now of the Underground. Upon their arrival, they somehow found it hard to function. It always felt like evening. It felt weird.

Being aware of time enabled them to feel a little bit in control of their lives once more.

Or so they thought.

Late last night, the siblings had awoken to raised voices.

Claire had shot up from her bed, the clock in the room she shared with her brothers was the first thing she saw.

“I need you to get this in your fucking head!”

“Marius! What’s wrong? Tell me. Talk to me, please. What is going on? What is happening? What are you talking about? Honey, please.”

Panic and fear were evident in the woman’s voice thanks to the slight faltering in her tone.

“Don’t you get it? It has to be done so we can get out of this fucking place! We need to get the fuck out of here!”

“Marius!” The woman’s voice was clearly in distress at the profanities. “Honey, please. Keep your voice down. Mind your words please. You might wake up our children… I don’t want them to see us like this. Please.”

A scoff followed by a strangled gasp was heard.

“You want me to quiet down? My words? Who fucking cares!”

A shudder ran down Claire’s spine in the venom in the man’s tone.

“Marius, you’re hurting me!”

Claire’s sweet fragile heart raised at the sounds. Disbelief flooding her system. She saw it in her brother’s eyes as well when she turned to find his presence beside her in bed.

These people couldn’t possibly be their parents?

She felt Bran’s hand in hers as he gave it a squeeze. Silently calming her with the simple gesture. Just like how she communicates best with her family.

Looking around, she heard the faint sounds of Alec’s feet as he padded to peak through the door. His shoulders tense and his stance rigid as he visibly contemplated exiting the room to confront the voices.

Bran’s hands then shifted to cover her ears as he held her head steady. Trying to catch her eyes. More profanities hung in the air.

She knew their parents were fighting but she couldn’t make sense of it.

“Focus on me, Claire.”

It was a little past 11pm. Had they been in Mitras still, it would have been perfectly normal to be startled by the noise.

But in the Underground, it was considered a norm.

So in the span of a little over a month they have stayed, they had no choice but to grow quite accustomed to it already.

The very first week was undeniably a transition. They’d all wake up with a start and would huddle close in the kitchen as a family until they settled.

But last night, the voices was that of their parents. Fighting.

That is never normal.

Never had Marius and Agnes argued before their children; let alone risk being heard with a suspicious tone towards each other.

Even when a fight was secretly on going, it was never really noticeable. They would still interact with so much love and respect for each other in front of their children.

And even when the siblings were not around.

No harsh words or vicious looks of hatred.

Marius would still kiss his wife good morning as he rose from the bed. He would walk Agnes to the exclusive hospital in Mitras and hold the door open as he kissed her goodbye tentatively until he would come to fetch her later in the day.

Agnes would still wake up and insist on cooking for her own family despite having help around the house. She would make tea just like how Marius likes it. Less honey and more milk, steeped for just the right amount of time. Its aroma beckoning her husband to wake up before she went to tend to their children to send them off.

But last night, Alec saw fingers pointed and tears being shed through the crack of the slightly open door. He had to turn and hustle his younger siblings back to the bed when they came to take a look; Bran having failed to restrain Claire as the fight went on.

The sight of their father shaking their mother by the shoulders wasn’t a sight Alec wanted his siblings to behold, especially not little Claire.

It was fairly difficult to go back to sleep after that. Even when the arguments died down. Their mother’s cries softened to sniffles while their father’s shouts lessened to heavy sighs.

The atmosphere of the Underground effectively caught up to them.

When their mother had come to wake them for breakfast, no mentions of the incident were made. To be honest, Agnes didn’t exactly know how to broach the subject.

There has never been a need to before. This was uncharted territory for all of them.

As they trudged down the stairs, the children were greeted with the sight of their father asleep on the sofa in the small living room adjoining the kitchen.

Even as they left, Marius maintained his slumber. It was a far cry from the family man they knew. It was like he changed into a complete stranger the longer they stayed in the Underground.

Lately, he comes home with an irritable mood and he frequented yelling before retreating to their bedroom. He often targeted the twins for trivial things like coming home late from their job in the market which was supposedly understandable.

Their walk to the hospital was silent. By now, Claire could finally go to and fro between their home and the hospital in one piece without getting lost.

Nevertheless, the twins insist on accompanying their mother and sister before going about the market for a day’s work. At 4pm, either Alec or Bran would come fetch Claire and walk her home.

Agnes often stayed behind until 6pm then wait for her sons to come by so they could all go home together.

She held Claire’s hand as they walked down the now-familiar path to work and she did not miss the way it was slightly tighter than usual.

Giving a subtle nod to the twins, they stepped on the threshold of the hospital before she saw her sons off to go the other way.

Just as they were taking a turn to the right towards the stockroom, a hand grabbed at her shoulder and Agnes instinctively pulled Claire behind her, whirling around to face whoever it was.

“You a nurse in here or somethin’?” asked a man with an ice pick embedded on his right eye, blood dripping down his face; barely showing any sign of discomfort.

It was quite amusing how Agnes, being the doctor, was caught off guard at the sight that she barely contained the gasp that escaped her.

While young little Claire had plans of her own.

Her heart pounded at the sight, never has she witnessed something so gruesome and brutal. But her feet were no longer under her control. Sneaking from behind her mother to gape at the man. Gingerly taking steps forward to ask an absurd question.

Clearing her throat to sound more boyish she asked, “Does it hurt, sir?”

The man laughed, “Not one bit, kid.”

Agnes’ eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of her daughter moving closer to the man.

“Charles! W-would you do me a favor and get Dr. Babin please? Now.”

Quickly yanking Claire’s arm back, pulling the small frame only to push her towards the center of the hospital where Dr. Babin supposedly was. Their eyes briefly met and she fixed Claire with a stern glare, cautioning her silently.

Falling into physician mode, she turned back to the man to direct him to sit on a raggedy wheelchair, “I’m Dr. Fords, this way sir.”

Quickly maneuvering him to the ‘operating room’ of the hospital which really was more like a small corner separated from the other cots by a curtain.

Owing perhaps to the lack of sleep from last night’s encounter between her parents and yet another event this morning, it took a second before it registered to Claire that she was the one being spoken to.

Ever since they started at the hospital her mother had demanded that Claire be addressed as Charles whenever they were outside in the streets.

But then, considering Dr. Babin was a kind elderly man, her mother had relaxed after a few days around him that when no patients were around, she let her go by Claire.

Well that and the fact that Claire easily forgets she is supposed to be a boy.

“…Y-yes, Dr. Fords!” She called at her mother’s back to her.

Dr. Babin quickly gave Agnes a look as soon as he saw the patient. Which of course didn’t go amiss by Claire.

Oblivious to their arrival with her focus solely on her patient, Agnes closely examined the angle from which the ice pick penetrated, trying to gauge the depth of intrusion.

Afterwards she held a candle at a safe distance by his face and instructed him to follow her gloved finger. She mumbled, “Limited eye movement.”

Claire observed with awe.

To be honest, it amazed her how the man even survived. She would be lying if she said the sight didn’t rattle her. She was young after all. But it was her mother’s expertise that really captivated her, keeping her drawn to the horrendous sight, igniting the aspiration to be like her when she grew up.

The way her mother looked fully dressed with her doctor’s gown with a stark white cloth tied around her face and around her head to secure her hair as she dealt with the patient made Claire imagine herself in the future.

Right now, she is not her Mama; she is Dr. Fords. Completely in her element. It was like Claire entered an invisible barrier into another world. One her mother dominated.

She looked at Dr. Babin dressed like her mother as he cleared his throat to make their presence be known. The sound of the material of his gloves slapping unto his skin followed.

“Oh! Dr. Babin, you’re here. I took the liberty to do initial assessments. Patient arrived alert and oriented. By himself.”

At that the other doctor’s eyebrows quirked up.

“Globe appears to be intact but there are limitations to eye movements but perception to light is present, pupillary reactions are normal as well. So to say he is not blind in the injured eye, yet.”

“So Dr. Fords, what approach would you like me to assist you with?”

At that Dr. Fords gave the man a grateful expression. Despite his obvious seniority, Dr. Babin never asserted superiority in the hospital. He was humble to acknowledge that she knew more than him with her years on the Surface compared to his limitations down in the Underground.

“I would like to proceed with fronto-orbito-lateral craniotomy. There is no other way to find out the extent of the damage. But I’m afraid even doing so would be too late.”

“Indeed. Even if we can pull off appropriate decompression, there is obvious circulatory compromise evident by the severity of the bleeding.”

“I am worried about that. There is already too much blood loss and it’s already causing hypovolemic shock. We would need to correct that very soon.”

“Dr. Fords, if I may. I support the procedure you would like to undertake. However, we are not even properly equipped to push through with that kind of surgery.” Dr. Babin cautioned lowly.

It was both heartwarming and reassuring to see the trust he was placing on her but he was also stern and outspoken when it was called for. The fact that he was also open to learning from her always meant a lot.

Eyes of both doctors drifted to the bottles of alcohol and stacks of gauze in the supply cabinet which were pretty much the only supplies in absolute abundance.

“You may have some tools in your kit but I’m afraid his chances may be slim to none if we are to take that approach. We don’t even have an anesthetic strong enough. Besides, we are tremendously understaffed.”

Smiling apologetically, Dr. Fords whispered more to herself, “I tend to forget it’s different down here…”Meeting Dr. Babin’s eyes she asked, “Therefore our only option is blind removal of the penetrating object?”

“I am afraid so but that is the only intervention we can do rather than letting him slowly die with it.”

“But that presents risks like hitting vital structures, the globe itself, cranial nerves, and extraocular muscles.”

“And I also have no doubt brain tissue is already damaged.” Dr. Babin piped.

“That’s why I would like to do surgery. So we can close injured dura, remove hematoma, or debride injured parenchyma. But mostly to safely remove the object.”

“The patient would likely die on the table, Dr. Fords. We are not equipped for this. The least we can do for him is to remove it. He’s lucky enough it’s not a serrated knife.”

With a heavy heart, Dr. Fords nodded in agreement. If she were still up in Mitras she would have confidently gone through with it.

But Dr. Babin was right.

It would be pointless and brutal to subject the patient to such an extensive procedure. The least they can do is stabilize him with whatever resources they had.

Which was not much.

With a sigh, she faced the patient who was growing less cooperative and more pale. He was sweating and his breathing was starting to grow shallow.

Reaching to check his pulse once more, she noted it was weaker. She bent to whisper at the man’s ear.

“I’m sorry. As soon as we pull it out, you would be bleeding profusely. We would try and control it as much as we can. Then we can only attempt to prevent infection. Best case scenario, you can end up blind. Worst case scenario…” she trailed off.

Dr. Babin stepped up as she subtly stopped. He knew it was hard for her. “It’s the most that we can do, sir. Dr. Fords here would try to do it as quickly and precisely as possible.”

Unfortunately cases like this was not unusual in the Underground. There would always be more out there.

Upon hearing his inevitable fate, a look of panic, maybe even fear crossed the man’s eyes despite his progressing disorientation.

Dr. Fords quickly grabbed his hand and spoke in the most comforting tone she could muster given the situation, “Hey, look at me. What’s your name?”

“I… I’m… M-morris…”

“Well Morris. You are not alone. You are in good hands. It will be alright. I just need you to relax for me. I promise that we’ll try our best. Is that okay with you?”

She has used this tone one too many times before but it only ever works for the patients. Dr. Fords wished she could calm herself as well. It was never easy to bear bad news or be that last shred of hope for someone.

With a slight, almost unconscious nod, the man resigned to his fate.

Turning to Claire, both doctors eyed the child taking notice of her wild eyes and the slight trembling of her hands. Dr. Babin raised his eyebrows at Dr. Fords as if to ask if it was really alright to let the child stay.

Immediately picking up on the silent communication, Claire hid her hands behind her. Fixing the older doctor with a look of determination while ignoring her mother’s worried eyes.

Even if the patient was too out of it or she was on duty, the mother in Agnes shows; she still felt like she had to be cautious specially when her daughter was around strangers and so she couldn’t coddle her like she would have wanted which Claire would have hated anyway.

When he was sure the child was psyched enough for the undertaking Dr. Babin ordered, “Charles, I would need you to prepare something to elevate his feet. It’s going to help blood flow back into the heart to at least help alleviate the hypotension.”

While they really would rather protect her from such a gruesome sight, they also knew she was a tough one despite her soft appearance. The child always showed eagerness to learn.

“You can step this one out, kid?” at the determined shake of Claire’s head he nodded. “Alright, that’s more like it. You would have to be quick, okay? We’re counting on you.”

“Are you scared?” Agnes whispered as she approached her daughter. Quickly tying another layer of cloth around her small face and hanging an apron on her.

Claire knew, right now she is her Mama. However, she wanted to prove she could handle what comes her way but she still wanted to be honest, “Yes… but then I’ll just have to do it scared.”

At that Dr. Babin chuckled and turned to disinfect around the area of injury before giving a go signal.

With a sigh, Agnes wrapped her slender gloved fingers around the handle of the ice pick breathing in deeply and just like that Dr. Fords was back.

Moments passed as she readied herself. Claire and Dr. Babin each held their breaths.

Dr. Fords huffed, “Morris? Are you still with me? I won’t lie. This won’t be easy. I’m going to need you to stay awake, Morris. Can you do that for me?”

At his weak nod, she inhaled once more before starting to pull. Blood started oozing with every inch of the knife being withdrawn as swiftly and steadily as she could. They moved simultaneously as instructed.

Soiled heaps of gauze littered the floor as the doctors worked to get the bleeding under control. Claire stood by the other side of the bed once she had propped the man’s feet up; observing without getting in the way.

A normal child would have been terrified of the sight.

Her brothers would most likely think she would have buckled at the sight of too much blood. Although, Claire and Agnes knew it wasn’t the blood itself she feared.

She did her best to steel her heart and mind against it all. This was the first time she saw her mother treat a gruesome case up close. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

The scene before her, beads of sweat were present on both doctors’ faces. Their shoulders tense as they struggled against the odds exchanging potential approaches they could do to get the situation under control.

In that moment, Claire felt a sudden rush.

Despite not understanding the full extent of the conversation between the adults, she knew the man would never really be well.

Still, the thought of saving a life or simply helping another human feel the slightest bit better before the inevitable end that awaited was comforting enough for her.

Her mother was the most well-known doctor in the Surface. Right now, despite the crucial procedure, it felt like such an honor to be witnessing her mother in action along side another seasoned doctor.

Dr. Agnes Fords exuded such a powerful and confident vibe even when she herself feared, there can be no room for doubt in her abilities as a doctor.

“One day,” she thought. She can’t wait to grow up and work side by side with her mother feeling such an overwhelming pride to be her daughter, the worried of last night and this morning effectively washed away at that very moment.

“Clai- Charles! We need more gauze here!” Dr. Fords bellowed, voice strained.

Breaking into a quick run to the cabinet she gathered as much as she could in her small arms. Tearing packets to hand out gauze when she returned shortly after.

“I’m back-! Whoa! What have I missed?!”

“Not now, Amon! Get here quickly and find something to clean the floor or absorb all the blood for the meantime. We can slip on it.” Dr. Babin barked at his grandchild not even daring to spare him a glance.

“Shit!”

Head turning to both sides, he flailed as he tried to gather gauze and mops in his arms. In his haste to get things in one go, Amon himself almost slipped due to the blood on the floor.

Claire quickly approached the slightly older boy to try and soften his landing by pulling at the back of his shirt. With a sigh of relief he nodded his gratitude.

Dr. Babin could only shake his head at the ordeal of his grandson while they tried to defy what was surely a lost cause.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Claire slumped on a makeshift chair on the corner at the back of the hospital, exhaustion taking its toll. She and Amon had just finished cleaning what appeared to be the scene of a crime.

“Great work, kid.” Amon spoke as he tossed soiled gauzes into a small medical incinerator. It wasn’t ideal considering how condensed the environment was in the Underground but they had no choice.

All she wanted to do was remove the cloth on her face to breathe better but she knew it wasn’t smart to do so.

Agnes and Dr. Babin were in the recovery wing of the hospital, situating the patient down before the loads of anesthetics wear off for a long and painful future until he’d succumb to his fate.

Both doctors simply trying to be there as much as they can to help ease their patient’s inescapable suffering.

They turned as they heard the children shuffle back inside.

“Are you kids done there?” Dr. Babin called.

“Yes, grandpa. Shall we eat now?���

“You kids go on ahead. You too, Dr. Fords. I’ll take first watch.”

“Thank you, Dr. Babin.” Agnes nodded graciously, turning to an awaiting Claire by the small pantry in the hospital. The food she and Alec prepared that morning for them to take to their work already laid out on the table.

Lunch flew by uneventfully and before long Amon stood up to get the supplies ready for their afternoon medication deliveries.

Agnes eyed her daughter wearily and it did not go amiss by the child.

“We will be alright, Mama.” Claire straight up said, quick to pick up on her mother’s mood. She knew her mother has been acting off owing to last night’s events and this morning’s rush.

Suddenly flooded by an urge to cry, Agnes lunged forward to envelop Claire in a hug, “You always know what to say, don’t you? Of course we will, sweetie. I promise.”

The way her mother was acting distressed Claire but she didn’t really know what to do. Instead she could only ask, “Did-… did Papa hurt you, Mama?”

Agnes was so taken aback she could speak for a moment and when she did the words came out in a rush. She could not fathom which was worse: that her children knew about the fight or that a daughter thinks her father would strike her mother.

“No! By the Walls, sweetie. No he would never. I am fine. Truly, I am. How about you?” Agnes asked, trying to regain composure while effectively deflecting the question back to Claire as she pulled back to get a good look at her daughter.

She was fine besides her troubled heart. But she could not say that out loud because if she was like that, how much more would the toll be on a child?

“I was… scared, Mama.” Claire said looking away.

“Oh my baby!”

The sight broke Agnes’ heart. Tears spilled before she could stop them and she hastily wiped them away, resolved not to break down in front of her daughter.

Claire has always been so open but here she was, having to be the one to try and comfort her own mother while uncertainly broaching a subject she never should have had to experience.

They were beating around the bush which they didn’t used to do but Agnes had not the heart to address matters yet. But she knew she must.

It was important to provide a sense of security for her daughter, specially in the situation they were in.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Claire, sweetheart.”

“I thought you and Papa no longer loved each other…”

“Of course not! Claire Agatha Fords! What made you think that?!” Agnes hissed in surprise. For the second time in less that five minutes she was rendered shocked beyond comprehension she had to use the full name but still had the mind to keep her voice low.

“Because-! Y-you always say people who love each other mustn’t fight… and-… and Papa was yelling at you and you were crying!”

Agnes sighed in defeat. They weren’t exactly setting a good example last night.

“Listen to me, sweetheart. Sometimes… sometimes Mama and Papa… have misunderstandings.” She paused finding it incredibly hard to explain things that didn’t used to be a problem in their family.

“Just like you and your brothers, right?” she teased tentatively, poking at the tip of her daughter’s nose eliciting a halfhearted giggle. “It is normal for grownups too. Only it gets more… serious. But what do I always say when you and your brothers fight? What is important is that you get to talk, sort matters out, and make up because that’s what people do when they love each other. The same applies for Papa and I.”

“… But you haven’t made up yet…”

“W-we are working on it, baby. It’s just that when the fights- misunderstandings are more serious they take more time to fix.”

“… So you still love Papa and he still loves you back?”

“Of course, sweetie. Do you stop loving Alec when he scolds you? Bran when he makes fun of you?”

“No…”

“See? Now cheer up. I thought you said we’ll be alright, hm?” Agnes cupped her daughter’s face in her hands. “Won’t you smile for Mama?”

Claire’s face broke into a cheeky grin and soon she found her cheeks a target of series of kisses from her mother.

Her laughter filled the pantry and Agnes found herself wishing she could stay stuck in that moment. Just like she did on Claire’s birthday.

Right before everything changed.

The sound of her daughter’s laughter however grounded her emotions, a reminder that they indeed will be alright. That despite such circumstances, there will always be light. There will always be moments when things would be as close to normal as possible.

Claire’s laughter carried throughout the confines of the hospital even Dr. Babin couldn’t help but smile at the sound of it. The presence of the mother and child brought an undeniable change in the atmosphere and it was something he could get used to.

“Shall we get going, Charles?” Amon asked as he stood by the doorway of the pantry a satchel already across his body while he held Claire’s by the strap.

Agnes’ face became grave once more and she pulled back to hold her daughter at arms length by the shoulders. “Whatever you do, you stick by Amon’s side. Keep your head down. Do your rounds quick and be back by 4. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mama.”

“You kids be careful, alright?” Dr. Babin called out.

Agnes walked them to the back door and Claire gave her mother’s hand a gentle squeeze before whispering, “I love you, Mama.”

She got a kiss on the forehead just as usual before letting go and Amon opened the door to lead her as they embarked on their delivery duty around the Underground.

Claire slung her bag across her small frame and breathed in the dank air. She unconsciously pulled her beret a little lower and she hunched beside Amon.

“Let’s go,” he said.

< Chapter 6 | Chapter 8 >

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[kyber-crystal]

Unspoken Words

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Words: 4.2k (I POPPED OFF LOLLLLL)

Summary: In which the night before being deployed on a covert black-ops mission overseas with Natasha, you write Steve a secret love letter that you never intended to give him. But, it still ends up falling into his hands.

Warnings: fluff, soft angst, cute steve hehe

A/N: once again, shamelessly stole this idea from the kdrama im watching adsfasdf

To Steve.

You always told me it was time I found someone who cared for me just as much as I cared about others. For the longest time, I had myself believing I was set for life since I already had the team. That I didn’t need to find a man to sweep me off my feet and take his last name, to have as my own, as every time I seemed to let my feelings wander astray, it’d end in tragedy.

After waiting for too long to say this, I guess I'm gonna come clean now, so brace yourself. I felt as if this would be easier for me if I was saying it on paper rather than in person, so here you go.

I realized I'm in love with you. You never leave my mind. You're always there, mentally, if not physically. It's hard for you to comprehend all at once, I know, it's hard for me to wrap my mind around, too. It still feels unreal that I'm actually admitting all this to you. I could've sworn I'd only acted this way in my dreams, but hey, reality can sometimes come up behind you and slap you in the face, you know?

In the middle of the storm, a war that rages on in my mind, you’re my safe haven. You’re the gentle center who keeps me steady and prevents me from teetering over the edge and losing my grip on reality. You keep me centered, and I don’t know what I’d do without you by my side. Steven Grant Rogers, I’m in love with you. I know, it doesn’t seem real. As crazy as it sounds, I’m hopelessly in love with you.

Steve, you are my one stability in a chaos-ridden world and I thank you endlessly for that. I so desperately needed something to hold onto, something to convince me I was still alive and breathing and somewhat sane. It's hard for me, it's hard that only today I've accepted the feelings I'd been harboring inside for years. But I've decided to admit defeat and admit I've officially fallen in love with you. Because what I'm beginning to feel now is far too strong for me to ignore; it's impossible to keep up this act when you're all I can seem to think about.

It's all strange, honestly. The feeling of butterflies flying around my stomach and tickling my insides makes me feel as if I'm up in the sky, my head in the clouds, but it also overwhelms me and makes me scared at the same time. The fact that I'm in so deeply in love scares me because I know when I'm really in love with someone, it's hard to escape once I've completed the act of falling for them.

Weird, right? Who knew the great Y/N was so capable of being a romantic sap?

It feels dangerous yet completely safe at the same time, as if someone's given me peace and my heart is dancing around in my chest because it's so happy, at the same time there is a Captain America-shaped hole there in the center that I was never aware was there in the beginning. My chest aches at the thought of having to leave you or you not reciprocating my feelings, but I know I might just suffer that fate, since the world as I know it, isn't kind whatsoever. I should know this better than anyone, after fighting countless battles.

It scares me more than excites me, how you can go from being really close friends to then being completely infatuated and in love with them and wondering how you were ever able to go on with your daily life without them, because I sure as hell can't imagine that now. In the beginning, I told myself it's not right, I still had so much of my life ahead of me, so much time to plan out what I'm going to end up like in the future but my brain is screaming no, no, it is right, it's meant to be.

The team tries convincing me to do something about it but I'm terrified. Terrified that I'll have to bring down the thick and heavy walls I spent so much time building up in the fears of being hurt and damaged and my heart shattered to a million jagged pieces.

I know most people would consider me to be foolish and naïve for spilling my feelings through a sappy love letter, but it's true when I say I love you so much more than I could ever love myself. You're my best friend, and as cheesy as it sounds, you are my everything. My anchor.

I fell for you all on my own. Not because I was pressured to or anything, but because I made the decision myself. I don't just give my heart to you by default as if there's no one else available for me to open up to. It's because I choose to. Every day that I wake up, every day we're fighting for our lives or fighting each other or going about a normal day or whatever, I'll keep choosing you over and over again, and I hope someday you'll do the same.

I love you more than you know. And if you don't feel the same way, then it's perfectly fine. I understand, and I'll wait for you as long as it takes, no matter what.

Whatever it takes.

Y/N

You let out a long sigh and set down your pen, folding the paper up into fourths and tucking it under your lamp before pushing yourself away from your desk and standing up, stretching your arms in the air. What even was the point of doing that, anyways? It’s not like Steve’s just going to come in here and read the letter. 

The downside of living with the Avengers was that word got around very quickly, especially about your love life. There was no hiding anything from anyone, as they’d find out one way or another. If Tony didn’t find out first, it was Natasha, Sam, or Bucky who did.

“Hey, Nat,” you spoke without turning your head to look at who was behind you, knowing your red-headed best friend was leaning against the doorframe, observing you carefully. 

“Y/N,” Natasha nodded and made her way inside, sitting at the edge of your bed and you took a seat next to her, as she rested her head on your shoulder. “You alright? I can tell something’s on your mind.”

You shook your head. “I’m fine.”

“Something tells me you’re not.”

“Did Wanda read my mind for you?” you raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

“No, she didn’t,” she replied honestly, “she’s busy baking cookies with Vis and Peter right now. You think you wanna tell me what’s up? As your best friend, I’m obligated to know what’s going on.”

You closed your eyes and let out a long sigh. "You know what it is."

"You mean who?"

"Why am I letting this happen to myself?"

"You can't control who you fall for,," she explained. "Your heart sometimes just has a mind of its' own."

“He’s Captain America,” you deadpanned.

“And you’re the badass Y/N!”

“I shouldn’t even have feelings in the first place. And I shouldn't have written that love letter that I won't even give him anyways, or...you know."

"You wrote him a letter?"

You got up and tugged the letter from underneath your lamp and gave it to her, watching as her eyes scanned over the paper with your tidy, typewriter-like handwriting filling the sheet from top to bottom.

"So..."

Natasha handed the paper back to you. "Why can't you just tell him?"

"Because he doesn’t like me back."

"You should tell him at some point. Keeping this all to yourself isn't healthy."

"You sound like Tony."

She chuckled lightly. "What?It's the truth."

"Fine," you threw your hands up in the air in defeat, "I’ll consider telling him after we get back from Kyiv. I’m only considering it. And if I do confess...will you take me out for shawarma? Bucky took me last time and I barely got to eat anything because he stole most of my food."

"Alright, I promise," she laughed. "You got a deal."

...

SHIELD was always taking advantage of your almost unparalleled skill in the art of covert espionage and hand to hand combat and sending you off. Normally, it would last no longer than a few days or weeks at a time, so to hear that you'd be gone for four whole months made Steve feel sick to his stomach. He was dreading having to watch you leave, because it would mean spending the next third of a year by himself, without being able to see your face or your smile or simply have you around for some good company.

You pulled him aside after dinner one night to tell him the news.

"Nat and I were called in by Fury early this morning. We're being deployed to eastern Europe to stop a nuclear missile launch."

"How long will you be gone?" He tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, but it was a dead giveaway that he didn't want you to go at all.

"Well...if things go right, 3-4 months."

"And if doesn't?"

"Six, maybe seven."

Steve felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at your answer. "Why is it gonna take so long?"

"I don't know," you sighed, "just trying getting in and out isn't a very short process. We have to maintain low profile for a while before we infiltrate the base. If we're discovered too early on...then...well, we're basically screwed."

"Oh."

"Hey, I'm going to be fine, if that's what you're so worried about," you took his hand in yours and squeezed it tightly, "I know you're thinking I can't handle this, but I can. Nat and I are gonna look out for each other. I promise I'll be okay."

"When are you leaving?"

"First thing in the morning. We gotta go at four."

You didn't have to add on another sentence to tell him it meant you were unable to say goodbye to anyone. He nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat and trying to ignore that weird feeling in his chest as you kept holding his hand, not letting go even when you had the chance to.

Later that night, you were able to get five hours of sleep before Natasha came in to wake you up and you got ready. When she noticed how your eyes had lost the light to them and your shoulders slumped as you boarded the jet, she knew something was up.

Guilt clawed at your insides. You should’ve told him you loved him before you left, you idiot. What if you don’t make it back alive? Hm?

A set of footsteps echoing across the hangar bay suddenly made you turn around. You turned around to see Steve, jogging towards you and calling out your name. Knowing it was only a matter of minutes before you finished boarding and took off for a mission thousands of miles away, with very little ways of communication as you were supposed to be as discreet as possible when undercover, he didn't want you to leave without saying goodbye.

A mix of surprise and relief is on your face when you see him. You shake your head and give him a reassuring look, that everything was going to be okay and you'd be just fine.

"What are you doing here? You should be sleeping," your brows furrowed together in confusion as you unloaded your weapons, tying up your combat boots. "I thought you—"

Steve quickly comes forward and crushes you into a tight embrace that tells you he's going to miss you much more than he's letting on. You were quick to return the gesture, wrapping your arms around his torso and squeezing him back, resting your head against his broad chest.

"Stay safe out there," he murmured into your hair, pressing a light, fleeting kiss to the top of your hair.

You don't question his sudden act of sentiment, and just gave him a small smile in response. "Don't worry. I will."

With that, you turned around, stepping back up the ramp with Natasha. The gates to the hangar bay slid open, and within seconds you had taken off.

Steve stands there for a while even after the Quinjet is out of his sight, and it's only when Bucky pulls him back inside that he realizes he's been standing there for over an hour without moving at all.

The first few weeks pass by in a blur. He hardly eats, he hardly sleeps, he hardly even gets up for his morning runs or trains at all. After the first two months came and went, Tony grew rather concerned seeing him deteriorate and decided to ask him what was going on.

"Tony, I'm fine."

"Like hell you are. What's up with you? You haven't eaten a solid meal in over two months. You've lost some weight around your face, you almost look like a skeleton. When you haven't gone on your morning runs in forever, I should have a reason to be worried about you, Cap."

"It's been five weeks and she hasn't checked in with us yet," he stated plainly, gulping down his third cup of coffee of the day. "She should've called a week ago."

"God, I never thought you'd be the one to get so worked up over a girl," the billionaire let out a long sigh, pouring himself a cup of coffee as well at the kitchen counter before taking a seat at the island next to him, "but here we are now."

"What if she got injured?"

"Her and Nat are looking out for each other. I'm sure she's fine. She's going to be okay, so why don't you eat something solid for once? Tell me what you wanna order, I'll get it for you."

Thanks, Tony. I'll take Thai." (You and Steve often ate Thai takeout together.)

"Anytime."

Way over in Ukraine, you and Natasha were sitting on the bed in your hotel room watching the news on TV in silence because neither one of you felt like sleeping yet, until she decided to speak up.

"Why haven't you called Rogers yet?"

"I...don't know."

"He's gotta be missing you like hell, you know."

"I know. And I miss him too...a bit too much. That's why I can't call him. Because every time I hear his voice or see something that reminds me of him, it makes me fall even more in love with him and I can't afford having that. I don't want to risk getting hurt. Besides...I already summoned every last ounce of willpower to write that letter."

"You really should give him a call. It's not doing your heart any good to purposely drain yourself of him."

"Fine."

Steve had somehow allowed himself to get roped into a Mario Kart showdown with Bucky and Sam, when his phone suddenly lit up with a familiar number he could recognize anywhere. Your contact picture filled up the screen: you grinning wildly as his arms wrapped around you from behind, Pietro photobombing in the back as he made heart signs with his hands.

He picked up the phone and answered it after only one ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Steve," you spoke over the phone, "how's it going?"

"Hey," he couldn't help but break into a smile, "are you alright?"

"Yeah. We got the data files downloaded onto the flash drive and then destroyed it yesterday. So for now, we're just waiting around and maybe doing some tours of Kyiv while we have time."

"What time is it over there?"

"Half past midnight. You?"

"2:30."

"How are you holding up?"

Bucky and Sam looked over at that exact moment, wiggling their eyebrows up and down as they gestured for Steve to say something. "I'm doing fine. Got pulled into a Mario Kart deathmatch with the two idiots."

"Tell Bucky and Sam I send my regards and that I'm bringing back those baguettes I promised for when we stop over in Paris," you told him.

"I will. It's good to hear your voice, Y/N."

You couldn't help but feel your heart flutter at those words. "It's good to hear your voice, too. Look, I'm sorry...but it's getting late, and my data on my phone is low, Fury didn't give me an unlimited plan so I gotta go now. See you soon."

"Okay. Try to get some good sleep, alright? I don't want you getting hurt because you didn't get a good night's rest the night before. See you."

"COME ON, MAN!" Sam yelled as soon as you hung up. "You didn't even have the decency to say 'I love you?'"

"I love her, but not like that."

"Sure you don't. I saw the way your face lit up when you picked up the phone."

"Two months," the super-soldier let out a sigh of disappointment, setting down the controller to watch him and Bucky tear each other apart on Rainbow Road, "two more months."

He picked up his phone again and clicked on his camera roll, mindlessly beginning to scroll through until one picture caught his eye. It was during summer break when you were vacationing in the Bahamas for two weeks along with several SHIELD agents, and Coulson had taken the team picture. Fury had somehow been convinced to come along as well.

As his eyes scanned all the faces in the picture, he came across himself and noticed that he wasn't smiling at the camera, but at you instead, and you were doing the same. Both of you, gazing into each others' eyes as if the two of you were the only people left on Earth.

He felt a pang in his chest as he realized, at that moment, that he was in love with you and hadn't gotten the chance to tell you so before you left. And now, it could be too late.

The letter ends up reaching Steve much faster than you'd anticipated it to. The next day, he went to drop off the sweatshirt you left in his room last time you’d had a movie night together and comes across a single sheet of paper lying out on your desk.

All the color quickly drains from his face when he realizes this wasn't actually meant for him to read. He knows what he'd just done was wrong, but the fact that he was so oblivious to how you felt about him makes him feel even worse.

...

The mission had gone extremely well. You and Natasha were in and out of that base probably faster than you could summon Tony after yelling out that one of his suits had been tampered with.

Natasha thought it'd be fun to surprise him by coming back a month early and could tell instantly that you loved the idea, judging by the way your eyes lit up when you boarded the Quinjet.

You decided to call him again on the flight back as she sat at the front piloting the jet.

"Steve?"

"Hey. What's up?"

"Uh...I'm afraid there's been a change of plans."

"What plans?" His voice quickly grew worried as he tried masking his disappointment at the fact that you weren't announcing your return.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, I'm sorry, but...I just wanted to call you to update you on what's happening. Signal's not very good up here, Nat and I are flying out again so I'll call you when we touch down."

"Okay. Talk to you in a bit."

After making a quick pit stop at a bakery in Paris, you were up in the skies again, zipping back towards the Avengers HQs where the rest of the team was waiting.

"You know, I think Rogers is in love with you," Natasha gave you a knowing look as you touched down.

"What makes you think that?"

"When you guys were going after Bucky...I think that's when it all happened."

"But that was several years ago?"

"Exactly."

You unbuckled your seatbelts and stood up, picking up your duffel bags as the opening gates dropped down and you stepped off the ramp to an awaiting Bucky, Sam, Clint and Peter.

"Y/N!" Peter rushed forward, squeezing you in a tight hug. "Hi! You're home early!"

"Yeah, I am," you grinned ruffling his hair as you pulled apart. "You make sure Bucky and Sam didn't misbehave?"

Sam shot you a glare as Peter replied. "Well, they were alright. Happy dropped me off here yesterday and I monitored their Mario Kart matches to make sure nobody killed someone, so yeah. Clint was good too."

You went over to Bucky as Natasha went to talk to Sam and Clint about mission details."

"Y/L/N."

"Barnes."

"How was the flight?" His hard expression softened slight as he gave you a quick hug. "I heard everything went pretty well."

"Yeah, it was okay. A bit jet-lagged, but other than that I'm fine. And speaking of flight! I got you guys something."

You motioned for Nat to bring the box of pastries from the jet, and as soon as she did everyone's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Dude, you're the best," Sam exclaimed as he bit into an eclair. "I love Parisian pastries."

"We don't wanna be here too long, now do we?" Clint spoke up. "Y/N, I think you have a special someone to surprise inside."

"Oh?" you raised an eyebrow at the archer before following him and the others inside the compound.

Steve was busy reading a news article on his phone at the kitchen island, sitting there in a plain grey T-shirt and dark jeans when he looked up and met your gaze.

"Hey, soldier," you greeted with a smirk, "miss me?"

His face broke into a grin as he set his phone down. "You're back early."

"Fury was a bit more lenient this time," you shrugged, taking your hands out of your jacket pockets, "so he let us go. Since we got the job done pretty fast."

He chuckled lightly, pulling you close in response and wrapping his strong arms around you. "I'm glad you're back."

"So I take it you really missed me, huh."

"You could put it that way."

"Like hell he missed you. You should've seen him while you were gone, Christ," Sam groaned. "He wouldn't eat anything solid for an entire week."

"Oh!" Wanda piped up, "I believe he has something to tell you? Right, Steve?"

"No, I don't?"

"Uh, we'll leave now, then," Clint awkwardly cleared his throat. "Let's give these two a minute."

With that, they calmly filed out of the kitchen, leaving the two of you to yourselves.

"You look tired," Steve raised an eyebrow at you as he noticed the dark circles under your eyes.

"You look worse," you joked, earning a small laugh from him as you circled your arms around his torso. "I'm just a bit jet-lagged. The ten hour time difference wasn't very kind to me."

"Well, I'm glad you're back," he breathed out, "I missed you."

"Ah, there it is," you mumbled into his chest. "But yeah, I missed you too. And here I was starting to think Captain America didn't have the heart to care for someone so much."

"Only for you, Y/N," he chuckled, pressing a light kiss to your forehead, "only for you."

“Wait a second,” you pulled away and saw a familiar piece of paper sticking out of his jacket pocket, “what’s that?”

Your eyes widened as you pulled it out and realized it was the letter you’d written him several months back. “Oh shit...”

“Was I not supposed to read this?’

“NO!”

“It was addressed to me, though...?”

“I never meant for you to read it!” you hissed, “Now give it back!”

“Ah ah ah! I don’t think so.”

You let out an annoyed groan, going up on your tiptoes to try and snatch the paper out of his hand. “Screw you, Rogers. Why do you have to be so damn tall?”

You jumped up and down in an attempt to get the letter back for several minutes until you finally gave up, arms growing sore. When he towered half a foot above you, it was hopeless.

Your hands landed against his chest as you let them fall and you just stood there for a few seconds, or minutes, maybe, in utter silence, with his warm breath falling against your neck and you hated yourself for wanting this moment to last longer. 

The air was suddenly buzzing with anticipation, like the world was holding its breath to see what was to come next. Steve’s gaze lingered on your lips before he tilted his head downwards, placing a hand on the small of your back and pulling you in for a kiss. 

His lips met your own so softly, so gently that you swore that you were dreaming for a split second, and you let out a sigh as your arms slid around his waist and tightened their grip around him. 

“In case I haven’t made it obvious enough, either,” he hummed, “I’m in love with you too.”

You felt heat rise up your cheeks. “You weren’t supposed to read that!”

“Too bad,” he smirked, resting his chin on your head, “I read it already, three times. You bet I’ll be keeping this for myself.”

“I hate you so much.”

“That’s not what the letter says.”

“I hate you.”

“You love me.”

“No I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

“Fine! I love you.”

Steve laughed lightly. “I love you too, Y/N.”

[cutegirlmayra]

Classic sonamy prompt if I may ask, Sonic has just finished up another adventure and is telling Rosy to go home. When she refuses he offers to take her there himself. Except Rosy refuses because she's homeless and too ashamed to tell Sonic so she lies and says her house was robbed! Like the whole thing stolen. Sonic tries to find the house and the lie gets too big until finally Rosy comes clean embarrassed. Sonic not wanting his friend to suffer lets her stay with him and builds a house for her.

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PROMPTS--GUESS WHAT?--THAT’S RIGHT! SHUTDOWN. Don’t send me’em. I’ll tell your mom.

Pajama Blogs - Prompt Requests - Ep 1 (x) - Time where I discussed thoughts on this prompt idea before probably changing the entire concept? (37:05)

Prompt:

Tumbling down from the air, a large explosion blasts the latest Robotnik BossEgg as Classic Sonic lands triumphantly and stands up, holding Rosy the Rascal in his arms, otherwise known as Classic Amy Rose.

Eggman seems to cry out and shake his fist, but breathes smoke in and starts coughing, so he isn’t able to pursue as Sonic smirks up to him and races off.

Eggman turns around and cries out, gripping his head when his ‘mountain base’ suddenly blasts in small degrees, his mustaches--which were metal plates placed on the mountain--droop down to show sorrow and then the whole thing explodes.

Having no where to go... he slumps down and flies off, cursing Sonic’s name and threatening a bigger and even better plan for next time!

“That’ll show’em!” Amy cheers, kicking her legs out as she looks behind Sonic’s shoulder. “Let’s see how he likes his home being trashed up by a bunch of... of... uhh... Well, if robots destroy our home, would living things attacking his be the same counterpart?” she turned back to relax in his arms and put her finger to her mouth, still working on those ‘witty catchphrases and comebacks’ which she had learned was something Sonic was fond of.

To be more adored, she tried to implement them, but it didn’t seem to effect this ‘one-track mind’ hero.

She blinked up at him, seeing he was focused on running, and smiled sweetly with admiration. Her eyes arched and she nestled herself back to being comfortable for the ride. “Nevermind~ We’re both safe, that’s all that counts.”

“Speaking of homes,”

Just as Classic Amy was about to close her eyes, drift off into her dream of Classic Sonic cradling her on his run for hours, letting her soak in that idealized delight; he hard braked and sent her head jerking forward.

“W-woooah!” she clung as a reflex tightly to his head and adjusted to around his arms as he skidded against the ground.

When her squinted eyes blinked wide open again, she looked to see her handsome hero looking down at her.

She waited a second, not having heard much of a ‘peep’ out of him, but having heard of his snarky attitude before. It seems he only really spoke comfortably in front of Eggman--of all people--and his closest friends.

“Where’s yours?” He smiled, capturing her in an array of hearts as twirling flowers floated around her vision, windmilling into her view to drown out reality.

He raised an eyebrow and leaned in a bit when he saw her distracted, “Uhh... Amy?”

She blinked, as though trying to lure him closer.

He frowned, “Lalaland is not considered a home.” he put her down, and she actually did find that a bit funny, though... it was probably meant to be more of an off-handed insult, she knew he wasn’t trying to hurt her feelings in anyway.

He just wasn’t one to let a good joke slip by.

He put a hand to his hip and shook his head up to the clouds, as though silently conversing with them how odd but innocent this girl was.

He looked back to her with a look of disappointment, as though to get her ‘head in the game’ and waited for her to answer him with a sharp, “No offense, but I’d rather get you home safely than concern myself with idle... uh... staring...” he itched his nose and looked down when he noticed she was still glued to him, her hands up by her chin and intertwined together as she openly showed her unwavering crush on him.

He knew he was handsome, but this... was a bit much to ask for.

“Amy...” He looked embarrassed, not sure how to ‘snap’ her out of it, and pulled away to try and create some space between her piercing eyes of sparkling wonder and awe of love... hoping to not have imaginary strings looping around him like a cowgirl to her prized hog.

“You’re my ultimate distraction~” she flirted, “Nothing you can do about that...”

He gruffed.

“And for your information, Lalaland is free of charge~” she moved up and tried to flick his nose, but as he avoided, he struggled to regain balance and started swaying on his one leg.

She giggled as he hopped to the side to get away from her and plant both feet down firmly. He gave her a look like he wasn’t one to just let a girl get the better of him, but she persisted further. “I have a beautiful residency there... If you ever feel like dropping by~” she batted her eyelashes, but moved her hands behind her back and swayed herself, just being girlie and trying to out-smart him.

“I hear rent’s cheap when you’re a squatter.”

“Ah!” she puffed up a cheek and stomped her foot to him, “Well, that’s not a nice thing to say to a pretty girl!”

“Glad you have the confidence. Looks like you don’t need a man, or anyone else for that matter, to tell you it for you.” He dusted himself off, turning away from her before sneaking in a pretty proud grin on his face. He wasn’t going to let her get away with such terrible flirting like that.

“Anyway, I’ve got things to do. Alone.” He folded his arms and faced his back to her, but was sure to stick his nose in the air, just for good measure. “It’s not safe running around this Zone with so many Badniks still afoot.”

“Doesn’t that mean you missed some?”

His face seemed to scrunch at her obvious dig.

“Why not let me help out in getting rid of them?” She cutely turned around to give him her full attention, offering to assist as she knew he loved to ‘clean up the leftovers’ just for sport after beating Robotnik. “I’ve been practicing with my hammer a lot more now and-!” She summoned it out, holding it firmly as memories of training away from towns by trying to knock over trees ran through her mind.

All those long days... the radio on in case of any news of him, and her constant efforts to knock down a firm tree in three blows, which was her first ever combo she learned with her new toy.

Proud to show off her new strength, she began to ramble as Sonic slowly turned his head and looked curiously back at her instrument of destruction.

“A hammer?” he inquired, leaning to look it over, but trying to keep his ‘aloof’ nature present.

“Yeah! I wasn’t too sure if I should it since it might have thrown your running off center, b-but...” she nervously began to feel her heart flutter when he showed interest in her magical item, and began to blush and dip her head down, turning her flushing cheeks away from him and closing her eyes as she continued. “D-do you think you’d like to help me try?”

“...Try and what?” he fully dropped the act and turned around, offering his hands to show he wanted to hold and examine the hammer closer.

She mistook his intent, and excitedly ‘poof’ed the hammer away placed her hands in his own.

He slowly... looked up to her with lowered eyelids to show his annoyance.

She giggled with hearts popping from around her head.

“...You really don’t know when to quit, do you?” he chuckled out, and she realized she was slightly winning him over.

He removed his hands and shook them out, “Alright! One round around the Zones! No more or less!” he wagged his infamous pointer finger to make that statement unquestionable, and then gave her a legendary wink. “Sure you’re up for a few tips and tricks?”

She almost melted fully to the ground out of all the warm feelings he was giving her.

“Uh-huh~” Her agreeance lengthened by her sinking into such happiness, and seeing as her knees had turned to pudding, she offered him her hand and without hesitation he took it and pulled her back up into a bridal carrying position.

He ducked his head and her nose almost skimmed by his left cheek, “You ready?”

She was careful... when she nodded, she made sure her nose continuing to skim up and down his cheek looked like a hurried accident...

They charged through the Zones, having some fun as he taught her to better aim and invision where the target was going to be before throwing the hammer.

At first, her swings were a little klutzy, but he helped steady her balance. “What’cha gotta do is put your feet apart, like this.” she was too absorbed in his encasing hands over her own while she held the hammer out, feeling the cotton of his gloves smooth around her own that were slightly more thinner than his puffy ones, and trembled to try and remain poised while he taught her.

A moment went by of her just intensely watching his hands on her own as he tried to teach her a proper swing, before stopping and lightly loosening his grip.

“Sorry, am I being too much?” he pulled his arms back and Amy quickly shook her head, releasing all her built-up energy from being overly excited at his attentive teaching style.

“N-no, no, no! Not at all! Don’t let go~” she whispered the last part and looked off and up to the side, her eyes squeezing shut as she hoped he didn’t notice her blushing.

He did...

His eyes almost furled up as though he had been betrayed, forgetting a moment how she was like, and moved away from her.

He tapped his toe, realizing she wasn’t taking any of his advice seriously, and decided to be mad about it. “So, where’s your home again?”

“S-sorry! I’ll behave! I promise!” she shrieked, her hammer disappearing as she waved her arms about. After perfectly being thrown up into the air to then land squarely on a rooming Badnik, Sonic just had some awkward sweat drip down the side of his face.

“Wow, innate learner...” He muttered to himself, seeing as she actually had caught on to some things. He gave her a sideways look, seeing her wail and plea which made him uncomfortable.

Forgiving her, he just turned his head away from her and closed his eyes, “Alright, alright, enough already. It’s not my style to watch people beg.” he scratched his head, not sure what to do with her if she refused to let him take her back. “But it’s getting late, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving you all alone in the open like this.” he earnestly tried to tell her his thoughts and straightened up, playing the noble hero--which was already naturally within his heart--he tried to speak more plainly to her.

“I really should be getting you somewhere safe.”

“Oh, but... Sonic...” She moved closer up to him, making his eyes widened in curiosity at how sincere she looked.

She gently lowered her eyes and smiled, as though trying to create bubbles of light and sparkles around herself, “I’m already safe... right here with you.” she took his hands as he grew nervous, his mouth wagging open on the corners of his lower lip at how direct and unabashed this little girl could be.

“Uhhuhuhhuhh,” He didn’t know how to respond, and it was like his brain was going on a straight line to cut off all activity from her outrageous actions.

She pulled herself a little closer to him, “Maybe... you don’t have to send me anywhere... but we could just gaze up at the stars all night and talk about our future togeth-OFFPH!”

He shoved his head into hers, the hardness of the top of his head smashing her mouth closed as he then pulled away, adjusting his gloves as she rubbed her face in frustration.

“Serves you right for being so shameless.” he knew he hadn’t hurt her, but just shoved her mouth full of quills to silence her continual flirting.

“W-why you...” She twitched an eyebrow, seeing that wooing the man of her dreams might not be as easy as all those fairytale princesses made it out to be.

“If you’re so obsessed with sleeping under the stars, why not fly yourself to the moon?” He stuck out his tongue and dipped his lower-eyelid down. “Waybe when I wouwn’t wave to see yowr wittle wace anywore.” he spoke with his tongue out to taunt her and suddenly she was fuming.

Her arms shook down from her face, as enraged as any tigress, and charged after him. His gleeful expression as he took off and let her chase him lasted for a little while as they played the game of chase.

He kept taunting her, jumping up on a rock and spanking his butt while doing the same mocking gestures to get her to come after him, watching as he would jump and curl up to see the rock he was on get shattered to pieces by her fury.

He uncurled with a few bounces and pulled his arms up as though leisurely jogging, smiling as he was actually testing her further to see how well she really could battle.

‘She’s trying so hard to stay by my side...’ he thought to himself, seeing her calling out with embarrassed fury as she kept swinging and narrowly missing him.

He ducked, freaking out a moment, before sighing in relief, then looking as though happy and proud of her accomplishments. ‘Her aim has increased... Maybe... she was taking my teaching seriously after all.’ It made him glad that he could have moments with her that weren’t just all her feelings, but could be some of his own interests as well.

He plopped himself on another rock and stood like a gymnasts, his two hands positioned in front and below him, which kept him upright, as his legs went straight out ahead of him. “Is that all you got, Rascal?” he teased, smirking widely as he purposefully wore her out to make her more accommodating to his request in sending her homeward.

 “I’m bound... ha... ha... to catch up to you ... ha... ha... someday, Sonic... ha... ha... The Hedgehoooogggg...” she collapsed after making her way over to the boulder, and Sonic’s expression changed to a sweetness as he extended mercy by jumping stylishly off the rock and falling to a knee, offering her his hand. “I.. won’t... give up...” her shoulders bounced as she was on her knees, her arms shaking slightly at their exertion.

Sonic’s eyes bent and in his eyes... he truly knew what she meant.

“I know.” he stated, “But that doesn’t mean a mighty heroine doesn’t deserve a break.”

She was caught by his tender reply and looked over to him, amazed he was acting so kindly again to her.

“W-what happened?” she innocently blinked her eyes, and he laughed at her cuteness.

“I’m just glad you’re having fun.” He stated, and once again shook his arm, “Come on, come on... it’s time to head on back.”

“Ah, you’ll let me stay with you?” her eyes shined.

“No.”

She felt her whole world crash on her, “W-WHATTT???” she exclaimed, “B-but... we were having a moment...” she did her best ‘shaking hedgie eyes’ to make him reconsider.

“Ah-ah-ah.” He got up and shook his pointer finger, “Haven’t you heard? I’m immune to negotiations.” he played along.

“Even cute ones?” she pouted her lip and tilted her head.

For a moment, when Sonic’s eyes met hers, the rising dark shadows of the skies couldn’t block her gentle enticements of beauty from him.

He felt a breath quicken in through his nose and crawl down his lungs, holding itself there as though lodging itself there and wouldn’t move.

It was so fast that Amy didn’t even notice the momentary pupil dilation before he turned away from her and put his hands on his hips.

“...I already said I was taking you back. I keep my word.”

She felt some form of heartache, realizing that no matter how adorable she tried to look, or breathtakingly gorgeous she thought she must have looked in her mind, he wasn’t ever going to budge in her way.

He took final second to sneak a look behind his shoulder back at her, seeing her cry out that she conceded, and nod that he was right.

“It is late...”

“...Very.” he lowered his eyes, as though meaning she was very- “Ehem!” He cleared his throat, coughing into his hand and looking away again, “Very persistent. I don’t understand how anyone can keep up with you.”

“No one but you.”

He turned back as she sweetly praised him, but rolled it off his shoulders and stood a bit taller... not realizing she had boosted his ego a bit there.

“Naturally.” he smiled wider, rubbing his finger under his nose. “I’m the fastest thing alive, so it’s not uncommon for me to be one step ahead of your scheming.” he then lifted a shoe up and lightly poked her with it, smirking mischievously as though wanting her to chase after him again.

She let little tears build up in her eyes as she pouted, “You’re shooing me away again!”

“Only to keep good little girls like you out of bad little boy’s sights.” he teased again, kicking the foot back behind his other leg and looking like a real slick 90′s kid. “Cool off a little... it’s a compliment.”

“Hmph, I’m sure!” she stomped herself up and dusted off her dress. “Well, you won’t find my house, anyway!”

“Is that so?” He thought she was playing again, but was growing a little annoyed at her stubbornness. “Look, it was fun at first, Amy, but you really gotta tell me what’s going on. Why are you so opposed to going home?”

He buried his head down into his folded arms, trying to look stern on this, and it did intimidate her slightly into realizing he was serious...

She sighed, seeing him soften as she turned away. “It’s... complicated.” she pushed her index fingers together.

“How so?” He wondered... “Eggman..?”

“...N-no...” she didn’t want to lie... but... “Robbers!” She spun around, ‘More than anything... I just want to keep spending more time with you...’ she admitted only to herself in her heart.

“R-robbers?” Sonic broke his stance and suddenly took a step back.

“Thieves of the forest!” she spread her arms out wide, “About twenty of them!”

“...W-what?” He seemed disbelieving, so she nervously looked behind her and thought a second before continuing.

‘He’s not gonna buy this... but it’s worth a try! Hehe! Maybe he’ll think I’m cute for attempting to fool him.’ She turned her head back to him, “It was awful! Ah!” she jumped into his arms as he leaned forward with a perplexed expression before awkwardly having her draped over his chest.

“Come again? Where was this?” he decided to get some details first.

Amy sweated, she didn’t know many places around here... “U-Unimportant. They just came up to me all of a sudden! I was so scared!” she gripped her arms tightly around his back quills, nuzzling herself deeper into his chest as he squirmed from how uncomfortable this was.

“W-wah-what? Inside your house?” he wanted to keep investigating, but the odd sensation of her prickly head and soft cheeks against his underbelly really didn’t make it easy for him to concentrate on her story.

As he flinched and wriggled from the touch, not daring to move her, she smirked with a twinkle in her eye.

‘Got’em!’ she smirked, before pretending to act in distress again. “Ohh! Sonic! You don’t understand!”

“Then help me to understand.” he pulled her away, gently this time, but with added worry. He put his head leveled to hers, so she could focus and look directly in his eyes. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, acting as though she was close to actual tears, pulling her hands in. “We... We can’t go back there, Sonic! I’m too... Ah! Afraid~” she tried to ‘swoon’ into his arms, having her hand lift up to her forehead and have the back of it dramatically positioned there but Sonic caught her from landing on him again.

“Now, hold on. Didn’t you say you felt safe with me?” he blinked with a frown, not going to allow her theatrics to play around much longer.

She pouted, deciding he needed further persuasion...

“Uh... Well... They took the whole house!” she hollered out, “Oh, Sonic, My hero, Hold me~” she cried, turning around to try and better get her arms around his neck but he held her out and slowly reclined back... and that’s when she knew... his annoyed expression...

“You’re just as sneaky as ever...” he puffed out.

“...D-don’t you believe a helpless little-AH!”

He threw her lying behind right up over his shoulder, keeping her there as punishment as she squirmed.

“H-hey! Nooo! Soooonic!! P-put me down, now!”

He yawned, feeling her light pats against his head and back as she ‘struggled’ but knew somewhere deep down she was probably enjoying the further ‘play’ anyway.

He kept one arm down by his hip, but lifted it up to shrug. “Oh well, if you don’t have a home, I guess you’ll have to stay with me the rest of your life, huh, Amy?”

She immediately dropped her pretend, her eyes full of stars as she gleefully grinned. ‘Success!’ she cheered within her mind.

“...Is what you want me to say, right?”

She deflated... “Ohhh....”

“Come on, Amy... Enough games.” He looked back up to her, waiting with his ear turned to her for the truth. “What’s really keeping you so adamant?”

“...Okay, you got me.” She knew she couldn’t keep it up for long. “I... My house... it kinda...”

She then took on a serious expression, pulling out a hankie and blowing into it, “It’s in the sky now, Sonic! Whahaa!”

“...What?” he deadpanned.

“Those robbers they... they cut it up into tiny pieces! It’s gone, Sonic. There’s nothing left of it! My beautiful, beautiful home. Taken before it’s prime!”

He heard her blow into the hankie and shut his mouth.

“...Guess I’ll have to find every last piece of it... and rebuild it myself...” His eyebrow twitched. ‘There has to be a limit to this girl’s presumptuous mannerisms!’

...Had he finally found his match?

Someone to equal his own obscure, reckless nature?

Someone who would consistently not fail to banter till there was no time left on the clock?

“I’ll ask one more time...”

Amy shivered in fear, “You... You wouldn’t do anything ungentlemanly now... w-would you?”

His eyes revealed he was at his limit to her shenanigans.

“Eep!” she threw up the white handkerchief and forfeited, “Okay, okay! In all honesty, I-... I don’t want to part from you, but the reason I won’t tell you where my house is is because... because... I’m... homeless...” she lowered her head.

“That’s it-!” he put both hands on her hips over his shoulder and was about to charge her through a very unpleasant ‘joyride’ to interrogate her into learning some humility but she flailed.

“No, no, wait! This time, it’s the truth!” she waved her arms about, “Please, this time, you gotta believe me! I live on a town’s alley with a box and a blanket!”

He paused...

“You’re not making this up to get pity out of me... right?” he slightly glared back up at her, and she nodded, pulling her hands in and bundling them up by her chin.

“I swear, Sonic. I’m not just kidding around or playing this time... I could show you but...” she looked away, “I wash my clothes because a nice lady thinks I’m sweet and cute... I help her fold her laundry and her children’s bibs in the morning so she pays for my clothes and I secretly sneak out the back and spray the pool water on me while it’s too early for anyone to be up yet...”

He lowered his head, this isn’t what he wanted to hear...

Everything was getting too complicated... She shouldn’t be admitting this to him.

“For food, I usually track berries, but I got here from some traveling gypsies who taught me Tarot cards and treated me very well. They also showed me how to... I don’t steal, so I just performed little fortune tellings here and there to make some money, but it’s only enough for about a week’s worth of food... hence why I help the lady...”

He put her down, “That’s enough.” he stated, closing his eyes. “You didn’t need to tell me all that... I believe you.”

She pulled away, feeling like he may think she’s stinky or pitiful, and scrunched up the ends of her skirt, looking embarrassed.

“I’m sorry... I really do like you, Sonic The Hedgehog... but I’m not much of a ...” her bottom-lip quivered. “Lady... as you deserve.” she was on the verge of tears. “But if I didn’t have such humble beginnings... maybe then... I’d be pretty enough to get you to watch the stars with me one night...” she sucked in her breath, dashing off to avoid any further shame before Sonic immediately caught her mid-turn and pulled her back, not letting her escape. “Ah!”

“... I wash my shoes in the lakes and rivers...”

His voice was... empathetic.

“My best friend is an orphan... the other is the last of his kind.”

He stared at her... no judgement.

Her eyes... shined with the love she could see from his enormous heart.

“We all stay in a roughly build placed by a beach... next to a crashed plane.”

“Sonic...” her eyes shook, realizing...

“I’m not the big-shot hero everyone thinks me to be either,” He took a powerful breath in and held it, showing pride as he looked away, recollected himself, and then narrowed his eyes to her. “There’s no shame in being unwanted, alone, or without anything to your name besides your skills and talents... Regardless of what you think a ‘Lady’ qualifies as to be worthy...” he walked up and lightly patted her head,

“...Lalaland is nothing like a warm bed. I’ll give you all of what I’ve found and have collected over the years, so you can be safe too.”

Her heart expanded, and she never knew a man could love someone as unlady-like as it could get. She was without anything... and yet...

He still built a side shack for her on the beach, inviting her in as she insisted on cooking for the boys, and becoming... apart of their team.