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pepper-up-potion · 3 years

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Humor me (George Weasley x fem!reader)

Summary: Reader can't stand George Weasley but over time she realizes he might be a good addition to her life.

Warnings: crying, angst, let me know if I missed any.

Word count: 5.5k (this is my longest fic so far!)

A/n: I still don't know how to feel about this. A part of me likes it and a part of me feels it could be better. This is my first enemies to lovers and it was very very fun.

———

“Thanks (y/n)! I can always count on you, you’re a lifesaver.” Shouts Neville as he runs down the hall and towards his next class. (Y/n) had helped him put healing salve and a bandage on his cut hand.

“Anytime!” She smiles as she watches him stumble away. She pulls out her book and sits back down on the windowsill.

“Humour me.” Says a foreign voice.

She looks up frowning. “I’m sorry?” She asks politely.

“When was the last time you did something for yourself?” Asks the red-haired boy.

“What are you talking about? I’m doing that right now.” She points to her book: Charms for first years

“That’s weird because I could’ve sworn you were in my charms class and not in first year.” He argues, shoving his hand in his pockets and clicking his tongue.

“Well I’m helping out a first-year next period but I enjoy doing that so I am doing something for myself.” She explains, slightly irritated.

“You can’t be serious?” He waits but she offers no response. She only lifts her nose at him. “That is not taking time for yourself. That’s preparing to help someone else.”

Her nostrils flare as she abruptly snaps her books shut. She shoves it into her bag before swinging it over her shoulder. She steps towards George. She suddenly realizes how tall he is. She gulps before placing a hand on her hip and pointing a finger at him.

“Listen here, helping other people is a very noble thing and if I wish to spend my free time doing that, I should not have to explain myself.”

“Ah, so you admit that you spend your free time helping other people rather than doing something for yourself?”

George smirks at her and she wants to slap it off his stupid pretty face.

“Wha-? No.” She huffs. “I don’t know why I’m arguing this with someone I hardly know but what I mean to say is that yes, it’s demanding and tedious but it’s also rewarding and the most gratifying thing I could ever do, so I believe I am doing something for myself. You just don’t get it because you spend all your time playing stupid pranks on everyone.” She snaps before pulling the strap of her bag further onto her shoulder and walking away. Normally she would feel bad for saying something like that to someone but for some reason she felt George could take it.

“So when will I see you again?” George shouts down the hall.

“I have to go!” She shouts back.

“I’ll see you in class then. Or maybe in the halls again.” He continues.

“Goodbye!” She turns the corner and speeds as far away from George as possible, steam practically fuming from her ears.

———

“Hey (y/n) could I just copy your homework before class? I didn’t have time to do it what with quidditch practice and all.” Asks Angelina.

(Y/n) nods and pulls out her answers, stands and walks to her seat, passing them to her. As (y/n) walks back she sees George slide into the spot next to hers. She grunts before stomping to her seat.

“ ‘Morning.” He sings, kicking his feet on the desk. She rolls her eyes and pushes his feet off, offering no other greeting. Now this is saying something, (y/n) always greets everybody. He laughs a little before turning to his bag and pulling out his textbook.

“Ark, couldn’t you go sit somewhere else?” She asks with a look of disgust.

George shrugs his shoulders. “Yeah, I could, but I’d like to think we’d make a good team and I’d like to test that theory.” He waves a pointed index as if to emphasize his point.

She shudders at the thought of having to work with him. It’s very likely they will, it often happens in potions class. (Y/n) is at the top of the class and she doubts Snape would have any objection to George working with her since she could easily bring up his grade. She sighs as Snape walks in and starts the lecture portion of the class.

“You will have the remaining hour to make your hiccoughing solution. Work with the person next to you.” With a wave of his arms everyone starts opening their textbook and discussing the potion.

To her surprise, George is really good at potions. Logically it makes sense because him and Fred are always creating new things but she never really thought it transferable to school. She watches, a little stunned as George quickly and skillfully goes through the steps of the potion. For the first time since she can last remember, she sits back instead of running the group. George occasionally asks her to cut something or extract oil from a root. She doesn’t argue, it’s sort of nice being told what to do rather than making all the decisions. She doesn’t tell him and refuses to think more of it because that’s not her proper role. She’s the leader, she’s the helper. Maybe this once she’ll let it slide, give herself a break.

Once the bell rings they gather their books and George finally speaks of other things than the potion.

“Relaxing isn’t it?” She tilts her head in confusion. “Not having to take care of others for once.” He continues.

Oh no he didn’t. He just ruined it. He took her small guilty moment of peace and crushed it. “You hardly let me do anything! What was I supposed to do? Fight you?”

George shrugs. “You could’ve.” He winks at her and she lets out an angry moan.

“Ark!” She turns on her heels and walks out of the class without another word.

“Same time next week?” She hears him shout but she’s already in the hallway and simply ignores him.

———

“You know you could give that to a house-elf and they could take care of that for you.” Says George as he leans into the door frame and watches (y/n) clean the chalkboard in the defence against the dark arts classroom.

“Well I don’t need to be taken care of, I’m perfectly capable of doing things on my own thank you very much” she spits back at him.

George and her are acquaintances at best. It’s been a month since they’ve first spoken to each other. Since then he seems to always be around her. Sitting next to her in class, offering to help her with her books in the hall. She’s never asked for him to be there or to share his opinion. Yet he’s there and very verbal about his thoughts.

He steps into the class and sits in the front row. He bounces his leg under the desk and leans back into the chair. He looks nervous but she can tell he’s trying to cover it up.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, curiosity getting the best of her.

“Waiting for Umbridge.” He points up the stairs at the closed door of her office. “I got detention.” He adds.

“What did you do?” She stops cleaning the board and sets the cleaning potion on the desk next to George.

“Gave a ton tongue toffee to Filch. His tongue was four feet long when Umbridge found him.” He chuckles to himself, remembering Umbridge’s reaction.

For the first time ever, (y/n) laughs in front of George. She tries to hold it in but it slips past her. George first looks surprised but soon he’s laughing with her.

“Glad to see someone is standing up to them.” She shakes her head. “Umbridge really is a horrible person. I can't believe all the mean things she’s doing to the students.” Her face is sad. George can see how much she cares for the other students.

“Well, would you look at that? We actually agree on something.” He crosses his arms and smirks at her. “Does this mean we're friends?” He asks.

She barks out a loud laugh. “Don’t get ahead of yourself Weasley.” She grabs her bag and walks out without another word. She can feel George’s gaze following her until she steps into the hall and out of sight. She wonders why her cheeks feel so hot suddenly.

———

(Y/n) is tutoring Seamus Finnigan in the library. They’re whispering over a book when George spots them. He smiles and beelines for their table.

“Mind if I sit here.” He asks, holding onto the chair in front of them. They both look up at him. Seamus smiles and reaches out his hand for a fist bump. (Y/n) rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out.

“Yeah mate, it’s no problem.” Says Seamus.

“No, you may not. It is very much a problem.” She hisses. Seamus looks at her, shocked by the bitterness in her voice.

“Blimey (y/n), I’ve never heard you so angry before.” He stuns.

She laughs nervously. He’s right, she normally doesn’t talk to people like that. The only exception to the rule is George. She grits her teeth and pastes a smile before looking at George.

“Of course you can sit here George. Any friend of Seamus is a friend of mine.” She somehow manages to sound sweet and somewhat sincere. George raises his eyebrows in surprise. He quickly recollects himself and takes a seat before she changes her mind.

“So, going back to charms. Can you tell me the definition of the substantive charm?” She asks Seamus.

“How long have you been doing this?” George interrupts.

Seamus grabs (y/n)’s arm and reads her watch. He whistles dramatically. “Crickey, it’s been an hour and fifteen minutes. I think we should call it a day.” He grabs his book and bag and gets up. “Thanks again (y/n). See you next week.” And with that, he was off.

(Y/n)’s jaw clenches as she looks from the now empty chair to George.

“Why?” She groans. “Why would you do that?”

“This is great. He got his help and you get a break. What do you say we go down to the dungeon and pull a prank on Malfoy?” He beams at her, pleased with his idea.

She gets the sudden urge to scream. Who does he think he is? Coming into her life and ruining everything. It is quite likely that Seamus won't do as well on the quiz as if he had stayed for the extra fifteen minutes she had planned and now she has to go deal with Hermione who wanted to rant about Ron. Something which she had very much been putting off. She takes a long, deep breath before looking at George again. The urge to scream has faded with the breath but the look on his face makes her see red.

“Could you please, please, find someone else to annoy. I don’t have time for this and you’re really starting to test my patients.” She pleads.

George’s face drops, evidently displeased by her response. He stands from his chair and puts his bag strap over his shoulder.

“Alright, I’ll leave.” He surrenders. There is a pause like he’s debating between leaving or adding another word. To (y/n)’s dissatisfaction, he continues to speak. “Anytime you need someone who doesn’t need help tutoring or homework to copy or healing salve, you know where to find me.”

She laughs loudly making everyone turn to look at her. “Pff yeah okay.” She dismisses, and with that George is turning away and walking out of the library.

She hates the sad feeling that settles in her chest. It’s like it’s telling her she wants him to stay. She rolls her eyes and swears to herself, gathering her things and heading to Hermione’s aid.

No matter how hard she tries not to, she spends the rest of the day thinking about George. His stupid face keeps popping into her head. What does he know? She likes when people ask for help. She is happy being the person people can turn to. She can’t understand what George thinks is wrong with that. Maybe he’s just a horrible person. It’s much easier to tell herself than to think there could be something wrong with her.

———

A week later (y/n) is knocking on Susan Bones’ door and stepping in before hearing a welcome.

“Merlin! I can’t stand him!” She shouts once in her best friend’s dorm room. Susan looks up from her book with her brows knitted.

“Who?” She asks while shutting her book and sitting up.

“George!” She states looking at Susan like she should have known. She shows no sign of further understanding (y/n)’s dilemma.

“Why?” She asks hesitantly. (Y/n) stomps to Susan’s bed and plops onto it.

“First he’s everywhere meddling into my life like it’s his business and now, radio silence.” She adds nothing more, leaving Susan even more confused.

“And that’s a problem because…”

(Y/n) sits up and flails her arms in the air. “Well, why did he make me question myself like that and then just vanish?” She exclaims exasperated.

Susan gapes, further confused. “But, didn’t you ask him to leave you alone?”

“Ark! That’s not the point!” She gets up and stomps out of the room. Susan blinks and looks around the room stunned even though there is no one to share the confusion with.

A moment later (y/n) is back into the room. “What on earth did he mean by if ever you want someone who doesn’t need help, you know where to find me?” She puts her hands on her hips and waits for her friend’s answer. Susan’s eyes light up and she smiles slightly. Now it’s (y/n)’s turn to look confused.

“He said that?” Asks Susan with a hopeful tone.

“Wha- I- Well yes he did but-.” She stops. Susan has left her stunned, she’s too confused to debate.

Susan’s smile grows wider. “Have you heard about Dombledors army?” She asks.

(Y/n) scrunches her nose. “No. What does that have to do with this?”

“Well I think you should come to our next meeting.” Her smile is mischievous, (y/n) hates it.

———-

The next day Susan takes (y/n) to the seventh floor. She stops in the middle of the hall and passes back and forth in front of a stone wall. Soon a door appears in front of them and (y/n) smiles, amazed by the castle's secrets.

Susan is the first to walk in waving at a few people near the door. Once (y/n) follows through the room goes silent. Harry finally walks up to them, hand stretched out.

“Welcome to the army.” He says confidently. She looks to Susan who gives her an encouraging nod. She finally accepts Harry’s hand with a small yet nervous smile.

As she looks around the room she feels a pair of eyes on her. She turns to find George looking at her with a neutral face. She lets out a little screech and turns back to Susan.

“You didn’t tell me he was going to be here!” (Y/n) whispers with a panicked tone.

“Well if I did you wouldn’t have come.” She states simply before walking off to talk with one of the other girls.

“Alright everyone. I think we’ll get started.” Announces Harry. Everyone goes quiet and they quickly form a half-circle around him. She sees a tall man settle next to her in her peripheral. She can just make out a flash of red hair. Her heart starts beating at an unruly pace.

“Today’s focus is on stunning. Nigel and I are going to do a demonstration so watch closely.” Everyone moves to the sides of the room whispering excitedly.

(Y/n) claps her hand over her mouth as she watches Harry fly backwards after being stunned by Nigel. She lets out a relieved sigh when Harry sits back up.

“I’d like to see you do that.” Whispers George into her ear. She jumps a little as his hot breath on her neck sends a shiver down her spine.

She turns to look at him. She has no snarky answer. She just gapes at him in surprise.

“I’d like to see you stand up for yourself for once.” He adds. She huffs in shock.

“I-“ She starts but Harry cuts her off. “Who wants to go next?” He asks.

“(Y/n) and I will go.” Announces George. She freezes as everyone eyes them curiously.

“Maybe someone else would like to go before us.” She tries.

“Nonsense, go on (y/n).” Says Harry enthusiastically. “No one here will judge you.” He adds thinking that’s her concern.

It’s not that she didn’t want to defend herself, it’s just she felt sort of bad stunning someone. She wasn’t sure she had it in her to do it. She walks to one end of the room and George to the other. He stretches out his arm, wand at the ready. She looks at Susan with a pleading look. Susan gives her an impatient nod and (y/n) reluctantly lifts her wand.

Neither of them moves, the room is completely silent. Soon there are whispers in the crowd. George is looking at (y/n) with a challenging eye. She gulps, trying to convince herself to stun him. She thinks that maybe if she does nothing he’ll grow impatient and stun her. That way she wouldn’t have to do it and he wouldn’t get the satisfaction of getting what he really wants.

“Right, any second now. Go ahead.” Says Harry slowly.

Nothing happens. George slumps out of his stans and raises his arms in the air. “Oh c’mon (y/n) stun me!” He exclaims.

She looks at the crowd as they all stare back at her. She suddenly feels weak in the knees. She begins to sweat nervously and looks at Susan. She looks a little concerned, maybe thinking this wasn’t as good an idea as she first thought. She still gives her a weak encouraging smile and a little thumbs up. (Y/n) looks back at George who has his arms stretched out taunting her.

“Oh for once in your life be mean!” He shouts. The words echo in the room.

“I can be plenty mean!” She disputes. “Last week, I ate Susan’s cookie.” She adds, puffing her chest.

George tries to hold back his smile. She hears a couple giggles in the crowd.

“That is not mean.” His tone is adoring and she hates it.

“It was her favourite brand.” She adds trying to make it sound more horrific. She’s the only one in the room with a serious face. Everyone else is smiling enjoying the tense exchange between the two.

He clicks his tongue and shakes his head. “If it’s anything, it’s cute.” He says with a wink. There it is. There’s the final straw. She can feel her blood boil. Everyone holds their breath as they watch her face contort into an angry pout. George smiles wide thinking the pout is possibly the cutest thing he’s ever seen.

She lets out an angry grunt. “It is not cute! You wanna see cute? Watch this.” She flicks her wand and shouts: “Stupify!” The spell sends George across the room. Everyone exclaims as he hits the ground with a thud.

“Excellent! Really good (y/n)!” Exclaims Harry.

Across the room George is whooping. He runs over to her with arms wide open. His smile is contagious, she can’t stop hers from pulling at her cheeks. Laughs spill from her lips as he wraps her tightly into his arms. Fred helps George throw her over their shoulders. Everyone gathers around them and cheers. (Y/n) feels her cheeks go hot suddenly, very aware of George’s hand on her thigh keeping her in place. She looks at everyone’s happy smiles and she can't help but join in. She hates to admit it but George might have been right. Standing up for yourself can feel good.

———

It’s a Wednesday evening. Most people were already back in their common rooms. (Y/n) was walking back from the library, having finished another tutoring session with Zacharias Smith. The halls are practically deserted when she suddenly hears quiet sobs further away. She speeds her pace and turns the corner finally spotting a little boy crying quietly while holding his hand. Two older boys are kneeling next to him. Her breath hitches when she spots him. George hasn’t talked to her since their duel. She would sometimes catch his eye across the classroom or in the dining hall but this is the first time she’s run into him. George is rubbing circles on the boy's upper back as he whispers sweet comforting phrases to the crying boy. As she steps closer she recognizes the boy to be Michael. She has helped him countless times after he has gotten detention from Umbridge.

Looking at George now she questions how she once called him a horrible person. She sighs accepting she might have been too quick to judge. She steps between the Weasleys and kneels down at Micheal’s feet so they're at eye level. She looks through her big bag before pulling out some gauze and a small glass jar of healing salve. Micheal gives her his hand, remembering the drill. She quietly applies the salve and wraps his hand. She listens to George explain to Micheal how soon the pain will subside. She notices he never stops rubbing circles on the boy's back. There’s something reassuring about the movement and she’s not even the one receiving it.

Micheal takes a deep breath, recollecting himself. He looks between George and (y/n) before smiling mischievously.

“Thanks mom, dad.” He tips his head to each before getting up and walking to his dorm. George’s hand stays frozen in the air even if there’s no longer a back to rub. (Y/n) stops screwing the lid to her salve as she looks at the now empty seat. They both jump when Fred starts howling with laughter. His laughs echo down the hall as he doubles over himself, holding his aching stomach. He wipes at his eyes and sighs loudly.

“Good one kid.” He shouts though Michael is much too far to hear it. “Ah! That’s golden.” He adds before he walks off in the same direction as Micheal did before.

George and (y/n) remain frozen. (Y/n)’s face is pale and George's cheeks are tomato red. (Y/n) is the first to move, she finishes screwing on the lid and shoving it into her bag. She’s in a hurry to get out of this very awkward situation. She shoots a look at George who moved from the floor and onto the bench. He’s leaning back onto the wall with his arms crossed. He smirks when she meets his eyes.

“We would have some cute kids.” His tone is teasing but there’s still something soft and affectionate in the statement.

“Oh honestly George, get a grip.” She rolls her eyes and walks away quickly. It takes all her willpower to hold in her smile until her back is turned to George. He’s not wrong she thinks to herself.

——-

She knocks lightly on the dorm room door. She can hear George’s loud laugh on the other side. She hopes he won’t be mad at her for interrupting the fun. Lee opens the door and the smile on his face is quickly replaced by a look of surprise.

“(Y/n)?” He stuns. The laughter in the room stops abruptly. She hears shuffling and soon George is peaking his head over Lee’s shoulder.

Lee quickly moves out of the way and George looks at her with a concerned look.

“(Y/n)? What are you doing here? Is everything okay?” He asks looking around to make sure there is no one else listening.

“I’m sorry to bother you, I know you were having fun there.” She feels pretty stupid now that she’s actually standing in front of him. George shakes his head vigorously to tell her it’s no problem.

“I just-“ she runs a hand through her hair. “I sort of need someone who doesn’t need help with tutoring or homework or healing salve.” The offer is months old. They haven’t even talked in weeks. She never thought she’d actually take him up on it but she didn’t know who else to turn to.

His shoulders drop and a natural smile spreads across his face. “Well then I’m your guy.” He closes the door behind him and guides her down the stairs and into the common room. It’s late, most students are in bed. George asks the few left if they could give them some privacy and they all retreat to their rooms.

“What’s up?” He asks, shoving his hands into his pockets.

She sighs and walks over to the big red couch. She sits down and buries her head into her hands. “I- I’m so tired George.” Her voice is laced with despair. “There’s just so much to do and I’m trying, I really am but I just don't know if I have it in me.”

George sits next to her, so close that their knees touch. “What are all the things you need to do?” He asks softly.

“I have to run the potions club and make that banner for the Ancient Runes Club. I have to tutor Hannah and Seamus and Zacharias and so many other people. I have to make sure Lavender is okay and that Luna found her socks. I have to listen to Hermione and Ginny talk about their boy problems and then give them advice. I have to write back to my parents and help them with their problems. I have to help McGonagall with the rat problem because no one else wants to. Madame Pomfrey said I could intern with her but that means I have to spend ten hours a week in the hospital wing. I told professor Sprout I’d help her extract pus from Bubotuber. I promised Colin I would look out for Dennis and I haven't even seen him in weeks.” It all spills out. For the first time ever she is totally transparent about her problems. “And then I have to worry about my own studies and try and keep my grades up and there’s the stress of Dumbledore’s army, what if we get caught?” She’s panting by the end suddenly feeling much lighter.

“Well maybe you could say no to a couple people. I’m sure the Ancient Runes Club can wait for a sign, Mcgonagall can take care of the rats on her own. You can say no you know.” He places a hand on her thigh and looks deep into her eyes.

“But- I can’t George! I can't say no. Those people are counting on me. What if the clubs fall apart or Seamus’ grades drop or Luna never finds her socks.” Her face is panicked.

“Let me help you.” He says it so softly. She feels a dry lump in her throat. Her jaw suddenly hurts and she feels tears well up in her eyes.

“I don’t want your help George!” She jumps off the couch and onto her feet. George’s hand slips off her thigh and onto the couch. It looks limp and sad without her leg to hold it. “I don’t need you, I was doing perfectly fine before you came around and I’ll be fine without you moving forward.” There’s a pause. “ I didn’t come here for you to save the day.” There it is. She doesn’t want to appear weak. She thinks asking for help makes her weak.

George stands up, towering over her. “Fine. If that’s how you feel then I’ll leave. I will go for good and you won’t have to worry about me meddling in your life anymore. I just want you to know that I’m offering to help because I can see how hard this is for you and I think you deserve more than what you’ve granted yourself.” George steps forward closing the gap. “I think you deserve to be taken care of for a change.” They’re inches away from each other. His face suddenly turns soft as he looks into her tear-filled eyes.

There’s a silent pause. She looks into George’s eyes and she sees the honesty, the care, the love. George is there for her when no one else is. He’s right, she is having a hard time and he’s the one offering the help. No one else. All the other people she has sworn would help her, be there for her, aren’t there. But how could they have known? She never tells them how hard it is, always caring for others. She never asks for their help. It’s not that those people don’t care. She just never opens up to them. She never permits them to be anything else than people she could help. All she ever did was give and give. She never believed she should do anything else. George is the first person who wants her to take, not give. It finally clicks. Everything that George has been trying to make her see is crystal clear now.

A tear spills from down her cheek and she feels her knees go weak. She cups her hand over her mouth trying to hold in a sob. She takes a step back shaking her head in denial. George’s face remains soft but there’s concern in his eyes.

“Hey.” He tilts his head, maintaining eye contact as she tries to look away. “It’s okay.” He pulls her towards his chest and she welcomes it. She falls into his arms as more tears fall down her cheeks. “Let it out.” He says.

With that permission (y/n) cries. She cries like never before. Loud sobs slip from her lips as her body shakes in George’s arms. She cries about all the sad secrets people have confided in her. She cries for all the days she sacrificed for others. She cries for all the “I love that you never say no”. She cries for all the grades she sacrificed to keep others high. She lets out years of pent-up tears, of hurt.

He rubs small circles on her upper back and remains quiet. She was right, there relay is something reassuring about those little circles. She cries for an hour and George never moves, never speaks, never stops her.

Finally, she sniffles her last tear and steps out of George’s arms. He reluctantly lets her go but takes her hand in his. She pulls it away to wipe at her eyes.

“Thank you.” Her voice is so delicate she would be embarrassed if it weren’t George in front of her. She laughs suddenly and George looks shocked. She soon starts crying of laughter and George gapes unsure of what to do.

“Are you okay?” He asks confused.

“I just, I hate you.” She laughs again. George looks stunned. He takes a step away from her and opens his mouth to say something but she cuts him off.

“Or so I thought. You have bugged me every day for months yet there’s no one I want here more than you.” George takes a tentative step forward. The words seem to give him confidence. “As crazy as it sounds I’ve had some of the best times talking with you because I actually said what I wanted to say. You can handle me better than anyone else. You challenge me in a way that I absolutely hate but I know why you’re doing it. You’re helping me learn to take care of myself and that’s hard because it’s something I’ve never done before.” She stops for a moment. The look in her eyes changes. First, there’s shock as she realizes. Then there’s a soft and happy glow. “I think I’m falling in love with you George.” She gasps. It’s almost a whisper. She barely wants to admit it.

“Come here.” Is all he says. She doesn’t move. Her brows knit themselves as she searches his face for an explanation. She takes a deep breath. The step towards him feels like a trust fall. He gently pulls her closer by the waist. He presses his forehead to hers. (Y/n) pushes her nose to his, bringing their lips closer to one another. He repeats the movement.

They tease each other a couple more times before George whispers “Can I kiss you?” She nods slowly and whispers a yes. He tips his head so their lips connect. His soft lips send sparks down her spine. George wraps an arm up to her back and pulls her closer quickly deepening the kiss. She wraps her arms around his next and soon her hands tangle into his fiery red hair. It feels like rain after a dry summer, like the cold side of her pillow, like the warm fire after coming in from the cold, it feels like heaven. Nothing has ever felt more right than their lips pressed together and for once, she’s giving in to what she wants.

When George pulls away she finds herself chasing his lips. She pouts a little missing the kiss. George runs a hand over her hair and looks at her adoringly.

“I’m falling for you too (y/n)”

#george weasley #george x reader #george weasley x reader #george weasley x fem!reader #george weasley imagine #george weasley x y/n #george imagine

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robininthelabyrinth · 4 years

Note

CQL-Verse: Wen Ning did a whole lot of risky stuff saving JC and the bodies at Lotus Pier. What if NMJ hears and gets talked into helping protect him and the Wen remnants by the Jiang bros, because even if he's a wen, he still 1. whole ass poisoned wen chao 2. straight up commited treason and was punished for it to protect sect heirs and 3. is extremely baby brotherable. you can fit so much h/c into this bad boy

ao3

Untamed

Wen Qing was angry about the trials, but Wen Ning thought they made a reasonable amount of sense.

After all, how was the rest of the cultivation world supposed to know what they did in the war without a proper trial? It was only reasonable for them to make certain assumptions about them based on their surname, the same way everyone assumed that those surnamed Jin were rich, those surnamed Lan were beautiful, those surnamed Jiang were bold to the point of arrogance…

The Nie were supposedly known for their tempers, but Wen Ning hadn’t seen much evidence of that so far.

In fairness, his only experiences with a Nie were, firstly, with Nie Huaisang at the Cloud Recesses, which he was fairly sure didn’t count, and now, during the trial, with Nie Mingjue.

Nie Mingjue laughed the entire trial.

“You poisoned the wine,” he sniggered. “At their own celebratory feast…! And then you just went straight to Yiling, where your sister was in charge. And it still took him how long to find you?”

“Weeks,” Wen Ning meekly admitted.

“Can we go back to the bit where you saved Wei-xiong from the giant dog beast using stolen needles?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“No, we cannot,” Nie Mingjue’s deputy – a somewhat long-suffering looking man that they all called Meng Yao – said. “He’s already gone over it four times, Huaisang.”

“But –”

“No.”

“Spoilsport! Look at how much fun da-ge’s having; it’s not fair.”

“He’s the sect leader. If he wants to hoot like a shrieking monkey, he’s entitled to it.”

“I’m not hooting,” Nie Mingjue protested. “I am recognizing talent.”

“Talent.”

“Exactly. Talent.”

“At…what, exactly?”

“Causing trouble,” Nie Huaisang volunteered. “I recognize it from Wei-xiong, I could spot it anywhere.”

“Could we possibly proceed with the trial?” Meng Yao asked, obviously deciding not to continue with that discussion. “We have six more to finish today. Can I assume that given the evidence of Wen-gongzi’s subversive activities and his subsequent imprisonment throughout much of the Sunshot Campaign, he is absolved of all crimes and allowed to go free?”

“You spoilsport,” Nie Mingjue said, rolling his eyes at him. “Yes, I think so. Wen Qionglin, you are free to go your own way – though if you wish to stay here in Qinghe as a guest cultivator, we would be glad to have you for however long you wish.”

Wen Ning thought that sounded all right.

The Nie sect were known for their tempers, and justly so, but Wen Ning quickly figured out that he didn’t need to be afraid of Nie Mingjue’s occasional outbursts (quickly roused, quickly doused) or Nie Huaisang’s temper tantrums (petty) and occasional grudge-holding (rarer but much more dangerous).

No, Wen Ning figured out very quickly in his first weeks that the one to be afraid of was clearly Meng Yao.

Wen Ning had been weak and sickly his whole life in a sect that valued strength above all; he had survived hiding behind his sister, but she couldn’t always be there for him, no matter how she tried. He’d soon learned that surviving on his own meant being quiet and obedient, never making trouble or drawing attention to himself, and it also meant being extremely attuned to the minute expressions that might signal the difference between Wen Chao being angry enough to throwing a teacup at his head and being angry enough to order him to be taken outside and beaten until unconscious.

The same skills helped him in the Nie sect, where people were very often angry. Wen Ning could tell the difference between Nie Mingjue raging to let out steam (moderately common and generally innocuous, easily ignored) and being actually upset (typically only dangerous to the furniture, which was a nice change, but more worrisome in the sense that he might go and do something stupid afterwards), and he could tell that Nie Huaisang’s true anger, so rarely triggered, tended more towards the cold and hidden (definitely a sign he was going to do something, but unfortunately for everyone involved it’d invariably be far more malicious - enough to make you long for stupid).

He could tell that Meng Yao was, despite all his smiles, very often angry.

Like Nie Mingjue, Meng Yao’s temper was easily roused to the point of fury; like Nie Huaisang, his anger lasted a long time and usually called for some malicious action before it could be properly assuaged.

“Senior Meng,” Wen Ning tentatively said one day when his curiosity got to be too much for him. “Could I ask a rude question?”

Meng Yao’s temper, hidden deep in his eyes, flared at once, preemptively, and Wen Ning shivered and looked down at the ground. He had known what he was risking, but he hoped that asking permission in advance might allow him to get the question out with minimal reprisals – cold meals for a few days, perhaps, or being assigned to the training yard only when the most sadistic training-master was supervising, but only for a week or so.

“Of course, Wen-gongzi,” Meng Yao said, and he sounded nice and pleasant and like no question could possibly be rude enough to cause him any disturbance. It was a little frightening how good he was at that. “I can’t imagine what you would want to know that would be rude.”

“Are you related?” Wen Ning blurted out. “To Sect Leader Nie, I mean – his family –”

Meng Yao stared at him. His mouth was slightly hanging open.

“…it’s a stupid question,” Wen Ning concluded, feeling ashamed. Of course Meng Yao had been promoted entirely on merit; it was only his imagination getting away from him. “I’m sorry. I’ll go –”

“No, wait,” Meng Yao croaked. “Related – to the Nie sect – forgive me. How did you reach that conclusion?”

“I mean, you’re obviously treated as part of the main family,” Wen Ning pointed out. There were plenty of Nie cousins that weren’t treated anywhere near as well; both Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang were not only protective but almost possessive over Meng Yao’s time and dignity - surely by now everyone knew that the surest way to get them each angry in their own ways was to slight Meng Yao. “You wear Nie braids like them – you wear clothing like them – you have a temper like them –”

Meng Yao started laughing.

“…did I miss something?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t go to the Lotus Pier after you’d been absolved,” Nie Huaisang said, tapping the weiqi piece on the board a few times before making a move. “Given your fondness for Wei-xiong and all that.”

“Wei-gongzi’s very nice,” Wen Ning said vaguely, staring down at the board. He’d played a lot of weiqi in his life – including against Wen Ruohan when the man had still been remotely sane, mostly because he’d been the only one stuck back at the palace with him more often than not – but playing against Nie Huaisang required all of his attention. The first time he looked away, he’d get lured into a trap. “Very kind.”

“And yet you stay here,” Nie Huaisang prompted. “In Qinghe, with us, when even your sister picked the Lotus Pier.”

Wen Ning had never been without his sister this long before. He knew that she still expected him to come to the Lotus Pier. She hadn’t expected him to last the week without her; she’d said as much when she first went, huffing at him for being ridiculous – a Wen as a guest cultivator in the Nie sect, of all places? – and telling him, in between reminders to take his medicine on time, that she’d prepare a place for him there so that he would be comfortable when he arrived.

Her letters, in the weeks and now months since that time, had never overtly asked when he was going to finally get around to moving there, and had recently developed an almost quizzical tone, as if she’d finally realized that he wasn’t.

“I like it here,” Wen Ning said, and moved his piece.

Nie Huaisang moved his own almost immediately in response, which meant that Wen Ning had made a horrible mistake that played straight into Nie Huaisang’s hands. Not an uncommon occurrence.

“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “We like having you here, too.”

Surprised, Wen Ning looked up.

Nie Huaisang was smiling at him – he smiled nearly as often as Meng Yao, but unlike Meng Yao, he never smiled if he didn’t want to, so his smiles were actually sincerely meant each and every time. He had a wide range of smiles: nervous smiles, cheerful smiles, devious smiles…

Wen Ning was good at reading expressions, but he had to admit he’d never had to work as hard at it as he did with Nie Huaisang.

“We’re a very nice sect, really,” Nie Huaisang said, and even seemed to believe it. “We’re always open to people who are like us. The only thing we can’t tolerate is injustice and betrayal; as long as you stick with us and put us first, you’re ours, and we’re yours.”

That sounded nice, Wen Ning thought, and moved a piece blindly. “You think I’m like you? My sister doesn’t think so.”

“I think you fit in very nicely,” Nie Huaisang said, and his smile had teeth to it. He moved quickly, again. “You’re angry and resentful, but you don’t let it get in the way of what you want - just like us. Your sister probably doesn’t think that about you, either, but then again, that’s why she’s in the Jiang sect, with their heads in the air, dreaming of the impossible. I bet she never even noticed that you had a temper.”

She hadn’t. Wen Ning had been her baby brother and nothing else for a long time; he never had to defend himself as long as she was around.

He’d never had the chance to defend himself.

(He didn’t resent her for that. He didn’t. She was his big sister, his favorite person, and he loved her so much that he didn’t mind the way that all her fussing sometimes made the world feel cramped and small, as if he were being forced into a place that he’d long since outgrown.)

“Do I have a temper?” he asked, and moved another piece.

“Oh, yes,” Nie Huaisang said. “You’re like me – slow to boil – and like Meng Yao, hiding it behind your eyes. You’re even a bit like da-ge: you don’t need to be the one get the frustration out as long as something deals with it, but if nothing does, it nags at you and wears at you, like a thorn stuck in your flesh, until you can’t be silent any longer. Until you have to do something, or else you’ll explode.”

That sounded about right, Wen Ning thought. He’d never really had a chance to explode in the Wen sect, out of fear of what they’d do to his sister if he did, and he’d been sick with it – he’d limited himself to little rebellions, nameless pranks, right up until he met Wei Wuxian, who was kind to him, and couldn’t stop himself from helping him. He sometimes thought, in the days he’d spent in the dungeons, that if he died he’d come back as a fierce corpse, soul-calming rituals or no, and he’d might even enjoy it if only for the opportunity to finally vent his feelings – to finally pay back every single injustice that he’d ever seen, each one marked down in his heart in an indelible list of regrets.

Maybe Nie Huaisang was right.

Maybe that was why he stayed here, in the Nie sect, the sect of do not tolerate evil instead of the Lan sect’s chivalry and righteousness or the Jiang sect’s attempt the impossible.

Maybe he wanted to fight back for once. To have a temper, to have rage, to be something more than Wen Qing’s shy, stuttering shadow.

“I like it here,” he said again, but if his words were the same then the flavor was different: he meant it this time.

He understood, this time, what he meant by it.

Nie Huaisang smiled at him and moved another piece. Winning the game, Wen Ning noticed.

“Good,” he said. “Now move over – sit in front of the mirror. I’ll show you how to do your hair right.”

“Really?”

“Really. Also, Da-ge’s been practically champing at the bit to teach you saber, and Meng Yao has been making grandiose plans about redoing the way we recruit and train doctors with you leading the charge, so if you’re not up for either of those, now’s the time to say something.”

Wen Ning settled down in front of the mirror.

“No,” he said. “Those sound good to me.”

#mdzs #wen ning #nie mingjue #nie huaisang #meng yao #my fic #my fics #be happy #plotdesigner

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kachuuyaa · 3 years

Text

— MAPLE LEAVES AND BLACKOUT DREAMS.

11072021 ; g.i oneshot , gn!reader , bsd!reader .. again

genre ; fluff

includes ; spoilers for the latest archon quest... ig... one mention of fyodor, gods and heavenly powers, INAZUMA ..a...a.... kazuha is intrigued by you go you go! subtle flirting probably

characters ; kazuha, beidou, paimon (platonic), aether (platonic)

synopsis ; Only one human could make another feel safe in this world of faux bliss. (In which you meet the wandering samurai from Inazuma.)

author's notes ; so sorry if you're tired of my bsd!reader content but it won't stopYaba dasabadaba yoobabababa (blow!) Moosay Abalaba dooba, cadoosay (cadoosay) Metamorphosis aporphis of morkle laborth laba gorbalib (laboratory)

It has not been long since the reunion between the twins, and Aether seemed melancholic throughout your journey back to Liyue. It was to be expected, really. You knew it all along, yet you didn’t bother to tell him. It was quite easy to figure out, actually, yet you do not want to add on to the suspicion brought upon you. You don’t bother to confront him after that, not wanting to make any mistakes during your conversation with him. Completely blocking Paimon and Aether’s discussions, your eyes fixated themselves on the sleeping Chuuya on your shoulder.

He has been sleeping a lot, you realized, wiggling a bit on your shoulder, he rested his small head on your neck. You smiled to yourself, he was quite cute. You did not want to venture into Liyue Harbor for multiple reasons, if you were on the watchlist of the Knights, there is no doubt you are on the watchlist of the Millelith. “Hey, [Name],” Paimon’s voice entered your ears, getting your attention. You turned your head carefully so as to not wake the sleeping Chuuya on your shoulder, bored eyes staring at Paimon. “Ah-” she stuttered, “do you… possibly know how to get to Inazuma?” she asked meekly, nervousness coating her features-- she was still afraid of you. Well, after the meeting between the twins, how could she not? You were certainly at the top of her “Do Not Piss Off” list.

Inazuma. A beautiful nation shrouded with darkness and all things far from heavenly. You have heard of the nation, never being able to step inside, so you resort to the wind; it gives you information on anything and everything. The rumors of you and the ballads of the ancient traverse through the winds you depend on for information, and it has not let you down. Chuuya would also eavesdrop on others for information, his short stature giving an advantage. He would keep the information for himself, for angry squeaks are the only thing that leaves his tiny mouth.

So, no, you do not know how to get there. You may hold the fate of the world in your hands, able to make even the strongest of archons bow at your feet by a simple wave of your hand. Veins pumping with the blood of another world, and another world is where you reign and have died. This world is merely but a fleeting one, you assumed, and while you may have unimaginable battle prowess and an equally indestructible and flawless ability, you simply do not care. Who are you to care about a world which has no meaning to you? You belong here, yet you don’t have an obligation to protect it. Even the archons-- the so-called “protectors” of Teyvat, had destroyed a nation made by mortal hands.

The gods here were as selfish as the ones you have read before you’ve ever come here. Your life was held in another, chained, captive in another's hands. And even though you were free by being released-- reincarnated in another world (you can’t say another life; you know it’s a continuation of your previous one, how stupid), you know you were bound to experience the selfishness of the gods, those replicating what you have seen in mortals. “No, I don’t.” You sighed, looking back at the sea. The sea has always been a peaceful place, an abyss with numerous undiscovered creatures residing in it. “There must be someone you know..” You trailed off, still focusing on the scenery before you. Unsurprisingly, Paimon snapped Aether out of his reverie and called out his name. “Oh. Let me try and think of someone…” Aether began to think, but Paimon interrupted his train of thought before he could form a name. “Paimon’s thought of someone already -- Atsuko, in Liyue Harbor! She’s from Inazuma!” Paimon exclaimed, waving her tiny arms in the air, ushering both you and Aether to Liyue Harbor, yet you were quick to decline her offer. Dismissing her invitation, you waved your hand, and said, “No, No. People wouldn’t want to see someone like me venturing with the bigshot of Teyvat.” You said, a slight tease coated in your tone.

The traveling duo had to think about your words, you were right-- in a sense, yet they did not want to leave you alone. (they were completely disregarding the existence of a Chuuya-fied wisp sleeping soundly on your shoulder.) “Aww!” Paimon whined, “Paimon wanted [Name] to come with us!” Aether simply laughed, and nodded his head, standing up. “Well, if we find a way to get there, you will join us, alright?” He asked you, but it didn’t seem like a question, it was a demand, really. Deadpanning, you nodded your head, assuring that you will, in fact, travel with them after consulting Atsuko.

You lowered your presence before venturing to the foot of Liyue, trying to conceal yourself from wandering eyes. Aether and Paimon were barely in your peripheral vision and trying to hear their conversation with the Inazuma citizen was even harder. As if on cue, Chuuya squeaked, trying to get your attention, and you faced the tiny wisp who twirled around the air, orange particles following suit. “Ah, you want to eavesdrop?” you questioned, trying to understand his body movements. A little nod with a squeak of approval was what you received in return, and you allowed him to do so. You may not understand his body movements most of the time-- but hey, you try. The wisp navigates its way to where Paimon and Aether were, making sure that he was unseen and unnoticed by the passerby. Thankfully, though, he was.

After a bit of eavesdropping, he returned back to you, and you ultimately did not get what he meant, until he gestured-- with his head-- the direction of Guyun Stone Forest. You could only assume that much. Shortly after, Paimon and Aether returned to you both, and you turned to face them, awaiting their statement. “Uh- alright,” Paimon started, unable to look you in the eye. You found her nervousness quite hilarious, your mouth forming a smirk in amusement. Despite being small, yet wasn’t hesitant to voice out anything on her mind, was afraid of a mere human like you. “Atsuko told us that we must meet with the .. Crux.” The Crux, you have heard tell of their captain and their victories. How could you not? The strange relationship between the Tianquan and the captain was being spread throughout Liyue, including their many stories in the sea. The reputation The Crux has gotten for their many bone-chilling and jaw-dropping experiences was enough to make you interested. “Continue,” You replied, eyes analytical, boring into poor Paimon’s eyes. She shrieked, and silently pleaded to Aether to continue where she left off.

Chuuya, on the other hand, was snickering mentally, not only because of Paimon’s cowardice but also because of Aether’s hesitance to respond. He opted to let out squeaks that resembled laughter. Paimon jerked her head to the wisp, comical steam escaping her ears. “Stop laughing, you orange dwarf!” She stomped her legs, and you had to hold back your laughter. Aether cleared his throat, and Paimon halted her actions. “We must find Captain Beidou, the leader of the Crux.” He said calmly, and you nodded your head. Chuuya was sulking on your shoulder, forming a little ball. How cute, you think, and stood up to follow Paimon and Aether to their destination.

Guyun Stone Forest. An infamous landmark created by the spears of the Lord of Geo, known to hold an ancient god, Osial, one you were most familiar with after the battle that forced him to retreat yet again. Guyun Stone Forest was known to house the Hypostasis that you severely resented, as well as other monsters of each variety. It was a place created by a god, and it houses an ancient one-- waiting to awaken yet again. Some say that if you come by at night, you would experience the bloodshed and the defeat of Osial vividly, memories of the god experiencing his demise would flash through your head like a slideshow.

Soon enough, you both were able to board the Crux without unnecessary mishaps, you trailing behind Aether and Paimon, your presence still unnoticed by the rest of the crew. Chuuya was settled atop your head, seldomly wiggling to find a place to relax. He was still awake, though, that was enough. Aether’s footsteps alerted Beidou, who was currently talking to an unknown stranger you have never seen before, and it seems like Aether was unfamiliar with him, too.

“Hmm? Who’ve we got here…” Beidou turned to face Aether, and you moved to the side, out of Beidou’s peripheral vision. A flash of realization took over the captain’s features, and said, “Wait, I know you. You’re that traveler, Aether, aren’t you?” She questioned, “The one who fought against the Fatui and Osial, right?” She added. Aether blinked, processing her words. Yeah, he did all those, and it should be a given that his achievements were recognized, but a look of confusion would tell you otherwise. “Have we met?” He asked in response. He was a busy man, accepting commissions from complete strangers in both nations without hesitation, and they might remember him, but do not expect this man to remember you-- at all. He chooses not to remember irrelevant people.

Their conversation was not yours to mind, instead, looking out to sea. It was far more interesting than what you’re hearing, all too familiar with what they’re talking about. Feeling a pair of eyes on you, you shrugged it off, too immersed in the beauty of the sea in front of you. Beidou’s loud voice boomed, entering your ears, which snapped you out of your thoughts. “Judging by the clothes on your back and this floating thing-- and you! Another companion, perhaps?” Before Paimon could talk back to the captain, her eyes followed Beidou’s finger, which was pointing to you.

You stared back at them, your eyes swirling with amusement and recognition. “Hi.” you greeted, you were not one for formal greetings. “[Name], traveling partner--” Beidou’s voice interrupted you before you could finish, “aren’t you the suspicious fellow the Millelith was to keep track of?” Ah. So she knows. Who wouldn’t, really? Your supposed title along with Aether’s name being spread throughout Teyvat, one outshining the other. You were feared, unlike Aether, who was respected throughout the continent, yet you were one who they would want to avoid-- to show you who you need to respect. Although that didn’t bother you, it certainly irritated Paimon and Aether.

“They’re my traveling companion-- my friend.” Aether emphasized the word ‘friend’, making you smile fondly at the boy. Paimon nodded vigorously, and Beidou let it slide, albeit hesitant in doing so. “I’ll let it slide, for now.” She monotonously said, eyeing you and Aether, “but if you do something sketchy, I won’t hesitate to do something to you.” She threatened, making Paimon yelp and hide behind Aether, while you smirked in amusement. “A deal’s a deal, captain.” You muttered, turning your back on her to face the scenery you were focusing on. “And by the way, Paimon’s not ‘floating thing,’ it’s Paimon!” She said, shouting each vowel of her name.

“Paimon… hmm..” Those words that belonged to a foreign voice caught everyone’s attention-- excluding Chuuya’s, who was too entertained by the floating particles around his body-- to turn to said man. “What a fascinating being. You two give off not only the essence of wind and earth,” He paused, “but also of… yes… the stars…” He concluded. You blinked, “Eh? The fragrance of what now?” Paimon questioned, confusion lacing her tone, “That’s the weirdest compliment Paimon’s ever heard.” She muttered, and the mysterious man turned to you. “But you… you give off the essence of the stars, and the aura of the divine.” He stated, while you turned to him, and said, “Is that an insult?” You voiced out, while he merely chuckled and shook his head. “Pay it no heed… I mean only to say I am certain… that it is by fate, not chance alone, that we should meet… and that gives our encounter meaning.”

You couldn’t bother to listen to their conversation, for you were not included. Yet you managed to catch his name, Kaedehara Kazuha. Upon studying his appearance more, you realized that he was not local. The frame around his vision confirmed your assumptions, and you could only wonder what that frame came from. Where he came from, exactly. There was an oddly calming and melancholic aura emanating from the man behind you, and it may look like he was aware of it, too. The group exchanged words relating to something about a Crux Clash, something you have never heard of before. Leaning forward to the railings, you let Chuuya sit on your shoulder while nuzzling his face on your neck. Sleepy, he was, all the time. Though that didn’t bother you, really.

“Does your friend over there have some experience in fighting?” I think they do, considering their unusually suspicious yet powerful aura, Beidou wanted to add, yet she refused those words to slip past her tongue. Aether knew you never wanted to be put in the spotlight, to be the center of attraction even for a few minutes, all of those things irked you. Even though you were the center of attraction back in your past life-- for all the right reasons, you don’t want it to happen again. Tranquility is what you desire. You were offered the curse of the gods and the blessing of death, yet tranquility is what truly made you feel human amidst everything else.

Everything passes, tranquility doesn’t. “They would probably decline if you asked them.” He said, it was the truth, really. “They’re not one for formal events,” He trailed off, running out of reasons for vouching for you. You were a mysterious individual, and while you have been their traveling companion for quite some time, you still left lingering questions on your trail. Curiosity swirling in his eyes whenever he manages to take a good look at you, wondering what you are-- who exactly you were. Perhaps being mysterious came with good looks. “Oh? Is that so?” She quirked an eyebrow and glanced at your figure before tearing her gaze back to the traveler. “Yeah, they're a tough one!” Paimon exclaimed, “They don’t fight unless necessary!” Paimon then added, recalling your previous statements to the pixie. You were ruthless and merciless in battle, cunning in strategy, resorting to being the brains between the duo. That doesn’t excuse your methodical and malicious way of swerving through the situation, however.

“I’m not interested.” Your sharp voice cuts through the conversation, dismissing every thought the wandering samurai and the captain may have had. Still facing the sea, elbows on the railings of the ship. “You, too, are not interested in the masterless vision?” Kazuha asked, and you nodded. “I am only interested in following Aether.” You uttered nonchalantly, and a blush rose to Aether’s cheeks, quickly faltering. “Well, it seems like the traveler will only be partaking in the event. Let’s get you signed up, yeah?” she questioned, “Head to the tournament arena in Guyun Stone Forest. Kazuha and I will be over soon.” She smiled, clasping her hands together. Before anyone could say anything else, you disappeared. (poof! You’re gone, and honestly, it’s a surprise that no one noticed Chuuya, at all.)

Beidou turned to look at you, yet you were gone. All that was left was a little wisp with orange particles surrounding its body. It seemed to be looking around frantically, beady eyes locking with ruby-colored ones. It blinked, and it disappeared as soon as they made eye contact. Was that [Name]? The captain blinked and shrugged her shoulders. It would be an understatement to say that both of them were confused, they genuinely thought that you turned into a wisp. Kazuha’s face remained neutral, yet there was a lingering swirl of amusement in those vermillion hues of his. “Well, well. It seems like it will only be a matter of time before the answer is revealed.” (AWOOOOAOAOAOAO WOOOF WOOF. anyway.)

You didn’t want to be noticed by the Liyue participants, having been popular on the list of suspicious individuals. You knew that if they saw you, even if it was just a glimpse, they would panic. So, what was the best option? Well-- hide, obviously. You were sat atop one of the spears, right above the reception area. The endless praises coming from the other competitors soon reached your ears, but that didn’t make you interested. They have only witnessed him in his power, but were they able to walk alongside him? You didn’t think so, besides, they’re but mere specks of dust in his house of memories. You crossed your legs, blocking out any sounds entering your ears. That is until a familiar squeak is what you heard. Looking to your left, you saw a visibly furious wisp. When you landed your eyes on him, he started smacking your head as if he was scolding you-- well, he was. In his tiny little head, he was cursing you out, and he had embarrassed himself in front of two complete strangers. You laughed, not quite loud, and gently encased your hands on his tiny body. He slept after that.

You only watched some of Aether’s matches before you appeared-- out of nowhere-- behind Beidou and Kazuha. The samurai noticed your peculiar presence the second you got there, really, you had a very, very unique scent. He would describe it as flowers-- laid out in a field, wilting ever so slowly. An enigma that presents itself as a gentle soul, malicious in movement and methodical if necessary. You had eyes that resembled that of a certain archon he grew to despise, yet he failed to sense any correlation between the two of you. If he had, though, he would be utterly speechless that you haven’t stolen him away, yet. You presented yourself as swift in movement and uninterested in talking, although he noticed a playful side that you only revealed to Aether. He now realized that you weren’t the wisp that disappeared after a few double takes, situated on your shoulder. Even that small wisp radiated the same aura that you did.

Just who were you? Kazuha couldn’t decipher you that much, he thinks he has only so little information about you, and he was right. You were a black and white canvas, one who presents themselves as plain, quiet, yet you were familiar with all emotions at once. The ability to be stoic and to have separate personalities were one of your most prominent features, being able to lure your target into a seemingly well-made trap. Your eyes were closed, listening to the waves meeting the sand, oh, how you missed that sound.

The waves crashing never failed to land a small smile on your face, unnoticed by many, tranquility was the only word you would describe the sounds the oceans make. Calming, it was. Beidou’s laugh entered your ears, “I knew I wouldn’t regret choosing you as the favourite!” You opened your eyes slightly, directing your sharp eyes to Aether and Paimon. “So what do you think, Kazuha? [Name]? He totally dominated that guy, and did it with style, too!” She said, visible pride laced within her words. To be fair, you were proud of Aether as well, but your pride was overshadowed by nonchalance. “Impressive,” Kazuha praised, “But I also observed our favorite exercise some restraint, as if to protect the opponent from harm.” He added, and paused, turning to look at you. “Ah,” you uttered, “Good work, Aether.” you were simple, Aether knew that, yet you never praised him verbally, resorting to ruffling his hair. It did not fail to make him smile, though. Paimon smiled brightly, for that was the first time she heard those words slip past your lips. You smiled gently, genuinely, and whispered, “I know you will win.”

Paimon was ready to cry then and there. Comical tears run down her face, hugging you from the neck, “Paimon didn’t know you could be so nice!” Her voice was shaky, yet you laughed in faux offense and Aether smiled, and whispered a ‘thank you', in response. Beidou laughed heartily, and Kazuha crossed his arms with a small smirk. So not only were you playful, you had a soft spot for Aether! Lovers, perhaps? Softly chuckling, you leaned back to the stone behind you, letting your eyelids rest. As the wind kissed your face you were vaguely reminded of the man beside you, yet you made no intent to look at him. You were only brought back to reality when Beidou told Aether that he would be put in the semi-finals, and you nodded in agreement. Aether smiled, his eyes forming crescents, and sent you a thumbs up in return.

After quite a long wait, it was time for the semi-finals. After some words from Kazuha and the announcement from Beidou, you patted Aether’s back gently and gave him a look that said ‘you can do this’. Well, needless to say, he was quite hyped after that exchange. Chuuya squeaked from beside you, and you let him start floating on your shoulder. This attracted Kazuha’s attention, “What’s that?” He asked, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could ever give it a thought. Chuuya and you side-eyed him, and said, “ah. This little guy?” You pointed to Chuuya, and it seemed angered at your comment. “This guy’s Nakahara. A… memoir of a... friend, in short.” Said wisp halted its actions, although it didn’t go unnoticed by both of you. “Hm, fascinating. You two carry the same aura.” You remained silent for the most part, yet a simple sigh escaped your lips. “Hm, do we?” You muttered, softly patting the wisp’s head with your pointer finger. It seemed delighted, unconsciously leaning to your touch. “Perhaps we do,” you whispered, knowing the truth behind this small wisp below your finger. “Do you… perhaps… have some history with this creature?” He asked, curiosity and attentiveness evident in his wine-colored eyes. You paused for a moment, thinking of your words. “Well, if you phrase it like that, then… sort of, yeah.” He nodded after your confirmation, yet your answers only made him insatiable; there were still so many questions he’d want to ask you, yet he knows you won’t provide for the insatiable. You never do.

After the match, you observed Aether ask other people for information about his final opponent. You weren’t bothered to watch the matches that didn’t involve him, however, entertaining Chuuya in the process whenever he wasn’t on the battlefield. But from the observations of Beidou and Kazuha, you were able to identify that seemingly suspicious man. Your intuition was never wrong, of course. He was described to be agile, swift, and seemingly formidable in battle. Well, you would be lying if he doesn’t remind you of someone you were previously acquainted with. “Wah! Paimon is starting to think that [Name] here is our final opponent!” You blinked, dismissing Paimon’s words. “Eh? No, no, no.” You shook your head, “what makes you think that?” you asked, and Paimon scratched her head, “eh… you are fast as well! Fast on your feet! Strong too! You and our opponent are far too similar!” Paimon complained, stomping her feet in the air like a child. “Now that’s just… insulting.” You muttered, and Kazuha chuckled. “Oh? How so?” He queried. You shook your head, “I would prefer to keep my prideful remarks to myself.” and Chuuya shook his head vigorously, denouncing your statement, squeaking in retaliation. Beidou’s voice cut through your conversation, stirring the topic into the final battle.

You, again, did not bother to listen, closing your eyes until someone catches your attention. Words were exchanged between the 3 elemental wielders, and the voice that snaps you out of your reverie was none other than Aether’s, “Can [Name] come too?” You snapped your eyes open, staring at Aether, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, you spoke up, “Where, exactly?” Paimon cut through the discussion, “With Kazuha!” and a flash of realization flooded her features, “Wait, Aether, why do you want them to come exactly?” Her voice was laced with a slight tease, and a sly smile formed on her lips, making Aether pinch her cheeks and stick his tongue out when he heard her whine. Beidou did not want to interrupt, but you know what kind of thoughts are forming on the captain’s mind. Something about “are they together?” Well, something like that. Kazuha, on the other hand, never once failed to show amusement during their exchanges, especially when the topic is about you. “Well, that’s settled, come with me. Some post-match entertainment is in order.”

What you didn’t expect is that he’d completely focus on Aether in the secluded place he led you both to. “Now that we’re alone, let me cut to the heart of the matter.” He began, he eyed Aether, then to your still, peaceful figure. Seemed like Chuuya was sleeping, once again. “Traveler, you are skilled in manipulating the elements.” He began, and that is when you snapped your eyes to Kazuha, fully invested in the conversation as if you weren’t resting your eyes ten seconds ago. Kazuha brushed off your intense gaze on him, and continued, “And not just a single element, but multiple, is that correct?” You weren’t shocked, no. You witnessed it firsthand, and all the subtle attempts to cover up Aether’s otherworldly ability were futile when it came to you. Besides, you were capable of revealing even the smallest details.

“Although I cannot make sure of [Name], while yours were not as subtle as you presume, they give me an unfamiliar aura. One I cannot discern,” He uttered, turning to face and making eye contact with you. “Now, then, may I be so bold to inquire just what power you hold?” Despite the soft tone he presented you with, you still denied it. “I do not have such power as you may think I do.” You shut down his question, “I may hold the aura of the gods, but I do not have any affiliation with them.” You said sternly, hoping that he would dismiss this subject, and swallow up your lies. If anyone knew about your ability and the status you had compared to the gods above, including Chuuya’s, everyone would be against you. The sheer power you hold in your body surpasses that of bygone gods and wandering travelers. You were an unstable yet powerful force, never truly revealing your plans, and never using the ability you were cursed to use again. You never used it to spite the gods who have cursed you in the world you know you will never fit in. You were anything but human in this world of selfish souls, well, you know who would agree with you. (you know Fyodor would have a field day if he was here.)

Although you remained composed and stoic, you silently wished Kazuha would let you slip past his questions. He was, obviously, completely oblivious to your thoughts. Kazuha wasn’t oblivious about your power, though, you knew he knew that you have one. After that exchange, you completely retracted yourself from the conversation, simply observing the two who discussed Aether’s powers and skills. You didn’t miss the slight concern that Paimon held towards you, though. You didn’t like talking; to strangers, especially. Save for your interrogation victims back in the day, in meetings, you usually butt in when necessary, or riling up the boss and Chuuya whenever you felt like doing so. The only relevant thing to come out of the conversation you listened to was everything relating to Inazuma. Ah, so that’s where he came from. No wonder the frame encasing his vision looked foreign to you. You briefly made eye contact with Kazuha, and you recognized that look in his eyes. As if he was still wary of you, and your motives.

Truth is, he was completely intrigued because of you. Still wary-- yet enamored. He knows you are observant, calculating, and seemingly notorious due to all of these traits, including your intimidating appearance. You carry yourself with utmost royalty, independent in all situations, and overpowering most of your enemies with ease. He could tell by your scent that you were one to be avoided, and one who is more powerful than most vision wielders-- scratch that, maybe all. Although that would be an overstatement to some, he just has this feeling that you are stronger than you present yourself as. That was true, obviously. What is a mysterious person without their secrets? He secretly hoped he did not give you a bad impression, for you were a mysterious one who attracts even the wisest of men. He’ll make sure to ask Aether about you, even if it’s just the simplest of information. He was certain that he hears all things in nature, yet you were one who grew in a field of foreign flowers. That, he cannot decipher.

2021 © kachuuyaa. do not steal or claim my work as your own.

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kageprountranslated · 3 years

Text

Kagerou Daze Anthology Novel Ch. 1 - Sounds of Summer

Sounds of Summer

Author: Akitoshi (翠寿) | Illustrator: Hanasaki Manio (花咲まにお)

“We have a mission. You guys are going to the sea.”

It was the end of August. The words of the leader, Kido, who unexpectedly said such a thing, caused the voices of all the young people in the hideout to rise in joy.

And thus, the members of the Mekakushi Dan and one other girl gathered for the mission to visit the sea. The eleven children, including the original leader, were in high spirits while they prepared. Three days after the declaration, they boarded the train.

I had nearly forgotten that the Mekakushi Dan is a secret organization, and it seems that we actually get a lot of commissions. This time we received a request from the greengrocer auntie who Kido’s fond of.

Apparently her relatives run a beachside clubhouse, but it seems they’re short-staffed because several employees caught a summer cold. And so our Mekakushi Dan must step up and help. It seems Kido agreed to the request immediately, saying she couldn’t reject the auntie who she is always indebted to. At this point I didn’t reject it, let’s just leave it at that.

There’s no reason us kids wouldn’t be excited for the big event of visiting the sea, and the job at the beach house was simple front-of-house work. To tell the truth I was just going to use the mission as an excuse to have some fun. Which is fine, but if we don’t complete the job well it will affect the trust clients have with us in the future. Kido, who received the request, will undoubtedly take care of all that, so I’m not too worried.

Glancing at the other members who seemed to talk happily, I looked out the window and warned my friends not to be too noisy. We passed through the tunnel and I squinted my eyes as we were hit with blue light. In the car I heard a sudden joyful cheer from someone else.

It’s the sea. I softly exhaled as I saw that oversized puddle for the first time in years.

“We’re supposed to start our shift at 1:00. Until then you can kill your time however you’d like. Then we’ll meet at the Blue Beach House. You understand?”

Yes!!

Everyone sent a well-mannered reply to the leader then changed into their respective swimsuits and spread out.

The current time was just past 10:00, so we were given about three hours of free time.

Even though summer was almost over, many people visited the beach to enjoy the coolness of the sea, since the weather was like a steam bath during the day. I looked around the sandy beach that was full of people and wondered what was going on. It wasn’t a bad idea to just spend the time until the shift relaxing, but since we came to the beach I wanted to have a little bit of fun. As I turned my foot from the beach to touch the water, suddenly there was a weight on my shoulders that pushed my upper body forward. I turned my face to find out that this criminal of gravity was the cat-eyed boy.

“It’s too hot, get off of me Kano.”

“My, my, don’t be so cold-hearted. Let’s get along, get along, mmkay?”

He really dares utter that? I think I’ll stuff sand in the mouth of the guy who shamelessly feigns friendship.

“What’s the point…. If you’re trying to pick a quarrel, go bug the other guys.”

“You’re sooo cold Shintaro-kun. Don’t say something like that, this is something I can only talk to you about.”

Kano lowered his voice as he glanced around the area. Leaning over one of my shoulders, he put his hand on my ear and whispered.

“....What do you think about women’s swimwear?”

“Huh?”

If you think about it, it’s a conversation that’s really foolish to have. Such a crazy topic involuntarily weakened me. It’s really ridiculous, but it’s an age-appropriate topic.

I glared at Kano to make sure he wasn’t making fun of me, but he looked super serious. It was a really important topic to him as an adolescent boy, so I pretended to be reluctant as I turned my eyes to the girls.

“Nothing special…. They’re all pretty normal.”

“Nooo, you’re thinking about something, aren’tcha? Tell the truth, who do you like best?”

“Who’re you….?”

It’s a common topic. But for me, who’s been shut in for the last few years, the kinds of topics I could talk about with guy friends were fresh. Of course, there was no way I could talk about it with Takane, also known as Ene, and Momo was out of the question. A long time ago I might have asked Haruka-senpai which girl he liked while looking through magazines, but he really wasn’t the kind of guy who talked about that stuff.

I think about it for a while as the beautiful swimsuits of the female Mekakushi Dan members, who seem to be enjoying the sea, are caught in my eye. The swimsuits are all different types, so it’s easy to pick the unique kind that you like. That said, this guy wouldn’t accept the clean answer that each has its own respective merits.

“....Kido’s doesn’t show much”

“Ah, yeah. I think she could wear a bikini since she’s thin, but she’s too shy for that. I want to say a thing or two to the person who came up with a hoodie you can swim in.”

Kido, who was setting up beach chairs, a cooler, and towels, looked like a mom. Her long hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and under her short-sleeved hoodie were short pants that imitated denim. It was more like rough casual clothes than a swimsuit. It’s a little difficult to say what I’m really thinking as a man. The clothes were a lot more revealing than the usual Kido, but for a trip to the sea you could say this outfit was quite defensive.

Next to her, desperately blowing air into a swim float, Marry wore a cute white swimsuit like fluffy cotton candy. The soft, overlapping cloth accentuated her childlike nature.

“What about Marry? Shintaro-kun doesn’t seem to like the kind of impression she makes.”

“I think it’s cute but…. It’s childish, isn’t it?”

“I see. Speaking of children, there’s also Hiyori-chan.”

Looking in the direction Kano was pointing, I saw Hibiya and Hiyori, the youngest pair in the Mekakushi Dan. Hibiya has guts for never giving up no matter how coldly Hiyori treats him. He deserves more respect. The pink one-piece swimsuit Hiyori wore was studded with flower petal designs, a good match for a sweet young girl.

“I’m not a lolicon!”

“Okayyyy don’t get mad. Ahh, look look, what about your little sister?”

“I don’t have a sister complex either!”

Momo’s swimsuit had by far the least amount of cloth among the members. I’m sure she’s used to being so exposed for her idol work, but as her older brother it made me a little worried for her. At least it seemed like she was trying to hide her face a little bit, wearing a thin hoodie that made it a little better. Still, my anxiety for her was endless.

However, when I’m looking at her like this, she has really big…. Nope, let’s stop.

“Haruka-senpai and Takane are the same as ever.”

“Why aren’t those two dating?”

Our two senpais glanced around as they happily talked to each other. It seemed that they both regained their original appearances after the summer and they had become closer than ever before, but strangely they weren’t dating.

Even Takane, who’s a crude person, chose a lovely swimsuit. I can’t help it, but I’d been thinking this since the Ene era, what about her flat chest? I wouldn’t dare say it because she’d hurry to attack me.

“Well, it’s not Takane-senpai.”

“You’re a really rude guy.”

“Shintaro-kun, your pick is my older sister. I know that. Yeah, you can’t help it because my sister’s cute.”

“You don’t get to decide for me!”

Kano nodded with an enlightened look on his face, and I hit him on the head. Kano said “ouch” but I don’t think it actually hurt.

At the edge of my field of vision I saw a girl wearing a pale red swimsuit. She talked to Kido and the others, laughing lightly. I’d been in love with her appearance for the last few years. A scarlet ribbon swayed around her chest. I absentmindedly thought that she’s the type who looks surprisingly slender in the right clothes. Unavoidably, my eyes were naturally drawn to her healthy legs, stretched out from under the cloth around her waist.

“....You’re looking too much, Shintaro-kun, it’s disgusting.”

“But….!!”

“Listen here, I won’t give you my sister.”

The sudden coldness in his voice was like an alarm and made my heart jump. Kano was glaring at me with hostility in his eyes.

“....You have a sister complex, don’t you?”

“I have a sister complex. Something wrong with that?”

“I’m not going to fight back on this with you.”

“Well!! I’m going to leave this gross pervert who’s watching the girls with his filthy eyes and go into the water.”

“You’re the one who-!!”

I raised my fist, thinking I could probably hit him easily, as Kano cheerfully skipped toward the sea. What a shameless guy. It was so irritating, he’s the one who brought it up in the first place.

I decided that someday I’ll definitely get payback. But before I knew it I saw the members, who had finished all their preparations, begin to enter the sea one-after-the-other, and I felt my tense face loosen up. As I stood on the sandy beach my friends waved cheerfully toward me and I raised my hand in response.

As I put my legs into the waves, cold water shocked my bare feet. How many years had it been since I’d been in the sea? As the memory arose a shocking pain pierced my chest and I shook my head.

Right now I just needed to enjoy my time with my friends. When I threw the beachball that was flying toward me back, the spray of droplets reflected the sunlight and sparkled like a jewel.

As an ex-shut-in I was completely exhausted after ten minutes of play, so I got out of the water and headed toward a beach chair. I also wanted to cool off after facing the wrath of Momo’s competitive spirit. The beachball is a fearsome weapon, I learned.

I finally arrived at the chair as I struggled to move my head and body that were exhausted from having too much fun. I tilted my head to the other visitor who was there.

“Seto? Are you taking a break?”

It’s no exaggeration to say that the man sitting under the umbrella that we took from the hideout’s storage room and staring leisurely at the sea is the man who looks the best at the beach among all the members. I realized that he hadn’t played dodgeball or beachball throwing with us at all.

Seto, who was a refreshingly handsome man, had a bittersweet smile on his face. What kind of score would this guy’s face get in a modeling contest?

“Ahh, I’m keeping an eye on everyone’s stuff so nothing gets stolen.”

“Ohh, is that what it is? I can take your place so you can go enjoy yourself.”

I didn’t want to move for a while, so I stayed in my seat and reached for the cooler. Seto guessed what I was reaching for and handed me a bottle of dark soda, so I thanked him. Twisting the red cap released a pleasant “pshhh” sound.

“Uhhm, I’m fine here. It’s fun enough just to look at it like this.”

“Why don’t you want to go in the water?”

“Well, it’s just. I’m not really in the mood.”

The carbonated acid pouring down my throat fizzed up. I gulped down the clinging sweetness from the opening of the bottle and pulled my face away from it.

Seto’s face, which was covered by the shadow of the umbrella, didn’t look cheerful. I suddenly realized why as I wiped the water drops off the surface of the soda bottle with my hand.

I remembered a conversation I heard between Kido and the other members one day. Those painful memories of being swallowed up by the Kagerou Daze. The cause of Seto’s was surely jumping into the flooded river in an attempt to rescue his dog. It wouldn’t be strange to see that trauma from the past superimposed with the vast stream of water spread out in front of us.

“....My bad.”

“Eh? Oh no, don’t apologize. Please go back to enjoying yourself without worrying about me.”

Seto waved his hand and smiled flusteredly as I muttered my apology for my poor judgement. Unlike cat-eyes, Seto is a really good guy. He’s a refreshing young man who’s loved by everyone. It must be painful, to not make a bitter face but to smile with what he stores inside.

I finished drinking the soda and put it back in the cooler as I borrowed a towel that had been stuffed in our bag and hung it over my shoulders. I mopped up the droplets that were dripping down my face with the edge of it and turned to watch my friends who were having fun in the shallows. I still had enough energy for the job we had to do after this. But I hoped I didn’t use up too much energy to play. If I got sick I wouldn’t be able to work.

I had been looking at the sea for a while when I noticed a figure walking toward us with a shaky, uncertain gait. The hood of the jacket I lent her covered her eyes and as soon as she reached the seat she collapsed between me and Seto. I put a fresh towel on my sister’s head and brushed the sand off of her with shock.

“Are you okay, Momo?”

“Uhh…. I just feel a little icky.”

“Is Kisaragi-san sick?”

“Ehhh…. Yeah, that’s how it feels.”

“She’s like you, Seto. That’s why I told her to stop, but this idiot….”

Seto was grasping what I was saying as I suddenly cut myself off. Momo laid on her back with the towel covering her face as she repeatedly took deep breaths, as if to expel the disgust in her chest.

Momo is the same as Seto. Although it wasn’t in this sea, Momo had an accident in the ocean at an early age and had completely avoided the sea ever since. She told me she always refused to go to places like the sea for her idol work, but she insisted that she would definitely go on this mission. Today when I was anxious about her she greeted me with an “It’s okay!” Not being able to stand her fear of the sea, Momo came ashore. She was careful not to wade too deep, but it seems it was still a scary thing to do. She put on a brave front for Marry and the others, but in truth it must have been scary enough that even looking at the waves made her tremble.

“Ahh, I thought I was getting just a little bit used to it.”

What kind of expression did Momo, who muttered so regretfully, hide under that towel? Seeing this unexpected darkness from two incredibly bright people, I silently took a drink out of the cooler. When I held the bottle to the back of Momo’s neck, I heard a strange scream that I couldn’t imagine a highschool girl could even make. As I pushed the drink against my sister she jumped up, glaring at me.

“Okay, I’m going to build a castle.”

“Yeah?”

Those two look up at me with agreeable voices as I pick up a bucket and gardening shovel that I’m not even sure who packed. Slipping on my beach sandals, I took position not far from our seats and plunged the shovel into the sand.

“I’m building a castle here. A great one with a moat. Adding a garden would also be nice. I’ll plan the design and you guys can help me out.”

“Huh…. Play with sand?”

“What happened to your brother all the sudden? Is he also feeling sick?”

“This isn’t play and I’m not sick. C’mon you guys, this is construction work. We can’t do this half-baked. We have a mission to build the most beautiful castle in the world here, the only number one.”

“What are you talking about?”

As I suddenly started talking, my sister’s cold gaze pierced me. Stop it Momo, your brother’s life has already hit rock bottom. Any more damage will give me a negative score.

Even Seto looked lukewarm about the idea. I couldn’t stand it anymore and threw an empty bucket at him.

“You guys are being fussy! At any rate, Seto should procure water! Momo, it will help if you add the water and dig here! Do you understand!?”

“Ehhh, so tyrannical….!”

“This is unreasonable, brother….”

I knew it without being told. It was unreasonable. It was too incoherent to understand.

However, this was the only way to have fun at the beach with two people who can’t enter the sea, so it couldn’t be helped. I so rarely get to have fun visiting the sea with my friends.

As I mindlessly dug up the sand, Momo sat down next to me with a children’s shovel in one hand. Seto drew some water from the water supply above and also joined us, the three of us meeting together.

“I want to make something like a foreign castle!”

“That’s good. Since that’s a good idea, let’s make a really amazing one! Let’s surprise everyone who comes back!”

“Yes!”

“....Don’t ruin it like you used to do.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore, so I won’t! It’s because you built a nice castle in the first place….!”

“I will never forget the tragedy that took place in that sandbox.”

“That’s why I won’t do it again! Stop holding onto the past!”

As we argued the three of us opened up a hole and piled up the removed sand in a mountain shape.

While keeping an eye on everyone’s belongings we steadily made progress with our project in the sand. The sand play we did this year was surprisingly interesting, and as we worked our passion naturally grew. At first it was kind of a joke, but before I knew it all three of us were seriously working on the castle.

Soon, the other members rose out of the sea one by one and joined us playing in the sand. Before I knew it, a masterpiece of an old castle floating on the surface of a lake was completed.

The actual mission from the afternoon was terrible, to be clear.

The uncle who owns Beach House Blue was a very tough looking and strict person, who doesn’t talk much and is hard to get along with. I ended up asking the owner’s relative’s older sister to teach us about the type of work that was done annually at this time of year. The Mekakushi Dan was clumsy, working without rehearsal as we went to work.

Basically, there were three jobs: trying to attract patrons, serving customers in the hall, and cooking inside. Kano, Hibiya, and Hiyori advertised on the beach. Seto, Momo, Takane, and Haruka-senpai serve customers. The rest of us were in the hectic kitchen. According to Momo, to keep their faces concealed, customer service staff surreally wore masks that looked like sea creatures while they worked. Where the heck did they get those masks in the first place? The crab and octopus were only slightly less surreal than the sea cucumber. I think the ultimate cause of defeat was that the style of painting used on them was realism.

The work was so busy due to the large number of customers that I couldn’t afford to worry about the passage of time. I noticed it growing dark around us and knew that working hours had come to an end. It was only natural that the members collapsed on the spot when we heard the sister I spoke to earlier thank us for our work.

I couldn’t walk one step further. We all left our bodies collapsed in the guest seating after finishing clean-up.

Now that the mission was completed all we had to do was return home, but I didn’t feel like moving since my body felt so heavy. I couldn’t be the only one who wanted to just fall asleep like this.

While glancing sideways at Seto, who was accustomed to working like this, I thought about the request we received from the sister and I sighed considering the effort needed to return home after this. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t want to go home. It’s like a complicated maiden’s feelings. One who claims she’s misplaced her maiden spirit.

As we sat there tired, the owner approached us with a big plastic bag. As usual, his expression was unfriendly. Anticipating that he might get angry at us slacking off, the members all sat up straight.

After glancing at our faces one by one, the owner nodded a little and pushed the bag against Haruka-senpai, who was sitting closest to him. Then he left as if nothing had happened. In the middle of all of us, who sighed in relief while wondering what the hell had just happened, a sound of amazement spilled out of Haruka-senpai’s mouth as he checked the contents of the bag.

“Hey everyone! Look at this!”

Our gazes naturally gathered where his joyful voice rang out as we all cheered at the unexpected item that came out of the bag with a rattling noise.

The owner gave us two extra large firework packs. Was it a symbol of appreciation? His awkward kindness made the members happy and we forgot all about our tiredness. We’re such cheap people that one or two fireworks made us cheerful.

“We have no choice but to get flashy….!”

Everyone switched to play mode as we grinned and laughed. It seemed the mission at sea was plunging into overtime.

“The rabbit!! Secret technique: wielding five one-handed!!”

“You’re still naive Seto. You’re no match for my skyocket dual wielding.”

“Ahaha…. The skyrocket technique is sloppy….!”

“Look, Seto, Kano, I have the mysterious Niagara technique.”

“Ehhhhh how do you hold it, Kido the Wicked? Kyaaa wait don’t turn it this direction, it’s dangerous!!”

“What’s going on with Kido’s!? Please teach me too!”

Are they all stupid?

As I watched that trio of childhood friends play with fireworks in both hands, I smiled with astonishment. The reason why firework consumption is abnormally fast is probably because there are people who play with them like that. A good kid wouldn’t imitate them.

There was nothing I could do because Kido, who usually stops the members from making fools of ourselves, was the one initiating it. There was no one left to stop them.

The light of the firework I held in my hand went out, and I aimed to put it in a bucket of water that was at my sore feet. Tomorrow morning will be dreadful. I soaked the used firework in the water and sat up to see what I could do next.

Momo and Marry were preparing a little fireworks display while Hibiya and Hiyori watched their fireworks, actually both looking friendly. Kido was still doing her thing, and I didn’t want to be involved in that.

“Shintaro, want to do sparklers together?”

Looking around, I turned my legs to the voice calling me.

Ayano smiled while she passed me a thin, unreliable looking sparkler she held. I saw that our two seniors were already using them. Haruka-senpai was laughing about how small his was while Takane was shaking. Seeing her nostalgic face made me naturally relax a little bit.

“Only a little.”

“Yay! Let’s play and see who’s can last the longest!”

“Oh, Ayano, that’s a bad idea.”

“Shintaro, are your hands shaking because you’re nervous?”

“I think I’m better than you, but we’re against Dancing Flash.”

“Hey….!?”

Takane always screams when you say that inflammatory, tit-for-tat name. She’s a really noisy person, as she has been since the Ene days. Even though they’re two really different characters, the noise she can make is still the same, so it surprised me.

To prevent the wind from putting out the flame, the four of us stood shoulder to shoulder and brought the tips of our sparklers up to a candle. We all breathed together and moved our sparklers as close together as possible to make sure they would ignite at the same time.

“Start.”

Our voices aligned, the sparklers ignited. After the fire lit, we each put our sparklers into the position that felt easiest and the endurance race began. It would have seemed ridiculous to just concentrate and stare at the end of my sparkler.

Holding it as still as possible so that the end didn’t seem to blur, I watched clumps of sparks fall down. Only the lively voices of my friends and the waves could be heard on the quiet beach.

It was a calm, happy, and irreplaceable time.

“....Ah”

Fireballs fell to the sand.

I stopped talking as if I was at the end of my life, as I felt emptiness from the firework I had. I raised my head suddenly and saw the illuminated faces of three people, who’s vigor gradually rose. This existence had once been lost. I had given up hope that these days would ever come back.

“I never thought the day would come when everyone could play with fireworks like this.”

It was Haruka-senpai who said this with a whispering voice. That’s what everyone in this place was thinking, it’s the story of a future we didn’t expect. This dream I wished could come true one day, I had more than half given up hope on. This is what made me realize it.

Takane’s gentle expression, which emerged in the faint light of the fire, had a slight remnant of her electronic existence.

“Yeah. And I wonder how many years it’s been since I’ve visited the sea. I still can’t believe it.”

Her body, which couldn’t even get out of a screen for so long, could finally frolic and have fun again.

The salty breeze, which carried the smell of the sea, rocked our fireworks mischievously. In the wind Ayano tucked her dark hair behind her ear with her slender fingers as she gently opened her mouth.

“We can do this now because Shintaro arrived to welcome us at that time. I was really happy. It was cool, right? Like a hero of justice.”

There was no more red scarf around the neck of the girl who retired from being a hero after that day. It feels a little desolate, not seeing her in her out-of-season winter clothes, but more importantly than that joy prevailed. She would no longer suffer from the terribly hefty title of hero.

“I’ve said many times that being a hero isn’t my nature….”

“That’s right. A mob around that guy is enough to make him happy.”

As Takane verbally abused me, the fireball of her sparkler got blown out by the wind and fell to the sand. She laughed and sat down in the sand. The moonlight was reflected upon the sea’s surface and made a yellow path that continued all the way to the emerging horizon. Coupled with the glittering stars, it was a really magical sight.

“It’s no good for us two. We’re good at video games but not sparklers.”

“I’m sorry, Haruka-senpai”

“I’m not really good or bad with sparklers in the first place.”

“Fufu. Then it’s a match between me and Haruka-senpai. I won’t lose!”

Big fireballs shone brightly at the end of two sparklers. Is there a trick, or is it just luck? Randomly, one of the long-lasting sparklers would go out with an abrupt end.

Suddenly, a flash of light above deprived me of my vision. It was the fireworks that Momo and Marry had been struggling to set up making small flowers bloom in the night sky. The successive firing of light into the sky fascinated everyone even though it was small-scale.

“Wow, it’s beautiful.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Look at you two….”

“Ah.”

Because we stopped paying attention for a moment, it seemed that the unstable fireballs fell to the ground. Did they fall at the same time or not? I didn’t even know, so I didn’t know what to do. Somehow it became exhausted, but it seemed fine to us.

I absentmindedly glanced to the side toward the sea as my seniors got excited about another race. Ayano, who was sitting next to me before I knew it, was fidgeting with her hands and looking at the sea.

“Isn’t it kind of strange for all us kids to just get on the train and go play in the ocean? It feels like a special time.”

I don’t know what a special time is like. When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to go out at night. This felt like having a sleepover with a friend did.

There was a slight sense of loneliness in my chest. I wish I felt happy like this all the time.

The breeze that blew through the refreshing cool air made it feel like the end of summer.

“....We can’t stay being children anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Summer isn’t around anymore. Time that can’t be recovered has passed. Now that things have returned to normal, is it proof that we’ve moved forward past these dear repeated summers?

Eventually it will be time to take different paths. The time will come when each of us looks ahead and takes a step forward.

“I wish I could play like this again.”

I softly looked down at the gentle young girl. The sound of roaring waves rumbling against our eardrums obscured the passage of time.

“Yeah. And also be somewhere like here.”

One day, it would be nice if there was a time where we could all get back together like this and get excited like fools again. As I get older little by little, I laugh about what happened back then.

It wasn’t dawn yet. As long as time allows us, let’s enjoy that secret time that children can have.

The unlit sparkler in my hand felt slightly warm.

Book Info | Ch. 1 | Ch. 2

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mosswillow · 4 years

Text

Your Mask - (Dark!Tony Stark x Reader).

Warnings! 18+ adult content, Non Con/dub con, kidnapping, smut, Dark!, blackmail.

AN - If you’re new here this is for a collection of Dark!Avenger one shots where the avengers one by one manipulate/kidnap the reader. You can read this fic alone or with the others. I think it’s best to read them in order if you want to read all of them but you do you. Here’s the masterlist for that.

...ok yeah also I said I was going to do bucky but as I started planning out his story I realized it needs to go after most of the others. I have outlines for everyone now and (as long as I don’t change anything) It will go Natasha, Sam, Thor, Bucky, Loki.

word count: 2.7k

Strength. It’s been a theme throughout your life. You had to be strong growing up when your parents divorced and your father left. You were strong in school, graduating top of your class while working nights and weekends to help support you and your mother. You had to be strong when your mother died and you were left alone freshman year of college.You were strong when you landed a high level position in finance after graduation. You’ve been strong every day since, being a leader, someone whose confidence radiates through their entire being.

Sometimes though when it’s quiet and you’re alone in your thoughts you get tired. Tired of being strong, of fighting every second of every day to make it in a world that wants to pull you down. You’re tired of pretending because you know that underneath it all you’re not strong at all. You’ve put on this mask of strength and it’s carried your farther than you could ever dream. You know though that one day it will carry you too far and the mask will be knocked off, showing who you really are, just a scared little girl pretending to be someone she isn’t

---

You look at the dresses your assistant pulled for you, picking out a long red one with a slit up the thigh. You pair it with a red lipstick and simple diamond jewelry. It’s perfect, you’re perfect you think looking at yourself in the mirror. You tell yourself that you’re everything you need before heading out the door and to your waiting car.

Stark tower is decorated from top to bottom with beautiful icicle themed displays. While magnificent the decor feels formidable, almost a warning not to walk in. You can’t stay on top without attending things like this. You take a breath before walking through the crowd, making your way to the bar, and ordering a red wine. A little liquid courage always helps in these environments. You find an acquaintance and smile, reaching your hand out.

“John.”

“Y/N, fancy seeing you here,” he says sarcastically

“Hey now, I show up to these things sometimes,” You joke.

“It has been a long time, which reminds me that we need to get together and talk business. I won’t let you get out of it this time,” you continue.

“You got me, I’ll have my assistant contact yours to set up a meeting.” John laughs and waves his hand before walking away.

You keep up a cheerful disposition as you make your way through the crowd, networking. It’s what you’re best at and how you came out on top after graduation. You have a way about you, always able to lure people in to get what you want. You head to the bar to refill your wine not looking as you turn back to the crowd. You bump into someone and spill a drop of wine on their suit.

“Oh I’m sorry.”

The man turns and you immediately recognize him.

“Mr. Stark. I swear it was an accident.” You turn back to the bar and get a napkin, dabbing the small spot of wine. You don’t want to think about how much his suit cost.

He gives a genuine smile and reaches out, gently stroking your arm before grabbing the napkin from your hand.

“It’s ok, I don’t think we’ve met?”

“Oh yeah, I’m Y/N.”

“I’ve heard of you.” He says.

You’ve heard that Mr. Stark is a flirt but as you talk it feels like more than that. There’s a look in his eyes that screams sex and you can’t look away. You feel like he could swallow you whole just with a look. You want nothing more in this moment for that to happen. You want him and you’re accustomed to getting what you want.

Tony reaches out his hand and you mirror him, ready to follow him to his room when a cough comes from beside you. Captain America smiles wide at you and you drop your hand smiling back at him. To his right is a smiling woman, hanging on his arm.

“And who is this?”

“This is Y/N. She’s caught my attention,” Tony says, giving a small nod as he says your name.

“You can call me Steve,” Steve says, smiling even bigger.

The woman slowly loses her smile, looking back and forth between you and Tony.

“No, Tony don’t.”

Tony clenches his jaw and Steve Leans over and whispers something in the woman's ear.

“My wife is tired. I think we’re going to head up now,” Steve says abruptly.

You make eye contact with the woman and she gives you a sad smile before turning away. They walk off together hand and hand and you make a face at Tony.

“Is she ok?”

Tony shrugs.

“She’s always been super weird. Steve loves her though so I let it be.”

You nod and look at your watch.

“Hey?” Tony says, pulling your attention back to him.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to see my room?”

“What are you implying?” you smile and he leans in.

“Sex?”

You laugh and follow him up to his room. He undoes his tie pulling it off and you slip your dress over your head and throw it on the floor, kicking your heels off. You pull Tony in for a kiss before knocking him onto the bed, peppering soft kisses over his chest. You move your hand down to his hardening cock, stroking it as it starts to throb. He pulls your face up and kisses you back. He nips at your shoulder as you line his dick up at your entrance and slide your body down slowly. You ride him, taking what you want. You feel an orgasm building, you’re so close. Tony slaps your thigh hard, bringing you out of the moment and you let out a whine, opening your eyes. He flips you over and thrusts deep and hard into you. You push against him and him against you, rolling around the bed. it’s the most passionate sex you’ve ever had and when it’s over you can’t help but spend several minutes repeating ‘what the fuck’ over and over again in your head. Finally, you get up and make your way to his bathroom, coming out several minutes later with an empty bladder and clean thighs. You pull your dress on and loof for The discarded red thong you had been wearing, ultimately deciding to just leave it, you can buy more.

“Where are you going?” Tony asks.

“Home,” you reply.

Tony’s face goes hard and he sits up in bed, crossing his arms.

“Oh, the sex was great sweety but that’s all it was. I’m not looking for anything serious.”

You watch something happen in Tony, the gears in his brain twist and turn. A sinister smile washes over his face and he lounges back in his bed.

“Have a good evening Y/N, I’ll see you soon.” He says casually.

You leave quickly, calling a car to meet you on the street.

On monday you arrive to a stoic office. Everyone looks at you like you have two heads. Your chest tightens and you start feeling nauseous. You don’t even sit down before your assistant shows up in your office telling you of an emergency board meeting that you’re required to attend. You sit in the meeting as the board explains that they have to let you go.

“I just don’t understand, is it something I did?” you ask.

“We just want to go a different direction.” the CEO answers.

You pack your things and head home, spending no time feeling sorry for yourself. You prepare your resume and start calling all of your many contacts from all over the globe. Nobody wants to hire you or even give an interview. Some won’t even take your calls and you start getting frustrated.

“Stark blackballed you, I’m sorry.” Finally someone tells you.

“Thank you for telling me.”

“Yeah, just don’t tell anyone I told you ok?”

“Yeah of course.”

You hang up the phone and narrow your eyes. What an absolute asshole, you think. He ruined someones career because of sex. You stand up and storm over to Stark Tower demanding to be seen. Tony is obviously expecting you. He sits in his big office chair looking at you all smug and offers you a coffee. You don’t have the patience for whatever he’s doing and cut right to the chase.

“You blackballed me?”

Tony shrugs.

“I could go to the police,” you say.

“And say what? They won’t do anything to me, I’m a superhero and my wealth and influence is more than you could imagine.”

You want to punch him in the face, or maybe strangle him. If you had a pack of dogs you would definitely let them loose on him right now. Instead you raise your middle finger up and shout a very hostile string of vulgar insults before turning on your heel to storm out.

“I have a position available for you.” Tony says as you reach the door.

You turn back and cross your arms.

“Same salary you had before. Work here for a year and I’ll get you a job anywhere.”

“Why are you doing this? I don’t get your motivation.”

Tony taps his finger on his desk.

“I’ll send over the contract.”

It’s no use trying to get anything out of him and you know it. You go home and steam, pacing anxiously around your apartment and drinking. The contract arrives later in the evening and you look over it. The job is legitimate and good, actually better than your previous position. If he had just offered you the job you would have taken it but now, you shake your head, Now there’s nowhere else for you to go. You sign the contract and send it back.

---

You arrive at work on monday and organize your desk. It’s a nice office with a big window and private bathroom. You can do one year, you’ve certainly done worse.

Tony wastes no time visiting your office. He drops off flowers and chocolates and sends you dirty messages. You ignore it, knowing that anything you do will just spur him on more. It all becomes worse when you’re forced to start bringing files to Tony's personal quarters. You take a breath and knock on his door. When he opens you shove the files at him and start walking away. Tony follows you out and stops you, shoving you against the wall. You make yourself tall, shoving him back.

“This is not ok Tony, you need to stop this weird obsessive behavior.”

“You like it, I know you do.”

He shoves you again and your head hits the wall. You cry out and a woman you don’t recognize appears from behind a corner. She wears an apron and carries a duster so you assume she’s a housekeeper.

“Is everything ok?” She asks.

“We’re fine, you can leave for the night.”

The woman looks back and forth between you and Tony. You give her a small nod and a big customer service smile and she nods back before disappearing around the corner.

“Seriously, this needs to stop or I walk.”

“You won’t find another job if you walk.”

“I have savings.”

Tony looks away and runs his hand through his hair.

“You win this round, I’ll stay away.”

He runs a finger down your cheek before stepping away.

“I’m patient.”

You visibly cringe. He’s patient? You don’t know what he even means by that. Does he think you’ll change your mind and come to him? You should walk right now. You can find a little house in the countryside and live a simple life. Your rational brain reminds you that he would follow you. There’s nowhere you can go outside of his influence. You glare at him and retreat, not looking back.

---

The next several weeks are quiet. Despite everything, you like your job. The people who

work for Stark are well paid and happy. If it wasn’t for Tony you would stay in the company indefinitely.

There’s no way you could anticipate what’s in the letter you get, so sweetly wrapped up like a present. You open it expecting the same sort of stuff Tony always sends. Maybe it’s tickets to a basketball game or a gift certificate for a massage with a flashy and inappropriate message attached, always with the inappropriate messages.

It’s not what you expect at all. You start shaking as you read every last bit and at the end you pick your phone up and call Tony.

“Come on up,” He says.

You stand at the elevator. You could turn around right now and leave, get all of your money and flee the country. You turn around and see a security guard looking at you. He holds a walky talky up to his mouth and waits. With a sigh, you press the button and go up. Tony waits for you on an empty floor, smiling wide.

“Don’t the avengers live here?”

“They’re out right now, it’s just you and me.”

He walks toward you and you back away a step for every one he takes. You eye the elevator.

“You won’t be leaving this floor for some time. If you behave we’ll see about you going back to work.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” you whisper.

“Watching Steve with his girl just… I want that.”

“So ask someone on a date?”

“I want you.”

“Why?”

Tony finally reaches you, taking your chin and pulling it up.

“At first it was like a game that I wanted desperately to win. Now It’s love.”

You want to throw up. You look back at the papers in your hand. He thought of everything. He has a detailed background check and list of every single friend and family member. He knows all of your passwords. He has a month worth of pictures of the two of you that he’s already started leaking to the press. To everyone else it looks like you’ve already been in a relationship. Worst of all he has video of you in your office holding files and carrying them out of the office. He has an intricate outline of how he’s able to frame you and send you to prison if he wants.

“It wouldn’t be a very fun game if I didn’t give you at least a chance to win. In one year I’ll ask you if you want to leave and if you say yes I’ll let you go.”

He raises his arm up and lands a slap across your face.

“You’ll break in a week though.”

Tears fall from your eyes for the first time since your mother died. Tony gestures for you to come with him and you do, following him without argument. He pushes you onto his bed and removes your underwear, lifting your skirt up.

“Open up baby,” He says pushing against your legs.

Your legs shake as you open them. He gives your pussy a small slap before climbing on top of you and thrusting in. He holds you down as he takes you, eyeing your tear stained face posessively.

“Hey, don’t be sad princess.”

He reaches down to your clit and starts circling it, forcing your body to betray you. You cling to him as your orgasm washes over you and he in turn comes, filling you with so much cum it starts dripping out. You try to go to the bathroom but he grabs your hand and pulls you back to the bed.

“This time you’ll stay.”

---

You’ve always been strong, you had to be. Your strength is what got you into this mess and you realize now, crying alone in Tony’s room, that your strength is not enough to get you out. The mask you wore for so long was just that, a mask, and now it’s been stolen and worn like a trophy by someone else. You know you’ll never get it back, that in one year Tony will ask you if you want to leave and you won’t have the strength to say yes.

#dark!tony #Dark!Tony stark #dark!tony stark x reader #dark!avengers #dark!mcu

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kingwuko · 3 years

Text

Wuko in the Comics: Ruins of the Empire, Book 1 part 2

Welcome to my series of posts discussing Wuko in the Comics. In this post I'll continue to discuss RotE Book 1. There are some... interesting moments in the second half of this comic, including a very famous line that all but confirms canon Wuko.

Plot Summary

Fearing that Guan will use violence to stop the election, the Krew decides to bring Kuvira along with them to Gaoling, hoping that she can talk him down. When they come face-to-face with Guan, however, they discover he does not intend to use violence, but will run in Gaoling’s election. The Krew decides the best solution is to find another candidate with enough public support to defeat Guan fair and square; and they decide to ask Toph to run. It is revealed, however, that Guan does not intend to win fair and square. He’s planning to brainwash Gaoling’s citizens to vote for him.

Major Plot points in the second half of Book 1

We start off right away with the Sauna Scene. Everyone looks excellent. The ladies' sauna wear is lovely. Mako and Bolin have their classic swim suits seen in season 1. Wu is literally just wearing a towel. I found myself googling saunas and steam baths to see if it’s normal to wear swimsuits or just a towel, and everything I read said pretty much anything goes as long as you are comfortable, but I do find it interesting that everyone wears swimsuits except Wu. Maybe because he does steam baths more often and he’s just more comfortable in that setting? He seems pretty confident and not at all shy. I don’t have anything analytical to say about it, I just think it’s an interesting detail, that he doesn’t seem to have any hang-ups about being nearly naked around Mako his friends.

They are discussing Guan’s militaristic movement toward Gaoling, and tossing ideas around to handle the situation. Mako not-so-helpfully suggests using force with the united forces which Zhu Li shoots down right away, not wanting to escalate the situation. Wu agrees and wants to find a peaceful resolution. Korra, remembering her conversation with Kuvira, thinks she has the answer. She proposes bringing Kuvira along to Gaoling, which NOBODY is happy about. Asami is upset because she made it clear earlier she does not want to be in the same room as Kuvira, Bolin is distressed because Kuvira nearly had him killed when he defected from her inner circle, Mako points out that he nearly lost his arm taking down the mech, Zhu Li says she invaded republic city, Asami reminds everyone that Kuvira killed her father, and Wu boldly declares that we can’t forget she ruined his coronation… He quickly reads the room and apologises (character growth?).

Korra acknowledges everyone’s concerns and points out that she truly believes Kuvira can be an ally- she was their ally when Zaheer was trying to kill her and the airbenders; and when her spirit vine weapon ripped open a new portal to the spirit world, Kuvira thought she had died and Korra believes that changed her. Bolin points out that Kuvira is very persuasive and may have a good shot at convincing Guan to stand down. Everyone is convinced and declares their support for the plan.

Zhu Li orders Kuvira’s release and Korra brings her onto the airship taking them all to Gaoling. And, I’m sorry, this frame is like, the bitchiest collective look from Mako, Wu, Bolin and Pabu. I just love it.

They initially plan to restrain her, but decide it’s pointless when Kuvira points out if she wanted to escape that she would have already. They arrive at Gaoling and there’s no sign of Guan and his army. Kuvira is certain he’ll be there, and points out that she needs to change so she doesn’t meet with him looking like a prisoner.

Korra and Wu go to meet with the election candidates. Their portraits are on the wall and it’s revealed that the candidates are both elderly magistrates who have been working in the local government for a long time. They are practically indistinguishable from each other, which causes Korra concern. Wu isn’t happy about it either, he was hoping the elections would bring in new leaders to take the earth kingdom in a new direction. Instead, it looks like nothing will change in Gaoling or the rest of the earth kingdom if things play out the same way. They are both disappointed but Korra is optimistic that this is the first election and over things will improve as they iron out the political kinks

Back in the flying machine, they give Kuvira an outfit of Asami’s that is…. Like I can’t put it into words. I’ve never seen asami wear it and that is a shame. The word that comes to mind is “Dapper”. Like is we saw Asami wearing it when they first introduced her character literally everyone would have predicted Cannon Korrasami and immeadiately said “yup Asami’s gay straight women don’t dress like that”. Slacks, a collared long sleeve shirt, with a grey vest over top. Just like, amazing. I am so disappointed we never saw Asami wear this. Someone point me to a fanart of Asami in this outfit that canonically belongs to her please.

Guan arrives and Kuvira tries to talk to him, which goes about as well as you’d expect. So she tries to appeal directly to his troops and urges them to surrender, and they all say in unison “Hail Commander Guan!”. So Kuvira decides to challenge Guan and beats the crap out of him in a punch that looks like something directly out of a WWII propaganda poster or something.

Kuvira is literally about to kill him by bending the metal collar around his neck when suddenly Asami electrocutes her with some device she had hidden in the belt she gave Kuvira.

Once Mako and Bolin drag Kuvira away, Korra attempts to reason with Guan and tells him she won’t let him interfere with the election. Guan then reveals he has no intention of interfering- he plans on running in the election! He immediately turns in all the necessary paperwork to be on the ballot. He informs the Krew that soon, all the upcoming elections will have Earth Empire representatives running and once they have power in every territory, no one will question the Earth Empire's right to rule.

They reconvene back on the airship, where Kuvira is detained in the platinum box. They explain to Kuvira that she was wrong to provoke him, but right that he is an excellent strategist. Mako then tells Wu that he should just call off the election. Wu replies “Mako, you know I love you, but I’m trying to encourage democracy. I can’t just go around canceling elections because I don’t like one of the candidates. We need to see how this plays out”

…

Yes. “Mako, you know I love you”

…

We’ll discuss that at length in a bit.

They decide the best path forward is to find a new candidate who is popular enough to beat Guan. Korra excitedly suggests Toph. Which, like, wouldn’t have been the first person to come to mind for me, but I guess she’s the only person they know who is originally from Goaling? But everyone seems on board, except presumably Toph because she doesn't like to get involved in worldly affairs… So Korra announces they will just have to convince her!!

We then cut to Guan's encampment, where he is discussing Kuvira’s actions with a Doctor Sheng, observing that Kuvira just isn’t the same, and that the Avatar has corrupted her mind. The doctor suggests they “recalibrate” Kuvira’s mind and leads him into a structure where she shows him their latest “recruits'. We then see Goaling citizens tied up in chairs with devices on their heads. They are being brainwashed to vote for Guan! Yikes!

Mako and Wu Scenes

The Sauna scene

The meeting that took place in the sauna was at the behest of Wu. He said he was very stressed out so he couldn’t miss his steam bath. I know there are lots of jokes about Wu being high maintenance because he needs his spa days or whatever, but he is in a highly stressful situation right now and we know that self care is essential to maintain one’s mental health and in order to perform one’s job well. I think this was an interesting way to weave together his seemingly superficial hobbies with his new maturity and responsibility. I really loved this scene for that (though seeing all the hot people in sauna-wear is a bonus).

Also there is a recurring thing where Mako is just offering the worst advice to Korra. He wants the United Republic, a completely separate Nation from the Earth Kingdom, to just.. March into another country and ‘enforce’ their democratic process??? Like…. If you know anything about world history and current events we know that is awful and wouldn’t be received well and would be a recipe for political instability and long term conflict. Thank goodness everyone is like Mako no. I’m pointing this out because, as much as we think of Wu as being immature, irresponsible, whatever, the reality is that he has a level head while Mako is actually giving the irresponsible solutions here. It’s a really interesting evolution from the infamous Wu meltdown scene where Mako was the voice of reason, but here things have reversed.

Also, I want to point out the moment where Wu backs down after he adds his grievance to the list everyone is giving (She ruined my coordination!), it’s kind of played for laughs but like… Wu has a totally valid reason to be upset on par with everyone else, considering Kuvira had him drugged and kidnapped…. Why wouldn’t he have said that? Well, the simple and obvious answer is- the writers wanted to make a “Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking” joke. But since us fans like to give depths to the characters that they deserve, maybe Wu is genuinely traumatized and just doesn’t want to bring it up. And maybe everyone knows he’s traumatized and doesn't want to bring it up, because no one else is like “Wu, did you forget she had you drugged and kidnapped???” They just give him a look and he’s like “LOL oops sorry should have said my thing first!!” maybe Team Avatar understands that it was a really scary moment for him and they just let him shield himself with humor.

I know it isn’t isn’t exactly a strong Wuko moment, but the bitchy look that Moko, Bolin, Wu and Pabu give to Kuvira in the airship breathed life into me for some reason. I’m loving how they look like a group of mean girls who were just badmouthing Kuvira before she walked in. I think they were having a nice bonding moment before this.

Mako, you know I love you

Ok. So after Mako casually mentions just calling off the election, Wu flat out says “I love you” to Mako. This is a line us Wuko shippers just DIE for. The full line is as follows:

Mako: I say you call off the vote, at least for now. Make it impossible for Guan to win

Wu: Mako, you know I love you, but I’m trying to encourage democracy. I can’t just go around cancelling elections because I don’t like one of the candidates. We need to let this play out.

So. Like, what the heck are we supposed to make of this?

I’m not going to dig too deep and force my own interpretations and headcanons onto you. This I love you could mean a number of different things. I just want to pose some rhetorical questions about it and the context to give us all some things to think about.

Is Wu flirting? Does Mako actually know that Wu loves him? Is this an extension of Wu’s many other instances of flirting with complimenting Mako (on par with ‘my big tough guy” while staring at his ass)? Has Wu said “I love you” to Mako before? How many times has Wu said “Mako I love you” before? Is this evidence of them actually being in a romantic relationship during this comic? Or is it evidence of romantic tension building? Is Mako just totally oblivious to the fact that Wu said I love you? Or did he hear it and his brain blue-screened from the shock of being blatantly told I love you? Has Wu just gotten fed up that Mako seems oblivious to all his previous flirtations and he just decided to up the ante? Does Mako love Wu back?!

Lots of questions. Lots of interpretations. But (as far as I remember) Mako has only said I love you to two people- his brother and Korra (I don’t think he said I love you to Asami but I could be wrong). And if you’ve read this you know that Mako’s relationship with Wu is not brotherly. We’ve never heard “I love you” from Wu toward anyone else that I can recall so I don’t think he makes a habit of throwing the phrase around lightly. Also, worth noting: Literally no one reacts to the casual “I love you”. Everyone just goes on with the conversation at hand. The next frame that we see of Wu and Mako’s faces together, Mako is SMILING at Wu.

So like, he’s clearly not uncomfortable with being told that Wu loves him. And no one else is uncomfortable with it either. So what gives? Are they together? Are they flirting? Is everyone else just like “yup Wu said I love you Mako nothing out of the ordinary here because it’s painfully obvious Wu is into Mako, let's move on, nothing to see here”?

Wu and Korra

One thing I LOVE about these comics is the friendship between Korra and Wu. During the series, Korra tolerated Wu, warming up to him a bit at the very end when he told her his plan to abdicate. But through these comics there seems to be a comfortable familiarity between them. A bit of teasing, loads of moral support, and not a hint of her (or anyone) being super annoyed by him. He also doesn’t hit on her or anyone else except Mako, which is a very refreshing character growth because it was very tiresome to watch him objectify women in the animated series.

Korra and Wu spend a good amount of time together as she accompanies him to Gaoling’s city hall. They seem very comfortable with each other, comfortable enough that the writers included a fart joke.

Korra reassures Wu when he expresses worry about the election being pointless, she steps forward somewhat protectively when Guan shows up- the entire scene with Guan, Korra is standing between him and Wu.

Basically I bring this up because I genuinely love the idea that Korra and Wu are close and friendly, that they have moved on from his cringy behavior from the series (I like to think he apologized to both her and Asami?)

What this means for Wuko

If you are writing fic or just coming up with headcanon, there are two ways to look at the scenes. Either they are in a relationship, or they aren’t. You could easily just say they are in a relationship and are being quiet about it, because they aren’t ready to be fully public, or maybe because they are still figuring things out, or they are waiting for Wu to abdicate and move back to Republic City, etc. “You know I love you” is such an easy piece of canon content to make this your headcanon.

Likewise, one could say they are Not Together right now. Pre-relationship, if you will. Maybe they’ve danced around the idea, discussed feelings without actually getting together. Or maybe they are still clueless that there is a potential for a relationship. Wu might be putting out feelers to see how Mako responds to his flirtations. Mako might be wondering if he’s misinterpreting Wu’s affectionate touches and words. Lots of romantic tension, pining, each wondering if the other one has any feelings.

I also love the idea that Wu and Korra are friends and have discussed or will discuss Mako and Wu’s feelings for him.

So, in summary, Wu loves Mako. It’s canon. It’s right there in black and white. Make of it what you will!

Next post I will discuss Wuko in the first half of RotE Book 2. Wu goes on a life-changing field trip with Korra to meet Toph and confront a swamp-vision of his Late Great Aunt, while Mako gets captured and brainwashed by Guan. Wu and Mako are not together during these scenes but there will be lots of wonderful Wu backstory along with plenty of angst potential from the brainwashing storyline.

Wuko in Turf Wars

Wuko in RotE part 1

#Wuko #Wuko in the Comics #RotE #Mako #Prince Wu

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‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ at 25: An Oral History of Disney’s Darkest Animated Classic

Posted on Slashfilm on Monday, June 21st, 2021 by Josh Spiegel

“This Is Going to Change Your Life”

The future directors of The Hunchback of Notre Dame were riding high from the success of Beauty and the Beast. Or, at least, they were happy to be finished.

Gary Trousdale, director: After Beauty and the Beast, I was exhausted. Plus, Kirk and I were not entirely trusted at first, because we were novices. I was looking forward to going back to drawing.

Kirk Wise, director: It was this crazy, wonderful roller-coaster ride. I had all this vacation time and I took a couple months off.

Gary Trousdale: A little later, it was suggested: “If you want to get back into directing, start looking for a project. You can’t sit around doing nothing.”

Kirk Wise: [Songwriters] Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty had a pitch called Song of the Sea, a loose retelling of the Orpheus myth with humpback whales. I thought it was very strong.

Gary Trousdale: We were a few months in, and there was artwork and a rough draft. There were a couple tentative songs, and we were getting a head of steam.

Kirk Wise: The phone rang. It was Jeffrey [Katzenberg, then-chairman of Walt Disney Studios], saying, “Drop everything. I got your next picture: The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

Gary Trousdale: “I’ve already got Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. You’re going to do this.” It wasn’t like we were given a choice. It was, “Here’s the project. You’re on.”

Kirk Wise: I was pleased that [Jeffrey] was so excited about it. I think the success of Beauty and the Beast had a lot to do with him pushing it our way. It would’ve been crazy to say no.

Gary Trousdale: What [Kirk and I] didn’t know is that Alan and Stephen were being used as bait for us. And Jeffrey was playing us as bait for Alan and Stephen.

Alan Menken, composer: Jeffrey made reference to it being Michael Eisner’s passion project, which implied he was less enthused about it as a story source for an animated picture.

Stephen Schwartz, lyricist: They had two ideas. One was an adaptation of Hunchback and the other was about whales. We chose Hunchback. I’d seen the [Charles Laughton] movie. Then I read the novel and really liked it.

Peter Schneider, president of Disney Feature Animation (1985-99): I think what attracted Stephen was the darkness. One’s lust for something and one’s power and vengeance, and this poor, helpless fellow, Quasimodo.

Roy Conli, co-producer: I was working at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, doing new play development. I was asked if I’d thought about producing animation. I said, “Yeah, sure.”

Don Hahn, producer: The goose had laid lots of golden eggs. The studio was trying to create two units so they could have multiple films come out. Roy was tasked with something hard, to build a crew out of whole cloth.

Kirk Wise: The idea appealed to me because [of] the setting and main character. I worked with an elder story man, Joe Grant, [who] goes back to Snow White. He said, “Some of the best animation ideas are about a little guy with a big problem.” Hunchback fit that bill.

Gary Trousdale: It’s a story I always liked. When Jeffrey said, “This is going to change your life,” Kirk and I said, “Cool.” When I was a kid, I [had an] Aurora Monster Model of Quasimodo lashed to the wheel. I thought, “He’s not a monster.”

Don Hahn: It’s a great piece of literature and it had a lot of elements I liked. The underdog hero. [He] was not a handsome prince. I loved the potential.

Gary Trousdale: We thought, “What are we going to do to make this dark piece of literature into a Disney cartoon without screwing it up?”

Peter Schneider: The subject matter is very difficult. The conflict was how far to go with it or not go with it. This is basically [about] a pederast who says “Fuck me or you’ll die.” Right?

“We Were Able to Take More Chances”

Wise and Trousdale recruited a group of disparate artists from the States and beyond to bring the story of Quasimodo the bell-ringer to animated life.

Paul Brizzi, sequence director: We were freshly arrived from Paris.

Gaëtan Brizzi, sequence director: [The filmmakers] were looking for a great dramatic prologue, and they couldn’t figure [it] out. Paul and I spent the better part of the night conceiving this prologue. They said, “You have to storyboard it. We love it.”

Roy Conli: We had two amazing artists in Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi who became spiritual leaders in the production. They were so incredible.

Gaëtan Brizzi: [“The Bells of Notre Dame”] was not supposed to be a song first.

Paul Brizzi: The prologue was traditional in the Disney way. Gaëtan and I were thinking of German expressionism to emphasize the drama. I’m not sure we could do that today.

Paul Kandel, voice of Clopin: They were toying with Clopin being the narrator. So they wrote “The Bells of Notre Dame” to open the movie.

Stephen Schwartz: [Alan and I] got called into a presentation, and on all these boards [was] laid out “The Bells of Notre Dame.” We musicalized the story they put up there. We used the pieces of dialogue they invented for Frollo and the other characters. I wrote lyrics that described the narrative. It was very exciting. I had never written a song like that.

Kirk Wise: Early on, we [took] a research trip with the core creative team to Paris. We spent two weeks all over Notre Dame. They gave us unrestricted access, going down into the catacombs. That was a huge inspiration.

Don Hahn: To crawl up in the bell towers and imagine Quasimodo there, to see the bells and the timbers, the scale of it all is unbelievable.

Kirk Wise: One morning, I was listening to this pipe organ in this shadowy cathedral, with light filtering through the stained-glass windows. The sound was so powerful, I could feel it thudding in my chest. I thought, “This is what the movie needs to feel like.”

Brenda Chapman, story: It was fun to sit in a room and draw and think up stuff. I liked the idea of this lonely character up in a bell tower and how we could portray his imagination.

Kathy Zielinski, supervising animator, Frollo: It was the earliest I’ve ever started on a production. I was doing character designs for months. I did a lot of design work for the gargoyles, as a springboard for the other supervisors.

James Baxter, supervising animator, Quasimodo: Kirk and Gary said, “We’d like you to do Quasimodo.” [I thought] that would be such a cool, amazing thing to do. They wanted this innocent vibe to him. Part of the design process was getting that part of his character to read.

Will Finn, head of story/supervising animator, Laverne: Kirk and Gary wanted me on the project. Kirk, Gary, and Don Hahn gave me opportunities no one else would have, and I am forever grateful.

Kathy Zielinski: I spent several months doing 50 or 60 designs [for Frollo]. I looked at villainous actors. Actually, one was Peter Schneider. [laughing] Not to say he’s a villain, but a lot of the mannerisms and poses. “Oh, that looks a little like Peter.”

James Baxter: I was doing design work on the characters with Tony Fucile, the animator on Esmerelda. I think Kirk and Gary felt Beauty and the Beast had been disparate and the characters weren’t as unified as they wanted.

Kathy Zielinski: Frollo stemmed from Hans Conried [the voice of Disney’s Captain Hook]. He had a longish nose and a very stern-looking face. Frollo was modeled a little bit after him.

Will Finn: The team they put together was a powerhouse group – Brenda Chapman, Kevin Harkey, Ed Gombert, and veterans like Burny Mattinson and Vance Gerry. I felt funny being their “supervisor.”

Kathy Zielinski: Half my crew was in France, eight hours ahead. We were able to do phone calls. But because of the time difference, our end of the day was their beginning of the morning. I was working a lot of late hours, because [Frollo] was challenging to draw.

Kirk Wise: Our secret weapon was James Baxter, who animated the ballroom sequence [in Beauty and the Beast] on his own. He had a unique gift of rotating characters in three-dimensional space perfectly.

Gary Trousdale: James Baxter is, to my mind, one of the greatest living animators in the world.

James Baxter: I’ve always enjoyed doing things that were quite elaborate in terms of camera movement and three-dimensional space. I’m a glutton for punishment, because those shots are very hard to do.

Gary Trousdale: In the scene with Quasimodo carrying Esmeralda over his shoulder, climbing up the cathedral, he looks back under his arms, snarling at the crowd below. James called that his King Kong moment.

As production continued, Roy Conli’s position shifted, as Don Hahn joined the project, and Jeffrey Katzenberg left Disney in heated fashion in 1994.

Roy Conli: Jeffrey was going to create his own animation studio. Peter Schneider was interested in maintaining a relationship with Don Hahn. We were into animation, ahead of schedule. They asked Don if he would produce and if I would run the studio in Paris.

Don Hahn: Roy hadn’t done an animated film before. I was able to be a more senior presence. I’d worked with Kirk and Gary before, which I enjoy. They’re unsung heroes of these movies.

Kirk Wise: The [production] pace was more leisurely. As leisurely as these things can be. We had more breathing room to develop the storyboards and the script and the songs.

Gary Trousdale: Jeffrey never liked characters to have facial hair. No beards, no mustaches, nothing. There’s original designs of Gaston [with] a little Errol Flynn mustache. Jeffrey hated it. “I don’t want any facial hair.” Once he left, we were like, “We could give [Phoebus] a beard now.”

Kirk Wise: The ballroom sequence [in Beauty] gave us confidence to incorporate more computer graphics into Hunchback. We [had] to create the illusion of a throng of thousands of cheering people. To do it by hand would have been prohibitive, and look cheap.

Stephen Schwartz: Michael Eisner started being more hands-on. Michael was annoyed at me for a while, because when Jeffrey left, I accepted the job of doing the score for Prince of Egypt. I got fired from Mulan because of it. But once he fired me, Michael couldn’t have been a more supportive, positive colleague on Hunchback.

Kirk Wise: [The executives] were distracted. We were able to take more chances than we would have under the circumstances that we made Beauty and the Beast.

Don Hahn: Hunchback was in a league of its own, feeling like we [could] step out and take some creative risks. We could have done princess movies forever, and been reasonably successful. Our long-term survival relied on trying those risks.

One sticking point revolved around Notre Dame’s gargoyles, three of whom interact with Quasimodo, but feel more lighthearted than the rest of the dark story.

Gary Trousdale: In the book and several of the movies, Quasimodo talks to the gargoyles. We thought, “This is Disney, we’re doing a cartoon. The gargoyles can talk back.” One thing led to another and we’ve got “A Guy Like You.”

Kirk Wise: “A Guy Like You” was literally created so we could lighten the mood so the audience wasn’t sitting in this trough of despair for so long.

Stephen Schwartz: Out of context, the number is pretty good. I think I wrote some funny lyrics. But ultimately it was a step too far tonally for the movie and it has been dropped from the stage version.

Gary Trousdale: People have been asking for a long time: are they real? Are they part of Quasimodo’s personality? There were discussions that maybe Quasimodo is schizophrenic. We never definitively answered it, and can argue convincingly both ways.

Jason Alexander, voice of Hugo: I wouldn’t dream of interfering with anyone’s choice on that. It’s ambiguous for a reason and part of that reason is the viewers’ participation in the answer. Whatever you believe about it, I’m going to say you’re right.

Brenda Chapman: I left before they landed on how [to play] the gargoyles. My concern was, what are the rules? Are they real? Are they in his imagination? What can they do? Can they do stuff or is it all Quasi? I looked at it a little askance in the finished film. I wasn’t sure if I liked how it ended up…[Laverne] with the boa on the piano.

Kirk Wise: There was a component of the audience that felt the gargoyles were incompatible with Hunchback. But all of Disney’s movies, including the darkest ones, have comic-relief characters. And Disney was the last person to treat the written word as gospel.

“A Fantastic Opportunity”

After a successful collaboration on Pocahontas, Menken and Schwartz worked on turning Victor Hugo’s tragic story into a musical.

Alan Menken: The world of the story was very appealing, and it had so much social relevance and cultural nuance.

Stephen Schwartz: The story lent itself quite well to musicalization because of the extremity of the characters and the emotions. There was a lot to sing about. There was a great milieu.

Alan Menken: To embed the liturgy of the Catholic Church into a piece of music that’s operatic and also classical and pop-oriented enriches it in a very original way. Stephen was amazing. He would take the theme from the story and specifically set it in Latin to that music.

Stephen Schwartz: The fact that we were doing a piece set in a church allowed us to use all those elements of the Catholic mass, and for Alan to do all that wonderful choral music.

Alan Menken: The first creative impulse was “Out There.” I’m a craftsman. I’m working towards a specific assignment, but that was a rare instance where that piece of music existed.

Stephen Schwartz: I would come in with a title, maybe a couple of lines for Alan to be inspired by. We would talk about the whole unit, its job from a storytelling point of view. He would write some music. I could say, “I liked that. Let’s follow that.” He’d push a button and there would be a sloppy printout, enough that I could play it as I was starting the lyrics.

Roy Conli: Stephen’s lyrics are absolutely phenomenal. With that as a guiding light, we were in really good shape.

Stephen Schwartz: Alan played [the “Out There” theme] for me, and I really liked it. I asked for one change in the original chorus. Other than that, the music was exactly as he gave it to me.

Gary Trousdale: Talking with these guys about music is always intimidating. There was one [lyric] Don and I both questioned in “Out There,” when Frollo is singing, “Why invite their calumny and consternation?” Don and I went, “Calumny?” Kirk said, “Nope, it’s OK, I saw it in an X-Men comic book.” I went, “All right! It’s in a comic book! It’s good.”

Stephen Schwartz: Disney made it possible for me to get into Notre Dame before it opened to the public. I’d climb up the steps to the bell tower. I’d sit there with my yellow pad and pencil. I’d have the tune for “Out There” in my head, and I would look out at Paris, and be Quasimodo. By the time we left Paris, the song was written.

Kirk Wise: Stephen’s lyrics are really smart and literate. I don’t think the comical stuff was necessarily [his] strongest area. But this movie was a perfect fit, because the power of the emotions were so strong. Stephen just has a natural ability to connect with that.

Will Finn: The directors wanted a funny song for the gargoyles and Stephen was not eager to write it. He came to me and Irene Mecchi and asked us to help him think of comedy ideas for “A Guy Like You,” and we pitched a bunch of gags.

Jason Alexander: Singing with an orchestra the likes of which Alan and Stephen and Disney can assemble is nirvana. It’s electrifying and gives you the boost to sing over and over. Fortunately, everyone was open to discovery. I love nuance and intention in interpretation. I was given wonderful freedom to find both.

Stephen Schwartz: “Topsy Turvy,” it’s one of those numbers of musical theater where you can accomplish an enormous amount of storytelling. If you didn’t have that, you’d feel you were drowning in exposition. When you put it in the context of the celebration of the Feast of Fools, you could get a lot of work done.

Paul Kandel: The first time I sang [“Topsy Turvy”] through, I got a little applause from the orchestra. That was a very nice thing to happen and calm me down a little bit.

Brenda Chapman: Poor Kevin Harkey must’ve worked on “Topsy Turvy” for over a year. Just hearing [singing] “Topsy turvy!” I thought, “I would shoot myself.” It’s a fun song, but to listen to that, that many times. I don’t know if he ever got to work on anything else.

Paul Kandel: There were places where I thought the music was squarer than it needed to be. I wanted to round it out because Clopin is unpredictable. Is he good? Is he bad? That’s what I was trying to edge in there.

Kirk Wise: “God Help the Outcasts” made Jeffrey restless. I think he wanted “Memory” from Cats. Alan and Stephen wrote “Someday.” Jeffrey said, “This is good, but it needs to be bigger!” Alan was sitting at his piano bench, and Jeffrey was next to him. Jeffrey said, “When I want it bigger, I’ll nudge you.” Alan started playing and Jeffrey was jabbing him in the ribs. “Bigger, bigger!”

Don Hahn: In terms of what told the story better, one song was poetic, but the other was specific. “Outcasts” was very specific about Quasimodo. “Someday” was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

Kirk Wise: When Don watched the movie, he said, “It’s working pretty well. But ‘Someday,’ I don’t know. It feels like she’s yelling at God.” We played “God Help the Outcasts” for him and Don said, “Oh, this is perfect.” That song is the signature of the entire movie.

Don Hahn: “Someday” was lovely. But I had come off of working with Howard Ashman, and I felt, “This doesn’t move the plot forward much, does it?” We ended up with “Someday” as an end-credits song, which was fortunate. ‘Cause they’re both good songs.

Kirk Wise: It was all about what conveys the emotion of the scene and the central theme of the movie best. “God Help the Outcasts” did that.

Everyone agrees on one point.

Stephen Schwartz: Hunchback is Alan’s best score. And that’s saying a lot, because he’s written a whole bunch of really good ones.

Gary Trousdale: With Hunchback, there were a couple of people that said, “This is why I chose music as a career.” Alan and Stephen’s songs are so amazing, so that’s really something.

Paul Kandel: It has a beautiful score.

Jason Alexander: It has the singularly most sophisticated score of most of the animated films of that era.

Roy Conli: The score of Hunchback is one of the greatest we’ve done.

Don Hahn: This is Alan’s most brilliant score. The amount of gravitas Alan put in the score is amazing.

Alan Menken: It’s the most ambitious score I’ve ever written. It has emotional depth. It’s a different assignment. And it was the project where awards stopped happening. It’s almost like, “OK, now you’ve gone too far.”

Stephen Schwartz: It’s astonishing that Alan has won about 173 Academy Awards, and the one score he did not win for is his best score.

The film featured marquee performers singing covers of ��God Help the Outcasts” and “Someday”. But one of the most famous performers ever nearly brought those songs to life.

Alan Menken: I met Michael Jackson when we were looking for someone to sing “A Whole New World” for Aladdin. Michael wanted to co-write the song. I could get a sense of who Michael was. He was a very unique, interesting individual…in his own world.

I get a call out of nowhere from Michael’s assistant, when Michael was at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. He had to [deal with] allegations about inappropriate behavior with underage kids, and the breakup with Lisa Marie Presley. He’s looking to change the subject. And he obviously loves Disney so much. So I mentioned Hunchback. He said he’d love to come to my studio, watch the movie and talk about it. So we got in touch with Disney Animation. They said, “Meet with him! If he likes it…well, see what he says.” [laughing]

There’s three songs. One was “Out There,” one was “God Help the Outcasts,” one was “Someday.” Michael said, “I would like to produce the songs and record some of them.” Wow. Okay. What do we do now? Michael left. We got in touch with Disney. It was like somebody dropped a hot poker into a fragile bowl with explosives. “Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.”

Finally, predictably, the word came back, “Disney doesn’t want to do this with Michael Jackson.” I go, “OK, could someone tell him this?” You can hear a pin drop, no response, and nobody did [tell him]. It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney.

In retrospect, it was the right decision. [But] Quasimodo is a character…if you look at his relationships with his family and his father, I would think there’s a lot of identification there.

“They’re Never Going to Do This Kind of Character Again”

The film is known for the way it grapples with the hypocrisy and lust typified by the villainous Judge Frollo, whose terrifying song “Hellfire” remains a high point of Disney animation.

Gary Trousdale: Somebody asked me recently: “How the hell did you get ‘Hellfire’ past Disney?” It’s a good question.

Alan Menken: When Stephen and I wrote “Hellfire,” I was so excited by what we accomplished. It really raised the bar for Disney animation. It raised the bar for Stephen’s and my collaboration.

Stephen Schwartz: I thought the would never let me get away with [“Hellfire”]. And they never asked for a single change.

Alan Menken: Lust and religious conflict. Now more than ever, these are very thorny issues to put in front of the Disney audience. We wanted to go at it as truthfully as possible.

Stephen Schwartz: When Alan and I tackled “Hellfire,” I did what I usually did: write what I thought it should be and assume that [Disney would] tell me what I couldn’t get away with. But they accepted exactly what we wrote.

Don Hahn: Every good song score needs a villain’s moment. Stephen and Alan approached it with “Hellfire.”

Alan Menken: It was very clear, we’d thrown the gauntlet pretty far. It was also clear within our creative team that everybody was excited about going there.

Don Hahn: You use all the tools in your toolkit, and one of the most powerful ones was Alan and Stephen. Stephen can be dark, but he’s also very funny. He’s brilliant.

Gary Trousdale: The [MPAA] said, “When Frollo says ‘This burning desire is turning me to sin,’ we don’t like the word ‘sin.’” We can’t change the lyrics now. It’s all recorded. Kinda tough. “What if we just dip the volume of the word ‘sin’ and increase the sound effects?” They said, “Good.”

Stephen Schwartz: It’s one of the most admirable things [laughs] I have ever seen Disney Animation do. It was very supportive and adventurous, which is a spirit that…let’s just say, I don’t think [the company would] make this movie today.

Don Hahn: It’s funny. Violence is far more accepted than sex in a family movie. You can go see a Star Wars movie and the body count’s pretty huge, but there’s rarely any sexual innuendo.

Kathy Zielinski: I got to watch [Tony Jay] record “Hellfire” with another actor. I was sweating watching him record, because it was unbelievably intense. Afterwards, he asked me, “Did you learn anything from my performance?” I said, “Yeah, I never want to be a singer.” [laughing]

Paul Kandel: Tony Jay knocked that out of the park. He [was] an incredible guy. Very sweet. He was terrified to record “Hellfire.” He was at a couple of my sessions. He went, “Oh my God, what’s going to happen when it’s my turn? I don’t sing. I’m not a singer. I never pretended to be a singer.” I said, “Look, I’m not a singer. I’m an actor who figured out that they could hold a tune.”

Kathy Zielinski: I listened to Tony sing “Hellfire” tons. I knew I had gone too far when, one morning, we were sitting at the breakfast table and my daughter, who was two or three at the time, started singing the song and doing the mannerisms. [laughs]

Don Hahn: We didn’t literally want to show [Frollo’s lust]. It turns into a Fantasia sequence, almost. A lot of the imagery is something you could see coming out of Frollo’s imagination. It’s very impressionistic. It does stretch the boundaries of what had been done before at Disney.

Kirk Wise: We stylized it like “Night on Bald Mountain.” The best of Walt’s films balanced very dark and light elements. Instead of making it explicit, we tried to make it more visual and use symbolic imagery.

Gaëtan Brizzi: We were totally free. We could show symbolically how sick Frollo is between his hate and his carnal desire.

Kathy Zielinski: The storyboards had a tremendous influence. Everybody was incredibly admiring of the work that [Paul and Gaëtan] had done.

Don Hahn: They brought the storyboarded sequence to life in a way that is exactly what the movie looks like. The strength of it is that we didn’t have to show anything as much as we did suggest things to the audience. Give the audience credit for filling in the blanks.

Gary Trousdale: It was absolutely gorgeous. Their draftsmanship and their cinematography. They are the top. They pitched it with a cassette recording of Stephen singing “Hellfire”, and we were all in the story room watching it, going “Oh shit!”

Paul Brizzi: When Frollo is at the fireplace with Esmeralda’s scarf, his face is hypnotized. From the smoke, there’s the silhouette of Esmeralda coming to him. She’s naked in our drawings.

Gary Trousdale: We joked, maybe because they’re French, Esmeralda was in the nude when she was in the fire. Roy Disney put his foot down and said, “That’s not going to happen.” Chris Jenkins, the head of effects, and I went over every drawing to make sure she was appropriately attired. That was the one concession we made to the studio.

Gaëtan Brizzi: It’s the role of storyboard artists to go far, and then you scale it down. Her body was meant to be suggestive. It was more poetic than provocative.

Brenda Chapman: I thought what the Brizzis did with “Hellfire” was just stunning.

Roy Conli: We make films for people from four to 104, and we’re trying to ensure that the thematic material engages adults and engages children. We had a lot of conversations on “Hellfire,” [which] was groundbreaking. You saw the torment, but you didn’t necessarily, if you were a kid, read it as sexual. And if you were an adult, you picked it up pretty well.

Will Finn: “Hellfire” was uncomfortable to watch with a family audience. I’m not a prude, but what are small kids to make of such a scene?

Kathy Zielinski: When I was working on “Hellfire,” I thought, “Wow. They’re never going to do this kind of character again.” And I’m pretty much right.

“Straight for the Heart”

“Hellfire” may be the apex of the maturity of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but the entire film is the most complex and adult Disney animated feature of the modern era.

Gary Trousdale: We went straight for the heart and then pulled back.

Kirk Wise: I was comfortable with moments of broad comedy contrasted with moments that were dark or scary or violent. All of the Disney movies did that, particularly in Walt’s time.

Don Hahn: A lot of it is gut level, where [the story group would] sit around and talk to ourselves and pitch it to executives. But Walt Disney’s original animated films were really dark. We wanted to create something that had the impact of what animation can do.

Will Finn: Eisner insisted we follow the book to the letter, but he said the villain could not be a priest, and we had to have a happy ending. The book is an epic tragedy – everybody dies!

Kathy Zielinski: It’s a little scary that I felt comfortable with [Frollo]. [laughing] I don’t know what that means. Maybe I need to go to therapy. I’ve always had a desire to do villains. I just love evil.

Don Hahn: Kathy Zielinski is brilliant. She works on The Simpsons now, which is hilarious. She’s very intense, very aware of what [Frollo] had to do.

One specific choice in the relationship between Frollo and Esmeralda caused problems.

Stephen Schwartz: I remember there was great controversy over Frollo sniffing Esmeralda’s hair.

Kirk Wise: The scene that caused the most consternation was in the cathedral where Frollo grabs Esmeralda, whispers in her ear and sniffs her hair. The sniffing made people ask, “Is this too far?” We got a lot of support from Peter Schneider, Tom Schumacher, and Michael Eisner.

Kathy Zielinski: Brenda Chapman came up with that idea and the storyboard. I animated it. It’s interesting, because two females were responsible for that. That scene was problematic, so they had to cut it down. It used to be a lot longer.

Brenda Chapman: I know I’m probably pushing it too far, but let’s give it a go, you know?

Kirk Wise: We agreed it was going to be a matter of execution and our collective gut would tell us whether we were crossing the line. We learned that the difference between a G and PG is the loudness of a sniff. Ultimately, that’s what it came down to.

Brenda Chapman: I never knew that! [laughing]

Don Hahn: Is it rated G? That’s surprising.

Gary Trousdale: I’m sure there was backroom bargaining done that Kirk and I didn’t know about.

Don Hahn: It’s negotiation. The same was true of The Lion King. We had intensity notes on the fight at the end. You either say, we’re going to live with that and it’s PG, or we’re not and it’s G.

Brenda Chapman: I heard stories of little kids going, “Ewww, he’s rubbing his boogers in her hair!” [laughing] If that’s what they want to think, that’s fine. But there are plenty of adults that went, “Whoa!”

Don Hahn: You make the movies for yourselves, [but] we all have families, and you try to make something that’s appropriate for that audience. So we made some changes. Frollo isn’t a member of the clergy to take out any politicizing.

Gaëtan Brizzi: We developed the idea of Frollo’s racism against the gypsies. To feel that he desires Esmeralda and he wants to kill her. It was ambiguity that was interesting to develop. In the storyboards, Paul made [Frollo] handsome with a big jaw, a guy with class. They said he was too handsome. We had to break that formula.

Stephen Schwartz: I [and others] said, “It doesn’t make any sense for him to not be the Archdeacon, because what’s he doing with Quasimodo? What possible relationship could they have?” Which is what led to the backstory that became “The Bells of Notre Dame.”

Don Hahn: The things Frollo represents are alive and well in the world. Bigotry and prejudice are human traits and always have been. One of his traits was lust. How do you portray that in a Disney movie? We tried to portray that in a way that might be over kids’ heads and may not give them nightmares necessarily, but it’s not going to pull its punches. So it was a fine line.

Stephen Schwartz: Hugo’s novel is not critical of the church the way a lot of French literature is. It creates this character of Frollo, who’s a deeply hypocritical person and tormented by his hypocrisy.

Peter Schneider: I am going to be controversial. I think it failed. The fundamental basis is problematic, if you’re going to try and do a Disney movie. In [light of] the #MeToo movement, you couldn’t still do the movie and try what we tried to do. As much as we tried to soften it, you couldn’t get away from the fundamental darkness.

Don Hahn: Yeah, that sounds like Peter. He’s always the contrarian.

Peter Schneider: I’m not sure we should have made the movie, in retrospect. I mean, it did well, Kirk and Gary did a beautiful job. The voices are beautiful. The songs are lovely, but I’m not sure we should have made the movie.

Gaëtan Brizzi: The hardest part was to stick to the commercial side of the movie…to make sure we were still addressing kids.

Kirk Wise: We knew it was going to be a challenge to honor the source material while delivering a movie that would fit comfortably on the shelf with the other Disney musicals. We embraced it.

Roy Conli: I don’t think it was too mature. I do find it at times slightly provocative, but not in a judgmental or negative way. I stand by the film 100 percent in sending a message of hope.

Peter Schneider: It never settled its tone. If you look at the gargoyles and bringing in Jason Alexander to try and give comedy to this rather bleak story of a judge keeping a deformed young man in the tower…there’s so many icky factors for a Disney movie.

Jason Alexander: Some children might be frightened by Quasi’s look or not be able to understand the complexity. But what we see is an honest, innocent and capable underdog confront his obstacles and naysayers and emerge triumphant, seen and accepted. I think young people rally to those stories. They can handle the fearsome and celebrate the good.

Brenda Chapman: There was a scene where Frollo was locking Quasimodo in the tower, and Quasi was quite upset. I had to pull back from how cruel Frollo was in that moment, if I’m remembering correctly. I wanted to make him a very human monster, which can be scarier than a real monster.

Roy Conli: We walked such a tight line and we were on the edge and the fact that Disney allowed us to be on the edge was a huge tribute to them.

“Hear the Voice”

The story was set, the songs were ready. All that was left was getting a cast together to bring the characters’ voices to life.

Jason Alexander: Disney, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz, Victor Hugo – you had me at hello.

Paul Kandel: I was in Tommy, on Broadway. I was also a Tony nominee. So I had those prerequisites. Then I got a call from my agent that Jeffrey Katzenberg decided he wanted a star. I was out of a job I already had. I said, “I want to go back in and audition again.” I wanted to let them choose between me and whoever had a name that would help sell the film. So that series of auditions went on and I got the job back.

Kirk Wise: Everybody auditioned, with the exception of Kevin Kline and Demi Moore. We went to them with an offer. But we had a few people come in for Quasimodo, including Meat Loaf.

Will Finn: Katzenberg saw Meat Loaf and Cher playing Quasimodo and Esmeralda – more of a rock opera. He also wanted Leno, Letterman, and Arsenio as the gargoyles at one point.

Kirk Wise: Meat Loaf sat with Alan and rehearsed the song. It was very different than what we ended up with, because Meat Loaf has a very distinct sound. Ultimately, I think his record company and Disney couldn’t play nice together, and the deal fell apart.

Gary Trousdale: We all had the drawings of the characters we were currently casting for in front of us. Instead of watching the actor, we’d be looking down at the piece of paper, trying to hear that voice come out of the drawing. And it was, we learned, a little disconcerting for some of the actors and actresses, who would put on hair and makeup and clothes and they’ve got their body language and expressions. We just want to hear the voice.

Kirk Wise: We cast Cyndi Lauper as one of the gargoyles. We thought she was hilarious and sweet. The little fat obnoxious gargoyle had a different name, and was going to be played by Sam McMurray. We had Cyndi and Sam record, and Roy Disney hated it. The quality of Cyndi’s voice and Sam’s voice were extremely grating to his ear. This is no disrespect to them – Cyndi Lauper is amazing. And Sam McMurray is very funny. But it was not working for the people in the room on that day.

Jason Alexander: The authors cast you for a reason – they think they’ve heard a voice in you that fits their character. I always try to look at the image of the character – his shape, his size, his energy and start to allow sounds, pitches, vocal tics to emerge. Then everyone kicks that around, nudging here, tweaking there and within a few minutes you have the approach to the vocalization. It’s not usually a long process, but it is fun.

Kirk Wise: We decided to reconceive the gargoyles. We always knew we wanted three of them. We wanted a Laurel and Hardy pair. The third gargoyle, the female gargoyle, was up in the air. I think it was Will Finn who said, “Why don’t we make her older?” As the wisdom-keeper. That led us to Mary Wickes, who was absolutely terrific. We thoroughly enjoyed working with Mary, and 98% of the dialogue is her. But she sadly passed away before we were finished.

Will Finn: We brought in a ton of voice-over actresses and none sounded like Mary. One night, I woke up thinking about Jane Withers, who had been a character actress in the golden age of Hollywood. She had a similar twang in her voice, and very luckily, she was alive and well.

Kirk Wise: Our first session with Kevin Kline went OK, but something was missing. It just didn’t feel like there was enough of a twinkle in his voice. Roy Conli said, “Guys, he’s an actor. Give him a prop.” For the next session, the supervising animator for Phoebus brought in a medieval broadsword. Before the session started, we said “Kevin, we’ve got a present for you.” We brought out this sword, and he lit up like a kid at Christmas. He would gesture with it and lean on it. Roy found the key there.

Gary Trousdale: Kevin Kline is naturally funny, so we may have [written] some funnier lines for him. When he’s sparring with Esmeralda in the cathedral and he gets hit by the goat. “I didn’t know you had a kid,” which is the worst line ever. But he pulls it off. He had good comic timing.

Kirk Wise: Tom Hulce had a terrific body of work, including Amadeus. But the performance that stuck with me was in Dominic and Eugene. There was a sensitivity and emotional reality to that performance that made us lean in and think he might make a good Quasimodo.

Gary Trousdale: [His voice] had a nice mix of youthful and adult. He had a maturity, but he had an innocence as well. We’re picturing Quasimodo as a guy who’s basically an innocent. It was a quality of his voice that we could hear.

Don Hahn: He’s one of those actors who could perform and act while he sang. Solo songs, especially for Quasimodo, are monologues set to music. So you’re looking for someone who can portray all the emotion of the scene. It’s about performance and storytelling, and creating a character while you’re singing. That’s why Tom rose to the top.

Stephen Schwartz: I thought Tom did great. I had known Tom a little bit beforehand, as an actor in New York. I’d seen him do Equus and I was sort of surprised. I just knew him as an actor in straight plays. I didn’t know that he sang at all, and then it turned out that he really sang.

Paul Kandel: [Tom] didn’t think of himself as a singer. He’s an actor who can sing. “Out There,” his big number – whether he’s going to admit it to you or not – that was scary for him. But a beautiful job.

Brenda Chapman: Quasimodo was the key to make it family-friendly. Tom Hulce did such a great job making him appealing.

Kirk Wise: Gary came back with the audiotape of Tom’s first session. And his first appearance with the little bird, where he asks if the bird is ready to fly…that whole scene was his rehearsal tape. His instincts were so good. He just nailed it. I think he was surprised that we went with that take. It was the least overworked and the most spontaneous, and felt emotionally real to us.

Kathy Zielinski: Early on, they wanted Anthony Hopkins to do the voice [of Frollo]. [We] did an animation test with a line of his from Silence of the Lambs.

Kirk Wise: We were thinking of Hannibal Lecter in the earliest iterations of Frollo. They made an offer, but Hopkins passed. We came full circle to Tony, because it had been such a good experience working with him on Beauty and the Beast. It was the combination of the quality of his voice, the familiarity of working with him, and knowing how professional and sharp he was.

Though the role of Quasimodo went to Tom Hulce (who did not respond to multiple requests for comment), there was one audition those involved haven’t forgotten.

Kirk Wise: We had a few people come in for Quasimodo, including Mandy Patinkin.

Stephen Schwartz: That was a difficult day. [laughing]

Kirk Wise: Mandy informed Alan and Stephen that he brought his own accompanist, which was unexpected because we had one in the room. He had taken a few liberties with [“Out There”]. He had done a little rearranging. You could see Alan’s and Stephen’s spines stiffen. It was not the feel that Alan and Stephen were going for. Stephen pretty much said so in the room. I think his words were a little sharper and more pointed than mine.

Stephen Schwartz: I’ve never worked with Mandy Patinkin. But I admired Evita and Sunday in the Park with George. He came in to audition for Quasimodo. When I came in, Ben Vereen was sitting in the hallway. Ben is a friend of mine and kind of a giant star. I felt we should be polite in terms of bringing him in relatively close to the time for which he was called.

Mandy took a long time with his audition, and asked to do it over and over again. If you’re Mandy Patinkin, you should have enough time scheduled to feel you were able to show what you wanted to show. However, that amount of time was not scheduled. At a certain point, I became a bit agitated because I knew Ben was sitting there, cooling his heels. I remember asking [to] move along or something. That created a huge contretemps.

Kirk Wise: Gary and I stepped outside to work on a dialogue scene with Mandy. As we were explaining the scene and our take on the character, Mandy threw up his hands and said, “Guys, I’m really sorry. I can’t do this.” He turned on his heel and went into the rehearsal hall and shut the door. We started hearing an intense argument. He basically went in and read Alan and Stephen the riot act. The door opens, smoke issuing from the crater that he left inside. Mandy storms out, and he’s gone. We step back in the room, asking, “What the hell happened?”

Gary Trousdale: I did a drawing of it afterwards. The Patinkin Incident.

Stephen Schwartz: Battleship Patinkin!

“Join the Party”

The darkness in the film made it difficult to market. Even some involved acknowledged the issue. In the run-up to release, Jason Alexander said to Entertainment Weekly, “Disney would have us believe this movie’s like the Ringling Bros., for children of all ages. But I won’t be taking my 4-year old. I wouldn’t expose him to it, not for another year.”

Alan Menken: There was all the outrage about Jason Alexander referring to it as a dark story that’s not for kids. Probably Disney wasn’t happy he said that.

Jason Alexander: Most Disney animated films are entertaining and engaging for any child with an attention span. All of them have elements that are frightening. But people are abused in Hunchback. These are people, not cute animals. Some children could be overwhelmed by some of it at a very young age. My son at the time could not tolerate any sense of dread in movies so it would have been hard for him. However, that is certainly not all children.

Don Hahn: I don’t think Jason was wrong. People have to decide for themselves. It probably wasn’t a movie for four-year olds. You as a parent know your kid better than I do.

If everyone agrees the score is excellent, they also agree on something that was not.

Alan Menken: God knows we couldn’t control how Disney marketing dealt with the movie, which was a parade with Quasimodo on everybody’s shoulders going, “Join the party.” [laughing]

Roy Conli: I always thought “Animation comes of age” would be a great [tagline]. I think the marketing ended up, “Join the party.”

Brenda Chapman: Marketing had it as this big party. And then you get into the story and there’s all this darkness. I think audiences were not expecting that, if they didn’t know the original story.

Kathy Zielinski: It was a hard movie for Disney to merchandise and sell to the public.

Gaëtan Brizzi: People must have been totally surprised by the dramatic sequences. The advertising was not reflecting what the movie was about.

Stephen Schwartz: To this day, they just don’t know how to market “Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame.” I understand what their quandary is. They have developed a brand that says, “If you see the word Disney on something, it means you can take your 6-year old.” You probably shouldn’t even take your 8-year old, unless he or she is very mature, to Hunchback.

Alan Menken: We [Disney] had such a run of successful projects. It was inevitable there was going to be a time where people said, “I’ve seen all those, but what else is out there?” I had that experience sitting at a diner with my family, overhearing a family talk about Hunchback and say, “Oh yeah, we saw Beauty and Aladdin, but this one…let’s see something else.”

Stephen Schwartz: I did have a sense that some in the critical community didn’t know how to reconcile animation and an adult approach. They have the same attitude some critics have about musicals. “It’s fine if it’s tap-dancing and about silly subjects. But if it’s something that has intellectual import, you can’t do that.” Obviously we have Hamilton and Sweeney Todd and Wicked. Over the years, that’s changed to some extent, but not for everybody.

Roy Conli: Every film is not a Lion King. [But] if that story has legs and will touch people, then you’ve succeeded.

Kirk Wise: We were a little disappointed in its initial weekend. It didn’t do as well as we hoped. We were also disappointed in the critical reaction. It was well-reviewed, but more mixed. Roger Ebert loved us. The New York Times hated us! I felt whipsawed. It was the same critic [Janet Maslin] who praised Beauty and the Beast to the high heavens. She utterly shat on Hunchback.

Don Hahn: We had really good previews, but we also knew it was out of the box creatively. We were also worried about the French and we were worried about the handicapped community and those were the two communities that supported the movie the most.

Will Finn: I knew we were in trouble when the first trailers played and audiences laughed at Quasimodo singing “Out There” on the roof.

Kirk Wise: All of us were proud of the movie on an artistic level. In terms of animation and backgrounds and music and the use of the camera and the performances. It’s the entire studio operating at its peak level of performance, as far as I’m concerned.

Gary Trousdale: I didn’t think people were going to have such a negative reaction to the gargoyles. They’re a little silly. And they do undercut the gravity. But speaking with friends who were kids at the time, they have nothing but fond memories. There were adults, high school age and older when they saw it, they were turned off. We thought it was going to do really great. We thought, “We’re topping ourselves.” It’s a sophisticated story and the music is amazing.

Kirk Wise: The 2D animated movies used to be released before Christmas [or] Thanksgiving. The Lion King changed that. Now everything was a summer release. I always questioned the wisdom of releasing Hunchback in the summertime, in competition with other blockbusters.

Paul Kandel: It made $300 million and it cost $80 million to make. So they were not hurting as far as profits were concerned. But I thought it was groundbreaking in so many ways that I was surprised at the mixed reviews.

Kirk Wise: By most measures, it was a hit. I think The Lion King spoiled everybody, because [it] was such a phenomenon, a bolt from the blue, not-to-be-repeated kind of event.

Gary Trousdale: We were getting mixed reviews. Some of them were really good. “This is a stunning masterpiece.” And other people were saying, “This is a travesty.” And the box office was coming in, not as well as hoped.

Don Hahn: I was in Argentina doing South American press. I got a call from Peter Schneider, who said, “It’s performing OK, but it’s probably going to hit 100 million.” Which, for any other moviemaker, would be a goldmine. But we’d been used to huge successes. I was disappointed.

Peter Schneider: I think it was a hit, right? It just wasn’t the same. As they say in the theater, you don’t set out to make a failure.

Don Hahn: If you’re the New York Yankees, and you’ve had a winning season where you could not lose, and then people hit standup singles instead of home runs…that’s OK. But it has this aura of disappointment. That’s the feeling that’s awful to have, because it’s selfish. Animation is an art, and the arts are meant to be without a price tag hanging off of them all the time.

Paul Brizzi: We are still grateful to Kirk and Gary and Don. We worked on [Hunchback] for maybe a year or a year and a half. Every sequence, we did with passion.

Gaëtan Brizzi: Our work on Hunchback was a triumph of our career.

Kathy Zielinski: There are certainly a whole crowd of people who wish we had not [done] the comedy, because that wasn’t faithful. That’s the main complaint I heard – we should’ve gone for this total dramatic piece and not worried about the kiddies.

Gaetan Brizzi: The only concern we had was the lack of homogeneity. The drama was really strong, and the [comedy] was sometimes a little bit goofy. It was a paradox. When you go from “Hellfire” to a big joke, the transition was not working well. Otherwise, we were very proud.

James Baxter: We were happy with what we did, but we understood it was going to be a slightly harder sell. The Hunchback of Notre Dame usually doesn’t engender connotations like, “Oh, that’s going to be a Disney classic.” I was very happy that it did as well as it did.

Jason Alexander: I thought it was even more mature and emotional on screen. It was an exciting maturation of what a Disney animated feature could be. I was impressed and touched.

“An Undersung Hero”

25 years later, The Hunchback of Notre Dame endures. The animated film inspired an even darker stage show that played both domestically and overseas, and in recent years, there have been rumors that Josh Gad would star as Quasimodo in a live-action remake.

Alan Menken: I think it’s a project that with every passing year will more and more become recognized as a really important part of my career.

Stephen Schwartz: This will be immodest, but I think it’s a really fine adaptation. I think it’s the best musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, and there have been a lot. I think the music is just unbelievably good. I think, as a lyricist, I was working at pretty much the top of my form. I have so many people telling me it’s their favorite Disney film.

Alan Menken: During the pandemic, there was this hundred-piece choir doing “The Bells of Notre Dame.” People are picking up on it. It’s the combination of the storytelling and how well the score is constructed that gets it to longevity. If something is good enough, it gets found.

Paul Kandel: I think people were more sensitive. There was an expectation that a new Disney animated film would not push boundaries at all, which it did. For critics, it pushed a little too hard and I don’t think they would think that now. It’s a work of art.

Gaëtan Brizzi: Hunchback is poetic, because of its dark romanticism. We have tons of animated movies, but I think they all look alike because of the computer technique. This movie is very important in making people understand that hate has no place in our society, between a culture or people or a country. That’s the message of the movie, and of Victor Hugo himself.

Jason Alexander: I think it’s an undersung hero. It’s one of the most beautiful and moving animated films. But it is not the title that lives on everyone’s tongue. I think more people haven’t seen this one than any of the others. I adore it.

Peter Schneider: What Disney did around this period [is] we stopped making musicals. I think that was probably a mistake on some level, but the animators were bored with it.

Don Hahn: You know people reacted to Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King. They were successful movies in their day. You don’t know the reaction to anything else. So when [I] go to Comic-Con or do press on other movies, people started talking about Hunchback. “My favorite Alan Menken score is Hunchback.” It’s always surprising and delightful.

Kirk Wise: I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, “This is my absolute favorite movie. I adored this movie as a kid. I wore out my VHS.” That makes all the difference in the world.

Paul Kandel: Sitting on my desk right now are four long letters and requests for autographs. I get 20 of those a week. People are still seeing that film and being moved by it.

Alan Menken: Now there’s a discussion about a live-action film with Hunchback. And that’s [sighs] exciting and problematic. We have to, once again, wade into the troubled waters of “What is Disney’s movie version of Hunchback?” Especially now.

Jason Alexander: Live action could work because the vast majority of characters are human. The story of an actual human who is in some ways less abled and who is defined by how he looks, rather than his heart and character, is timely and important, to say the least.

Kirk Wise: I imagine if there were a live-action adaptation, it would skew more towards the stage version. That’s just my guess.

Stephen Schwartz: I think it would lend itself extremely well to a live-action movie, particularly if they use the stage show as the basis. I think the stage show is fantastic.

Kirk Wise: It’s gratifying to be involved in movies like Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback that have created so much affection. But animation is as legitimate a form of storytelling as live-action is. It might be different, but I don’t think it’s better. I feel like [saying], “Just put on the old one. It’s still good!”

Gary Trousdale: There were enough versions before. Somebody wants to make another version? Okay. Most people can tell the difference between the animated version and a live-action reboot. Mostly I’m not a fan of those. But if that’s what Disney wants to do, great.

Don Hahn: It’s very visual. It’s got huge potential because of its setting and the drama, and the music. It’s pretty powerful, so it makes sense to remake that movie. I think we will someday.

Brenda Chapman: It’s a history lesson. Now that Notre Dame is in such dire straits, after having burned so badly, hopefully [this] will increase interest in all that history.

James Baxter: It meant two children. I met my wife on that movie. [laughs] In a wider sense, the legacy is another step of broadening the scope of what Disney feature animation could be.

Kirk Wise: Hunchback is the movie where the final product turned out closest to the original vision. There was such terrific passion by the crew that carried throughout the process.

Roy Conli: It’s one of the most beautiful films we’ve made. 25 years later, I’d say “Join the party.” [laughs]

#long post behind read more #the hunchback of notre dame #hunchback of notre dame #notre dame de paris #victor hugo #interviews #disney #alan menken #stephen schwartz #quasimodo #esmeralda #frollo #phoebus #movies #movie history

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keouil · 3 years

Text

how you forget to be human

“so is she like,” scott hesitates. “cap’s first lady or something?” rated t. 2k+. steve/nat. also on ao3 / twitter / cc

Scott hasn’t been with the team for a long time, but he thinks he at least has enough working knowledge of how everyone operates.

The Winter Soldier—Bucky to Steve, James to anyone who dared—quite frankly still scares the living shit out of him, and that’s Magneto on a good day. It didn’t take much to deduce he seemed wholly uncomfortable in his own skin, his jaw coiled perpetually tight and the rigid set of his shoulders always in alert. It was uneasy just being around him, his discomfort bleeding over others and charging the air around his space with its own brand of disquieting; but always, without fail, Steve cushioned whatever apprehension anyone aimed toward his bestfriend.

Most of it came from Sam, and almost always in good nature as if to ease the brainwashed supersoldier into some semblance of normality; and Scott would fear for Sam’s life every time he opened his mouth, were it not for the also very obvious fact the Falcon held his own and didn’t appreciate handouts and the three of them seemed to be getting along uniquely (if not a little oddly) well enough.

The witch was a small problem, however. Simply for the fact she was a witch and Scott is wary because history taught him they burned all of them down in Salem.

He sees her wiggling those voodoo fingers around sometimes, almost unconsciously, and feels the hairs on his arms rise with every flick of her wrist. The energy around her isn’t suffocating the same way Bucky’s is. It was more a subtle nervous tingling; like she herself was afraid of the gravity of her own powers she had yet to have complete reigns on. Scott is oddly humbled by the fact and even empathises with her a little.

Steve keeps an eye on her and doesn’t bother hiding it, but it’s the archer who gets past her when it really counts. Clint Barton, who, surprisingly is the one he’s on the most similar wavelength with out of all of them: family man and all.

Clint Barton whose also friends with Natasha Romanoff.

Hawkeye who has simultaneously the most complex and impossibly simple relationship with Black Widow.

“I swear to god if you ring me up next time you’re out of goddamn Fruit Loops,” Natasha warns, digging through one of the five grocery bags on the kitchen island. She fishes for a few more seconds, before popping a colourful cartoon box out from under the bag and tossing it to Barton. “I’m bringing you in for real.”

Clint scoffs, placing the carton on the top shelf. “How many times have I heard that before?”

“Apparently not enough,” Natasha glares at him from her peripheral, scooping out Nutella and a pack of store-bought pryanik to lay on the table. Russian biscuits. For Wanda. “If I’m still stopping by an abandoned boarding house in the slums of Siberia every other week. Y’all grown men can’t do grocery shopping by yourselves?”

Scott blinks from his spot by one of the stools.

Of all the things he expected to wake up to in hiding from 117 countries from possible charges of aiding and abetting a war criminal, Black Widow casually arranging and organising their weekly rationale was nowhere near the top of the list. She did this all the while supposedly fighting for the other team.

This one needs no introduction.

Scott knows who Black Widow is. Scott knows Captain America, after all.

You don’t grow up in the land of the free without knowing his legacy even in minute passing. The man has been plastered on nearly every surface of the continent since the dawn of America. Scott has seen the news footages, read the official accounts, willingly devoured every single documentary or biopic helmed in honour of their nation’s greatest hero: he knows, down to the bone, the star-spangled man with a plan.

A forgotten and revered and rebirthed war hero.

How he came to know of her, however, is an entirely different story: because come the news footages, zoom in close enough you’ll see the infamous shield covering a much smaller and daintier figure; go over the accounts with a fine-toothed comb, they speak of a levelled dynamic between a commanding officer and a shadow leader; and, lest history not forget, the documentaries: Peggy, because behind every great man is a woman, Natasha.

“Now why would we do that if we got you?” Sam. He comes up from behind the hallway to playfully grin at Natasha before enveloping her in a small hug. She returns it easily.

Scott braces himself for what’s to come, because they came in a pair, and so: “Nat,” Steven Grant Rogers, in the flesh himself, pokes his head in not a moment later with a barely indisputable frown on his face. “You came here again?”

Natasha clicks her tongue at him. “Someone had to make sure you boys were fed.”

“That’s not— We can—” Steve stutters as he strides in, and Scott has to very carefully school his features into nonchalance because Captain America does not stammer. He sighs deeply before settling next to her, nudging her with his hip. “Tony atleast know you're here?”

Natasha gives him a pointed look. “Who do you think paid for all this?”

Scott watches their silhouettes grow smaller and smaller by the distance.

Even from afar, he can make out Steve’s absolute hulk of a frame: back impossibly straight in a way that bespoke authenticity, years of rigid military training drilled into his bones; only he seemed to mellow, somehow and very slightly, the fine lines of his shoulders angled in the direction of her voice. And Natasha: brave and lithe, nearly a head shorter and so much more smaller, facing forward in full confidence and a leisurely stride in her steps.

Siberia has a biting night air that seeps deep into the bone. But it’s also comforting somehow; all of them knowing, in one way or another, what it was like to be iced out from society.

They were all huddled by the makeshift campfire Barton fashioned out of some wooden logs and a matchstick. Sam, in charge of roasting marshmallows, was gently coaxing Bucky into eating one and promising him it’s not poisoned. Wanda was handing out steaming cups of hot chocolate brewed from the pack Natasha brought in a few hours ago, a staple in her weekly grocery runs because apparently the kid witch liked sweets.

Scott gingerly takes a sip from his mug, some of the warmth seeping into liquid courage he was building up for weeks now. He takes a deep breath before plunging himself into the waves.

“I can’t be the only one worried that the enemy has infiltrated our territory, right?”

To their credit, neither of them kill him on sight.

Wanda pauses in levitating one of the wooden logs above the hearth, a single bark of kindling hovering uncertainly over the air. Bucky has an unreadable expression on his face when he regards him. A look passes between Sam and Clint, betraying nothing of their inner thoughts at his outburst.

The fire is nice and toasty, but the air is stifling now and Scott has never felt more the outsider than at that very moment.

Until Sam breaks into a hearty laugh. “Widow?” he shakes his head amusedly. “No, man, Steve and Nat are tight. They’re past stuff like that.”

Scott furrows his eyebrows in concern. “But isn’t she—”

“On Tony’s side?” Clint quips, poking at one of the planks. Wanda finally drops the floating bark, and Scott doesn’t miss the flash of something in her eyes when she glances at him from the other side of the fire. He thinks he saw a spark of red for a second. “Sure, I guess. Technically she’s Team Iron Man or whatever that means. But Natasha is also fiercely loyal, especially when it comes to Steve.”

“What does that mean?” Scott asks in genuine confusion.

Sam opens his mouth to elaborate, words already forming on his mouth; before he seems to come to a belated realisation, blinks, and manages a nonchalant shrug. "Damn if I know,” he admits, turning over a puffy mallow and watching the crackles of fire burn its edges. “But she’s good for him. That’s all I care about.”

“And he’s good for her,” Clint returns easily, not an ounce of hesitation in his voice. “Maybe sometimes it’s just that easy.”

They hear the crunching of footsteps on snow creeping up behind them, and Scott takes this as his cue to stash the conversation for another time.

He watches them stroll in together carefully.

Steve holds the gate open for her and places a small hand on her back as they advance in the small patch of woods by the backyard. Natasha settles next to Wanda, hands going up and down her arms to warm the younger girl despite being the one having only just gone out for a walk in the middle of Russian winter: because, and at this Scott is now confident, the jacket resting on her shoulders three times her size was keeping her warm enough.

The quinjet doesn’t start up right away.

Scott is slowly panicking, because the realisation that he was truly out of his depth at fighting in the next greatest civil war of the century notches above his pay grade only viscerally begins to take hold.

He has a family back home, pets to feed, a little life saving every now and then; but never this colossal of a scale, never with the stakes stacked up so high against them, that it really could only ever be toppled down by the likes of fucking Iron Man and Captain America.

But Steve is still confident.

It’s so bloody obvious he was always going to keep at it, gunned down the concrete walls of the airport and clawed his way out of it brick by brick if need be. He was really and truly the good man underneath it all, and at the back of his mind, Scott still finds himself awed at the fact.

But he doesn’t know how on earth the man came out of that airport not visibly rattled, not at all unlike how Scott was currently feeling; and, as he processes the rest of their wayward expressions, he knew he wasn’t alone in thinking so.

“Cap,” Sam wheezes by the floor, fighting to labor his breathing with a hand clutched on his dislocated shoulder. “I still got the jeep parked outside. It’s not too late. We can hike the rest of the way.”

“No,” Steve replies, an edge of conviction in his voice. There is not a single tremor in his stubborn hands gripping the wheel. “That’s gonna hold us back days. We just need to be up in the air for now. We need—”

“A woman to come to your rescue again?”

This time, it’s Scott who sighs in deep relief at her voice. This time, Scott doesn’t fight the churn in his stomach at the prospect of having someone who nearly nicked him lifeless not even hours ago this close a range with them again. This time, she is not Black Widow, but simply Natasha Romanoff; Steve Rogers’ friend.

This time, Scott thinks, he will let them be easy just like that.

There was no more a sign of tremble in his voice or hands the entire battle, but at the lilt of her voice, he just crumbles.

“Nat,” Steve breathes out when he turns to her, hands fisting at his sides in an attempt to regain control. Just like that, he unravels; so easily and without preamble in the face of her steeled strength. “I can’t get it to turn on— And I— We have to get Bucky—”

“Work through it, Steve,” she cooes in probably the most placating voice he’s heard of her, but she doesn’t move to touch him when she comes close. Her hands are going a mile a minute over the control panel, pushing buttons and lifting levers. Steve is hovering by her side like it's the only thing holding him together. “You know how to fly this thing, right?”

Steve is visibly taken aback and angles his body to face her. “You’re not coming with us?”

The question hangs in the air.

It charges the silence around them and quells any of their growing uncertainty, because, clear as it was of Steve’s well-founded and undeniable leadership skills: they also knew, intimately, she anchored him through it all.

Sam was putting pressure around Bucky’s human arm as he looked back and forth at them tensely. He could feel Wanda hitch her breath behind him.

Natasha’s fingers keep flying away at the keyboard, until they feel the telling signs of an engine rumbling underneath and the overhead lights spurting back to light. The whole jet roars to life in the next second, heating fans whizzing and technical sounds beeping. She shifts some gears around and locks in a destination with the GPS navigation.

When she turns to look at Steve, it is then Scott forces himself to pry his eyes away and not bear witness to this part of his already over documented life. In that single moment of uncertainty, the what does that mean is meant like this: an intimate baring of a soul, heart, trust: in a way no words could ever begin describing or should even attempt to put to paper.

It is friendship at the most intimate level, it is soulmates on the most soul-crushing departure, and it is the everything else that comes after.

“Not this time, Rogers,” he hears her say, and Scott doesn’t have to imagine the slight fracturing of his iron-clad footing in the world swaying ever so slightly, when he replies with: “Then I guess I’ll see you around, Romanoff.” .

“So is she like,” Scott hesitates. “Cap’s first lady or something?”

They’re some seventy feet off the air above the Pacific Ocean, the moisture from the ocean drifting up to the open barracks and making the air glisten around them. Bucky is fast asleep somewhere down the lower levels with Wanda keeping watch over him, upon the fervent insistence of Steve arguing he needed rest. It came as no surprise that he also self-assigned himself the first watch of the night.

Sam is sharpening his knives, the grating sound of sandpaper slicing over iron piercing through the silent hum and drum of the night.

“Please,” he scoffs, looking over at him. “If anything, Steve is her first lady.”

#romanogers #stevenat #fic #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #romanogers fi #stevenat fic #marvel fic

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lunarianillusion · 3 years

Text

A change in fate

a maribat fanfic

Chapter 09

When the final school bell of the day finally rang Marinette and her pack practically bolted from the building, before the braindead could catch them. When outside she told the others to go on ahead without out her, telling them she would meet them back at the hotel, and that she had to quickly grab something from her room. Chloe was a bit hesitant since the toxic shepherd and her herd were still lurking, but Marinette reassured her as best as she could making her lead the other three away.

The omega made quick work of avoiding her parents, not caring for what they possibly could have said in her migraine induced morning, and up to her room. After slipping in through the trap door the hidden kwami’s all came out of hiding. All very happy to see that the young guardian had recovered from the past morning.

The omega smiled softly at the little gods that cared for her wellbeing. She was truly happy to have found away to release the kwami’s from the box confines. Giving them a small piece of freedom, they needed. She hoped to give them true freedom one day, but for now they needed to focus.

“It is time for step two,” The noirette said, gaining the complete attention from all the little gods. Then they turned to one and other a silent conversation among the concepts of the world and gave each other a firm nod of agreement. “We are all ready to proceed young guardian,” Longg spoke firmly with the slightest hint of longing. She could tell and could not blame him for wishing to meet with his possible soul bearer, but she could not trust the dragon’s soul bearer just yet.

The guardian’s blue eyes turned to onto the light turquoise kwami nearby. “Are you ready?” The snake gave her a small grin. “I am.” “You better take good care of her, understood,” Pollen buzzed while giving Sass a fireless glare. To which he chuckled in return and gave his fellow god words of assurance, as Marinette grabbed the small box holding his miraculous.

After procuring the miraculous of change, along a thick binder filled with Lie-la’s inconsistencies and fever dreams, the omega hero made her way over the grand hotel. Upon arrival Marinette encountered Chloe’s loyal butler. He informed her that monsieur Bourgeois was in search of his daughter and so advised the dark-haired girl to take the long route to the nest. As to not alert the dumb mayor that Chloe now has taking more of a residence in her secret room.

Over the time that Chloe has used opportunity to redeem herself to others, she had become aware of how toxic her family was and had been distancing from her parents whenever she needed room to breathe. The staff had been happy to provide her with a special place for the blond within the hotel. One of the rooms had been modeled into a one room apartment specially decorated for the young alpha and kept off the books so that her father would not find it. When they showed her the room Chloe had burst into a sea of overjoyed tears, having been giving confirmation that she was indeed became a better person in the eyes of others. That had been such a relief for the girl and a great boost to her confidence.

Giving the beta butler her thanks, the omega made the long round way to Chloe’s second room that gained the title of the nest over the past months. Upon arrival and entry, the blue-eyed omega was met with the homely interior of the apartment, that made it feel as though you just walked into a hunter’s cabin in the mountains. To the right was the sitting/living area with a large half circle couch and two armchairs standing around a round red wood coffee table. A large flat screen tv hung from the wall infront of the sitting area, with several drawers under it filled with the girls collection of DVDs and blue ray’s. To the left was the kitchen area with a wooden bar counter that separated the kitchen from the hall and living area, around it stood four wooden fashionably cushioned barstools. In the back, past the doors that led to the bathroom and workspace, was a window seat bed that had been transformed into a large nest. Made from a mismatch of blankets, pillows and some articles of close from the two female occupants. A large deep dark red canopy hung from the ceiling that gave the two a feeling of a save close offed space, for whenever the one of the two took shelter here for the rut or heat.

The smile on Marinette’s face came naturally as she past the rooms threshold. This was a place of safety for her, something that her old home could never again be. How she often wished she could live here but her ‘parents’ would kick up a fuss and she really did not need the extra headache’s.

Her eyes drifted around counting all of the current occupants in the den. Nathaniel and Marc sat snuggled together upon de couch, enthusiastically discussing their new comic idea, Chloe was in the back near the nest looking for something in one of the large bookcases lining the wall and Tim was in the kitchen making the holy elixir, COFFEE. “Can you make me a cup too, Tim,” the female omega called out gaining her packs attention. Though Chloe was the only one that gave a verbal response in the form of a pained groan and calling her an addict. She ignored her friend in favour of focussing on the steaming cup of coffee that the dark haired prepared for her. She gave him a grateful smile and a small thanks as she took a seat at the kitchen counter and dropped her thick binder with a thud onto the wooden surface.

She took a careful sip from her given ambrosia and then pulled on her business face. “So now that we have all gathered, shall we get started on the downfall of the delusional spider and her plague of insects.” The crystal blue eyes glanced around the room once more and taking in the malicious smiles of her pack. “Oh yes, let’s get started,” the blond female nearly cackled as she pulled out to binders of her own. Yes, they were ready for the hunt.

And so started of several hours of compiling all the tall tales that had past Rossi’s lips from the lady blog, their phones and school camera’s, curtesy of Tim’s hacking skills. But as people will agree after a certain amount of time one gets side-tracked, especially if you have a petty alpha female wanting revenge. Surprisingly the two male omegas’ were very much on board with the pettiness.

“But wouldn’t she simply blame Marinette,” Chloe interjected. She and the male omegas having a thorough discussion over how to trick Lie-la into spraying herself with skunk musk. They discussed it for over an hour.

“Not unless she believed it to be a gift for Marinette,” Marc began to supply, making Chloe pull a face. “She would say she was so thankful for the gift while just taking it,” The jade eyed male continued. “But either me or Tim or me would say it was for Mari,” Nathaniel took over, “She in a fit her supposed supremacy will spray herself and then come to the horrid realization of the disgusting odour. This will work in our favour two ways. One Lie-la will smell just as horrid as her soul is,” “And two, because they will think we ‘tried to do this on Mari’ we can get in the flies good graces and here about any possible plots to hurt our leader and prepare for that accordingly.” Marc finished, devious smiles on both his and boyfriend’s faces.

“You two are bloody devils,” The blond alpha started, eyes filled with wondered surprise before beginning to laugh gleefully. “And I love it!” she exclaimed as Marinette and Timothy were just finishing up all the processed evidence that they had gathered. Next time they were going to look into things Lie-la had done before she had come to Dupoit. But for now, it was pack bonding time.

“I AM DISCUSTED, I AM REVOLTED, I DEDICATED MY INTIRE LIFE TO THE ARTS AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET!!!!!!” Nathaniel roared as he hurled his sketchbook.

“Nath please cal-”

“NO Marc he is right. They gods have deceived us. COLOUR IS A LIE!!!” Marinette exclaimed as she threw her sketchbook across the room. Whirling around she grabbed the redhead and raised her hand to the window. “OPEN THE WINDOW WE MUST FLY!!!”

“NNNOOOOO!!!!!!!”

“Mari, Tim, put the mugs down,”

The two in question raised the offending cups to their lips.

“I swear to the powers from the beyond, don’t you two dare drink that! That is your fifth cup in the past thirty minutes.”

The alpha omega duo took exaggerated sips from their cups, the sound penetrating the air. Within seconds the blond was chasing around her two coffee addicted friends around the room in a made chase screaming profanities every so often. The two coffee worshippers always two steps ahead of the girl with surprising agility, not letting a single drop of the elixir of life spill from their containers. Whilst Nathaniel and Marc watched the chaos from the couch unfold, sharing a bowl of popcorn.

After a long chase, that resulted in Chloe’s loss, the pack had nestled themselves on the couch and chairs around the tv. They had some action movie playing and were making all sorts of critics, on the fight scenes mostly. It made for a rather peaceful atmosphere.

Marc and Nathaniel were snuggled together within a wool blanket on one of the large armchairs. Chloe and Marinette had claimed the couch, their heads on opposite ends and legs tangled in the middle. Tim sat on the other chairs, his legs dangling over the side and hid eyes taking in more the people around him then the movie. Taking in every detail of the scene around him and committing it to memory as his senses were lulled by the peaceful atmosphere, making him feel safe.

As the late evening came Marc, Nathaniel and Tim went to their own homes, begrudgingly. Leaving Marinette and Chloe in the nest, for Mari had no interest in returning home for the night. And she also had a mission to fulfil.

The two having just finished the dishes, from the room served meal, sat curled up in the nest/bed area talking about the day events and other random thoughts. When, to Chloe’s surprise the noirette omega took on a far more serios exterior. Her blue eyes calculating and analysing the blond before her and her posture straight as an arrow and rigged. “What’s wrong Marinette?” the alpha asked, using her full first name instead of one of her nicknames.

Taking a small breath, to try and calm her nerves, Marinette spoke: “I need to ask a favor of you Chloe Bourgeois, something of great importance. But I need to know that I can fully trust you with what I am about to ask of you.” The mayor’s daughter opened her mouth to say that ofcourse she could trust her, but the darked haired held up her hand to stop her having not yet finished. “I know that I can trust you with anything that happens in our normal lives, but this is not something that can be considered normal and many things are at risk,” she took a moment to let the gravity of the situation sink in. “So, I need to know that I have your compete loyalty and that you will always have my back trough whatever may come. I need to know that you will not stab me in the back,” the last part had been whispered almost so quietly that Chloe might not have picked it up had she not given the omega her full attention.

The last words that were spoken stung the blond a bit, but she understood the meaning behind them more then anything. For those she had once considered her most trust pack members had turned their back on her for the stupid lies of a filthy leach that now trespassed on their territory. She understood the words very well. But Marinette asking this meant that she trusted Chloe so much that she was about to reveal possibly one of her most precious secrets to her friend. A swell of pride and determination flowed through the alpha as the implications of her request made itself clear in the former bully’s mind. And she swore not to let that trust in her go to waist. Chloe poised herself and stared straight into Marinette’s eyes conveying as much determination as the blond could muster through her gaze and scent.

“Marinette, you have given me so much even after all the years of torment I dragged you trough. You forgave me when I finally got my act together which was already more then I deserved, but you also let me join your pack and supported me as I tried to see what I needed to do to become a better person. You made me realize what I truly needed to be happy and because of that I have finally found who I want to be. I will never be able to fully for all that you have done for me. So, whatever secret you share with me I will take to the grave, whatever deed I must do no-one will lead it back to you. I will have your back in all the fights that are to come,” she took a deep breath, to keep her rage for those who did betray the omega at bay, but gaze filled with determination. “I swear I will never betray you for as long as I breath. That I assure you,” Chloe finished.

Marinette could feel her eyes tearing up, but she forced herself not to let any of the tears fall. No was not the time for tears. Even so, the words and emotion that the blond had expressed made Mari so happy and it took away all of her doubt. For no lie was uttered and the absolute devotion coming from her alpha friend sealed that fact.

Carefully she pulled out a dark octagon box with a red sigil painted on the lid. A box the omega knew Chloe recognised. She smiled at the wide eyes she got from her friend before dawning her hero persona. “Chloe Bourgeois this is the miraculous of the snake, that will grant you the power of change. I, Marinette Dupain-Cheng former hero known as Ladybug, current true holder of peafowl and guardian of the miraculous ask you to join me in the fight to end the terror of Hawkmoth. Will you accept?”

A long tense moment of silence followed after the proposition was finally spoken. Both party’s staring intently at the other, their minds whirling with uncoordinated thoughts and question, as fate awaited an answer.

Hesitantly Chloe broke the silence not with an answer to the question, but with a question of her own. “Am I worthy of a miraculous?” Her self-doubt shining through in the quiver of her voice.

Marinette’s demeaner softened at her friend a surge of reassurance washed over the omega, she made the right choice. “Yes Chloe, you are most definitely worthy of a miraculous,” Marinette assured, but could see that the blond was not fully convinced. “You said it yourself, you have taken the road to better yourself in both in your own eyes and the eyes of others. I and many others have been beside you watching you take that rocky road head on and witnessed the fruit it bore. From all the people you helped with charities and donations, from the kids in the hospital that smile so brightly every time you come to visit, form Trevor and Miranda who practically see you as their own daughter, from our friends that would come running at slightest of whispers of you being in danger. I assure you that you are worthy to wield a miraculous. So will you stand beside me as my partner and friend through the coming battles?”

As the finale words sunk in, Chloe felt her resolve strengthen. Whipping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes she gave her friend another look of determination, as she took the small box from Paris’s true hero hand. “I would be honoured,” the blond spoke receiving a grateful smile from the noirette in return.

Opening the box, a turquoise glowing orb circled around the alpha, making her reminisce of her first meeting with Pollen, before the orb took on the form of a snake like being. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Chloe. I am Sass, the kwami of change,” the snake kwami spoke. “The feeling is mutual,” Chloe replied sincerely as she took the miraculous from its confines and placed it around her wrist. The band camouflaging the moment it was clipped on. The twisting turquoise band turning into a single rose gold band with two swirls circling a sapphire rose with a few clear diamonds. As the miraculous settled the new kwami and wielder pair turned to the young guardian with Duusu now floating beside the omega.

“I will have you know that I have many questions for Dupain-Cheng,” the female alpha said without any heat behind her glare. Making Marinette give a small at her friend. “I would not expect anything less from you,” Mari sighed light heartily, before she turned a bit more serious once more. “But let me first tell you the full extend of what has been going on.”

Author note: This chapter was honestly hard to write, with the heart to heart between Chloe and Marinette being an especially hard point, but I hope you could still enjoy the chapter it and please tell me what you think of the story so far.

#timmari #timinette #maribat #chloe bourgeois #tim drake #marinette dupain cheng #nathaniel kurtzberg #marc anciel #kwami swap

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myonechicagoworld · 3 years

Text

CHICAGO FIRE – RETALIATION HIT (S01E21)

Commander (Sgt. Halstead): How long was she in your apartment?

Kelly Severide: Half hour. Hour tops.

Commander (Sgt. Halstead): And how many beers did you have?

Kelly Severide: Two.

Commander (Sgt. Halstead): In 30 minutes?

Kelly Severide: First time in history anyone ever drank two beers in

half an hour?

Commander( Sgt. Halstead): Ms. Little stated that it was hard to

keep up with you. She felt buzzed.

Kelly Severide: That’s what happens when you drink beer. She’d

know since she brought the six pack over.

Commander (Sgt. Halstead): She said you tried to kiss her, but

she was uncomfortable and tried to

leave. You backed her against the

wall, leaned into her body and put

your hand on her buttock.

Kelly Severide: Unreal.

Commander (Sgt. Halstead): Care to respond?

Mouch: Lieutenant Severide is not obligated to respond to any of

these questions, Commander. He came in good faith to

hear the charges against him.

Kelly Severide: Actually, I faked a yawn and said I was tired and she

should probably get going. Because I started

thinking she was a little… desperate.

cutscene

[door buzzing]

[door opens]

Police Officer (Officer Blair): You’re up, Voight.

[handcuffs clicking]

cutscene

Hallie Thomas: How’s Dawson?

Matt Casey: Good. Great.

Why?

Hallie Thomas: Don’t even pretend.

Matt Casey: Um, she’s dating young Peter Mills.

Hallie Thomas: That sneaky little bastard. Good for him.

Matt Casey: How about yourself? Seeing anybody?

Hallie Thomas: Nah, no one serious.

Matt Casey: You heard about Curtis, right?

Hallie Thomas: Yeah. Um, is Voight behind it?

Matt Casey: I have no idea. I mean, the kid was in a gang, but

still…

Hallie Thomas: That doesn’t make any difference in terms of

Voight’s case, right?

Matt Casey: Apparently there’s a dismissal hearing today, and his

union is pushing hard for entrapment. All I know is I

can’t get sucked into it again.

cutscene

Hank Voight: [sighs]

I’m hungry. Let’s go.

cutscene

[coffee machine steaming]

Christopher Herrmann: Drink coupons?

Otis Zvonecek: It’s called a loss leader, okay? It gets people in the

door. Once they’re inside, they keep spending.

Christopher Herrmann: I’m already confused, all right? It’s a bar,

not the New York stock exchange.

Matt Casey: It’s actually not that complicated, Herrmann.

Christopher Herrmann: Well, we have a soft opening in a week,

andwe don’t even have our decorations

up yet.

Otis Zvonecek: Call it a drink special. I don’t care.

[kissing sound]

Leslie Shay: Oh, marry him.

Chief Boden: Okay, everybody listen up. In light of recent events…

recent allegations, rather… personnel division has

flagged this house for sexual harassment sensitivity

training.

Matt Casey: [silently groans]

Joe Cruz: Uh, Chief? I think actually it’s sexual harassment and

sensitivity training. ‘Cause the way that you just said it, it

makes it sound like we have to be, uh, sensitive toward

sexual har…

Christopher Herrmann: All right, what the hell? This house needs it.

All right, listen up everybody. CFD special,

okay? Happy hour prices all night long

when Molly’s opens.

[murmuring and applause]

Otis Zvonecek: [groans]

cutscene

Peter Mills: Lieutenant. What you’re going through ain’t right. So if

there’s anything I can do to help, name it. I mean if you

just want to grab a beer or put on some gloves…

Kelly Severide: Appreciate it.

[locker door shuts]

Kevin Hadley: Hey Mills.

[locker door closes]

Kevin Hadley: His shoes need shining.

[alarm buzzing and blaring]

(Over PA): Truck 81, Squad 3, Engine 51, Ambulance 61. Car

accident, 3464 Morgan Street.

Chief Boden: Casey, I just heard from the state’s attorney. Voight’s

out.

Matt Casey: All right.

Chief Boden: Yeah.

[sirens blaring]

Chief Boden: What’s the story here?

Police Officer (Officer Sobek): We got two people stuck.

Chief Boden: What happened?

Police Officer (Officer Sobek): Driver got shot and lost control.

Word is this is the guy that shot

Curtis. Retaliation hit.

[engine humming]

Kelly Severide: Looks unstable. Be careful.

Matt Casey: He’s pinned in. Foot’s stuck on the gas.

Victim 1: [screams] Oh God! Oh God! Help me, please!

- title screen -

[indistinct chatter]

Kelly Severide: Hey, stand clear of the car! Second victim’s

underneath.

Hang on, ma’am. We’re gonna get you out, okay?

Victim 1: Hurry, please.

Matt Casey: Driver’s got a head wound. We’ve got to get him out of

there.

Kelly Severide: Hey, we budge this car, it’s gonna take off.

Chief Boden: We lift the car. Kelly, you get the woman. We stabilise

this on the truck and get the driver at the same time.

Go.

Kelly Severide: Capp, Hadley, air bags and halligans!

Matt Casey: Cruz and Mills, we need bottle Jacks and cribbing as

much as we have. Mouch, take the center punch.

Herrmann, sawzall. Let’s move.

Christopher Herrmann: Got it.

Gabby Dawson: What do we got?

Matt Casey: Looks like a perforating head injury. The driver’s still

alive. You’re gonna have to move fast.

Gabby Dawson: We’re on it.

Victim 1: [whimpers]

Kelly Severide: Okay, help me out with this. We gotta lift it.

Don’t worry, ma’am. We’re right here with you.

Chief Boden: Don’t let it touch that wheel!

Victim 1: [whimpers]

Kelly Severide: Hang in there. Hang in there.

Watch your back.

All right, let’s get that board in!

Victim 1: [cries out]

Kelly Severide: Easy, easy.

Watch it.

Victim 1: [whimpers]

Kelly Severide: You got it?

Chief Boden: Keep her away from that wheel.

Victim 1: [whimpers]

Chief Boden: Good job, guys. Good job.

[glass shattering]

Matt Casey: [grunts]

[engine stops humming]

Chief Boden: Pop those hinges.

Firefighter: I got it.

[grinding]

Chief Boden: There you go! Get the board in now.

Leslie Shay: He’s got a pulse. Barely.

Kelly Severide: Watch his head.

Okay.

Watch it.

You got it?

Leslie Shay: Got it, yeah.

Gabby Dawson: Did I hear right? Voight’s out?

Matt Casey: Yeah.

Gabby Dawson: Let’s go.

[siren blaring]

Mouch: You’re not doing what I think you’re doing, are you?

Kelly Severide: [sighs] What if I just meet her face-to-face and…

Mouch: Do not contact this woman, you hear me? We have a

follow-up interview tomorrow, and we have the upper hand

right now. Okay?

cutscene

Gabby Dawson: Single gunshot to the head through and through.

Entrance is at the cheek.

ER Doctor: Pressure?

Gabby Dawson: 50 over 30.

ER Doctor: Get him into six.

Leslie Shay: I told you that Tara chick was bad news. Now look.

Gabby Dawson: So there’s no way that Severide could have gotten

a little too frisky with her?

Leslie Shay: Against her will? No way.

Gabby Dawson: Well, what’s Severide saying?

Leslie Shay: Not much. Whenever he gets this look on his face, I

just steer clear and let him figure it out. ‘Cause me

trying to fix it never does any good. She’s not gonna

get away with this, is she?

Gabby Dawson: Well, that’s what they said about Voight.

Leslie Shay: Ugh, crazy town. I mean, how does that guy walk?

Gabby Dawson: I don’t know. It reminds me of this joke my dad

once told me. Why is Chicago style pizza so

thick?

Leslie Shay: Why?

Gabby Dawson: Don’t worry about it.

Leslie Shay: She’s not here.

Gabby Dawson: Who?

Leslie Shay: Hallie.

Gabby Dawson: I’m not looking for Hallie.

[cell phone vibrating]

Leslie Shay: Who is it?

Gabby Dawson: Blocked. Who blocks their phones anymore other

than drug dealers.

cutscene

[tapping on whiteboard]

Man 1 (Trainer): Nice slacks! Acceptable compliment? Yes, no or

depends?

Christopher Herrmann: I don’t think people call them slacks

anymore.

Man 1 (Trainer): Oh come on, come on. No, you know what I mean.

[laughter]

Man 1 (Trainer): Pants, dungarees, whatever.

Joe Cruz: Depends.

Man 1 (Trainer): On?

Joe Cruz: What part of the pants?

Man 1 (Trainer): Exactly. A female co-worker is standing in front of

you... ”Nice pants,” is acceptable. Walking away

from you, noway, Jose. And why not?

Christopher Herrmann: Isn’t it kind of obvious?

[laughter]

Man 1 (Trainer): Look, I know all this new political correctness-type

deal is a head spinner, ‘cause it was a little more

loosey-goosey back in the day. I mean, hell, when I

first started working for the city you’d-you’d walk

into some locker rooms, they’d have Hustler

centrefolds taped up. You do that nowadays, ninjas

drop from the ceiling and will airlift your ass right

out of there.

[laughter]

Christopher Herrmann: Tell me about it. When-when I started there

was this guy, Eric Weinburger…[chuckles]

and if it was somebody’s birthday, he

would walk around with his testicles

hanging out of his fly…

[laughter]

Man 1 (Trainer): Okay. Okay! Look, tap the brakes, pal. That’s what

I’m talking about.

Christopher Herrmann: Hey.

cutscene

Antonio Dawson: Voight’s got a condo in Myrtle Beach. And there’s

a good shot he threatens to sue the department

for wrongful prosecution, settles for a chunk of

change and then goes to play golf year round.

That’s according to my buddy who used to work

for Voight.

He’s dirty, but he ain’t stupid. He knows he

dodged a bullet on this one. And with his son

already doing a year, there’s no way he’s gonna

come after you again.

Matt Casey: That’s what they told me right before he tried to have

my skull cracked open.

Chief Boden: You’ll keep us apprised, won’t you, Antonio?

Antonio Dawson: Of course.

Chief Boden: Casey. Do not get drawn back into this.

cutscene

Man 2 (Paramedic): Leslie Shay!

Leslie Shay: Hey, Derek.

What’s wrong?

Gabby Dawson: That was Voight.

Leslie Shay: What’d he say?

Gabby Dawson: He’s calling in that favour I owe him.

[exhales]

cutscene

Matt Casey: You’re gonna call Voight back?

Gabby Dawson: [sighs] I mean I guess I have to.

Matt Casey: Want me to?

Gabby Dawson: No. No, no, no. But… that’s really nice of you to

offer.

Matt Casey: You let me know. And we’re cool. No matter what you

do. I don’t want us going down the same road we did

last time and not talking to each other for a month.

You’re too important to me for that.

Gabby Dawson: Thanks. I feel the same way. Which is why I wanted

to bring you in the loop. So that you didn’t think I

was scheming with Voight or anything behind your

back.

Matt Casey: Dawson, I’m serious though. You-you try to deal with

Voight on your own, you’ll end up in quicksand.

Gabby Dawson: Okay.

Man 1 (Trainer): Can I borrow you two for a second?

Matt Casey: [clears throat] “You look very nice today.”

Gabby Dawson: “Thank you.”

Matt Casey: “A bunch of us are gonna get some beers after work.

Care to join?”

Gabby Dawson: Sure, yeah. That sounds fun.”

Matt Casey: Keep going, or…

Man 1 (Trainer): Please.

Matt Casey: Okay.

Leslie Shay: Oh look, he just groped her. Did everybody see that?

Chief Boden: Shay.

Leslie Shay: I’m just saying. That’s all it takes, right?

Matt Casey: “Have you been going to the gym?”

Gabby Dawson: “Um, yeah, you know, here and there. Not as much

as I’d like.”

Matt Casey: “Because your physique looks really good.”

[laughter]

Gabby Dawson: “Well, thank you. That’s really nice of you.”

Man 1 (Trainer): Now freeze it. Freeze it. What did we talk about

behavioural modifiers?

Matt Casey: I think he means stop the role-play

Gabby Dawson: Oh.

Man 1 (Trainer): Matt should not be making comments about

Gabby’s body. We know that.

[cell phone vibrating]

Man 1 (Trainer): But Gabby should not be accepting compliments

about her body from Matt.

Chief Boden: Keep your radio on.

Man 1 (Trainer): Uh why don’t we break for lunch?

All: Yes.

Sure.

Matt Casey: Thank you.

Harold Capp: Hey, candidate?

Peter Mills: Yeah?

Harold Capp: You park across the street?

Peter Mills: Yeah, why?

Oh! Son of a bitch!

Kevin Hadley: Oh, man.

Peter Mills: Man, right in front of the house! God!

Harold Capp: Whoa, wait a second. Wait a second. Isn’t this an

’03?

Peter Mills: Yeah.

Harold Capp: I think this is the model they built with the spare

window.

Yeah.

Kevin Hadley: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Harold Capp: Hang on a second. Hold on, let me show you.

[engine starting]

Peter Mills: [sighs] Ooh… [chuckles]

Yeah funny. Give me my keys.

[Capp & Hadley chuckles]

Peter Mills: That was a good one.

[groans]

cutscene

Kelly Severide: [exhales] I just wanted to talk, you know. Human

being to human being.

Tara Little: I-I-I don’t want to talk about the other night. It’s still so

painful.

Kelly Severide: Tara, come on. We were both there. And if I said

something that offended you…

Tara Little: Look, IAD is pushing me to file a police report. And

despite what happened, I’m not interested in making

this a criminal case.

Kelly Severide: For what?

Look me in the eye. Tell me what I did.

Tara Little: But there is another option. If you apologise on record,

it’s called an Alford plea. You won’t be admitting guilt,

but we could both…avoid the embarrassment of

reliving this in public.

Kelly Severide: You’re crazy.

Tara Little: I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to meet you.

cutscene

Antonio Dawson: I’ll take care of it.

Gabby Dawson: Look, I don’t have a problem calling him to see

what he wants.

Antonio Dawson: No.

Gabby Dawson: Hey. Don’t do anything crazy.

[alarm buzzing and blaring]

(Over PA): Truck 81, Engine 51, Squad 3, Ambulance 61.

Overturned tanker, Eleanor and Fuller.

[sirens wailing]

Kelly Severide: Squad’s set to pull the driver out. We just need

engine to get some water on this fire so we

have some clearance.

Chief Boden: This first tank is leaking sodium hydroxide. We have

an active chemical spill. That is a negative on the

water. That’s going to spread the spill out even

further. We need to get foam on this fire… and

masks on!

Victim 2 (Truck Driver): Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey, get me out of here!

Get me out!

Chief Boden: (into radio) Squad three, suit up for rescue. Call in

Hazmat.

Hang on in there! We’re gonna come and get you!

(into radio) Battalion 25 to dispatch, we need the

closest available foam engine to Bridgeport right

now. We are on Eleanor and Fuller.

Dispatch: (over radio) Copy that, 25.

Chief Boden: Let’s dyke off this area right now. If it gets into the

river, it’ll spread into Chicago.

Matt Casey: Got it. Shovels and pick axes!

Right here. Start digging

[grunting]

Matt Casey: (over radio) Chief, where’s our foam?

Chief Boden: (into radio) We’re working on it, Casey.

Kelly Severide: Chief, if you need us to pull him out now, we’re

ready.

Chief Boden: (into radio)That diesel fire’s impinging on that tanker.

It’s getting ready to blow! You can’t go in yet.

Matt Casey: (into radio) Driver’s gonna get burned inside and out if

he stays in there much longer.

Chief Boden: (into radio) Where the hell is that engine?

[foam spraying]

Chief Boden: Severide.

Kelly Severide: Yeah.

Chief Boden: That foam will cover up the vapors. You ready?

Kelly Severide: Yeah, let’s do it!

Hadley!

Kevin Hadley: Yeah!

Kelly Severide: Have the descender ready to send up the aerial.

Kevin Hadley: Uh, it-it’s new. I don’t know the set-up yet. I’ll just,

uh, I’ll rig up a rope and pulley.

Kelly Severide: Nah, that’s not enough. We’re gonna need the

descender. Ask Mills to do it.

Peter Mills: On it.

Let’s go.

Hadley, stand by.

Here. Take that, run it up

Chief Boden: (into radio) Mouch.

[motor humming]

Chief Boden: Capp, make sure you stay tight to Severide.

Victim 2 (Truck driver): [breathing heavily]

Kelly Severide: Chemicals flooding the cab. Driver’s losing

consciousness.

Victim 2 (Truck driver): [groans]

Kelly Severide: Hey buddy, hang in there. We’re gonna get you out!

Watch your eyes!

Victim 2 (Truck driver): Okay.

[glass shattering]

Peter Mills: Okay, throw me the rope bag.

Harold Capp: It’s coming down.

Kelly Severide: (over radio) Got the harness attached.

Victim 2 (Truck driver): [groans]

Kelly Severide: (over radio) Okay, pull him up!

Peter Mills: Haul!

Victim 2 (Truck driver): [groans]

Kelly Severide: Keep it going!

Okay, Mills, the driver’s clear.

Peter Mills: We’re good!

Kelly Severide: Let’s go, let’s go!

Chief Boden: All right. Bring him over, Mouch.

Joe Cruz: This way!

Peter Mills: Keep it going! Keep it going!

Firefighter: Keep coming!

Victim 2 (Truck driver): [groans]

Gabby Dawson: Let’s go!

Chief Boden: Good job.

Peter Mills: [chuckles]

cutscene

Joe Cruz: Hope we weren’t too much of a pain in the ass.

Man 1 (Trainer): Not at all. Fully aware that you work 24 hour shifts

together and you see the things that you see. And

there should be consideration for that. You just

have to be careful, or you can find yourself in a

real predicament.

Chief Boden: Did everybody hear that?

All: We got it.

Mm-hmm.

Man 1 (Trainer): Still using the Elkhart brass nozzles, I see. Is that a

75/100?

Joe Cruz: Yeah, how you know about nozzles?

Man 1 (Trainer): Ah I took the CFD exam. Back when dinosaurs

roamed the earth. Made it all the way through,

then got dinged on the last day.

Chief Boden: What happened?

Man 1 (Trainer): Colourblind.

What are you gonna do? It all worked out.

Christopher Herrmann: Eh, you know what’s gonna work out on

my end? Molly’s bar. This thing takes off

we’re gonna brand it, franchise it. We’re

gonna have Molly’s Kansas City, Molly’s

Des Moines…

Gabby Dawson: Easy, tiger. Let’s get this one off the ground first.

Peter Mills: Ugh…

Who put dog food in here?

Kevin Hadley: [chuckles]

Peter Mills: That’s funny to you?

Kevin Hadley: Relax, mutt.

Peter Mills: What did you say to me?

All: Hey! Hey! Hey!

Peter Mills: What did you say?

Chief Boden: Hey! Hey!

Kelly Severide: Take it easy!

Mutt? You out of your mind?

Kevin Hadley: When I was a candidate over at 38, they put menthol

in my underwear. What is the…

Chief Boden: No, no, no, no, what you did was so far beyond that,

that if you can’t tell the difference, you are dumber

than you look.

Kevin Hadley: [chuckles] What…

Chief Boden: I mean this house was already under a microscope.

You really couldn’t put that together? You are so lucky

Mills is not filing an incident report. Not to mention

knocking your teeth out.

Kevin Hadley: Did I not apologise?

Peter Mills: You don’t talk to me. I’m serious.

Matt Casey: Everybody shut up. He’s coming in.

Man 1 (Trainer): I told my boss that the course work was complete

here but that a follow-up might not hurt. I did not

mention the infraction, because it would turn into a

major, major deal. I’ve seen folks lose their jobs

over less. And in my sense, this was an isolated

incident involving otherwise good people.

Chief Boden: First of all, let me say thank you. And second of all, I

can assure you that I will deal with all of this in-house.

Man 1 (Trainer): How exactly?

Kevin Hadley: [scoffs]

Chief Boden: Look, anybody asks, I’ll tell them you wanted a

change of scenery. A lot of guys like to float from

house to house as it is.

Kevin Hadley: You know if I had known that kissing ass was the

way to move up in this house, I would have brought

some lip balm.

Chief Boden: Good luck, Hadley.

Kevin Hadley: [scoffs]

Chief Boden: Yeah, good luck.

cutscene

[train in the background]

Antonio Dawson: Come on.

[car door shuts]

Antonio Dawson: Why are you calling my sister?

Hank Voight: I got an ethics panel over at the IG’s here in a little bit.

I was looking for some character references.

Antonio Dawson: Not her. You helped me out of a jam, I don’t

dispute that. But if you got a favour you need

done, you come to me man-to-man and leave

her out of it.

Hank Voight: I hear you left Vice.

Antonio Dawson: What about it?

Hank Voight: Working in that Intelligence unit here in the district?

You got backbone, Antonio. You’ve always been an

aggressive cop. I respect that.

cutscene

Kelly Severide: And?

Mouch: You may be asked to go back in, so… sit tight.

I told you not to contact her.

Kelly Severide: Fine. I screwed up.

Mouch: Big time. Now they’re looking into your history.

Kelly Severide: Of?

Mouch: Other women you’ve... banged on the job.

Kelly Severide: What?

Mouch: Remember Nicki Rutkowski?

Kelly Severide: What about her?

Mouch: Her name came up. Did it end bad?

Kelly Severide: No!

We slept together a couple times, and she went on

her merry way. Ask her.

Mouch: Oh they’re going to.

Kelly Severide: Unreal.

cutscene

Matt Casey: The new place is very, uh… zen.

Hallie Thomas: I’m hardly here.

[liquid pouring]

Matt Casey: Thank you.

Hallie Thomas: Mm-hmm.

To new beginnings, I guess. Right?

Matt Casey: I like it.

[glass clinking]

Matt Casey: Well, uh, this is all your stuff. Just some pictures and

jewellery.

Hallie Thomas: And here’s yours. Pictures and Blackhawk

memorabilia.

Matt Casey: I was wondering where all that went.

Yes!

[kissing sound]

Hallie Thomas: [chuckles] You know, I found this contract that we

both signed after we had that argument about

where to spend Christmas. Do you remember it?

Matt Casey: I do. Yeah.

Hallie Thomas: [giggles]

Matt Casey: Let’s always keep the fighting clean and the sex dirty.

[laughter]

[kissing sounds]

cutscene

[coins clinking]

Hank Voight: IG office on a Tuesday afternoon, that can’t be good.

Just remember, squeakiest wheel always wins around

here.

Kelly Severide: Looks like it.

Hank Voight: You’re Benny Severide’s kid, huh?

Kelly Severide: That’s right.

Hank Voight: Ol’ Benny…

[chuckles] I’ll be seeing you around.

Kelly Severide: Yeah, I don’t plan on making it out to Myrtle Beach

anytime soon.

Hank Voight: Well, neither do I. I just got reinstated.

[door closes]

cutscene

Matt Casey: Where on the job?

Kelly Severide: No, he didn’t say.

Peter Mills: God, has the world gone crazy? What the heck is going

on?

Kelly Severide: I know. Tell me about it.

Gabby Dawson: Well, they’ll just park him somewhere behind a

desk, right? Let him collect a paycheck for

nothing. I mean if I’m CPD, that’s what I would

want.

Matt Casey: That’s got nothing to do with it. It’s what Voight wants.

Gabby Dawson: [whispers] Damn it. Maybe I should have just

played ball with him.

Peter Mills: No, absolutely not.

Gabby Dawson: But now I’m on his enemy list?

[door opens]

Peter Mills: Who’s that?

Kelly Severide: Nicki’s dad.

[knocks on door]

Chief Boden: Hey! Big Al!

Al Rutkowski: Hey, Wallace.

Chief Boden: [chuckles] What brings you out?

Al Rutkowski: I guess that Severide character’s got himself in a bit

of a pickle, huh?

Chief Boden: How’d that get on your radar?

Al Rutkowski: Well, the girl he attacked, her lawyer contacted me.

Chief Boden: Attacked? Since when do you believe everything the

lawyers tell you?

Al Rutkowski: [scoffs] Yeah, well, regardless, I guess they want my

account of events. They’re looking to establish a

pattern of behaviour. And I wanted you to hear it

from me first out of respect for our friendship.

Chief Boden: Hear what?

[door closes]

Al Rutkowski: How I came here to pick Nicki up, and I saw him

guiding her out of that change out room after doing

God knows what. How she came home in tears

after being over at his apartment. How she broke

off her engagement with a guy I happened to like.

And how Nicki came in and quit her job and ran off

to Europe and she hasn’t been able to get her life

back on track since.

Chief Boden: Al, I spoke to him. Nothing happened.

Al Rutkowski: No, he was screwing around with a subordinate on

the job. My daughter. And shame on me for not

having made a bigger stink of it back then,

because now it looks like a girl got hurt.

Chief Boden: Al, I know you’re pissed at him, but if you, as a Chief

in the department, if you go forward with your beef,

you will sink him.

Al Rutkowski: Do you really believe that he didn’t push that girl up

against the wall because she didn’t want to be

another notch on his belt?

Chief Boden: We go way back. I’m going to vouch for Kelly

Severide.

Al Rutkowski: Yeah, well, like I said, I want you to hear it from me.

Chief Boden: Please don’t do this.

Al Rutkowski: I already did. They have my statement.

Chief Boden: Yeah. Nice knowing you, Al.

[alarm buzzing and blaring]

(Over PA): Ambulance 61, fallen person. 1610 Kedzie Street.

[siren blaring]

Child 1: Hurry, I think my dad’s sick.

Gabby Dawson: What’s your dad’s name?

Child 1: Terrence. I’m Patrick.

And that’s Buddy.

Leslie Shay: Oh.

Gabby Dawson: Okay.

[snake hissing]

Victim 3 (Terrence): [groans]

Gabby Dawson: Okay, see ya.

Leslie Shay: Okay, here we go.

Gabby Dawson: What was that, a pet?

Child 1 (Patrick): What about my dad? Something’s wrong with

him.

Gabby Dawson: [groans] I don’t believe this!

Patrick, how long since that snake bit your dad?

Patrick?

Child 1 (Patrick): My dad says not to tell anyone about Buddy.

We’re not supposed to have him.

Gabby Dawson: How long, sweetie?

Child 1 (Patrick): Ten minutes?

Gabby Dawson: Okay, I’m gonna call animal control.

Leslie Shay: What kind of snake is it?

Child 1 (Patrick): Rhino Viper. He got out of his cage.

Leslie Shay: We gotta go back in there.

Gabby Dawson: Bitch, are you out of your f… Dear valued

colleague, I strongly disagree with your

suggested course…

Leslie Shay: Okay, God only knows what Rhino Viper venom does

to a person, okay? We can’t wait on animal control.

He might not even have 30 minutes.

Gabby Dawson: [groans]

Leslie Shay: Patrick, hi, um, what does your dad use to handle

Buddy?

Child 1 (Patrick): The hook.

Leslie Shay: The hook. Come on.

Victim 3 (Terrence): [groans]

Child 1 (Patrick): Here it is.

[snake hissing]

Leslie Shay: That is a longass snake.

[heavy breathing]

Here.

Gabby Dawson: Whoa! What?

Leslie Shay: You do it. I can’t. I can’t.

Gabby Dawson: [exhales] Okay, Patrick. What do I do?

Child 1 (Patrick): Dad puts the hook under him and grabs his tail.

Gabby Dawson: Mm-hmm. Grabs his tail. Right, of course

[exhales]

Hey, Buddy.

[groans]

[snake hisses]

Gabby Dawson: Oh God! Okay.

[metal rod clanging]

Gabby Dawson: [heavy breathing]

Leslie Shay: We’ve got to try again.

Gabby Dawson: Yeah.

Victim 3 (Terrence): [groans & whimpers]

Leslie Shay: Just… try again.

Gabby Dawson: [frustrated groan]

[snake hissing]

Gabby Dawson: [whimpering]

Come on. Come on.

Leslie Shay: Yes. Yes. Yes.

[thud]

Gabby Dawson: [panting] Nightmares. I will have nightmares.

Victim 3 (Terrence): [gasping]

Gabby Dawson: Okay, let’s put him in the chair and get him out of

here.

Victim 3 (Terrence): [struggling to breathe]

Leslie Shay: Watch the cabinet.

Gabby Dawson: Let’s go.

Child 1 (Patrick): Is he gonna be okay?

Gabby Dawson: He’ll be okay. Hop in.

[ambo door shuts]

cutscene

[door closes]

Kelly Severide: What’s up?

Mouch: Uh, a couple things. Internally, Tara’s not gonna be acting

on the charges.

Kelly Severide: What do you mean internally? Are the charges

dropped or not?

Mouch: Well, there’s where it gets complicated.

Chief Boden: She’s been reinstated as commander of operations at

field division headquarters.

Kelly Severide: Promoted?

Chief Boden: IAD felt an administrative post might be a better fit for

her.

Kelly Severide: For a liar?

Mouch: IAD lacked the sufficient amount of confidence needed to

disprove her claim, so they wanted to move quickly to have

this go away.

Kelly Severide: Great! Y-You know what? Make her the… Queen of

England, I don’t care.

Are-are we done?

Mouch: No. Because of Chief Rutkowski’s rather incendiary

statement, the IG has sustained Tara’s allegations. They’re

kicking the case up to the State Attorney’s office.

Kelly Severide: Meaning what?

Mouch: Meaning they will review it. And if they feel there’s a case,

they’ll file charges. Criminal charges.

Kelly Severide: [sighs]

Chief Boden: You need to get an attorney, Kelly. You need to be

ready.

Mouch: Listen… this is not coming from me. But it was put out

there that if you did apologise for what she’s claiming, it

might go a long way towards…

[sighs]

cutscene

[water running]

Kelly Severide: I walked her to the door.

Leslie Shay: We’re gonna fight this. We’re gonna be all right.

Kelly Severide: I don’t trust anyone in this world other than you.

Christopher Herrmann: Hey buddy. We heard. No one can believe

it. Look, we’re doing our soft opening

tonight. Maybe you want to come down,

tie one on, be around your friends.

Kelly Severide: I’m not up for it.

Christopher Herrmann: No. Of course. All right.

Joe Cruz: Hang in there, man.

cutscene

Gabby Dawson: This is it, you guys.

Otis Zvonecek: Ready or not.

Christopher Herrmann: I got jitters, I ain’t gonna lie.

Gabby Dawson: This is probably like, the craziest, riskiest, insanest

thing any of us has ever done.

Otis Zvonecek: And for Herrmann, that’s saying something.

Christopher Herrmann: [chuckles]

Gabby Dawson: But if nothing else, I have had so much fun

spending all those days off and all the wee hours

building Molly’s with you guys. And I know that

you guys have heart because I saw it when you

put it in the business, and I just want you to

know that I consider you guys family. You’re my

brothers.

Christopher Herrmann: Wow. You’re beautiful. I know it’s been a

tough couple of shifts for everybody. But

that is why this place is gonna rock

tonight. Because we’re gonna put aside

our worries, and we’re just gonna have a

good time.

Otis Zvonecek: Amen.

Gabby Dawson: Amen.

Christopher Herrmann: Amen.

Gabby Dawson: To Molly’s.

Christopher Herrmann: To Molly’s.

Otis Zvonecek: Does it sound like we’re saying “tamales”?

Christopher Herrmann: What? Who cares? This place is gonna

rock!

Otis Zvonecek: I hope so, ‘cause I’m a little concerned about the

number of hits we’re getting on Facebook.

Gabby Dawson: Oh my gosh.

Otis Zvonecek: Not as much traffic as I want. Not to mention…

Christopher Herrmann: Will you please celebrate the moment, for

God’s sake.

Otis Zvonecek: To Molly’s.

[glass clinking]

cutscene

Peter Mills: [grunts]

Come on, another one.

All right, another one.

Kelly Severide: [grunts]

Peter Mills: Throw it out!

Kelly Severide: Unh! Unh!

Peter Mills: Come on! Come on. Come on man.

Kelly Severide: [grunts]

[laboured breathing]

[spits]

cutscene

Christopher Herrmann: Are you guys good?

Crowd/Customers: We’re great!

All right.

[chatter & laughter]

Christopher Herrmann: Who is this guy?

Joe Cruz: That’s my Uncle Zoozie!

Leslie Shay: Hey, so I cannot stop thinking about Tara being

promoted?

Gabby Dawson: Oh, she is a bureau bitch now. We’re never gonna

see her.

Leslie Shay: Oh, if I do, I’m gonna drop her. Not joking.

Joe Cruz: Good to see ya.

Hallie Thomas: Thanks.

Matt Casey: Hey.

Gabby Dawson: [clears throat]

Leslie Shay: When did that happen?

Gabby Dawson: Good for them.

Leslie Shay: [sighs] Oh, yeah…

[door closes]

Christopher Herrmann: [laughs]

Cop walks into a bar…

[chatter dies]

Hank Voight: Wow. It’s a nice place. Congratulations.

[chuckles] Chief.

[exhales] Listen, there’s…there’s been a lot of bad

blood between cops and firemen in this district.

Since we’re all gonna be working together, I want

to be the first to put it all behind us.

This round’s on me.

Gabby Dawson: So what was that about?

Antonio Dawson: You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.

Gabby Dawson: What?

Antonio Dawson: He was promoted to Sergeant, and he’s running

the Intelligence Unit.

Gabby Dawson: You’re in the Intelligence Unit.

Antonio Dawson: Don’t I know it.

Hank Voight: I want to apologise. To you both. It got way out of

hand. You know, as it turns out my son needed to

hit rock bottom. Prison has certainly provided that.

I just want to say I’m sorry. And I am looking forward

to working with you, Lieutenant.

[sighs]

- end -

Definitions:

Bottle Jacks – Have a capacity of up to 50 tons and may be used to lift a variety of objects

Hustler – Prostitute

IAD – Internal Affairs department

Alford plea – Guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and asserts innocence. Defendants usually enter an Alford guilty plea if they want to avoid a possible worse sentence were they to lose the case against them at trial. It affords defendants the ability to accept a plea bargain while maintaining innocence

Dyke – a ditch

Descender – The descender or “descent control device” is another important element of a bailout kit selection. They are used as friction brakes when descending a rope in a rescue situation

IG’s – Office of Inspector General (I believe)

Rhino Viper – Small doses of the snake’s primarily hemotoxic venom can be deadly. This venom attacks the circulatory system of the snake’s victim, destroying tissue and blood vessels. Internal bleeding also occurs. In only a few detailed reports of human envenomation, massive swelling, which may lead to necrosis, had been described.

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msyuksanh · 4 years

Text

“Sly” | Jamil Viper x Reader

Summary This little story is set after the events of Episode 4, and sees how a crush can form on the Scarabia Vice Dorm Leader...

Rating: G Characters: Jamil Viper Location: NRC Kitchen, Library

———

It was busy in the NRC kitchen, one early evening, with the Scarabia students running around getting ready to take dinner back to the dorm.

Jamil moved around the kitchen tasting the food, giving the okay, or making adjustments. Such was the norm, and the students always enjoyed joining the Vice Dorm Leader make dinner because they knew whatever it was going to be it was going to be both a feast and absolutely delicious.

The Ramshackle dorm residents, all two of you, had stumbled upon the Scarabia students in the kitchen by coincidence when Grim decided to go on a hunt for a can of tuna after he’d discovered he’d eaten through his stock.

In the aftermath of Jamil’s overblot, you and Grim seemed to be quite welcome to join the dorm in a variety of activities. Kalim would take you and Grim on magic carpet rides across the desert to the oasis and you’d have fun playing in the water or relaxing in the sun. Sometimes the Octavinelle trio would be invited, and you’d have a party there with all the Scarabia students.

Jamil and Azul had fun with their new found rivalry playing board games, and their weekly sessions involved a new one every time. So far the score was tied with both winning and losing equally.

“You only won because you’re used to accumulating a vast fortune. Only this time it was in property…” said Jamil picking up the small green houses and red hotels.

Azul could only keep the smug grin at bay for so long. “Well, when you have life experience why not use it to win? I’m sure you’ll beat me if there’s a game about cooking…”

Jamil shot Azul the dirtiest look.

It really was enjoyable seeing different dorms socializing together.

Even though Kalim and Jamil’s relationship seemed a little strained after the overblot situation, Jamil looked as if he were a little more comfortable in Kalim’s company. And even though you had only being around him for those few days during winter break you could see Jamil was looking a little more relaxed these days.

Admiration started to grow within you whenever you noticed Jamil smile a little more, or when he got excited during board game night, or when he said something encouraging to one of the dorm students. It really was commendable how he learnt to accept himself as more than just Kalim’s aide.

A while back you’d noticed Jamil studying alone in the library, but you didn’t really know him then. After winter break there were times you’d decided on the off occasion to sit at his table to study. He stopped reading or writing to look up at you with a blank expression, and you smiled back to show you were harmless. However, he immediately returned to what he was doing. At first it was a little off putting but you slowly got used to it. Jamil was very studious and it was understandable he didn’t want to be interrupted mid-flow.

The few times you’d sat at his table you couldn’t help but feel guilty thinking your presence was bothering him, so you figured it was better for you to move. Although once, you were reading mid-sentence when you felt someone pull the chair out from beside you. You were surprised to see the Scarabia vice dorm leader setting up his work area.

“Is there a problem?” Jamil asked sitting down and opening his book.

“No” you replied with a small smile.

To be honest you rather enjoyed his company despite at the time not really having had much conversation with him outside of niceties.

The next few library sessions after that it was natural for you both to sit next to each other, and at times Jamil even gave you advice with things you didn’t understand. The things you didn’t understand was a lot because quite a bit of the content was about magic and you…were not a magic user.

Grim never studied with you in the library. He found it pretty boring in there, and his personality was so big that maybe, you thought amusingly, the library couldn’t contain it. So whenever you mentioned you were headed that way he would sing “Boring!”, and wander off to other dorms to see who was free to hang out/where he could get free food.

Of course, whenever a test was coming up Grim would panic a few days beforehand because he clearly hadn’t studied, and so you would have to pull all nighters with him up until test day. You couldn’t find it in your nature to leave him high and dry, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t irritating. And since you both were here in the college together counting as one student; if he failed you failed.

“How do you keep up with all nighters and regular classes then?” Jamil queried.

“I don’t know…I think I might just be a really good person” You said feigning innocence.

Jamil scoffed. “Isn’t there a way to make life a little easier on yourself?”

You pursed your lips and tapped your chin in thought. “What if I were to threaten not to help him and pretend I don’t care that we’ll be kicked out and that we’ll be barred from entering Night Raven College ever again and he’ll never be an all powerful wizard?”

There was a moment of silence.

“You’ve been thinking about that for a while, haven’t you?” Jamil asked.

“Yeah, a little bit”

Jamil chuckled hearing more of your interactions with the little monster. You thought he maybe found some parallels with his friendship with Kalim and he understood to some extent the difficulties you had experienced.

There were times when Jamil explained some things to you and he pointed at your book with his pen. Your eyes would wander from his hand, up his arm and to his angular face with its stern expression…and those soft looking lips. You realized how close he was and immediately averted your gaze back to your book. He asked if you’d understood and you answered honestly with a “no”. He laughed gently and, thankfully, explained it again. Sometimes he was even proud of some of the scores you’d got on tests, and took partial credit due to his expert tutelage. His words, not yours.

There was excitement and anticipation slowly growing within you whenever you went to the library. Would he be there? Would he not? More often than not Jamil would be there, or he’d turn up a few minutes later after you’d sat down. Oddly enough, you both never scheduled a time to meet, and yet somehow you both knew the other would be there. If you were to actually agree a time to meet, would it have put into the universe the suggestion that you actually…liked him?

Back in the kitchen the food was almost ready. Jamil had sent students back to the dorm with plates full of food, cutlery, bowls, etc. They were all so excited to head back they were practically running towards the Hall of Mirrors.

“Grim, I’m putting you in charge until I get back. Make sure the students are dishing up the food properly and make sure every student gets enough, alright?” Jamil directed at the flying fire monster.

Grim puffed up his chest in pride. “I see you recognize leadership when it’s staring you in the face”

The little creature beat his chest gently and grinned widely. “You can trust me, Jamil!”

And off he flew ahead of the last of the students. You heard him in the distance suddenly taking an arrogant tone; clearly the power having had already gone to his head in those last 10 seconds. You could only roll your eyes and laugh.

All became quiet with only you and Jamil left in the kitchen, and you became increasingly aware of that fact. He was wiping down counters and putting things away, and all the while you were trying to stave off the nervousness of being alone with your crush.

Although, suddenly feeling guilty he was clearing up while you stood there doing nothing, you asked: “Is there anything left to do? Can I help?”

Jamil walked back over to one of the counters and you followed suit.

“There’s just this last basket of bread to take; other than that, no. But, thank you”

The vice dorm leader smiled softly at you appreciating your offer. You smiled back and took a step forward to admire the handmade bread stacked up in the woven basket. It smelled amazing and you could still see a little steam rising from the small buns having come out of the oven a few minutes ago. Jamil really was an impressive cook. It seemed to you there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.

You reflexively took a step back as he picked up the basket. You looked around the room to do a final check, and when you turned back Jamil was stood in front of you.

You looked up at him with an innocent smile and cocked your head in confusion.

“Could you hold this a second?”

“Oh, sure” You answered and placed your hands around the handles as he took his away.

As you looked back up you felt hands around your face, and before you knew it Jamil had leant in and pressed his lips against yours. You reflexively closed your eyes but your brain was a hot mess of thoughts. You had to concentrate hard on making sure you didn’t drop what you were holding but at the same time you were confused, panicked and…happy?

Your body started warming up and your heart started beating faster as Jamil pressed harder.

That was it. The bread was going to go on the floor. You couldn’t tell your body to keep hold of the basket any longer not with the kiss getting more and more heated by the second. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest.

Just as fast as Jamil had entered your space, he’d pulled away and took the basket from you. He headed toward the kitchen door leaving you in a trembling stupor.

As he’d reached the doorway he turned back after realizing you weren’t following.

“Are you coming?” Jamil asked with an evil smirk.

With a hand on your forehead covering your eyes, you needed a moment to process what just happened.

And what did just happen? Your crush kissed you out of the blue. And you liked it. And you liked him. And, judging by his actions, he likes you back.

You tried so hard to stifle the wide grin that appeared on your face. You even tried biting your lip, but that didn’t help in the slightest.

You decided to walk towards him but the floor mainly held your attention because you knew if you were to make eye contact your stupid goofy smile would come out and you didn’t want to give Jamil the satisfaction. You could feel his gaze on you and you knew the kind of cocky, smug expression he had.

You bit your lip every time you remembered the kiss and you cursed the boy for making you so uncontrollably giddy.

When you got to him you punched him lightly in the arm and carried on your way. Jamil laughed heartily and caught up with your stride.

“I hope you’re looking forward to tomorrow’s library session” He said with a playful tone.

You wrapped your arms around one of his and turned to bury your hot face against his shoulder as you both continued walking.

Even though you were feeling elated you felt like you wanted to run back to your room to roll around on your bed to calm yourself. What face were your making when he kissed you? Was he expecting you to kiss him back as hard as he did? Did you embarrass yourself at all beforehand?

You peeked up to look at Jamil and he had the cutest little smile, and maybe even a light tinge of colour on his cheeks.

The warmth and happiness you felt from his expression calmed you down a little and brought back your own smile.

Maybe Grim should eat through all his cans of tuna more often.

———

Thank you for reading!

(NB: what is English 😭😭)

#disney's twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland #twst #jamil x reader #jamil viper x reader #jamil viper

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stxrrywildflower · 4 years

Text

for better or for worse (2)

pairing - spencer reid x reader

summary - when the people they love the most are kidnapped and ripped out of their hands, the bau does everything they can to get them back before it turns dire

warnings - mentions of case, angst, injury details

series masterlist

drugs were coursing through your veins. you could tell that from the minute your eyes slowly opened.

instead of being met with bright lights or some random room, you were met with total darkness. the cloth veil over your head prevented you from seeing anything. a second cloth was secured around your face, acting as a gag to prevent you from calling out.

your head lolled slightly, due to both the drugs and actually having some form of control over your movements.

the cloth was violently ripped off, now exposing the environment you were in.

your eyes met andrew’s, who was sitting across from you. through still hazy eyes, you looked back and forth, desperate to try and figure out your surroundings.

penelope was to your right and leslie to your left. next to her was kristy, then andrew, krystall, and finally will.

the seven of you made up an almost perfect circle, one person facing another. you were tied of the same way, arms restrained behind the chair while your legs were tied to the base of the chair.

everyone was still fairly loopy, though penelope was sober enough to have tears already flowing down her cheeks.

“welcome everyone!” a voice called.

the three men, the same ones who delt with the fabric over your faces, stood in a triangle around the edge of your circle. each had on a full face masks preventing you from seeing their identities.

“what the hell do you want with us,” andrew spat out after managing to get the gag out of his mouth. everyone was more than fine with him taking charge, he was the fbi agent after all.

“you,” the one with the blue mask started, twirling a knife in hand, “are going to tear your other halves into pieces emotionally and i’m sure physically.”

he went on for another few minutes, the others chipping in occasionally. the whole thing was strategically planned out, unless the team found you, you wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon.

you were the first one to receive any form of an injury.

your occasional snarky and sarcastic personality trait was coming in force. as the three men entered the room, only to taunt the group, you couldn’t help but call them out.

“imagine thinking your going to get something good out of kidnapping all of us,” you started. “you guys are a bunch of morons who’s heads are pretty much wanted on platters by the team and i’m-” you were cut off by a hard punch to your cheek.

a gasp espacped your lips, pain radiating in both your eye and nose. a thin steam of blood trickled down your face. between the drugs hitting you even harder with the final effects on your body and now this, you were extremely exhausted.

they left the room soon after that, no clues or hints on where they were going.

“you okay?” will’s thick accent took a second to process in your head.

“fine,” you grumbled, moving your head to the side to wipe the blood from your nose on your shirt. “the teams going to get us out of this,” kristy spoke, as if to reassure herself. “i know they will.”

back at quantico, the team all sat around the table, still looking down at the phones. “i really hate to say it, but there’s little we can do until the kidnappers make contact.”

“are you joking?” spencer exclaimed, “do you really expect us to just sit here and wait while everyone is probably being tortured by the bastards who took them?”

they hated to admit, he did have a point.

j.j. led luke out of the room, keeping one hand on his back to comfort the agent who was moments away from breaking down crying.

“spencer, a word?”

the genius grumbled to himself quietly, pushing his chair back before following emily out of the conference room and into her office. “i need you to calm down,” she spoke gently.

that was easily one of the worst things she could have said to spencer.

“no i’m not going to calm down prentiss,” spencer snapped. “i lost maeve to an unsub the same way. how dare you tell me to ‘calm down’ when y/n is missing and we have absolutely no idea where her or the others went.”

emily frowned slightly at the mention of the event from almost eight years ago. while the current unit chief wasn’t on the case, she had heard about it while in london and did everything she could from where she was to help out spencer.

“i want you to take a walk. we need your head clear and ready to work,” emily spoke gently. spencer opened his mouth, wanting to protest but shut it quickly. he wanted to do as emily said, for your sake at least.

spencer shook his head, leaving the office after grabbing his bag and heading towards the elevator. maybe some fresh air would do him some good.

“why not me,” luke mumbled, barely audible to the blonde agent.

j.j. had taken luke to morgan’s old office to help him calm down. her motherly instincts had kicked in, especially as she knew how emotional luke could get in situations like these, stress adding on as it involved penelope.

“why did they take penelope instead of me? i’m apart of this team too,” tears started to flow down luke’s cheeks. j.j. pressed her lips together, wanting to stay strong enough for both his and her sake. her mind creeped back to will, desperately hoping he was okay.

“i don’t know luke, i really don’t. but trust me when i say, we will find them,” she reassured, wrapping an arm around the fellow agent. “thanks j, do you mind giving me a minute alone?”

j.j. nodded, squeezing his shoulder one more time before standing up just as her phone rang.

“my mom is coming down to get the boys. matt, she can take a few of yours,” j.j. announced once she met up with matt and rossi. they needed the kids handled so full focus could be on solving the case.

“joy is also flying in, she was on her way even before this whole thing. she can watch keely and the others” rossi chipped in. emily joined the group just in time to hear rossi’s offer.

matt nodded, the three parents in mutual agreement. “i’m going to meet up with tara and get started on some work. i mean what else can we do.”

“how’s spencer?”

“frustrated,” emily answered. “i’m honestly suprised no one else is on his level.”

j.j. sighed. “emily i don’t know what we’re going to do,” she admitted. “agents aren’t supposed to work cases when they’re personally involved. and with this, i mean we all are. what are we even supposed to do?”

“we really need reinforcements.”

——

“have you heard?”

“yeah i’m about to head over now. you?”

“same. are we really bringing our badges out of retirement?”

“hey don’t say retirement. makes us sound old.”

“true.”

“and yes we’re heading back. they’re family, and they need our help.”

with that, the phone call ceased.

the bullpen seemingly stopped, all eyes going over to the glass doors. none other than aaron hotchner and derek morgan stepped in, bags by their side and visitors badge clipped to their pants.

their styles altered greatly. hotch was dressed down in jeans and a patagonia quarter buttoned pullover, work boots as his shoe of choice. morgan was the same, opting for a t-shirt and zip up instead.

agents nodded as a sign of respect at the two former agents, their legacy with the bau team was still looked up to.

the current bau team seemed empty.

no one jumped up to greet them. no one hugged. no one could even muster up a convincing enough smile.

they all just looked down, going back to their individual work. spencer and luke were at the genius’s desk, chairs pressed close together as they put together information. rossi, j.j., and tara were in the conference room, boards put up with pictures of the phones as well as screenshots from street cameras. that left matt and emily who were engaged in a deep conversation.

emily stopped when she noticed the two men lingering. “go help spencer and luke. let them know to meet up with the other three when they’re done,” she ordered.

“thank you for coming, i wish we could meet under different circumstances,” she spoke, expending her hand out for them to shake. “we can talk in my office.”

the two former agents followed the current unit chief up, not bothering to sit in the chairs, preferring to stand. “bet you didn’t expect to be back in here,” morgan nudged hotch.

“is the team holding up okay? everyone seemed a little numb,” derek commented.

“how’s the investigation going? what do you have nailed down so far?” hotch quickly added.

“nothing, we have absolutely nothing. just broken cell phones and the word ‘love.’ we don’t have a tech analyst so we can’t even figure out half of the stuff we need to. no one can even focus right because we’ve had the people we love taken away with no means of communication or no clues. i think it’s understandable that we’re a little numb. and i just don’t know what to do because i’m dealing with myself and keely and also having to be a leader of the team,” emily stopped herself, running her hand through her hair to calm down.

her rant was pretty all over the place, mirroring the emotions she was feeling.

“which is why we’re here,” hotch stated. “morgan and i have the most clear heads out of everyone. if you say the word, we can lead this investigation and track down the unsubs. it would be the easiest way to make sure we get everyone back.”

emily nodded, wrapping her arms around herself. “okay. just please help us find them,” she pleaded. “we will, i promise.”

it was almost five hours before the mixed team found anything. a postal service worker stepped into the bullpen, holding a box and ipad in the other. anderson talked to him for a moment, motioning for emily to come down.

“i have a package for emily prentiss. you just need to sign here,” he repeated. emily was still hesitant, but leaned forward to write her signature.

emily held the box out in front of her, careful to keep her movements still as one wrong movement could set it off if it was in fact dangerous. she brought it up to the conference room, placing it on the table.

“it’s not an explosive,” derek determined after his examination. silence fell over the room.

tara was the one who leaned forward to open the box. her hands were shaky, directly due to her nervousness. no one knew what was inside, other than that it wasn’t a bomb.

all eyes were on the box, listing as the tape was cut open, them the cardboard flaps lifted.

bloody jewelry was inside; three wedding rings, two necklaces, a bracelet, and finally a helix earring.

spencer took a sharp breath. each piece of jewelry belonged to an individual taken. yours was the earring, an anniversary gift from him. the usual gold piece was now stained red.

the hope the team had for you all being alive cracked just a little bit more.

☆ ☆ ☆

tags - @zozoleesi @emxlyprentxss @spencerreidfanatic00 @mrs-dr-reid @irjuejjsaa @ogmilkis @sageellesworth05 @mortallythoughtfulgurl @brainyreid @ah-blossom @kissessforharryyy @ssareidbby @spencersglasses @spenciepoo338 @mggstyles @emilouu @loki-an-idiot @reidsmyhusband-emilysmymistress @pianofirepirate @ssa-morgan @afuckingshituniverse @spencerslatte @reminiscing-writer

#criminal #criminal minds #spencer reid #spencer reid x oc #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x y/n #aaron hotchner #derek morgan #emily prentiss #jennifer jareau #david rossi #penelope garcia #luke alvez #matt simmons #tara lewis

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