#it was just there inside the secret compartment in the cabinet for who knows how long but it did just recently start to smell apparently

[cringebro]

Trust me you dont wanna read this its really disgusting but i gotta get it outta my system

Tell me tell me tell me why my mum just found a hidden place inside a cabinet that was full of rat shit and a burnt rat

And it chewed on a aluminium pipe

Im having trouble processing this

I threw away the bag full of rat shit and corpse and honestly it was quite disgusting

I washed my hands 3 times in 1 go but i dont think im ever mentally recovering from that

Im still doing the same face as the 🤢 emoji

I genuinely might throw up

I have tears in my eyes

[kaitoujokerscans]

Get Back Hachi’s Memories! CH7

<7> Traveling Joker Once Again

Back in the guise of Kaitou Joe, Joker returned gleefully with the Sigma Drive in one hand. When he entered the living room, Hosshi hopped over to him.

"Hosshiii! Hosshiii!"

"Waugh! What is it, pseudocat!?"

"Hosshihosshi hosshiii!" It was trying to tell him something, but Joker didn't have time for that right now. He had to use the Sigma Drive and travel to the past ASAP.

From what he could see, Hachi wasn't around. That made this the perfect chance.

"Hoshihoshihoshi!"

"Shush, will ya? I'll hear you out when I get back, so be patient for the moment, pseudocat!"

Joker pushed aside Hosshi, who was bouncing around him, and started to tinker with the Sigma Drive. "Okay... two days ago... it must've been around 9PM. All right, Sigma Drive, start up!" He entered the date and time, pushed the button, and then everything distorted around him. Soon his vision clouded over with a fuzzy haze, and he heard a loud VWOOM sound like a strong wind inside his head.

Right after, a harsh light flashed in front of him, and Joker reflexively shut his eyes...

Joker slowly opened his eyes. His mind was fuzzy. It felt like being woken up by a morning alarm without warning.

The scenery was exactly the same as he had just seen.

"...Did it work?"

Just then, he heard the pattering of footsteps from the other side of the door. Joker quickly hid himself behind the shelving.

Hachi came into the living room.

"I can't believe Joker-san! This time I'm not going to forgive him!" he grumbled as he started to clear the snacks off the table.

Evidently the time jump had worked. Joker had returned to the moment right after he and Hachi had fought and he left for his caper.

"Geez, Joker-san doesn't clean up after himself at all..." Even as he complained, Hachi diligently put away the game console. Joker was filled with an indescribable feeling as he watched him. He sorely missed hearing Hachi call him "Joker-san".

Once Hachi finished tidying up, he returned to the kitchen. Joker peered at him from the shadows and saw him slowly stirring the curry pot.

"...Then again, I might've gone too far..." Hachi murmured as he stirred. Hearing this, Joker felt a sting in his heart.

"I know! I'll finish up this delicious curry and apologize when Joker-san gets back! And I've got a special ingredient just for the occasion!" Forcing himself to cheer up, Hachi removed one of the wall tiles with a plunk. Apparently he'd created a secret compartment in the kitchen. He pulled out a small black bottle from within and sprinkled its powdery contents into the curry.

"Now it's perfect!" Hachi said with satisfaction after putting some of the curry into a saucer and taste-testing it.

As he watched from afar, another feeling welled up in Joker. Hachi had wanted to apologize to him. And yet I...

He wanted to jump out right now and tell Hachi he was sorry.

That's what I can do...! Joker had a sudden realization. If he jumped out and said "Hachi, I'm sorry! It was my fault!" right now, he might be able to restore Hachi's memories. He still didn't know how Hachi had gotten amnesia, but he figured he could at least clear away Hachi's hate for him. Yes, apologizing right away might be the best solution.

Joker's anger toward Hachi had long since cooled. Usually Joker wouldn't even consider apologizing immediately, but this was a special case. Hachi, I was wrong. Sorry for not apologizing to you right away... He practiced the words in his head and was about to step out from behind the shelving when...

"Okay, it's all ready! Now I can enjoy the Shuffle Sisters concert by myself without anything hanging over me!"

Eh...? Joker stopped in his tracks.

Hachi bustled over to the cabinet. He took out a DVD case from inside, swiftly popped the disc into the player, turned on the big TV, and cranked up the volume.

Magical♪ Magical♪ Let's dig in!♪"

The screen displayed the Shuffle Sisters dancing all around the stage of a huge venue in high definition. The Shuffle Sisters was an idol group composed of actual sisters: Ai, Rei, and Kira. They were a popular and widely-recognized group, and Hachi was a big fan of them. Ai, who was Dark Eye's true identity and the eldest sister of the bunch, was Hachi's favorite.

"YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO! AI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Hachi pulled a homemade fan out of nowhere and started to swing his arm around so wildly it seemed like it'd fly right off. His other hand held a large penlight with the Shuffle Sisters' name on it. It was of course lit up green to match Ai's costume.

In time with the Shuffle Sisters' song, Hachi perspired as he danced the choreography perfectly and bounced around on the large sofa. His expression was so blissful that it was hard to believe he'd been angry before this.

Is he seriously...!? Joker glared intently at Hachi from behind the shelving. His earlier feelings of remorse had vanished to the far end of the universe. Instead, Joker's heart was now stewing with anger toward Hachi, who was enthusiastically enjoying himself before his eyes. I was totally agonizing over this, but it turns out he was whooping it up while I was out! There's no way I'm apologizing! Joker swore to himself. He scowled back at Hosshi nearby, who was looking blankly at him. Unbothered, Hosshi was just going to munch on some konpeito. But as it turned out, Hosshi's konpeito bottle was empty.

"Hosshi," said Hosshi. It then scooped the empty bottle onto its head and approached Hachi, who was obsessively waving his penlight at the screen. Hachi noticed and turned around.

"What's up, Hosshi? Oh, you're out of konpeito."

Hachi went towards the cabinet, pulled the key out of his pocket, and opened up the sliding doors. Hosshi's konpeito was stored there, and it was normally kept locked so that it wouldn't sneak any extra. Hachi looked into the cabinet and pulled out the stockpile of konpeito.

But all of a sudden, he didn't see Hosshi.

"Huh? Where did Hosshi go?" He looked around and spotted Hosshi eyeing a pretty plate displayed atop the shelves. It was a valuable art piece which Joker had recently taken great pains to obtain. Hosshi ate konpeito, but its favorite food was treasure.

"Not that, Hosshi! Joker-san will be angry..." As he spoke, something crossed Hachi's mind. His expression turned mischievous and he scratched his head. He must've just remembered his fight with Joker. "...Well, you can have a little treat every so often."

What!? Listening from the safety of his hiding place, Joker's eyes bulged.

"Hosshi, I didn't see a thing. I'm sure Joker-san would say it's fine for you to eat it"

"It's not fine!" Joker screeched.

Hachi turned around with a start. There was Joker in front of the shelves, an enraged look on his face. He couldn't stand it anymore and had revealed himself.

"Joker-san! ...What's up with your clothes?"

Yes, Joker was still in his Kaitou Joe disguise. Hachi had no way of knowing that this Joker was from the future, so he asked out of puzzlement.

"Oh shut up, who cares! More importantly, don't just let that pseudocat gobble up my precious treasure!"

"W-Well, I...

"That doesn't matter! I came cause I was worried and turns out you were having fun! Waving around that penlight and having the time of your life!"

"Wh- you saw that!?" Hachi's face promptly turned red from embarrassment. "It's awful of you to spy on me! That's an invasion of my privacy!"

"This is my house! You don't get privacy here!"

"What!? So you're saying I can only act how I want to when I'm in my room!?"

"Yeah, you bet!"

"I live here too, you know! I'm your helper, Joker-san!"

"Heh! If you're my helper, then try doing something to help me out for once!"

"You're the one who left me behind, Joker-san!"

"Cause you're useless! I can handle a couple little capers easy without you there!"

"Mrrrghh... Well, you can't do anything by yourself, Joker-san! Just recently I saw you going to the bathroom in the middle of the night all spooked!"

"T-That was because I was playing a scary game before bed! That was an exception, not the norm!"

"I'm not so sure about that! I'm really angry now! Hosshi, go ahead and eat this!" Hachi grabbed a necklace on display next to him and tossed it toward Hosshi.

"Hosshi♪" Hosshi gladly leapt for the necklace and instantaneously gobbled it down.

"AAAAAAAAGH! You jerk!"

"There's plenty more to chow down on!" Hachi pushed a nearby switch, unlocking the display cases in the room with a slow clatter. The priceless collection pieces inside were exposed one after another.

"Hosshi!" Hosshi joyfully dashed around the room, eating treasures left and right.

"Stop it!" Panicked, Joker chased after Hosshi. Chairs fell down, the sofa was jolted, cups crashed down from the shelves; the whole room was thrown into disarray.

"Hold it right there, pseudocat!" Joker finally grabbed hold of Hosshi and squeezed it tight.

"Hoshi hoshi hoshi!" Hosshi slipped out of Joker's grasp and then gasped, the whites of its eyes showing.

"Agh, too late!"

"Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho... HOSSHIIIII!" Hosshi jumped up, leaving an egg with a star shell lying where it had been. When Hosshi ate treasure, it laid eggs. Strangely enough, whatever came out of the egg ended up being a useful item for people in the near future.

The egg cracked open and Joker looked to see what it was.

"The heck is this? Glue?" He picked up a small bottle of adhesive. It really didn't seem like this could come in handy at the moment.

I spent so much effort getting that treasure, and now it's reduced to this...

"Hey!" Joker turned angrily toward Hachi. "This is your fault, Hachi!"

"No, it's your fault, Joker-san! You're never nice to me or Hosshi, so this is karma!"

"Oh yeah!?" Still holding the glue, Joker rushed toward Hachi. Hachi ran away into the kitchen. "Get back here, you jerk!"

Just then, it happened. The konpeito bottle was rolling around at Hachi's feet, and Hachi accidentally put all his weight on it. "W-Whoa! Waaaahhh!"

Hachi lost his balance and instinctively tried to grab onto something, which happened to be a cloth hanging in front of him. The cloth was actually a large tapestry which Joker had stolen recently. There was a large skull sculpture resting above it. When Hachi pulled down on the tapestry, it came away from the wall, and with it came the skull sculpture as well.

"Hachi!?" yelled Joker. A moment later, Hachi was lying on the ground with the tapestry fluttering over him. The skull sculpture followed, dropping down right over his head...

Donk. A loud thud came from under the tapestry.

"Hachi!" Joker frantically rushed over and shoved the tapestry aside. Under it, Hachi was knocked out cold. A bump was starting to swell just above his brow — a familiar spot.

"Ohhhh, I messed up so bad..."

Just then, a buzzer sound came from Joker's pocket where the Sigma Drive was resting. He quickly checked it and saw on the display "10 seconds left". It was already counting down.

"Shoot, it's already time to go back! Wait, right! The secret ingredient for the curry!" Joker finally remembered the reason why he'd gone back in the first place and ran into the kitchen. The curry was stewing on low heat on the stove.

Joker removed the tile hiding the secret compartment and took the black bottle from within. "This is it!" The moment after Joker grabbed the bottle, everything around him warped, his vision clouded over, and then a harsh light flashed...

"Hm, so this is it..." Hyakkimaru picked up the small black bottle and examined it closely. Joker was seated in front of him. He'd come straight over to Hyakkimaru's hideout as soon as he'd gotten the bottle.

"Yeah, apparently that's the secret ingredient Hachi put in his curry."

Joker had promptly checked the contents of the bottle upon returning to his original time period. However, it was empty inside. Hachi must have used up the last of it in his latest batch. Joker had intended to have amnesiac-Hachi tell him what would've been inside, but he was gone for some reason. This was why Hosshi had been so frantic when Joker got back.

Having lost all leads, Joker visited Hyakkimaru again. At any rate... Joker felt even more responsible than before. If he'd simply apologized to Hachi when he returned to the past, Hachi might not have forgotten. But instead Hachi hit his head again and lost his memory. And by chasing him this time, Joker had contributed to the problem.

There's gotta be some way for me to get Hachi's memory back...

"Hm... I've seen this crest design before," said Hyakkimaru, spotting the small emblem printed on the bottom of the bottle. Joker took a look for himself. True enough, there was a crest with three rectangles. "This is the Iga Ninja crest."

"The Iga?"

"Indeed. I've heard tell of a wonder herb handed down through the Iga clan. Ninjas used it to season bland rations when they were on missions in enemy territory."

"That's it... that's gotta be it!"

"But the herb is the Iga's most closely-guarded secret. They won't easily permit you to learn about it."

"Who ever said I was gonna get their permission?" Joker stood up and exclaimed. "I'm a phantom thief. I don't bother with asking, I just steal things!"

"Yes... this is for Hachi's sake. I'll lend you my aid."

"Then let's get going!"

Then, just as the two were about to step out-

"!" Hyakkimaru's eyes glinted. A split second later, something hurtled their way at high speed. He caught it.

"This is..." A messenger arrow lay in his hands. There was a scrap of paper attached around the middle of the handmade arrow. "What does it mean?"

He unfolded the paper, revealing a message written in neat and mannerly letters.

"Letter of challenge!

To Kaitou Joe-san, better known as Phantom Thief Joker.

You're a terrible person for deceiving me!

I swear I'll get revenge for this, so you better watch out!

—Fuuma Hachi"

[widow-maximov]

Surprise..?

Pairing: Natasha x Reader

Warning: Language, lots of fluff, maybe angst..

Summary: Being an Avenger is exhausting, your girlfriend Natasha decides to surprise you... Will you be thrilled?

Word count: 6.8k

My requests are always open so feel more than welcome to pop in a suggestion for the next story :3

⸻⸻⋙☸⋘⸻⸻

Having a simple life as an Avenger was definitely out of the window, this job required very high skills and concentration, especially if you have powers you need to know what you are doing so you don't end up hurting someone.

But the thing is, no one warns you how extreme this job can get, from watching people dying to not being able to find a solution to huge problems.

All of this pulls down on the reputation of Avengers which isn't good at all, watching as the news pull your name down is horrible to watch, which motives a lot of people but some only blame themselves for not doing something in that moment.

That happened to you, once. When you joined the Avengers you expected things to be hard of course but when you were sent out to your mission, it seemed like everything was going good and smooth.

So you started to like missions and started to take more for experience of course you was companied with your teammates for the time being until you gained enough skills and knowledge to do anything by yourself.

There is this one mission you'll never forget...

You woke up in the morning feeling confident about this missions, you were brief the day before by Steve, he went over with you what you need and how to take it.

You were suppose to get this important piece of paper and with your camouflage powers, they thought it would be best to let you go alone, Steve and Tony were convinced you have enough knowledge to do this by yourself.

Some teammates still insisted on coming along with you but they were told no by Steve and you felt a little proud that within couple of these months here, you were able to score your own mission.

Natasha was one of those teammates who insisted on coming, she wanted to ensure you didn't get hurt, during the shoot out but Steve was quick to shutting her out from any information.

He knew that Natasha would end up following you and jeopardising the mission leaving the Avengers empty handed again. He was exhausted with his teammates coming back from missions beating to the point where they would spend weeks in the medical wing.

Every time Steve sent out a group of people, they were always ambushed and over powered by their enemy so getting that paper was very important and if that meant having Natasha angry at him for some time, he took those chances.

She was left out in the dark which she hated so much, Natasha wanted to help but she could only hope nothing would happen to you, she made sure to train you just before you left for the mission.

She definitely didn't want to say goodbye with words, so training had to do for now. You were exhausted by the end of the session with her but still had enough energy to pull her into a hug before actually leaving.

Everyone knew apart from Natasha that you liked her, everyone knew apart from you that Natasha liked you too which only frustrated the team mates that shipped you in secret.

It was nice watching Natasha crumble under your touch, she would melt into your hugs and you would melt under her gaze, it was very visible about how oblivious the two of you were.

Which was really difficult for Natasha to see you go off on your own, she just wanted to make sure you would be fine in the end but only time could tell.

You were pretty successful on your own, you managed to access the room that stored the paper, you only needed to knock out the two guards that were in the way, you used your powers and they were unconscious within seconds.

You had a smug smile across your lips as you walked over to the cabinet that the paper was in, failing to notice that camera with a sensor which sense your movement.

You uncamouflaged and bend down to open the little cabinet door, snatching the paper, suddenly the wall turned displaying a location and a timer.

The red lights flashed and an alarm went off, your heart sunk as you stared at the timer, you had to turn this off, you tried to look for something to turn this off but it was impossible.

You reached for your com as you spoke "Uh, a timer went off and its counting down, there is a location here but nothing to turn this off"

"You have to get to the location! You can dismantle the bomb there" Tony spoke through your ear.

You swallowed hard as you rushed out of the building, heading to the place that had the bomb, you barely could breath when you arrived but that didn't stop you, you rushed inside.

You failed to notice that the bomb was located amongst people, two tall buildings with thousands of people, when you gotten to the bomb, it was placed in the middle and it was very visible.

You looked around and no one was there, you collapsed onto your knees and reached for the com "What do I do now?"

"Cut the red wire!" Tony spoke again.

You turned the bomb around and found no wired "What?" you whispered.

"What red wire? There are no red wires here Tony!" You was filled with anxiety, the way it was ticking was making you even more nervous.

"There might be a compartment, pry it open with something and cut the red wire!"

You nodded as if he was here to see that, you found something to pry it open and found wires that are not red but all brown, "They are all brown Tony"

"Okay, look at the first wire and see where it leads, if it leads to the battery, cut it"

You had sweat sliding down your face as you stared at the wires, none of them led anywhere, you looked at the screen that displayed the time, you barely had time to even take this back to Tony.

"I-" You spoke but anxiety was stopping you.

You had 20 seconds and there was no way you could defuse this, you swallowed as you spoke "I can't do it"

"Kid! Yes you can, just look at the wires and just cut it off with the knife"

You was staring at the wires since you opened it and you knew if you cut the wrong one, you will blow up right here with it "I- I can't"

Now there were tears sliding down your face, you had less than 15 seconds left, you took a deep breath and cut the last brown wire, and nothing happened, nothing the timer was still ticking and nothing stopped.

You started to cut off all of the wires and nothing, you took deep breath as a voice screamed into your ear "Run Y/n!"

You didn't have to be told twice, you placed the bomb and ran for your life, as soon as you made to the door, the bomb went off and you flew several feet away from the building, crashing into another building and hitting the wall which knocked you out.

The bomb did big damage causing the whole two building to shake and catch on fire, killing hundred people in process and leaving thousands to somehow escape.

The rest of the Avengers managed to help those people out with Tony's technology as Natasha gotten you back to the medical wing. She was anxious and afraid she will lose you, she never saw your body be so still and lifeless.

As soon as you woke up from the coma you were in, you noticed no one around, panicked you wanted to get up but the pain in your body slowed you down.

You took a deep breath as you pulled out the needle in your arm, and started to walk out of the room, as soon as you heard someone coming, you used your powers to camouflage and proceeded to your room.

As soon as you gotten there, you turned on the TV and saw your name displayed as the news people spoke about you "Is Y/n L/n a hero or a threat?"

"What we witnessed couple hours ago, could only prove that Avengers might have a liar amongst themselves. From the footage you could see Y/n run inside and run out and a boom went off, this is terrifying!" One of the women spoke on the TV.

You had tears in your eyes, not only from physical pain but also by hearing how your name is getting dragged in mud, you changed the channel.

"This is getting serious, why would an individual that is suppose to be a hero, kill hundreds of people? That's easy! Y/n L/n joined the Avengers and gained their trust to only betray them and watch as fear and loss is spread"

You shook your head as you whispered out "No, that's not true"

Each channel had your name pulled through mud as you listened to each of them and nodded to agree with them whenever they mentioned the failure you were.

Natasha barged inside the room with fear in her eyes but as soon as she looked at you, she let out a sigh "Here you are, why did you leave the medical wing?"

She looked at the TV when she received no answer, she walked over and took the remote to turn off the news, you was still staring at the black TV "Hey Y/n.."

You looked at her with tears threatening to spill, she placed her hand on your face "It's not your fault.."

You shook your head to disagree "It's all of my fault, I should've done something, anything to save all of those people. I failed and now I have to live with it"

"It's not your fault, you weren't trained to defuse bombs, and whatever the news say, it shouldn't matter because we know you and you tried your best, there was nothing you could've done"

You sighed as you leaned into her and she embraced as you silently cried into her, she was there through that bad time and you were more than grateful for her sticking by your side.

The public gradually warmed up after a heartfelt apology that came from you after properly leaving the medical wing, but you knew if any more slip ups happened this would really effect you, at least Natasha stuck with you that was really important to you.

Now that you and Natasha were together, she changed so much and the team kind of hates it but likes it at the same time. She throws a fit whenever she is unable to sit next to you during movie night, this caused so many groans to escape and in the end she was satisfied when she sat in your lap.

The only reason this relationship happened was because of Clint and Bucky, they were very invested in your relationship and wanted to speed things up, they couldn't watch you stare at Natasha like you wanted her right there and then.

They needed this to sail and they did what they needed to do, they set the two of you up, they faked a little get together and just invited the two of you, of course the whole team were threatened that if they ruin this, they will not live to see the next day.

You were sitting in your room when suddenly Bucky runs in, making you jump "What the fuck Bucky!"

He giggled like a little girl and smiled at you whilst staring at you "That was funny"

You rolled your eyes "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy"

"I just wanted to tell you that, Tony and I are throwing a little get together so you have to be there" He spoke as he slowly made his way towards your closet.

You jumped up and followed him "Why is he throwing one? He throws parties every weekend anyway"

There was a slight panic in Bucky's eyes but he wasn't facing you so you didn't see it "Because it's for us"

You sighed, knowing you won't get out of this "Fine-"

You tried to agree but the flying top hit your face, you pulled it off and threw it at him "You dickhead I'm behind you"

He giggled again "I know"

You pushed him gently and slightly giggled as well "What are you even doing?"

"Looking for some good clothes you can wear" He spoke as he kept trying to find something.

"I know how to dress good" You stated.

That caused him to turned his head and look at you up and down "Yeah sure"

"Get out of here before I make you" You crossed your arms as you stared at him.

"Okay fine but be ready by 7" He started to walk towards your door, you nodded at him and when he stopped again and looked at you "Make sure it's something elegant or..."

He smirked "Revealing.."

You started to walk towards him and he ran away from you as he was giggling, you shook your head with a smile and closed the door. You looked at the clock, you still had time so you continued with what you were doing.

You ended up showering and dressing elegant, you wasn't exactly informed what this get together was for, so you just dressed up that was revealing but very respectfully.

Bucky walked you to the elevator and told you where to go, being here for more than a year and still not familiar that this place has more rooms, but this building is owned by Tony Stark of course it has so many rooms.

You were glad he didn't plan this get together somewhere away because getting back here whilst your drunk is a problem, you walked into this room and it had everything, a dance floor, a bar with tables near by and only one table decorated.

It should've already lit up a little bulb in your head but you were too shocked by the size of this room and how it fit here, there was a big balcony as well with some comfortable chairs.

You made your way towards the bar before doing anything else, you made yourself a drink and turned around to still no one, until your eye caught movement out in the balcony.

You frowned as you didn't notice or heard anyone entering, so you made your way towards the movement as you saw Natasha sitting down enjoying her drink.

"Natasha?" You asked, causing the woman to quickly look over at you and continue to stare out in the city after.

"Y/n" She simply said your name just like you said hers.

"How long have you been here?" You asked as you still stood in the same place.

"I don't know, I think I'm on my second drink now" She spoke up again, but this time she stood up as she faced you.

"Are you okay?" You asked a little worried.

"Of course" She tried her best to mask her feeling but you knew better.

You looked around and still there was no show from the team "Is the rest of the team coming?"

She scoffed as she walked on towards the bar to top her drink up, causing you to follow "What?"

"They set us up" She spoke with ease, like there were no emotions behind those words.

"What do you mean? Bucky told me about the get together-"

She faced you abruptly "There is no get together Y/n"

You frowned "Then why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad"

"Well obviously something is upsetting you-" You tried to raise your point but she stopped you.

"Because I know how this will end Y/n, the reason to why this happened is because Bucky and the rest of the team can't keep their nose out of my business"

You frowned with confusion "What are you talking about?"

Natasha took a sip of her drink as she slightly leaned back on the bar "They obviously want to humiliate me, they set up everything to be romantic so we get together"

You swallowed at her words, as you take another look at the room, now that she mentioned it you saw it, the table with roses and some candles, expensive wine on the side and the romantic music with slightly dimmed lights.

You looked back at her and before you could even say anything, she beat you to it "Please spare me the whole 'I like you but just a friend' thing, I really just want to enjoy my drink and not think about the rejection from you"

"This is why they called it the 'get together' huh.." You mumbled underneath your nose as realisation hit you.

"You didn't really think Tony would organise a random get together?"

You shrugged "I mean that man is unpredictable and likes to drink a lot so I wouldn't really think about it"

She chuckled into the glass before she took a sip of her drink, which you used an opportunity to talk "Look Nat, I'm not sure why you instantly assume there wouldn't be a little percent of me being interested"

Natasha raised her eyebrows at you "You see yourself with me? In a romantic way?"

She stared at you as you innocently shrugged "Would that be so bad?"

"N-no of course not!" She stuttered as she was quick to disagree with you.

You slightly smirked and taking a sip of your own drink that you were still holding, you walked over to her and grabbed two wine glasses, slowly making your way over to the table.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she watched you curiously.

"Starting to enjoy this date" You spoke as you turned your face to see her, she looked down briefly with a smile and finally joined you...

It was definitely a successfully date which led to multiple dates to happen after, and here you are couple years in, still as Natasha's girlfriend.

So far it seemed like everything was going great, waking up in Natasha's arms each morning, slightly lay in as you enjoyed the morning together, it never gotten boring because those were the moments you could relax before the chaos started.

The only breaks you ever had was little dates that could only last an hour or so before heading to sleep as work wasn't going to wait in the morning, it was exhausting and Natasha noticed that.

She was worried about you, usually you and her would spend couple hours after missions, just talking and catching up but lately you were a little withdraw from her.

She didn't blame you, these missions only gotten harder and sometimes spending days without each other only added to the stress, so Natasha being a genius she is, came up with a solution.

She wanted to surprise you with a vacation, away from this constant stress but of course this required her being away more as she took on more missions.

So when she started to be less around, you started to panic, you were scared that this was the end of your relationship. At first you thought maybe it's before there is more to do but Steve accidently slipped and said that there is the same amount of missions.

This caused you to spiral, after your own tiring missions all you wanted to come back to was Natasha's arms, the way her fingers would be deeply buried into your head and you would peacefully fall asleep with her head buried into her neck.

Natasha briefed the team of what she was doing, warning that if anyone slips up about her surprise, she will literally throw them off a building and not care if they have something to save themselves.

By the time Natasha would be back, you would be either sleeping or already on your own mission, you barely saw each other and never had any time to have a conversation.

What you thought Natasha was doing, was actually far from it. She was saving up to surprise you whilst you sat in your shared bedroom coming up with scenarios where she tells you she doesn't want to be with you.

You blamed yourself for being so withdraw but it was hard to talk about the things you had to witnesses and ensure you don't fail like you did couple years back.

You informed Steve that you will be taking the day off before hand as you sat in the dark for Natasha to come back. You didn't know if she would be back now or in the morning but you couldn't sleep, you needed to know if she was avoiding you.

The door opened as Natasha tried to sneak inside of the room without waking you up but that was useless when she noticed you sitting on the bed.

She turned on the light "детка (baby) are you okay?"

You look at her with tears in your eyes, she rushes over to you as she checks for any signs of injuries "What's wrong?"

You take a deep breath "Are you going to leave me?"

She stopped in her tracks as she stared at you with shock "W-what?"

You wiped the fallen tears as your eyes were glued to her "You started to take on more missions and I know it's not because there is more, Steve told me"

Natasha signed as she closed her eyes and mentally cursed Steve for opening his mouth, but you continued "I'm just afraid this means you are avoiding me and will end up breaking up with me"

Natasha finally placed herself in front of you, kneeling down as she took your hands into hers "I'm not leaving or breaking up with you детка (baby)"

You felt relief wash over you at her words "Then why are you taking on more missions?"

She took a deep breath as she stared into your eyes "I wanted to surprise you, I didn't think you would find out so early but-"

She stood up as she walked over to her laptop, she sat herself next to you as she opened it, letting the display show what she was looking up.

"I noticed you were stressed and wanted to surprise you with a vacation" She flicked through some of the tabs that showed multiple locations for perfect vacation spots.

You gasps as you watched her flick through, you could feel the weight on your chest just vanish and all of your previous worries wash away.

You still had tears flowing down your face but they were happy tears "I'm sorry Natty, I jumped into conclusions but lately my nightmares have gotten worse since you haven't been here"

She sadly smiled at you as she placed the laptop down and pulled you into her, with her thumb wiping away the tears "It's okay Y/n/n, you don't need to be sorry, it should be me who should be sorry for making you feel like that and not being here for you"

You looked up at her "What did I do to deserve you Tasha"

She smiled "You deserve the world Y/n/n"

"It's in front of me-" You said as you frowned.

Natasha smiled widely as she nodded "I know" the Russian knew exactly what to do, she knew your world was her and tricking you was just as easy.

"You tricked me" Natasha smiled as you dramatically gasps at her 'betrayal'.

She nodded with a smile as she pulled you into a kiss, any stress that was left hanging disappeared within seconds of her lips against yours.

Natasha ended up taking some days off to be with you and help you with your missions but still worked very hard to finally get out of this place and see something new.

Which she succeeded, it didn't take long for that to happen as she had saved up a lot during the time she wasn't around. Natasha was nervous, you thought it was because she had to leave behind a part of her life that she swore to never leave.

But there was something else, she was actually nervous because when she was away from one of the missions that just happen to be in Budapest, she came across her family that she haven't seen in a long time which she failed to mention to you.

She was more than happy to catch up with them and practically spent half of her time with them, to which they found out about her relationship and her surprise.

Alexei being Alexei decided to invite himself along with Melina and Yelena to this surprise without really notifying Natasha, the day she booked the vacation, happen to be the day Alexei decided to have the same vacation.

The day before leaving, he called Natasha and that's when he informed her "Now you won't have to be alone on this vacation Natasha, you'll have us to join you!"

"I wouldn't have been alone, I have Y/n!" Natasha was pacing around the room.

"Oh don't be dramatic, we want to meet this Y/n, it's a perfect timing" She could practically hear his smile as he spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She asked as she make sure you were out of hearing range.

"I knew you would react like this so we surprised you"

"All three of you were on this?" Natasha asked, she wasn't expecting Yelena to be in on this as well.

"No, he bribed me" Yelena's voice came through the phone as the Russian signed.

She wanted to argue more but she heard you calling out for her "I'll see you tomorrow then"

"That's the spirit-" He spoke very enthusiastically but Natasha was quick to hang up before you overheard the conversation.

"Oh there you are" You finally laid your eyes on her with a huge smile.

You noticed that something was off when she gave you half a smile at your sight, she was clearly nervous "Something's wrong.. What's wrong?"

Natasha shook her head "Nothing is wrong"

"Then why are you nervous?" You had a worried expression plastered across your face.

Natasha cursed to herself at how well you knew her "I was just double checking everything is perfect for tomorrow"

You placed your hand on her cheek, giving her a encouraging smile "Being with you is already perfect, no doubt tomorrow wouldn't be just as perfect"

She smiled as she placed her head on your chest as your arms embraced her "We should probably spend some time with the team before we leave"

Natasha's grip on you tightened "But I want to spend my time with you onlyyy"

You giggled "We will have time during the 3 and half weeks away from them"

"Fine but you're sitting on my lap, I don't want Wanda anywhere near you" Natasha unglued herself from you as she stared you in the eyes.

"Wanda is not a threat but if it will make you feel better that's fine with me" You rolled your eyes but spoke with a smile.

You called in the last movie night before leaving and the team was more than happy to pull away from missions for the day just to spend some quality time with the two of you.

Of course the two of you left the movie night earlier due to getting up early but Natasha might've lied to just have you to herself before actually having to sleep.

The morning was chaos, making sure you had everything and nothing was missing, even when leaving there was always that feeling that something was left behind when in reality you had everything.

Natasha was getting more anxious which was very noticeable, you wanted to say something but you didn't want to do it in the plane. The flight was more than relaxing, you always loved travelling and this was like a dream come true, especially since you thought you would always be stuck in that building working on missions day and night.

When the two of you arrived at the not familiar airport, you stretched out and that's when you noticed a group of 3 people waving and smiling at you and Natasha, you looked back to make sure it was aimed at you.

You turned to Natasha who was checking on her phone how far the hotel was "Nat... Why are there people waving at us?"

She stopped what she was doing as she looked up at you and then at the people, she sighed as she put her phone away and looked back at you "Meet my family"

"Your what?!" You asked as she quickly walked away from you, you followed right after as they greeted you.

"Oh my, you must be Y/n... You are a lot more skinner than we imagined.." Melina commented as she eyed you up and down.

Yelena pushed past Melina as she walked towards you with a smile " You look okay, I like you"

You looked over at Natasha to which she gave you a smile and you laughed nervously at Yelena, on the other hand they seemed nice apart from Alexei.

Melina had to nudge him "Say something Alexei"

"But she haven't said anything, why should I speak first-"

Natasha interrupted him "Great! Y/n/n let me just introduce you since they haven't said their names"

"Alexei" She pointed towards him, "Melina and Yelena" She finished as she faced you again with a smile.

You forced a smile and turned towards Alexei "Are you not the Red Guardian?"

There it was, a huge smile across his lips "She gets it"

"Don't get him started-" Natasha tried to warn you but you didn't want to listen to her at the moment.

"Do you have any cool stories?" You asked as you looked at Natasha briefly and then back at Alexei.

"I have so many! There was this one time-" He started his story with this grin across his face at the recollection of his memories.

"Okay! Not right now, we need to get to the hotel first" Natasha interrupted him as she stepped in front of him so your eyes were on her.

"Natasha is right, we need to go to the hotel and then find somewhere we can eat!" Melina agreed as she took her luggage and started to walk ahead.

Everyone followed her and Natasha as she was the only one who knew where the hotel was, she already rented a car out during the booking and drove to the hotel.

Everyone parted their ways to put the bags away and see how the day can do, you didn't speak to Natasha on your way to the room, you were slightly upset that she didn't tell you. You were meeting her family for the first time and you wanted to know to at least look presentable.

You weren't afraid of what they thought of you but if they would accept you, you love Natasha and you can't see yourself with someone else apart from her so the subject of marriage is still yet to happen, but you want it, you want to be apart of her family and that is if they accept you.

Most of your relationships ended because their family didn't accept you and that's something you didn't want to repeat, you really cared about Natasha so it really mattered to you.

As soon as the two of you walked inside the room, she tried her luck "Y/n/n?"

You ignored her as you started to pull out some fresh clothes to change into, she continued "детка (baby)?"

She made her way towards you which you still ignored, you could never be mad at her, you were just upset so you looked up at her, she always knew that you loved it when she spoke Russian to you.

"You should've told me Natasha" You spoke up as you kept your eyes on her.

She sighed, you never used her name unless it was serious "I'm sorry, I didn't know they were coming until Alexei called me yesterday"

You raised your brows at her "You knew since yesterday and you didn't say anything?"

"You didn't even tell me you had a family in the first place" You tore your gaze from her as you took your clothes and walked to the bathroom.

"I didn't know it would be a big deal Y/n/n" She followed you to he bathroom.

You laid your clothes down as you faced her "Of course it's a big deal, I want to know when I'm going to meet my in laws Natasha"

She couldn't help but smile "In laws?"

"You heard me" You looked away because if you kept looking you would end up smiling, she had a very contagious smile.

"I didn't talk about them because I didn't even think I would see them, ever again but I did and Alexei decided to invite himself to our vacation, I didn't want this meeting to go like this and I'm sorry I didn't say anything, I was afraid you would want to back out"

You stood still as you looked in the mirror and at her, continuing to listen to her before saying anything "I have planned things that doesn't involve them if that's what you're worried about"

She took a couple small steps towards you, making you sigh and face her "That's not what I'm worried about.."

She took your hands into hers as she looked at you with a small smile "Then what are you worried about?"

"That they wont accept me Nat, I don't exactly have a good record of my relationships with family, most of them left because their parents didn't like me, I just- It's stupid" You tore your hands away from her as you looked away.

She shook her head "No it's not" She reached for your chin, forcing you look at her "What you feel is important so stop trying to push it down"

She moved her hand to your cheek " And don't worry about them, they have a hard time warming up to practically everyone, but on the bright side Yelena likes you so that's one person, plus she is very convincing"

You lean into her hand "It still doesn't change the fact that I am upset with you"

She smiled as her other hand made it's way to your hip to pull you closer "Let me make it up to you"

You nodded as you moved closer to her lips with a slight smile, but as soon as it started, it ended. Just when your lips collided with each other like they did a million times before, you were interrupted by a very loud knock.

"Natasha!" Melina's muffled voice came from the other side.

She pulled away and sighed "This is why I wouldn't have agreed to them coming"

You giggled as Natasha answered "What!"

"He is about to break the door, you better open" Yelena shouted as she slightly chuckled.

"You shower and I will busy them" She untangled herself from you as she proceeded to go to them.

"I will shower later, I will just change" You spoke up before she disappeared out of the bathroom.

"You don't need to rush you know?" She asked and you nodded with a smile "I know but I rather shower with you later"

She smirked as she walked out this time, closing the door and walking over to open the door to let them in "How did you even find this room"

Yelena was eating something but she pointed towards Alexei "He was listening in"

Alexei faced her "Snitch, that's not how I raised you"

"Actually you didn't really raise me-" The blonde tried to correct him, but Melina cut in.

"Where is Y/n?" She looked past Natasha into the room and there was no sign of you.

"What did you do to котенок (kitten)?" Yelena asked when her attention was pulled towards the question.

"Did you give a pet name for my girlfriend?" Natasha asked as she narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"She is like a kitten, she's new and cute so yeah she's a котенок" Yelena explained as you walked out of the bathroom in new clothes.

Natasha looked at you with shock "Are you hearing this? She gave you a pet name"

You stood next to redhead as her arm snaked around you "There is no need to be jealous Nat"

You looked at Yelena who had a grin as she knew how to mess with Natasha and you wanted to join in "I'm not jealous, that would mean I don't have you when I do, she's jealous"

Alexei chuckled "Melina I don't think we ever saw Natasha jealous"

You tried your best to not laugh as Melina spoke up "You're right, it's definitely a new look on her"

"Okay that's enough, all of you!" Natasha eyed everyone except you as they continue to tease her.

"We should probably head to eat something or they will close everything" You raised a point to which they all agreed and Natasha silently thanked you from taking their attention of her.

"котенок is right" Yelena used your pet name, earning a death stare from Natasha to which she just giggled.

As you walked on, Natasha had her hand interlocked with yours until Alexei pulled her into him to tell her something causing her to let go of you, making you walk along with Yelena.

"I like your vest" You looked at Yelena and what she was wearing.

She practically beamed "It has a lot of pockets"

"Pockets?" You questioned, it didn't look like it did but as soon as she reached inside, she was able to pull out more than 3 items.

"See, I can stash so much food here" She had a smile plastered across her face as she showed you.

"She never takes off that vest" Melina chipped in as she was observing the two of you.

You were impressed so you really didn't care "I mean I wouldn't either, it's really practical"

"See! She gets it" Yelena raised her voice slightly as you giggled.

Melina rolled her eyes playfully at Yelena, once again Alexei pulled Yelena into him as he spoke to both of them, leaving you with Melina.

"Don't worry Y/n, Alexei will warm up to you but from what I can see, he already took a liking in you so all you have to do is take in interest in his boring stories and he will end up not wanting to leave you alone"

You looked at Melina when she slightly whispered, just enough so the three in the front wouldn't overhear "As for me, Natasha seems to really love you and I want her to be happy, so if it's you who makes her smile like that, then so be it. I'm just happy my little girl is finally happy"

You held back some tears at her speech "I'm very grateful that you took a chance on me Melina, it's very important to me as my mother doesn't see like that"

"Aw Дорогой (sweetheart)" She pulled you into her side as yous continued to walk.

"I swear to god, If another person gives Y/n a pet name, they won't know what day is tomorrow" Natasha pulled herself away from Alexei's grip as she stopped everyone and narrowed her eyes at Melina.

"Okay, calm down Natasha" Melina tried to keep Natasha calm, she was never a threat to them but she didn't want Natasha to be angry after.

"Listen to your mother" Alexei agreed with Melina which only fuelled Natasha on.

She scoffed as she looked at the Red Guardian which caused Yelena to laugh at her sister "I'm so glad we decided to come here and meet котенок (kitten)"

Natasha was ready to fight her sister but you were quicker as you pulled her back to where she was before, holding her by the hand to which she just gave Yelena a death stare and you giggled.

"But don't forget Y/n if you hurt Natasha, we will haunt you down" Melina's tone turned serious.

You gulped and the redhead rolled her eyes "Okay James Bond, leave Y/n/n alone"

Melina's serious face turned into a smile within seconds and she joined the two in the front, now leaving you with Natasha.

"They like you" There was a huge smile across both of yours faces.

"It feels good to know that" You felt at peace, they weren't any regular family, they were chaotic and different and that's what you liked about them.

"I love you" Natasha chocked out as she stopped and pulled you back into her.

"I love you too Talia" A smile was spread across your face that always gave Natasha butterflies, she pulled your face into hers and kissed you with all of emotions behind it.

"You have gotten soft Natasha" Yelena yelled but the redhead didn't care, she probably did go soft but she only showed it when you were around, you made her soft and she actually liked it...

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[goldenkirstein]

somewhere only we know

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chapter two: don't know where, don't know when

pairing: jean x gn! reader, mikasa ackerman x gn! platonic! reader

wc: 2.2k+

tags: angst, fluff, aot manga spoilers, mention of food/drink, mentions of death.

a/n: chapter two !! finally done my exams, this took me a while to finish but hopefully it sounds good and you enjoy it !! feedback is always appreciated

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series masterlist

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The shrill noise of the kettle broke you out of your thoughts.

You reached over to the cupboard situated next to the stove, taking two tiny teacups alongside a teapot and set them down on the countertop. Hands moving like clockwork, you grabbed the loose leaf tea jar and placed two spoonful's in the teapot. Your hand moved to grasp the small cotton cloth from the counter, swiftly pouring the hot water into the teapot before placing the kettle back to cool down.

You chuckled at the sight in front of you; the teaware set adorning your family crest, the piece of cotton bearing the Azumabito clan’s symbol, and the tea blend was an old Braus family recipe. The entire house was like this, a mish-mash of objects from here and there, never truly fitting in where they were. You began setting up the small table, placing the teapot and teacups down. The raucous noise of the wooden chair scraping against the floor made you grimace.

Your fingers began to trace the delicate needlework on the cloth, occasionally catching on raised bumps of threads. It was the work of a skilled artisan as well as an amateur. Mikasa and her mother.

Waiting for Mikasa to return from her bath, your fingers traced the embroidered emblem, you began to get lost in your thoughts once again.

“Is the tea ready?” Mikasa’s soft voice interrupted your repetitive movements.

You quickly set down the cloth and shot her a kind smile. “Yeah, come sit.” You poured out the tea in her cup before pouring out a cup for yourself.

She accepted your invitation, sitting opposite you. The woman began scooping spoonfuls of sugar in her tea, an old habit from training years. You remembered how you once mistakenly took her cup, thinking it was yours until you took a sip and immediately spat out the sickeningly sweet liquid. The others and she wouldn’t stop laughing at you until Captain Levi had come and threatened you all, bearing that stone-cold expression that struck fear in your bones. How was he doing?

“Are you okay? You seem out of it today.” Mikasa looked at you; worried expression etched into her face, eyebrows scrunched together.

Your fingers circled the teacup, and you let out a sigh looking down at the fragrant liquid. You could lie, tell Mikasa you’re okay; knowing her, she wouldn’t prod you any further with questions. Though she would spend all night thinking about you, and you didn’t want to worry her. Option two was scarier, in your opinion; you could open up and tell her what was troubling you, Mikasa would undoubtedly be concerned, but she would appreciate your candidness.

Taking a deep breath in, you glanced back at the girl before your eyes landed on the frame behind her. “I’m just anxious about tomorrow,” you let out a nervous chuckle, eyes meeting Mikasa’s again.

“I already told you, we’re all a little different. It’s nothing-”

“No, it’s not that; I- what if they hate me? Mikasa, what if he hates me.” Your eyes shifted between the frame and Mikasa’s, voice coming out as a whisper.

She took a sip of her tea. Your name slipped out of her mouth in a tired sigh, “they would never, and Jean isn’t like that. He could never hate you.”

The framed picture behind Mikasa was of the scouts on their expedition to Marley. Sasha had pulled the lot of you inside the cramped shop, begging all of you to take a photograph. She had said that you all needed to document the momentous occasion; who knew when the opportunity would come again. Your beaming faces contrasted the scowl the Marleyan had on his face when you all crowded in his tiny shop. Commander Hange had even managed to get the Captain to join in, and subconsciously you thanked Sasha and Hange for their pestering. Who would have known that it would be one of the last times you would see them alive and breathing, that after that night, everything would change.

You noticed Mikasa’s soft smile in the picture, and Eren-who stood behind her, was looking at her instead of the box camera. Armin had his arm around Eren’s shoulders, and Jean and Connie were next to him, directly behind you. Your eyes trailed down Jean’s arm; it rested on your shoulder. You were sandwiched in between the Captain and Sasha, head resting on her shoulder. All of you were giving your best smiles, save for Eren. He was living through his hell, and the rest of you were oblivious to it. How could you have known?

He had stayed behind with you at the photographer’s studio after everyone had left to visit the other shops Marley had to offer. The both of you walked around, observing the various framed pictures the Marleyan had hung up to advertise his work.

Jean trailed softly behind, watching as your fingers traced and lingered on the stained brass frame.

“What do you suppose their stories were?” You turned your head, smiling at the boy behind you. He approached you, his finger and thumb hooked under his chin, as he thought of a story for the people seated in the photograph. You waited for him to amuse you with his foolish tall-tales, noticing that Jean screwed his eyes as he intently examined each person in the picture.

He raised his eyebrows, a grin breaking out on his face; he flickered his eyes to yours, “they’re a South-Marleyan family hiding a terrible secret. They’re those godforsaken Island Devils.” He leaned in to whisper in your ear.

You pulled away, head whipping back to see if the photographer had heard; thankfully, he was preoccupied with developing your photos. You spun back around to hiss at Jean, “You can’t just say that, you dipshit! What if he heard!”

Jean laughed at your stressed state, “Well, you don’t need to worry; he didn’t.”

You began to walk away from him, but before you could get far, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around your wrist.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me.” You looked back at him, his eyes pleading for you to stay.

You relaxed your shoulders and rolled your eyes at him, “wonder what shitty story you’ll come up with for our picture.”

“Brave heroes, their valiant efforts saved the world, and they were given mountains of gold and the finest wines possible to repay them for their kind acts.” He pulled you closer to him, and you giggled at his antics. “Oh yes, and one soldier more extraordinary than the rest-”

“Obviously, that’s me.” You quickly cut him off, silencing him with your remark. You gave a quizzical look at the boy, who was now sporting a noticeable blush.

He sharply inhaled and gave a smile, opening his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the Marleyan shop owner began to talk, “Your jibber-jabbering is getting in the way of my work. If you’re not buying anything else, leave my store.”

Jean took your hand in his and offered the man a quick apology before pulling you out of the shop with him.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t held your hand before, and yet the simple action sent your heart fluttering. His hands were warm and his grip tight; you wanted to melt into his touch and never let go.

However, the moment was cut short, as once you were out of the shop, Jean promptly let go of your hand, apologetic eyes meeting yours, “didn’t mean to pull your hand, sorry ‘bout that.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

You flexed your hand to shake off the feeling of his slender fingers against the back of your palm. He didn’t want to hold your hand back then; would he want to now? Why were you desperately clinging onto that memory of him?

“Do you regret coming back with me?” Mikasa’s soft voice broke you out of your trance.

“No, God no. Don’t say that. If I had to go back and have the possibility to make a different choice, I would still go with you.” You looked straight at her, gaze conveying your unwavering resolve.

You brought your hands up to your face to rub your tired eyes. “I don’t regret coming with you. I just never got to see them one last time, and I don’t know, how do I face them?” You let out a frustrated sigh. “Before, I could at least say that, hey, these are your friends, you know them better than anyone else, but now-”

You shook your head and set your eyes upon the chestnut cabinet directly underneath the picture frame. “It’s like I’ve been iced out.” You raised an accusatory finger at the cabinet which was situated under the picture frame. “Three whole years and the only reason I know Jean's even with the rest of them is because of Armin.”

Inconspicuously placed, the cabinet blended into its surroundings; for the most part, it held dishes, pots and pans alongside any other trinkets that didn’t have a place to belong. However, in one of its chipped and worn drawers, tucked away under a false bottom, were several letters addressed to a Miss. Mikasa Ackerman from a distant relative in Hizuru. These letters, of course, were actually from a Mr. Armin Arlert, from Marley, detailing updates about the peace talks that involved him, the other scouts and the ex-warriors. The letters were always short and concise, never revealing too much, as a protective measure. The exact reason for why you had stashed them in a hidden compartment; to ensure that if these letters ever fell in the hands of Yeagerists, that they would not be able to grasp the entirety of what Armin’s plans were. However, it also meant you were left to fill in the missing pieces, also missing the whole story.

“I miss him, but who exactly am I missing? We’re both different people now, and I don’t know if I’m ready to face that.” You waited for a response from the dark-haired girl in front of you.

“That head of yours is your worst enemy.” You scoffed at her statement.

“Just listen to me for once, please?” Mikasa tentatively reached over to wrap her hands around yours.

“I understand that you’re scared; I am too. But you can’t keep getting lost in the ‘what if’s’ of a situation. Tell me, how long have we known Jean?”

“Eight, no, ten years?” You sighed, wondering where she was taking this.

“And tell me in those ten years has he ever decided anything without understanding other perspectives?”

“No, well-”

“Fights with Eren do not count.” Her eyebrows quirked up before she continued. “Jean is one of the most caring and compassionate men I know. He would want to know why you left before ever being absolutely positive that he hated you. Not that he would, he adores you; I’m sure of it even after all these years.”

In a way, she was right; you were making assumptions about his character despite knowing him for so long. Yet the nagging thought persisted in your mind. The only way to resolve it would be to speak with him, which brought upon another challenge. Even if he didn’t hate you, how would you gain the courage to talk to him after all this time?

“Your tea is cold. No point in drinking it now.” Mikasa stood up to clear the table, but you swiped it from her, giving her a weak smile before she could grab the cup.

You wrapped fingers around the teacup; the porcelain no longer radiated the heat from the liquid and felt cool to the touch. Mikasa watched you as you walked over to place the teacup on the kitchen counter. Her fingers skimmed over to grab the cloth with her family symbol ingrained on it.

“Mika, I don’t tell you this often, and I should, but thank-” Before you could finish your sentence, there was a knock at your door. Mikasa gave you a confused look; it was too early for the others to be arriving, so who could it be?

You hesitantly approached the door; the both of you rarely got visitors. Occasionally the Braus’ would come by, but even then, the family would let you know before they visited. Twisting the handle, a sheepish-looking young man met your gaze as you opened the door.

“Hand-deliverance of a letter from Her Majesty, Queen Reiss.” You stared at the boy wide-eyed, whipping your head back to look at Mikasa; she shared the same shocked expression.

Mumbling a quick thank you, you closed the door after the boy departed. The letter felt heavy in your hands; neither of you had spoken to Historia in “official” accordance. What could the Queen want?

Mikasa hurriedly made her way over to you, “what does the letter say?” She urged you to break the wax seal which hid the contents of the ever-elusive letter.

“The queen wishes to have us join her for dinner at her home.” You looked over at Mikasa before continuing to read the letter, “she wants us to bring Armin and the others as well.”

a/n: jean is coming dw, ik yall are waiting for that anddd ik that there hasn't been a lot of romance-y parts but there will be !! i would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter and the series !! I am hoping to get these chapters out weekly thats the unofficial-official schedule as of rn

taglist: @httpglxssy, @keijikunn, @clean-soap, @lin-xoch

tagist form in pinned !!

Leave a like/reblog if you enjoyed reading this. I would appreciate it a lot <33

[anjuschiffer]

Coming In For A Diagnosis and Leaving With A Date

HAPPY BIRTHDAY @theatreandcomicfreak!!!! Sure, we’ve only known each other for a few months, but Mina! You’re so freaking amazing and I’m so glad to have met you!

So to celebrate, I wrote this for you! Enjoy it! And hope you have a wonderful day :D

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He was here to help Damian on taking down a small-time criminal, so why were they having such a hard time taking him down?

“Damian, are you sure that-” Garfield started, only to get interrupted by his friend.

“I’m going to be fine. Go and rest. I’ll be sure to update you on-” Static filled their communication, Garfield already fearing the worst. 

“Damian.” No response. “Damian!” Garfield yelled out, quickly coming to a halt, bearing the slight burn he got from the roof asphalt. Who cares if he was bleeding from his arm. Who cares if he couldn’t retain his form for any longer than five minutes. He had to go back! Damian was in danger-

“Well, look what we have here. A lost kitten.” Garfield quickly whipped his head to see Catwoman. Or Selina as Damian called her. Despite Selina and Bruce being together for several years, the two still wouldn’t get together, much to Damian’s annoyance. If you asked Garfield, Damian probably wanted her to officially be part of the family already, not that Damian already considered her as such.

“Please don’t do that.” Garfield said, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. All the hairs on his body relaxed, but his heart still raced quickly against his chest. “Do you know what’s going on?” Garfield watched as Selina hummed, looking over to where Damian was last heard from.

“He’s going to be fine, kid. He can handle this. And if anything, he’s got Bat out there as well.” She assured, looking at the gash across his arm. “You, on the other hand, won’t if you don’t get that treated.”

“I’m fine.” Garfield protested, wincing when Selina placed pressure on his wound.

“I beg to differ.” Selina said, quickly taking out her phone, a corner of her lips curving as she typed something, pocketing it away once she was down. “See that apartment over there?”

“Yeah?” Garfield looked over to where she was pointing, an apartment building just a block over. If Garfield squinted just a tiny bit, he was able to see a few plants sitting by the window ledge. “What about that-”

“Go there and wait inside.” Selina instructed, ushering him to go. “Someone will be there shortly to help you treat that wound of yours.” Garfield turned to go, but remained seated where he was. “I’ll make sure to update you on Damian’s whereabouts.”

Seeing as Selina wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, Garfield made his way to the open apartment, carefully stepping over the plants, finding himself stepping onto a sofa. He promptly took off his shoes, not wanting to dirty the poor furniture anymore than what he had already done.

As he chose to sit, he took note of how organized -and white- the room was, the cabinets meticulously neat and labeled, his eyes widening when he saw the names on some of the glass jars. 

Naloxone, bacitracin, lidocaine… where did this person even get the first and last one?

As he tried to distract himself, Garfield thought it would be a good idea to look at the white board hung above one of the work stations, ignoring the various mortars filled with who-knows-what. 

He began to panic when he saw Damian’s medical records there, quickly running towards it to grab it, quickly turning page after page, panicking when he saw that this person also knew that Damian was Robin. 

Lifting his gaze from the papers, his eyes landed on the wall files, his eyes landing on the name Wayne. 

He began to rummage through, finding the rest of the Batfam’s identities, also finding other rogues' names in the other compartments. 

His heart stopped when he came across his own file, his name staring back at him in pink ink. 

Just as he was about to look at how much this person knew about him, the sound of keys jingling broke his determination. 

He quickly began to put the files back, making sure to place them in their proper slots, quickly hopping back into the sofa as he heard footsteps approach the room along with muffled talking. 

As soon as he managed to sit down and attempt to look normal, the door slid open. 

“-should have said no. Maybe I really am a pushover.” The person muttered, Garfield feeling his breath hitch. She was pretty. Very pretty.

The girl looked at him, gaping at his appearance before throwing her bag to the side and rushing out the room. 

Garfield felt hurt, wondering what she had thought when she saw him, only for it to all go away when she came back, gloves on and a first aid kit in hand. 

He thought she already looked pretty with her hair down, but she looked just as stunning with her hair tied into a loose bun. 

“How long have you been like this?” She asked, snapping Garfield from his trance.

“Half an hour?” Garfield tried to provide, watching as she cut off his sleeve, quick to start cleaning the outer rims of his wounds. 

“I’m guessing you were like this for a while before Miss Ky-Ca-” she started to fumble. 

“I know Miss Kyle is Catwoman. Don’t gotta worry about the whole ‘secret-identity’ thing with me.” Garfield said, watching the girl visibly relax, the girl going back to focusing on clearing the dry blood with a pair of tweezers and cotton swabs.

The two remained quiet, Garfield watching as she kept cleaning his wound, wincing when she started to add the stitches to his wound.

“Sorry.”

“You’re just doing your job.” Garfield had to bite his tongue to stop from hissing from the pain. “Actually, is this your job?”

“Kind of.” She replied, adding one last stitch. “I have experience on patching up small injuries and I used to study medicine under a mentor, but that was a while ago...” the girl trailed, Garfield picking up on how her mood quickly shifted. 

“Wow, these are the neatest stitches I’ve ever gotten! You have to be a pretty amazing sewer if they’re this neat. I bet you’d also be a pretty good designer!” Garfield praised, noticing a faint blush dust her face as she placed some ointment over the stitches. 

“Matter of fact, I am a designer.” The girl said, a soft smile now on her lips. “Miss Kyle commissioned me to make her a dress for the upcoming charity here in Gotham. Although, I ended up getting roped in some things I shouldn’t have.” 

“Accidentally found out her identity?” He watched the girl nod. 

“Yup. Well...that's a part of it.” She said, taking out some bandage. “And along the way I found out about her family’s, as you saw the files over there.”

“I-I didn’t see any files.“ He said, averting his eyes from her, feeling her gaze on him. “Okay. I did.” He admitted. “But why do you even have all of those medical records?”

“Curious, aren’t you?” Marinette purred, something inside of Garfield stirring. “Don’t blame you. It’s not everyday you find someone like me.”

“You mean a pretty girl like you?” Garfield teased, watching her almost drop the pair of scissors in her hand. “Which reminds me, what’s your name?”

“Wh-what? No!” Marinette squeaked out, trying her hardest to not wrap the bandage too tight. “I meant someone who helps vigilantes and heroes while being a civilian.” Garfield hummed at that, watching as she finished patching him up. “And Marinette. My name’s Marinette.” Marinette said, checking over her work. “And seems like you’re good to go.”

“That’s it?” Garfield said in a panic, not wanting to leave just yet. “Wow, didn’t think it’d be this fast.”

“Like I said,” Marinette said, pulling out Garfield’s file and jotting something down. “I have my share of experience when it comes to these types of things.” 

“Well then,” Garfield got up, one minute himself and the next as a cat on her desk, nudging her hand for some scratches. “Thank you very much.” 

He watched as red dusted her face again, giving him a few scritches under his chin, giggling when he let out a few purrs.

“Remember to come back tomorrow morning for the follow up.” Marinette reminded, watching as Garfield pounced to the window ledge, morphing back into his normal form. “Need to make sure it heals properly.”

“Will do doc!” Garfield said, stepping out into the fire escape, only to find Damian there. “Holy shi-” He was fine!

“What are you doing here?” Damian asked with a growl.

“Umm...getting my injuries checked?” Garfield defended, showing Damian his wrapped arm. “What about you?”

“Same thing.” Damian said as he motioned to his bruised face, quickly jumping into the window. Garfield quickly followed suit.

“Damian! Just look at you! What in kwami’s name were you up to?” Marinette scolded when she saw Damian, quickly going through her cabinets, grabbing different jars. “Oh! Hi Gar! Thought we agreed to see each other tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Damian asked, narrowing his eyes at Garfield, causing him to gulp. Why was he acting like this?

“A follow up Dami, no need to get so overprotective, geez.” Marinette clarified, making Damian face her. “If anything, I should be the overprotective one. I am older than you.” Garfield could only watch as the two bickered.

“By two years.” Damian stated, hissing when she placed an ice pack over his bruise. 

“Meaning I don’t need little brother dearest to be following me 24/7.” Marinette said with a hint of annoyance, lifting Damian’s face to get a better look at the cut under his chin. “Small scratch. Nothing too major, unlike the one on your torso.”

“Wait, brother? You guys are related?” Garfield asked, this question going ignored as the two siblings kept arguing. 

“It’s just a scratch.” 

Marinette was related to Damian… his sister...

“A scratch!? You’re still bleeding from it!”

Meaning she is a Wayne...and she had quite the overprotective family, and a large one at that… just look at Damian!

“Nothing that I can’t heal on my own.”

Just what is he getting himself into?

“That’s it.” Marinette huffed, pulling out her phone. “I’m calling Grandpere.” Garfield let out a laugh when he saw Damian stiffen.

“Mari, don’t you dare-”

“Alf? Yes, it's me. Listen, Damian doesn’t want to get himself checked, insisting that his injury-stop that!” Marinette yelled at Damian, who tried to grab the phone away from her, only for Garfield to get a hold of it.

“Hey!” “Logan, hand it over to me.” The siblings said simultaneously, only for Garfield to ignore the two.

“Hey Alfred, it’s me, Garfield. Yes, a cut on his torso that’s not too deep. Yes, I will tell him to let Mari to look at it or else there will be consequences.” He looked over at a betrayed Damian and a grinning Marinette who mouthed a thank you. “Yes, I’m fine as well Alfred. Oh! And if Miss Kyle is there, please tell her I said thank you. Right. Bye.” With that, Garfield hanged up, handing Marinette her phone back.

“I won’t forget this betrayal Logan.” Damian said, pouting as he sat back down on the sofa, Marinette already having her tool out to clean his wound.

“You’re very welcome.” Garfield said, grinning as he watched Damian fuss over his patch up.

------

“Thank you for having my back Garfield.” Marinette said as he followed Damian out the window.

Marinette was able to tend to Damian’s injuries with such grace that it left Garfield mesmerized, wondering how he didn’t feel the two hours pass by.

“It was nothing.” Garfield said, averting his gaze from her, scratching the back of his head as heat rose to his cheeks. That’s when he felt a peck on his cheek, turning to see Marinette smile at him.

“A token of my gratitude.” She reasoned, fiddling with her fingers as she watched Garfiled hover a hand over the place she kissed him. “Sorry if I made you uncom-”

“No, no, no!” Garfield started, finally touching the spot with his fingers. “I didn’t mind it.” He melted when she beamed, only for Damian to ruin their moment.

“Hurry up! I don’t have all night!” Damian yelled, causing Garfield to groan.

“So about tomorrow-” Mari started, only for Gar to cut her off.

“Come in the morning for the check up. Got it.” Garfield recited, lifting his right hand. “Promise to be here at 8 sharp.”

“Well, I was thinking if you’d like to join me for breakfast after the check up.” Gar broke into a smile. “Would you?”

“Definitely!” Gar said, “Consider it a date then.” Without giving her a chance to reply, he went to join Damian, looking forward to his breakfast date with Marinette.

Marinette watched as Garfield jumped away, going back to the file she had for him. Picking up her pink pen, she drew a small heart next to his name.

She can’t wait for tomorrow’s date, even if it meant that her stupid brothers might try to stop it.

[toloveawarlord]

You can find my masterlist in my bio!

Event: Edgar Birthday Countdown 2021

Characters: Clari and Edgar

Story Setting: Young Brights: Clari is 7 and Edgar is 14. There is also mentions of Serene, the middle sibling, who is 12.

A/N: It’s almost my boy’s birthday! I just had to write some fics for him. 7 Days till his birthday! It’s not Edgar with some ducks. We represent the creeks in this household.

There were no real celebrations in the Bright manor.

Gifts were given by Uncle Claudius, and perhaps a special dinner menu, but no cake, no guests, and certainly no fun. Even the littlest hadn’t experienced a traditional birthday, even if her brother and sister sneaked into her bedroom late at night to entertain her as best they could. All in all, a Bright birthday was nothing special.

However, the youngest hadn’t quite grasped that.

“You aren’t supposed to be here, Clari. If Uncle catches you, he’ll be furious with you,” Edgar said, gaze flickering to the mop of copper hair poking up over the arm of the couch he occupied. The teenager would be leaving soon to attend boarding school, leaving his baby sister and Serene alone with their uncle. Clari certainly didn’t have enough fear of him, unaware of his true nature.

He wished for her to never know, to remain innocent and carefree as she was right now. But he also wanted to prepare her for the possibilities, especially without him here to protect her.

“He won’t know. I’m super-duper sneaky,” Clari replied, climbing awkwardly over the arm, doing a roll across the cushions to land beside him. Her eyes settled on the large book, head tilting as she pretended to read some words. “Watcha reading?”

Claudius kept the girls separated from Edgar, in another wing of the house, keeping them as hostages. Clari would sneak into the west wing all the time, regardless of how many lectures and punishments she was given. He’d tried to placate her by convincing their uncle to allow her to sit next to him at dinner, but it did little to dissuade her.

Recently, she’d discovered an abandoned servant’s hallway, giving her even easier access to sneak in without detection.

“You would be bored with it.” Edgar closed the book that he’d no longer be able to focus on, as if he actually wanted to, setting it aside. He chastised her out of love for visiting so often, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t adore her. She was unbelievably cute. Clair took the opening on his lap as an invitation, flopping forward onto his thighs. “Clari.”

He listened carefully for any passing staff. He’d dump her on the floor to hide her if anyone got too close. Only Rick was trusted not to tell Claudius of her misadventure.

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot why I came! Being sneaky takes a lot of focus.” As if she needed an excuse other than she wanted to. Her socked feet kicked gently. Jade irises turned up to him, and she grinned. “Happy Birthday! I tried to sneak in some candy, but Martha caught me and took it away.”

A typical occurrence.

“Did she? Well, it’s no matter. I’d much rather have you than candy,” Edgar said, patting her head. He couldn’t handle how sweet she was, and it made him happy when she thought of him. She tried to smuggle in a lot of things, from sweets to small, injured animals, insistent on his guidance and help, anything to spend time with him.

He pondered quietly. This could very well be their last birthday together. It’s unlikely that Uncle would approve of him leaving the school to see her on her birthday, nor would he allow Clari to visit him at the boarding school.

“I know where Martha hides all her confiscated candy, if you want to get it back.”

Clari gasped, wiggling on his lap in excitement. “You do? Where? I bet she has all kinds of good snacks!” Because she took any sweets she found from Clari, and the little girl only liked the best.

There was zero hesitation. She hadn’t even been truly punished by Claudius. It almost seemed like he had a soft spot for her. Clari was only an infant when their father died, and mother soon after. She’d never known any other parental figure besides Claudius.

But Edgar believed it to be her age. Being only seven, Clari wasn’t useful. The older she became, the more likely that Claudius would become colder to her.

“Come on. I’ll show you. But you have to promise to not tell anyone.” They made plenty of promises. Clari adhered to all of them, holding her brother’s word as gospel.

Out in the dark hallway, Edgar snickered at how her excitement couldn’t be contained in her small body. Clari vibrated beside him, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

He really shouldn’t be doing this.

But he wanted to do something wild for his birthday.

“In the kitchen? But that’s so obvious.” Clari’s jade eyes scanned the moonlight kitchen for hiding spots while Edgar quietly closed the door. She came in here often to snack, grabbing whatever was on the counter and darting out to hide in a nearby closet.

“Yes, but how many times have you looked here for the candy?” Of course, he already knew she hadn’t. As much as she tried to emulate him, Clair was always looking for the craziest answer. He’d found her attempting to reach the chandelier in the dining hall, convinced that must be the place that Martha hid the box of chocolate. 

Clari tugged open one of the lower cabinets, peering inside the dark hole. Only pots and pans were stored in the lower sections, largely because of her penchant for stealing. “Never.”

“That’s why she hides them here.” Edgar grabbed the back of her collar, pulling her out of the cabinet the little girl was halfway in. “There’s a hidden compartment in this one up here. You must be careful if you do this on your own. I don’t want you to fall.”

As he reached up to unlatch the hidden door, Clari was trying to climb up on the counter to help. Latching his arm around her waist, he held her like a sack of potatoes, ignoring her disgruntled hey. “I’ve got them. Let’s retreat before we’re caught.”

Her giggles were hardly muffled by her hands as he carried her like that all the way to his bedroom. She was already hyper enough. Adding more sugar to the mix wasn’t ideal, but he’d treat her this once. 

“Mission success. We could be professional stealers.”

“You mean thieves? I’m not sure that’s a good career goal, Clari.” It was exactly like all her other goals, strange and ridiculous. An animal creator. A crystal farmer. A duck. There were a variety of things that she made up and insisted that it would be her future. He found them amusing and usually didn’t correct her.

Tossing her on the bed, Edgar sorted out the sweets on the bed between them. He was surprised at the number of boxes and bags that she’d attempted to sneak in, and the variety. “Where did you even get these?” Some of them were limited flavors. I

“I have a supplier.” Her tone was genuine.

“You have a what?”

How?

Clari tapped her index finger against her lips, eyeing the different options before her. “It’s a secret, but they are very good at getting the very best.” Chocolate or gummies? A very serious decision to make.

Clearly, it had to be Rick. Edgar couldn’t fathom anyone else assisting her in breaking the rules, and the girl never left the manor but a handful of times over her short seven years. Claudius never allowed her to. She couldn’t have met anyone else, could she? He was slightly worried that some shady character might have come and was in contact with her.

He’d have to broach the subject with Rick tomorrow, just in case.

But for tonight.

“What are we gonna eat first?”

They would both end up with tummy aches by the time the sun rose. 

[lorei-writes]

Radio Call

Nobunaga x MC Angst

Written for: Dice be Nice Event Request: @mineko811​​ Roll: Nobunaga + Post-Apocalypse AU + “Of course. I know you, after all.”

Well, the dice wasn’t too nice this time around, it appears. I think that there’s only one other combination that gave me an idea for angst, haha ^^”

Content Warnings: implied major character death, death, minor character death, corpses, the apocalypse, deadly illness

It was not quite like anything they pictured it to be. There were no bombs, no metal shells, no ashes and rampant military threats, no eclipse – and of all things unexpected, sun rose just as it did on any other day. The beginning of it was not defined, shifting and presenting itself as any hardship to overcome, humans growing stronger together to push through it with mutual support. The beginning was loud, full of inspirational chatter and wishful remarks. And the end? The end was silent, all sounds having already died.

It was not quite like anything they pictured it to be. There were no bombs, no metal shells, no ashes and rampant military threats, no eclipse – and of all things unexpected, sun rose just as it did on any other day. The beginning of it was not defined, shifting and presenting itself as any hardship to overcome, humans growing stronger together to push through it with mutual support. The beginning was loud, full of inspirational chatter and wishful remarks. And the end? The end was silent, all sounds having already died.

His heels digging into the ground, Nobunaga pushed onto the door with his shoulder, wood refusing to move by as much as an inch. A grunt leaving his lips, he took a couple steps back, fully intending to charge and break through the obstacle with brute force... “It’s no use.” Her voice cut. His fists clenched, Nobunaga turned around to face her, sunken eyes staring at him blankly. Combing her hair back with her hand, Mai sighed, defeat having seemingly settled within her form as she held back a cough. “You’ll only hurt yourself. We should look for a house to spend the night in.” “Judging by the medical tents around, they could have stored the medicine he –” “Power has been out for ages. Even if there was any left, it deteriorated.” Mai stepped forward, putting her hand on his shoulder. “I don’t infect anymore. We should focus on heading south to rejoin with the group who sent that radio call. That’s our only chance,” she added in a low voice, turning her gaze away.

The end was silent – and yet, it wasn’t universal. Not at first.

A stone shattered the window pane, dull thud signalling the end of its fall. Careful as not to get hurt by the shards, Mai looked back at Nobunaga one last time and pushed herself up to enter the house. “Is anybody in here?!” she shouted, already knowing the reply. Her lips pressed into a thin line, she moved deeper inside, floorboards creaking with each of her steps. The corridor stretched long before her, filled with stench she had far too many chances to familiarise herself with. Hair standing on the back of her neck, she pushed the inevitable away in time, her feet directing her towards the kitchen, pictures of the residents of the house staring at her from the walls.

A discarded pot sitting on top of the burner, the contents of it having already rotten away; a puddle of black slime-like substance pooling around the fridge in a protective manner; an empty cat bowl still waiting around to be filled – and a few dozen other little things, all too common for her to notice them anymore.  Numb, Mai reached to open the cabinets, stories upon stories of plates staring at her from above. Was there any use for such a number of them in this world? She left them behind, closing the doors as to open new ones – her face lit up. Something beat behind her ribs, her hands trembling upon finding a sort of treasure chest: hard sugar candy. With near-religious piety, trembling fingers unwrapped one silver wrapper, soon pushing the contents into her mouth. Mai gasped, pushing the rest of them into her backpack.

The scouting was successful, the ground floor having gifted her a single new needle, few bundles of thread, sterile gauze, disinfectant, batteries and enough canned food to fill their stomachs for the night. Unwilling, she turned her eyes towards the staircase. The smell was obvious, although she still had to check… Partially for herself, partially for the corpses she was sure to find lying in beds.

The end wasn’t universal. The rich bought medicine and hid themselves – and they were safe, safe for the longest time while the rest… The rest succumbed to the illness and met their end. The rich were safe! The rich were safe until the illness changed. And then… Then the medicine did not work anymore – and this was something their walls could not defend them against.

Spoons clattered against the inside of the cans, fire burning in the fireplace for the first time in months, flames consuming the chair legs. A silver wrapper glimmered in the dim light, discarded over the floor. His back resting against the wall, Nobunaga stared at the ceiling, her head lying in his lap. “How many, fireball?” he asked, stroking her hair tenderly. “Four. Rather fresh too, at least compared to the previous town. They might have heard the same radio call and were preparing to set off… I can’t understand why else they wouldn’t eat the candy.” Nobunaga hummed in agreement.

“I think we should ration it, though,” Mai yawned after a moment. “I thought it was already agreed on. You didn’t trust me enough not to mention this?” he joked, rough thumb brushing against her cheek. “Of course. I know you, after all,” she laughed, her eyelids growing heavy. “I think you should sleep. I’ll join you soon enough.” Mai did not reply.

The end was silent, save for a few voices calling from a different world.

Nobunaga put the batteries inside of the radio. One hand covering her ear, he reached into the pocket on the inside of his coat, his nails grazing against a tape.  Deftly, he pushed it inside the compartment, one he never spoke much about – it would be a shame to reveal a secret of this kind, much more so after his friends put so much effort into…

Track 1. Mitsuhide’s voice called quietly from the machine. “Is anybody in there?” Loss of signal. “My group is heading south. We are planning to organise at the second passing point. Is anybody still alive?”

Track 2. Masamune joined. “We need water, but we can go on with what we have. We found the medicine.” “A new group jo –” Signal got lost, cutting Mitsuhide off.

Track 3.

“Ieyasu Tokugawa here. We are approaching the first passing point.”

Track 4. Mitsunari.

“An infected camp found between first and second passing point. We are moving our settlement to the very border. We are fine. Keep –” The recording cut off. White noise. With trembling fingers, Nobunaga pressed forward.

Track 6. Hideyoshi.

“I hope you never had to discover this tape, Mai. If you did… I hope you’re well.” Coughing. “Mitsunari did a great job with the radio… So I really hope…”

Track 7. White noise.

Track 8. White noise.

Track 9. White noise.

Track 10. Mitsuhide.

“I hope this tape made it to you safely, Nobunaga. We shall meet again when the last wave is over.”

Holding back a cough, Nobunaga switched the radio to receiving.

Silence.

Tag list: @datenoriko, @nad-zeta, @tsubaki3192, @missjudge-me, @ikemencrossedmyth, @nuttytani, @thesirenwashere, @milas-imaginarium, @kisara-16, @yukas-clover, @alerialumina , @cheese-ception , @iamryxx​, @cottonfluffballofdoom, @ozziegrl71,  If you want to be tagged under my future works, let me know (any way works)! ^^ Also, if you have some preferences (for example: you’d rather not be tagged under some series, etc.), please, tell me.  If you don’t want to be tagged anymore - please, do not feel bad about it, just say so :)

[yostresswritinggirl]

21 Years in Another Life Submission

Mother! Mother! By the time I sent this, August 18, I have officially turned 18! I am now legal to drink beer, I can finally drink my icon 😌. I know it's usual tradition to give gifts to the birthday person but I wanted to do a reverse and give something to you and the community. And that is: The Prologue of my Isekai webnovel! I would much prefer if I could also give Chapter 1 but I am currently recovering from tonsilitis and whenever I am not feeling good, my body just makes me sleepy to try and recover

Here's the prologue for "21 Years in Another Life"! -🍺

"It seems you are doing fine Mr. Dante, I'll be back for another check later tonight",

I could only nod and let out a hum as a signal that I understood. The boring white walls of the hospital were something that I had grown accustomed to but still loathed in every sense. The heavyweight of my right hand had a plastic cast of sorts to keep it straight as the needle of the dextrose tube was put inside in one of my veins.

I turned my head to see the dextrose bag hung on the stainless steel IV stand. I watched the small drop that would come out of the bag into the small cylinder that would connect to the tube. I looked back into my life.

21 years of my life. The majority of them are in the hospital.

The sickly body that I was born with not only burdened me but also my parents. Money was no problem for us as my father was the CEO of a well-known company he worked for from the ground up but rather it was the taint in the reputation of the family name.

I was his eldest child but thankfully not his only child. I had younger siblings and all of them have very healthy bodies.

And that is good.

I was about to close my eyes to sleep, not having the mood to read a book or even watch television until, "Oh, should we visit another time?", I tilted my head to the side as I saw my mother enter with my youngest brother, the baby of the family. "No, I was just looking to past the time", I said as my brother walked his way to the side of the bed where my free hand was. That was odd, he usually skips towards me.

I noticed the wide smile that was plastered on his face and the way how his hands were behind his back. "Big brother! I have a surprise!", He said excitedly obviously vibrating with joy, I inhaled a bit to brace myself and noticed the faint natural scent of flowers suddenly in the room.

"What do you have there?", I asked and he presented with three stalks of Sunflowers tied together with a neat little white bow. "I thought you might like them, I asked the nice old couple down the street if I can have some for you", his eyes twinkled and I couldn't help but let out a quiet laugh of my own.

"Thank you", I whispered, touched deeply by the gesture "Mum? Can you put it in the empty vase, please?", My mother nodded as my baby brother gave the flowers to mum.

I sat up with using my dominant left hand as support while my brother removed his shoes. I pat down the spot next to me gently as he climbed up the bed, sitting snuggly beside me as I gave his forehead a gentle kiss.

"I'm gonna start growing my flowers so we don't have to buy anymore from the flower shop", he affirmed to himself as I raised a curious eyebrow towards him, "Oh, why is that?", I asked, already having a hunch as to why he would like to grow them.

"You never really liked store-bought flowers, you said they smell funny", he said as he tilted his head upwards, "Why is that?", He asked as I nodded, "It's not the flowers but more so the paper, there are times that the papers are scented quite strongly that smell of the flowers are not complimented as nicely as I would have liked", I explained to him as he let out an 'Ahhhh' of realization along with gentle nodding.

"Will dad come visit?", I turned towards mom as she finished putting the flowers in the vase, "I hope so, if the meeting ends on time he'll pick up your sister so they can visit you", She sat back down on the nearby sofa as I just nodded. "How are you doing?", I could only give her the usual half-sided smile that I would give whenever my younger siblings are around.

A smile that meant: I don't know how to feel.

My mother could only exhale and gave a gentle reassuring smile and a nod towards me. A smile and a nod that says: I know.

My parents and I don't tiptoe around the topic anymore as if I was a kid. This was a sad reality I grew up in and we just accepted it but we made sure to make the best out of every situation.

The knock at the door caught our attention as my brother was about to open the television. "Come in", My mother called out and the door creaked open and the familiar face of my younger sister peaked through, "Oh! Oh! Look dad! He's awake!", The door opened a bit more to reveal my younger sister and dad, he was holding a canvas under one arm as my sister's bag was slung over the other shoulder of his.

"Hey Kiddo, how you doin' ?", My dad put the bag and canvas down on top of the cabinet as he made his way next to my bed and then ruffled my hair. A comforting feeling, his hand on top of my head as a gentle head pat was enough to help me calm down after rigorous emotions went through me.

"I'm doing fine now, I assume the meeting went well?", I asked and he just nodded along with the usual hand gesture of facing his palm up and down in a sideways motion.

It went well with some people who need convincing, just the usual things then.

"Big brother! My tutor gave me the assignment to draw on a canvas today!", She bounced a bit on her feet before skipping towards where the canvas was put down. She run-walked towards my side as I peered towards the canvas.

It has no color yet just the rough outline of her whole drawing, it seems she will be drawing sunflowers and lots of them. "I didn't have time to finish my sketch since it was already time buuut!", She pointed towards the middle part of the canvas, "This is where you are supposed to be!", I nodded with a smile etching its way onto my lips. She was so excited about it.

"My tutor also said that giving sunflowers to someone means to bring joy to someone's day", she explained before adding, "And! And! I wanted to give you this painting when I finish it so you'll be happy every day", I just chuckled and ruffled her hair with my free hand and brought her in for a side hug.

"And I'll be planting sunflowers in the garden so when you get back back, you'll see it every day and we don't have to buy new ones from the shop", My brother exclaimed. I just gave a nod as we heard a knock on the door, my father creaked the door open and the familiar white doctor's coat peeked through. My dad looked back towards mother and she just nodded and went outside.

I gave a sigh and let my head plop down to the pillow. "Big brother? When can you come home?", My sister's tone was now quite solemn. I just shook my head, not wanting to give them more hope than necessary.

I don't like promises being broken so I rarely make promises that I can't keep.

And sadly, this is one of those times.

The bed shifted a bit until my younger siblings were curled up to each of my sides, I just sighed a bit. "How are you two holding up?", I asked.

"Ehh",

"Mnnggghhh",

They also we're not too sure of it. I let out a breath through my nose, "Remember what I told you guys before? About promises?", I asked.

"Try not to make promises you can't keep", my brother voiced out, his voice coming out meek. They realized I won't be coming home any time soon. We just laid there on the hospital bed.

Closing my eyes as different memories from the times back home came to the front of my mind.

- - -

"Big brother!!!!" The muffled voiced screamed from behind the door. A voice filled with glee, before I could even say the door was unlocked it had slammed right open revealing my younger sister carrying her new case filled with art materials.

I just gave her a big smile, I settled the book I was reading to my bedside table and she made her way towards me. I saw dad peeked through the doorway and put his pointer finger to his lips and proceeded to quietly go away.

Dad had bought Artemis new art materials without mom knowing.

"Big brother! Remember when I made a wish to the shooting star we saw?", She asked excitedly, she bounced a bit on her on feet and, "It came true?", I "guessed" and she nodded, her hair bouncing along with her.

"It came true! The star was also kind enough to also give me a new case!", She heaved the case on the bed and proceeded to open up the case. She pulled out the shelfs that can be easily retracted inside for more efficient compartments.

"Darling?", the door creaked open and we both looked up and saw Mom. She saw the art case that Artemis proudly displayed, mom could only gave a smile and a nod but I could feel her secret fury behind it. It was not directed at us but rather, "Have you two seen your father by any chance?", She asked.

"Nope", "No"

She just hummed and nodded her head a bit, "If you happened to see him, make sure to give him this face", Mom gestured to her unimpressed face with her half lidded eyes and a small frown. Before smiling once again and saying goodbye.

Dad was in a lot of trouble.

- - -

The noises of delight that came from the children as they exited the school gates was one that could be heard from the other side of the street. All of them eagerly excited to come home from school.

I waited just by the sides of the gate, waiting for my younger brother, Artem. I looked over through the crowd of children slowly pouring out of the doors and I just eagerly waited for him, "Need a seat, boy?", I looked behind me and the guard was nice enough to bring out an extra stool, "Thank you", he just gave a friendly wave of his hand and went back to his station while I sat down at the stool.

I pulled out my phone and recalled the phone call that me and Mom had that led up to me being the one picking up Artem for the day.

"Dante? Do you feel alright today?", Mom went straight to the point,

"Yeah, yeah, why'd you ask?",

"If it's alright, can you pick up Artem today for me?"

"I don't mind, why?",

"You'll see when you pick him up",

I patiently waited for my younger brother by the gates. "Brother? Brother!", I looked up and saw Artem running towards me in full speed. He stopped just shy in front of me as his whole body vibrated with excitement. He bit his bottom lip as he tried to hide his smile.

"Come on, we can chat about your day while we walk home", I ruffled his hair as he nodded. I waved goodbye to the guard and we were on our way. Artem had a skip in his step as he told me about his whole day at school.

The activities they did and I just listened intently.

- - - -

I groggily opened my eyes and saw my parents had ushered my siblings out of the bed, my mom was the first one to see me awake, "Had a nice nap?", She giggled and I nodded along, a smile gracing my lips. I noticed how the edges of her eyes were a bit red and how her nose had a specific red tint to it, an indication after crying.

What happened?

I looked over towards Dad and gave him a questioning look and he just mouthed me the word, 'Later'. I just nodded as my mom had brought out a tupperware filled with dinner. "Artemis, can you go to the desk and ask for some spare spoons?", My mom's tone was a bit hurried but my younger sister just nodded and left for the door

"Artem, how about you join your sister? Just don't go to far from her, no?", My mom ushered my brother out the door as well and soon enough it was just me and my parents left in the room. There was an akward silent at first and then

"Mom? Have you been crying?", I asked while sitting up and she just pursed her lips together before nodding followed by a choked sob. I patted the spot besides me and she sat down, they were some tears refusing to fall down. I opened my arms and she just tackled me into a hug, with every inhale she took was followed by a broken sob.

"You've...been...", She sobbed out as I rubbed circles at her back, "Doing...so...well", she choked out before trying to calm herself down. I just sat there and hugged her close, trying to help her calm down.

It seemed the doctor didn't give the good news they were hoping for.

The door creaked open and my mom pulled away, soon wiping away her tears with a handkerchief that my dad had given her. My younger siblings came inside with 5 spoons. "We got the spoons!", My brother exclaimed as they gave mom the untensils.

Mom opened the tupperware and there she had cooked some Beef Stroganoff, my favorite food. "It was your dad's idea to cook your favorite today", she said while dad let out an akward chuckle. "Well, since the doctor had said you won't be coming home anytime soon. I thought bringing you some of your favorite food would cheer you up and give you some break from the Hospital Food", I just smiled towards Dad and gave him a thank you.

It was just comfortable silence until they had to leave, visiting hours were now over and I just waved goodbye to them, with my younger siblings promising to annoy mom or dad to visit me tomorrow.

I just laughed at their response as dad ushered them out of the room. Mom gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead and a farewell to them both. Being left alone in the dim room isn't always a good feeling, especially in recent times.

I toss and turned a bit, trying to find a good spot to get back into napping. The window gave a good view of the sky, it's filled with stars tonight. All of them twinkling individually, I let out a soft sigh before closing my eyes in trying to find a good nap.

- - - -

My eyes snapped open, the heaviness that my body felt before was now gone. I was somewhere else other than the hospital room I was admitted in.

I looked around, I am surrounded by twinkling stars with the ground beneath rippling under my feet with every movement I took.

"My, a young one already here?", I turned around and was met with a masked woman, she was holding a pocket notebook and a stamp in another hand. She looked up and tilted her head a bit to the side.

"You, Mister, are currently in the Realm of Stars" she started as she walked towards me, to ground rippling underneath her feet with every step she took. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and she stopped right in front of me.

She looked up towards me and was faced with her, "This is the realm where the soul journeys to their resting place", she added before looking through her notebook again and flipping through some pages.

Am I dead?

"Ah, here it is. We usually don't meddle with the laws of life but this is an exception", she hums before taking a step back.

"I'll be frank with you mister, if given the chance to live again...", She gestured with her hands, "How long would you like to live again?", She asked and I was flabbergasted with the sudden question. I gulped once more and I answered, "Another 21 years would be great", I replied to her and she looked at the notebook before nodding.

"Interesting, even if the life you were give doesn't have a clean start?", She asked and I just tilted my head a bit to the side, curious "What do you mean by that?", I asked as she materialized away the stamp and notebook she was holding.

"Let me reiterate again, if given the chance would you live again for 21 years but the body already has a history of living?", She asked and I just nodded, unsure still of her words. All I got was that I get another chance of living for another 21 years.

"Alright then, perfect!", She exclaimed whilst clasping her hand together, "We currently have a body that needs a soul but the old one had already left it and it isn't his time to visit the Realm of Stars", she sighed before a couple of stars started surrounding my whole figure.

"I wish you luck with your new life", she waved goodbye before adding another.

"I'll see you again when your 21 years are finished"

- - - -

My head hurts badly, it was dark all around as I tried to find the feeling in my "body" again.

"Call the doctor!",

Huh? Am I in a hospital again.

"Quickly, we must get his majesty back to the castle before any stragglers from the enemy line comes for us!"

Wait, wait, wait, majesty? stragglers? enemy lines? Did this body participated in a war or something.

What did I get into now?

"Don't worry your majesty, we will get you back safely to the castle", Hold on. Are they talking to me?

What is going on?! I should have asked that masked lady with some questions before agreeing.

Whatever the case, I should take this opportunity to have another 21 years to my life even if I didn't get a clean start again.

I should try to wake up by now.

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

YOOOO NIGHTINGALE SKGBAKJGB FIRST OF ALL HAPPY LEGAL AGE DAY!! YOU CAN NOW BE LEGALLY ARRESTED, I'M SO PROUD AND I HOPE YOU ENJOY THAT DELISH BEVERAGE!!

SECOND OF ALL HOLY SHIT I DID NOT EXPECT THIS, NOT EVEN THE LENGTH I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A SNEAK PEEK! I LIKE IT, THE TRANSITIONS ARE NICELY PLACED WITH A BALANCE OF NARRATIVE AND DIALOGUE, YOU'RE DOING GOOD AND I HOPE THINGS GET BETTER! FOR YOUR WEBNOVEL AND YOUR TONSILS!!

[does-this-look-logicality-to-you]

The Lawson Brothers' Bakery | Chapter Six: Secret Story

words: 1260 characters: Logan, Patton, Janus pairings: platonic/pre-romantic Logicality, brotherly Loceit warnings: food mention a/n: woo, new chapter! not gonna lie, it took me a while to come up with an idea for this one, but as soon as i did i knew it was perfect. hope y’all enjoy!

previous | first | next

“G’night, guys! I’ll see you tomorrow! Thanks for a great first day.”

“Goodnight, Patton.”

Logan watched Patton leave the bakery and get into the silver sedan, parked in its usual space just to the left of the entrance.

It had only been a day since Patton started working at the bakery, and both Logan and Janus knew they’d made the right decision to hire them. They were eager to learn and eager to help, and they were a natural at serving customers. Every person they’d served had walked away with a smile on their face.

“I’ll lock up,” Janus told his brother. “You can head upstairs, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Logan nodded and made his way to the kitchen. Before he pulled the ladder down, though, he opened the cabinet closest to the door, set the bowls inside on the counter, and opened a small hidden door. He felt around, but could only feel the walls of the little secret compartment. Odd. Where could it be? He took his phone from his pocket and shone its flashlight into the cabinet. Still nothing. “Janus?”

“Yes?”

“Do you know where the cookbook is?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“What good would it be for me to lie?”

Logan started to panic. He wasn’t worried about the recipes; he’d had almost all of them memorized for years now. However, it contained much more than simply ingredients and instructions for baked goods.

For many years, Logan had considered himself a writer. It was an escape for him, an escape from the stress and troubles and worries of the real world. And yet, throughout the course of his writing career, he didn’t like telling others about it. It wasn’t because he wasn’t proud of his work. He thought himself to be, at the very least, a decent writer. The part that discouraged him from sharing his art was the genre in which he most often wrote. He never wrote anything inappropriate; he had always found content of that nature to be unappealing, whether he was consuming it or creating it himself. Instead, Logan’s specialty was romance. He couldn’t explain it, but he’d always had a knack for that particular type of story— likely because the first pieces he’d written had all been fanfiction. However, his affinity for it conflicted with the emotionless facade he liked to wear. Because of this, he never shared his works with anyone. Only his mothers and his brother knew they existed. When he and Janus had started the bakery, Logan had decided to write his stories on the backs of the recipes in the makeshift cookbook they had created. That way, as long as he kept it in its hidden compartment, the only way anyone could access it was if they had access to the kitchen.

If I don’t have it… and if Janus doesn’t have it… Patton!

They were the only viable suspect. Logan didn’t know when they would have taken it, but it appeared that they had.

But why? They didn’t seem to be the type of person to be a thief. Even if they were, they had no motive to take Logan’s book. There were far more valuable and useful things in the bakery, and nothing else appeared to be missing. So why would they possibly take my cookbook?

~~~

Logan hardly slept that night. It wasn’t because he was uncomfortable this time— he had set up a makeshift bed in the spare room using an air mattress and a couple of blankets. Instead, his insomnia stemmed from stress mixed with confusion. Why did Patton take his cookbook? What use did they have for it? Had they taken it? If they hadn’t, then who had? How? And why?

He eventually fell into a light sleep, but that only lasted about an hour before his alarm had woken him up. This resulted in him being half-asleep while he was preparing himself for the day, so his hair was messy and his tie was loose. He’d ignored his brother’s teasing as he went through his daily routine of getting the bakery ready.

Soon enough, the bell above the door rang, and in came Patton, a large box in their hands. They carried it to the front counter and set it down in front of the brothers.

“Good morning!” they chirped. “This is for you.” Suddenly curious, Logan opened the box cautiously so as not to disturb whatever it contained. Inside was what looked to be a dozen chocolate-chip cookies— in fact, they looked almost identical to the ones on display in the bakery. Upon further inspection, Logan noticed the familiar binding of his cookbook on the side of the box. He removed it, and, to his relief, it was indeed his beloved book. “I wanted to thank you guys for being so good to me,” Patton explained. “I didn’t know how you guys made your cookies, so I found your cookbook and made you a batch. They looked at Logan with a guilty expression. “Sorry I didn’t ask to borrow it. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It isn’t a problem.” He paused, before adding, “Did you… read all of it?”

They hesitated. “Yeah,” they admitted. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea. I didn’t mean to snoop into your personal business like that. I feel like a horrible person… you have every right to be mad at me.”

Logan wanted to be mad. He wanted to scold them, to yell at them, to lecture them about taking his property without permission. But their expression was so genuinely regretful, and their tone was so earnest, and Logan couldn’t bring himself to be upset.

“I’m not mad,” he said softly. “It was a very kind gesture. And your intentions were pure. I would rather you asked if you borrowed something in the future, but I can let it slide this time.”

Patton gave him another one of their dazzling smiles. “Thank you so much, Logan. I promise, I won’t do it again.” They looked directly into his eyes. “You’re a fantastic writer, by the way,” they told him, their voice softening. “The way you describe everything, and the way you develop the characters… it’s some of the best writing I’ve ever written.”

Logan felt his heart flutter at the compliment. “I-Thank-Thank you, Patton, I appreciate that.”

They tilted their head and gave him a goofy grin. “No problem!”

“This is all very sweet,” Janus interrupted, “but I suggest we get to work.”

“You betcha.” Patton went behind the counter and went into the kitchen to get their apron. Logan took a cookie out of the box and took a bite of it. It was unexpectedly tasty, not unlike the cookies that they sold in the bakery. He could tell that they had been baked that morning, as they were slightly warm and gooey.

“You like ‘em?” Patton asked, emerging from the kitchen.

Logan nodded. “I do. They’re very good. Do you want us to sell these?”

They shook their head vigorously. “They’re for you, silly! You and Janus.”

“Oh. Well, thank you, again.”

“You’re welcome! Again.”

The bakery was silent for a few moments.

“Well,” Patton said. “Ready to get to work?”

Logan nodded. “Let’s go. I think we’ll let you try making a batch of cookies today. We can help you, but I don’t think you’ll need it.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

Logan allowed himself a small smile, and the two of them headed into the kitchen.

[wcrstarter]

@createshope​

Sonja opened the cabinet in her quarters and pressed on the lever that opened a secret compartment, retrieving where she’d hidden away Clary’s birthday gift where none would be able to find it. She turned the beautifully wrapped up gift over in her hands( holding inside it a brand new sketchbook for her adopted daughter alongside some new sketch pencils and charcoals for her), and thought on how Clary had come to be in her care, become her daughter in all but blood.

She’d been portalled in with Tessa to join Magnus for drinks and watching the newest season of the Bachelor, the other two had ordered thai to enjoy with their liquor while Sonja herself had a glass of wine mixed with blood. Magnus had answered the door, found Jocelyn Fairchild with a infant in her arms and begging for them to take their daughter and hide her away from the world and the Clave, ensure Valentine never found her.

Sonja had been the one who’d agreed to take in the child, as no one in the Clave would think to look for Valentine and Jocelyn’s daughter in the Hungarian Vampire clan, none would think that Sonja would raise a shadowhunter child. Nor with her personal history.

Sixteen years past, she’d agreed to take in Clary and tell her on her sixteenth birthday just whom her birth parents were. Magnus had occasionally come and gone throughout that time, acting an Uncle for the girl. Sonja’s entire clan were family to her themselves, each vampire would protect their little princess to the last. The Clave, and other shadowhunters as a whole, remained entirely unaware of just who Sonja’s surrogate child was. Sonja would die before she’d let that change and Clary be dragged into their madness.

Sonja forced herself to breathe, taking the gift with her and heading towards Clary’s bedroom door to knock upon it. Later, she would tell her later, when they had gone to Magnus’s and enjoyed the party he had planned for her at his club. Let her have one more night of not knowing, let her dance and have fun among the downworlders so she would know when they told her that she was her own, no matter who her birth parents were.

“Clary, Édesem, are you awake yet?” She called, wrapping her knuckles lightly against the door once more in case she hadn’t been heard yet, “Come on my dearest, its time to get up and celebrate.”

[drstrangefictions]

One-Shot

Bucky Barnes x Female Reader

Word Count: 2,558

Spoilers: Nothing.

Warnings: Death mention. Absolute tomfoolery. OOC Bucky, again, I know my bad. Absolutely just shits and giggles fic. Bucky Barnes warning lmao. Positive vibes with like one negative vibe.

“Are you going to tell me the point of this so-called fieldtrip?” Bucky looked at her. She was bobbing her head along to the song on the radio, mouthing the words. He was almost sure she didn’t hear him. However, he did want to know why he was being dragged out into the mountains; it was something she insisted on after disappearing for a few weeks. She didn’t tell him what she was doing, just that she would be gone. He wasn’t exactly complaining about it, he was just left in the dark about the whole thing. He didn’t really enjoy the suspense of surprises. He found most of the views during their obnoxiously long drive to be beautiful, almost made him forget how agitating the drive actually was. He was even surprised his neck wasn’t hurting with having stared out the window for such a long time or having stared at her for just about as long.

She put on hand on the gear shifter out of habit. She was used to manual sports cars and driving a smidge too fast for her passengers’ comfort. It wasn’t unusual for her to drive other vehicles either, she has driven S.H.I.E.L.D issued vehicles as well as trucks, such as the one her friend lent her for this trip. “If there was a point, you would’ve been told.”

Bucky pushed the seat back, so he was laying back, and slightly more comfortable. “Well are we almost there?” He sounded as though he were whining, he would be if he were stuck with anyone else.

“Man, do you hear that? Sounds like, hm, a little bitch.” She glanced at Bucky with a smirk. “Just hold your horses and let me get us there alive.”

He closed his eyes and chuckled. “Alive would be nice.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Where is there anyway?”

(Y/N) turned up a dirt road. “Somewhere on this side of nature.” She tuned him out from then on, she was good at that. And it was good that she could do that, she’d like to be able to find their destination the first time. She paid extra attention to the road, hidden driveways along the path, and her GPS.

Bucky noticed they were passing a few cabins along the dirt path. He sat up looked over at (Y/N) who was concentrating too hard for him to ask her anything to confirm his suspicions about the fieldtrip. Even if she were to pay attention, she would still play it off. He was impressed with her ability to lie and keep this whole thing from him this whole time. She loved to talk, it was nearly impossible for her to keep any secrets or surprise him with anything. As for everyone else, Bucky is pretty sure no one even knows anything besides her name. He pulled the seat back up as they turned onto a hidden driveway and pulled up to a cabin.

“We are here! Alive!” (Y/N) parked the truck, grinning. She shut the ignition and slid out of the truck.

Bucky tried to get out of the truck only to find she had locked the doors on him again. “Just 5 hours ago, I was the childish one. Who’s being childish now?” He raised his voice at her from inside the truck. “Let me out.”

(Y/N) snickered and unlocked the truck for him while rolling up the truck bed cover. “Dumbass.” She said to herself.

“What was that, half-pint?” Bucky asked, slamming the door on accident. “I might just make you sleep out here with the bugs. You love bugs.” He walked over to the bed and started pulling out their suitcases. “Better than having to climb in, huh?”

She cringed, not offering him any other response. She fastened the cover. “I’ll still have to climb if I want to help you take everything out. I know you’re a big strong man and all, but that’s just not fair.”

“It’ll be a nice view for me.” Bucky told her casually. He walked away before he could see her reaction to place their suitcases by the door.

(Y/N) squinted her eyes and shifted her jaw to the side in annoyance. Of course, he would look. She unlocked the door to the bed and climbed up to push everything in the back towards the front. She promised Clint that she would practice her archery while she was out here, so he gave her a target to use and she brought her bow and arrows along. She put the target on top of the cooler so she wouldn’t damage it before she got to use it.

Bucky came back and looked at her with disappointment, she practically blocked herself in unless she was planning to jump over the side and mess up on landing as she does. He grabbed the target off the cooler and her bow and arrows. “I didn’t know you did archery.”

“Clint has been teaching me with his kids. They like to see who the best is and it’s never Clint. We never vote on him.” She climbed over the side and landed on the ground successfully.

“Not surprised there.” Bucky walked her archery gear to the porch. “Are you any good?”

“Probably better than anyone else would be unless they also secretly practice.” She grabbed the cooler and set it on the ground. “This will be fun; you’ll love it out here. No Sam. No Steve. No team. No working! No one but us.” She rolled the cooler to Bucky.

“Sounds great already.” He picked up the cooler and set it by the door near their suitcases. “I’ll get the waters and the snacks you insisted on bringing. Do you really need a large box of goldfish?”

“Are you still stuck on that? The answer is yes, I do. I’m going to unlock the door now.” She made her way to the door, opened the screen door, and search her keyring of keys for the one she needs. “Not you. No, no… There ya are.” She unlocked the door and pushed it open. She reached above her to lock the screen door in place.

“Have you gotten taller?” Bucky asked, walking up the porch steps. “I feel like you got taller. You can reach things now.”

She grabbed their suitcases and brought them in the cabin, setting them down by the stairs. “Looks absolutely like I left it a few weeks ago!” She set her hands on her hips and looked around proudly. She would pat herself on the back for her cleaning skills had she not already done so when she finished cleaning.

Bucky had found the kitchen on his own and already set the case of waters down near the table and set her snacks on the table. “Or ignore me, that works just as well.”

She stepped back outside and grabbed the cooler. “Well the plan was to leave you here and never come back, ignoring you is just the first step. I decided that was a stupid plan and I’ll just leave in the middle of the night. I’m gunna pull the archery stuff in then put things in places.” She set the cooler near the waters.

“I will start putting things in places.” Bucky used her words; he watched her walk away with a slight smirk. “Alright – pantry…” Bucky looked around the kitchen until he stopped at what should be the pantry. He swung the narrow door open. “Pantry.” He started putting her snacks in the pantry. He was feeling generous, he put them lower than he was originally planning to.

(Y/N) brought in her archery gear and unlatched the screen door, causing it to slam shut. “Shit! That was loud.” She nearly jumped out of her skin. She left the other door open as the breeze was nice. She stood for a moment, with her hands on her hips again, looking around the living room – just as I remember it… sort of, she smiled sadly to herself. She quickly walked back into the kitchen to help Bucky load the refrigerator with what they brought and a few of the water bottles.

“Let me guess, you already have a shopping list?” Bucky asked, closing the refrigerator door.

She looked in every overhead cabinet. “Yeah, I do. Just wanna stand and walk around for a bit first. Explore the place, have depressing flashbacks in the process. I was too busy cleaning and replacing some things to be able to get it all out before this week.” She climbed up onto the counter to grab a plate she decorated years ago with the help of her older sibling.

“Please –.” Bucky prepared to catch her in case she fell from the counter. He hated when she got up on counters and anything she could fall off of.

She turned and sat on the counter facing him with the plate in her hands. “Y’know, I thought my parents tossed all these. They were up here this whole time.” She showed him the plate. It was white around the edges, black, blue, purple, and red created a very child-quality galaxy as a background to a rocket ship. “Always wanted to be an astronaut. Being an Avenger is close enough, right? Went to space, got my ass handed to me by a Titan… y’know. Space things.”

“After hearing about that, I don’t want to go to space. If the world is at its end and we need to leave, I will die here.” Bucky told her. He took the plate from her hands. “Did you paint yourself in the rocket ship?”

“Abso-fuckin’-lutely!” She grinned proudly. She started to turn to kneel on the counter again.

He grabbed her quickly. “I will put this up for you.” He kept his arm around her, and he leaned forward to put the plate back where she grabbed it from. He stepped back and pulled her off the counter. “Should I even ask what kind of mess you left for yourself?”

“No mess.” She laughed. “Just stuff to look at… and find. My brother was very strange, he made hidden compartments, all full of secrets probably – I don’t remember where any are.”

He rested his chin on the top of her head. “Well, I see where you get that from, Miss I-hide-everything-from-everyone. I would like to see what kind of disaster child you were that turned you into a disaster adult.”

“Secret compartments first.” She looked towards the living room, already knowing where one is, maybe I do remember... “Not sure what he hid and if anything is still in there, honestly… I just hope it’s not something gross.”

“Afraid of something jumping out at you?” He ran his fingers through her hair. He could stand here with her in his arms for a long time.

She scoffed. “Yeah, sure I am… Not.” She is.

“I will admit, you were right to take me out here.” Bucky said, staring at the fire in front of them. It was comforting. And warm enough to where they didn’t need to sit close to each other, but they did anyway. He watched the marshmallow (Y/N) dropped in there burn up.

She smiled. “I know. You needed this. We have a whole six days left! Just you, me, the firepit, and that’s really it. Ooh, I would like to do something like this with the whole team one day. It would be so fun. White water rafting, zip-lining! Hiking!” She popped a marshmallow in her mouth. She couldn’t help herself they were right next to her.

Bucky looked at her, she was happy out here. She looked a lot happier than she usually did. He was definitely happy away from everyone. “Yeah? The whole team? Sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me.”

She nodded, she knows he is right about that, but it would still be nice or just fun. Fun doesn’t have to mean nice. “Just pair up with Sam for white water rafting and push him in the water, problem solved.”

“All of my problems would be solved if I did that.” Bucky leaned back slightly, not wanting to be startled by the sudden swinging of the bench. “Just don’t tell him.”

“I’m sure he already knows that you would do anything to get rid of him.” She scooted herself unnecessarily closer to Bucky, leaving no gap between them. “I tried to get rid of you when we were just friends. I tried to sell you to Sam once, he wouldn’t pay a whole dollar. He wouldn’t even take you for free.”

Bucky laughed. He knew she was always up to something. “Of course, you tried that. Next time sell me online.” He suggested playfully. It would be wrong for him to say he didn’t try to push her away either, except he was more obvious about it.

“Well shit, I can’t do that now! I’d hate to get rid of you. I actually like having you around.” She rested her head on his shoulder.

He had his hand on her thigh. “Yeah, I believe that.”

She giggled. “Deep down I know you actually do.”

They sat in silence watching the flames dance around each other and listened to the wood crackle. There were a few times when (Y/N) passed him a marshmallow because he still hadn’t taken the bag away from her.

“Where do you see yourself in the future?” She asked randomly and out of curiosity.

Bucky’s eyes followed the smoke. “Why do you ask?”

She closed her eyes. “Just something we’d talk about around the fire when I was younger. None of us got to see those futures we saw ourselves living. The twins wanted to act. My older brother, the secret one, wanted to travel the world. I was always a little more realistic… I wanted to go to school to be a doctor. The twins didn’t make it far in life. My brother was a H.Y.D.R.A agent undercover at S.H.I.E.L.D, and I was a S.H.I.E.L.D agent. And I did what I had to do. I didn’t think I’d end up in that kind of life, and then being an agent, I didn’t think I would have something like this. Now I’m here with you.” She snaked her arm around his.

“You wanna know where I see myself in the future?” He asked, she nodded against his shoulder. “I see myself with you because I can’t seem to get rid of you. Not sure if we still save the world, but if we do, I couldn’t ask for a better partner. If we don’t, there’s no risk of losing you… Where do you see yourself now that you’re with me?” He asked, looking at her.

“Somewhere I can actually call home, specifically wherever you are. This is going to sound so dumb; I am so sorry that it’s dumb… but hear me out, very Addams Family-esque life.” She smiled out of embarrassment. “Maybe not as weird as them… but you get the idea, right?”

He expected no less from her. He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of it. She saw herself with him… a loving couple… with kids. A loving family is what she saw. “I get it.” He would be lying if he said didn’t want that too.

[snowdice]

Gaps in His Files (Part 1) [Relabeled; Refiled Series]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Logan/Patton

Characters: 

Main: Logan, Patton

Appear: Remy

Summary:

Logan Berry has learned many things the last 10 years: a lot of math and physics, a bit of humility, and how to be a hero being just a few. Through his education, his experience teaching, and his exploits as the superhero Bluebird, he’s changed in a lot of small and large ways. He has recorded these changes in well-organized documents and files. He’s even had to create two new file designations: a red one for files about his moonlighting at Bluebird, and a light blue one dedicated to his boyfriend, Patton.

When Bluebird is targeted by a memory device and all of those 10 years of progress suddenly disappear, Patton Sanders and Logan’s extensive files are left as his only resource to get those memories back. But what is Patton supposed to do when there are clear gaps in his files? And what does he do when he is one of them?

This is set 25 years before Sometimes Labels Fail though it’s story is completely independent of it and it is not necessary to read that one first.

Notes: Superhero AU, memory loss, past child abuse, past child neglect, unhealthy ideas about ones place in relationships, emotional suppression, self-deprecating thoughts 

There are a few background stories for Logan and Patton’s relationship that are also unnecessary to read, but expand their backstory a bit. They can be read before or after this story. Coffee Shop Meet Cute and Coffee Shop Incident Report deal with their first meeting, The Things We Never Mentioned talks about how Patton figured out Logan was bluebird, and Logan’s 25 Step Plan to Ask a Boy Out is how they started dating.

Logan woke slightly colder than he should have been with a presence in his bed that had not been there when he’d fallen asleep. He squinted at said presence in the dim light of his bedroom. “You are a blanket thief,” he informed the sleeping form as he carefully brushed a bit of hair out of his face. He stirred a bit, pressing back against the touch with a soft sound. Logan glanced over at his bedside table and quickly reached over to turn off the alarm that was set to go off in 4 minutes. Then, he turned his attention back to the bed invader.

“Patton,” he called softly, leaning forward to brush a soft kiss across his brow. He puffed out a breath in response and shuffled closer, still mostly asleep. Logan smiled. He appreciated Patton in any state, but sleepy Patton held a special place in his heart. He started peppering kisses down his cheek to his jaw causing his nose to twitch as he started to stir. “Good morning dear.”

“Uhm nuh humba na ha.”

“Ah yes,” Logan replied seriously, “a compelling argument.”

He was still not quite in the waking world, but he was conscious enough to recognize the mocking. He whined and slapped Logan’s shoulder softly. Logan took that as a cue to roll on top of him and lean forward to kiss his neck.

“No,” he whined and wiggled. “Annoying.”

“Annoying huh?” Logan asked into his neck. “Big words for someone guilty of breaking and entering.”

“No breaking,” Patton complained, “I have a key!”

Logan hummed in response. “When did you get here?”

“About 4am,” he mumbled.

“Hmm,” Logan said and gave him a slow kiss on the lips. “I’ll close the curtains when I get up.”

Patton’s legs wrapped around his waist and he yawned. “Thanks.”

“I am going to have to get up pretty soon dear,” Logan pointed out.

“No,” Patton whined, “snuggles.”

“I think my students may not be happy if I do that,” he said.

Patton snorted. “They would too.”

“Well, at least my supervising professor wouldn’t be happy.”

Patton just grumbled and snaked his arms around Logan’s neck before pulling him down for another long kiss.

It took much effort for Logan to pull himself back. “This is entirely unfair,” he said, fingers tracing patterns over his cheeks. “You are far too adorable to resist.”

Patton giggled which was even more unfair and Logan surged forward for another kiss, though it was a quicker peck this time.

“And yet you resist me,” Patton said when he drew back again, a finger tracing his brow.

“Duty calls,” he responded.

“Yeah,” he replied softly.

“I love you,” Logan said. The hand on Logan’s shoulder clenched into the fabric of his shirt.

“I love you too,” he said, a bit of a shake to his voice before lunging forward to kiss him thoroughly once again. Logan was breathless by the time they finally drew apart.

“I do have to go now,” he said regretfully.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, and released his grip on Logan’s shoulder.

Logan regretfully pulled himself from the warmth that was Patton and stood. He went to his window and pulled the curtain to darken the room before going to his closet. The suit he’d picked up from the store yesterday was front and center, and he touched the outside of the white plastic covering it with a soft smile. Then he grabbed his outfit for the day. When he turned back around, Patton had already closed his eyes and curled himself around an extra pillow. Logan paused and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek before going to change and get ready in the bathroom.

Once he was dressed, he entered his kitchen and his eyes immediately found the note on his countertop. Don’t forget to eat breakfast! :) <3 was scribbled in Patton’s messy scrawl on one of Logan’s sticky notes. Logan puffed out a laugh and went over to start the coffee machine. He reached for his coffee cup and caught sight of another sticky note inside it. Don’t ignore me. >:( it read. Logan shook his head and went about organizing his school supplies in his bag. He pulled out his planner to check his schedule for the day and another note fell out. Logan…

“Fine, fine,” Logan said aloud and walked over to his cabinet to grab the loaf of bread there. A note was taped to the top. Thankyou! <3<3. “Absolutely incorrigible,” he said fondly. He gathered up that note as well as the other three while he waited for the bread to toast and stuck them in his pocket. He spread peanut butter on his toast and poured himself a cup of coffee before taking his breakfast and his planner into the extra bedroom he’d converted into an office.

There was a pen sitting on his desk out of place and Logan bit his tongue in agitation, picking it up and sitting down on his chair. He took a bite of his toast and opened his planner to his to do list for the week. The calendar next to it had his class schedule in black pen, his personal appointments in green, and his study schedule in dark blue ink. His Saturday had been blocked off from 3pm to 11pm with a lighter blue inked pen. He went to check off one of the tasks he’d finished last night, and nothing happened.

“I’m going to kill him,” he told the empty room before rolling his chair over to the trashcan to throw out the empty pen. It clinked against the two already in the trashcan. He swore Patton had the latent superpower to summon inkless pens and the more time he spent at Logan’s apartment, the more accumulated despite Logan’s best efforts. It was a source of endless torment for Logan but still a small price to pay for his boyfriend’s presence.

Once he’d grabbed a functioning pen from its place in his pen holder and finished editing his weekly task list (Though there were a few important exclusions in this week’s list in fear of prying eyes. He would have to remember to call the photographers to confirm between his first and second class without a note to remind himself.), he reached into his pocket for this morning’s notes. He glanced up at a spot on the far wall that was too high for him and, more importantly, Patton to reach without buying a ladder. Well, at least, it would be too high for Logan except for one important fact. He flicked his finger and a small hidden door slid up. The contents of the secret compartment shot into his hand with barely a mental nudge.

He opened his desk and found the stack of different colored paper he kept there. He flipped past the dark blue and red to get to the pieces of light blue paper in the exact shade of the cover of the binder he held in his hand. He selected one of those pages and used the hole puncher on his desk to prepare it to go into the binder before he carefully arranged the notes from Patton on it in chronological order. Then, he pinned each of them down with pieces of tap and wrote himself quick notes next to each to remind himself of where he’d found them. Once finished, he turned to the binder. He touched the cover with a large amount of fondness and a bit of mortification because honestly, he couldn’t believe he was still doing this.

He’d started taking notes on Patton the moment they’d met in a coffee shop over three years ago. Later he would learn that Patton had just gotten off of a long shift at the hospital and was utterly exhausted, but all Logan had known at the time was that a strange man bumped into him and would have spilled an entire cup of hot coffee on him if it hadn’t been for Logan’s own quick reflexes. Unfortunately, those quick reflexes had not been of the physical variety; he had accidently used his powers to stop the cup and its contents in midair. He’d turned wide eyes to the stranger, dreading a reaction. There weren’t exactly many supers with telekinesis who lived in the state after all, but he’d just said “good catch” as though he hadn’t noticed Logan’s attempts to ruin his own secret identity. Logan hadn’t known whether or not to believe him when he acted as though he’d seen nothing, worried about who this man could be and what he could be planning. (Patton would later tell him that Logan probably could have floated into the coffee shop upside down and kicked Patton in his face, and he wouldn’t have noticed that day.) So, he’d written up an incident report for his red files with all the details he could remember and then resolved to keep an eye on the man in case he was lying and plotting to take action against Logan (he hadn’t been). And well, he had certainly ended up keeping an eye on Patton.

Later the binder had become a cumulation of frankly embarrassing records of his crush along with a failed list of steps to get a date (failed because while executing the third step, Patton had asked him out.) Then, once they’d started dating, it had been a sort of crutch, filled with hypothesizes and observations about Patton as though he were some sort of science experiment. Logan had never had any type of romantic relationship before (barring the two embarrassing incidents where his parents attempted to set him up with dates for school dances). He’d vowed when he first put on a mask that he would never date anyone who did not already know his superhero identity. The nice Catch-22 was that Logan had never told anyone that he was Bluebird. Then Patton barreled his way into his life with no regard for Logan’s emotional walls. Logan had been going in blind and the binder had been his way of dealing with the confusing, though wonderful, feelings.

He was better now, more settled, and more comfortable with the peculiarities of sharing so much of your life with another person. Now he only really referred to the binder for specific, important events. Other than that, it was used more like a scrapbook anymore. Logan had trouble throwing away things Patton gave him.

He flipped to the correct section of the binder and placed the page with this morning’s notes in it. His finger traced the smiley face and heart on the first one. Then, he flipped to the back of the binder briefly, tapped the baggy hanging there with his finger, just to double check, before closing the binder and replacing it back in the hidden compartment with his powers.

He drank the rest of his coffee and packed his bag before leaving to get to his 8:30 am class on time. It was Tuesday now. One more normal day today and three more after that.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Labeled Master Post.

My Masterpost.

[erintoknow]

leave no room for anything

Spiraling - A Fallen Hero: Rebirth Fan-fiction

You need cover, you need an alibi, and you need a place to plan and work out your next criminal action. What could go wrong from combining all that? [Survival]

[Read on AO3]

Another day, another spike of adrenaline courses through you as you dive feet first through a stack of boxes, sending crates of delicate electronic equipment everywhere. You can hear alarms sound around you as the factory goes into full alert, the clanging of barring gates. You grin under the mirror sheen of your helmet. That suits you fine, keep the small fry penned up and out of the way? You’re too kind.

The wall in front of you collapses into dust thanks to the nanovores and you tear through the office, grabbing at papers at random. What you take doesn’t actually matter at this point, compromising their records is the goal here.

Damage done, you refer to your map, dissolve another wall and follow your thread out, back to the main entrance.

The woman standing in your way gives you pause. You’d been psyching yourself up for a rematch against Chen, but no, its Lady Argent, hands at her sides and poised to rush you. A half-circle of rent-a-cop security goons behind her block you in. “A factory, Puppetmaster? What, they stop inviting you out to parties?” She smirks and hunches down, fingers lengthening into sharpened claws.

Your face twitches under your helmet. “Don’t read the papers, Argent? It’s Ghost.” You hiss. Your voice, filtered through your helmet has a hollow, flat sound. You take a quick count of Lady Argent’s back-up, who’s most pliable to tying up the rest. None of the officers seem to trust Argent. Good. That makes this easier.

The woman of steel looks unimpressed. “Can’t say I care what you call yourself.”

That does it.

One of the rent-a-cop’s guns goes off ‘prematurely’, firing wide to your left, the rest follow in blind panic as you dive to the side. Argent is too focused on you, but with the Rat-King’s help you’re able to pull the rest of the goof troop into your song, pulling their attention in random directions. One of the shots dings Argent in her shoulder, bouncing off to through ground and to her credit she doesn’t look for the culprit, making straight for you.

You run your hand along the ground as you move, leaving a split in the asphalt as the Nanovores chew through material. Lady Argent tries to cut you off so you encourage two of the goons to stumble into her way as you continue your circle around them. You can’t afford to move slow enough for a deep groove, but if this works as planned, all you need is to prime the cut.

If it works.

Argent huffs, shoving one of the men the side, only for another to conveniently take position between the two of you. “Get out of the way!” It doesn’t slow her down for long, but it’s enough for you to finish the circle. Under your helmet you grin, heart pounding.

All that’s left is the magic word. You give the Rat-King the command to pull the strings and yank everyone back in.

You dash forward and slide down, just under the swipe of her claws. She turns to stab down at you as you come to halt. You roll out of the way and kick her arm aside on your way back up.

You check to make sure everyone’s inside the circle you’ve carved through the asphalt. “Heads up.” is all the warning you give before an explosion rocks the ground under everyone’s feet. A furious Argent diving towards you finds only empty space underneath her, and you leap back as the asphalt caves in.

When the dust clears you risk taking a quick check of everyone’s mental state; a lot of fear and alarm, some pain, but the headcount is still the same. You think.

Hopefully.

You shake your head. Focus. Don’t get distracted. Stay in control. You watch Argent and the rest pick themselves up, clear rubble off their buddies. You have to harden your heart against it, remember who they are, what they represent. “Next time,” you call down, “remember my fucking name!”

Admittedly, Argent makes it easier. She’s staring up at you, a single silver middle finger outstretched.

You don’t like the way she’s eyeing one of the support columns. Can she climb her way out? You don’t intend to stick around and see, it’s time to make yourself scarce.

–––

Every super villain needs a secret lair. A base of operations. Somewhere you can plan your next move, keep mission critical materials. If Ariadne is going to be stuck playing retired civilian, it’s even more important to keep her as separated as you can from Ghost’s activities.

Eventually the day will come when you have to cast off that identity completely, but two years isn’t long enough to make you eager to resume a life of being actively on the run from a government agency. You need to gather more influence – and protection – if you’re going to ever unmask without it being an immediate disaster.

To that end… Ariadne needs a cover. She needs a job, co-workers, hobbies. A new wardrobe. You need Ortega to take a breather and ease off on trying worm her way in and fix every little aspect of your life.

So you’ll combine the two.

Technically a ‘Melissa Simone’ owns the computer repair shop you’re standing in front of. Ms. Simone also interviewed and hired yourself and the middle-aged lady with greying hair now manning the front counter.

You put a hand on the front door, hesitating. You keep putting this off but… guess you better ‘officially’ meet your new co-worker.

A bell chimes as you step inside. Old computer advertisements adorn the walls while parts and models are neatly stacked into three aisles across the open front half of the room. The building itself is on the older side. Hopefully a bit more use will get it looking properly run down enough to seem like it’s always been a repair shop here.

The woman at the counter looks up with a smile, a phone pressed to her ear. She holds a finger up as you approach.

You didn’t hire Marcie for her customer service skills. You hired her because she’s a terminally incurious middle-aged woman who fully intends to spend as much of her time talking to friends on the store phone or otherwise shirking her duties as much as possible.

Leaning an arm against the counter you wait for her to finish her current conversation, drumming your fingers against the wooden countertop. Watch the clock on the wall tick the seconds by. Finally she hangs up and turns back to you with a tired expression. “Alright, what do you want?”

You put on a sickly sweet smile. “My name is Ariadne Becker? Y–your um… co-worker?”

Marcie blinks, frowns, then flushes red. “Oh!” She hurries out from behind the counter, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I thought you were a customer.”

“I could tell.”

She puts her hand out and you give it a quick shake. “Are you really the only repairm–person here?”

“Eh.” You shrug, glancing at the beaded doorway to the back room. “If business ever picked up maybe it’d be worth hiring more.” Glance back to her, smile again. “For now, I’m it yeah. I don’t usually bother with – with um, the front entrance.”

“Well, if you ever need something from me, sweetie, you let old Marcie know, okay?”

You blink, not sure how to respond. She wasn’t this nice to Jane– ahem ‘Melissa Simone.’ “Uh. Y–yeah, sure. Thanks.” You cough. “Um… Ms. Simone gave you the – the rundown about the back right?”

Marcie looks at you, arching a skeptical eyebrow. “To stay the hell out? Yeah.” She leans in, “So… what are we fronting here sweetheart? Drugs? It’s drugs isn’t it.” She straightens her back with a dramatic sigh. “It’s always drugs.”

“I – what???” You stare at her. “W–we’re not – not ‘fronting’ anything!?”

She frowns. Is she… disappointed…!? “Oh? Really? Well. A job’s a job, I guess.”

“I… I just have a… very particular system. Okay?” You shove your hands into your pockets, looking away from her. Stare at the posters on the wall.

“Ah. You’re one of those.” One of those what? You can’t pick it up from her thoughts, just the sliding of her changing expectations. “Well, I’ll keep out of your hair, sweetie.” She steps aside, “It was nice to meet you Ariadne, dear.”

You walk past her in a daze. Push through the bed curtain into your ‘workshop.’ A central table has a pile of half-deconstructed computer cases, their silicon guts scattered haphazardly. A tool kit hangs from the wall alongside a clear plastic cabinet of replacement parts.

Hopefully the facade holds up. You don’t have much intention of actually doing computer repair work here. It’s more than a little concerning that Marcie of all people immediately jumped to the ‘criminal front’ explanation. Was hiring her a mistake? She doesn’t seem to actually care. Maybe you should go out of your way now and then to drum up business. Put some effort into looking legit.

Aside from the bathroom and breakroom, there’s one more room. Your actual workshop. The shop technically is built onto the side of an old warehouse. You’ve walled off most of the space, installed a hidden door, just inside next to the back door out.

You didn’t use up the entire warehouse. Just walled off a decent sized chunk. The rest has been dressed up. Mostly shelves of boxes full of bricks. Something that’ll pass at least cursory inspection.

The door slides open to your touch, keyed to your fingerprint. It springs back into place as you step past. The lights flicker on at low-power. Now here is where you can finally start to get shit done. Your armor is mounted to a secondary hidden compartment recessed into the far wall, next to a bed in case you need to crash or puppeteer Jane for a bit.

You’re particularly proud of the hiding place you’ve created for the Rat-King; an oversized lava lamp sits on the bedside table, a soft blue glow filling the room. Even if anyone breaks in here, anything of value will still be hidden. You’re not completely stupid.

One corner of the room is taken up by a bank of screens and a computer terminal. A system of motion detectors, CCTV, and trip alarms have been carefully set up over the past month in a two block radius around the shop. Nothing is coming near here without you getting some kind of record of it.

And then, last but not least, against one wall a full-length table stretches underneath a pristine corkboard.

Not pristine for long… You reach back into your pocket and pull out a wad of folded up, blood stained papers. The only thing you were able to salvage from the Marconi fiasco. Could have just pinned this while you were setting everything up, you guess.

But this feels more dramatic.

You grab a pin from the cork board and smooth out the creases with your other hand. Jam the paper to the middle of the board. A bill of sale for something called a ‘Regenerator.’ You don’t recognize the name of the buyer, but the listed seller is the personal assistant to Mayor Alvarez.

You pin a scattering of related articles next to the receipt, your prize from today’s factory theft. They’re all related to the sudden government take-over and closure of the regenerator’s parent company, PharmaCore.

What exactly is going on here; you have no idea. But it’s shady as shit, and that means it’s a point of attack. If you’re going to crack the damn city open, this is your starting point. You grab a pen and paper as you sit down at the desk.

You hum a tune under your breath as you work. Time to start planning out your next moves.

[emotionalcello-makefanfics]

We. (Brujay fanfic) Part 1/4

Summary :

Alpha and Omega, more of a curse than a second gender. Theorized to be the nature’s solution of human’s close brush against extinction hundreds of thousands of years ago. It’s truly a blessing that their population is near extinction, not more than 5% of the total. The percentage of them meeting is slim to none. Yet here they are.

Word count : 1.3 k

Note : it's been a long time since I posted anything. To be fully honest, this is the first fic that i'm not sure whether to post or not bcs i'm not happy with it when posting. But I just feel like there's no room to grow this anywhere, and it's completely done. So...Enjoy?

Part 2

Click link to read on AO3

Click keep reading to read on tumblr~

Bruce has a secure private line created especially to connect through Jason’s. That flip phone has no contacts, and only the same set of numbers ever flashed on the outside screen. A Motorola flip phone with a monochrome graphic. They went great lengths to have this method of communication separated from their work, their families, and their intruding night time associates.

The security and secrecy take intricate design, but what they have is simple.

What they knew are crucial, and yet so easily contained.

Inside the text is a location and time, sent over an hour ago. In an hour and one minute, Bruce sent back the exact text message. Anything earlier means he won't be there.

Right on the edge of Gotham. Tight slums and abandoned buildings tower tightly. But one among many is not like the other. For one, access to an underground bomb shelter for the rich and has been long forgotten, abandoned since world war two. Its records, -a floor plan on a piece of paper signed by the government- doesn’t exist at the Records of Deeds. Bruce doesn’t know what happened to it, but he does have a concrete hint who might have it.

The building above the shelter had been inhabitable for ten years. Only roaches and rats as big as your biceps roams around and called it homes. Unlike the bunker that’s been revamped into something else. Batman slips to the underground floor from the long broken lift. A secret entrance triggered by messing around the elevator button that seemed to rust and long gone. A hatch opened under Batman’s feet, too small to fall in, but big enough for him to shimmy down.

The small tunnel ends on the rooftop of a wide but short corridor. Its blue light gave him an empty feeling. Even after a few seconds, Batman’s heavy drop still echoes. The corridor is less of a path and more like a rectangle box. Unlike the building on top of it, it’s clean, almost eerily spotless, and Batman with all the darkness of him is like a speck dirt in the middle of it.

Batman takes off his heavy and armored gloves, revealing the prim and manicured hand fit of Bruce Wayne the quirky playboy billionaire, Gotham’s darling. He presses his hand on a wall exactly 10 centimeters off the room’s center, pressing on it exactly 10 seconds before pulling it away.

The wall behind him opens from an invisible seam, another hallway deeper where he’ll finally reach the bunker.

The enforced door at the end of this second hall opened. Another seamless wall, a short and dead-ended room. Bruce takes off his cowl, stands with feet shoulder length apart, facing the wall and pressed both hands on the wall, shoulder-length from each other. The wall glows a faint green light, a small dent in the front of his eyes glares laser that scans through his face. That one is new, but he goes along with it. All this for the prize in the room behind the wall.

The final door opens, with it, a gush of cold refreshing wind brushed against his skin, leaving warm pleasurable shivers down his spine. He takes in a deep breath, smelling intently the scent of faint jasmine, a strong smell of cedarwood, a hint of lavender, and a tinge of iron and sweat.

Bruce is greeted with a shocking difference between the exterior and the interior. No matter how much he came to this room, he’s never numb to the amusement. A room with pastel walls and the softest carpeted purple floor his feet ever stepped on. It was a bunker that could easily be crammed with a hundred people but originally made for 10 upper-class people to take shelter luxuriously comfortable, now transformed as a room for two.

The room is filled with plushies, cabinets filled with sex toys, soft clothes, and extra pillows. At the end of the room, is a king-sized bed with red silk covers. There, laid the prettiest piece of man that made his Adam's apples bobbed at the sight. Just like him, the man gulps at his appearance. Unlike him, the man is already completely naked.

Bruce takes off his gear, putting them on the compartment that’s open and waiting right beside the door. As his gear put inside, along with another gear that’s already there, the compartment closed. As

The closer he approached, the stronger the man’s scent is. The scent of arousal. The scent of heat coming. So strong that it’s triggering his rut. He feels even his breathing grows heavy.

“If you’re going to walk any slower,” the man sigh, flinching, already in pain as his heat started without any sign of an Alpha in the perimeter, “I’m... going to start without you.”

“I’m sorry I’m late.” Bruce takes off the scent blocker from the flanks of his neck, a thinner than a paper membrane, invisible to the naked eye. When he lets his scent adds to the air, he could see the omega deeply breaths it in like a drug and exhales in a pleasured moan. The most melodic sound that Bruce Wayne had ever heard.

Bruce lands his knee to the plush mattress, hand on the back of the omega’s neck and bare his own for the omega to scent. They stayed a few seconds to take each other’s scent, to calm the omega and give the reassurance of safety.

“I thought you’re taking suppressant,” he asked in worry. For the omega in his arms hates it to the core and their sex always without them.

Not that Bruce minds. Heat sex is said to be the most pleasurable kind. An omega in heat will want you no matter how much the person behind it doesn’t want to. An omega in heat doesn’t have their straight mind to say no. Their body will be punished with pain if no one ‘assisted’ them in their heat. An alpha in a rut doesn’t have the straight mind to say no as well. Their rut came triggered always, over the smell of an omega in heat.

Alpha and Omega, more of a curse than a second gender. Theorized to be the nature’s solution of human’s close brush against extinction hundreds of thousands of years ago. It’s truly a blessing that their population is near extinction, not more than 5% of the total. The percentage of them meeting is slim to none.

Yet here they are.

“Consider yourself lucky.” The omega smirked, finally taking off his nose from Bruce’s scent glands. “I can’t take the shots forever. Healthwise, I still have to have them once every two years. I knew that the hard way when I first have my heat.”

Bruce felt his blood boil, from the top of his head down to his groin. His nose flared as he takes in his omega’s scent, rich and closing in on a full-blown heat. But he’s just way too angry to enjoy how easy the omega aroused him, with his scent and with the way his body reacted violently on his touch alone.

Without smelling his sweet scent, Bruce can’t imagine ever looking his adopted son is such ways. Supple, endearing, beautiful, with a delicious slick leaking down his carved legs, prepped and ready for mating.

 ++++++

 Heats last for days. The first time Jason revealed he’s an omega, he was in heat, in pain. For once in a long time, Jason needed him. Bruce took that chance. To let himself be the Alpha he had hidden from the world. No one knew about their second gender but each other. Not his other sons, not even his best friend Clark. The days they spent together for days, conversing normally between the calm in his waves of heat, made him remember two years ago where he had done this exact same thing.

In their little bunker, Jason tucked in his arms, as they wait for Jason’s next wave over a movie. Talking about petty topics with light delicate laughs slipping in between.

It’s not usually like this. Their heat less sex more sober and enjoyable as they’re there as themselves, not as a rut ridden alpha, and a lulled omega. Though Bruce is here, no matter what Jason needed from him.

Once in two years, he has an omega. Every once in a while, he has Jason.

 +++++

[katherinewilliams221b]

Datura stramonium Part 4: Observation

A/N: Light reading. Warnings: I don’t know about history or botanics, I’ve done some research but still. Excuse my writing I'm trying really hard to improve.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Kate climbed the last steps of the tower that led to her workplace. She left the plant on the wooden table in the middle of the room. She went to the windows that surrounded the place and drew the curtains, letting in the first rays of morning sunshine. Breaking her own rule of not eating in the laboratory, she sipped some coffee. This Saturday she didn't have to go to work, so she had all day to start her study.

Kate dipped her quill in the inkwell and wrote the date in her notebook. She looked up and there was Ciumafaie, defiant, waiting for its secrets to be revealed.

That had been a week of chaos and confusion. Charlie was sure that the Bucovina Witches had drugged them as they entered their cabin, how else did they appear in their own bed as if nothing had happened? Kate was more concerned about the fact that these women knew where they lived and that they could pierce their protective spells. Kate made a mental note to check them out.

She looked at the pot and decided to write down the most obvious features of the plant.

Trumpet-shaped (possibly because it’s not fully open)

She drew the pot to her and leaned over to see it better.

White to creamy and a hint of violet on the inside. Notably fragrant.

Kate opened one of the drawers on the table and pulled out several tools: a measuring tape, a scalpel, and several glass plates for testing.

6.3 cm long. (judging by its appearance, it could keep growing). Grow on short stems from the axils of the leaves.

She cut a small tip from one of the petals and left it on top of one of the plates that had the label (1).

The calyx is long and tubular. Swollen at the bottom with five sharp teeth.

Leaves: (2) one 8.6 cm and the other 9.2 cm long. Smooth, toothed. Soft. Irregularly undulated.

Upper surface: Darker green

Bottom surface: Light green

 She cut the other leaf and tied a thread to hang it from a hook on the wall. The piece of the first one was placed on the glass plate with the label (2). She reopened a drawer, this time the second one on her right and took out some gloves and a small shovel. She dug into the pot until she found the roots.

The root: long and thick. Fibrous. White.

"I can't get much more out of this without having a plantation..." she muttered. She put the pot back on a small side table to her left and got up to look through her books.

Shelves up to the ceiling covered half the room, and though almost empty, Kate kept many books on herbology, potions, and spells there. Some of them from her time at Hogwarts and others that she acquired over the years.

It took a long time to gather all those who seemed useful. Obviously none of them spoke of Datura stramonium but perhaps she could find similarities with other plants.

The wall clock, which was a gift from the Weasley's, marked two o'clock in the afternoon, which meant that Kate had been reading for five hours.

The roar of her stomach confirmed that it was time to stop. She placed the pot containing Datura in a glass cabinet with the rest of her plants.

It was a very particular cabinet, of common appearance but nevertheless magical. Its interior was separated into compartments, also made of glass, with one plant or flower each. Professor Sprout had taught Kate the spell to turn any container into a fully functional greenhouse for a limited amount of time.

Each space was adapted to the conditions necessary to take care of the plant inside, regardless of what was around it.

The spell had to be repeated every few months, but it was still very practical for Kate.

After arranging her desk, she descended the spiral staircase of the Tower and closed the door with a thick metal key.

As she made her way home, she could have sworn that there was someone among the trees that surrounded the path. She stopped and looked around, taking her hand to her boot, where she kept her wand.

The trees moved, perhaps with the wind. But not all of them...a shadow appeared and disappeared just as fast.

She stood in place but after very long minutes she continued her way rubbing her right eye.

 While she ate, she went over the information she had: the appearance of the flower, its properties and some notes. She re-read the text of Alexander Clawroot's book that Charlie had found and decided that among her books she might find potions related to hallucinations and hysteria, such as the Alihotsy filter.

Like every Saturday, she picked up her basket hanging from the coat rack and her scissors. She closed the door and conjured up some more protective spells. If there were any muggles wandering through the woods, she did not want them to find her house.

She followed the usual path, bordering the river, so as not to get lost and because with a bit of luck she could find necessary herbs for the hospital potions.

The hospital in Bucharest provided her with the necessary material to cure the patients, but making her own potions helped her to practice and have spare emergency vials. As she crouched to pick up some aconitum, a branch tangled in one of her brown curls, giving it a pull. "Damn it! It's always the same..." She stood still when she saw some footprints that looked like they belonged to an animal. She untangled her hair from the branch and bent down to study them better.

In the few months Charlie and Kate had lived together, he had taught her some basic techniques for tracking animals. Charlie was the one who advised her to follow the river if she decided to go out to the forest.

They appeared to be horse footprints, but in this forest, it was more likely to find a unicorn than a common wild horse.

She remained crouched and listened around her: the April breeze among the trees, the leaves, the sound of the water of the stream, the crunch of some branches.  Kate tensed but without making a sound turned to where the sound came from.  Something was coming towards her faster and faster. Kate frowned.  It was something small...a...cat.

"Grimoire?" She breathed. "What are you doing here?"

Grimoire meowed and turned around, undoing the path he had made to get to her. He meowed again and when Kate understood that he wanted her to follow him, the two of them ran to Kate's tower.

Grimoire stopped in front of the tower and began to meow to the sky.

"But what's wrong with you?" she said almost out of breath. "You made me run for this? You know I can't let you in!"

Grimoire continued to meow, and Kate lifted her head, following his gaze. "What's wrong with the window?" When the cat hissed, a shiver went through her body. She quickly searched for the key to the door in the pockets of hes jacket, dropped the basket with the herbs and climbed the steps without bothering to close the door.

Grimoire was a very special cat, very sensitive to the outside world. He was able to detect changes in someone's behaviour, the appearance of a person or variations in magic. Kate did not take Grimoire's mood swings lightly.

With very little elegance, Kate managed to pull the wand out of her boot as she climbed the steps and entered the room ready to fight whoever had entered.

Only silence welcomed her.

She sighed, only slightly relieved, but continued to inspect the place with the wand held high.

Her gaze stopped at the greenhouse closet and her eyes opened so wide that her eyebrows could have touched her hairline.

"Oh, Merlin."

--

Charlie entered his living room with a smile, like every night, hoping to find Kate there reading or practicing a spell.

When Katie moved in with Charlie, one of the problems they had to solve was Kate's messy tendencies. Being the curious and knowledge-hungry person she is, the room and living room were flooded in a sea of books, papers and scrolls.

On one of his forest excursions, Charlie found an abandoned tower in a clearing in the forest. It was a remote place, but not too much, hidden, wide and with large windows. That's how the idea of creating a workspace for Kate came about. In less than a week, Charlie repaired and completely cleaned the tower adding several protective spells.

So, he climbed the spiral stairs following the sound of bubbling liquids, flying leaves and frantic footsteps.

The room was chaos, as expected. There were books suspended in the air, several parchments flying across the room, and what surprised Charlie the most, boxes and trunks lined up on the floor from smallest to largest. Kate, sitting on the wooden table, with the wand in her mouth and writing without looking in her notebook, had not noticed his presence and was frantically changing her gaze between the wall clock, the boxes and the books.

"Are you having a good time?" Charlie had leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and looked at her smirking.

Kate jumped and all the objects floating in the air fell to the ground with a loud thud. She grimaced making Charlie laugh. She got up quickly, jumping over the boxes, straight to Charlie. He smiled and extended his arms to greet her with a kiss, but Kate stopped him putting her hands on his shoulders, excited. "Wu won' bawli wha I iscower today'" Charlie took her wand from between her teeth. "Try again?" He chuckled.

"Charlie, this is very important." Kate retrieved her wand and aired it, repositioning the fallen books on the table. "This is a greenhouse closet," she explained, pointing to the glass closet with dead plants inside. "Professor Sprout taught me to turn any container into a temporary greenhouse, so you can keep plants you don't have time or space to grow. I keep several pots inside to have if I need them, and this morning I also put Datura inside. I went out to eat," she emphasized the last word and gave him a pointed look that he returned with a wink "and I went out to collect some herbs around the river. Grimoire came looking for me, and I find this." She grabbed the flowerpot with Datura and showed it to Charlie.

"Wasn't it smaller yesterday?"

"Exactly." Charlie stared at her and shook his head.

"Don't you understand? Charlie, look at the dead plants in the closet and look at Datura. This plant has broken the spell of the closet and stolen nutrients from the rest of the pots. It has grown ten centimetres in less than two hours!"

"Whoa.” Kate nodded slowly.

"I have already sent a letter to Professor Sprout explaining everything. I'm sure she'll tell me to check the spell and do it again, which is what I've done. In, exactly," she took her notebook and turned several pages back "an hour and 46 minutes, a small capsule has grown with seeds that I have separated, drawn, and taken measurements. I want to know what has most influenced this abnormal growth and how the transmission of nutrients has occurred.

"I have reproduced the spell in different boxes, sorted by size and material. Tomorrow, after work, I'm going to look for the plants I had in the closet so that the conditions are..."

"Do you have a shift tomorrow?"

"Yes. To make the conditions exact."

Charlie looked around, admiring Kate's sketches of Datura.

"Yes, I have a lot to do. Plus, I'm out of ink, I need something easier to write with, on Monday I'm going to buy pencils."

"What?"

"Yeah, a pencil, it's like a quill but you don't have to dip it in ink and you can erase it."

Charlie was perplexed. "Does such thing exist? And why have I been using these stupid feathers all my life?"

"It's time to muggle-up a little."

--

 The days that followed passed by without any significant event. Kate decided to isolate Datura in a small glass closet and prayed that the spells she casted served to contain its growth.

She wondered how long she could keep it there.

On Wednesday, Kate decided that she could go take a look at the hospital archives. First mistake. A long corridor awaited her threateningly. Shelves filled with folders stood before her and did not seem to have any kind of sorting system.

She wet her lips and sighed before taking a step. Second mistake.

Something small lunged at her heading straight to her face. “Hey! What do you think this is? A café? You, humans have no respect! And healers are not allowed in here.”

Kate frowned and looked around to identify the source of the voice.

"Hey. Here," a little fairy with glasses snapped his fingers to be noticed. He flew a few meters to stay right in front of her nose. "You can't come in here without permission."

Kate cleared her throat slightly and took a step back. "And who do I need to ask for permission?" The fairy looked at her from top to bottom

"Mine." And with that he went on her way fluttering quickly. "Wait!" The fairy stopped abruptly and addressed her.

"What part didn't you understand? Only mediwizards can read the archives."

"I'm doing an investigation and..."

"To use information for research purposes and public health initiatives you need an authorisation from your direct superior and the director's signature. The information will we strictly de-identified." He made a pause and added putting a hand on his tiny hip "That means that personal details will be removed. Kate resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I know what de-identified means.”

“Good for you. Do you want a medal or…?” He turned around and flew away from her murmuring under his breath.

Kate let out a long and heavy sigh.

--

She stood in front of Nougal’s desk waiting for an answer. He stared at her and blinked once, almost imperceptibly.

“No.”

“But, Nougal…” He raised a hand making her stop mid-sentence. He left his quill on the table and intertwined his hands over the paper he’d been writing on.

“You’ve demonstrated to be one of the most brilliant healers in the unit and you are a valuable member of my team, however, I can’t give you access to the records just for a personal business.”

“But it’s research…”

“One that this hospital is not in charge of.”

She stared at him for a while, her mind working at high speed trying to come up with a way to control the situation.

“You can leave, Williams.”

“What if I became a mediwizard?” she probed.

“Maybe in a year or two you will be ready.”

“I already have three years of experience. I could start studying now.”

“A year as a healer assistant in a school and two more as a mere healer are not enough to promote you to mediwizard, Williams.”

“You’ve just said I am, and I quote: one of the most brilliant healers in the unit.”

“It`s my final word.” He resumed his work and Kate had to accept the conversation was over.

 The word was whining. She was whining and she knew it. She put a pout on her face for the rest of the afternoon and when Rahela pointed it out, she just frowned and murmured a complaint under her breath.

Deciding she didn’t want to change her mood, Kate sat on her desk and resumed doing the paperwork of the day. Patients in, patients out, potions used and spells casted, she’d been so absorbed that when she looked up from her papers, she was almost in complete darkness.

She didn’t bother to change out of her uniform dress. Kate grabbed her leather bag and walked rapidly down the corridor with her coat swishing behind her.

Her steps echoed in the building covering the murmur of the mediwizards doing their night shift.

“Good night, Andrei.” She said to the guard at the door who only acknowledged her with a nod.

She had her hand wrapped around the door handle when a chilling sensation ran down her back. The hairs on her neck stood up in response. Kate looked over her shoulder and saw a figure behind the marble stairs that lead to the first floor.

Gripping her bag more tightly she did a double take and looked up at the guard. “Did you see that?”

He stared at her and raised an eyebrow when she pointed at the stairs. “Right…there.” A mediwizard that was walking down the stairs looked up from her papers and gave Kate a weird look before entering a room.

Kate frowned and left the building shaking her head.

Outside, the cold April air hit her face and she covered herself a little bit more with her coat. She passed by the statue decorating the path and made her way to the apparition point. The feeling of being observed accompanying her with every step.

She didn’t advert the marble eyes that moved in her direction as she apparated.

 Dear Katherine,

I don't know what you're doing, but I advise you to be very careful. This type of plant is forbidden in many places for one reason: no one knows how to control it. Datura stramonium is a very dangerous plant. However, I'll tell you what I know. Also known as Jimsonweed, grows in dry hills, and the wild places of the world. Is a plant of the nightshade family.

All parts of Datura plants contain dangerous levels of the tropane alkaloids which are classified as deliriants.

The amount of toxins varies widely from plant to plant. A given plant's toxicity depends on its age, where it is growing, and weather conditions. The toxic concentration can change by part and even from leaf to leaf.

It is sensitive to frost, so you should shelter it during cold weather.

It’s usually legal to grow datura at home. Just be aware of the high risk of poisoning to pets and children. Sometimes just handling the plant is enough to cause toxic effects.

I had never heard of a plant having that level of destruction, let alone being able to overcome my greenhouse spell. Check the spell and make sure you've done it correctly.

I would like to see your results,

Profesor Sprout.

--

Masterlist

Tag List

@eldritchscreech​

@garbdump​

[objectlemon]

Brand New Underwear

Based on a cool pic made by @genoafterdark

Fan was gently laying on top of his bed, wearing a pair of the many red briefs he had along with his hoodie, writing another post on his blog to add to the nearly endless pile of similar posts.

Suddenly, Fan felt a horrible smell that he had grown already too familiar with. Sweat dripping down Trophy’s body after a workout, a wrenched stench that he had already asked Trophy to put deodorant on top to cover.

He groaned like it was second nature, catching Trophy’s attention.

“You got beef with me, nerd?”

Fan scoffed, how dare he play dumb after having what he considered one of the biggest arguments he ever had about something as stupid as underwear thrown on the floor. “YES! I have to put up with your fucking stench all the time, and you smell so bad that I’m jealous of people who don’t have a sense of smell!”

Trophy got right in front of Fan’s face, making him lightly flinch as he was quickly made aware of the size difference. “Yeah, so?”

“W-well, it’s fucking disgusting”

Trophy mocked Fan by repeating his words, and then getting near him to make him smell his sweat filled armpits, and that’s when Fan quickly moved out of the way and fell on the floor. “G-god dammit! Could you stop acting like a dumbass high schooler for a minute?!”

“Ugh, whatever, you fucking baby.”

Trophy went inside the bathroom and stripped, letting his clothes fall on the floor, small puddles of sweat all over them and lightly staining the floor. “That fucking loser is so annoying. One day I’m gonna make him soak my sweat to see if he stills wants to bitch about it.”

He quickly took a shower, but the thought of making Fan finally shut up made him ponder about of just, getting revenge on him, making the guy who always made a big deal out of a small bit of smell leaving him finally alone.

After a few minutes of scrubbing himself with loads of soap he went out of his room, wrapping a towel around his waist to cover his private parts. He threw the sweat-stained clothes on top of a pile of dirty clothes. Fan just huffed at this, not wanting to pursue any confrontation, despite managing to annoy Trophy even more.

“Yep. That’s it. He’s not gonna fucking go on with this.”

Trophy grabbed a pair of yellow shorts and a white T-shirt that accentuated his muscular figure. He went outside and towards Test Tube’s “secret” lab entrance, although it wasn’t so secret to Trophy and his best friend, Cheesy, since they’ve gone down there a lot, usually to drink booze and smoke a lot of pot.

He pushed the right combination of button presses and fell through the trapdoor, unfazed after doing this so many times.

After a few seconds of being thrown around through the slide he finally came out, falling on his ass and causing him slight pain. “S-shit.”

He quickly got up and focused on the task at hand. After his little brainstorming session in the shower he remembered an otherwise weird day.

Cheesy and him were high, very high. They were testing ray guns that were locked in a cabinet in the lab, nothing Cheesy’s lockpicking skills couldn’t work through.

One of them was a small red gun that was in a box along with a total of 30 old looking cassettes that could fit inside a small compartment in the gun. Trophy grabbed a random one that was labeled as “Chair”.

He fired it towards Cheesy, who was drunkishly laughing. After being hit by it Cheesy started to shift and contort, but his body wasn’t cracking or anything painful, like his body was made of jello, until a chair with a similar pattern to his freckles was standing where Cheesy used to be.

Trophy initially freaked out, thinking he had killed his friend until he realised that the chair was lightly squirming, indicating that Cheesy was, sort of, alive.

He quickly found a cartridge that was labeled “Undo”. He shot it and Cheesy quickly de-contorted into his previous form, huffing and panting.

“W-woah man. That was…”

“Weird? Yeah.”

As he reminisces about that weird yet fun day he quickly found the box where the red ray gun and it’s cassettes were resting.  He searched through the cassettes until he found one that would make Fan stop complaining once in for all- A cassette that was labeled as “Underwear”. Oh man, he was gonna enjoy this a lot.

He also grabbed the undo cassette, in case Test Tube found out and tried to reverse it. Trophy went through the elevator, ray gun in hand and ready to settle their little scuffle.

Trophy slowly creeped his way through the unlit hotel until he arrived in their room, where Fan was sleeping in nothing but a pair of ill-fitting boxers that let his butt stick out a little. How ironic, Trophy thought.

He fired without hesitation. Fan started to do something akin to fold into himself, melting into himself as his legs and arms fused as it turned red, his head contorting and fusing into the melting mess that was slowly forming the shape of a pair of boxers, his peach colored skin turning the same color as his red hair.

Soon after, the only thing in Fan’s bed was a pair of boxers. Soon the boxers started to wiggle lightly, indicating that Fan was now fully conscious that he had been converted into nothing but a pair of underwear.

“I’ve seen that you’ve realised what just happened to you. Your nerd friend works on some really weird shit.” He taunted with a shit-eating grin.

The boxers wiggled again, only moving a few millimeters at most.

Trophy assumed Fan couldn’t see, seeing that both his mouth and eyes had just, vanished during the transformation. “See, I’m really tired from you bitching over and over again from how ‘smelly’ I am, so, I’m gonna show you really up close what my body can do…”

He then took off his clothes and started putting Fan on, the pair of boxers that was once a human continuing to wiggle.

Fan was comfortable, and stretchy. Just the way Trophy liked it.

A huge smile was plastered all across his face, feeling incredibly giddy and funny about the fact that he was wearing Fan.

“Yeah nerd, I’ll be using you in my workouts. Gotta get used to smelling my musk, not like you have a choice anyway.”

Trophy quickly went to sleep, intentionally turning the ceiling Fan off to sweat as much as possible and make Fan take a good load of his musk.

—

Trophy woke up at 2 in the afternoon, with sweat dripping all over him, including Fan’s new body, resting on top of his crotch.

He grinned as he stared the “Undo” cartridge, before looking down at his lightly wiggling undergarments, before going towards the gun and the cartridge and smashing them both, permanently erasing the only way for Fan to come back to being a human.

So, after making sure Fan was gonna make part of his underwear drawer for the rest of his life, Trophy put on some shorts, not bothering to change underwear and went out to jog, making Fan smell his junk and musk for hours.

Fan could only hear and smell, not see or move, and having Trophy’s balls be directly in front of what would be his “face” smelled awful, like he had his armpit constantly pressed against his face. He wanted to puke, but it was physically impossible for him to do so.

Trophy jogged for about four hours, with the smell progressively getting worse for Fan as the sweat continued to pile on.

Fan didn’t know how much time had passed. It could’ve been days, minutes, months, or even years, but one thing was certain. It had to be a nightmare.

After a good workout session, Trophy went back to his room and dumped Fan in the pile of clothes, making sure to NOT wash him and let him keep his smell.

—

It had been three months. Trophy had the same routine ever since that fateful day: put on Fan, who was basically soaked with accumulated sweat from 90 days of being used and workout.

Trophy realised Fan had stopped wiggling. He figured that he gave up and realised whether he wanted it or not, he was a permanent part of his attire, cum and sweat stained, and ready to be used for the rest of its life.