#leave the pathetic white girl alone [me on fighting stance]

[this-is-chaos-magick]

mcu wend–[gunshots] bu-[knife slashing]

I can't take people who calls mcu Wanda...."Wendy" seriously...like come on it's 2024 and almost 2025..I thought we leave that shit in 2021😭

[quitethepirategal]

@emcads​

A CAPTAIN'S JOB WAS TO PUT THEIR CREW,  their ship,  before all else,  and there lay a special sort of burden helming a crew such as this one  ––  a collection of the vulnerable,  the world's  UNDER-LOVED AND THRICE-WRONGED,  with more reason to distrust the lot of humankind than love it.  she was as much captain as mother.  as sister.  as lover.  and it FELL TO HER to see them safe. SQUANDERING  that ... it was a mandate of heaven buried under the heel.  so she hadn't thought twice shouldering out in front of Jess to protect them.  ( not that they needed protecting.  but especially not the naturalist more than a foot taller,  ripping with EARNED MUSCLE and unafraid to show it  )  EL FLOR DE COHETES could wrench an assailant's jaw from their skull if asked for,  and blow the lot of them   to Fiddler's Green and  BEYOND.      

but not this.   the captain could make out hints of their  WRETCHED SUGGESTIONS  underneath the tavern's din.  she hoped Jess avoided the specifics,  for their own sake.

❛❛     I don't see him.  if Giles thinks he can stand me up  in an establishment like this  ...   ❜❜

the captain's voice was level,  but her knuckles turned white on the pommel of her rapier,  itching for a fight ( and knowing better ).  it didn't soothe the rage,  though.  and it didn't dole those bastards out what they deserved:  no doubt Jess was only the LATEST  in a long line of crude comments and RUDER GESTURES,  and no one in their  GOD-FORSAKEN LIVES  had ever bothered to remind them  how preciously close they were to the judgement of their Maker.   if she hadn't had business tonight. if she had been alone,  without a crewmate to model her behavior for,  or had even a few glasses more to drink ...    her jaw set,  mouth tight in a thin line.  the likes of Charles Vane stirred up bar fights.  La Doña Pirata had a reputation to uphold.  at least,  for now.

❛❛    I won't keep you here,  Jess.   it's a pitiable crowd of men even without the god damn  WEASEL  in attendance.  you have my leave to go home if you'd prefer.   ❜❜

                     ...wait...why were they were still laughing...?

      Jess had snarled and turned her chest with balled fists, a clear sign of aggression and a threat but... nothing.  Then her captain ( their superior! ) had made a similar face and stance and possibly cursed them in their direction ( from what she could tell )... but still nothing.  Even with a threat, from a pirate and her captain, the men laughed and jeered and beckoned them closer with filthy fingers that writhed like worms for the taste of a lady’s skin.  They didn’t care of who was strong and who was weak, did they?  They didn’t abide by the same rules that Jess had always known true.  A superior made a posture of demanding respect and they really acted as if the two had blown them kisses...

   Gods.  This was not the Neversea,                                      and this culture was not her own. 

      Time and time and time again Jess had witnessed this sort of thing happen from the day she first set foot here on the Mainland, but only now did it truly sink in at last.

                     She really had no power at all here.  They were just another girl.

    Though her face kept its bared teeth, her furrowed brow began to crumble. Hands begrudgingly unraveled from fists to demurely clasp her bent elbows. Confusion and a pained acceptance diluted the rage into an irritation.  She was not as angry as she should have been, not as offended as she should have been, and knowing that should have just pissed her off more. But it didn’t.  It took the lewd irreverence of five vulturous men to render the stalwart guard dog into a helpless pinned butterfly.     Jess vibrated with a discomfort that smothered her lungs like cotton.  Her heart buzzed in her over stuffed chest and her spine rattled with a dull, alien dread behind her.  She could almost feel a sweaty hand snake around her waist again.  Anxiety bled into shame as she felt herself grow  self-defensive.  Her guts churned into knots as she could pitifully feel her arm lifting itself to actually wave hello at the louts.  Pathetic isn’t it?  To fawn instead of fight?  To let your body move without you?  To pretend you want what the world wants to save yourself the blame....

   But thanks be to the Gods that Jessica was in the company of her Esme!  For from within her uncomfortable cocoon of overthinking she finally noticed that her captain was attempting to address her, and she yanked her own foolish arm down with contempt.

     “ Oh what?  Sorry,”  she snapped out of it, assuming for some anxious reason that the captain hadn’t heard her ( and overwhelmingly thankful for the safety she found in looking directly at her emboldened face. )

   “ I said do ya think yer contact is here yet?  What’s he look like? ”

[golddaggers]

wRoNg

not my gif just randomly taken out of google

pairing: thor x reader

warnings: it’s nsfw, if you squint, there’s a bit of a breeding kink. 

a/n: twice in the same week??? i feel so proud of myself xD but i am hopeful you will enjoy it! leave likes, reblogs or maybe some comments if you do. 

word count: about 1,5k. a quick little ditty.

It was the last thing you should be doing. 

Still, as your hips ground against his, you couldn’t find in yourself to think why it was so bad. You were both in need of releasing tension. What a better way to do that if not in bed? Sure, it wasn’t healthy. Most of the time you hated each other. Always bickering, with bitter remarks about battle stances. You’d say he was always relying on his hammer instead of having a proper fight technique and he’d reply you weren’t exactly playing on muscle strength when using your sorceress powers. It would go on forever if the others wouldn’t chime in saying you were being annoying. 

Much to your surprise, you found him alone drinking. It’d been a rough week. You shouldn’t be so baffled he’d turn to alcohol when you were about to do the same. Sitting side by side, a few drinks on you, you realised he wasn’t so bad after all. Thor could be a nice company if he wanted to. Lighthearted jokes and pearly white smiles. Tomorrow you’d blame it on being intoxicated, but you were, doubtlessly, into him. 

The invite over to your home hadn’t been awkward. Thor accepted it without even blinking twice. An arm wrapping around your shoulders as you both swayed your way out of the dimly lit club. Neither could drive, so you walked. His skin against yours was electrical. Literally. You winced in pain when the shock first hit you, hearing his hoarse voice apologise, thick in his own inebriation. 

Your place wasn’t far. After a few minutes long walk, you were there, fumbling with the keys, trying to get the right one in the lock. As soon as the door clicked closed, he pressed you against it, the lips you fancied kissing on your neck, his warm tongue on your skin, sucking, marking while his hands squeezed your bare arms. It was a summer night, so you were dressed in short Levi’s shorts and an off-shoulder beige shirt.

A strangled sound slipped when he pulled in down, revealing the black strapless bra you had on. You’d be in serious trouble with your neighbours, because the way Thor kept touching you, you simply couldn’t tone it down, moans growing louder as his beard burned each little bit of skin it touched. As if you weren’t in enough trouble as it was, hooking up with a colleague. This sort of thing was forbidden, a sane bit of your brain tried to convince you. But the horny one shrugged it off. 

For a few moments, you just made out. His hands pulled you up to wrap your legs around him, your nails digging into his back, within his white t-shirt, as your lips were entangled, a mess of saliva and tongues. There was nothing sweet. Or romantic. This was all about tension. And boy did you two had a lot of it. His hard-on pressed against you just right. You rolled back against him, borderlining a scream. 

He hooks his fingers to the cups of your bra, pulling so your boobs spill out. The kneading is hard, you almost whimper in pain, but it sends a tingle down to your core, where you’re sure you’re a sopping mess by now. Thor’s mouth starts sucking on one of your nipples, teeth grazing the sensitive skin. A syrupy feeling clouds your brain, and you found yourself whispering his name over and over. 

Effortlessly he takes you to the bedroom, questioning in a half snarl where it was, so you point towards it, shaky. Your back falls to the soft sheets you’ve set your bed with, a loud squeal slipping from you, and again when he rips the shorts in half, showing the purple panties you were wearing. A plea for him to not do the same to your shirt falls from your lips.

There’s a mirror in front of your bed, in which you can visualise your state. Your lips are swollen, hair all frizzy and out of place. Both your shirt and bra are pooled by your waistline. The remains of your shorts fall off when you stand up, to remove them properly. Thor does the same, stripping off the white shirt and dark jeans, kicking off the sneakers as well. 

You watch, holding your breath. He’s so gorgeous. Tight and muscly. He feels like he’s made out of marble. A greek god embodied. Deep blue eyes stare at you then, eating you alive, like a hunter does its prey. You swallow hard, chewing your bottom lip, quaking in anticipation. Breathing comes out in ragged pants as he walks in your direction. 

His voice whispers a “c’mere.”, low, raspy. You’re putty, unsure if your legs will support you any longer, but they do. This man radiates heat, you feel warm all over, though you aren’t sure if it has to do with his body heat or your own arousal. Slick is dripping from you. 

"So wet for me…" He grunts, biting down on your bottom lip, "Tell me, how do you want me?" 

Your lips part. You weren't expecting that. He'd been leading all along, calling the shots. And you've allowed him to do so. The tip of his fingers brush your clit, and your forehead falls to his chest, a hand on his forearm, trying to support yourself. 

It's gentle, the way he's touching you. A thumb circling your nub, the tip of his index finger on your wet entrance, teasing. Your grip on him tightens. 

"I want your fingers, inside me," You manage to say, your mouth open against the tanned skin of his chest, "Please." 

The index slides easily to the knuckle and you roll your eyes. He doesn't rush, going in… Then out. A soft moan slips from you. It pains you that he's going so slow, the throbbing intensifying every time his palm hits your clit and the finger inside curls, touching you ever so intimately. 

"More," Again, it sounds pathetic, a needy girl, "I can take more than that. Please give me more than that." 

There's no need to look at him to know he has a smug grin on his face. You've known him for too long to not know it. Nevertheless, he complies, sliding another one, not once changing the speed. Goosebumps prickled your skin, you were almost crying with how much you needed him. 

He pulls out the second he realises your breathing getting irregular, your teeth biting harder on his peck. You were just on the edge. It's no surprise a groan bubbles on your throat, he chuckles, stealing a kiss from you. 

In the weak light of your room, you've never seen a man so handsome. Blond hair dishevelled, pink lips plump and parted. His body, a wonder.  

"Want you to cum around me." Thor whispers, hoisting you up again, back pressed to the wall. "Are you going to be good for me, sweetheart?" 

His eyes are glossy with desire, underneath you, you feel his dick, hard and throbbing. The air was heavy with desire. Of course you wanted him inside you, stretching and filling you up. So you tell him, breathlessly, "Yes". Thor seems to swell with pride, he loves having that effect on you. 

The room spins when he pushes inside, it's better than you thought it'd be. Your hands grasp his broad shoulders, it's a hopeful way to cope with everything that you're feeling. You could swear even your insides were twitching. 

Much like his fingers, he goes in and out slowly. Grunting like an enraged animal against your neck, squeezing your ass, leaving hand prints behind for sure, bringing your hips toward his with a slap. 

You mumble his name, bringing his head up for a sloppy kiss, your hands securing his cheeks, a burn feeling against your palms. No one had even come closer to making you feel this way, trembling with each snap of his, the subtle bump against your clit as he tried to sink deeper into you. 

"Gonna' cum," Blinded your pleasure, you throw your head back. "So fucking hard." 

"Come on, baby girl, around me, yeah?" His nose nudges your cheek, him too is getting sloppier. 

It's overwhelming when it does happen. A rubber band snapping, and you scream, scratching your nails down his back. Shaking. Lucky you his grip was strong, grounding in place, otherwise you would've fallen to the group, your whole body turning to Jell-O. 

"F-fuck," You stutter, feeling him still rutting, searching for his own release. 

"I'll fill you up," Thor says, rough, "Fill you with my babies. Gonna' swell your belly with them." 

Somewhere inside you, you know it's wrong, you can barely stand each other, but at this point you don't mind. An itching to feel him spend himself inside you, feel hot and wet, filled up with his cum. Which happens soon, you know it's cornering him when he squeezes your waistline. 

Then he caves. And lets out a sound that makes you clench. Hot. That was what he was. A bloody handsome guy who had made you fall apart like it was your regular Thursday. And when he places you in bed, wrapping himself around your body, there's a sense of familiarity you can't shake it off. 

Maybe tomorrow you'll regret it. Tonight, though, tonight you're gonna live like there's no tomorrow. 

[themuzzleofnemesis]

2-Memory of the Forest; Scene 2

The Muzzle of Nemesis, pages 42-53

Narcissus offered to get me a beer, but I refused.

"You know I don't drink, right?"

Perhaps my reply didn’t reach him, drowned out in the hustle and bustle around us.

Narcissus poured the beer into a glass, and then handed it over to me.

"Only immigrants and babies don't drink beer in Elphegort," he said, grinning.

I reluctantly took the glass in my hand.

I didn't really need to drink. I figured I could just pretend to, and brought the glass up to my lips.

“Minors aren’t allowed to drink alcohol in here, miss.”

Before I knew it, the bar’s owner, Hardy, was standing by my side, and had tightly gripped my arm.

"Right…Sorry."

I obediently followed his warning and set the glass back down on the table.

After making sure I did, Hardy turned to glare at Narcissus.

"You too, Narcissus."

“Hey hey, don’t be so harsh on us, you’ll spoil the party.”

“It’s not like you lot were invited--What are members of 'Zeus' doing here?" Hardy pressed Narcissus.

“Does this bar pick its customers?”

“Yeah, it does. This place…is a hang-out for us—for ‘Hades’. It’s not a place for Zeus brats to come play in.”

At some point, the table where we were sitting was surrounded by several men.

They were probably all members of Hades.

Narcissus didn’t even flinch, instead taking on a brazen attitude by putting his feet up on the table. “Yeah…How sad, to see you Hades geezers gathering in a back-alley pub like this, drinking the night away while you grumble about how Zeus stole your turf.”

“Stole our turf? Don’t talk nonsense. We’re the ones who run Aceid.”

“Nobody thinks so now.”          

“—You asshole!”

Hardy punched Narcissus on the cheek.

Taken by surprise, Narcissus was blown behind his chair; however, he immediately stood up again and took on a fighting stance.

“Narcissus!”

I stood up too, but one of the men quickly pinned my arms behind my back.

“Oi, a girl shouldn’t be getting mixed up in fights.”

Without taking his eyes off of Hardy, Narcissus called to the man who was holding me, “Hardy, let’s do this one-on-one. A fist-fight of wills between the two heads of Zeus and Hades, man to man.”

Narcissus made an inviting gesture with his hand towards Hardy.

Narcissus was tall, but Hardy was much sturdier than him. From just physique alone Narcissus had the disadvantage, but he prided himself on his footwork and knew how to throw a punch. I had never seen him lose to anyone in a brawl, at the very least.

Hardy cracked his knuckles, and sidled up to Narcissus.

When they were both within striking range, he indifferently replied, “--Forget it.”

And then all the men around us leaped at Narcissus at once.

“--! You cowardly bastard!”

In the blink of an eye, all of them started to kick at Narcissus as he lay collapsed on the floor.

“Did you really think I’d fall for your cheap provocation?”

Hardy looked down on Narcissus with a sneer on his face.

…Well, it’s come to this.

It had been too much to hope for, to think that we could just barge into enemy territory and get a one-on-one fight.

Narcissus must have known that, but…Well, that was how he was. He had just wanted to show off.

“N-Nemesis, help me!”

Hardy gave a wry smile at hearing Narcissus’ pained cry. “How pathetic. Where’s that attitude from earlier? Trying to get a woman to help you…Hey, little lady.” Hardy turned around to face me. “Don’t you do anything crazy. That is, if you don’t wanna end up like this guy.”

I could feel the man at my back tighten his grip on me.

“…I think I’m good. Brawling’s not really my forte. But—what about my ‘friend’?”

“Your ‘friend’? You mean Narcissus?”

No.

There was someone—or rather, something here aside from Narcissus and I.

“—Mr. Ziz, a little help.”

The moment I called my friend’s name, eight limbs covered in suction cups began to stretch out from under the table.

The tentacles of a large octopus wound around Hardy and the men kicking at Narcissus.

“Wh-what the heck is this!?”

This must have been an unforeseen development for them.

My friend who had been lying in wait under the table then proceeded to slam the men on the ground.

“Uugh…A m-monster…”

It was reasonable for Hardy to say that. I’m positive he’d never seen such an enormous Ziz Tiama before.

And who would ever think of one appearing in the middle of a city like this, so far removed from the ocean?

Freed from the assault on him, Narcissus got up. His clothing was torn in places but it seemed he hadn’t suffered any major damage. He had been endeavoring to protect his face in particular, so there wasn’t a scratch on it.

I pulled away from the man behind me, who was standing there stupefied, and walked up to an unmoving Hardy.

“There’s something I want to ask you, Hardy.”

“…Before that, could ya do something about this octopus’ tentacles? They’re heavy and warm and it’s disgusting…”

“Once you’ve heard me out, I’ll have you released. …Dio Ameth. Does that name ring a bell?”

“Isn’t that a member of Zeus? That’s right, wasn’t he found dead in the northern district just the other day—?”

“Did you do that?”

“…Hm. You think one of Hades bumped him? This is…just a big misunderstanding.”

“Can you prove that?”

“Hey, lady. You oughtta learn a bit of law. If you wanna charge someone with a crime, you’re the one who’s gotta bring the evidence.”

“…”

“Well, whatever. What I can say for now is…We at Hades wouldn’t just kill someone for no good reason. Even if he’s a member of Zeus. And no one in Hades sets foot in the northern district, where all those rich types live.”

Whether he was speaking the truth or not—that I couldn’t say, but he was correct that we had no proof that a member of Hades was the culprit.

“…That’s enough, Mr. Ziz.”

When I spoke up, Mr. Ziz released the members of Hades and retreated back under the table, shrinking down.

“Let’s head home, Narcissus.”

“Hey hey, that’s it? Shouldn’t you question them more—”

“We’ve gone this far and they still haven’t confessed, so I’m pretty sure they really don’t know anything.”

I moved to leave the bar with Narcissus and Mr. Ziz in tow.

“Wait.” Hardy called me back. “It’s a bit of a faulty expression, to say we don’t know anything.”

“…So it was you after all.”

“No no, that’s not what I mean. What I wanna say is…if he was killed in the northern district, then he’s probably involved in it.”

“Who?”

“—Midas Touch. He’s a guy who’s rich, but has also got a lot of sinister rumors about him. You should try looking into him.”

“…Thanks for the information. –Well then, let’s go, Narcissus.”

“Yeah…Hold on just a sec, I forgot something.” Narcissus vaulted over the counter and snatched up several of the bar’s proceeds. “Thanks for paying my doctor’s fees, Mr. Hardy♪”

Hardy clicked his tongue, but made no move to stop him.

.

We would need to investigate into this man named Midas Touch, but nighttime was already upon us.

We decided to disband for today; I bid Narcissus goodbye and started to head home.

There were many people who gave me strange looks on the way.

--Thinking on it sensibly, they must have been creeped out by the sight of a girl walking along with an octopus clinging to her back.

But there wasn’t much good in worrying over that tonight.

Rather, I was worried about Mr. Ziz. He’d been up on dry land for an awfully long time today, so his body was becoming pretty dried out.

I figured I ought to get him back in some water first before I headed home.

A little ways out of town I finally arrived at the Millennium Tree Forest. The only people allowed to live here, given that it’s holy land, were those who had dispensation from the Sisters of Clarith to do so. I showed my pass to the nuns who watched over the forests’ entrance and they wordlessly opened the path.

I headed west through the forest. After pressing on a ways farther, the forest opened up and I arrived at the coast--but that wasn’t my destination.

There was a hermit cave separate from the forest—inside it had a cavity with a radius of about twenty meters wide, and most of it was an underground lake. Though its water was too salty to drink. It probably connected to the ocean nearby.

There was a tent set up near the coastline, and nearby there was an old man kindling a bonfire.

He was an eccentric who had always lived in that cave.

“Mr. Nikolay, you’re still up.”

When I spoke to him, he smiled at me through his white beard.

“Oh my, if it isn’t Nemesis. It’s quite a chilly night.”

“Can I have you take care of Mr. Ziz again?”

“Sure. Though it’s not like I really do much. Mr. Ziz is such a clever octopus, after all…Go on, let him loose in the lake.”

Once I’d put him in the water, Mr. Ziz started to swim around in it happily.

I used to keep him in a tank when I was little, but as I grew up he too got steadily bigger, until he could no longer fit into the tank I had on hand. I didn’t have enough money to buy him a bigger one, so for now I would just let him roam free.

Actually, Mr. Ziz was currently in his smaller state. Bizarrely enough he was able to alter the size of his body to some extent at will, and when he was at his biggest his body was close to fifty meters long. When he did that, even this little underground lake would be too cramped for him.

Should I return him to the ocean after all? –When I asked that out loud, Nikolay shook his head.

“You ought not to do that. Right now the ocean is just as chaotic as our society. It may be hard for Mr. Ziz to live in it, having been raised by a human.”

“You think there are Ziz Tiamas even bigger than Mr. Ziz in the ocean?”

“I haven’t seen any, at the very least. There is a legend about an enormous Ziz Tiama attacking pirates once, but…Well, I don’t know how true that is.”

Nikolay gazed upon me and the swimming Mr. Ziz for a little while, but eventually he drew back to his bonfire, opened his sketchbook, and started to paint something.

--Nikolay Tolle. The self-styled artist. For as long as I could remember, he had always lived here. He was almost like a father to me.

I didn’t know my real father’s face. He had left before I was born…That’s all my mother had told me about him.

My mother didn’t stay at home much either. Sometimes she’d suddenly go missing for weeks, or months at a time…There were even times when she wouldn’t come back for years. Right now she was in the middle of one of these “outings”, and today marked the four hundredth and sixty second day since I had last seen my mother.

She was a screenwriter by trade, and she told me that she wandered the world in search of interesting subjects to write about. I had once begged her to take me along, crying, but she’d refused on the grounds that it was dangerous for a child.

Nikolay was apparently an old friend of my mother’s. I didn’t know much of their relationship and I’d never really asked, but they seemed…a little too far apart in age to be old lovers. Nikolay was her senior by thirty years at least. There were times when I had wondered if he was Mom’s dad—in other words, my grandfather. But if that was the case they’d have no reason to hide it, and he also wouldn’t need to be living so far away from our home like this.

I’d learned many things from him. Cooking, how to fish, how to tell poisonous mushrooms from ones that were safe to eat, and so on…My being able to live in this forest was thanks to the knowledge I’d gotten from Nikolay.

The most interesting study out of all of them was “magic”. Under the condition that I didn’t recklessly use it in front of other people, he had taught me how to use several strange powers. The fact that Mr. Ziz would listen to what I told him was, actually, a result of those powers—though unfortunately it seemed I didn’t have a lot of magical ability, so no matter how hard I tried I was never able to use the fantastic abilities that Nikolay could.

“What are you painting?”

I peered at Nikolay’s picture from behind.

…Was it a figure painting? It looked like a girl, but the pictures he painted were too abstract, and so I could never figure them out immediately.

“—It’s my daughter,” Nikolay briefly replied while moving his brush.

“Daughter? You have a daughter?”

“I do. Though I haven’t seen her for some time.”

This was the first time I had ever heard him speak of a family.

But Nikolay said no more on the topic, and silently continued painting.

“…Are you still hanging out with those kids in town?” he suddenly asked me after some time had passed.

“You mean the members of Zeus? Well…yeah.”

“You should take it easy. Nothing good will come from associating with punks like that.”

“Weren’t you the one who told me I needed to ‘make friends my own age’?”

“I said that because I wanted you to go to school. Your mother is paying for your tuition, isn’t she?”

“…School is so boring. Being with Narcissus and the others is so much more exciting.”

“But that ‘excitement’ involves causing trouble for other people. Extortion, mayhem…You keep that kind of stuff up, eventually the police will—”

“Save the lecture. I’m tired, so I’m heading back.”

I started home, listening to Nikolay sigh behind me.

<<prev------directory------next>>

[hot-wiings]

Comment If You'd Like To Be Added To The Taglist.

Edited: 5-5-20

Kai had his hand on your back as you walked together to the room where he would once again be meeting with the league of villains, however this time he wouldn't be meeting with their leader.

This time he wouldn't be meeting with the leader but rather some of the men that Shigaraki temporarily traded to Kai over whatever business they had excluded you from when they went to talk in private.

Kai led you back to the same couch with the same glass table. Not wanting to work Kai up, you quickly took your seat and kept your head hung low.

You were sure you looked as pathetic as you felt. All scared and polite. You were hugging yourself and made yourself look as small as possible. You were simply playing the game to survive.

You weren't sure why Kai even brought you to another business meeting, especially after he excluded you from parts of the last one. You were nearly positive that Kai was letting you out of the bedroom as a reward for the way he forced himself on you the previous night.

But no amount of rewards would make up for it. No amount of rewards could make up for the way he made you feel.

It wouldn't make up for the way you flinched when someone touched you. It wouldn't make up for the way you couldn't look people in the eyes.

It wouldn't make up for the way you felt so lonely, and naked under the gaze of everybody you passed. It wouldn't make up for the nagging voice in the back of your head that said you deserved it, that it would've been avoided if you loved him better.

You truly didn't know if you wanted to hate Kai for doing it, or if you wanted to hate yourself for not fighting him better.

Kai sat down next to you and you slightly flinched. You tried not to pull away from him, but you did. You raised your head and saw him look over at you, and the look in his eyes said it all. You shouldn't have flinched, you shouldn't have pulled away. You knew once the meeting was over you would be in trouble.

You lowered your head again and bit on your lip as the group of villains came into the room. They stood across from you and you stared at their shoes, too intimidated to meet their eyes.

The first pair of shoes were brown. They stopped above the ankle and the wearer had grey knee-high socks. The second person had ash-white shoes, they looked like they were leather or latex, you weren't sure. The last pair of shoes were a pair of combat boots.

You were sure the combat boots belonged to Dabi, the villain you met at the last meeting. Your lips slowly quipped into a smile. Kai could take everything. You freedom, your dignity, but he wouldn't have this.

Kai had yet to figure out how you destroyed the ties of your dress. He would never know that it was Dabi, a random man showing you an act of kindness. This was one thing you would always have, a secret Kai would never know. Despite the naked, violated feeling Kai gave you, you could find solace in the stapled mans smile. 

"My name's Toga and I was told to come here. Hiya."

"Long time no see, birdman. Be warned, I'll never forgive you. So happy to be on the team!"

"Dabi." 

Despite the second man's half peppy sentence, you could tell the group of villains weren't happy about being here. You wondered what it was Kai must have done to them to cause such anger, but it wasn't hard to guess.

"Wonderful. Sorry about the whole Magna thing. It's unfortunate, I didn't wanna kill him."

"You mean her."

"Don't make that mistake again."

You could tell Kai wasn't really remorseful, he was just playing nice with his new lackeys. If anything, he was remorseful because he had to get his hands dirty. 

"Anyway, this is no time to be making grudges, we're on the same team now. I want your help with my plan."

"Bastard, you tried to play it cool the first time we met too, like you don't care about anything. So what are our orders?"

"Just follow what I tell everyone else in the organization. But first things first. I want the details of your quirks. It'll be easier for us to work together if I can fully understand what you do."

You couldn't help but let your eyes linger on Dabi's face. You knew you shouldn't stare, especially with your boyfriend next to you, but you couldn't find the will to care. The more you thought of Kai or anyone associated with him, you thought of the way he held you down. But when you looked at Dabi, you thought of the way he smited the ties off your dress. You thought of the way he helped you. 

"I think I'll tell you about my powers when you need to know about them, and just so we're clear, I don't like you people."

"I agree with Toga, we'll tell you when we feel like it. Won't get anything outta me. No way. My lips are sealed."

"What is your quirk?"

Memento, using his quirk, forced the ash-colored villain to talk.

"I can make doubles of anything. I can make two doubles at a time. Huh, what just happened. It's like the words just tumbled out of my mouth."

"So much for my lips are sealed."

"What is your quirk."

"If I drink someone's blood I can turn into them. If I drink lots of blood I can turn into multiple people."

The girl, Toga, looked shocked that the information was pulled out of her. Memento turned his eyes to Dabi, ready to force him to pipe up with his own quit. However Dabi spits the information out willingly, he must have realized Memento had a quirk which could force his words.

"Cremation. I can create blue flames from my hands."

"One more thing. Did Shigaraki say anything about betraying me." 

The three villains each say different variations of no in unison. You wondered if they were lying based on their body stance, but Dabi seemed calm. Although, you suspected you could kill someone in front of him and he would be calm. Something about the teal eyed villain gave you vibes that he was a chill guy.   

"Alright then, I'll accept you as members of the Shie Hassaikai. You'll be part of my temp squad, except for you. Your staples are too attention-grabbing. I want you to stay inside the facility and watch her. Follow her around wherever she wants, just don't let her leave or see Eri."

Kai leaned down and whispered in your ear. 

"See, good girls get rewards." 

It wasn't a reward but a punishment. Punishment in the form of a reward. A punishment for flinching away from his touch. He knew this would kill you. The ability to roam around the base but not being allowed to see her, not even being allowed to break his rules because his dirty little worker would be watching you. It was going to kill you. 

Kai got up from the couch and beckoned for Toga and Twice to follow him, leaving you and Dabi alone. Dabi sat down pulled his shoes up on the couch and you had to smile, Kai would so strongly disapprove of it. But as quickly as the smile came, it disappeared.  

You hadn't noticed it at the time but Dabi was observing your expressions, just as he had been observing them when he first met you.

Dabi couldn't help but notice how you smiled at him, but this was a different kind of smile. This with the type of smile he remembered from his childhood. The kind of smile he remembered his mother showing people. He only hoped that the circumstances of your expression were different.

"Who's Eri?"

"Eri is my little sister." 

"How come Kai said your not allowed to see her?"

"His whole operation revolves around her, and I don't really condone or support his actions."

Dabi gets off the couch he was sitting on and walks over to the one your on. He peered down at you and held his hand out for you to grab. 

"I told your little boyfriend Shigaraki wasn't planning to betray him. That didn't include me betraying him. Let's go find your sister." 

"Really?"

Your lips quipped up into a huge smile and Dabi looked away as his cheeks heated up. Your smile was so wide and bubbly, it was ethereal. There were only three people who smiled like that because of Dabi, but they were long gone from life. He liked the feeling he got when he made you smile, it reminded him of his childhood. 

"Yeah. It'll be a secret between us." 

[ronninoir]

Can I Steal You for a Second? CH16

Summary: Adrien is forced to participate in a new dating show, but becomes more excited when Ladybug says she’ll participate as her civilian self.

AKA: AU where Adrien doesn’t know Marinette, the superheroes are 22 and Gabriel is mean and ruthless but not Hawkmoth.

Read on AO3

Start from the beginning Chp 1 on AO3

Chapter 16

(Please enjoy this EXTRA LONG chapter because I can and I hope you're ready for what this chapter entails, cause it's a fun one.)

Marinette woke up excited. She was going to get to see Adrien today! It felt as though the whole house was buzzing. Alice came back from her one-on-one with a rose and Juliette was calmly helping Hanna get ready. Everyone else was in a frenzy. They knew that with so many girls on one date, they would have to fight for time. Marinette was just hoping that some girls (cough cough Lila) didn’t take that literally.

When it was time to leave, Marinette and Hanna gave Juliette a hug. “Have fun! Kick some ass!” Juliette called as they ran for the van, which made both Hanna and Marinette burst into giggles the minute the set foot on the van. The ride didn’t feel very long with all of the girls chatting with each other and in no time, they were pulling to a stop.

They were greeted by a producer who led them inside a warehouse with a smile. As they followed, they were greeted with what was obviously a film set of some sort. It looked a lot like what the mansion looked like on Cocktail Party nights with cameras and lights and microphones everywhere. They walked further into the space and was greeted both by Adrien, who looked handsome as always, and another man who looked to be in his late 20s.

“Hello ladies, and thank you for joining me today,” Adrien began, smiling at all of them in turn. “I have something super exciting planned for you. Most of you may not know this, but my mother was an actress before she disappeared. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to star in a movie and today we will be doing just that. I have here with me a popular film director, Jean Vigo, who is going to be directing our film today.”

The other man stepped forward and addressed the girls, “Yes, hello to you all. Today we are going to be filming a short movie, which will be a mystery. Someone has stolen Adrien’s heart and he will have to search through the list of suspects to see who has it. All of you have assigned parts and will be fitted for costumes. First, let’s pass out scripts and I need you to begin memorizing lines.”

Marinette waited as a crew member stepped forward and began calling out the girls’ names. They each had a script, which was about 13 pages long, with their names on it and their highlighted lines marked. Marinette would be playing the role of the undercover detective, who was sent to aid Adrien in his investigation without him knowing.

Marinette was actually really excited about this. Although she had been separated from Hanna, who was playing the role of a lawyer, Marinette, out of all the girls, would get to spend the most time with Adrien while practicing and shooting.

She was in the first group to be fitted for costumes, which meant she’d be memorizing her lines while waiting on everyone else to be fitted. She was wearing this sexy red dress that had a low neckline and the sleeves were off-the-shoulder while going into a full long sleeve. It had a sparkle to it, and clung to Marinette in just the right places.  It also had a fake holster on her thigh, which made Marinette feel both sexy and uncomfortable. Inside the holster was a fake gun, a fake knife, and her badge. Right at the end of the movie, after Marinette revealed that she was the undercover cop, she would seductively pull out her badge and gun. The costume department did a wonderful job dressing her and she was waiting for the rest of the group to be done. She was spending some time memorizing her lines when she heard a shrill scream from nearby.

“OH MY GOSH! I can’t believe that I DON’T get to kiss Adrien in the movie! Who in the WORLD wrote this script? And you’re making me wear THIS? Is this EVEN a Gabriel original, because I’m a model and know good style. This is NOT good style! This is TRASH and I REFUSE to be a part of this!”

Marinette had to stifle an eye-roll. Lila was already causing a scene and they had only just arrived at the date. Marinette was silently hoping that Adrien would hear about this outburst and have a good reason to kick her out, but she tried not to get her hopes up.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Rossi. But, that’s your assigned costume and not every girl can have a kiss scene with Adrien. Miss Dupain-Cheng doesn’t have a kiss scene and she’s not complaining.” Why did I have to get dragged into this? Marinette wondered as she slowly turned towards the crew member talking with Lila. Lila chose that moment to shoot Marinette a glare, which Marinette returned with a smile.

“Well if Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng can get over it, then I guess I can too. She is the favorite after all. I want to be just like her.” Lila’s voice was as sweet as a macaroon and stung like poison. Lila slowly approached Marinette and she took that time to size her up. Lila was currently barefoot, and Marinette discovered that she wasn’t as tall as she made herself seem, only a couple of inches taller than Marinette. She was also dressed in a typical maid outfit, black and white dress, modest skirt length, odd looking headband. She was very angry, though, and Marinette knew something was about to go down and was preparing herself for a fight. But, when Lila put her hand gently on Marinette’s shoulder and leaned forward towards Marinette’s ear, she was so in shock she didn’t do anything.

“Come with me,” Lila whispered in a deadly way.

 Marinette did as she was told, half curious and half trying not to make more of a scene. The two girls ended up in a bathroom together, since the cameras can’t follow anyone into a bathroom.

Lila roughly pushed Marinette inside and after Marinette had righted herself with a frown, she crossed her arms and stared Lila down. Lila copied her stance and crept closer to Marinette.

“I knew you would be the problem child on the first night.” Marinette rolled her eyes but Lila ignored it. “You have done nothing but ruin all of my well thought out plans. I am meant to marry Adrien Agreste. You have no hope of winning his affections and honestly, you’re so pathetic I’m having trouble seeing you as actual competition. You need to sit down and leave me and my future husband alone, do you hear me? If you keep up this ‘I’m the perfect child’ act, I’ll have no choice but to turn all of your friends against you and force the public to see me as the good guy.”

Marinette had to admit that the speech was slightly terrifying. Thankfully, being Ladybug for so long, had rubbed off some of that courage and strength into her normal, everyday life. Plus no one talks about her Kitty that way. “Leave me alone. You have no ‘right’ over Adrien and you don’t own him. He is here to make his own decisions and you have to play by the rules just like everyone else.”

Lila paused, but only for a minute, before stepping even closer to Marinette. They were merely inches away when she dropped her voice and whispered with a straight tone, “Give me your dress.”

“Excuse me?” Marinette asked incredulously, while taking a step back to better look at Lila.

“I said, give me your dress. I’m going to play the sexy detective and you are going to play the pathetic maid and just spend the entire movie dusting and being annoying.”

“No.” Marinette muttered that word with all of the contempt and confidence she could muster.

Lila looked as though she had been slapped and reached out and pulled on a sleeve of Marinette’s dress. “Fine, then I’ll take care of it myself.” She gripped Marinette’s arm with a vice like grip and yanked down. Marinette heard the fabric ripping and watched as her sleeve fluttered to the floor. Marinette bent to pick it up, anger rising, and when she looked back, Lila had turned and was looking at herself in the mirror. She had her hand raised and was looking as if she was going to high-five herself or something odd when a huge CRACK was heard.

Marinette couldn’t believe her eyes. Lila had slapped herself. She had tears running down her face and a red hand print was beginning to appear. She gave Marinette a devious smile before reaching for the doorknob of the bathroom door.

“I can’t believe it, Marinette!” Lila yelled as she opened the door to the camera crew waiting outside. Her tears were flowing down her cheeks and someone was rushing up to Lila immediately to help her. “I thought you were my friend! Just leave me alone!” Lila cried as she was ushered away by a producer. Marinette could only stare after her in shock as a producer rushed up to her and said, “Well, looks like we need an interview.”

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

Adrien had just finished putting on his costume and was working on his lines when the producer who had originally told Adrien about Gabriel’s plans for the show, Mark, rushed up to him in a hurry. He’d never seen a producer rush before and was curious as to what the occasion would be.

“So sorry to bother you Adrien, but something’s happened you need to know about.”

Mark’s tone of voice put Adrien on edge. He stood up quickly, forgetting his script and followed him to a room off to the side, near where the girls were getting ready. Inside was Lila and she looked a mess. She was dressed in an adorable maid outfit that actually made Lila seem older and more mature. Adrien’s attention, however, was quickly drawn to the red handprint shaped mark on her cheek and the tears running down her face.

“Oh my gosh, Lila what happened?”

At that, she broke down into sobs, and between the sobs Adrien was able to piece together the story. She was in the bathroom fixing her make-up, when Marinette came storming and claiming that Lila was ruining all of her plans and that she was meant to be with Adrien. Lila tried to tell her that she meant no harm when she freaked out and told Lila that she would turn all of her friends against her and that she would look like the good guy. Lila tried to calm Marinette and accidentally ripped her dress. Marinette freaked out and slapped Lila.

Adrien was having a hard time processing this. It didn’t make sense. Marinette didn’t seem like the kind of girl to go off and become violent with anyone. He thought back to the Marinette that said all of those wonderful things about him multiple times Saturday night. This didn’t sit right and he needed to get to the bottom of it. Adrien remembered what Plagg had told him, about dealing with the drama. “Lila, I’m so sorry this happened to you. Let’s get you fixed up and ready to go for the movie and I’ll see you in a bit okay?” He turned on his heel and walked right out the room, itching to find Marinette and see what her take on this was.

As Adrien searched through the warehouse where they were filming, he knew he should be memorizing his lines but was much more concerned about this. He had to do what Plagg suggested and solve this before it got too big to handle. Finally, he found Marinette, leaving another small room with a camera crew and looking harassed.

“Marinette! I’m glad I found you. We need to talk.” Marinette looked almost upset at those words but solemnly nodded and gestured for him to lead the way. He led her to the boys bathroom, knowing full well that no one else would need it and that way they could talk without the cameras following them. Maybe he could get the full truth from her with more privacy.

“So,” Adrien began watching Marinette and her reactions closely. “I was just talking with Lila.” At that, Marinette’s eyes flared. Adrien took a step back away from Marinette, but continued anyway. “She said—”

“I don’t care what she said, it's totally false. I did not touch her, I did not say anything to her except defend you when she claimed that she owned you. She is the one who ripped my dress after asking me to switch roles with her. She also slapped herself right after she threatened me and I was too stunned to say anything. Plus, who would believe me? Who in their right mind would slap themselves? Adrien,” She grabbed his arm and forced him to meet her eyes, “I promise that I have nothing to do with this.” Marinette was breathing heavily and had tears streaming down her face. Adrien noticed that she was gorgeous while determined and crying, and his heart twinged a little. He shook his head to clear it, he couldn’t be thinking of how pretty she was when he was supposed to be clearing the air.

She looked up at him with a fierce determination and he could tell that she was telling the truth. He had gotten to know her well enough to know for sure. Plus, she once told him that she always keeps her promises, and she has given him no reason to doubt her. Lila on the other hand messed with Marinette at the last rose ceremony and seems to thrive off of drama. That gave him reason to doubt her.

“You have to believe me, Adrien. I would never lie to you.”

He immediately thought of Ladybug. She had that same look in her eyes when fighting an akuma, or telling Chat that she knew where the akuma was located. He trusted her blindly and it always worked out for him. Now, he owed Marinette that same trust.

“I believe you, but the other girls won’t. Lila seems really upset,” at that Marinette rolled her eyes, “and I can’t allow this drama to be present or made to seem okay.” He paused for a minute, thinking up a plan. “Okay, I have an idea.”

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

Adrien walked Marinette to the main room where they could clearly be seen by the cameras. He made sure there was some sort of distance between them and he led her straight to the room where he had left Lila, who was graciously still there.

“Marinette, Lila, I know something happened earlier today that needs to be discussed. I’ve heard each of your takes on the story and I have decided what’s the best thing to do with both of you. Lila, I want you to be cleaned up and ready to play the maid in the movie.” Lila’s face flashed a look of anger before going back to a calm demeanor.

“Whatever you want, Adrien. But, what will happen to Marinette?” Lila asked with a sniffle, getting up calmly from her chair. Adrien was hoping that she would think he sided with her, as the rest of the girls and crew would side as well. Adrien was just hoping that he could catch the camera crew that followed the girls to the bathroom before Lila did.

“As for Marinette,” Adrien made a show of turning towards her. She did a wonderful job of looking very upset and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Adrien took a deep breath and tried to sound as much like his Father as he could. “She is going to be excused from the day-portion of the date. She and I will have a talk tonight at the evening portion and her fate will be decided then.”

Lila seemed satisfied with that answer and sauntered out of the room, making sure the give Adrien a peck on the cheek as she left. Adrien, now slightly blushing watched as the rest of the crew followed after her. He turned towards Marinette again and asked, “Can I walk you out?” She nodded and he led her towards the exit of the warehouse, making sure no one was following them.

He grabbed her hand before she got in the van. “This isn’t goodbye. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

Marinette nodded and, without warning, pulled Adrien into a hug. His arms automatically wrapped around her and he couldn’t help but take in her smell and the feel of her in his arms. It was something he could get used to.

“I trust you,” Marinette whispered into his chest, where her head rested. He couldn’t help but smile at that as he let her go and opened the van door for her.

“Tonight.” He reminded her, not wanting to let go of her hand.

“Tonight.” She gave his hand a squeeze and then let go and shut the door.

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

Adrien felt a tug on his heart as he watched the car leave the lot. As soon as it had turned the corner, he rushed back inside and beelined for the main producers.

“I need footage of the fight that happened between Marinette and Lila.” He always forgot how much like his Father he could sound like until moments like these. He was directed towards the crew that followed them and was allowed to watch the tape.

All that could be seen was the bathroom door, but everything was clearly heard. The hardest part was that since there is no way to know who was saying what, exactly, both Marinette and Lila’s story could be true. He pulled aside one of the producers and asked if some sort of voice recognition could be done on the video so he could know exactly who said what. He was told that it was possible, it would just take a couple of days, maybe even a week to complete.

Adrien nodded and returned to the fake movie set, where his script and un-memorized lines were waiting.

A couple hours later, Adrien was dressed in a decent suit and casually making a movie with 11 beautiful girls. They had cut out Marinette’s character completely, and he ended up having a kiss scene with every girl willing, including Lila. Each one put their full effort into the date, even if some of them were not very good actresses. Overall, Adrien decided the date would have been more fun if Marinette had been there to enjoy it with him.

Word got around quickly (thanks to Lila, no doubt) that Marinette had been asked to leave the day portion of the date. He had to reassure a hyperventilating Hanna that Marinette would be at the night portion of the date and that he had not kicked her out of the house. He was approached by others, both worried about Marinette’s safety and claiming her innocence.

“Adrien,” the cool, crisp voice of Kagami cut through his thoughts as he watched the girls pack up to leave for the night portion. “Can we talk?” Adrien smiled at her and gestured to a more secluded corner where no cameras were sure to find them.

“What’s up?”

“It’s about Marinette. I need to tell you that she did not harm Lila.”

Adrien was a little taken aback by her statement. Kagami didn’t ever seem to interact with the other girls and only talked with Adrien privately. He had never even seen Kagami interact with Marinette, especially be friends with her enough for her to come to Marinette’s defense.

“I didn’t realize you and Marinette are close.”

“We aren’t. I just know that she is innocent. I am very perceptive of these things and I can usually read the motives or the thoughts of a person before most. When I saw Lila after the incident, her motives were clear.”

Adrien waited for Kagami to elaborate, but she didn’t. He sighed and bit back a small smile. Kagami was interesting, and someone that Adrien could definitely see himself falling for. But, there was a side of her that didn’t seem to understand a lot of social situations, much like himself. He really grew to care for her during their fencing date. He felt as though that was the first time she opened up and connected with Adrien, without even saying a word.

He knew that pushing Kagami to clarify would only lead him to be more confused, so he instead rested a hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for telling me, Kagami. I appreciate you bringing more clarity to the situation.” She gave him a slight bow, like they would at the beginning of a fencing match, before walking away.

All the signs pointed to Marinette being in the right, but without a confirmed voice recognition test tonight, he was going to have to treat Marinette like the bad guy.

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

Marinette had never been more nervous for the second half of a date. Last week she was addressed by Gabriel Agreste himself, and this week she would have to be on the receiving end of Adrien’s anger, even if it wasn’t true. He had told her his plan with the voice recognition software, but if there was one thing that Alya taught her, it was that things like that take time, which means that she wouldn’t be liked by many tonight.

She had the whole afternoon to change and prepare for the evening portion of their date and was itching to see other people again. She met up with the group right outside of the hotel that was hosting them tonight, and was ushered to the back of the group as they were filmed entering.

She could feel both the cameras and Hanna watching her more than normal and she sighed as the realization that it was going to be like that the whole date hit her. She sat at the edge of the couch, right in Lila’s eye sight, and waited for Adrien to come and make his toast.

Before too long, Adrien entered, smiling and looking handsome, as usual. Just the sight of him in a suit got her heart racing and made her palms sweaty. “Long time no see, ladies.” Adrien smirked, causing all of the girls to laugh. Marinette gave a weak chuckle. “It’s so wonderful to see you all in your normal clothes, and may I say you all look stunning tonight.” Adrien’s eyes swept the group and landed on Marinette. She felt a slight blush hit her cheeks and she quickly looked down at her lap, hoping no one caught the slight edge of her smile.

“I am so excited to talk with each of you tonight and I want you all to know that I value your feelings and opinions very much.” On that ominous note, Adrien turned towards Marie with a smile and a, “Can I steal you for a second?” to which he received a nod.

Once Adrien was out of earshot, the girls began chatting and Hanna grabbed Marinette’s wrist. “Let’s go to the bathroom.”

Marinette gave her a weak smile and followed her to the closest bathroom, locking the door behind her. She then turned on both of the sinks. “What are you doing?”

“Making background noise so no one can hear what’s being said outside.” Hanna said with the most serious face Marinette had ever seen her wear.

Marinette smiled, “That’s brilliant!”

The girls retreated as far from the door as they could and Marinette explained her side of the story to Hanna. When she had finished, Hanna was shaking with anger.

“That girl! Ugh! What does she have against you to continuously target you?”

“I don’t know, but Hanna we have to let it go. I promise that I have a plan and Adrien believes me, he believes that I’m innocent.” Marinette gently placed her hands on Hanna’s shoulders, the physical touch calming her slightly.

“I just don’t want to see anything happen to you, Marinette. You’re one of my best friends, tied with Juliette of course.”

“And I don’t want anything to happen to you, which is why you need to stay out of it. I’m used to fighting people like Lila and I can’t let you get twisted in this battle she’s created.” Marinette pulled Hanna in for a hug and they just held each other for a minute. “Just think of Lila like one of the akumas I’ve had to deal with. My best friend back home told me that, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing.’ Lila is the evil here, and I’m the good people. Just like in my stories. Good always wins.”

“Ladybug and Chat Noir always save the day.” Hanna said, pulling away from Marinette and giving her hands a squeeze.

Hanna had no idea how true that statement actually was.

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

Adrien was having flashbacks to his first night ever being the Bachelor: so many girls and very short conversations. At least this time he knew all of their names.

He had purposefully saved Lila and Marinette for last, hoping to spend more time with each of the girls smoothing out the fight from earlier. The last thing he needed was another akumatization of one of the girls. Lila was first, and he didn’t have a clue what he was going to say. Without his proof, he couldn’t confront her, so his main goal of the talk was to just keep her calm and content until he could confront her with the truth when he had it.

When Lila was instructed to interrupt his conversation with Camille, Adrien plastered on a fake smile and reminded himself that it would all be over soon.

“Hey gorgeous,” she teased as she gave Adrien a hug and a kiss. He made sure it was a short one and had her sit down with him to talk.

“How are you doing after everything today?” He asked, trying hard not to let the anger color his voice.

She had the audacity to give him a sad smile and a sniffle before replying, “I’m doing much better. Thank you so much for dealing with Marinette. She’s been so mean to me since the first night in the mansion and I just didn’t know how to tell you.” She sounded like a small child talking about their lost puppy, and Adrien worked to keep the grimace off of his face.

“I’m sorry you’ve had to endure that, especially here on the show. All I want is for all of you to be happy and comfortable while I work out how I feel about everyone.”

Lila gave a giggle that was probably supposed to be cute, but Adrien wasn’t about it. “You are the sweetest thing.” She had begun to play with his tie, which if he remembered correctly from various movies he had watched meant that she was probably flirting with him. Adrien took that as a good sign that she couldn’t see how upset he was with her.

She gave him a look that could only be described as sultry and leaned in close enough for their breaths to mix. “What is your heart saying about me?” He stuttered slightly, not prepared for their proximity for each other and knowing that the truthful answer wouldn’t please her. She took his silence as something other than the uneasiness that it was and moved even closer to him, to where she was sitting on his lap. “Or are you paying attention to what the other parts of you are saying?” Adrien gulped and her hand started to slip from his tie towards the bottom of his shirt. He quickly intercepted it and twined his fingers through hers to prevent her from trying to do whatever she was planning on doing again.

Adrien swallowed and gave a weak smile, “My heart is telling me that there is more to you than meets the eye, and that I want to get to know you even more as our time together continues.” Technically that wasn’t a lie.

“Does that mean you want me to stick around?” Lila asked playfully. He had forgotten that she had two hands, so when the other one began petting his hair, he almost jumped. But he quickly smiled to cover his skittish movements when an idea popped into his head.

“Actually, I do.” The smile on her face almost made him gag. “I was going to wait to ask you next week, but I was hoping you’d do me the honor of having a one-on-one date with me.”

Lila’s smile got bigger and she leaned in for a kiss. This one lasted longer and Adrien had a harder time pushing her off of him. “Oh, Adrien I would love to have some more alone time with you,” she gushed.

“We’re still going to have to go through the formalities with the date card and whatnot. Plus, you can’t tell a soul, it’s just between me and you for now.” She nodded and leaned in for another kiss. He was so over this kissing.

Adrien’s saving grace came in the form of heels clicking from afar, which made Lila pull back. She gracefully slid off of Adrien’s lap and gently grabbed his hand, making it look like nothing had transpired between them right as Marinette rounded the corner. Marinette smiled nervously and Adrien stood up, taking Lila with him. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to have a serious conversation with Marinette now.”

Lila nodded solemnly and pulled him in for one last hug. He counted to five before pushing her away and letting go of her hand. His gaze immediately went to Marinette and his whole body seemed to relax. He made sure to make his smile look grim as he caught her hand and led her to the chaise.

“So, how was the rest of the date?”

“What are your thoughts on today?”

Both Marinette and Adrien started at the same time, causing them both to laugh. Adrien couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on his face. “You first.”

Marinette hadn’t let go of Adrien’s hand and was playing with his fingers, like Ladybug did sometimes when he was upset. She also wouldn’t look at him. “I think you should go first.”

Adrien paused slightly, suddenly very aware of the cameras watching, before diving right in, “I know you told me your side of the story about what happened with Lila today, but I need you to know that Lila’s version is the complete opposite of yours. And that means one of you is lying to me, and that bothers me a great deal.” Adrien held up his hand as Marinette went to open her mouth to speak, and she quickly shut it, looking dejected. “Now before you say anything, I need you to know that I am analyzing the footage that was taken from outside of the bathroom and trying to piece together for myself what happened in there.”

Marinette glanced up at him slightly and spoke just loudly enough for the cameras to catch it, “What does that mean for you and me?”

Adrien bit his cheek to keep from grinning. Should fashion not work out for her, she has a serious career potential in movies. She is a wonderful actress. She is selling this so well.

“I’m going to keep you around,” Adrien said with a soft smile, reaching out to lift her chin up. Her blue eyes locked into his and he could see real hurt there. He froze, suddenly worried that Marinette may actually think that he is mad at her. He wanted to ask her right then, but since he couldn’t be sure she would answer him not in character, he moved on with the conversation as planned.

“Marinette, I really care for you. I have a serious crush and I am very interested in seeing where this relationship can go. But I need you to know, I will not date a liar. If you are the one not telling the truth, please come clean with me now, and it’ll make it easier on both of us later.”

She was still looking him in the eye and they had subconsciously moved closer together though Adrien knew he wouldn’t be kissing her tonight. “I promise you, Adrien. I’m not the one lying to you. I care about you too much to do something like that.”

Adrien smiled fully now and stood up, once again, taking the girl attached to his hand with him. Although he didn’t mind this attachment as much as the last. “Thank you for your honesty, Marinette.” He pulled her in for a hug, and with his mouth covered by her hair, whispered, “Please, please stay so we can chat.”

She pulled away and gave him a smile, which he chose to interpret as a yes. He watched her walk away and was struck with how much harder it was to see her go than any of the other girls.

Once she was out of sight, he was whisked away to choose who received the group date rose. He honestly chose a random name that wasn’t Lila or Marinette and went ahead to present it.

“Hello again, everyone. I had such a wonderful time talking with all of you and I am so grateful that I was actually able to spend time with all of you tonight. There are so many of you, it felt like my first day at the mansion all over again, but it was better because our conversations were deeper and real.” Some of the girls awed at that, and he made a mental note to thank the producer who wrote most of his speeches. He reached out and grabbed the rose sitting on the table. “One of you really opened up to me tonight and I wanted to show how thankful I am for that.” He searched the group, noticing both Lila’s awaiting eyes, and Marinette’s patient ones as his gaze landed on who he had chosen. “Zoe, will you accept this rose?”

Zoe beamed and blushed a bright red. She stood up clumsily and almost tripped, but was caught by both Adrien and Lucie grabbing her arms. “Oh goodness! Thanks,” Zoe was even more red than before as she took the rose from Adrien and quickly sat back down.

A producer stepped up and began assigning girls to rooms for interviews and Adrien watched Marinette slip away towards the bathrooms. He quickly followed.

As he got closer to her, his heartbeat quickened and his hands started to get clammy. He didn’t know why he was reacting to her like this, but he had this crazy urge to kiss her. He settled this time for a hug.

“You did a wonderful job on that speech! You made it so easy to not be super happy to be with you.” Marinette said, craning her neck to look up at him. He loved how small she was and how easily she fit into him. Her hugs reminded him of the comfort and safeness he felt when hugging Ladybug.

“You did such a great job. I was terrified you were actually upset with me,” Adrien gushed, letting a little of his worry into his voice.

“How could I be mad at a plan that you created? Lila seemed pretty happy when I saw her after you two talked. So that’s a really good sign.”

Adrien shivered a little, remembering what his talk with Lila had really been like. He looked back down at Marinette, and the urge to kiss her overcame him again. He channeled some of his inner Chat Noir and dove right in. She was clearly startled at first, and he almost pulled away. But then, he felt her lips soften against his. She began kissing him back and he realized how intoxicating kissing her was. He was on cloud-nine and he never wanted to come down. When they did break apart, Adrien was slightly out of breath, and he was pleased to see that Marinette was as well. They both stood there in the moment, just smiling at each other and forgetting that an entire other world existed around them.

“What was that for?” Marinette asked, her breathy tone doing dangerous things to his body.

“I wanted to kiss you so bad earlier, but couldn’t because I was pretending to be upset with you. I was going to go crazy if I didn’t get that kiss tonight.” Adrien realized he was sharing a lot to one of the 14 girls he was currently dating, but he didn’t feel embarrassed.

Marinette flushed a darker shade of red and just smiled at him. They both jumped when a crew member dropped something nearby, reminding them both that they were actually not alone, nor supposed to be together.

Marinette was the first to react. “Oh no, I have to go! They are going to be looking for me to interview soon!” Adrien didn’t want her to walk away, and held her hand a little longer. She leaned up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you again Saturday at the cocktail party.” He nodded and watched her walk away once again.

Kissing Marinette was wonderful, and thrilling, and familiar. Her lips were soft, sweet, and tasted oddly like strawberry lip gloss. Something about it struck a chord with Adrien, but he pushed it away, and began searching for Mini-Natalie so he could go back to the hotel room and sleep.

~

~

~

Jean Vigo is a movie director in France, but he is not in his late 20s as he actually passed away in 1934, but his picture on Google looked the coolest so that’s why he got chosen to be the director.

Let me know if you wanna be added to the tag list

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[finastrashcan-blog]

— i need you.

member: jeon jeongguk

genre: smut + angst + college!au

word count: 1.6k

warnings: cheating / jeongguk is kind of an asshole

parts: 01

soundtracks: love$ick, mura musa ft asap rocky + sidelove, astrid s

+++

gukkie (02:24) – you up?

You shouldn’t respond to his texts. You know you shouldn’t. But the bright light emitting from your screen has you rolling over, blurry gaze drifting over the message, a strange feeling sinking into your stomach. You were meant to be sleeping, but sleep had recently become virtually impossible lately. And it was all because of the name flashing across your screen. You don’t know why you do it but you sit up, elbows digging into the pillow that was once beneath your head, and reply.

you (02:27) – yeah. why?

gukkie (02:27) - can you come out? wanna talk

He wants to talk. That’s rich coming from him. Especially because he’s been blatantly ignoring your texts. You quickly flick through them now, cringing at your desperate multiple texts that were all left on read. It makes the vein in your temple twitch, how quick he was to ignore your attempts at communication but here he was at ass o’clock in the morning, demanding you come out to hear him talk. If had asked you to do that a week ago you would have given in, trotted out neatly like an obedient pup. But you’re sick of this cycle now. He was always pushing you away when you needed him most and dragging you back in when you thought it was finally over. He’s not going to get what he wants – not anymore.

you (02:30) – no.

gukkie (02:30) – what why?

gukkie (02:31) – y/n please i really need to talk to you

gukkie (02:31) - ?

gukkie (02:32) – y/n

gukkie (02:35) – can i come in? im at the door

You jolt up at that, the sheets you’d cocooned yourself in tipping towards the floor. There’s a beating in your chest that makes your throat close up, palms clammy as your fingertips swipe furiously across your keyboard.

you (02:36) – why? leave. i don’t want to talk to you.

gukkie (02:36) – can we talk please fuck don’t make this difficult

you (02:37) – me? i shouldn’t make this difficult? you can fuck right off jeongguk you have no right to say that. leave me the hell alone.

gukkie (02:37) – im sorry i know i fucked up please im trying to fix this let me in please

The sorry takes you by surprise. Jeongguk was not a person to say sorry. Ever. He usually found a way to apologise without ever uttering that word. It was one of the things about him that you hated. His lack of concern about how his actions affected others. That air about him because ever treated him like he was above apologising, like he was perfect. In a weird way he was. You should know, you’ve been friends since kindergarten. You’d watched him bloom into the person he was today; from a shy quiet kid who hated losing at anything to the tall confident athlete he was today. You don’t know when he developed that particular god complex – maybe when the girls in your class realised Jeongguk was pretty cute and his locker became stuffed with love letters and marriage proposals. You didn’t expect him to get any worse in university but somehow did. That arrogance of his landing practically all the girls on campus into his hands, like putty. You never expected to fall for that person, the person he became. But you did, like every other girl in this school, swooning over his buff arms and stupidly boyish grin. It was the tattoo that did you in though. The ink looked delicious over his skin, swooping black marks that curled from his shoulder into his bicep. It was so pretty, bold against his sun-kissed skin. Maybe if you had never seen it, you wouldn’t have done what you did (you know that’s a lie, you would have landed in Jeongguk’s bed regardless).

You want to push him away, forget what happened that night despite being incapable of doing so. But your heartaches too much, the sorry making your eyes swell, hot with tears. It’s what makes you roll out of bed and pad to the front door, glad that Chaeyoung was gone for the weekend.

You don’t expect to see him like that when you open the door.

His eyes are red, dark marks beneath them. The sight alone, makes your heart drop to your gut, an unsettling feeling resting in your chest. It’s an oddity, to see that much raw emotion in his eyes. Triumph, glee, joy – those were common. But Jeongguk is staring at you with such wide doe eyes, an emotion you’re afraid to identify buried in his brown eyes. He blinks like he can’t believe you’re right in front of him.

“Hi,” He croaks out, voice uncharacteristically soft.

“Hi.” You whisper it, terrified by how run down he looks. Jeongguk cares about his appearance, deeply. To the point of vanity if Park Jimin didn’t exist to take that title. But he looks haggard, hair a tousled mess instead of its neat style and a ketchup stain on his white hoodie. He’s holding it around him like a child clinging onto a blanket, back caved in on itself instead of the usual self-assured stance.

“Can I come in? He kicks his scuffed sneakers into the ground. “To talk.”

“To talk,” You repeat, trying to sound firm. Your early morning calls with Jeongguk usually never ended in just talk.

He walks in carefully like he’s stepping on glass. You would sympathise with him if he hadn’t stomped all over your heart already. You watch as he sits down on the couch Chaeyoung had stolen from her sister’s place and then pick the seat furthest away from him. When you sit, the shirt that you’d tossed on to sleep in rolls up your thigh, revealing a lick of skin that has the air growing cold around you. Something in you wants to crawl closer, nearer, on top of him. Any position that brought your skin together.

You yank the shirt over your bare thighs, acutely aware of his trained gaze on the ground.

“So,” You hiss out. “Talk.”

“Eunbi dumped me.”

You freeze, skin prickling at the revelation. Kwon Eunbi. His long-time girlfriend. The girl you absolutely abhorred because she hated you for no reason. Until there was a valid reason to hate you.

“Oh.” You said, clamping down hard on the questions rising in your throat. Jeongguk wasn’t your best friend anymore – why should you care about the details.

“Yeah,” He mumbles, pathetically really, fingers picking at the rips in his jeans.

“Sorry. You’ll find someone else.”

He looks up at that, eyes sharp. “You’re not going to ask why?”

“Why should I?”

“Why should you – fuck! Please, stop making this hard for me.” His gaze is hot, frustration making his jaw tick. You want to punch him.

“Why is it always about you?” You retort, voice rising out of your control. “Why should things be easy for you? You’ll be alright, Jeongguk. You’re fine – stop being dramatic.”

“I’m trying to fix what I fucked up! You’re not helping with that attitude! I know I messed up and I came here to make it better. Please, I don’t want to fight with you.”

You pause at that, chewing your bottom lip because he looks wounded. You don’t want to fight him with either but you’re still so angry. You can’t help the words that fly out of your mouth

“What do you want me to say, Jeongguk? I’m sorry your girlfriend dumped you. Here’s my pity. And then what, I roll over and let you fuck me?”

It’s so quiet you can hear the blood roaring in your ears. Your cheeks feel wet and there’s a ringing in your skull. He just stares at you, mouth a hard line.

“Why’d you say it like that? Was that all it was to you?” His voice wavers and it makes your heart seize up. Why was he acting like the victim? Who was the one who was played with here? Tossed around like a ragdoll? Called upon only when he had a use for you?

“That’s all it was to you,” You bite out, shaking slightly from how furious you feel. “Why would I treat any differently?”

“That’s what you thought?”

“That’s what I know.”

He pauses, brief shaky, his hands clasped together tightly. “I put my relationship on the line for you. I lied to her for you. You weren’t just a quick fuck, y/n. You weren’t.”

“But you acted like I was,” You murmur, voice small. Jeongguk exhales loudly and then he’s on you, squeezing you so tightly that you’re paralyzed for a moment, the press of his firm chest against yours making the air in your lungs vanish.

“Why the hell are you so difficult?” He whispers into your skin, shifting around to pull you into his lap. You don’t like how your body melts, finally getting what it’s been craving for weeks now. Your brain can’t formulate an answer to his question, focusing on memorizing the curve of his muscles beneath your fingertips. His skin felt warm, eliciting a tingly feeling across your own skin, leading straight to your core. You can feel his eyes on your face, his hands cradling your waist gently like he’s afraid you’ll bolt. You want to make a home in his hold instead, a place for yourself only. You hope he can’t read the desperation in your eyes. You need him more than you want to admit.

“Can I tell you why Eunbi broke up with me?”

You nod, heart skipping in your chest. He waits for you to look up, his gaze steady on you. A determination in his eyes that makes you shiver. Then he says it, the words you’ve been aching to hear since this all started. Since the first night that you’d stumbled into bed together, too drunk to care about the consequences.

“I told her I didn’t love her anymore. I told her I loved you.”

[moonlightjinko-kun]

Persona

My last late submission for @atsukyouweek is for D6! 

Characters/Pairing: Nakajima Atsushi & Izumi Kyouka // Atsukyou

Genre: Angst

Rating: Teens and Up

Prompt used: Hero & Villain AU

Word Count: 1.9k+

Summary:  They were once on the same side of justice, fighting villains together. The fateful night where they finally crossed paths again, but now they're on the opposing sides of justice and begins one girl's final fight to save the man she loves from his own despair.

Read it on AO3!

A/N 1:  This was angst hell for me when I wrote it and I died after it and wrote a joke of a summary ahahaha A huge thank you to the admin of the week for hosting this marvelous week, with so many fun and exciting prompts! It was very fun to make pieces for the week even though I was late for 4/5 cries, but it was so fun to have a week all to my fave ship! Atsukyou is precious and I love them so muchhhh <3

When their eyes met again under the star dotted night sky, the wind was whipping her hair into her face. His face was shrouded in the shadows of the tree and the air around him was thick with menace. He had thrown the black coat that hung around his shoulders to the side to reveal a set of black shirt and pants under it. Her eyes narrowed at him, at the emptiness in his eyes. She hoped that Yosano had received her message and was on her way, as she faced her enemy, her former partner.

“Naka-“

“Shut up, it’s Shadow Beast now.” He sneered.

She had convinced herself that she would never try to talk sense into him when they met, but she felt her heart breaking at the sight of him. She knew she had to at least try. He readied his stance as she started again, “Please, Naka-“

BAM!

Her head hurt where it hit the ground, but he had leapt back and was now staring from across her, his stance ready to pounce. She felt a warm trickle of blood leaking from a laceration at the back of her head. She winced a little in pain and slowly stood. She shook a little, unsteady on her feet and she glimpsed her opportunity as his stance dropped for a moment. Her body reacted instinctively, adrenaline flooding her system and she flew across the distance, sliding her sword out from her sleeves. The air between their faces was sliced and a lock of his hair - now dyed black, was taken off as she swung her sword in a perfect arc. With the deed done, she hid her sword and leapt back in a graceful arc through the air, landing silently on the ground.

His hand flew up to his hair and a smirk crept onto his face. “I see.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, reading his movements. She knew them by heart from their training together and even after he had fallen into the darkness, she had continued to study him. There was a shift in his right leg and she took a breath to ready herself.

The only way to save him is to stop him.

He leapt towards her and as he landed on the ground where she’d last stood with a loud thud, she was already in the air. She fell towards him, letting gravity take hold, intending to use the momentum of the fall to stun him. A second before she hit him, she saw a glimmer of menace in his eyes. Too much, too late. There was a quick tug on her left leg and then she was flung through the air, crashing to a stop against a tree trunk. Pain exploded in her lower back and a scream escaped her. She looked up as he made his way towards her, a white tail now dangling by his side. She closed her eyes for a moment, silently cursing herself for her stupidity.

“You can’t win. Leave and I’ll spare you.” There was that sneer in his tone again.

She hated it. The Atsushi she love would never speak this way to her. In that moment, she realised the person she was in love with was no longer here, that the man in front of him was a stranger, her enemy. Hatred surged through her, lending her strength. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself up. “Shadow Beast, huh? Bullshit, Nakajima Atsushi!”

Destroy Shadow Beast to bring Nakajima Atsushi back.

                                                                                     ―――――

His eyes widened at his name, long uncalled. Waves of complex and indistinguishable emotions had crashed over him the moment their eyes met tonight. He was a mess and he knew it deep down. He stared at the blank expression in her eyes as she moved, each swing and jab with purpose. He dodged and swung clear of each strike, observing her form. Her swordplay was perfect, each move executed in a perfectly timed manner to flow into the next, leaving only a fluid motion of silver. Where there were timed lags to fit his moves before, she had erased them, and she was now moving with an intensity that he had never seen before. Her pace picked up and the blade was lost in a blur of silver, his eyes could no longer track her blade and thin ribbons of blood started to streak across his arms. Her aim shifted up to his face, slicing a shallow cut across his cheek. He lifted his hands to his face, covering it, as she continued to land strikes at his arms. The intensity built to a climax, and suddenly there was a loud whoosh. His hands fell to the ground with a thud, revealing his blood spattered face to her.

He stared at the bloody stump of his wrists, a scream of pain ripping out of him. His legs had turned weak and he fell to the ground, clutching his bloodied wrists. She pushed his face down to the ground and rested the sharp tip of her blade on his neck. He shifted his eyes to meet hers.

“What a shit of a job a hero has.” Her words were clipped with an underlying current of anger. “To think, to think we would end up like this.”

Her face was turned away now, as she spoke again. “I could kill you, you know. But, I don’t think I can ever live with that.” The anger in her voice was already softened by an inexplicable sadness. “Can you… tell me why?”

The rest of her question was left unspoken, but he knew what she wanted to know. The tension in his shoulders started to ease, but he clamped his mouth shut, letting the moment of silence stretch between them.

“You were going easy on me just now, weren’t you?”

He kept his lips sealed.

“Answer me, Nakajima.” She snarled, pressing the tip of her blade deeper.

“No. I didn’t. Kyouka-chan, you’re impressive.” You’ve improved so much.

The pressure from the blade on his neck lifted slightly. He could see tears shining in her eyes. How much tears had I given her?

“You haven’t told me why.” Her voice was shaky, as though she was trying to keep the tears out of her voice.

But the tears brimming in her eyes were tipping him over. He left because he wanted more strength, more power. He wanted to protect her better but he had fallen harder and faster the more he sought after it. Until, too ashamed to face her again, he had decided to leave and to stay out of her way as much as possible, lurking in the shadows and preying on the weak.

But, she had left him with no other choice tonight. The mask of the Shadow Beast was slowly coming loose, and the weakness in him was exposed yet again. His defeat tonight had made it clear, he was still the same pathetic weakling. He had drifted as his new villainous persona for the past three years, living with his emotions suppressed, and that persona with its illusion of power had trapped him in a web of lies. The dam of emotions broke in him, and tears leaked out of his eyes. He had an answer for her now.

“Because I was a coward. Because I was a fool. And I’m sorry Kyouka-chan. I’m so sorry, I was a complete idiot. You’re right, everything, this is all bullshit. I’m really sorry.”

Her facade slipped away, leaving the woman he had left behind staring back at him. The blade in her hand slipped to the ground. He felt her hand on his head move, and he pushed himself up with his regenerated hands to face her properly. He remembered the contours of her face and he reached out for her lips that were forming into a small smile. But he grasped air, his eyes following the drop of her head to his laps.

“Kyou… KYOUKA-CHAN!”

His hands dropped to her head, and he felt the wet and sticky blood there.

“Oh, no no, please, Kyouka-chan!”

Panic set in. His mind was a jumbled mess, and he couldn’t think. His hands darted around her face, unsure of what he had to do. Images from their past blurred with those of the present, dulling his senses to the present.

“Too slow!” She had teased, as her wooden blade struck, drawing an embarrassed chuckle from him. She had taken a few steps back and came at him once more, but he was ready. He had caught her with her hand hovering above his head, before knocking the blade out of her hands. He had pulled her into his embrace and whispered “Predictable.” Her cheeks had turned pink. He had smiled at that, and she had blown an exasperated sigh at him. They had stood there in each other’s embrace as their laughter had rung in the air.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he remembered the bright tinkle in her laughter.

“Promise me you won’t leave me alone here. Hey, Nakajima-san, we’ll get stronger together! This failure, it’s not a problem. Look! I’ll get better and then we can train together and - Nakajima-san? Wait, no, don’t!” A soft thud on the ground stopped him in his tracks and he had turned to see her on the ground, tears streaming down her face.

The intrusion of this memory brought back a wave of regret and remorse. He closed his eyes and took a breath, trying to shut out the rest of the memory.

“ATSUSHI! MOVE!”

The shout had come from behind him. He turned to see Dazai and Yosano running towards him.

“I said, move.” Authority slipped into Yosano’s voice, but he was frozen in shock. Yosano took Kyouka from his arms as Dazai pulled him away, clearing a space for Yosano to work.

Dazai stared at him and gave a long sigh. “You’re hard to find, Atsushi-kun.” Atsushi blinked a few times in confusion, as Dazai continued. “She’s been searching for you all this while. We all have, actually.”

“What? Why?” Atsushi choked out.

“Why, you ask? Maybe it was her persistence? Or maybe you were just a lost soul who didn’t know how to call for help? It doesn’t matter, does it?”

“But, Dazai-san, I’ve done -“ Atsushi stopped, letting the rest of his words trail off.

“We know. There will be consequences, but it probably would work out eventually.” Dazai glanced towards Kyouka. “She sacrificed a lot to try to save you.”

“Kyouka-chan had tried to save me, even after everything I did? Why would she?” A sob entered his voice.

Dazai did not answer, but Atsushi knew what the answer was. He had seen it when their eyes first met tonight. The sadness and love in her eyes were clear enough. Overhead, the cloud had finally drifted to reveal the moon, as it cast a soft light on them.

Yosano clicked her tongue. “Tch, couldn’t the moon have come out a little sooner? The extra light would have been helpful.” Her head jerked up to face them as she called out. “We’re done here, let’s go.”

Atsushi made to stand, but Dazai grabbed his hand. “Not so fast, Atsushi-kun.” There was a glint of silver in Dazai’s hand. Realising what it was, Atsushi held out his hands and watched as Dazai snapped the cuffs around his wrists. Atsushi stood with Dazai’s help, but his eyes were on Kyouka. Dazai crossed over and lifted Kyouka into his arms, cradling her as Yosano came to his side.

“She’ll be fine. Stop worrying.”

“Yosano-sensei, thank you.”

Yosano waved his thanks off and a sigh escaped her. “Just treat her better when we get back.Come on, we need to go.”

Atsushi followed after them, back to where everyone from the agency stood waiting for them.  

A/N 2:  Thank you for reading this and I hope you enjoyed this piece too! Feedback is always appreciated and I would always love to hear from you <3 This was self-indulgence too AHAHHA angst self-indulgence (as if I don't get enough angst) I live, breathe and spaz atsukyou and this had been a good week of self-indulgence heh 

[pretzcl]

— after the storm

summary: i’ve had this question for a really long time. why do good girls like bad guys? 

pairing: badboy!jaemin x fem!reader

word count: 1.6k 

genre: dash of angst, a scoop of fluff and egg. just egg. 

a/n: it’s not my best work, it’s essentially a collage of fics i wrote last year and glued into one google doc. bon appetit

Jaemin’s crosses his arms over his chiselled chest. His back leant against the nose of his shoe-polished black car, parked under a carport. Straightening up once his gang of hollering buffoons encircle around him. 

Na Jaemin. Whispers follow him and the pack of howling morons he walks with, down the corridors, exuding an air of confidence and carelessness. Leaving a trail of distraught girls on a path of shattered hearts and missed calls. No matter how many broken hearts, lines of girls melt under his piercing stare and his self-assured grin. Most, intrigued by the mysteriousness in the dark pools of his eyes behind his tousled brown hair, a prize to be won. Few despised the taunts in his arrogant half smirk, a cliche.

Currently, you identify yourself as the latter. Hair whipping back as you set a path ablaze with a burning desire to give the jerk a piece of your mind. People in the midst of your march blended in a mass of grey figures. Finally, you come to an abrupt stop behind the pack.

“Jaemin!” you shout, demanding to be heard amongst the handful of jackasses. One by one they turn to face you like turning over a deck of cards. The King of Hearts very last.

His eyes glint devilishly as he stares you up and down. You have to consciously uncurl your fingers twitching by your side, deeply resisting the delicious urge to slap the smirk playing at the corners of his lips.

“Hey princess,” he huskily greets you. The frustration boiling inside of you fumes in hot vapours off your body at the pet name.

Begrudgingly, you choose to ignore it and focus on the primary source of your anger towards him.

“Quit the act, Jaemin. Where the hell were you?” you interrogate, narrowing your eyes only on him and not his friends who were clearly enjoying themselves.

“Why?” he muses, in perhaps the most innocent questioning tone he could muster. “Did you miss me... princess?” he rolls the last word of his tongue before his face curls smugly.

“Do you think this is funny? I waited for 3 hours for you at the library. 3 hours! I don’t need to help you. I’m not the one failing here so you could have the integrity to at least, show up,” you vent, too overwrought to care if you were embarrassing him in front of his friends. You didn’t know if his friends knew if he went to tutoring but currently you couldn’t care less as a fiery heats up your face. 

He stands there totally unresponsive to your words. Though his jaw clenches and his eyes darkly narrowed down at your form. You refuse to shrivel under his gaze. Fixed in your stance in front of him, you continue to wait for an apology or even a pathetic excuse. Anything! You’re not a doormat. And you certainly are not a princess. But nothing emits from the silence and you decide to break it when you scoff, “Forget it.” Desperately fighting back the tears brimming at your lashes as the frustration is trying to release itself from within you.

Not sparing him a single glance, you turn on the back of your heel and trudge into the waning glumness. To where that might be, you don’t know. But you know you need to get away. You drown the sniggers and jeers echoing each step you make with a pair of earphones. The lofty melody hums softly through your ears while you disappear into the smudges of charcoal.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　 ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

The pitter patter of droplets against the stone pavement drones through your body like the chatter of a full classroom. An unanticipated flash of an ivory streak triggers the rolls of ominous thunder and quickened steps along the path. The matted, wool of darkened greys hovers over you, ushering you to scurry albeit, your feet were tentative, wary of the slick pavements wet with murky puddles.

“Y/N!” a voice from behind you competed against the waging war taking place in the sky. In a confused daze, you turn around. But you wish you hadn’t acted so hastily upon recognising the owner of the booming voice.

He approaches you in a strut almost, like an off-duty male model, totally unaffected by the icy daggers flying through the harsh winds. A hand wrapped around the ornate handle to an umbrella while the other hand is tucked cooly in his ripped black jeans.

“Where’s your umbrella?” he asks while stretching his hand so the ornate handle clasped in his hands is between both of you. “Hmm?” he lowers down to meet you at eye level waiting for a response.  

“I forgot it,” you murmur, focusing your stare on the slick, darkened concrete. Aggravated by the teasing tone on the tip of his tongue but ultimately choosing to bite on your own tongue. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t be sheltered from the drizzles of rain boring mercilessly down on the street.

“So you’re saying Miss perfect grades forgot her own umbrella on a day like this?” he snickers through as smirk stretched along his lips as taunting as the tone of his voice.

Halting in your steps, a glower deepens on your face. “I was in a rush this morning,” you clip.

“I was just teasing you don’t have to take everything so personally,” he scoffs. Frustration boils inside your stomach when you caught his eyeball roll from the corner of your eye.

Your hand curls into a clenched fist and you have to actively release the tight grip as you breathe out, “I don’t want to endure your teasing my whole way home.”

“What’s your problem today? Did you fail a test or something?” he sniggers.

“You know exactly what my problem is,” you spit looking him directly in the cold dark abyss that so many fell for. Any amusement dancing in his brown hues is flooded by the sharp coldness pouring into his eyes. The unreadable expression etches across his face as he snaps his focus to street onward after shoving the umbrella in your hand.

“Whatever,” is the last thing he says before disappearing into the lifeless, blurs.

You stood alone, shivering as the rain teems upon the umbrella wobbling in your grip. A mixture of disbelief and resentment fires up in your chest at the coldness cemented in his narrow glare before he stormed off.

“Unbelievable. He has no right to be pissed off at me,” you scoff to yourself, kicking the back of your heel into the pavement. Resuming your trudge in the midst of the gloominess devouring the day.

Somehow, the fury of anger washes away in the rhythmic beats of the raindrops. Each drop of rainfall, a clear beat upon the black fabric before they cascade from the rim like a waterfall. The trance of rain from under the umbrella blows out any fire lit up on a match set in your chest.

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇　 ⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Near a busy intersection, cars rushing past with wipers in full wings, you gasp. A blank white surges over your paralysed body and bleary vision. It feels like your frozen in time until a firm grip pulls you back and turns you around, earphones slipping from nooks of your ears, in one swift movement. Your eyes widen registering the panting boy standing in front of you.

“What are you thinking you were going to get hit by a car!” Jaemin barks at you while roughly shaking you by your shoulders. A rambunctious series of car horns quickly followed and you can only assume it translates to what Jaemin had yelled at you for. You only blankly blink up at him as your mind tries to rapidly rewind to you approaching the intersection.

“You know for a smart girl you’re really stupid,” he sighs hanging his head low.

“Jaemi-”

“Promise me you won’t do something like that again,” his words maybe scolding though his voice wispy and soft like angel wings. He searches into your eyes and for the first time, you notice his damp, bangs obscuring his large, brown eyes shroud the kindness they possess.

“I promise,” you mumble feeling breathless at your heart beating erratically.

“I’m sorry for leaving you by yourself and for not coming to tutor lesson today,” he mutters at the ground. Voice is hoarse as he pants a whirlwind of heavy breaths intermitted by a few stifled coughs. You stood dumbfounded hopelessly watching the exhausted boy and scanning how his hair becomes one with his face, wetly draping over his sharp bone structures. Shifting your gaze to the street behind him you struggle to fight the twitching feeling of wonder resounding from within you.

“Jaemin, did you run all the way up the street to save me?” you softly ask. No longer harbouring any anger or frustration from earlier today. Your fingers with a mind of their own sweep a sodden lock from his forehead revealing those big brown orbs and you gently tilt his chin up.

“Maybe,” he says in an even softer tone.  Something totally unfamiliar uncurls itself in enormous wave engulfing over you and you crash your lips onto his. Bursting the droplets on the plush of his lips. Jaemin's hand rested below your ear, his thumb caressing your cheek as you pull back afraid of losing yourself in him. Your lips brushing against each other as your breaths mingle. “Y/N,” he whispers slowly, prolonging each letter as if to savour them. And in this very moment, your senses wisp away and you can no longer think straight. Never before has your name ever felt so mystifying. Not caring if the water soaks through to chill your skin, your hands run down his spine, pulling him closer until there’s no space left between you two. So close you could feel the beating of his heart against your chest and you lose yourself to him.

[arysafics]

If You Would Fight For Me

Summary:  Clarke is having trouble breaking up with Finn, so she enlists Bellamy to pose as her possessive, violent ex, in the hopes of scaring Finn away.

Rated M, ~3000 words

anon asked for “my current partner is a huge asshole and i need a reason to break up with them so will you pretend to be my possessive and violent ex” au

Clarke has tried breaking up with Finn in a normal way, really. But every time she tries, he gets these big sad eyes, and Clarke can’t bring herself to do it. Mostly because she knows she’ll have to explain why she’s breaking up with him and it seems too harsh to just say you’re boring and irritating and I hate you. But she can’t outright lie to him, either. She can, however, set up an elaborate scheme where someone else lies to him. Which is why she’s at Bellamy’s now, with a box of cupcakes she bought when the ones she tried to make from scratch failed miserably.

“What’s with the cupcakes, Clarke?” Bellamy asks, taking the box from her and letting her into his apartment.

“You sound so suspicious.”

“Because you’re clearly up to something.”

“Can’t a girl bring her friend’s brother cupcakes without an ulterior motive?”

Okay, to be fair, her presence at his apartment is both out of the blue and out of the ordinary. She’s been there a few times, but only while Octavia is there as well, so she can’t really blame Bellamy for being suspicious.

“Is that all I am to you? I thought we were friends.”

“We are!” Clarke says hurriedly. “Hence the cupcakes.”

“Well, in that case, thanks for the cupcakes. Is there anything else, or are you leaving now?”

“Actually, I do have one tiny favour to ask.”

Bellamy gives her a triumphant smirk. Cocky is a good look for him, though she’d never tell him that. “Thought as much.”

“There’s this guy—”

“Nope,” Bellamy says immediately. “Not getting involved in your love life.”

“You haven’t even heard my request yet!”

“You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend to make the guy you like jealous.”

Clarke screws up her nose. “No… I want you to pretend to be my ex-boyfriend so the guy I don’t like will break up with me.”

Bellamy looks at her like she’s completely lost her mind. Maybe she has. “That makes no sense, Clarke.”

“It does! Look, here’s my plan. You come to my apartment while Finn is over, and you pretend to be my crazy, possessive, possibly violent ex, and he’ll get scared off. He won’t want the competition. He’s a wimp.”

“A wimp.”

“Yes. You know, a coward.”

“I know what a wimp is. Maybe he just doesn’t like violence. Maybe he’s a pacifist.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“You have serious issues.”

“My main issue right now is that I have a stupid boring boyfriend and you won’t help me get rid of him,” Clarke huffs.

“God, you are such a brat,” Bellamy rolls his eyes. “What do I get out of it, huh?”

“Cupcakes.”

“I already have the cupcakes.”

“Can’t you just do a nice thing for your friend because she hates her boyfriend?”

Bellamy twists his mouth, considering. “Why can’t you just break up with him yourself?”

“Because he gets all sad and pathetic every time I try.”

Bellamy rolls his eyes again. “And why me?”

“It needs to be someone he hasn’t met. And you do dangerous and intimidating really well. It’s kind of hot,” she adds, without thinking.

“It’s hot, huh?” Bellamy raises an eyebrow.

Clarke sputters in response, realising her mistake. “I said kind of,” she manages. “You know, if you’re into that kind of thing. Which I’m not.”

“Okay,” Bellamy says, and he’s not exactly smirking, but Clarke can’t help but feel like he’s laughing at her.

“Is that a yes?”

“You promise he’s not going to try to fight me for you?”

“He won’t. I don’t think he even knows how to fight.” Which is actually kind of a shame, because Clarke kind of likes the idea of two guys fighting over her, especially if one of them is Bellamy. Maybe his shirt would rip during the fight and he’d have to fight shirtless. And maybe Finn would get one good punch in and Clarke would have to stitch Bellamy up later. It could totally happen.

“You really want to dump a guy just cause he’s boring and doesn’t know how to fight? You want to date some asshole instead?”

“Assholes come in all shapes and sizes, Bellamy. Just because he’s boring and can’t fight doesn’t make him not one.”

Bellamy nods his head, conceding. “Okay, you’re right.”

“Did you just say I’m right?” Clarke teases.

“You want my help or not?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, you got it. I better not regret it.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Clarke says, throwing her arms around him. “I swear you won’t regret it.”

“Clarke, you’re crushing the cupcakes,” Bellamy says, his voice a little strangled.

“Sorry,” she steps back. “I’ll text you later with the details, okay?”

“Oh, you’re going?”

“Don’t you want me to?”

Bellamy shrugs. “I mean. You can stay if you like. I have all these cupcakes I can’t eat by myself.”

“Okay,” Clarke says. She feels strange. Awkward and uncertain. She and Bellamy don’t really hang out alone together. Octavia at least is usually there. She’s their connection. Although, lately Clarke has been feeling less and less close to Octavia. She’d hate to lose Bellamy just because Octavia found some new weird friends Clarke doesn’t like.

Except, the thought of being alone with Bellamy gets her stomach fluttering, and suddenly she doesn’t know what to say to him, or where to look.

“Actually, I should go,” she says, changing her mind.

“That’s okay. Take a cupcake for the road.” He opens the box, and Clarke takes one.  

“I’ll text you,” she says. Bellamy nods, and Clarke hurries out of there as fast as she can.

  Bellamy, Today 8:31pm: I’m at your place I’ll be upstairs in a minute

Me: Remember to be convincing please You have to really sell it

Bellamy: I’ve got it covered, Clarke Do we need a safe word?

Me: What would we need a safe word for?

Bellamy: In case you change your mind In case it goes too far

Me: Okay maybe How about… apples?

Bellamy: Why apples?

Me: Finn is eating one right now He chews so loudly I can’t stand it

Bellamy: Apples it is See you in a second

 Clarke puts her phone down, and looks back up at the TV screen. She has no idea what’s happening in the movie she and Finn are watching, too focused on his arm hanging limply over her shoulders, and the loud chewing coming from his mouth. She’s never gritted her teeth so hard.

“Who are you texting?” Finn asks.

“My mom,” Clarke lies.

“What does she want?”

What Clarke wants to say is, none of your fucking business. What she actually says is, “just mom stuff.”

Bellamy knocks on the door, and Clarke forces herself not to spring off the couch too quickly. Finn looks at Clarke, frowning.

“Are you expecting someone else?” he asks.

Clarke shakes her head, and hops up to answer the door. Her eyes widen when she sees Bellamy, as if she really is surprised to see him. Maybe it’s the way he’s dressed, like he copied his outfit from a bad boy in a teen move, complete with a leather jacket. It would be funny if it weren’t so sexy.

“Hey, baby,” he drawls, leaning against the doorframe. His eyes rake over her, and Clarke knows it’s part of the act, but it gets her heart racing all the same. Her stomach churns.

“Bellamy,” she swallows. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhh, Clarke?” Finn calls from the couch. Bellamy keeps his eyes on Clarke for a moment before looking up at Finn.

“Who the fuck is that?” Bellamy growls. He pushes past Clarke and swaggers into her apartment. He shrugs off his jacket and tosses it on the arm of a chair. His tight white shirt highlights every muscle in his torso and his arms. Clarke swallows, trying to stop her mouth from watering. She shuts the door behind him. Finn is standing by the couch, looking unsure.

“I’m her boyfriend,” Finn says. “Finn.”

Bellamy shoots a glance at Clarke. “Really, Clarke? That guy? You can do better than that.”

“Who are you?” Finn asks, since it seems Clarke isn’t going to tell him. She seems to have lost the ability to speak.

“I’m the guy she’s supposed to be with,” Bellamy says. Bellamy plays his part so well, Clarke is almost convinced he means it. His deep, threatening voice thrills her. He has his arms folded, his chin tilted up, as if he’s daring Finn to challenge him. Clarke has never been more attracted to anyone in her life.

“Clarke?” Finn says uncertainly, waiting for her to explain.

“He’s my ex,” Clarke manages.

“Technically,” Bellamy says tersely. “We both know you belong to me.” Fucking hell. Clarke knew he’d be good at this, but she didn’t expect to be so affected by it. His words have her blushing, her skin tingling, her heart racing.

“Now, what I’m going to need you to do, is run on out of here, and never come near Clarke again, got it? Or you and I are going to have a problem.” His voice somehow sound even deeper now, and though the two of them are of a similar height, Bellamy seems to tower over Finn. His stance is aggressive and imposing, and Finn shrinks away from him. Finn looks to Clarke, swallowing.

“You should do what he says, Finn,” Clarke says. “You don’t want to get on his bad side.”

Just as Clarke had predicted, Finn nods, almost like he’s relieved he doesn’t have to fight this guy for Clarke. Bellamy glares at Finn as Finn passes between Bellamy and Clarke, looking like a kicked puppy. As soon as Finn’s back is turned, Bellamy’s expression softens, and Clarke beams at him in relief. Their plan worked.

A moment later, Finn’s fist cracks against Bellamy’s face.

“Oh my god, Finn!” Clarke cries. Her instincts tell her to rush to Bellamy’s side, but she pulls back when she realises Bellamy has it covered. It takes him only a second to recover from the shock of Finn’s punch, and in two moves he has Finn’s arm twisted behind his back, while Finn struggles in pain.

“Don’t fucking try that again,” Bellamy growls. “Or you’ll be leaving this apartment on a stretcher.”

“Okay,” Finn breathes. “Fuck, okay. I’m sorry.”

Bellamy twists Finn’s arm a little tighter, and Clarke realises this is turning her on way too much, and if she doesn’t stop it now, she’ll let it go way too far.

“Apples!” she yells. Bellamy immediately drops Finn’s arms.

“Apples?” Finn repeats, confused.

“Thought you’d kind of work it into a sentence, but yelling it works fine too,” Bellamy says.

“What the fuck is going on?” Finn asks.

Bellamy looks to Clarke, and Clarke grimaces, a little sheepishly. “Bellamy isn’t my ex,” she sighs. “He’s just a friend I asked to pretend to be my ex to scare you off.”

“Scare me off?”

“I’m breaking up with you.”

“Clarke,” Finn says, and out come the puppy dog eyes. They aren’t going to work this time.

“Sorry, Finn.”

“Why?”

“Because you annoy me, okay? You’re boring and you annoy me.”

Finn looks hurt, and Clarke feels a little bad for him. Not bad enough to take it back. Somehow Bellamy being there gives her the courage to actually go through with it this time.

“Sorry, man,” Bellamy says with a shrug. “You better go.”

Finn eyes him warily, as if he’s not quite sure if Bellamy is going to try and fight him again.

“Fine, I’m going. Thanks for nothing, Clarke,” he mutters, and then he leaves, slamming the door behind him. Clarke gives Bellamy a guilty look.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “For dragging you into this.”

“Hey, I agreed to it,” he shrugs.

“I did promise you wouldn’t have to fight him for me.”

Bellamy glances down, as if he’s trying to hide his slight smile. “Yeah, you owe me.”

Clarke twists her fingers together nervously. Those butterflies she felt the other day are back. “Sit down, I’ll get you something for your face.”

Bellamy nods, and Clarke hurries into the kitchen. She rummages around in the freezer until she finds a bag of frozen peas. She wraps the bag in a dish towel and goes back out to the living room, where Bellamy is sitting on the couch. Clarke kneels on the couch beside him, her knees pressing against his thigh.

“Where’d he hit you?”

Bellamy turns his head, gesturing to the other side of his face. His cheek is bruising already. Clarke reaches her arm over him to press the peas to his face. He’s definitely capable of doing it himself, but he doesn’t make any move to take it from her.

“He got you good, huh?”

“Surprised that didn’t make you change your mind about breaking up with him.”

“He punched you while you weren’t paying attention. He’s still a coward,” Clarke says. “I know maybe I made you think I just want to date violent assholes. But that’s not the case.”

“Glad to hear it,” Bellamy says. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”

Clarke’s stomach lurches. “Yeah?”

“Of course not,” he says.

“I don’t want you getting hurt either.”

“Little late for that,” Bellamy chuckles. Clarke ducks her head, smiling. “This isn’t exactly how it went in your imagination, was it?”

“No,” Clarke agrees. “In my fantasy you were shirtless,” she admits, blushing. She immediately regrets it. What is she doing, telling him she fantasises about him shirtless?

“Oh?” Bellamy says, interested. He sits up a little straighter. “What fantasy is that?”

Clarke can’t look him in the eye. Her body is hot all over, and their faces are so close. “The one where you get into a fight over me.”

“Shirtless.”

“Yeah.”

“And do I win the fight, in this fantasy? Or am I the bad guy?” Clarke chews her lip.

“You’re not the bad guy,” Clarke says.

Bellamy raises an eyebrow. “But the bad guy wins?”

Clarke shakes her head. “I told you, I don’t want to date bad guys.”

Bellamy doesn’t seem to pick up on the subtle implication that she wants to date him. His hand moves to cover Clarke’s, the one holding the peas to his face. “What do you want?”

She’s looking at him now, really looking at him. His deep brown eyes bore into hers, like he’s trying to look right into her soul. “Why do you want to know?” she whispers.

“Just curious.”

Clarke swallows. “I just want somebody to be on my side. I want… someone who will stick up for me. Someone who’s honest with me. Someone who’s not scared to fight for me. Or fight with me, if they disagree with me. I want somebody to be soft with me,” she bites her lip. “But also… a little rough with me.”

“When I’m fucking you, you mean,” Bellamy says. Clarke’s breath catches in her throat. Did he just say— “They’re fucking you,” he corrects quickly. “When someone—”

Clarke cuts him off with a kiss, capturing his lips with hers, rushed and shaking. His hand drops from hers, and then both his hands come to grip her waist. Clarke hooks her leg over him, straddling him, drawing another kiss from him, longer, slower, sweeter. The peas drop from her hand onto the couch, forgotten.

Bellamy rubs his hands up and down her sides slowly, deepening their kisses, pushing his tongue into her mouth, taking control. He pulls her closer, until she can feel his cock, pressing hard against the juncture of her thighs. She wants to grind down on him, try to ease the growing pressure between her legs. Instead she pulls away, panting.

“Apples,” she says.

“You don’t have to say the safe word, you can just stop.”

“Okay, I want to stop,” Clarke says.

“Okay,” Bellamy says. Clarke gets off him, and settles back against the couch still breathing heavily. “You okay?”

Clarke nods. “I just—I don’t want to do that yet. I just broke up with Finn, and—”

“You don’t have to explain, Clarke.”

“Do you have any fantasies about me?”

“What?”

“I told you my fantasy where you fight over me. I want to know if you have any about me.”

“Plenty. None of them are PG rated, though.”

Clarke grins. “I like you, you know. I want to have sex with you. Just not right now.”

“Okay,” Bellamy smiles. He’s relieved, almost. “That’s okay. I want to show you the soft part of me first anyway, before the rough part.”

“I think I already got a glimpse of both.”

“And which do you like better?”

“Soft,” Clarke whispers, cuddling up to his side. “It was hot though,” Clarke says. “The way you stood up to Finn. I like it when you act all possessive of me.”

“Is that right?”

“You were acting, right?”

“Mostly. Might have been a little bit jealous,” Bellamy says. Clarke’s stomach lurches at the admission. He kisses her temple softly. “I just want you to know that I’m always going to fight for you. Even if sometimes you have to convince me with cupcakes.”

“I know,” Clarke smiles. “By the way, did you get your outfit from a theatre production of Grease?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Bellamy says, looking down at his tight white shirt.

“Nothing, I think it’s sexy. Just don’t know if it would have convinced anyone other than Finn.”

“I resent that.”

“Can I wear your jacket?”

“Yeah, you can wear my jacket. But you still owe me for the punch I got from Finn.”

“Don’t worry, I can think of plenty of ways to make it up to you.”

[the-quiet-winds]

Clouds of Rain and Sun (part six)

are we safe to come out of hiding yet? @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts, you still alive? i am, barely, and i got many angry replies to the story yesterday so here’s your update lads.

Important question first: should i immediately start posting the next installment of the series, or should i take a break for a bit (a few days at most) and post some modern stuff in the middle?

[part one] - [part two] - [part three]  - [part four] - [part five]

[Part 6: The Last of the Fires]

henry whips around, stepping in front of katherine, hiding the trembling and still-soaked girl from the view of the queen.

"you're not supposed to be down here, jane," he says lowly.

"i'm the queen," she states. "i come and go as i please." she narrows her eyes slightly. "now i asked you a question. what is going on here?" she looks to the guards, holding buckets of water that would presumably be well-chilled from the early december cold, and she finds the one with a whip on his belt. she turns back to henry, fire blazing in her eyes.

"i would hope," she begins slowly, voice coming out as a near venomous hiss, "that you were not planning to torture a confession out of miss howard."

“my love,” henry says, voice almost comical in its attempts to be soothing. “i know you have some kind of... attachment to the girl but she simply isn’t revealing anything about lady agnes.”

jane peers around henry and catches a glimpse of katherine, frozen and terrified on her bed, and she lets out a gasp. in a movement so fast that nobody can quite catch her, jane runs over to the bed and wraps her arms around katherine. “she’s absolutely freezing!” she exclaims. “my dearest husband,” her voice is almost sickly sweet, yet clearly angry and dripping with venom, “i would suggest you order your guards to fetch some warm blankets, a dry dress and a physician.”

katherine doesn’t quite feel connected to reality, her brain numbing to a similar level to her body, and she barely registers when jane wraps her arms around her; and yet, somehow a wave of comfort runs through her.

henry looks near murderous at this point, his eyes fixing on the blankly-staring katherine with anger. how dare this...little girl turn his own wife against him?

"no."

jane looks up at him. "i beg your pardon, my love?" her voice keeps that same sweetness. out of everyone's view, one of her hands creeps up to tease the hairs at the back of katherine's neck, cold and wet as they were, in attempts to be soothing in some way.

"this...girl is a traitor of the state. she will be treated as every other prisoner is," henry declares. his voice lowers, and jane can nearly imagine smoke coming from his nose in the way he presented himself like a mythical monster. "and i don't care if you don't like that, because i am still the king of this country, and my word, my dear jane, is still law." he steps closer to the two, towering over them. katherine lets out the faintest whimper. "i will get my answer to this mystery, one way or another, even if that requires me to position a guard outside your chamber so you cannot leave."

jane stays perfectly still except for the hand in katherine’s hair, desperately trying to think of a way out of this. she can feel katherine’s body shake in her arms and she knows she can’t let this poor girl put herself through any more torture for jane.

“i will tell you everything that i know of the lady agnes situation, my love,” she says firmly. “i believe, if you hear me out, it will answer most of your questions, and for further proof I suggest you offer sheridan a pardon in exchange for information. he strikes me as the kind of spineless rat who would betray his co-conspirator if there was something in it for him.”

henry’s face grows confused, still incredibly angry. “what could you possibly know?” he asks. in jane’s arms, katherine tries to shake her head, murmuring out desperate “no”s, but jane just runs her fingernails lightly over the back of katherine’s head in soothing patterns.

“i put together the pieces, dear,” jane tells henry, trying to ignore katherine’s pitiful whimpers in her arms. “who else would have had the keys to lock katherine’s chamber doors? who handed katherine the glass to give me, saying i asked for wine when i certainly did not?”

henry looks puzzled for a minute, then serious again. “what else?”

jane explains the harsh things agnes said to katherine in desperate attempts to get her to leave, holding the girl close as the horrible memories brought her to tears again.

“sheridan will tell you the rest,” jane insists. “that lowlife will do anything to save his pathetic hide from the executioner.”

henry listens, face hardening as everything jane says starts to slot together. “well,” he says, voice in a low growl, “i suppose we should pay mr sheridan a visit and see what he has to say about all this.” he waves a hand at the guards who begin to leave, but he stops three of them. “you stay here and guard the queen,” he orders. he glances over at jane. “what you’re saying might make sense, but I am not going to leave that girl alone with you until she’s been proven innocent.” jane says nothing, almost incredulous that her plan had worked and henry had listened to her, and was afraid that adding anything else would ruin everything. henry sweeps out of the room and jane and katherine are left alone with the guards. katherine doesn’t move from her current position except for the constant tremble her body has developed, and jane slowly reaches to take off the light cloak she had been wearing to keep the cold out. she manages to drape the cloak over katherine, hoping it will help slightly in keeping her warm, but knowing what katherine really needs is to be dried and changed and tucked up somewhere warm and safe- but she knows she can’t do any of that, not while the guards were here. she wouldn’t be surprised if katherine’s treatment in the dungeon had made her ill.

katherine lets out a faint whimper as jane’s cloak is laid over her. she feels jane’s hands rubbing up and down over her back and arms trying to stimulate warmth, and it reminds her so much of that night in the woods.

“you shouldn’t have done that,” she tries to say, but it comes out as barely a faint whisper. jane, mindful of the guards watching them, some hawklike and some absolutely awkwardly, doesn’t react, even as much as she wants to kiss katherine’s head and let her cry out, she stays as neutral as she can.

“after everything we’ve been through,” jane answers quietly, “did you really think i’d let you go that easily?”

katherine lets out a tiny noise halfway between a sob and a whimper and she leans slightly more against jane. they sit there silently for a long stretch of time, the only movement being jane’s continuous attempts to make katherine slightly warmer.

eventually the door opens again and henry stands there, looking almost awkward. “my love,” he says gruffly. “a word, if you will.”

jane reluctantly stands, heart wrenching at the whimper katherine releases as she pulls away from her. “i’ll be back, love,” she whispers quietly, running a soothing hand over katherine’s hair, before following henry out of the cell.

“we have secured a confession from sheridan,” henry tells her. “he has confessed to everything and implicated lady agnes. it appears...” he coughs. “i may have been wrong about miss howard.”

jane supposes that was as close to an apology as anyone was ever going to get out of henry, so she just nods and plays to his ego.

“I’m very glad to see you have solved this mystery, my love.”

henry nods once, then reaffirms his stance. “however,” he goes on, and jane cringes internally at his tone. “my earlier ultimatum still stands, dear.”

jane knows she flushed white at the thought of henry’s decree, but plays dumb instead. “what was that again, my love?”

“if she’s been found innocent, she will be relieved, effective immediately.” he pauses for just a moment and adds on a bit more. “and she will never be allowed to return to the castle, even as a guest invited by you, dear.”

“my love,” jane begins, voice trembling slightly. “surely you can’t-”

“i can, my dear,” henry says. “she’s been nothing but trouble since she arrived, and although some of that may not have been her fault, I simply cannot allow her near you any longer.”

jane hangs her head, distress running through her. “please, just let me speak to her alone,” she says, voice small. “so i can break the news to her.” she knows, of course, that she won’t be giving katherine up without a fight, but she can’t just rage at henry and expect him to give in. no, she needs a plan. the trouble is, jane can’t seem to think of anything that may keep katherine with her.

henry wasn’t expecting his wife to give in so easily. he nods and beckons the guards from the room, leaving katherine on the bed, a huddling mess of fear and cold.

as soon as everyone is gone and they are alone, jane rushes over and pulls katherine into her arms.

“oh kat,” she whispers. “i’m sorry i let this happen to you.” when katherine collapses into messy sobs in her arms, jane can’t help her own tears that follow. “love...” she starts, knowing it’d be easiest to not pretend with katherine. not after everything. “henry...” she can’t help but notice the way katherine trembles at the mention of the king’s name. “he wants to send you away.”

katherine’s breath catches in her throat and she lets out a painful-sounding rasp. she’s too far gone to speak but the way she clings to jane and sobs incoherently tells jane that she understood what she’d just said. jane holds her closer, pressing a kiss to her temple. “i’m not going to let him do it, though, love,” she says, voice somehow holding firm. she needs to be strong, needs to be stone for katherine to hold onto. “i don’t know how, yet, but i’ll change his mind.”

katherine’s hands grasp at the cloak and jane’s dress, desperate for something to cling to to never let jane leave. the cold in her veins keeps her from being able to even formulate a response, any kind of response, out loud.

“come, love,” jane says quietly, pulling katherine to shaky feet. she wraps a tight arm around katherine’s waist to keep her upright. “let’s get you to the physician, get you warm and dry.”

jane manages to help katherine through the castle to her bedchamber, sending another lady-in-waiting, a quiet woman named Eleanor, off to fetch the physician. she manoeuvres katherine to sit on the bed and cups her face gently.

“i’m going to change you into some dry clothes now, love. do you understand?” katherine gives a small nod and jane gets to work, removing the freezing dress and pulling one of jane’s own nightgowns, warm and freshly dried, over her head. katherine barely reacts, letting jane move her arms to pull through the sleeves of the nightgown. she’s just wrapped a warm blanket around katherine when egert arrives, a concerned expression on his face.

he clicks his tongue disapprovingly, seeing the blueish tint to katherine’s ears and fingertips and the way her hair is still absolutely drenched. with surprisingly gentle movements, he evaluates katherine.

“there’s a good chance there is fluid in her lungs,” he says quietly to jane once he concludes. “she needs warm blankets, lots of hot food, and lots of rest. trying to move her, even out of this room, could have catastrophic consequences.”

“thank you,” jane says, and meaning it for his sensitivity in examining katherine. egert nods.

“i will come back tomorrow, but if she seems to be getting worse send someone for me immediately.”

he takes his leave, pausing briefly to kindly request warm blankets and food from a nearby servant. while they wait jane gently helps katherine to lay down, her torso slightly propped up on pillows. katherine is close to unresponsive, so exhausted from the ordeal, but when jane places a soft hand on her cheek she manages to lean into it slightly, eyes drifting shut.

“you rest, kat,” jane says softly. “when the food arrives i’m going to need you to eat some, but until then you need to rest.”

katherine weakly nods, lips forming the faintest smile before falling into a fitful sleep.

jane paces the room, trying to think of some way to allow katherine to stay.

she was crossing the floor for the hundredth time when katherine starts making pitiful and raspy whimpers from her sleep. she’s twitching too, her chest jumping erratically as she fights to breathe.

“kat!” jane rushes over to the bed, reaching out and gently touching her shoulder. “kat, love, it’s me, it’s jane.” she takes a breath and shakes katherine’s shoulder as firmly as possible without being uncomfortable. “it’s mum, love.”

katherine’s breathing is strained and harsh, even as she blinks open her eyes, wide and panicked. she almost tries to say something but coughs, rasping breaths being clawed from her chest.

katherine is wheezing, sharp puffs of hair entering and exiting her chest at a rapid rate.

katherine looks at her, eyes wild and afraid, trembling, but from fear or cold jane isn’t sure. she extends two shaking and weak arms towards jane.

“mum,” she croaks out.

jane climbs onto the bed properly and pulls katherine close to her, letting katherine cling to her. “I’ve got you, sweetheart,” she murmurs, her hand finding katherine’s hair and running her fingers through it gently. “mum’s here, kitty-kat.” katherine coughs again, burying her face in jane’s shoulder.

katherine almost despises how weak and childlike she feels, trembling and whimpering in jane’s arms, but it just feels too right, especially with the lingering knowledge she’s to be sent away. she lets out a hoarse and mirthless laugh: just as she’s found her happiness, the one good thing in her life, a mother and a baby brother, she’s going to lose it all, being thrust back into the cold dark world that only takes and takes from her until she has nothing left to give.

she suddenly remembers something and she coughs out a few words, body shaking with the effort to say them.

“if... if i don’t make it-”

“you will, kat,” jane insists. “you’ll be okay, love.”

“-there’s a letter in my cell,” katherine continues. she has to stop as her body is racked with a deep wheezing, but when she finally gets her breath back she finishes what she wants to say. “it’s for you.” the letter was written thinking that she might be executed, but even after being saved from that fate it seems that she’ll be ripped away from jane after all.

jane looks concerned and confused, but then it clicks in her head. “is that what you were writing yesterday?”

katherine weakly nods only once.

she shakes with effort to speak again. “i don’t...i don’t want to leave.”

jane kisses the top of her head. “oh, my darling, i promise i will fight with everything i have to keep you here with me.” jane knows that it’s going to be a long and hard battle, so she tests her luck and says something she may never be able to say again. “i love you, kitty-kat.”

katherine finally manages an uninterrupted breath and she rests her head against jane, eyes closing from exhaustion. “i love you too, mum,” she says in a whisper. the part of katherine that would normally panic at those words is too busy grieving for the life she almost could have had, here with jane and edward.

the words, quiet yet unafraid, strike a chord in jane’s heart. she holds the girl a little tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

it isn’t all that much later when eleanor enters, a tray of broth and bread held in her hands. with a respectful bow she sets the tray down. as she turns to leave, she looks back to katherine. they had had a few passing conversations but they weren’t that close.

“i hope you feel better, lady katherine,” she whispers before ducking out.

“sweetheart,” jane says softly, “do you think you can manage to sit up and eat something?” katherine nods slightly absently and jane helps to rearrange her until she’s sitting up against the pillows. jane feels a sudden flashback to weeks ago when their positions were reversed and a nervous katherine had helped her queen to recovery, and her heart swells at how far the two of them had come since then.

she slowly begins to scoop the broth and feed it to katherine in even, calm movements. her brain is still moving a mile a minute, trying to think of a way to keep katherine at the castle.

it’s only after the bowl is emptied when genius strikes, partially inspired by eleanor’s use of ‘lady katherine.’

she drops the spoon in surprise.

“you can become my ward,” she thinks aloud.

katherine doesn’t seem to register what jane has just said for several seconds, her brain taking a while to process it. her eyes slowly widen as she realises, however, and there’s a hopeful look behind them.

“r-really?”

“yes,” jane says, mind working quickly. “if you were my ward then you could stay here with me. it wouldn’t interfere with the succession at all because you wouldn’t be henry’s ward, just mine.

katherine sours for a moment at the mention of the king’s name. she turns hopeful again. jane’s ward. jane would be her legal guardian. she’d be able to stay with her and edward. she grins, just barely, then turns serious again.

“but he’d...never allow it,” she whispers.

jane’s face falls slightly, but then she shakes her head. “there must be a way to get him to allow it. he’s not completely without reason, i just need to find a compelling argument.” she thinks for a moment. “or... I could not tell him.”

katherine looks alarmed. “but you’ll get into trouble for that! besides, he wouldn’t let me stay anyway if you didn’t clear it with him first, even if I was your ward by law.” she looks down, disappointment clear on her face. “this is hopeless.”

“no,” jane protests. “nothing with you is hopeless.”

katherine makes a strangled sort of noise, one that jane doesn’t understand the meaning of. she tucks her head into the crook of jane’s neck, relishing in the comfort she feels in jane’s warm embrace. the fingers in her hair, slowly moving in and away from her head, the gentle and soothing noises that echo in jane’s chest.

“i’ll find a way, love,” jane murmurs softly. “you don’t worry about it. mum will sort it out for you, kitty-kat. nobody will tear us apart, not on my watch.”

katherine lets herself believe her, so badly wanting it to be true, and letting the warm feeling settle in her stomach. she’s so tired, not just physically but emotionally too. she wants it all to be over.

it’s a long and restless night for them both. katherine doesn’t leave jane’s hold, not that jane would let her, even as she wheezes and fits through bad dream after coughing spell after middle of the night announcement of agnes’ confession and sentencing.

egert enters a few hours later as jane is spooning warm broth for katherine once again. “i’m here for the next evaluation, my lady.”

jane holds katherine’s hand in hers for reassurance as egert examines her. luckily, egert’s demeanour is kind and gentle, informing katherine of each examination before he conducts it, and katherine follows each request obediently. egert frowns slightly as he listens to katherine’s breathing.

“well, i must say, miss howard,” he says, straightening up and giving her a small smile. “you certainly are a fighter. according to my tests, the actual cold damage has been minimal, which means there should be no lasting effects from that. however,” his face becomes slightly grave, although he tries his best to offer her a kindly expression. “your lungs are struggling. you still should not leave this bed until i give you clearance to, and please avoid anything that would put pressure on your lungs.” he turns to jane. “she will be alright, your majesty, so long as there are no sudden turns for the worse.”

“how long will she have to stay in bed for?” jane asks quietly. egert sighs.

“at this point? i cannot quite tell. i would hazard a guess at two weeks, however. could be more or less if her condition changes.”

katherine forces her face to stay neutral.  that was two weeks for them to figure out a plan, because even henry wouldn't override the opinion of the trusted court physician.

"thank you," jane says to egert.

"i will return in a few days to check on her progress. my advice still stands; lots of warm food, blankets, and rest." he looks back to katherine and offers her a kind smile. "you'll be right as rain soon enough, miss howard." he gives her a gentle and friendly pat on the shoulder, then exits.

jane and katherine look at each other knowingly. jane opens her mouth to speak when the king of great timing, henry himself, waltzes through the door. "and just how are things in here?" he asks in a tone that jane can see is far from genuine and caring.

jane forces a smile. “egert has just been here for a check-up. she is improving slowly, but he has put her on bed rest for the next two weeks, minimum. he made it clear she is not to move until he gives her the all clear.”

henry grunts noncommittally in response. “and she must do it here?”

“it would be dangerous to move her,” jane says firmly. “egert made that clear, my love.”

he holds a steady gaze, not wanting to admit that he might have to allow the girl to stay. finally, he gives the slightest nod and looks to the girl in the bed with narrowed eyes.

"two weeks. as soon as she is healthy, she leaves, am i understood?"

jane meets his eyes defiantly, giving neither affirmation nor denial before he leaves the room. she turns back to katherine, who, in the short span jane wasn't paying attention, went from stretched out on her back to curled up in a tiny ball on her side.

“hey,” jane says softly, sitting down on the bed next to her and resting her hand on katherine’s shoulder. “you need to lay back down flat, kitty-kat. we don’t want to aggravate your lungs, now.”

katherine makes a tiny noise but doesn’t move. jane brushes some of katherine’s hair from her face.

“what’s up, love? what’s the matter, hm?”

“it won’t work,” katherine finally says, very, very lowly. “he doesn’t want me here.”

“love, he-“

“-won’t rest until i’m gone,” katherine finishes.

jane’s face darkens slightly. “you know i won’t let that happen,” she says seriously. her tone softens as she traces her fingertips over katherine’s cheek. “i will fight off hell itself to keep you here with me, love, and that’s a promise.”

katherine doesn’t reply, instead closing her eyes and letting jane’s soothing touch comfort her despite the ache in her chest. she resigns herself to the fact that she’ll never be able to stay here, and instead just hopes that she can appreciate these last two weeks before she’s sent back to... where would she go? she doubts her step-grandmother would want her back, and she didn’t even know where her father lived any more. her siblings were scattered across the country and she barely remembers any of them, not when they were separated when she was so young.

jane frowns at katherine’s lack of response. she knows her chest ought to be on fire, but she doesn’t seem in any rush to uncurl herself. so jane steps in to help. with very gentle hands, jane pushes katherine back flat and forces her to lay out, legs unrolled and arms out.

“there,” she whispers. “doesn’t that feel better?” she swipes a hand over katherine’s hairline, smoothing down some of the flyaway hairs, before leaning down and placing a quick, light kiss in the same spot.

katherine makes a small whining noise when jane sits up. she clutches at jane’s wrist with one weak hand and pulls it gently over to her forehead. jane gets the hint and traces katherine’s hairline softly with her index finger before running her hand through the hair on the top of her head. katherine lets out a tiny contented sigh.

jane continues to fiddle with katherine’s hair gently, admiring how far the girl has come in trusting her, enjoying contact.

there were only a few moments of peace before the door opens again, and henry enters.

“a word, dear jane, please.”

jane is taken aback at his tone of voice, one could dare to call it gentle.

katherine makes a sad little whimper as jane stands up. “i’ll be right back, love, i promise.”

she follows henry into the hallway. before she can even ask what he wishes to discuss, he hands her three pages of scripted handwriting.

“i believe this is for you.”

jane looks down at the papers, recognising katherine’s handwriting. this must be the letter katherine had mentioned, she realises, and she scans the words quickly. when she reaches the end her heart jumps.

it was signed ‘katherine seymour’.

jane feels tears well up in her eyes involuntarily, feeling so full of love for the girl she now considered her daughter. then her head suddenly snaps up to look at henry; her husband would definitely have read it, which means he would have seen the name written at the bottom of the third page.

he looks extremely awkward for a king. “you really...care about this girl don’t you?”

jane nods earnestly, bringing the papers to her chest as if they were katherine herself.

“i am planning to keep her here as my ward,” she declares. “i don’t care how much i have to fight-“

“you have my consent,” henry cuts in.

“listen to me, my dear henry, i won’t give up- what?” jane’s brain finally catches up and she stares at henry, open mouthed. “you... you’d let me take her on as a ward?”

“if that would make you happy, my love,” henry says slowly. he looks more uncomfortable than jane had ever seen him before. “i expect i am not young lady katherine’s favourite person right now after... certain recent events, but if you truly care about her and want her to stay, then she has my permission to stay here at court with you.”

jane can’t form words for a solid ten seconds or so. the sudden change in her husband was so sharp it gave her whiplash.

“that...that’s wonderful,” jane breathes. “thank you, my love,” she kisses his cheek. “i suppose i should go give her the good news.” he nods and gestures her off, then turns and heads off down the hall.

when she opens the door again, katherine is trembling, but lights up a bit at seeing jane.

jane can’t help but break out into a smile, approaching the bed and sitting down next to katherine. “i’ve got some good news for you, love,” she says softly. “i just had a word with henry, and he’s given his consent for you to stay here as my ward.” katherine stares at her, eyes wide and face incredulous.

“you really mean it?”

jane nods, practically beaming, and katherine sits up very suddenly. she takes a moment to cough, but then shuffles into jane’s waiting arms, a matching smile on her face.

“what made him change his mind?”

“i think he just realised how much i love you,” jane grins, tapping the end of katherine’s nose with her index finger. “it’s hard to know for sure with henry, but that seemed to be why. regardless, when God sends us a blessing we shouldn’t ask why it was sent.”

katherine chuckles at jane, then leans more into her hold, resting her head on her shoulder.

“i saw your letter,” jane says.

katherine stiffens slightly, but jane runs a hand over her hair. “i was touched, love, and i...” jane’s voice breaks in emotion. “you’re a great light in my life too, kat.” she kisses the top of katherine’s head. “my little seymour.”

katherine smiles again, eyes filling with tears, and for the first time in years they were tears of happiness and not sorrow.

“i love you, mum,” she mumbles, heart filled with light. jane brushes away her tears with a soft laugh, even though her own eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

“i love you too, kat. we’re going to be okay, sweetheart, you, me, and little Edward. we’ll be a family.”

“a family,” katherine murmurs faintly. “i forgot what that felt like.”

jane holds her a little tighter at that. “don’t you worry, love, you’ll never forget again.” she wipes at her own tears. “you’ll never be alone again.”

[butterflyinthewell]

Old fanfic: Get Off My Island!

Era: Heisei era

- Written in 2006, so my writing skills were less polished then. -

Characters: Shezilla, Godzilla and Zilla (GINO to some!).

Summary: An unwelcome guest takes up residence on the island Godzilla and Shezilla call home. With Godzilla off foraging for food, Shezilla has to fight for her territory alone. 

* * * TW: Violence, blood and a bit of poop. * * *

The dialogue in italics are noises and gestures translated into words. Translations would appear in subtitles if this was a real movie. I'm pretending all monsters have a "common language" so they can always communicate with each other regardless of species.

I love this piece. It showcases Shezilla’s personality so well. She doesn’t take kindly to invaders of her space and neither do I! ;)

GFW Goji gif is appropriate because Shezilla has the same build and moves the same way. Just paint the suit granite gray, toss on a Heisei era head and (slightly smaller) dorsal spines and you’ll have a girl with attitude.

Fanfic beyond the cut.

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o

Get Off My Island!

o

Shezilla stirred to awareness in the deep blue of the calm ocean. It was the first time she'd opened her eyes after hibernating the winter's coldest months away. She found a gleaming reactor core waiting for her - clearly a gift left by Godzilla. He always woke up first and left her a little present before taking off to find himself a meal. Shezilla drew the reactor to herself and felt the familiar prickle as her body absorbed the radiation. Her small, silvery dorsal plates flickered, the heat in them causing the water in her vicinity to boil. After she drained the reactor, she cast it aside and pushed up with her whole body. The powerful movements of her body and tail dislodged various barnacles, remoras and even bits of coral that took root on her hide while she slept. What didn't come off on its own got scraped off when Shezilla paused to groom herself with her long claws.

Finally, after nearly an hour of swimming off her stiffness, Shezilla surfaced near the island her and Godzilla called 'home'. The familiar rocky shores, white sand, brown mountains and a lush green jungle growing in a huge gorge were a welcome sight. It was mid-day, muggy and clear, the sun a brilliant white flare in the blue sky. For a moment Shezilla just enjoyed the sparkles on the water. She even grunted and rolled over on her back to let the sun bake her belly.

The kaiju female may have remained on her back all day. But something captured her attention. Shezilla rolled over and swam slowly towards the beach. Her eyes were drawn to a large pile of black feces on the the sand. Wastes told her a lot about her mate's health, like how much he ate and whether or not he was in season. Shezilla had taught her mate how to dig a hole in the sand and bury his business afterward - and he did, most of the time, so it really irritated her to find his nasty black filth just sitting in the sun to stink up the island.

Wait...black? Godzilla produced many interesting colors, but black was not among them. Shezilla moved closer. The sand had no drag marks from his tail. The footprints were narrow with less toes. Shezilla could not count, but she could tell the difference between more and less. She bent to sniff the feces and smelled fish. It definitely was not her mate's doing. Godzilla liked to eat whales, not fish. Shezilla growled low in her throat and stepped around the mess, her nostrils flaring at the unfamiliar scent hanging around the footprints. Her gold eyes narrowed, snarl lines appearing on her nose and cheeks. Her lips pulled away to bare one fang.

Intruder, Shezilla thought, now very wary and alert to every sound. She cautiously followed the footprints until they vanished into the jungle. The fishy, leathery scent was strongest there, so she knew she found the intruder's hiding place. Shezilla felt small prickles of fear rise up her spine. Charging into the jungle wasn't a wise idea - for all she knew the intruder could be stronger than her.

Shezilla opened her mouth and roared. "I know you're in there!"

Trees rustled, then stilled. Whoever hid there did not come out.

"Come out!" Shezilla howled again.

When that failed to get a decent response, Shezilla hauled off and kicked one of the boulders near her feet. It flew up into the air and disappeared into the trees with a loud crash.

"Owww!" cried the intruder, its roar hoarse and screechy. "This is my island! Go away!"

"YOUR island?!" Shezilla's gold eyes widened. Her fear became anger. This was HER island, her home! How dare this fool come here and invade it! She snarled, "You must be mistaken. This is MY island."

"It was empty when I came here." hissed the hidden creature.

"Because I was enjoying my winter's sleep," Shezilla replied coarsely. "You're not welcome here. Leave!"

She heard a low growling sound. Then, suddenly, a silver-gray form emerged from the trees. The creature had a large, flat head with glowing golden eyes and triangular gray spines running down its back. Its body was muscular while its arms and legs were very lean, and its posture was decidedly horizontal. Long black talons tipped its fingers and toes. Yet despite its menacing face and gleaming claws, the creature only came to Shezilla's throat.

Zilla regarded this unfamiliar female curiously. He knew she was female by her scent. Her wet hide was granite gray, bright and glistening against the sky. She glared at him through narrowed light gold eyes. Her fangs were bared, gleaming in the light, and she had bone white claws that rivaled his own in length. She stood upright on muscular legs and flat feet. He could see a hint of her dorsal plates glittering over her shoulder. Her arms were shorter than his, but also viciously muscular.

"Well?" Shezilla puffed out her chest and shook her shoulders. This caused her dorsal plates to slam together, creating a deafening clang. "Are you going to leave?"

Zilla hunched himself down until only his head was visible above the jungle foliage. "What if I don't feel like leaving?"

Shezilla's lips twitched into a half smile. "You want to leave."

"You know..." his glowing eyes arched in a grin, "you are quite lovely."

"You're not my type," Shezilla clenched her fists, "I'm taken anyway."

"Pity. You're probably wasting your time with him, whoever he may be." Zilla huffed and stood up again.

"Wasting my time?" Shezilla growled deep in her chest. Not only did this creature invade her territory, he also insulted her mate! She closed her fingers and her knuckles all cracked one after the other. The rumbling crackles rebounded off the mountainsides. "Now listen here, you pathetic, fish-eating excuse of an iguana! You invaded my island, you insulted my mate and your ugly presence offends me. Now for the last time—" she roared and ignited her dorsal plates, "LEAVE!"

Zilla wasn't about to let a mere female push him around. He hissed and snapped his jaws. "Make me!"

"Very well, then." Shezilla's plates brightened and crackled. A blue-white glow formed in her throat. She reared back and spat her atomic ray into the trees.

But Zilla proved as quick as his wit and leapt clear of Shezilla's ray. The blue-white beam vaporized trees and dug a molten trench in the ground. Steam that smelled like ozone rose from superheated water in the soil. Shezilla hissed. Zilla had jumped against the sun. She cursed its glare...where did he go?!

"You're mine!" Zilla crashed down on Shezilla's back. He was heavier than he looked and Shezilla tumbled with the impact. He locked his jaws around her largest dorsal plate and yanked backwards. Sharp shooting agony raced down Shezilla's back. Shezilla felt her lips pull back in a rictus of pain. A startled cry wrenched itself from her throat. Zilla grabbed her shoulders and shook his head like a dog with a toy, trying to rip the plate off her spine. She bucked beneath him, but he had such a good grip that he wouldn't be shaken off.

"Get off me!" Shezilla's spines glowed again. They heated so fast that the spit in Zilla's mouth boiled. His eyes widened. He screamed bloody murder and rolled off her back. She stared down at him, twitching her fingers, "Feel like leaving yet?"

"Gimme a kiss and I might consider it." Zilla grinned. Some of his jagged teeth were singed black. He dragged himself back to his feet and sand clung to his lean body.

Once again, Shezilla rattled her spines in warning and wrinkled her nose. She kept tabs on Zilla's feet, noticing they were moving."You're disgusting!"

Shezilla saw Zilla's clawed toes dig into sand and rocks. His body angled itself more forward. He was going to charge. The female widened her stance in the same instant her opponent raced forward. Sand and rocks were thrown aside by his huge toe claws. He came closer and closer. He was almost upon her. At the very last second she sidestepped. She caught his head under her arm and fell backwards, driving his face into the sand. Too hard, it seemed, for he couldn't easily free himself! Shezilla grabbed the struggling Zilla's tail.

"Here, I'll help you out." she snickered. Then her muscles bulged as she yanked Zilla up by the tail. Only, she didn't let go. She swung him above her head and slammed him against the rocky ground. Then she lifted him up and did it again. Once. Twice. Three times. Each slam shook the beach. All Zilla could do was protect his head with his hands and arms until Shezilla flung him aside like a worthless toy.

Zilla smashed back-first into the rocky cliff. Pieces of it crashed down with him when he slid to the ground. He shook the sand and dirt off his face, coughing on the grit stuck in his throat. His body ached from the slamming. Dark red blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. He heard Shezilla coming and jerked himself aside. Her claws smashed the boulder his head occupied a second previous. The boulder broke into several jagged pieces...that could've been his skull!

They froze that way - Shezilla with her fist to the ground and Zilla arching his back. Their eyes were locked, glowing in anguish and determination. The only sounds were the ocean lapping the shore, their heavy breathing and the occasional low growl. Shezilla's lips twitched away from her fangs.

Suddenly, Zilla dashed down the beach at seventy miles an hour. He was heading for the lowest cliff that jutted over the jungle's edge.

"Oh, no you don't!" Shezilla took off after him, angling her body forward and lifting her tail off the ground. She ran like an olympic sprinter, her feet smashing everything she stepped on. Zilla glanced over his shoulder. He was shocked to find her almost right beside him. Looking back also slowed him down. Shezilla passed Zilla. She ramped off a slanted boulder and leapt at the cliff. Then she threw her feet forward and kicked off the cliffside, gaining even more height. In one graceful motion, she twisted around in the air like a feline and dropped across Zilla's back. Zilla couldn't handle Shezilla's weight and his legs collapsed. They both rolled across the sand, dazed by the impact. Shezilla recovered first, her heart fluttering from the effort of running. She began to pummel the mutated iguana's head and ribs, each impact echoing across the island. Zilla shrieked as each blow jarred his bones. He snapped until he caught her fist in his teeth and squeezed, dragging her off his back. He did a standing leap onto the cliff, which was as high as Shezilla's chin. Shezilla lost sight of him.

"This isn't over!" she screeched, digging her claws into the cliff and using sheer upper body strength to haul herself up. Her bitten hand ached, angering her even more. Zilla was waiting for her. She snarled up at him. "Coward!"

The air cracked like a whip and Zilla's tail became a blur. Searing pain struck Shezilla's face. Her head jerked sideways and her blood splattered on the rocks. A thin red wound opened up near her left eye. She touched her cheek and blinked at the crimson streaks on her claws. He...he cut her face! Even if it healed in a minute...he still cut her beautiful face.

That really pissed her off.

"You are DEAD for that!" Shezilla screamed. She saw Zilla sprint up the jagged, rocky path leading into the mountains. He was leading her away from the solid, flat ground to a place where her footing wasn't always assured. Shezilla heaved herself onto her feet. A being like her looked utterly out of place on top of the cliff she stood on. She was covered in dust that fell off her in wispy clouds.

You're not getting away that easily! Shezilla snarled silently, watching him. She followed her opponent at a slower pace, studying how he jumped and wove around the sunbaked rocks. The sound of a roaring waterfall echoed up from the gorge. It fed a deep lake attached to a river that lead into the sea on the opposite side of the island. Shezilla's lips twitched...so that was where he headed. She wasn't much a fan of breathing freshwater, it smelled terrible, but it did taste nice and do wonderful things to her skin.

Zilla was almost in a panic - he hadn't expected Shezilla to follow him up the cliff! She proved more agile than she looked. He needed a hiding place she couldn't get into, and fast! She wasn't able to jump like he did and only ran in short bursts...if he could just exploit that weakness, he might be able to—

He smelled ozone. Shezilla's ray rushed towards him. He ducked it. The mountain top above him exploded in a shower of rocks.

Shezilla rushed Zilla when he crouched. She waded through the rock slide like it was nothing. Zilla screeched and did something unexpected - he lunged! Unprepared, Shezilla halted her advance. He kicked his foot out and scraped his huge toe talons across her chest. Sparks flew. Pain made Shezilla see stars and she smelled her own blood. Three diagonal red gashes marked her torso like war stripes. Zilla's claws were covered in it, too, like some kind of morbid nail polish. She blindly flailed her arms, catching the side of his head with her claws. His darker blood splattered all over her arm and flowed freely from the four slashes she opened on his cheek. He wrapped his jaws around her throat and began to squeeze.

"I hate to damage such a lovely face," growled Zilla, his glowing eyes narrowing, "but I've had enough of your attitude."

"So says the one who invades territory that isn't even his." Shezilla panted back just as Zilla's powerful jaws cut off her air. Her chest heaved uselessly, burning from the wounds, and she once more called upon the nuclear engine that powered her life.

Zilla's eyes widened. Shezilla's body got a lot warmer all of a sudden. Before he could disengage his teeth, the sledgehammer force of a shockwave slammed him into the mountainside. The whole cliff shook and more rocks rained down on them both.

Shezilla got up and shook the dirt off her body. Then she reached down to lift the largest boulder from the rock slide, a big, jagged boulder as large as her torso. Her chest, leg and arm muscles bulged with the effort and she bore her teeth at the pain it caused her wounds. The spines on her back flickered bright blue.

Blinking, Zilla stared at her. There was no way Shezilla could throw that at him! It took everything she had just to lift it!

Suddenly, Shezilla spun around like a shot putter. When she released the boulder, she fired her atomic ray on it. The concussive force of her breath sent the rock flying at Zilla. Just before it hit, the boulder glowed and shattered into thousands of molten shards that sandblasted the hapless creature. He wailed and writhed in white hot agony. It was in his nose and mouth, steaming, burning, boiling. Some of the pieces stuck to his skin and kept on scalding him. Parts of his gray hide smoked and bubbled. The air smelled like burnt flesh. Black burns created cheetah spots all over his body.

"Damn you!" spat Zilla.

Shezilla snorted at him. "It's your own fault."

Still screaming, Zilla broke away from Shezilla and raced down the incline leading towards the jungle lake. It was a one hundred foot plunge, but the water was almost as deep as Lake Michigan. Zilla threw himself headfirst off the cliff and splashed hard into the cold water. His body sent displaced water surging into the jungle.

"Stupid move!" Shezilla sprinted down the sharp incline after him. She leapt into the air, did a forward flip for more airtime and landed feet first in the lake. The resulting tidal wave flooded the jungle a second time. Her world turned blue as her body sank like a stone in a flurry of bubbles.

Now Zilla REALLY started to panic. Shezilla could swim, too? He saw her as a dark shape drifting between the shafts of moving sunlight. She cut through the water without hardly moving her body...how did she do that? Then he caught sight of her gold eyes boring into his skull. In the time it took him to blink she was on him. They both slammed against the bottom of the lake. Great sediment clouds rose up as they grappled. Then Zilla wormed away and took off for the surface. But Shezilla swam faster. She came up beneath Zilla so fast that both of them rose completely out of the water. Shezilla snapped her jaws shut around Zilla's fleshy throat and dragged him back into the depths with her. As they fell, dark blackish-red blood mixed into the frothy white splash.

After a moment of quiet, Zilla stumbled out of the lake. He moaned from his wounds. Chunks of his soft throat had been torn away. He was missing a few teeth. His sides were covered in burns and slashes. All of his wounds bled freely all over the jungle greenery.

Shezilla emerged as well, her eyes full of malice. She limped slightly from a deep slash in her lower calf, but her speed was not reduced at all. Her throat was covered in teeth marks that hadn't healed yet. The front of her chest still bore diagonal stripes. Bloodstains turned her teeth from white to red.

Growling, Shezilla leaned forward and bum rushed Zilla. Their bodies crashed together with a deafening thud and they tumbled through the mud. Zilla shrieked, trying to roll her off, but she wouldn't let him go. He ended up on his back with her on top of him. Shezilla pinned him with her weight and slapped him on either side of his flat face, snarling viciously, "How dare you taint my jungle with your blood! You disgusting beast!"

"Finders keepers," Zilla grimaced. The heavy blows stopped coming. He managed to grin, eyeing her. Her posture gave him a complete view of something people weren't supposed to see.

Shezilla followed her foe's leering gaze. Her eyes widened. If she could blush, she would have. She slammed her fist into his windpipe."Pervert!"

Zilla coughed from the surprise attack. He caught her head with his whip-like tail. Shezilla wailed at the blow and fell over sideways, clutching her ear. Then she got a face full of mud when he sprinted away. He cleared the gorge to see a rather pretty orange and yellow sunset. The sun was a red half circle sitting right on the water.

Yes! The ocean was right there! Zilla paused to look back at Shezilla. The surf crashed around his feet, stinging some of the burns around his claws. He saw her grin wickedly at him...and that was when he realized that he couldn't win against her. Best to run while he still had legs. Zilla shuddered and turned to run for the ocean.

And he slammed right into something so solid that he recoiled and lost his footing. He blinked up. A charcoal black leg, bulging with muscles, filled his vision. It moved aside and a face even meaner than Shezilla's peered down at him.

Godzilla grinned down at Zilla. "Boo."

Zilla squealed like a hatchling. "Don't hurt me anymore!"

"That's the invader!" Shezilla howled.

"This scrawny excuse of an iguana?" Godzilla rumbled, slapping his fist into his palm. His golden brown eyes narrowed contemptuously and his lips pulled away from his jagged teeth. A low growl rattled in his chest.

Gulping, Zilla stumbled back a few steps. He looked backwards at Shezilla. Her dorsal plates were glowing. He glanced forward at Godzilla. His spines also glowed. Whimpering, he covered his face in the same instant he heard their atomic rays discharge.

But they didn't hit him. Instead, the heat beams smashed into the sand right next to him. The shockwave flung him face first into the sand. Before Zilla could figure out what the heck just happened, Godzilla grabbed the back of his neck.

"Seeing as you're not even worth killing, I'm going to let you go. But if I ever so much as glimpse you near this island again..."Godzilla growled so low that it vibrated Zilla's bones, "...there won't be enough of you left to be dust on the ground. Am I clear?"

"O-okay. Yes! Uh-huh." Zilla squeaked.

Godzilla adjusted his hold on the back of Zilla's neck. He turned him towards Shezilla. "Now apologize to my mate."

The mutated iguana blinked when the claws on his neck tightened. "I'm sorry!"

Shezilla snorted. "You better be. If I ever see you again anywhere..." her lips curled into that wicked smile, "...your day will end most unpleasantly."

"You'll never see me again! I swear!" Zilla cried, flailing in Godzilla's grasp.

The idiot iguana's whining wore on Godzilla's nerves. He snatched Zilla's tail with his other hand, faced the water and punted Zilla with all his might. Zilla sailed through the air and landed with a tremendous splash over fifty yards away. He vanished under the sapphire sparkles without a sound.

Godzilla gave Zilla no more thought. Turning now to Shezilla, he studied her. She was bedraggled, blood-splattered, soaking wet, covered in mud and she gave off the most delicious musk. Godzilla thought she looked gorgeous like that. He decided not to mention that he was hiding just off shore, watching the entire fight. Sure, he would've jumped in if Shezilla required help, but she didn't need him. He loved it when she did things that showed off her muscles. The sight of her savagely beating up that iguana was...it was the hottest thing Godzilla had ever seen in his life. It took all of his willpower to not tackle her in the middle of the fight.

"My love?"

She grunted as her breathing regulated. "Yes?"

He approached her, grinning, and swished his tail. "Lay down."

"But I'm a mess!" Shezilla protested, gesturing to herself.

"I know." he purred, nuzzling her and licking the ticklish spot behind her ear. "But I like it when you get all dirty, because I get to clean you up."

"Oh, you!" Shezilla slapped her mate's chest, giggling at the hidden meaning in his statement. "You're terrible!" Then she caught his scent and sighed, curling into him. How could she resist a big lug like Godzilla? He began to lap at her face and throat, his sandpaper tongue cleaning away the dirt and dried blood clinging to her hide. She nuzzled him affectionately. "I'm going to be so sore later, thanks to that stupid iguana."

Godzilla just snickered against her ear. His gaze softened when he saw how the sunset sparkled in her gold eyes. He bent to clean the wounds still present on her chest. They were almost healed, but he wanted to tend to them anyway. As he did so, he purred, "You'll forget all about it in a few minutes, my love."

His gentleness was getting to her. It always did. She looked down at him, though all she saw was the top of his head. "Ooh, promise?"

He paused to look at her. His amused brownish-gold eyes sparkled and the setting sun outlined his face. "Do ugly, oversized iguanas fly?"

Shezilla stared at him. Godzilla grinned back. They both burst out laughing.

o

Somewhere far away, Zilla stirred from his tormented slumber. His wounds were all healed and his strength had returned, but he couldn't shake the memory of his humiliating defeat. He needed a place to nest. It had to be an island with an ample food supply and plenty of places to hide. The island he chose before was perfect, but its current residents weren't very welcoming. So once again he found himself searching for a nesting site.

Finally a day came where he encountered floating beasts that captured fish in gigantic brown membranes. He surfaced into a torrential rainstorm to see where these creatures came from.

Bingo, he thought.

Godzilla and Shezilla might have beaten him...but they didn't know they just showed him to spot of land even better than theirs. Right in front of him was a massive island covered in weird silver boxes. The tallest two pierced the clouds. He could hide in there for months and nobody would ever find him. It was beyond perfect.

Zilla closed his glowing eyes and submerged with a smile.

[inugirl]

Secret Promise

[loubuggins]

Raven’s Revenge

Chapter 4: The Newcomer

~#~#~

The ground lit up in flames and the sky darkened with ash. The heat from the fires burned his skin and the sulfur in the air scorched his lungs. His eyes narrow as he tried to focus his hazy gaze on his target. Then a vicious cough sent him doubling over as he choked on the polluted air.

"Robin, Robin, Robin." Her demonic voice tisked as he heard her step towards him. He forced himself to look up only to see a wave of the black magic crash into his weak body and wrap around him like a snake. He struggled under the pressure of the coil for a moment, but his head soon fell to a slump as he accepted his fate.

"You and I could have had it all, you know." The monstrous woman teased as she flicked her wrist, causing the coil of magic to tighten and forcing her captive to look her in the eye. Her skin was as red as blood and was only covered by the few strands that remained of her black leotard. Her hair was a flowing white mess that surrounded two curved horns.

"I offered you wealth, power, everything you could have ever wanted." She continued as she finished her stride toward his limb body. "But you refused me." With that, she extended a clawed hand and grasped the boy's cheeks. She sank her claws into his skin and squeezed his jaw. He cried out in pain, but could only stare back into her blazing eyes.

"Now...you shall be punished." Two obsidian magic coils rose to her side, and like snakes about to strike they pulled back before launching at full speed toward his chest.

"AHHH!" The Tyrant leader screamed as he shot up out of the arms of his Tamerian lover. Frantically, his blue eyes scanned around the dimly light bedroom as his mind raced to catch up to him. Beside him, he heard a low moan, followed by some stirring.

"Robin?" The alien woman questioned, her voice tired, yet laced with concern. Having processed his surrounding, the young criminal reached over a gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'm alright babe, just a nightmare. Go back to sleep." He reassured her and waited as she gave a small nod of her head and did as she was told. Once he was sure she had fallen back into her slumber, he moved out of the bed and quietly left the room.

~#~#~

"Are we there yet?" A raspy voice asked in her mind as she trudged through the ice-cold forest floor. She mentally growled as she sent a frustrated glare over to the green snowy owl that flew just a few feet above her.

"Ask me that again, and I'll make you my lunch."

The fluffy creature flew ahead to a nearby tree limb and landed gracefully in front of her. His large, round eyes and his narrow beak somehow still mimicked a smirk. "Is that a promise?" He thought back to her.

The demoness stopped in her tracks and narrowed her eyes at the coy fowl, but then the corner of her lips twitched up in an unexpected smirk. With another step forward, she reached out and gently stroked the soft plumage on the owl's neck. Gar flinched at first but then relaxed into her touch. The cloaked woman leaned closer, her lips now hovering over his feathered head. "Oh my pet, if you find me the dagger, I promise to reward you...handsomely."

The bird cooed at her offer and with a flap of his wings, he flew up and ahead, leaving the sorceress alone to enjoy the peace and quiet. She continued her trek on foot, gracefully maneuvering her way past the trees and undergrowth. The ground was damp with melted ice, making her steps silent as she searched for the castle she had only heard about in passing. Her feet ached from the cold and from being overused, and she longed to be able to use her magic to teleport them to their desired location or to at least allow herself to hover over the wet brush. Unfortunately, her powers had limitations, keeping her from transporting to a place she does not know and forcing her to conserve her energy or else face whatever challenge awaits ahead in a weakened state.

"Soon, I will destroy this cursed human body and will never know weakness again." She hissed under her breath. Not a moment after, she froze in her tracks, her crimson eyes widening in surprise. In one fluid motion, she twisted her body and extended her now glowing hand, but before she could release her magic, a blue blur shot back at her and encased her hand in a solid crystal. The force of this new power knocked the demoness back, but she quickly regained her stance. She glared at her entrapped hand with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity.

"Hm." She huffed with only mild interest. "Neat little trick, dear, but I'm afraid it will only get you so far." Raven raised her other hand, but again she was stopped by another crystal hex wrapping around her hand. This time the sorceress let out a frustrated growl.

"Very well. It seems we'll have to do this the hard way." Her red eyes began to glow a dark black and out of her body came a large, obsidian raven. With a loud caw, the raven flew from her body and headed straight into the trees. Another blast of blue magic was thrown at it, but the crystal ball only fazed right through it. Raven smirked as she heard a pathetic screech from the trees and watched her soul-self devour her attacker in darkness. The raven circled back around and dropped the younger girl on the ground before diving back into its host's body.

The new girl was small in stature, with short pink hair, strange pink antennas, and a peculiar long-sleeved shirt and skirt. Judging her on her appearance she seemed like any other foolish human that had dared to cross Raven's path, but the evil empath could sense a great deal of power and strength bubbling inside of her. This made the cunning villainess think before delivering her punishment.

"Who are you!" The strange girl hollered, interrupting her thoughts. Raven sneered at the girl's fake bravery and used her magic to break the crystals still trapping her hands. The crystals shattered into millions of pieces and fell into the dirt in between them. The surprised and horrified look the girl gave her filled her with glee. "How-how did you…"

"I'm a demon child, it will take more than your fancy party trick to overcome me."

With her eyes and hands glowing once again, two snake-like coils peaked out of the darkness under her cloak and slithered toward the frightened girl. Her own eyes glowed a dark blue as she held up her fist in preparation to strike back, but before a fight could ensue, the excited cawing of an owl stole their attention. The emerald-feathered bird flew at full speed to the demoness, his ora overflowing with happiness. He came toward Raven and lapped around her head as he chirped his good news.

His chatter and joy nauseated the empath, so she ordered him to return to his human form. Oblivious to their unexpected guest, the changeling circled back around and shifted back to his boyish body just before his talons hit the ground.

"I found it, Raven! I found the castle!" He exclaimed as he jumped up and down on his hands and feet, much like an ape.

A pleased grin spread across her face, but from the corner of her eye, she caught the other girl's concerned expression.

"You know about the castle, don't you?" She accused as she returned her gaze over to the stranger.

"Woah, who's she?" Gar asked as he glared at the girl and took up a defensive posture.

Raven narrowed her gaze. "I'm beginning to want to know myself." Without further hesitation, a coil of black magic shot out from beneath her cloak and tangled around the girl. The geomancer squirmed and gasped for air as the magic coil constricted her chest.

"Answer his question! Who are you and why are you here?" Raven demanded as she allowed the coil to ease back just enough to let the girl speak.

"Filthy demon!" The girl spat instead, earning a snarl from the changeling, but the insult had no effect on its target. Realizing she had no other way out of this, the girl ended her struggling and sighed in defeat.

"My name is Kole. I live here. That is all you need to know."

With a satisfied smirk, the demoness retracted the coil back into the darkness of her cloak and the girl fell to the ground, sucking in the precious life-giving air. Backing off she said with a taunt, "We'll see about that, Kole."

Then she turned to her companion with a blank expression. "You found the castle?"

The lime-skinned boy nodded his head vigorously. "Very good." She commended, then approached him. The boy looked at her curiously for a moment, but then lowered his head in submission as she reached out her hands and cupped the sides of his head. She focused her mind on his and used her magic to see through his memories. Once she knew where to go, she released him and waved her hand, opening a portal.

"Let's get going shall we?" She commented as she headed towards the portal. "Gar, keep an eye on our guest, will you?"

A deep-throated growl was her only response as he shifted into a snarling wolf and kept his eyes locked on the other pink-haired female. The fallen girl only glared at the agitated canine, but slowly rose up and followed Raven into the portal.

~#~#~

Robin carried a medium-sized plastic bowl in his hand, filled with various herbs and powders. He used his power of stealth to sneak through the dark halls of the Tyrants East Tower, taking care not to wake the slumbering occupants. He made his way towards a door labeled "PRIVATE" and wiggled one of his hands-free so that he could punch in the passcode. A little green light flashed over the button box and the door slid open with ease. The tyrant leader slipped inside and the door slide shut behind him. Feeling secure, the young man laid out the ingredients in his arms onto the floor in the center of the room. He went to the wall and flicked on the lights then went back over to his pile, where he knelt down and hovered over the bowl. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled slip of paper with a dead language scribbled on it. Finally, he went about pouring the ingredients into the bowl. Once all the herbs and powders were properly mixed, he grabbed a steak knife he borrowed from the kitchen as well, and with a shaky grip held it over his outstretched palm. He mumbled the words written on the paper, then in one quick motion slid the knife over his skin, piercing it and causing drops of hot blood to drip from his hand and into the bowl. Only a moment went by before the temperature in the room fell significantly and the lights above him flickered eerily.

Then behind him, he heard a familiar pop and he turned to see a man-like creature staring back at him with dead, crimson eyes and an expensive suit. The newcomer titled his head and with a toothy smirk and opened his mouth and said with a thick British accent, "You rang?"

~#~#~

Chapter 1 ~  Chapter 2  ~ Chapter 3

[247krp]

— Rejoice, little lambs! We have recovered our own Park Jimin, spotted prancing about in the Northwest Side. I don’t remember seeing him with any clique back in high school, but I’m not here to spill yesterday’s tea. So straight to the rundown: can you say vulnerable and lost? Apparently now he spends time as a university student and an assistant at In Step! Dance studio, and keeps skeletons buried at Gwangcho Share House 505. But those won’t stay hidden for long, if you and I have any say on it. Welcome back, Killjoy; we missed you so.

TW: mention of suicide

In case you don’t remember the devil’s name, here’s to refresh your memory:

while jimin sees himself as painfully ordinary and trying his best to never talk about how he is perceived in the world, one have to admit that he is most definitely much more youthful and there is a happy appearance within him, just a little. there is a constant small smile, and a soft laughter erupt from him oh so easily. and like a delicate little flower jimin strives through the hall like a brown sugar; slowly and fragilely like he will break once you tap his shoulder, resulting those wolves to come and wanting to taste a little bit of him.

rumors surrounded him like flies. it is easy for someone like jimin to be talked about because he will never fight back —they saidjimin’s mind cracked in the most important place, jimin kind of ugly, kind of pathetic, jimin got himself attached so easily,  jimin this, jimin that — or maybe he has no intention to fix it either. because it is easy to laugh along with people and anyone and everyone who said anything about jimin. oh what a poor tainted little flower.

all of those does not take his smile away but his laughter and small smile does not last long when he found out that his lover in high school had committed suicide, and since then he is mostly found with his lack of ambition on everything. introverted by nature, he is citing his lover as someone who connected him to the liveliness of the world and jimin has been struggling to find his place in life without them.

Nevermind the memory lane though, the present is always the ripest fruit:

there is nothing changed with jimin. he is still the same old jimin back in high school, or even more distant than he already is. he is a painting in black and white. dull and blurry. his stance is still as shaky as the summer wind. if one see him close enough, he already stops living since then. he had lost the only real thing he’d ever known, buried six-feet underground. the flames of his passion had smoldered into ashes. he is living a nightmare. like a misguided ghost, he aimlessly floats through the chains of lulling time. the ticking of the clock feel like a painful throb of a pulse, a heartbeat. and even then, he never feel alive. he is merely a ghost trapped in his past. a shadow without a form, waiting for the time to leave this world behind.  

But we are nothing if not open books – my job is to ensure you get to the best pages:

To people i loved, lost and left.

my angel, the first girl, to my sister.

you were always spontaneous person. your eyes will twinkled whenever you talked; i remember it was a sunlit morning in march. we were sitting on the pavement of our neighborhood, eating ice cream – mint chocolate ice cream melting down your skin, you always loved your ice cream a little melted. you were eighteen, about to graduated from high school when you etching your name into the grey concrete.

remember when i asked you why you do it and you told me that you want to be found but also want to be a mystery? i didn’t know what you were trying to say and do back then so i slide it just like that until i found you hanged on your dark room. a day before your graduation.

i wondered on why did you do it. you were always a symphony constantly on crescendo. never dulled your shine for anyone. you were a virginal combustion of rain and curiousity, of  fireflies and forest ponds. my sister, i’m sorry that i wasn’t be able to pick up your silent scream of help. when i saw you that day, i feel like the half part of me is gone.

my dearly beloved, the first love, to my endless love.

there are a lot to say about you, almost too much to say. the day you tore me apart, you’v left me alone then gave me time to heal, to forgive and forget. but did you know the day i heard the news about you had passed away, i dare to say that happiness was definitely not the first thing i felt; in factm the first thing i felt was chaos. blurry, breathless chaos. my brain was telling me one thing but my body was telling me – no, screaming at the top of its lung and dear god it was so loud – another.

all of the sudden everything i do, i feel like, in a flash of memories, someone had shoved a kaleidoscope in front of my eyes. i saw everything you had done to me. every single things.

one. that one time you brought me breakfast and i smiled because you remembered how i liked my coffee warm. / two. on that lazy thursday morning, when i could barely keep my eyes open, you let me sleep on your shoulder in history class without even hesitating / three. in that late night conversation when we were both stumbling drunk, slurring, dancing underneath the starry night was the time you confessed your love to me. my wholesome laugh more than any other sound. / four. you always loved the sound of my laugh. / five. you told me you couldn’t bear to be apart.

you loved me delicately. like i was a wilting flower. and i loved you, and i still am. like a fool, still hanging up on you when you left me all alone. left me the same way my sister did. you left me before your graduation. on the same age my sister did. but i guess it all happened because we should have pay the world back what we owed it. the pain of growing up. we didn’t pay when we should have, so now the bills are due. which is why you did what you did, and why i’m here.

this is why i’m here with nothing left within me.

my dearest self, the last person i’ve met today, to park jimin.

I’m sorry if I lied to them when they asked me if I was okay. I’m not. I’m sorry that I told people the scars in my arms were caused by the cat when it wasn’t. I’m sorry that I keep on lying to people when they asked me did you eat. I’m sorry that I’ve been telling lies about where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing; I’ve been in bed for days, wishing that god would be kind enough to take me to meet him, the love of my life. But I assume people don’t actually want to hear my side of reality.

i’m sorry for not letting you talk to people when i actually don’t really understand how to stick with people. see—i was just too sad to even put up a front, to even take one step out of the bed. i’m sorry for making you not answering any messages nor phone calls from anyone, that i suddenly decided to start distancing myself from everyone with no explanation. i know you always wanted to be a dancer but you see, i just can’t. not in this state. maybe it’s easier if i had a tragic backstory, or a bad parents to blame on — but mom and dad are incredible people, they provided me with anything. maybe it will be easier if i had an excuse to have this kind of feeling. but i’m not. i’m just tired. constantly. that’s why i lied over and over and over again since there’s nothing to be done that could’ve been done with.

i’m sorry that i always got you in the wrong state of mind when the world isn’t that bad of a place and if you look for hope its there It just takes some time.

but i don’t think there will be any time left for me.

[hulksmashin-bannerpackin]

Gladiatorial Romance

Pairing: Hulk X Reader

So a beautiful Anon recently screamed at me:

HULK SPECIFIC FICS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And it gave me a brilliant idea so I decided to look at it as a request!

Please enjoy! <3

Summary: Hulk has recently landed on the planet Sakaar (RAGNAROK BABY!) and captured as a gladiator slave. Hulk isn’t use to not being the strongest there is so adjusting to this new life is difficult. As he fights his way through the ranks of the arena he finds someone who makes him feel he is not quite alone. 

Hulk roared and thrashed and did everything in his power to release his anger. Each time he banged his fist against the thick barred cell door an electric shock pulsed throughout his nervous system and it was getting more and more difficult to fight against the pain. The beings who captured him somehow fitted him with a strange device called an obedience disk and no matter what he did he could not remove it from himself. (*Obedience disks were used in the Planet Hulk comic, kinda like a shock collar) Hulk felt the pulsation increase and the pain had bought him to his knees as his cell door opened. “That was a warning. Try to escape. You get shocked. Try to fight back. You get shocked. If I don’t like the way you look at me. You get shocked.” The one who Hulk had assumed was warden to this prison announced as he walked past the cells with an air of authority and a cruel smile. Hulk narrowed his eyes at the man, he wanted to pound him into the ground so badly but he decided against it. He would think. He would wait. He would… Adapt. He and the other prisoners were corralled out and lead to a large dome like room. Many weapons of all different shapes and sizes adored the walls as well as armour. Soon each of the prisoners were directed to split up and section off. There were three groups now. The first group was small. It was actually made up of people who didn’t seem to be prisoners. They were dressed finer and instantly walked to their places seemingly knowing where to go and what to do. The second group which Hulk was part of was much larger. He noted the prisoners in his group all looked unsure and scared. Finally the third group was directed to leave, another guard walked them back to their cells. A guard came to Hulk’s group and started sizing each prisoner up, examining them and directing them to what appeared to be slave girls. When it was Hulk’s turn to be examined he glared at the guard, snarling slightly and doing everything in his power to hold back his rage once more as he was poked and prodded. “This ugly beast should at least be able to last a few rounds.” And then he snapped. Hulk threw his fist back and punched the guard, letting out the growl he had welled up inside. He instantly felt the sharp piercing pulse of the obedience disk. It was stronger then before, so much more pain. “Pathetic beast!” The guard whom he hit raised a whip and struck Hulk, an electric charge similar to his obedience disk only stronger coursed through his bloodstream. Hulk sank to the ground, closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, baring through the pain, waiting for it to end as the guard continued to lash him. “Stop!!!!” He heard the cry of a woman’s voice and then a shriek of pain. Hulk snapped his eyes open as he saw a cerulean blue skinned girl stood in front of him. Her head was down but her arms were stretched out. “He is only new! He has yet to learn the rules! He does not deserve such harsh treatment!” The maiden cried out, Hulk watched as this woman stood defending him, his pain had dulled now. The guard had glared at her but turned to the warden who had made his way towards them at the noise. Both the guard and the girl stood with their heads down, bowing slightly. The warden gazed at the blood dripping down the maidens face, oozing from the deep cut across her cheek from the whip the guard had accidentally struck her with when she stood in front of Hulk. Suddenly the guards obedience disk activated and he cried out in pain. “You have damaged my property.” The warden sneered at the guard. “My apologises Sir!” The guard gasped out when the shock finally stopped. “And you.” He turned his attention to the girl, he grabbed her face with one hand and dug his thumb into the cut on her cheek. “Consider this adequate punishment for defending a beast again.” “Ye-yes Master!” She stuttered as she held back a cry of pain. The warden stalked off and the guard tried to regain a stance of authority. “Deal with this beast.” He snapped to the maiden and continued on to examine the next prisoner. “Yes sir.” She said softly with a bow, she turned to face Hulk and he was met with a pair of almost fluorescent orange eyes and a kind smile. “Please come this way.” She announced as she gestured and began to walk expecting the Hulk to follow her. Swallowing his pride that was exactly what the Hulk did. He was currently powerless so he needed to listen to his captors until he could find a way to fight back. “Sit down please.” Her voice cut him from his thoughts of bloody revenge and he did what she said, knowing that she was just as much a prisoner as he was. He didn’t want her to be hurt for his actions. Hulk was strong, he could handle the shocks, he didn’t imagine she would fair as well as him. She had began cutting his hair, snipping away the unruly curled locks he had inherited from his puny counterpart. “My name is Y/N, what is yours?” Y/N ask gently but Hulk only growled in response. “It is okay if you do not want to tell me. I understand this must be difficult for you.” She said seemingly unaffected by his temper. Once she was done cutting his hair she moved to and from the walls, gathering different pieces of armour and carrying them back. “You are here to serve the Grandmaster as entertainment.” She stated as she began fitting him with large brown leather forearm protectors. “It is an honour to be chosen as a gladiator in our mighty arenas.” This speech sounded very rehearsed in Hulk’s mind. Like she had rattled it off a thousand times. “If you manage to survive your first match you will continue to fight. If you continue to fight your status will increase.” She strapped more brown leather padding to his shins and he took this time to examine her. She had wild white hair cascading down her back and intricate red markings adorning her skin. She had pointed ears and a set of small smooth and rounded light blue horns protruding from her head. “If you gain enough status the Grandmaster will generously allow you rewards for your service.” Finally she gave him a spear, it looked pathetic compared to the many battle axes, hammers and swords strung along the walls. “All competitors begin with a spear, as you continue to fight your weapons will be upgraded.” She finished her speech and walked away again as Hulk grasped the spear tightly, he could feel his fingers denting the weak metal. Hulk let his gaze wander and saw the other prisoners receive the same treatment as he was, some given better armour and weaponry. She returned with a bowl. “I’m going to paint your face okay?” She announced carefully before touching him. Her gentle touch was welcoming after all the pain he had been through today and closed his eyes letting her touch soothe him. Once she finished painting his face Hulk noticed as she subtlety looked around to see if guards were watching them. When she saw that their were none she produced a strange looking plant from her rag like dirty white dress and placed it into his hands. “Quickly eat this. It will dull the aching you have from your shocks.” And with that she took a step back and gave him one last smile. “Good luck.” She had a worried expression but she still smiled before moving to another prisoner to prepare him as she did Hulk. Soon Hulk was herded out of the dome like structure with the other prisoners and he was almost blinded by the rays of light from the sun that assaulted his vision as the gates opened. He heard the loud thunderous roaring of cheers as he and around 30 more prisoners were forced out into the arena with the large gates locking behind them. Some prisoners ran, some grouped together and some like him stood there, surveying the surroundings. He heard the rumble of another set of gates open and narrowed his eyes. Suddenly beasts of unimaginable shapes and sizes were released and preyed upon the prisoners. The ones with better weapons, who were not new to this game attacked while many of the ones he was grouped with ran. Hulk smirked, he threw his spear to the ground and cracked his knuckles. He was all too ready to release his pent up aggression and charged at the closest beast. ————————- When the final beast was dead Hulk and the other prisoners were again shuffled back inside. However from the 30 something prisoners that came out only 9 returned. Hulk was commended for his efforts and being one of the only prisoners not to get hurt. Y/N had soon returned to him and began stripping him of his armour. “Congratulations on winning.” There was that practiced tone again. She had washed the paint from his face and soon he was put back in his cell. This process had continued for three more days, each time Hulk had Y/N prepare him and he had grown fonder of her. Her gentle smile and kind voice became a small comfort for him. After he returned victorious yet again he sat down and let Y/N do her work. “Hulk.” “What?” “My name is Hulk.” Y/N raised her brows in surprise before giving him a smile. “It’s nice to officially meet you Hulk.” —————————- Quickly Hulk had found himself rising the ranks in the gladiator arena, he no longer slept in a cell but was given a simple room. He was given better and better weapons and armour as well. He still however had Y/N preparing him and tending to him before and after each battle. He opened up to her and spoke to her as much as he could. Hulk even found himself allowing other beasts and gladiators to wound him, just so he could spend more time with Y/N as she bandaged and took care of his wounds. They always healed within an hour so that allowed him to let himself get injured each match. Hulk found that he loved the ring. He loved the fighting and the cheering. It was strange to be cheered for instead of scorned and screamed at in terror. Hulk also loved the challenges that came to the arena. His opponents were much stronger then those he fought on Earth and that alone thrilled him. Hulk became proud. He goaded the crowds to give him a reaction and he found that he enjoyed when Y/N watched him, the few times she was in the stands with the warden instead of in the dome. He always puffed his chest and showed off. He liked how she would watch his every move even though he didn’t like the nervous fear in her eyes every time he got hurt. He wanted to impress her. Eventually Hulk became something of a celebrity he was moved out of the prison entirely and given a luxurious room, he had fine feasts every night and soon Hulk forgot about escaping entirely. Hulk felt more at home here then he ever did on Earth. ———————— Hulk stood triumphant in the arena once more, he had slain his toughest challenge yet as an incredibly large maggot like bug laid dead on the ground in pieces. The crowds cheering quietened as he returned to the dome. Y/N quickly approached him, barely restraining herself. “Hulk! I was so worried! No one has ever defeated that beast and yet you killed it!” Hulk swelled with pride as she spoke. “You should know by now. Hulk is the strongest there is.” He stated simply, sitting down to allow her to remove his armour. “Well I am still allowed to be worried for you am I not?” Y/N gave him her signature smile that he had grown to love and walked to return his large shoulder pads to the wall. Hulk watched her as she walked. They had built such a strong connection and he was so glad she was here with him. Everyone stopped and the various guards had scrambled to attention, bowing as the Grandmaster had entered the dome. He smiled as he approached the Hulk. “Ah my favourite competitor!” He announced with a clap of his hands. “You have done well so I am to offer you a reward of your choosing!” He smiled at Hulk. “Within reason of course.” He added, his voice was dangerously low. Hulk was silent, everyone was watching with bated breath. It wasn’t often the Grandmaster had personally came to offer reward. Finally he pointed to Y/N who was still at the wall. “I want her.” She dropped the shoulder pad she was holding, startled at the declaration. Her eyes were wide and she looked towards the Grandmaster. The warden had scoffed. “Who do you think you are? You cannot take my property you-” The warden was silenced by the Grandmaster raising his hand in front of him. “I can offer you any number of women.” The Grandmaster said, his sick grin never leaving his face. “I. Want. Her.” Hulk repeated and the Grandmaster saw by the fire in Hulk’s eyes he was not going to change his mind easily. He hummed in thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. “Very well! The girl is yours.” The warden clenched his jaw and glared daggers at Hulk, he however knew he could not argue, the Grandmaster’s word was law. —————— Hulk had remained impassive, not showing a single expression as he left the dome, Y/N nervously trailed a small distance behind him. There was a thick silence between them until the entered his room. Y/N took a deep breath and swallowed the lump forming in her throat as she closed the door. Her eyes her downcast as she fidgeted. “What would you like me to do Hu-Master?” Her voice was nervous and she was afraid to look up. She did however meet his gaze when she felt him grab her hands in his own. “I did not want you for a slave Y/N.” She blinked up at him, holding her breath, she didn’t dare to hope… “I wanted you for my love.” Tears welled in her eyes as she pulled one of her hands from his to rapidly scrub at her eyes. “I… I did not think you felt the same.” She smiled shyly, looking away from him. “You’re the only thing on this planet I care for.” He pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her waist and bending down as she stretched upwards and placed her hands on his shoulders so that their lips could meet. At last, Hulk had found his home.

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