#let's put my music training/classes to good use!! ^_^

[krenenbaker]

so, it seems people would like the more detailed analysis of the songs!

I'll - of course - still be giving my thoughts, but I'll look a little closer at the theoretical sides of things ^w^ it'll take a bit longer, since it'll be a deeper look at the songs, so I don't know exactly when I'll post them. but I'm super excited to really bite my teeth into these pieces!

okay, I think I may actually do a little musical analysis of the Obey Me! character solos. but before I get into it, I'd like to know what sort of analysis people would be more interested in seeing

in either case, I'll be talking about the songs, how it reflects their characters, and some of my favourite parts / lines in each one :)

[placeinthemiddleofnowhere]

Reign down on me - Part 3

Pairing: Ghost x Hybrid!reader (eventual poly!141)

No use of y/n or mention of gender/race

Summary: Reader is a wolf hybrid in a world that treats them like second class citizens, given a horrible start in life after being thrown into the military with no preparation. After years of struggle, they're finally taken away from their base by Ghost, now a permanent member of taskforce 141 reader struggles to come to terms with the fact that perhaps there's a life there for them - if only they reach out and accept it.

Warnings: hurt/comfort, Angst, abuse mentions, self doubt, abandonment

-🐺-

When the three of you left Price’s office, you were still marvelling at your collar. Your hands couldn’t leave the leather alone, stroking it and rubbing your fingers over the ridges of the ‘141’ stamp that graced the side of your neck. It had you smiling even despite the nagging feeling that everything was going to go away; that there was a rug just ready and waiting to be pulled just when you were going to get excited about your future with the team.

You were still holding your new handler tag between your fingers when you finally laid eyes on your Sergeants. They were hanging off the sofa in the break room, shouting and laughing as they furiously tapped at the remotes in their hands and shoved at each other like wild animals. You widened your eyes at the display, watching curiously as the man on the screen in front of them warned that they were running out of time. 

“Oi, you two! Pack it in, lads!” 

The men immediately put the controllers down and stopped the loud music from blaring out of the TV. They bashfully faced your small group, looking from where Price had shouted and inevitably to you. 

Gaz seemed to recognise you right away, his face lit up when he caught your eyes, but Soap didn’t give much away. His lips stayed firmly shut into a cheeky smile and his eyes roamed all about you, eventually catching on the shiny new collar around your neck. Gaz saw it too. 

“Good to see you again,” Gaz smiled, nodding his head in greeting. “Reppin’ the team as well - nice.”

You froze for a second, not really used to having someone remember you nevermind say it was good to see you again. Though you soon let your hands drop to your sides and nodded, offering a weak smile. 

“Thanks, Sergeant Garrick,” you replied, erring on the side of over-politeness. 

“Pft, don’t sergeant Garrick me again, you’re on the team now, it’s Gaz or Kyle, ok?”

Your ears raised in surprise. If you’d tried to call Sergeant Maddox by his nickname you’d have had your back flayed. Though when you thought back to it, Gaz had made a face everytime you addressed him before - he’d even tried to correct you and insist on Gaz a couple times. You’d decided in the past that it seemed like a ruse to make you step out of line, though now you realised he probably did just prefer his nickname.

“Alright, Gaz. Nice to meet you too…Sergeant MacTavish?” You said unsure, trying to gauge if ‘Soap’ would prefer his title or his nickname. 

“Soap’ll do fine for me, furball.” He snorted, face cracking into a big grin.

Furball would not do for you. You felt your ears drop and had to will yourself with everything you had not to let loose a growl. It mustn’t have been enough to completely hide your displeasure. Ghost put his hand on your shoulder, forcing a flinch out of you yet again, and squeezed. Whether it was meant to be threatening or reassuring, you weren’t sure, but either way you untensed your body and sighed out the rest of your annoyance. 

“Behave, Soap,” Ghost tutted.

“What? I’m just being my charmin’ self.”

“Be someone else for five minutes,” Ghost snarked.

“That desperate to hear my impression of you again, LT?”

“Maybe later, Soap,” Price said briskly. “There’s work to be done. Now that everyone’s on site, we can head over to the training I've set up for the day and we can get stuck in. You boys ready to head out?”

Soap and Gaz nodded, picking up their jackets from where they’d been strewn across the couch and got ready to move. You geared up to follow them, but Ghost put his arm out like security barrier, sending you into a surprised stop as you walked into him with an ‘oof’. 

“We’re gonna pick up your new boots first, Pup,” Ghost explained, his eyes twinkling when you tilted your head up at him. “We’ll catch up with em’ in a minute.”

“Pup?” Gaz repeated.

He’d stopped in his tracks as he heard that. From your periphery you could see his eyebrows raise. 

You felt your cheeks heat up like tiny furnaces and continued to avoid his eyes, simmering in your own embarrassment. It hadn’t occurred to you that Price hadn’t picked up on it, but now that Garrick had, you felt the full flush of embarrassment hit you in a fiery torrent. Just great, the new team are gonna pick up on Ghost’s babying and have a field day with it, you thought dourly. 

“Yes?” you said cautiously, waiting for the jeering snipes to begin. 

“Do you want us to call you that now?” 

Fuck off.

Get Fucked.

Why don’t I call you that? 

Those are the responses that your invaluable years of being taunted within an inch of your sanity suppress. Instead you shrugged lamely, forcing your body to relax and your fangs to unsnarl.  

“Call me whatever you want,” you grunted, leaving out the silent ‘most people do’.

You braved a glance over at him and watched as his eyebrows twitched upward. There was a distinct lack of mocking grin and on top of that, he didn’t hit out with a rebuttal. He just tilted his head at you and averted his eyes, silently going off in the same direction that Soap and Price had and letting the door whoosh shut behind him. 

“Gaz was just bein’ polite, Pup,” Ghost sighed, squeezing your shoulder once again. 

“What?”

“He wasn’t trying to make fun of you. He was just figuring out how to address you.”

You looked back up at Ghost and frowned, feeling your brows sink heavily over your eyes. Was he in your head or something? You folded your arms over each other and huffed out a breath, already irritated that Ghost had been the cause of the situation in the first place with all his coddling and cooing. 

“Never said he was,” you answered defensively. 

“Your attitude gave you away, darlin’.”

You knew then that under his mask, Ghost’s eyebrows would be drawn upward, enhancing his knowing stare underneath that dark mask of his. It sent your heart hammering and your fizzling mood freezing out with a small dying gasp. You wondered what your punishment for said ‘attitude’ would be. 

“Sorry, Sir,” you murmured, feeling your slanted tail awkwardly tuck in between your legs. “Won’t happen again, sorry for speaking to you out of turn.”

Suddenly the collar round your neck felt tighter and the cool tags burned your goosebumping skin. The weight of it felt impossible now that it was tying you to Ghost, now that you knew that you were supposed to be performing to a standard that fit a man like him. You were supposed to compliment him, not embarrass him with your silly antics.

“Hey, you’re fine, alright? I’m not angry with you. I only mention it because I don’t want you to think he’s like those men that were on your old base,” he said gently. 

You curled your hands into fists by your sides, willing them to stop shaking now that Ghost was watching you closely. His eyes followed the movement and you gulped, not quite sure how to respond. You’d have had your ass kicked for speaking like that to anyone on your old base, nevermind whoever your current handler was at the time. Now Ghost was telling you he wasn’t mad and looking at you with those big stupid eyes of his.

“Honestly, you’re not in trouble,” he sighed, reaching out and stroking a hand over your head. “If it helps, I can stop calling you pup if you don’t like it?”

“No, that’s alright,” you said a little too quickly. 

“You sure?” 

You nodded, not wanting to embarrass yourself any further by squeaking out anything else. Or perhaps even admitting that you liked it - that it made you feel safe, like his. It felt like Ghost cared for you on a level no one ever had before, following his kind words with kind actions. 

How could you willingly let go of that? 

-🐺-

Your parents had already taught you that being cared about was not a luxury that most hybrids were afforded. You remembered what it was like being dropped off at Branhaven that first day, that memory haunted you in almost every nightmare you ever had. You’d been so sure that they meant what they said when they wanted the best for you. It only stung all the more years later knowing that everything they said was just a lie designed to cut you off like a limb gone badly necrotic.

They’d taken you out on a car ride, just you by yourself, and you’d been so excited to begin with. Your little tail wagged so hard even despite being pressed harshly into the stiff leather seats. They never usually took you anywhere alone, it seemed like such a special day at first - Your brother and sister always got fun trips and you always got dropped off at your grandmas and plopped in front of the TV for the day. Now your parents had done the opposite.

It was finally your turn to have a day with them. Or so you’d naively thought. Too young at the tender age of ten to figure out that something out of the ordinary was never a good sign.

They’d been so smiley though, giving each other happy looks as they drove far far away from your little home town, humming along to the radio even. It would never have crossed your mind that that day was going to mark the change of everything. They’d even stopped at McDonalds and bought you a happy meal and let you choose a milkshake to wash it down with. That never happened, you’d only ever gotten to jealously watch on as your brother and sister got nice things like that. It was too good a score to stop and think anything bad about.

But then reality hit after a few more hours on the road. They stopped the car outside of what you thought was a toll booth which presided over a big ugly grey building in the shape of one of your brother’s play block towers. That’s when it occurred to you that maybe you weren’t going somewhere fun, maybe you were facing something of the opposite nature. It didn’t help that the man at the ‘toll booth’ said that your parents were expected, that they were pleasantly on time for their appointment. 

“Um…why did we stop here?” you’d asked, your voice squeaking out so timidly as you tried not to upset them. 

They never liked it when you talked too much or asked too many questions. Behaviour like that was often met with sighing and temple rubbing and ‘would you just be quiet?’. Though you couldn’t contain yourself then as you looked at the facility in front of you, frowning as you caught sight of a crying kid being dragged through the big metal gates, throwing themselves against the fence in hopes to try and cling onto something and not be lead into the building within. 

Was it a doctors office maybe? Some kind of specialist you had to see now that you were a growing hybrid on the edge of…what was the word again? Puberty? 

“Well kiddo, we’ve had a tough decision to make,” Your dad had said, placing his big hands over your mum’s. 

You tilted your head when you noticed that she was avoiding looking at you. Suddenly they weren’t smiling anymore either. The car felt very stuffy all of a sudden, the smell of the fat and salt from the Mcdonalds was clogging thickly in the air. 

“What tough decision?” you asked, feeling your ears slowly pin against your head. 

“Well…as you know you were a- a shock to your mother and I. We never thought in a million years we’d have a hybrid child, never knew the- the DNA was in us,” your dad had said, saying that dreaded DNA word in the same annoyed hiss he always did. “And we’ve never been prepared for the reality of it, the challenges that come with having a kid that’s…different. As you get older, that’s only gonna get more challenging for us. You’re going to become aggressive, and you’re going to have mood swings and you’re going to be difficult to control - it's just the way of hybrid kids.”

“You’re going to be a danger to your brother and sister,” your mum said, still refusing to look over at you, instead keeping her sights pinned on the entrance to the building. “To us.”

“Yes, and then what can happen is that you start wandering off, going out and getting into all sorts of trouble like those awful stories you hear on the news. You could get involved with gangs, you could hurt other people and go feral, you could do all sorts of damage and then the police would be forced to hurt you, maybe even kill you if you became a real danger. And you don’t want any of that do you?”

You frowned. Of course not! You shuddered to think that you would ever hurt someone, you’d always been the exact opposite of everything they'd just described. You were a pushover. You were kind to a fault, always trying to get on people’s good side on the off chance that you might receive a shred of their kindness. You’d never dream of being aggressive or of hurting any of your family.

“No, I don’t want that!” you agreed, searching your dad’s eyes and looking for him to acknowledge your plea. 

You wanted him to know that you weren’t like that. You hoped he knew that you’d never ever want to hurt him in a million years, he was your dad, you loved him endlessly. Even when he barely showed you an ounce of his own love in the meagre years you’d been alive, you would do anything to show him that you weren’t like those other hybrids. You were theirs, you had their DNA, even if yours had wolf in it, you didn’t think that mattered. 

“We know you don’t want that,” your dad said sympathetically, his voice dramatically pitching as he showed his ‘understanding’. “That’s why we’ve made the decision to sign you up for a program that the government recently started. It’s designed to help good hybrids like you, ones that want to grow up to be good people, to become productive members of society.”

You always laughed bitterly thinking back to that now. Member of society - hah! You were made little more than a slave, kept locked away behind fences or escorted around by groups of strange men with guns, and yet that program was supposedly to turn you into some paragon of virtue for all hybrids to aspire to. 

“I want to be good,” you affirmed, smiling as your dad smiled back at you. 

And you did. All you ever wanted was to be good.

“I know. And we think you’re gonna be so happy here, and you’re gonna do so well with the program! So we’re gonna go in and finish signing you up and you’re going to answer all of their questions honestly and politely, ok kiddo?”

“Oh…ok!” you’d said, not wanting to immediately bother him with your annoying questions. “But um- sorry - can I ask? What is the pro- program?”

Your dad’s mouth pressed into a thin line and you baulked, gulping as you realised you’d annoyed him after he’d just been so happy with you a second ago. Stupid dog! You were immediately frustrated at yourself, getting him worked up just when he was so proud a second ago. 

Though you were pleased to see he would answer you regardless, he was just so kind as to explain things.

“It’s with the military, we were told by the helpline that this was the best place for you to go. Since you’re a wolf hybrid, you’ll be happiest here - you can get all your energy out properly and be part of a big ‘pack’ when you get assigned to a unit. They said it’ll be just like school, like a special school just for hybrids! They’ll train you up first and then you’ll begin getting sent out to places around the world where people need help, until eventually you get your very own personal handler who looks after only you and takes you with them everywhere,” your dad explained, his voice slightly strained as he tried to position the job as nicely as he could. 

You frowned. You ignored his ‘don’t question me anymore’ eyes. Questions bursting from your mouth before your head could quash them down. 

“A handler that looks after me? But you and mum look after me,” you laughed, “Why would I need someone else to do that?”

“Because you’re too old for us to look after anymore, we have to let a professional take over now,” your mum said, finally turning around to look at you, waving off the hard look your dad shot her. “You have to stay here, where its safe for us and you. They’ll know how to handle you properly here. Hey now! No, don’t make a fuss. What do we keep telling you? You’re not a baby, you don’t need to bother with crocodile tears!”

You couldn’t help but get panicked then. Halfway through her speaking you realised that they actually intended to drop you off here and give you away. How could they just do that? You had to be mixed up, you reasoned, you had to be thinking stupidly as usual and you were getting it all wrong. 

“B-bu-but I…do I- I’ll get to come home and visit right?” you spluttered, trying desperately to withhold the tears that were streaming down your cheeks, rubbing furiously at the evidence that you were in fact the baby she was describing. “You- you said it’s like school! I’ll get to come home on the weekend then, won’t I? I’ll get day’s off on Saturday and - and Sunday and I’ll get to c-come home, right?”

Your mum was about to speak again, but your dad forcefully dug his hands into hers, grabbing with enough force to shake her, practically baring his teeth at the barest hint of her mouth opening. She shut it promptly again and he breathed out a loud sigh, one that still reached your ears over the frantic rushing of your own blood stream.

“Oh kiddo, you’re getting yourself all upset just before you have to meet the nice people! C’mon now, stop the silly tears. We’re gonna get you inside and you can ask all the questions you need to. In fact I think they’ll be very excited to get to talk to you. Now dry your eyes and come with me, that’s it, just breathe and calm down. No need to be a silly baby, because you’re not a silly baby are you? That’s right, you’re a big strong wolf. Come on then!”

Your mum stayed in the car, offering you a small smile as you went. Though as you think back to it now, you realise it was probably a smile of relief. One reserved only for herself.

Your dad’s parting words were little better than your mum’s smile. He’d said he’d speak to you again soon. That was just before he’d sent you packing into the strange office after signing in at the front desk, escorted away by a big bald man in a crisp green uniform, barely able to turn your body enough in his iron grip so that you could get one last look at your dad. He did a great job of feigning concern as he smiled encouragingly through the doorway. It was enough to help you calm yourself a little, thinking that at least you’d probably see him again on the weekend since he told you he’d see you soon. 

From then on however, you weren’t able to ask any questions, it hadn’t gone at all like your dad had said it would. You still weren’t able to confirm if you were getting time off to go see your family again, still weren’t getting to learn what it was you would be doing. You were cut off at every turn. 

Your hands were smacked with a ruler when you didn’t give the lady the answers she wanted because you were too busy trying to determine what the hell this program really was. You’d jumped the first time she did it, wailing from the shock of it at first before the burning sting set in. She’d just tisked at you and repeated her last question in a shout, asking you about any possible allergies or health problems. 

Little were you to know, you’d face much worse in the years to come.

You tried to do everything that was asked of you just to avoid that horrible ruler for the rest of the day. However it wasn’t enough to make them happy, nothing was. They didn’t smile at you or speak to you encouragingly, their monotonous voices were like sandpaper on your ears. They shuffled you along from room to room, processing your forms and getting you set up with a bunk - in a room full of similarly sniffling hybrid children - before whisking you away to a building outside that looked much like a garage. 

They’d thrown some items of clothing at you from off the racks and told you to get changed behind the makeshift curtain they’d set up, ordering you to hand over your old clothes afterwards. The room smelt like stale laundry detergent and bleach. The air stung at your eyes while you changed, biting at your overstimulated senses. 

You’d felt all the more inconsolable as you gave away your favourite tshirt, mourning the loss of the happy little cartoon dog as you had to trade him for a plain green button down. You struggled to put it on with your shaking fingers, huffed when you had a hard time squeezing your tail through the toughly stitched hole in the rough trousers. Military issue wasn’t built for comfort, that was one of your first hard learned lessons. 

“The fit’s alright,” the bald man had confirmed when you were out, staring at you with a bored look of a man that was going to be doing the same assessment with tons of other hybrids for days to come. “Look after those clothes, you won’t get another set until you progress to the next stage.”

-🐺-

“Pup?”

You snapped out of your thoughts and lasered in on Ghost, suddenly realising how badly you’d zoned out. How long had you been ignoring him for? Fuck!

“Yes,Sir? Sorry, Sir,” you said quickly, trying to rectify your mistake. “I…”

He’d asked you something…

“I asked you if the boots fit alright?” Ghost chuckled, ruffling a hand over your head.

You sighed and looked down at the shiny new shoes, still blown away by how easily Ghost had acquired not only those but also a full new set of hybrid uniforms and underwear. The quarter master hadn’t even blinked at his request, he’d just gotten Ghost to sign a few forms and just like that you had a brand new wardrobe full of new and perfectly pressed clothes. 

Normally you were only allowed to replace one new piece at a time, and usually you’d be met with annoyance and huffing at every request. The old quartermaster would drone on about money and what a waste it was to give you something new. This one just smiled as he handed you a bag with all of your fresh new things, telling Ghost to let him know if you needed any new patches for your shirts while you did all you could not to gape at him. 

“The boots are good, thank you. They just need broken in,” you shrugged, already feeling them rubbing a little uncomfortably across your left ankle. 

“Mhmm, just let me know if they dig too much. I can tell Price if you need a break today. Remember what he told you earlier, we want you to communicate with us, alright?”

“Alright,” you answered, still feeling like you’d landed in some kind of alternate reality overnight. 

“That’s my good pup.”

He squeezed your shoulder and led you off to the training area then, his back turned as you stared up at him with big eyes. My good pup. Your spine had tingled so warmly after hearing that, you’d even felt your traitorous tail wag a little before you gripped it tightly in your hand and stopped it. 

The whole way to the training area you repeated his words in your head, almost drunkenly swooning over the rumble of his accent. It kept you following slowly behind him, trying to ensure he didn’t see the ridiculous little smile that had refused to leave your face after his praise. Not that it was just the praise itself, of course, no he’d called you his specifically. 

It was only when you were met with Price again that you were able to think straight. Your posture went rigid when you met his eyes and noted that he looked serious now. The job was officially starting. 

You’d been led into a cavernous building with big bright lights glaring over your head. It’s floors were filled with tall panels of wood that stretched high above you and even over Ghost's towering frame, filling the room with a cheap sawdusty smell. From inside you knew there were men waiting inside the labyrinth that surely lay within, you could hear their heartbeats echoing in the expansive space, you could smell their sweat as they adjusted to the warmth of the blaring overhead lights. 

Everything was set up for a simulated mission. You’d done similar drills many times before, your heart was already beating fast with anticipation, base instincts beginning to bubble to the surface. You were ready to run, ready to hunt. 

However the nature of your quarry was still to be revealed. That kept your head just human enough to listen to what Price had to say. It never did to misunderstand the mission and run straight into failure, and at that point you wanted to do everything you could to try and dodge any punishments. 

“So we’ve got a simple set up for today, this is mainly to get you properly acquainted with the team and get you familiarised with us,” Price said carefully, keeping strict eye contact with you to make sure you understood him. 

If you were to hover outside your own body you knew your pupils had probably already dilated. Your chest was probably already noticeably heaving as the wolf inside you seized control over your mind. He’d know you were almost gone, and would need carefully given instruction.You flicked your ears for him, letting him see that you were  listening intently to what your new Captain was saying.

Little did he know there was a new part of you now primed and ready to receive his praises, endorphins were ready to fire as you got ready to impress him. You felt like you had a real chance to shine now, to do well for someone other than yourself.  

“Basically we’re going to run you through some tracking drills. We’ve got some bits of clothing prepared for you to scent and you’re gonna run through the maze taking down hostiles and securing your ‘hostages’. This is gonna help you remember our scents so that you can find us in the field in future, and it’s gonna give us a taste of what you can do when you’re up against an enemy. You’re gonna start off with Ghost keeping you in a collar hold to start, you’re gonna alert him when you find an enemy or sense a hostage, but we’ll let you do some solo runs as well. Sound good?”

“Yes sir,” you answered in a growl, the wolf inside straining to go. 

“Alright. Ghost, help Pup stick their gear on, I’m gonna go up to the stands and get ready to watch.” 

With that Price moved up to the metal steps to your left, ascending to the high walkway above so that he could watch over the maze and track your movements. With each thud he made, your heart beat with it. You tried not to wriggle too much while Ghost got you ready, but you did receive a small ‘hey!’ and a tug on your collar when you tried to look past Ghost and toward the course. After giving you a second to calm down, he stuck you in a vest and hooked your comms up to his and Price’s, ensuring he secured a looped earpiece round your ear to hear them with as well.  

From then on it was like torture waiting for Ghost to get himself ready, it felt like time was moving at half speed, your tail swished impatiently as he got himself into safety gear and took his sweet time grabbing one of the training guns from the racks. You shivered with anticipation, heavily scenting the air already while you stepped from foot to foot. Your body was burning with energy, your legs ready to pounce. 

“Alright I’m gonna get the lights in a second, we’re gonna simulate a city street at night, so you’re going to have low visibility,” Price explained, voice sparking to life through the comms in your ear. “If you walk round to the entrance you’ll see Gaz and Soap’s jackets. You’re gonna get a good whiff of em’ and use that to track em down, Pup. You ready?”

“Ready, Captain,” you answered, already straining in Ghost’s hold. 

“Fuckin’ hell,” ghost rumbled.

He’d gripped your collar after he finished sorting his gear and now you were primed to go, struggling to try and pull him forward as you sensed the job was starting. ‘Work mode’ had shuttered off any other thoughts. All that kept you in your spot was the incredibly tight grip that Ghost had on you - that and all the training you’d had not to abandon the handler that was collar holding you. You might’ve tried to squirm free otherwise. 

“That’s one strong wolf,” Price chuckled, disappearing as he shut off the lights with a loud click. “Hold on tight, Ghost.”

Your instincts flared ever more wildly in the darkness. The flickering lamplights above were just bright enough to lead you around to the starting gate of the course and to the discarded jackets strewn on the floor. 

Ghost took one of them in his free hand and held it up to your face, letting you drink in the scent of it while he kept a firm grip of your collar. Almost immediately you were getting warm notes of aftershave and undertones of rich home cooking. Gaz, you guessed in the back of your mind, vaguely recognising the scent from back in the break room. Ghost lifted the next one for you, repeating the procedure again. Annoyingly that’s when you realised that Soap was an expert in demolitions. You knew that now from the hints of explosive materials that you could sniff out. 

You whuffed out an agitated breath and stopped Ghost from taking the jacket away, holding it longer so that you could try to find something to pinpoint Soap properly by. Sniffing out explosives and associating that with a friendly would be a very very bad idea, even with your clouded brain you knew that, so you wanted to establish his scent by something better. You inhaled again and gulped the scent in, holding onto the gentle hints of sage and cigarettes that emanated from below the plastics and frowning when you swore you could detect a familiar hint of spicy citrus peels…

You dropped the confusion as soon as it came, satisfied that you could accurately identify both Soap and Gaz. There was no point wondering why that secondary scent was on there, and now you were far too eager to get started. You rushed forward and had Ghost quietly swearing again as you set off through the wooden course, soon greeted with more accurate building facades as you stepped out onto an almost abandoned city street. 

You huffed in deep lungfuls of air, twitching your ears all the while as you listened out for hostiles and tried to scent out your targets. There were so many intermingling scents, so many distractions to sift through. Only a few steps forward you detected something in an alleyway to your left and turned to Ghost, flicking your head in the direction of the possible enemy ahead. 

Ghost nodded and flicked two of his fingers to his side, signalling for you to heel while he raised his gun. Luckily your training allowed you to tamp down the instinct to run off and chase the enemy like a snarling beast, otherwise you’d have run off to do just that.

Instead you quietly followed along with your handler while he picked off the hostile with a suppressed shot. Your ears twitched nonetheless when it came, feeling like a fly had buzzed right into it with the noise that it made. The training guns were always too high pitched, never able to quite simulate the real sound of a shot. 

“Good,” ghost whispered, just barely enough so that you could hear. 

Your tail swished and you smiled to yourself as Ghost took a hold of your collar again, allowing you to lead him further through the street, brimming with pride after being complimented. It took a little time to work your way through the course, keeping yourselves pressed tightly into the shadows. The two of you crouched and ducked through the alleyways, picking soldiers with weapons off one by one and leaving the fake civilians to wander.

When you finally came to a building that emanated with the smell of amber tinged aftershave, you stopped suddenly and perked your ears, alerting that you’d found your target. Ghost made his way to one of the windows and peeked inside, whispering to you that there seemed to be two men, and one was holding a gun to Gaz’s head. He released your collar and swirled his index finger by the door, signalling for you to wait by it and get your orders 

“I’m gonna take the man with the Gun out from here. You try to go inside and take the one by the doorway. You can surprise him if you act fast,” Ghost whispered. “On my signal.”

You nodded and primed yourself at the door, ready to fling it open and throw yourself inside. You watched Ghost intently from your periphery, doing everything not to snarl with all the adrenaline that coursed through you. The warm buzz of a mission going well never failed to make you happy, always showing you that you were capable and strong. Something to be feared when out on the field. 

Ghost grunted at you to go and just as his shot rang out, you ripped through the doorway and set yourself on the man inside. He screamed loudly as you took him down, a sound like a strangled cat leaving his throat as you swiped at the target pad that had been put there. It always terrified people when you did that, making them realise just how much of a threat you were when you easily ripped the foam and simulated a perfect kill. 

In real life that kill would’ve been near silent once their vocal chords had been torn, but the man before you was shrieking as you loomed over him. It was enough to bring his friend rushing out from the shadows, emerging from a room just behind Gaz in a blaze of shock from all the noise.

Just as the man’s trudging steps hit the floor, you leapt from your old target and toward the new one, snarling and growling up a storm. You were ensuring you drew the fire to you and not your hostage, just as you’d been trained to do. Though before he could get a shot off, you were on him, slamming his gun hand to the ceiling above and overwhelming him with a few snaps toward his precious face. 

That was usually enough to have people panicking and forgetting all of their training. In this case it was as well. The man screamed and tried to use the butt of his gun to hit you, but you directed his hand away easily and barked loudly in his face. When you bit at the foam by his throat, he screamed all the harder, sending you into a revelry as you savaged the fake target with glee. 

By this point your mouth would be dripping with blood, and your teeth practically burned with the lack of wetness there. Your mouth watered at his pathetic cries, jaw working as you willed yourself not to clamp down on him and bite. It took everything in you to remember this man wasn’t actually your enemy, and you’d already ‘killed’ him. You didn’t need to do anything else. 

“Oi, shut it!” Ghost shouted, pulling you promptly off of the terrified man while glowering down at him. “You know better. Dead men don’t whine and piss their pants.”

“Sir, I-“

Ghost shot him a warning look, forcing the man to bite his lip and let himself fall back, closing his eyes as if he’d just drawn his last breath. You snickered to yourself and hummed with pleasure as Ghost raked his hands through your hair, roughly petting you with his thick skeleton gloves. 

“Good Pup. Price was right, you’re fast!”  he praised, working his hand over your vest and giving you a few encouraging pats. 

You rumbled out a happy little chirp, already non-verbal as the adrenaline fully set in now. You were deep into the mindset of the wolf, trusting your instincts and training to keep you right. Shut up, focus, signal, bite the foam; your deep rooted commands played like an old mantra.

“We both told you,” Gaz said, “that one’s a beaut in the field.” 

You looked over to him then, some of your humanity returning as you realised how embarrassing it was to be petted and cooed over in front of your Sergeant. Though Gaz’s compliment didn’t escape you and, dumb animal that you were, you chirped at that too. He smiled at the sound and shook his head, looking over to Ghost and away from your horrified widening eyes. 

“So mister saviour,” Gaz said, fluttering his eyelashes and clasping his hands by his face. “Are you gonna get me out of here?” 

Ghost snorted and pulled you close to him, firmly keeping you fixed to his front. 

“You wait here while we get Soap. We’ll get you both out at the same time.”

“This Soap guy sounds like an idiot. You should just leave him and take me away,” Gaz grinned, his character voice cracking as he laughed. 

“Don’t get too jealous, Garrick. I’ll be back for you soon enough,” Ghost rumbled. “I can take you then.” 

You blinked as you watched Ghost wink and felt your cheeks flush. The men had an easy friendship; not the kind you’d seen between the guys at Branhaven that were quick to shout ‘gay!’ If they had to shake another man’s hand. They certainly wouldn’t have pretended to flirt while on a training simulation with the Captain watching. 

Speaking of- 

“Get on with it,” Price drawled, making you jump as you remembered he was on the comms. 

With that, Ghost allowed you to lead the way to Soap while Gaz picked a spot to hide. You made your way easily through the streets, jointly taking down more of the men while they ran around in a frenzy.

After hearing all the gunshots they were like noisy wasps buzzing around, guns pointing out in front of them like angry stingers. They were sloppy though, and loud, easy targets for you both to tear through until you found Soap’s trail and sniffed him out to a fake multi story flat. 

You ascended the stairways and took all the men that stood in your way, checking each door and systematically destroying all your opposition until you found the door that Soap was behind. 

Sure enough you could sense his racing heart and smell that familiar warp of plastic and Sage and cigarettes. There were other smells there too though. More hostiles. You turned to Ghost and held up 3 fingers, letting him know about the others in the room. He nodded his head and quietly got to work bringing out a camera, allowing you both to see the position of your targets. 

Just like Gaz, there was a man holding a gun to Soap’s neck. One other man was pacing the room and the other was facing the doorway, ready to shoot. Ghost sighed out an annoyed breath and retrieved the camera, looking up to the ceiling as he thought about how to go ahead. 

“I’ll take out the one facing the doorway first. You take down the one with his gun to Soap and I’ll get the restless one after that.”

“But then Soap’ll get shot,” you murmured, not sure if this was one of the times you should be verbalising.

“We’ll both get shot if I leave someone facing us. Risking the hostage is a move we have to make, not like they’ll be any better off with us dead and one left with a gun in their hands.”

“You can shoot from the side and let me run at the one facing the door. He won’t swivel in time to get Soap.”

That was the kind of plan you were used to. Usually the human soldiers and the hostages took priority, while your life hung in the balance. It was mostly only saved by your incredible speed, sometimes your vest, as you weaved your way forward, bounding toward the enemy with unpredictable animal movements. 

“We go with my plan,” Ghost said firmly. “Take down the one by Soap on my signal.”

There was no room to disagree. You readied yourself and waited as Ghost kept his hands primed on the door. You breathed out and listened to him countdown, bolting through the doorway like a bullet when you saw it open wide enough. 

You beelined for the man over Soap and threw yourself at him, sending him flying backwards as you ripped into the foam. The man struggled at first, but settled on the ground once he saw the foam torn apart in your teeth and stared up wide eyed and silently.

Your heartbeat thrummed in your ears and you turned then, hurling yourself over to Soap and curling round him with a growl. Your hair stood up on your neck as you looked out for anyone that might crawl out the woodwork to attack him, ready to face a similar scenario just as you’d had with Gaz. Your limbs shivered with anticipation, ready to strike. You snarled out a bark, body expelling every bit of nervous energy it could. 

“Woah there wolfie,” Soap laughed, wrapping one of his big arms around your shoulders, curling his hand round your collar in a restraining grab. “You’re good, you got em all. You’ll terrify the shit out of a real hostage makin’ all tha noise.”

You huffed indignantly and settled back, letting your growls die out in your throat as you realised he was right. Ghost shot down the wanderer when you’d taken a protective stance of Soap, and now you were in a silent room with only fake dead men as your teammates stared intently at you. 

“Good job though, you really got that guy,” Soap affirmed, petting your head even more enthusiastically than Ghost, sending you grumbling and pinning your ears back as you felt your hair fill with static.

Soap jumped a little as he heard you, reeling back his arm and regarding you with a careful look. You fell silent as you saw him, frowning at his sudden show of fear. He was holding his hand to his chin, pulling it away quickly once he caught you staring.

In the darkness you swore you could make out a scar there. The light bounced off of the ridges and sparkled in his glassy eyes. 

“Jesus! Remind me not to cross this one,” Soap said breathily, shooting a nervous smile at Ghost. 

“Pup’ll remind you just fine,” ghost snorted, “got a good growl on ya, isn’t that right?” 

You shrugged and avoided his eyes, realising that you had been pretty noisy. Though you couldn’t help it when it came to all out confrontation. It made men quake in fear, made them sloppy. It was one of your best weapons, limited as you were to using your teeth and claws and, ever so occasionally, knives. 

“Come on then, you two. Best get moving.” 

You awkwardly stood away from Soap, trying not to scare him anymore than you already clearly had. Normally you wouldn’t worry about that sort of thing, but Soap hadn’t actually been mean to you yet and you didn’t want to provoke him into behaving that way. You'd already learned from your past mistakes. 

Once you’d all left the building, you regrouped with Gaz with little effort and Price had turned up the lights and rejoined you all. He praised you for your skills while reprimanding the others for messing about too much and then said the simulation would reset and everyone would switch a few more times. 

The day went on with you ‘rescuing’ the whole team at least once, allowing you to become acquainted with Price’s earthy tobacco and dove soap smell when it was his turn to play hostage. It didn’t take long until you didn’t need to smell their clothing before being sent out into the course. Ghost had had a turn, switching out with Price, and you found him easiest out of everybody, primed to seek out his citrusy orange peel scent like it was a second air source. You hadn’t needed the old balaclava that Price offered, shaking your head as you pulled him toward the entrance. 

Price had grunted and swore something awful while he took control of you, sending Ghost laughing over the comms. Ghost was nice enough to stay hooked up so that he could advise Price when needed. He told him to put a little pressure on the scruff of your neck if you pulled too much. He’d needed to do that a couple times as you raced ahead, trying valiantly to get to your proper handler while the Captain fought against your fast pace. You were so wrapped up in the situation, too far gone worrying about Ghost’s pretend capture, to even be scared when Price threatened to get a hobble for your legs if you didn’t behave.

It was a heavy day, by far one of the most intense training sessions you’d had in a while, but one filled with high praise that kept you raring to go. After having enough simulations that you lost count, all the running around and growling had burned your throat ragged and you were truly finished.

Ghost caught you almost doubling over with the effort it took to stay standing after the last bout and stuck his arm round you. He held you firmly to his hard vest as he petted your head and encouraged you to take a few breaths. 

“That’s it, take it easy, good pup. You’ve done so well today, you’ve impressed me,” he whispered, leaning down just so that you could hear him. “C’mon let’s get you outta that gear. Time for a break, hm?”

You nodded tiredly and looked up as the others glanced over at you both curiously. You didn’t have enough energy to be embarrassed while they watched Ghost help take your gear off. You just clung to him and groaned when the weight of your vest was removed and you were left in your uniform again. You couldn’t help shivering now that the cold air had started to seep in through the metal walls of the warehouse building. 

“Cold, Pup?” Price asked, voice gruff from all his shouting at the soldiers.

A lot of men had had to be reprimanded for screaming and struggling against you; all being told that if they acted like squeaky toys they were going to get bitten like squeaky toys. It certainly felt true as you struggled against yourself with each hour that ticked by, finding it harder and harder to resist the urge to attack. You wanted to do a good job, wanted to end the enemy and protect your pack. It took everything to remind the wolf in you that they weren’t the real enemy and your ‘pack’ were perfectly safe. 

You looked up to Price, suddenly very aware that you saw him differently now. You saw each of the 141 differently as you cast your eyes over them - saw them not as your deceptive antagonists, but something new…something you hadn’t encountered before. 

“It’s freezing in here,” you huffed, answering Price’s question honestly, without fear that he’d reprimand you for it. 

“Here, take this.”

Gaz stepped forward and pulled his hoodie out of his jacket, separating the sleeves before handing it to you. His scent drifted up from the fibres, piercing the cold air with its warmth. You took it gratefully, but tilted your head up at him, confused as to why he’d give it to you.

“But won’t you be cold?” You asked with a frown. 

“Nah, I’ve still got my jacket,” he said, wrapping his jacket around his back for emphasis, “take it, it’s fine.”

You bit your lips, mind racing as you lifted it up and wrapped it round yourself, noting how oversized it was as it crept down your legs. The soft grey material hugged the cold from your bones and you smiled, savouring the warmth that it offered. 

“Thanks Gaz,” you said, almost groaning as you felt your tail wag wildly from behind you. 

Something told you that you were going to be doing that a lot more often now… 

[magics-neptunes-things]

Only One

Hi guys!

So this is a short one coming from a request I had several weeks ago.

I hope you will all like it and please let me know what you think about it! Also my box for request is very open ☺️

Enjoy!

TW : None, it’s just fluff honestly

Jana and you were both young when you met her. You were around 13 years old and when you move from Valencia to Barcelona, you find yourself in Jana’s class. She wasn’t the first who came to talk to you, being a little shy. But you can’t hold it against her, you were shy yourself and you didn’t want to bother anyone.

But soon you started to talk, and you find that you have a lot in common. Unless that she was a huge fan of football while you literally preferred staying at home with a good book and listening to music. Jana was already training at “La Masia” when you met her and when she invites you to come to one of her games, you gladly accept.

You remember being impressed by the level of those girls, fighting for the ball and the game. You were scared for Jana at first before realizing that she was one of the best. You were really proud of her, and you didn’t hesitate to tell her when she came to you after the game.

You were passing all your day after school with her, studying while she was training before going to her home in the afternoon. You sometimes sleep at her home but not a lot because your parents will sometimes remember you that “you are not living in a hotel!”.

Your first kiss happened one summer night on the beach during your summer break. You remember how much you were nervous before pressing your lips against hers, scared that you will ruin everything that was existing between you. Because Jana was your everything in your fifteen years old world.

You are not fifteen anymore, but Jana is still your everything.

You are still together, of course, still living in Barcelona. Jana chose to follow her dreams to become a footballer and even if you didn’t understand at first who the hell is that Alexia Putellas who took your girlfriend under her wings and what in the world she wanted from her, you are now the proudest girlfriend in the world.

It wasn’t easy for Jana to make her place in Barcelona Femeni A team, but she’s now a part of the family. You are both very focused in your professional life, Jana in her sport and you were studying to become pediatrician. It was hard because you don’t really have the same timetable at first, so having time together was very complicated. It was strange honestly, because you were used to be with her every single hour of the day when you were both at school and now you have to fight to be able to have lunch with her.

But then she asks you to move in with her and it was better. Your first apartment was very little. Located at the top of a building, under the roof, you had managed to fit a sofa, a TV, a wardrobe and a kitchen-dining area in a single room. Separate from the bathroom. But you were together and that was all you wanted. You loved this place, it was messy and small, but it was yours and it was perfect.

And, at least, you were seeing her every night, unless she’s in other part of the country for a game. You go to see her playing as much as possible, always wearing the jersey with her name and number on it. You are known as Jana’s girlfriend in the team and the girls like you very much too.

You have move in another apartment now, though. Bigger, you have your bedroom separate of the living room and you have a guest room where you putted your desk and computer to study.

You usually study or work when Jana is at training but tonight you lost track of time. You have a big thing to write for the end of the week and you are scared not to be able to finish it. Totally focused on your work, you didn’t hear Jana coming back home.

You almost jump out of your skin when the silhouette of your girlfriend appears on the door of your office.

“Sorry Baby, I didn’t want to scare you” she excuse herself while joining you inside the room. “Are you ok?”

“I’m ok” you smile at her, kissing her softly when she sits on your lap. “How was training?”

“It was great. Have you eaten something?”

“Not really” you answer, scratching the back of your head.

It was your turn to make diner tonight and it’s almost eight o’clock. And you are not sure about what you will find in your fridge. Jana might be starving after running and exercising all the afternoon while you were studying and you really feel guilty.

“I’m so sorry Amor, I didn’t realize it was so late. I’m going to start cooking right now.”

You close your computer while trying to stand up, kind of startling Jana with your abrupt movements. She just has time to grab you by your arm, making you stay still. With her 1m62 Jana is smaller than you but thanks to her exercises she’s stronger than you.

“Breath Baby, it’s ok. I will cook for us, why don’t you go take a bath or something? You look very tense.”

“But it’s my turn” you frown.

“You can cook two times next week” Jana shrugs.

She cups your jaw in her hand, and you could literally melt right now. You are still feeling guilty though, she just had training all day.

“Can we at least order something? So I can pay and you don’t have to cook? Please.”

She seems to hesitate for several seconds, but you give her your best puppy eyes and she finally accept. Not without rolling her eyes. After ordering some pizza, you were thinking about waiting for them in front of television. But Jana seems to have another idea.

She takes you by the hand once again, but to go to your bedroom this time. Without saying one word, she pushes you on your bed before sitting on your lap.

“Have we really time for that?” you smirk, looking at her leaning on her nightstand.

“Silence, you pervert” she smirks putting a finger on your lips. “Close your eyes.”

Still smiling, you close your eyes.

“Can I at least know what will happen to me?”

“Nothing wild. I’m just going to take care of you, that’s all.”

That doesn’t help a lot, but soon Jana is moving, and she just announce you that she will put something wet on your face before doing it. She is very tender while washing your face before putting different types of cream and moister on your face. You let her do it, loving to feel her hands on your face.

She’s so lightweight that you almost don’t feel her sitting on your belly. But you can smell her perfume and you feel yourself being completely relax. You are almost asleep when she kisses your hair, announcing that she’s finish.

“Hug now” you reach for her.

Jana cuddle against you without a second thought and you pass your arms around her to hug her harder.

“How was training mi Amor?” you ask, realizing with guilt that you didn’t even in the first place.

“It was great! I mean, until Mapi…”

You smile, listening her talk about her teammate’s behavior. She then switches for another story, and you keep listening. You take the opportunity to look at her, your cute and precious girlfriend not realizing that you totally are starring at her without really listening. You are together for seven years now, getting together pretty young. But you are still so in love with her, and you don’t want that feeling to fade away.

She was explaining Barca’s next strategy when the bell rings, announcing the arrival of your pizzas. You escape Jana’s arms to go take them before going in the living room.

“What do you want to watch?” Jana asks, looking in your Netflix account to find something.

“I don’t care” you shrug, opening the boxes.

Jana rolls her eyes but manages to find something, before sitting next to you and pick a part of pizza. She seems so relax and happy that you feel your heart pounding harder just while looking at her. She’s just so perfect.

Well, until…

“Jana Fernández Velasco , please tell me this isn’t pineapple on your pizza.”

[cherry-bomb-00]

Headcanos- Obey me Brothers

It's just the brothers' silly little headcanos, I did it because I had some ideas out there, I hope you like it.

-Lucifer uses makeup to hide dark circles or other imperfections. Although Luci is not a narcissist like our dear Asmo, he still cares about his appearance and since he is working all the time and with a lot of stress, it is obvious that it shows on his face, but as the proud man that he is, he is not going to let that they see him with the look of not sleeping for a week, besides come on, his representative animal is a peacock, it is not strange that he wants to look dazzling (and even more so with Mc).

-Mammo has myopia. I think It is likely that the second oldest suffers from myopia, and the glasses he uses are for seeing, only he put yellow glass in them so that it is similar to gold, and if he does not use glasses, he uses contact lenses (the most Lucifer probably also wears glasses.)

-Asmodeous insecure of himself. I know, I know, Asmo, the most narcissistic with low self-esteem?! I'll explain my point to you, this little bitch- I mean, I mean, this pretty boy feels insecure because he knows he has beauty, but only that, and he feels that he only has beauty but he's not good at other things, he's not as smart as Satan. or very strong like Beel, then he only has beauty but superficial, since he feels that inside he is rotten… and not as beautiful as his appearance.

-Belphegor with sleepwalking. Maybe not all the time, but it wouldn't be strange if Belphie sometimes walks around asleep at night. It's not strange to see that Beelzebub goes to look for his sleepwalking brother in the middle of the night, when he notices that his twin is missing (Or sometimes because he is hungry).

-Santa watches Latin American novels. I think that apart from the fact that he likes to read a lot, he has a guilty taste, he loves Latin novels, he may sometimes watch those novels, who knows how many times he saw "Betty, La fea", perhaps many. The only one who knows about this is Mammon, since he sometimes accompanies his little brother Satan to watch Latin novels.

-Levi is known to have social anxiety, but he also suffers from insomnia, so he plays late at night and may take sleeping pills (others don't know about that), and he has nervous habits, like biting his nails, scratching his skin, playing with his fingers, among others, and it is not uncommon for him to have an anxiety attack if something bothers him too much, poor child, he deserves more love.

-Beelzebub, apart from going to the Gym, also practices pole dancing, this because Asmodeous asked him to accompany him to those classes with him, and Beel accepted, now the sixth brother apart from being muscular, very flexible, he does very well in the classes and Asmo gives him food every time they finish training.

-Lucifer has a collection of vinyl records, this is not unusual, but he not only has vinyl records from the Devildom, but also from the human world, he likes to listen to music from vinyl records while he works.

-Mammon keeps it a secret, but he still remembers how to cook some foods that are from the Celestian realm, but he doesn't tell his brothers, but sometimes he sneaks out to cook those dishes with Simeon (It's not strange that he feel a little more comfortable with Simeon, since he does not insult him like his brothers)

-Leviathan is cold-blooded. I say this more because he is somewhat reptilian, so it is not unusual for him to avoid cold climates or cold things, and in certain seasons he sheds his skin, but the skin on his tail and his horns fall off when he sheds. of horns and his skin is very sensitive to cold things like ice (Mc once put ice on his back as a joke, it burned Levi's back and left a mark on his sensitive pale skin, obviously Mc I apologize for that).

-Asmodeous secretly listens to metal and rock. He like pop and he is a pop boy (maybe also k-pop) but he cannot deny that he enjoys listening to metal or rock when he is getting ready, it makes him feel alive.

-Satan may have identity problems, although he seems sure of who he is, the truth is that he doubts a lot about his identity and being compared to his older brother does not help, so Satan does not know what his identity is and He is still building it, sometimes crying with frustration and anger when he sees himself in the mirror, because he does not see himself, but instead sees Lucifer in the reflection.

-Belfegor has created his own torture for him, let me explain, do you know that in MLP, Princess Luna creates a nightmare to punish herself for the evils she did? It is very similar to what Belphie did, he still feels guilty about killing MC and that is why he created a nightmare that reminds him of what a horrible thing he did, killing MC, one of the people he loves the most and also earning the look of disappointment of his brothers, that nightmare, that little torture he suffers every time he sleeps, he does not forgive himself.

-Beelzebub suffers for his gluttony, we all see that Beel eats a lot and a lot for his sin, but the truth is, he suffers a lot, his stomach is like a black hole, he is never full or satisfied, and although he enjoys eating, it really is something torturous for our himbo, since he never fills up, and that consumes him, he feels how his insides eat away at him if he doesn't eat enough, it's horrible.

I hope do you like it

[vodika-vibes]

All Mine

Summary: Tup returns home after a long day of training with one thing on his mind, you.

Pairing: Clone Trooper Tup x F!Reader

Word Count: 2380

Warnings: Smut, this is pure filth everyone. Also, reader is a pole dancing instructor

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: This is spite smut. I said I was going to do it, and I did. So here it is.

“Hey, Tup!” Tup grimaces as Fives flings his arm over his shoulder, “We’re hitting up 79s now that the task master has freed us-”

“-just for that, Fives, I should make you run more laps,” Rex says as he walks past them, though it’s clear that he has no intention of following through on that threat.

Fives ignores Rex, “Anyway, wanna join us?”

“Who’s us?” Tup asks, as though he’s seriously considering it.

“Me and Echo,” Tup rolls his eyes, “Jesse, Kix, Hardcase. Oh, we got Dogma to agree-”

“You got Dogma to agree?”

“Boy needs to either get drunk or get laid.” Fives says dramatically, “And yes, he agreed. So, are you in?”

“Mm…pass.”

“What! Why?”

“I have plans.”

“Better plans than watching Dogma get totally plastered or watching him try to fumble through flirting with someone?” Fives asks, sounding aghast.

“Okay, rude. He wouldn’t fumble that badly. And also, yes.”

“Like what?” Fives demands.

“I’m going home. To my girl.”

Fives blinks at him, “You have a girl? You?”

“I think I’m insulted.” Tup mutters, “But yes, I do and she’s amazing, so I’m going home. To her.”

“Well, what does she do? What’s she like?” Fives asks.

Tup twists his lips, “She’s a dancer, and she’s amazing and that’s all you’re getting out of me.”

Fives releases him, “Fine. I don’t actually believe that she exists, but since I’m an amazing big brother, I’ll let you off the hook this time.”

“How magnanimous of you.” Tup lifts his bag higher on his shoulder, “Have fun getting drunk. Try not to get arrested. I’ll see you in a week.”

“Yeah, yeah. Later, Tup’ika!” Fives calls as he turns his attention on Dogma, who looks so very resigned. 

Tup almost feels bad.

Almost.

And not nearly almost enough to put his plans on hold. 

So he throws a wave over his shoulder, and then hurries out of the barracks before anyone else can stop him. 

His mind is already firmly locked on his cyare, and all of his plans for the evening.

Tup is lucky that his cyare lives close enough that he’s able to walk to her apartment. 

He walks through the familiar streets, until he reaches her dance studio, and he keys in his personal code to the door. Her studio is a special one, all of the windows have been coated so that the people outside can’t see the dancers inside.

Which is a good thing, since his perfect cyare teaches pole dancing.

Loud music thrums through the building as he pokes his head into the lesson room to see what’s going on. She’s mid-lesson still, clad in that dark blue and white leotard set that he loves so much. Her legs and feet are both bare, and she doesn’t seem to notice him. 

He watches her for a moment, leaning against the door frame, before one of the students notices him, “Ah! Hi Tup!” She shouts, “Are you joining us today?”

His cyare turns her head at the call of his name, and she favors him with a blinding smile, “Tup!” He drops his bag on the floor to catch her as she flings herself into his arms, “Welcome home!”

“Mm, this is a very nice welcome.” He drops a kiss to her lips, “But don’t let me interrupt your class, love.”

“You can join us. There’s an open pole,” She offers, very temptingly.

Tup laughs, “Maybe later this week. Rex put me through the wringer today.” He drops one more kiss to her lips, and sets her back on her feet, before he lowers his head to press his lips against her ear, “I’m going to shower, if you finish up in time, feel free to join me.”

“And if class doesn’t end in time?” She asks lightly.

“Then we’ll just have to shower again later.” He says with a wink.

She grins, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Tup kisses her one more time, and then grabs his bag back off the floor and heads towards the stairs that lead to the apartment above the studio. The music is much quieter up here, though that’s 100% because the entire building was soundproofed when she bought it. 

He tosses his bag next to the laundry and heads through the apartment to the fresher, intent on taking a very long, very hot shower. He doesn’t expect his cyare to join him anytime soon, though.

Pity.

Oh well, it just means that he’ll have to have his fun when she finishes with work. All this means is that he has time to plan.

Finally the lesson is over.

It’s been nearly an hour since Tup returned home, and you know that he’s already finished his shower.

You firmly, yet politely, usher your students out of the studio and lock the door behind your last student, before you turn the music off and look around the studio. You need to clean up before your next lesson.

But your next lesson is in several days, which means the mess will hold.

You hurry up the stairs and into your apartment, a broad grin crossing your face when you see Tup heading towards you. “Sorry that took so long,” You say brightly as you fling yourself into his arms.

He catches you effortlessly and lifts you to hook your legs around his waist, “No harm done. I figured you’d be a while.”

You wrap your arms around his neck and press your forehead against his, “I should probably shower. I’m covered in sweat and-” You’re cut off when his lips catch yours in a deep kiss.

“Don’t care. You’re just going to get even more sweaty.” Tup adjusts his grip on you and uses his free hand to remove the top part of your leotard, tossing it to the side to be dealt with later. “Mm, someday I’m going to convince you to let me take you down in your studio.” He mumbles against your lips.

Your face heats at the thought, though you’re not opposed to the idea. Instead of answering, though, you grind yourself against his erection, pulling a moan from his lips, “You’re already hard,” You note.

“I’ve been wanting to bury myself in you since I got here. That's why I turned down the dance lesson.” His lips move to your throat, and he quickly sucks a mark onto the tender skin there. 

You release a breathless laugh, before you press your hands through his hair, “Tup,” You coo his name.

“Hm?” He doesn’t pull himself away from your throat.

You comb your fingers through his curls, “Let’s go downstairs.” You offer.

Tup stops moving for a moment, before he pulls back and blinks at you, “Downstairs?”

“Into the studio.” You confirm, you wiggle against him and he groans again, though you're not sure if it’s because of the wiggling or because of the offer. Or maybe a mix of both.

Slowly he sets you to your feet, “Okay.” Tup says as he doesn’t take his eyes off of you, “Downstairs.”

You take a half step back from him and then giggle as he pulls you back against him, his hands moving to your hips, “Tup!”

His warm hands ease the bottom part of your leotard down your legs, and tosses them to the side, “Better to remove these here, I think.”

“I think you just want to stare at my ass,” You tease.

“Mm,” Tup’s hands slide across your ass and he squeezes roughly enough that you squeak, “You do have an amazing ass.” He agrees. And then he lightly pats your hip, “Alright, let’s go.”

“What about you?” You ask lightly.

Tup chuckles and kicks off his sleep pants, tossing them to the side as well. “There. Now we’re both naked.” He crowds into your personal space before you can get more than a glimpse of his cock, which was intentional, you’re sure. “Downstairs, cyare.”

You let him usher you down the stairs and into the studio.

It’s a lot cooler down here than in the apartment, and you can’t help but notice how Tup is eyeing the wall of mirrors with a small grin on his lips. You’re not sure what he’s thinking, but you are sure that he won’t leave you guessing for long.

And you’re right.

He presses into your personal space, his warm hands caressing your exposed skin, banishing the chill with ease. His lips find purchase on your shoulder, biting and sucking marks into your skin, pulling pleasure filled moans and gasps from your lips. 

“Listen to you,” Tup coos against your throat, “Singing for me already, and we haven’t even started yet.” His hands slide to your hips and he squeezes tightly, before he spins you around so you’re facing the mirrors.

There’s no hiding the pout on your face, “I can’t touch you like this, Tup.” You whine.

He chuckles in your ear, and you shiver at the sound. “Oh, kitten, you weren’t going to be touching me anyway.” His hands slide down your arms comfortingly, and guide your hands to the pole in front of you. He presses a kiss right under your ear, “Some day, beautiful, you’re going to give me a show. But I need you too much for that right now.”

He easily manipulates your body so that you’re bent at the waist, your hands wrapped firmly around the pole, and your legs spread for him. It’s a very exposed position, and you can’t help but squirm when you feel his hands massaging your ass and hips. 

“You look amazing like this,” Tup praises quietly, “All spread out and eager for me. And only me.” There’s something like smug satisfaction in his voice, though you don’t question it.

This is the only time he shows any possessive qualities, and you find it unbearably hot.

“Tup-” You whine his name when he goes longer without touching you than you would prefer.

“I’m here, cyare.” His hand slides up your spine, and then back down again, “I’m right here. Kriff, look at how wet you are.” One of his fingers teases your entrance, and you release a keening noise, as you try to rock back onto his fingers. “You’re so needy, cyare.”

“Please, Tup-”

Slowly he eases his finger inside you, and thrusts a couple of times, “Cyare, you don’t even need any prep,” Tup teases, “You’re already so aroused. Maybe I should have you like this more often.”

You whine as you rock back against his fingers, and that whine turns into a noise of displeasure as he pulls his finger out of you. “Tup-”

“Shh, I have you.” Tup settles himself behind you and rocks his cock against your slit, the head of his cock nudging your clit just enough that you whimper for him.

And then, finally, he thrusts into you with a low groan.

In spite of how needy he is, and he is needy, he moves slow. Taking his sweet time until he’s completely bottomed out inside you. He tightly grips your hip with one hand, while the other reaches up to wrap around your hands on the pole.

Tup remains still, raining feather light kisses against the back of your neck and shoulders, until you’re squirming against him. And then, and only then, does he pull out until only the head of his cock remains.

When he thrusts in this time, it’s a lot faster and harder than originally, and a pleasure filled moan falls from your lips as you rock back to meet his thrusts.

“There we go,” Tup gasps out, his grip tightening, “Kriff, you take me so good, cyare. Like your pretty pussy was made for my cock.” His hand leaves your hip to slide up your body and caress your breasts, “Like you were made for me.”

His name tumbles off your lips like a prayer, and he chuckles as he presses a kiss under your ear, “Beautiful. You’re perfect,” He praises, “I love you so much.” He nips your earlobe gently, and then sucks another mark high on your neck.

“Are you going to fall apart for me, cyar’ika?” He coos in your ear, “Are you going to cream all over my cock?”

“Yyes…please, Tup-” You’re not quite sure what you’re begging for, but he seems to know, as his free hand drags down your body and presses against your clit. Not roughly, but hard enough that you whimper and fall apart around his cock. Only able to stay on your feet by virtue of his arm wrapped tightly around you.

His thrusts become shallower as he fucks you through your orgasm, and it’s only when he’s sure that you’ve recovered enough, that he pulls out and flips you so that you’re facing him.

Your hair is sticking to your face, and you’re breathing hard, and Tup is looking at you like he’s never seen anyone so beautiful in his life.

“You did so good for me,” He praises, “Can you give me another one? Just one more?”

Your arms slide around his neck, and you nod mutely. “Can. Will.”

He chuckles, and lifts you so that your legs are around his waist against, his hard cock sliding deep within you, and brushing against the spot inside you that makes you see stars.

Tup presses your back against the pole and he guides your hands so that they’re clinging to the pole over your head, “There you go, just like that.” Tup whispers, “So good for me, cyare. Doing so good.”

You smile at him, it’s hard to focus with his buried so deep inside you, but you can focus enough. “Always good for Tup. Because I belong to Tup.”

He releases a shuddering groan and leans in, “Damn right you do.” Tup kisses you deeply, “And I belong to you.” He pulls away just long enough to check to make sure that you were comfortable, before he restarts the same rapid pace from earlier.

You’re definitely not going to be able to walk, or do anything, tomorrow. But you can’t bring yourself to care. Not when he looks at you like you’re the most important person in the galaxy.

It tracks…after all, he’s the most important person in the galaxy to you too.

[watchmegetobsessed]

JUST HOW FAST THE NIGHT CHANGES (part 2)

A/N: okay okay part 2! here we are!! my progress about the story is not as fast as i would like it but im trying my best!! feedback is always appreciated!

PAIRING: Harry x High-School-Best-Friend!Reader

WORD COUNT: 3.6k

SERIES MASTERPOST | SUPPORT ME!

Harry has thought of seeing you again so many times in the past months, he imagined this moment when he lied in bed, counting the days until he meets you again after all this time, but seeing you in real life is nothing like his daydreams. 

You’ve changed so much, yet he can see the version of you he last saw clearly too. Your facial features have matured, your hair is longer than he was expecting, though he only saw pictures of you from the past years. You have a black wrap-around dress on that’s hugging your curves that look absolutely delicious. 

It’s pretty obvious you’ve put on some weight and judging from the way you nervously keep fixing your dress every other second, it’s something you feel insecure about, but Harry cannot take his eyes off you and he forces himself to tame his already wandering thoughts. 

“Dude, close your mouth!” Beckham walks up to Harry, patting his shoulder to snap him out of his trance. 

“Shut up,” he mumbles under his breath, averting his eyes from you, but it only takes a few seconds before his gaze returns.

“Go say hi,” Beckham encourages him, but he shakes his head no.

“Later. I don’t… I don’t think I’m the person she wants to see the most.”

Beckham laughs as he walks away with his beer while Harry returns to his seat that’s not as close to yours as he would want it to be, but at least you’re on opposite sides, so he can keep an eye on you as the dinner finally starts. He can faintly hear your voice over the chatter every time you speak up or laugh at something and he wishes he was part of the conversation as well, sitting next to you instead of sneakily stealing glances.

Sometime after the main course and before the dessert it’s suggested that everyone say a short little summary of what happened to them in the past decade, and the round starts, everyone curiously listening to what their old pals are saying. 

“Um, hi,” Harry chuckles awkwardly when it’s his turn. “Well, I’ve had a pretty busy couple of years,” he grins, making everyone laugh. “I don’t know what I can say that you can’t read online, but let’s pretend you know nothing. So I just published my third solo album not long ago, I’ve been really enjoying experimenting with music on my own, though I loved my time in the band as well. I’m working on new stuff lately and I still have part of the tour coming up. I’m doing good, it’s all good,” he nods to himself before smiling around and giving the word to the next person. 

While he is interested in what everyone has to say, he is mostly looking forward to your turn finally so he can shamelessly stare at you while you talk.

“Hi everyone,” you smile nervously around, squaring your shoulders as attention turns to you. “Um, I don’t really know where to start. I started marketing at college, but I didn’t really like it and I was learning coding at the time so I thought I would start a career in that field. I went to an intense training so now I mostly make websites, but I do other stuff too. Um… I live here in London as most of us do now,” she chuckles, the class sharing her smile. “Nothing… Nothing else to share, really,” she adds in a mumble and looks to her right, signaling that she is done talking, it’s time for the next person.

It wasn’t enough. Harry wants to know more, everything if that’s possible and if it wasn’t for all the people around him, he would stand up and just sit beside you, asking you dozens of questions.

But he has to sit and wait patiently, pretend like you’re not the only one he is interested in the bunch. 

An entire hour passes by before he sees you slip away from the table and out to the back patio. Part of him tells him he shouldn’t follow you, but he just can’t stop himself. He excuses himself from the conversation and heads after you, hoping no one will notice him missing inside.

In the summer time there are tables outside as well with fairy lights creating a cozy mood, but it’s too cold right now to sit outside, so it’s only used by smokers occasionally. When Harry steps out as he slips into his coat he spots you right away in the corner, scrolling on your phone as you’re probably having a break. Even when you were younger, you often told him your social batteries easily run out and those were the times Harry gladly sat outside with you until you felt comfortable enough to go back inside. Seems like not much has changed. 

“Hey,” he breathes out and watches your eyes widen when you realize he came after you.

“H-Hi!” you clear your throat, slipping your phone back into your pocket.

“Having a social break?” he smiles warmly, standing only a few feet away from you.

“Yeah,” you chuckle.

There’s a bit of a pause where you’re not too sure how to act with Harry right next to you and he is stunned as well. There’s so much he wants to say and do, but he doesn’t know how you’d react. He doesn’t know about a lot of things when it comes to you but he is determined to change that. 

“So… how have you been?” he asks at last, the ure to speak up taking over the silence.

“Um, I’m fine. Fine, yeah,” you nod. 

“Do you still work at that civil organization, or…?”

“You know I worked there?” you ask, the surprise is pretty apparent on your face. 

“Of course,” he smiles softly, a blush tinting his cheeks. 

“Uh, I’m not there anymore. I work for a bigger company.”

“But still in marketing?”

“Yes,” you nod. “I can do more designing here on the side, that’s why I switched.”

“You like it?”

“It’s good. But work is work, you know, I was never the kind to be obsessed with my job.”

As you say that you realize he can’t know that, because you weren’t talking by the time you started working. It brings the awkwardness right back and he knows he needs to address some things before moving on.

“Y/N, I hope you know I didn’t… I didn’t want us to eventually stop talking. It’s just that so much happened, all at once and I didn’t take all of it the best way either. I should have focused more on my oldest friendships. I’m sorry, that’s what I’m trying to say.”

“It’s fine,” you shake your head with a weak smile. “People have fallouts all the time, it’s natural.”

But it wasn’t supposed to happen to us, Harry wants to say, but he bites his tongue. He shouldn’t bring everything up the first time you see each other.

“But we could start again,” he suggests, holding his breath as he watches your reaction to his words.

“Start again?”

“Yeah. I would… love to catch up with you, hear about everything I missed. Only if you want to tell me about it, of course.”

You stare back at him for way longer than he would have loved it and it convinces him it’s the part where you tell him to fuck off. He wouldn’t be surprised, you haven’t talked in ages and now he is so desperate to reconnect. You have every right not to want him back in your life even if you never had a fight that resulted in the fallout.

He is about to take back what he said, but you finally speak up.

“Okay,” is all you say with a tiny nod. 

He’s shocked, to say the least, even though he was hoping you’d say that. But seeing that small smile on your face is all he needs right now.

“Cool,” he breathes out. The door behind him opens and another guest walks out to have a smoke, making them realize they should probably return to the table. “Look, if you’re free sometime soon, I’m staying until the end of the month. We could have lunch, dinner or even breakfast,” he chuckles. “I would love to see you again and talk. Just the two of us.”

“Alright, I’m in.”

“Cool! Great!” he enthuses, probably more excited than he should be, but it doesn’t matter.

The two of you return to the table soon, no one really noticed that you slipped away, but it leaves Harry with a silly smile on his face that widens every time he looks at you again. Suddenly, he feels like a teenager all over again, he is in that basement with his best mates, just having fun, looking forward to spending some time alone with you.

Your bike rides home together were always his favorites, even the ones when you didn’t exchange a single word. He just loved seeing you by his side, the way you always squinted your eyes when the wind blew harder than usual, how you always checked back at him if he was behind you whenever you were about to cross a road. These are all tiny things that are etched into his memories probably forever.

Sometime towards the end of the evening Bee gathers your little group and asks to talk to you outside. You stand in a circle, everyone eyeing her suspiciously as she tries to hold her smile back, Lucas standing right behind her.

“So, there is something that we would like to share with you guys,” Bee starts and without any time to waste, she pulls out a ring from her pocket and slips it on her finger, holding it up, her grins stretching from ear to ear.

“Oh my God!” Chloe gasps as she realizes what it means. “Congratulations!”

It’s a shock, but not really. Bee and Lucas became an official item sometime before graduation, had a short break during college since Lucas studied abroad and long distance took a toll on them, but they found their way back not long after. Engagement was definitely the next step after they moved together three years ago and adopted a dog just last year.

But still, it’s shocking for Harry to see his old pals move on in life together. There’s a pang of jealousy in him too, but it’s overruled by the happiness.

There’s a round of hugs and congratulations before Bee reaches for her purse and pulls out a stack of envelopes.

“We want to invite you all to the wedding that’s gonna be held in June. You guys have been here from the start and it only feels right if you’re there with us on our big day.”

“Man, I might even start crying!” Joshua jokes, but Harry can see the shimmer in his eyes as he takes his invitation.

“Don’t get too mushy,” Lucas chuckles, patting his shoulder. 

Chloe is already talking Bee’s ears off about the wedding and offers to help with basically anything, while you’re examining the invitation card with a soft smile on your lips.

Harry’s excitement runs even higher when he realizes it’s gonna be another occasion where he’ll see you, though he plans to meet a few more times until June.

The night stretches long, it’s way past midnight when the last guests get ready to leave. Harry has been keeping an eye on you all evening in case you wanted to slip out, but you stayed until the end and he doesn’t hesitate to take this opportunity.

“Do you have a ride home?” he asks, when you’re putting your coat on.

“Um, I’ll just call an Uber or something.”

“We can share, I already called one.”

“Oh, okay, thanks.”

In front of the building everyone says their goodbye, heading their own way and you are left alone with Harry on the curb as the car pulls up.

“So when will you be free for that breakfast slash lunch slash dinner?” he asks, not wanting to miss the chance to see you again.

“I have to check my work schedule, but… I’ll text you, okay?” “Promise?” he arches his eyebrows.

“I promise.”

“Okay. Just so you know, if you ghost me I will come for you.”

“So you’re that desperate?” you chuckle and he just shrugs with a smirk.

“I’m just eager to start over and reconnect with you.”

“I’ll text you, don’t worry. My days are just… a bit hectic lately.”

He wants to ask you about it, would be even better if you just opened up about whatever it is that’s happening in your life, but he’s fine with what he got as well. He doesn’t want to be greedy. 

You make some small talk on the way to your place and when the car comes to a stop Harry is already looking forward to seeing you again. 

“Don’t forget about texting me!” he reminds you again, to which you exhale sharply.

“I actually keep my promises, Harry. Goodnight,” you say before hopping out of the car, leaving him too stunned to speak and the car drives away before he could even react. 

It was like a stab in his chest, your words ring in his head all the way until he arrives home and even after that. 

He pushed too hard. He wanted too much. His nagging was supposed to be just a joke, but apparently, he should have been more careful, because your reaction was sharp and painful. But he deserved it, he knows, because what you said… that was a reminder that he fucked up and he can’t just start all over again so quick and easily.

He wants to go back in time and take the words back, everything was going so well up until that point and now it feels like a setback. While in the shower he is composing a text to apologize for overstepping your boundaries and he is just about to type it out when his phone rings, your name on display. 

“Hi!” he answers, shocked to receive a call from you but also thankful that he can apologize.

“Hey.” Your voice is weak, but a lot lighter than it was in the car when you parted ways. “I’m sorry, Harry.”

“No, no, no, you have nothing to be sorry for,” he shakes his head, sitting on the edge of the bed and he wishes he could talk to you in person, see your face.

“It was rude. You’ve been so nice all evening, even asking to reconnect and I was… I was an asshole,” you sigh and he can imagine you closing your eyes and pinching the bridge of your nose.

“I kinda deserved it. It’s been long, Y/N, I shouldn’t have expected to just go back to being best friends. I pushed too hard, so if anyone has to be sorry, it should be me.”

There’s a long pause at your end of the call, Harry is dreading to hear your voice and make sure he didn’t fucked up royally.

“I’ve been kind of… moody lately. I should think about my words before talking.”

“Do you… want to talk about it?” he asks, but then realizes that it might be over the line too. “Only if you want to, you don’t have to share anything with me, I totally understand it.”

“Maybe some other time,” you quietly answer and Harry swallows down his greed to know more. “But… I’m free on Friday,” you add and his heart skips a beat.

“Friday is awesome!” he answers without even thinking through his schedule. If he has anything that day, he’ll surely cancel, nothing can be more important than meeting you again. “We could go out for dinner?”

“Can we… Is it possible not to go out?”

“Yeah,” he nods, though his chest tightens. Does this mean you don’t want to be seen out with him? He wouldn’t blame you, it would put you in the spotlight instantly. “Want to come over? I could cook something.”

“That sounds good. See you on Friday, Harry.”

“Good night, Y/N,” he manages to say before the call ends.

A week has never felt longer. Every waking moment was spent by counting the days until Harry could finally see you again. He planned out the whole evening the day after the reunion, from the meal to the outfit he would wear, he knew it all by Monday rolled around so he had to spend five days anxiously waiting for Friday. 

On Wednesday he has a few drinks with just the boys, Joshua, Beckham and Lucas, cheering on Lucas’ engagement and having some boytalk. Even though they kept in touch throughout the years, there’s still a lot to share. They are having a great time, lots of laughs and jokes are shared over their beer.

“Alright, I want to talk about something major,” Joshua smirks over his pint, his eyes finding Harry and he already knows it’s gonna be about you.

“Just ask it,” Harry chuckles.

“Can we talk about how you had the heart eyes for Y/N all evening at the reunion?”

“Like a lovesick puppy!” Beckham laughs, patting Harry on the back as he puts up with the teasing.

“It was nice seeing her again, what can I say?” Harry shrugs, but he can’t hold his smirk up, which earns another round of laughter from his friends.

“Oh, it was more than just nice, right?” Lucas grins with a knowing smirk.

“We shouldn’t be surprised though, you were so in love with her back then,” Beck scoffs as he leans back in his seat, folding his arms over his chest.

“Not in love, I was just…” Harry tries to explain himself, but fails.

“Just in love,” Lucas teases him.

“I might have had a crush on her, I admit. But it’s been a long time, we obviously changed a lot. It was great to reunite with her.”

“And you plan to reunite some more with her soon?” Joshua wiggles his eyebrows. 

“We’re actually meeting on Friday.”

“You little minx!” Beckham laughs. “Will you shoot your shot?”

“We literally just met again after almost a decade. There’s no shot to shoot.”

“Yeah, and maybe it’s better if you’re careful,” Lucas nods, but Harry doesn’t really understand what he meant by that.

“Careful?”

“Yeah, I mean, after what she went through…”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” Joshua asks, his gaze flickering between Harry and Lucas.

“What? Tell me what it is!”

“She got a divorce not long ago. Like, about a year ago,” Lucas says, keeping his voice down. 

“Huh? I didn’t even know she was married!”

It feels like a punch in the stomach, how he missed such a major event in your life. Not getting an invitation is one thing, but how did you manage to keep it so secret that he didn’t even know you were engaged?

“She kept it pretty low,” Beckham says. “I mean, the divorce and also the whole relationship.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even know about them until she was engaged,” Joshua shakes his head. 

“And what happened? Why did it end?”

Beckham and Joshua shrug their shoulders, but Lucas seems like he knows something. 

“Lucas? If Bee told you something…”

“I don’t know the whole story, okay? But as far as I know… he cheated on her.”

“Oh fuck,” Harry breathes out, his heart sinking instantly. 

“Pretty rough, yeah. But maybe don’t bring it up until she is ready to share it with you.”

“Yeah, sure,” he nods. 

The night carries on and they talk about anything and everything, but Harry’s mind stays stuck on you. To be more precise, your divorce he knew nothing about. It’s no surprise you are so reserved and moody, it must have been hard for you to go through it. He can only hope you had friends to rely on, Chloe or Bee at last if he wasn’t there for you.

Another thing to add to the list of things he should feel horrible about when it comes to you. 

At the end of the night he offers to share a ride with any of the boys and Beckham accepts, so they leave together. 

“I know it’s eating you away,” Beckham speaks up in the car. 

“Huh?”

“That you didn’t know about her divorce.”

“I wasn’t there for her, Beck. I should have been, but I didn’t even know she was engaged!”

“You weren’t talking, you couldn’t have known.”

“Yeah, but it was my fault we weren’t talking. I should have tried harder and… I should have kept my promise I made to her.”

Silence falls over the car as the passing lights illuminate their faces. Beckham is looking at Harry while Harry is staring straight ahead, his jaw jumping. 

“Look, you’ve made mistakes, it’s fine, totally human. If she is willing to meet you again, I’m sure she is not that mad at you, so it’s a good sign. You… Do you… want to, like… date her?”

Harry presses his lips together, thinking of his answer.

“It’s complicated, but… I think I still have feelings for her,” he admits, finally peeking at his friend. “Is that crazy? I mean, we were kids, can I actually still have… feelings for her?”

“Don’t underestimate your younger self. Look at Lucas. He’s been in love with Bee since forever and now they are getting married.”

Harr hums and nods in agreement, but there’s still a lot he needs to get clear in his head. Whatever it is that he feels for you, he wants to explore it but he also needs to be extremely careful now that he knows what you went through. And what if there’s more to it than the cheating? What if the guy did something else too that left you even more scarred? 

He wants answers, but he needs to be patient and give you time. 

Time, he couldn’t give you before.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!

[1d1195]

Protection II

This is mostly the getting to know the reader and part. I hope you enjoy. 7.5k+

This is where I'll put the rest of the series: Protection

P.S. Sorry, I have some bad daddy issues that are going to be addressed in this series.

“Okay,” she nodded in promise. “Thank you,” she said seriously. She honestly hoped he sensed the authenticity of her gratitude. Harry was the first person to treat her like a human. Even if she gave him a hard time more often than not.

If she wasn’t careful, she was really going to fall in love with him.

There was just over three weeks between the end of her summer course and the fall semester. She planned on spending almost the entire time she wasn’t working either out in the sun reading or sleeping. Her final year was going to be difficult to say the least and she needed to be rested for the first days of the semester.

Her friends didn’t really chat with her during these weeks. She was used to it. Part of her believed they didn’t really want her to be around during their regularly scheduled class times either. It was why she fought so vehemently with her detail. There was so much drama surrounding her with just the presence of her security following her around.

The poor thing couldn’t sleep in all that much due to her constantly spinning mind and busy schedule with work and other obligations she put upon herself. Waking up at 8AM was about as late as she could stand it. At that time, and to beat the humidity, she hurried to shove her feet in sneakers and twist her hair up and off the back of her neck. She jogged a bit, stopping way more than she should have to walk at a clipped pace. Harry was warned of this and came prepared following behind her with so much ease. If weren’t for the heat, she was convinced he wouldn’t have broken a sweat. He didn’t speak to her while she listened to her music and didn’t make any comments about her need to walk so frequently, which she thought was kind. She imagined the rest of the detail thought she shouldn’t have had pizza on any regular schedule or said she was out of shape.

After a good head clearing, she would head back to shower and relax her muscles. It was the most calming time she had without any reminder of her detail’s presence. The one and only place they let her be alone completely. Coming back out to the living room she found Harry, ever present seated at his laptop situated on her dining table. Her hair was damp from being towel-dried and her skin felt fresh. She flopped onto the couch. Harry was silent, paying no focused attention to her. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him. Harry per usual, didn’t appear all that sweaty, but she couldn’t imagine having to sit in his sweat all day long while watching her and it was particularly hot and humid this morning. Especially when she had the luxury of hosing herself down. “Do you want to shower?” She asked.

He glanced at her. It wasn’t a terrible request. He hated to feel the thin sheen of sweat over his body—he didn’t think he smelled bad, but he thought he might smell like sweat. It seemed entirely unprofessional—it wasn’t covered in his training that he couldn’t shower at her apartment, but it seemed like something he should steer clear of. He could always call another agent while he headed back to his place—just ten minutes from hers. He could be back on the inside of an hour. “Uh...yeah, if y’don’t mind. I’ll jus’ call some—”

“You can shower here,” she shrugged setting up a playlist to play through her TV speaker. “I have more than one towel, obviously.”

Harry thought her sarcastic bite was funny and not dreadful like the rest of the team made it out to be. He smirked. “Uh...I don’t really want t’leave—”

She rolled her eyes and picked up her book. “I pinky promise, cross my heart, swear on my mother’s grave I won’t leave this apartment until you’re dressed and able to chase me efficiently,” she mumbled flipping to the bookmarked page. “Honestly might fall right back to sleep anyway,” she muttered. “Towels are in the linen closet,” her tone was dismissive. The ball was in Harry’s court.

Harry didn’t really want to piss her off; part of him thought that if she remained happy maybe she wouldn’t give him such a hard time. He wasn’t kidding when he told her he hated paperwork and despite how...different she seemed than the stories he heard, he wasn’t going to take his chances. Closing his laptop and he made his way by the couch toward the hall to the bathroom. He stopped in the threshold briefly and gazed at the girl snuggled on the couch who didn’t look like she’d be moving for hours. “Please,” he eyed her cautiously. “Don’t leave,” he said it gently, the slight begging tone in his voice.

She glanced up at his serious, pleading expression. Part of her forgot he was all but her enemy. His voice, his face, his body... he was so lovely. He was adorable. But she couldn’t let him know she thought that. She instead returned her gaze to her book, unable to comprehend the words fully in her brain to make sense due to the depth of green she was seeing in Harry’s eyes. She briefly pressed two fingers to her temple and saluted him without meeting his eyes. “Sure thing, boss.”

Harry still took the fastest shower he’d ever taken, still a bit worried about her leaving. However, when he returned to the main room, there she was reading. Snuggled up cutely on her sofa and listening to the gentle music playing as she did. She really wasn’t as bad as they made her out to be. Or maybe he just hadn’t really seen that side of her yet. But either way, he was glad she was kind for now.

*

“How’s it going?” Niall asked on Harry’s first day off in over a week. While they really didn’t speak a whole lot, he actually felt a little bad not seeing her. So much so, he left her a note saying to just text him if she needed something—and to not give the relief detail a too much of a fight.

“She’s not that bad,” Harry shrugged.

“No way,” Niall was in disbelief. He actually paused mid sip, spitting his drink back into the glass. “I can’t believe the close in age thing worked,” he shook his head. “I should have thought of this years ago.”

Harry shrugged again. “All she does is sleep,” it was true. She slept a good eight hours each day over the last week. In addition, he only glanced up from his computer when her book fell to the ground, and she was fast asleep in her mid-afternoon nap. Harry found his job quite cushy. Especially because he thought she was quite cute when she slept.

“She doesn’t escape?”

“If she did, she’s a lot better than anyone told me she would be. I’ve never noticed. So, I don’t think so. I caught her the first day trying t’sneak t’meet her friends at the pub. S’only because the detail outside saw her on the fire escape. Think they were honestly hazing me a bit,” he shrugged. “M’first day and all...but she hasn’t tried anything since.”

The surprise was still evident from Niall. “You like her?” He asked; he was incredulous.

Harry shrugged once more then nodded. “Yeah...she’s...fun,” he shrugged. “She’s really polite.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever said that about her.”

Harry found he was a bit irritated with his friend. Niall wasn’t one to talk poorly of someone else almost ever so his sudden remarks of the girl made him annoyed. So why was he so negative about her? “Have y’ever even met her, Niall?” Harry asked. The bite in his tone rivaled the one that she would give Harry.

He shook his head. “No, but I’ve seen the paperwork,” he whistled almost in appreciation. “She’s...”

“She’s actually really smart. Funny. Kind,” Harry interrupted.

Niall blinked surprised by Harry’s defense for the girl. “Sorry, Harry. I didn’t mean to...I’m sorry. Just...you hear some stories.”

Harry tried to push the girl from his mind. Maybe it would be different when she was back in school. Maybe it wouldn’t. But regardless, he didn’t think it was very nice of the entire department to write her off. He focused on Niall and their lunch at a local restaurant.

His phone vibrated with a message from her. He waited until Niall was engrossed in the game on the screen above their table. Never thought I’d say this about one of my bodyguards...but I can’t wait for you to be back. These people are awful to me :(

It was hard to ignore the flutter of his heart. Treat them with kindness, love. He reminded her.

Feel like they should be kind to me first...

:( He sort of agreed with her. Even if she was a pain in his butt in her own special way, he didn’t think she deserved unkindness. It was about a half hour without a response message from her and Harry realized he was a bit...anxious waiting for her name to flash across the screen. It was dicey of him—it was also silly of him to expect a message in response to a frowny face. Maybe the deepest part of his subconscious knew before the rest of him that he shouldn’t be sending her messages for a very specific reason—especially ones regarding her hatred of the other members of her security detail.

Still...he was the only one she seemed to like...and he was The Department’s last hope.

I’ll be back tomorrow, love. He said finally. He wanted to chat with her more. Six days in a row with her and he was already aching for more time with her.

Thank God. Her answer was immediate. Followed by a second one. Can we get burritos?

Sure thing :)

*

She still drove him insane. She was practically mindless as she marched down the road ahead of him when she ran errands. Nearly stumbling into traffic. It was almost as if she had a death wish.

“For the love of God, would you jus’ tell me,” he snapped at her when she once more forgot to tell him where she was going...even if it was just to get the package she ordered from the main lobby but she left without a word. Caught him a bit off-guard as he jumped up from his typical seat at her dining table, rushing to catch her before she got too far.

Honestly, he couldn’t imagine telling all but a stranger his every movement. It had to be difficult for her. But it still pissed him off. Especially when she smirked at him when he snapped at her. Like a child in trouble who knew she was in trouble. It really infuriated him when she did that.

When she met with her friends, Harry sat by the bar nursing a glass of water. He flashed his credentials to the bartender who gave him a stiff nod, not worrying about his lack of alcohol or why he was intently watching the girl across the room. Harry had to strain to hear anything of importance but for the most part it was harmless.

Boys would come talk to her and Harry couldn’t help but think they were so out of their league. The confidence they exuded was hilariously misplaced, so he thought. She was pretty. Even if she was annoying. He couldn’t help but notice how nice she looked when she twirled her hair into a pretty style, or the way her lips seemed to shine with the gloss she put on but never seemed to come off even when she sipped her drink. Of course, she was intelligent, a biochemist didn’t get to this stage in her academic career without being intelligent.

The boys, however, had one thing on their mind (make that two things) when she wore a pretty blue top with jeans cropped at her ankle. Her hair was twirled to the side making her look like some casual Rapunzel and Harry wished he didn’t think like that. But he was thinking like that. Because despite how annoying she could be, she was really beautiful. Effortlessly, it seemed.

Harry never intervened when the boys chatted with her for way longer than they should have. They didn’t seem to have a clue who she was or that Harry was a mere ten meters away eyeing their every movement. Rarely did she dismiss any of them. Ever polite, which he found interesting. The more time he spent watching her, the more fascinated he became by her.

It was only when he heard them say they were into politics that her face immediately soured, and her attention returned to her drink. At that point, her girlfriend who was essentially a second bodyguard on Harry’s detail (especially when it came to guys) came to her rescue shooing the guy away and they’d find another bar to repeat the process all over again.

The two girls linked their arms while Harry walked several paces behind them. He didn’t eavesdrop on their conversation, but he did want to know what made her laugh so hard just because he hadn’t heard her careless laughter like that before. It made her seem so at ease. He wished she was like that all the time.

Right as they started to enter the next place, a boy snagged her about the waist. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. She blinked in surprise and Harry settled against the wall one business down from her spot at the entrance of the bar. He never found the guys in her company malicious or harmful. They were dumb and drunk most often. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

She pulled from him giving her friend a knowing look. With a gentle smile she grinned at the guy. Harry felt something in his chest warm over. It made him...jealous.

Oh, that’s not good. He thought to himself. But he shoved the emotion to the side. He would deal with it later. He missed the introduction the guy gave so he didn’t get to hear his name. Which meant he would have to wrangle it out of her later when he did a background check on him. “Let me take you home,” he said.

“I’m with my friend,” she nodded toward the girl. The forwardness took her friend for a loop, she was hovering closer to Harry than she had been in the last few places.

“Tell her you’re leaving,” he shrugged.

Her smile was tight. Harry could see it from where he stood. He inched a bit closer toward her friend. Even she was looking on nervously. Harry was twitching to punch him already. Especially if he didn’t leave her alone. “No, thank you,” she said reaching for the door to get inside. He slapped it shut. This time, Harry saw the way she straightened. If she was dog or a cat, he imagined she would have raised hackles. Harry pressed a finger to his ear.

“Stand by,” he mumbled to the receiver attached to him. Despite the noise of the busy street, he could hear the distinct sound of one of the department registered SUV’s engine turning over.

“Come on, it’ll be fun,” he smiled. The alcohol must have made him more confident. She wasn’t having it.

“I said no,” she was firm. There wasn’t room for argument. Harry felt a bit...proud of how she confidently sized herself up against him. Of course, she had scared an entire division anywhere from ten to thirty years older than her. Surely, she could take on a guy her own age.

“At least give me a chance to turn it into a yes,” he said snagging her hand. She pulled it from his grip, turning toward her friend. She caught Harry’s eye as she did. He was now almost beside her friend, and he swore he saw a sparkle in her eye as if she had only just realized Harry was actually there.

“Baby, what are you doing here!?” She said excitedly, running toward Harry as if she truly had no idea, he was right there all this time. She threw herself against him, arms looping around his neck as she clung to him. Harry felt stunned, one arm wrapping back around her waist. Her exposed skin was warm despite the reminder it was the end of August and evening air was getting cool. But she was like holding the embodiment of summer in his arms.

This was definitely not part of his training. As an agent, he was typically observant and could usually predict different outcomes or make sense of the scene and situation around him. He could figure out what most people were going to do before they did it.

Her sudden stunt left him a bit dazed.

“Thought you didn’t get out of work till later,” she smiled up at him as she pulled away, batting her eyelashes at him. “Can you take us home?” She jutted out her lower lip gazing at him with...adoration? That couldn’t be right. Even if it was for show, she was good at it. Harry didn’t know she was capable of acting. Especially acting as if she was in love.

“Uh...yeah,” Harry cleared his throat. “Got out early,” he mumbled following her lead. He could hear the laughter in the earpiece as she wrapped her arm around his waist. She grabbed her friend’s hand, and they headed off the way they came.

“He’s staring at my ass,” she whispered to her friend. “I can feel it.”

“I mean it’s a nice ass,” she shrugged with a smile.

The girl kept hold of Harry and rolled her eyes. “Creepy,” but Harry didn’t miss how he felt her arm tighten around his waist. He would break the guy’s arm for her if she asked. Harry had the right mind to kill him just for being so forward and annoying to her. Not taking no for an answer the first time she said it. When they turned the corner, she released him immediately. Harry couldn’t help how he felt cold without her embrace. And he hated how easy it was to slip into the mindset that it felt good with her wrapped around him.

Fortunately, she and her friend took off running down the block for the next bar so Harry once more had to put that notion to the side.

*

Harry entered her apartment on September first surprised to find the array of pink peonies and carnations that had adorned her walls the last three weeks were replaced by sunflowers. It was…enlightening. To say the least. Harry wasn’t even in a bad mood, but he was overwhelmed with happiness as he settled his stuff onto the dining room table. “Do you do this every month?” He asked, making his way toward her. She was on a step stool, draping more sunflower vines along the walls.

“No,” she smirked. “I’ll keep these up until December first,” she explained. “I do add some Halloween colors in next month though...and then I take those down to put up leaves for November.”

He loved her place. It was as adorable as she was. Even if he shouldn’t think that way. He enjoyed coming to work. Even if she was going to make him crazy. The flowers were pretty. It made the place utterly welcoming. More of the side of the personality he never really heard about from The Department on display. “What do y’do for the winter?” He asked grabbing the vine that dangled out of her reach and helped her put it up. With her on the stepstool she was a head taller than Harry.

It was not the time to think such things. Plus, she had never thought anything about any of her security detail before of course, but obviously Harry was much closer in age to her than anyone else before him. She couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was and now she was eye level with him. He didn’t question her. Didn’t yell at her for balancing precariously on the step stool, he didn’t care that she had hundreds of flowers to put up. He followed her around the apartment all afternoon chatting with her about her interior design vision.

“I feel like I need something to balance out poinsettias though,” she shrugged as they moved to her bedroom. Harry helped her more and she accepted it, surprisingly. He listened to her rant and rave about flowers and didn’t seem to mind at all that he was being paid to decorate with her. “Most winter flowers are red,” she explained. “I like red, but it’s overwhelming, you know? I think winterberries are beautiful, but I love petals,” she continued.

“Well, what ‘bout snowdrop?” Harry asked.

She paused her movements, tilted her head at him. “I don’t know that one,” she admitted. He quickly reached for his phone, tapped it several times then handed it to her.

“These?” He suggested. The screen showed the pretty little white flowers, and she glanced back at Harry. “They’d look pretty with winterberry or poinsettias,” he murmured.

Harry liked flowers. How fascinating. She assumed, like most of the other agents before him, Harry probably knew every detail of her life. Maybe better than she did sometimes. But of course, Harry was quite tight-lipped. She knew some of his food and drink tastes, but she didn’t know much about his home life, why he came to America, or how he ended up on her detail.

But he liked flowers enough to know the names of them. Enough to show an interest in something she cared about. Even if it was just a bunch of wall décor. Handing the phone back to him, she smirked at him. “I think I’ll order some fake ones on Amazon. Thank you,” she smiled.

Harry smiled back at her. “Happy t’help,” he mumbled and held his hand out for her to get off the step stool. “Any plans for today?”

Her plan was to torture Harry now that they were in single digit days until classes restarted. But his kindness ruined that. She sort of hated that he was so nice to her even when she was a bitch. He was really ruining all the hard work she put into terrifying a division of special agents. “Just work and movies probably.”

He nodded. “Sure, I’ll be here,” he smirked and found his seat at the dining table.

“You could sit over here if you want. That chair can’t be comfy all day,” she said.

He shrugged. “S’not bad,” he said gathering his stuff and moving to the opposite sofa she was on. He settled in as she scrolled through different titles on Netflix.

“Do you have any recommendations?” She asked. “I suck at picking movies.”

“I can recommend a rom-com if s’your thing,” he shrugged. “I haven’t watched it yet. Someone else recommended it t'me.”

She adored the idea that her intimidating, closed-lipped bodyguard liked rom-coms. She put it on immediately. If it was formulaic, she didn’t care. She liked knowing what to expect. Watching a movie with Harry was also relaxing. The first time neither of them spoke or acted tensely about her whereabouts. They both chuckled at the same time at different parts and pointed out funny things to rewind ten seconds that the other had missed in the background.

Of all the time she had spent with her bodyguards over the last seven years, this was one of the best afternoons she ever had.

*

The worst of his job started about a week after her classes started. She was out with friends and Harry deemed the drunk college men harmless and gave her more space at the bar where she and her friends danced.

He could see where Niall was coming from, but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of knowing she was getting to him. Harry was a bit competitive and didn’t want The Department to know he was feeling bested by her too.

But he couldn’t help but be annoyed that it happened much more frequently throughout the month of September and October, becoming routine. Monday through Thursday and Sunday she spent in class, studying, or working in her sitting room and still somehow managing to get one of her jogs in before sunset almost daily. Fridays and Saturdays were spent all but torturing Harry. He had to be much more ready for her attempted escapes.

The first weekend that her classes started, she literally climbed out the bathroom window of the bar. The only reason he caught her was because one of the loudmouth guys she was with was watching a video her friend had sent of her crawling out the window and he was laughing at the hysterics of it. When Harry caught up to her at the corner of the road, she hurled several insults at him that he hadn’t once heard fall from her lips.

“I’m a grown fucking woman,” she snapped. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“S’protocol,” he shrugged. Even if he liked her, he was there to do a job.

The time after that, she simply tried outrunning him, but his legs allowed for much longer strides than her, so she didn’t get too far from him. That time she threw her shoe at him, narrowly avoiding his head. She limped awkwardly to the SUV where she sulked. Harry picked up her shoe and placed it at her feet before he drove her back to her place, where she slammed the door to her room but didn’t come back out once. Since he caught her that time, no paperwork was required.

The following week she was making out with someone in the bathroom hallway and while the idea was disgusting because she deserved far better accommodations than a bathroom hall in a messy bar in a college town, this wasn’t even that bad as far as his job went. But it did make his chest hot with jealousy.

So, he let her make out with the stupid guy while he drank his water at the bar.

The next time she hopped into a car with a stranger. Fortunately, her friend was with her so Harry didn’t worry about her well-being too much. But once he followed her to his place of residence she screamed some more while Harry just watched her have her temper tantrum. Her friend seemed entirely used to these outbursts. She ushered the guys they had met upstairs while she slunk back to the SUV once more. Grumbling and cursing at Harry under her breath.

That event required a huge, detailed report and a grumbly talking to from one of the higher ups. It made Harry irritable but found it hard to stay completely mad at her because she made brownies the following day and told him to help himself—like a peace offering.

Despite the insults and the cursing, Harry would attend meetings and debriefings where they would ask Harry if he wanted out. “Would you like to be reassigned?” They sounded tired. Like they were already anticipating who they would get to replace him.

“Did she ask for someone new?” He asked.

His supervisory blinked at him. “No...but...don’t you want out? It’s been almost a month and a half.”

He frowned. “Er...with all do respect. If she doesn’t mind me, then I’ll stay.”

Harry wasn’t going to back down from a challenge.

*

The worst however was her escape from the concert. There were simply too many variables. Even with a team of ten, Harry still felt outnumbered by her and her friend. To be fair, they told Harry ahead of the concert it was a lost cause. There was no way she wouldn’t escape. It was her best chance.

She was getting ready for the night in her bathroom. Harry was vigilant as ever in the dining area.  She came out to the living room to check on her phone charging on the side table. She looked comfy and adorable. Jeans, converse, a tanktop that fit loosely so it showed off...her assets in a tasteful way. Harry thought she was pretty as always. “Y’look nice,” he mumbled.

She glanced at him curiously and her cheeks warmed at his compliment. “Thank you,” she responded kindly. He closed his laptop and he sighed.

“Look,” he said. Immediately, her kindness disappeared from her face.

“Harry,” she sighed not feeling like fighting.

“I know you’re going to escape,” he told her. “Whatever, s’jus’ more paperwork, right?” He asked with a weak smile. She frowned knowing that he already anticipated her idea for the night. “Please,” he said. “Can y’jus’ send me your location?” He pleaded. “Please," he repeated. "I won’t tell anyone, I won’t make it a big deal. I...jus’ want t’know you’re safe,” he explained. Biting the inside of her cheek she opened her message thread with Harry looking away from his intense gaze. She shared her location for the next twenty-four hours with him. “Thank you,” he said appreciatively getting the alert on his phone. “If y’get into trouble or y’feel unsafe, please jus’ call,” he continued. “I won’t make a big deal of that either.”

He seemed so genuine. Like he really cared about her safety beyond the protocol of his job.

“Okay,” she nodded in promise. “Thank you,” she said seriously. She honestly hoped he sensed the authenticity of her gratitude. Harry was the first person to treat her like a human. Even if she gave him a hard time more often than not.

If she wasn’t careful, she was really going to fall in love with him.

*

It was a shame that her willingness to help Harry out didn’t pan out the way he hoped. When the concert had ended, he thought he had actually done a good job. He kept an eye on her little marker the entire time; she was in place at her seat the duration of the concert. He even got to enjoy a bit of the indie band she was seeing—he heard her play the music on while she worked or read but never really noticed how much he actually liked it. They even put on a good show.

But when most had filed out of her section, he came to the conclusion that she was no longer present. With a groan he headed down to her section, finding not a trace of her behind. But her phone still said she was here. He started searching beneath the seats, dodging sticky soda and alcohol along with popcorn strewn about.

He found an array of jewelry and a condom packet. He even found a wallet that he would bring by to lost and found. But it was her phone that he found that made his body warm with more rage. The flower phone case he was used to seeing around her apartment mocked him. She tricked him. After all that.

The idea of paperwork didn’t compare to the hurt he felt over her betraying deceit.

*

She was enjoying a drink with her friends at one of their favorite spots. For the first time in months, she felt so carefree. They were discussing their latest exams and how nice the concert was. A round of drinks sat empty in front of them while they sipped on the second. Harry was giving her ample space. But that should have been her first clue.

Her arm was yanked out of the booth, and she nearly lost her footing as Harry grabbed onto her but continued to hold her upright.

“Are you fucking serious?” He snapped. Everyone turned to look at him. She scrambled to stand upright. She was ready to scream at him for tugging her out of the booth like that. In front of all her friends. Everyone was silent as she opened her mouth to yell. But then she saw it.

Harry was pissed.

Instantly, she wavered. Her face contorting from anger to worry, sadness. She looked upset. Remorseful even. “Harry,” she started.

“I don’t know what your problem is with me—”

“I didn’t—”

“—but I didn’t do anything t’warrant this!” He shouted, holding her phone up. She instinctively felt for her pocket and realized her mistake. Oh...he was going to kill her.

But still, he was currently embarrassing her.

She wanted to scream right back at him. But she knew he was mad. She knew why he was mad. He asked for hardly anything at all tonight—knowing she was going to leave. It was kind of him to give her so much grace and freedom when no one on that team had ever done so. Even though she left without a word, she truly thought her phone was in her bag. She hadn’t even thought to look for it because she never lost her phone.

“I know y’think s’a big joke. But I take m’job seriously. I take protocol seriously. Jus’ because you want t’pout and cry like a bratty little girl, doesn’t mean y’going t’ruin my life. My career.”

Her eyes narrowed. She hated to be yelled at. Belittled. It made her extremely angry. Regardless of how much she actually liked him. Despite the fact she felt bad she accidentally betrayed his trust. But he was embarrassing her in front of friends and calling her names that everyone else in the department used daily, pissed her off beyond belief.

She glared at him, set her jaw firmly. She could feel frustrated tears lining her vision and she grabbed her purse out of the booth violently. She made no eye contact with the group of her silent friends. She marched right outside to the SUV he had double-parked. Slamming the door shut behind her, she waited until Harry was in the car as well.

“I didn’t know I didn’t have it,” she seethed.

He scoffed. “Bullshit.”

She closed her eyes tightly. So tightly she saw red dancing in her vision. “Believe what you want. I didn’t know,” she snapped. “You were so embarrassing in there. I’m sorry I pissed you off. Again, I really didn’t mean it. But you didn’t have to embarrass me in front of my friends like that.”

“If you’re going to act like a brat—”

She shook her head slowly balling her fists in her lap. “If you call me a brat one more time, I’m going to punch you in the throat,” it was a promise. Harry didn’t think she would cause all that much damage, but he didn’t think it would be wise to take a punch to the throat while he was driving her.

They were silent for five minutes while he drove her back to her place. “You really didn’t know?” He asked, his voice a hair softer.

She glared out the window with a silent shake of her head. “M’sorry,” she murmured.

He sighed and listened to the sound of the tires thrumming against the road for a bit.

“M’sorry I called y’a brat in front of your friends... Can y’please...try t’be...I don’t know...good for me? I like t’think m’not that bad of a guy. M’not that bad at m’job...that I give y’enough space...that we’re...okay.”

More silence until they parked. “You’re the best bodyguard I ever had,” she admitted quietly. “I didn’t mean to do that to you.”

He nodded. “Okay...I accept your apology. Can y’try t’be more mindful?”

She nodded in return. “I’ll try.”

“Call me next time, okay?”

“I don’t know your phone number,” she rolled her eyes.

“Well memorize it,” he sighed a touch of agitation in his tone. She should memorize it for emergencies. “And y’need a failsafe.”

“A what?”

“A failsafe. Assurance that if everything goes—”

“I know what a failsafe is, you ass. What do you mean I need one?”

He ignored her name calling. She deserved one after he called her a brat. “If...something happens t’you. Y’need a way t’get in touch with me. But something that no one else knows. Not even me. But s’got t’be easy enough for me t’figure out. We can go over some of them if y’want that others have used in the past so y’have some ideas t’work with,” he tapped on the steering wheel. “I know I said this was a job, but I do actually care about y’safety.”

She was silent for a few more moments. “If you yell at me like that in front of everyone again, I’ll kill you,” she promised opening her door to head back up to her apartment. He smirked.

“Maybe y’don’t need a failsafe; I pity the person that tries t’take you on.”

*

As frustrating as she could be, she was equally, if not more, lovely in that it made him forget all the paperwork and all the annoyance she caused him. They were on a Target run; she was wandering the aisles casually meandering at her leisure. Harry was eyeing her surroundings, assuring himself there was nothing that would put her in danger.

Honestly, some days he could see why she didn’t want a detail. She didn’t do anything that warranted protection and it didn’t seem like anyone was after her. Not once had he heard from or met with The Secretary of State. While he was grateful for a cushy job, he could see why she was always grumpy about it.

She was scanning new book titles on the shelf and placed two of them in her basket when she suddenly took off without warning. Harry followed after her, caught off guard by her quick pace mildly irritated him once more she evaded him. What he expected of her was never what happened.

She entered the dressing room area, making Harry more irritated that he couldn’t follow her immediately into the women’s section. He wanted to know what he missed, that had her running through the dressing room so fast that she dropped her basket full of mismatching items outside as she hurried back out almost as quickly as she went in.

“You didn’t see her, did you?” She asked Harry before he could ask her what the problem was.

He grabbed her basket that she left behind as she took off once more. He followed after her as she hurried through the other sections of the store.

“See who?” He asked almost running to keep up with her alert pace.

“Seriously?” She asked behind her. “You didn’t hear the frantic mother looking for her child? Aren’t you supposed to be watching for these things?”

He felt his mouth twitch to snap back at her, but she looked genuinely alarmed. Almost as alarmed as the employees in red shirts running around almost as quickly as she was. Despite the sympathetic pang he felt for the upset woman calling a little girl’s name out around the aisles, it wasn’t their problem. It especially wasn’t Harry’s problem who was assigned to watch the 24-year-old—so no, he didn’t really pay attention to the worry in the department store.

“M’sure she’s fine, love,” Harry said trying to assuage her worries. He felt bad, she was so worried. He even felt...awe for her. Her . But she wasn’t giving up it seemed, as she made a quick stop through the clearance section nearly causing Harry to twist an ankle at her sudden turn. She didn’t respond to Harry’s calming voice.

“Someone could have just walked off with her,” she remarked nervously.

Harry could see the fierceness in her eyes. She was resolute: they weren’t leaving the store until this girl was found. Sighing, Harry kept one eye on the girl he was paid to follow and another on the lookout for a small little one that was probably terrified.

Harry tried to tell her something about hideouts and the like, but it was unhelpful. They gleaned they were looking for an eight-year-old. “We’re not thinking like eight-year-olds,” she muttered suddenly and nearly left Harry in the dust as she all but sprinted toward the back of the store once more.

Harry found her crouched in the middle of the aisle, talking to the Halloween costumes on a rack. “Hey, cutie pie, whatcha looking for?” Her voice was soft and gentle.

“I lost my mommy,” the little voice whispered from the rack.

Harry found himself sighing with relief dropping her basket of things by her side. The little girl looked up at Harry suspiciously. She was hidden behind a dog costume and the tule of a tutu beside it. “That’s really scary,” the girl nodded. “I hate losing my mommy,” she said. The little one was still staring at Harry with nervousness.

“This is Harry,” she told her. “He’s tall, huh?” She smiled gently. “Can we help you find your mommy?”

“Mommy said no strangers,” she shook her head pressing herself firmly against the rack, her eyes watery. “I’m scared.”

The girl nodded, sitting on the floor, cross-legged. “Well, I think that’s really smart of you. Mommy would be really proud of you,” she had a comforting smile on her lips. “How about we stay here, and Harry will go get your mommy?”

Harry looked disgruntled as he made a noise in the back of his throat. He couldn’t leave her alone...even for the sake of a child. Even if they were just in a target. “Love,” he started.

She turned her head to Harry. “They are running around the store just to find someone,” she hissed under her breath before turning her gentle façade back to the little girl. “Whatcha got there?” She asked. “Halloween book?” She wondered.

The little one nodded, stepping cautiously off the display of costumes. Tentatively, she sat next to the woman that drove Harry up a wall most days. But right now, she was so gentle, so sweet. Harry felt nothing but pure adoration for her and her kindness to the little one. “Please?” She asked, turning back to Harry as the little one opened the book up and started showing her the pictures in the middle of the floor. Her expression was kind, warm, pleading.

Begrudgingly, Harry headed toward the front of the store in search of the terrified mother.

*

There was a bit of fanfare—especially after realization of who the woman was that found the little one and was reading a picture book on the dusty store floor. She paid no mind to it, said it was her pleasure to help.

After paying for her things, Harry opened the door for her to the SUV and she climbed inside. He felt a bit awestruck. Sure, she was the daughter of a top political official, but that fame didn’t really mean anything to Harry. He was more impressed with her gentle nature. Her kindness. She was cute with kids and had a fiercely protective streak of her own.

She didn’t even mention it; moreover, thought nothing of it, just scrolled through her phone. “Can we get coffee?” She asked.

He thought she might be his hero. Pain in the ass she was. “Course, love,” he murmured. Heroes needed a reward for their efforts. Even if they didn’t see it that way. “You drink an awful lot of coffee.”

“Biochemistry will do that to you,” she muttered, irritated by his remark. It clearly had been said to her before. Somehow, in that moment, Harry realized that she was also fiercely protective of herself. Maybe she had to be given how The Department talked about her behind her back. Maybe because everyone looked at her as if she didn’t know anything as a woman in a science major that Harry could hardly pronounce half the words for when he saw her notes on the coffee table.

“That was really cool of you,” he mumbled pulling into traffic toward the coffee shop. “The way y’helped that little girl.”

She turned to look at Harry. “She was scared,” she sounded defensive. Like Harry was mocking her.

“I know,” he said seriously. “Y’calmed her down and y’helped her. Was really nice,” he shrugged one shoulder hoping he sounded more sincere so she wouldn’t yell again.

She turned to the window. “I got lost at the store once with my dad,” she explained. “I was six. I was terrified. He didn’t even know I was lost until he drove home,” she mumbled. “It was the most terrified I’ve ever felt in my whole life.”

He pulled into the parking lot and she hurried out before Harry could say another word. He watched her intently as she stood in line, ordered, and returned with tea for Harry without even asking him if he wanted some. She was always very thoughtful toward him. Whether she annoyed him beyond belief or not.

For every moment of irritation, anxiety, and annoyance she had put him through thus far on this assignment, it all was swept clean as he thought about what she said. Her dad asking for a protection detail made no sense. Who loses their six-year-old without noticing? Was the protection detail some deep-seated need to fix his mistake all those years ago? What kind of political official could hold office with a straight face knowing his daughter had that kind of dirt on him? How could she not shout it from rooftops?

Harry was right. She had to be fiercely protective of herself because no one else was.

He hoped that eventually she would let him protect her just as much; maybe even stop her frustrating fleeing. Because despite the irritation she often caused, he was really starting to like the many sides of her.

--

general taglist: @justlemmeadoreyou @daydreamingofmatilda @sunshinemoonsposts @youdontcaredoyou @tiredinwinter @loving-hazz @likeapplejuicenpeach

Protection taglist: @youcouldstartacult @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @luxiorchive @ameerakane20 @daphnesutton @kathb59 @be-with-me-so-happily

[louloulemons-posts]

The Criminal And The Princess I

Grumpy!College!Eddie X Sunshine!Skater!Reader

Summary : The second year of college life is starting and Eden Bennett is already swamped, but when she meets her new partner in history class, will that all change?

Word Count : 1.6k

Warnings : introduction piece, not much eddie, edens dad is a prick, talk of dead parent, talk of food issues, swearing, billy hargrove

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

I felt like I’d settled into college pretty well, I’d successfully gotten through my first year and was starting my second today.

“I’m so glad we’ve gotten a bigger apartment,” Nancy laughed, coming out of her room with an empty box. “I know right,” Robin said, throwing herself on the green couch.

“We were lucky to find this place,” I spoke.

“You mean, we’re lucky your dad’s part of the education board.” I rolled my eyes, that was true. Mainly focused on sports but he played rolls in other places around campus.

“Yeah that too,” I began, “Listen I’ve gotta go to the rink, I’ll see you later.” Grabbing my duffle I headed out. Honestly the apartment was more of a home for Nancy and Robin, than myself, the rink was my home.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“You’re late,” my dad spoke as I walked into the rink. “Sorry, we were unpacking.”

“Just get your skates on,” he waved you off, walking up to his office.

Throwing my bag down I pulled my trainers off, taking off my hoodie and laced up my skates. My hair was tired up into a bun and the guards came off my skates.

Being on ice was easier than being on solid ground. Sliding onto the ice, I put my earphones in, letting the music take over.

There was an upcoming championship, and training was had, dad told me that my axles had gotten sloppy, that’s where I began.

I don’t know how long I was skating for, but when the lights were being flicked at me, I looked up spotting my dad stood on the edge of the ice.

Putting my earphones away, I skated over to him with ease. “They’re getting better,” He said, “But the hockey boys are gonna be here soon.”

“Right, yeah I’ll get off then.”

“You coming for dinner on Friday?”

“Do you really want me too?” I asked.

“Of course I do Eden.”

Giving him a nod, I began to untie my skates, throwing my trainers back, along with my hoodie.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” dad spoke.

“Tomorrow? My classes start tomorrow.”

The man let out a sigh, “Eden, regionals are coming up, your training isn’t changing. 6am.”

With a huff I nodded, heading out of the rink. “Coach!” I heard a voice call, making me speed up. Billy Hargrove. Resident asshole, and dad’s star player on the hockey team, along with the one and only …

“E!” Steve Harrington.

“Hey,” I smiled at him, giving him a quick squeeze. “How’s the moving in going?”

“It’s gone, we’re all settled in. You got a match coming up?”

“Friday.”

“I’ll be there,” I smiled.

“Course you will, Robin won’t come alone.”

I laughed, nodding, “That’s true. Good luck on your practice. Billy seems more asshole-ish today.”

Steve cocked him brow as me, making me shake my head, “I know, when is he not?” Saying my goodbyes to Steve I headed out to my car, sighing as I sat down, my feet aching from the skates.

I did love to skate, I did. I always wanted to be on the ice, in the winter I’d skate by the lake near our with mom. Sometimes dad would join us.

Mom had wanted to go pro, well she had, until she met dad and had me. We skated together for fun, but when she passed, dad kept pushing, got me a proper trainer. I was with professional skaters more than my dad.

I loved to skate, but I didn’t want to go pro, that’s why I went to college. I was studying history, wanting to work in a museum and go and find hidden treasures.

Dad didn’t want that for me though, he wanted me to skate, wanted me to be what mom never was. An olympian. And if I ever said no … well then came the guilt trips and “Eden think of your mother.”

Shockingly, maybe even to my dad’s surprise, there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of her.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Pushing through the front door, I called out, “It’s only me!” Sliding my shoes off I threw them by Robins beat up docs and a pair of trainers owned by Nancy.

“Just in time! Dinner!” The curly haired girl smiled, her head popping round the door into the hallway. “I’ll be right there, just gonna take my bag to my room.”

“Well don’t take too long! The lasagna will go cold.” Nancy Wheeler was one of the kindest souls, she was also a total badass.

Dropping back on my bed with a groan, I let my bag fall to the floor. It wasn’t really my room yet, I was still trying to find a home for everything, the walls were bare, and hospital like.

The only thing that said me, were the countless medals and trophies scattered here and there. Along with the picture of me sat on my mom’s lap on my desk.

With a sigh I rubbed my thumb across the photo, she was beautiful.

“Eden!” Robin shouted, making me jump slightly. “Yeah I’m coming!” Putting the photo down I flicked the light off and headed to the girls.

Heading to the kitchen I sat down at our dining table, the chairs mismatched. “Uh I don’t think I can have the lasagna,” I said. Nancy stopped plating up my dinner.

“You okay?” Robin asked.

“Is it one of those days?”

Both girls were very aware of my issues with food, you had to look a certain way to skate, had to be a certain weight for a partner to lift you - something my dad never failed in reminding me.

“My dad’s not letting up on the training, so I’ve just gotta watch what I eat,” I sighed, giving the pair a sad shrug. I saw the girls share a glance.

“Eden-“ Nancy began.

“I’m not gonna do what I did last time, I’ll eat with you, I just can’t have what you have.” Robin sighed shaking her head,

“I swear next time I see your dad I’m kicking him in the throat.”

I laughed. “E, I’m saying this cause I love you, eat the fucking lasagna, fuck your dad-“ me and Robin gasped, Nancy barely swore, “Shush, the pair of you. You need to get better, analysing everything you eat will make you sick again.”

Under Nancy stern glaze and Robins smirk, “Give me the fucking lasagna.”

“Language!” Nancy scolded, making Robin cackle.

They really were the best friends I could ever ask for.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

Sat in class, our professor spoke to us about our first assignment, that we’d have to a presentation about an influential history figure - someone who was important to us. Only catch, she had pre-assigned partners for us.

A lot of groans rang out through the room, I didn’t mind, I was in class with a girl Robin was head over heels for, Vickie, but I assumed I wouldn’t be lucky enough to be paired with her.

“Victoria Carmichael and James Morgans.” What did I tell you?

“We’ve got Edward Munson and Eden Bennett,” the woman spoke. I looked up meeting a pair of dark eyes, I hadn’t ever really spoke to Eddie. “Now if you could please move to sit next to your partners.”

I threw my bag over my shoulder, grabbing my laptop, notebook and pen heading a few rows up to the boy. “Hey,” I offered him a smile, sitting down next to him. “Hi,” he grunted.

“I know you’ve all come back from your break, so this class can be used for planning your assignment and presentation. Next class we’ll be back to our regular schedule.”

“So Edward-“ I began.

“Eddie,” he cut me off.

“Hm?” He looked up at me, his face looked tired. “Nobody calls me Edward.” I nodded my head, “Ah okay, well Eddie. Any ideas who you want to study?”

He sighed, rubbing his face, “Queen Victoria?” I snorted a laugh, making him scowl at me. “What?”

“Just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

“Something against Queen Victoria?”

I smiled at him, shaking my head, “No not at all, you sure you wanna study her? How about you make a list of people, I’ll do the same, and the we can choose one randomly?”

“Sure,” he turned from me, picking up his pen and began writing in his notebook. I did the same, giving us both a few minutes. “You ready?” I asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Okay, close your eyes.”

“What?” he asked with scrunched brows. “Close your eyes and point at any name.”

He sighed, shaking his head, making curls fall out of the bun at the base of his neck. He closed his eyes, and slammed his finger down onto my list instead of his.

“Oh cool!” I said, clasping my hands.

“Wow is it, Florence Nightingale? Cause she wasn’t all shes cracked up to be-“

“James Hetfield, he’s in Metallica.”

He looked at me with wide eyes, “You know James Hetfield?” I laughed, shaking my head in a yes motion. “Shocking I know, but I don’t live under a rock, my mom loves Metallica.”

“Oh right.”

“So, is that good for you?” He hummed nodding, “Y-yeah that’s fine.”

“Great could we swap numbers just so we can plan when to work on stuff together?”

“Sure?”

“You don’t sound sure?” I smiled, “We can swap emails if you want?”

“No, phone number is fine.” Ripping the paper from the bottom of my list off, I wrote my number down, giving it to Eddie.

“Just text me when you’re free and we can figure stuff out.”

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

“Okay guys that’s all for today!” the professor said loudly. I packed up my stuff, throwing my back on my shoulder, “It was nice meeting you Eddie, make sure to let me know when you’re free,” I smiled, before heading over to Vickie.

“Yeah, bye,” he said quietly, packing up his own things.

~ / / / * \ \ \ ~

I hope you enjoyed the first part of The Criminal and The Princess! More will be coming soon 🫶🏻

taglist : @gnrquinn @flawiette @taylorswiftsloverfr @mygirlchaos @marvelcasey05 @ali-r3n

let me know if you want to be added 🤍

[jasminestoleyoman]

head cannons for everyone and anything 😝

JESS MARIANO (MODERN AU) : spent his birthday money on a Bluetooth headphones because his old wired ones only worked when you twisted the wire a certain way and he wasn’t messing with that.

DAIKI AOMINE : got his ears pierced after he slept with a girl who said that guys with piercings were super hot but aomine would never admit that getting his ears pierced hurt like a mother fucker.

KOSHI SUGAWARA : when teacher suga is talking to his class about why it’s important to keep trying no matter how hard it gets he always uses tanaka and kiyoko as an example. “one of my friends kept getting turned down by the woman of his dreams and now they’re married! do you know why boys and girls? because he never gave up and he always tried his best to impress her and be the best version of him he could be!”

JASON TODD : loves when his friends cancel plans. like he’s ready to go and his friend calls saying that they can’t make it and he’s all “really? what a shame..guess we’ll have to reschedule!” as he’s putting his pajamas back on and putting on a face mask and like lighting his little scented candles.

ARAN OJIRO + MIYA TWINS : before aran’s first day as a second year he found out the weird twins from volleyball camp were also going to his school as first years and had a mental breakdown like he was crying so bad “mom please! they’re so weird!” but when the twins found out aran went to their school too they were so excited because he was the only upperclassmen they liked and knew at the time.

TETSURO KUROO + KENMA KOZUME : after the first tokyo training camp with like fukurodani and the other schools kuroo was soo pissed off with kenma because outside of club time kenma would never ever talk about volleyball or other players but after the training camp all he could talk about was “oh-shoyo just text they beat seijoh and they’re going on to play shiratorizawa..” or “shoyo just sent over karasunos training regimen..” or like “shoyo hasn’t text me in a week I wonder if he’s okay?” LIKE KUROO WAS SO PISSED! He was all “so how’s your new best friend shoyo?” and he’d be so snarky and petty about it too 😭😭

BRUCE WAYNE + BAT FAM : bruce has a different playlist for each of his kids. like there’s one for everyone even alfred. but he would never let anyone know that he secretly likes a few of the songs and makes his own playlist. like his music taste is a combination of all of kids music tastes. i just know that he lowkey vibes with chapell roan.

ATSUSHI MURASAKIBARA : his mother fucker is so fucking picky when it comes to like proper meals. when he’s snacking on random stuff he doesn’t care at all he’ll eat whatever. but when it’s a sit down proper meal? he’s a whiny picky bitch. “ew his broccolis gross and limp..can’t I have a bag of chips instead?”

KEN SATO : he’s such like a baseball nerd. he collects those little card things with baseball players on and when he meets them he asks them to sign it and he gets like so excited when there’s one he doesn’t have. “mina could you please put this one with the signed cards-and make sure you put it in the protective plastic okay?” “yes ken i’ll be very careful”

RIN MATSUOKA : rin could care less about sweets and candies so he never understood why gou or his friends would beg him to get bring them back some sweets from australia. until he had a tim tam milkshake.he was hooked. every day after school rin would go swim and go straight to his nearest cafe or diner and grab a tim tam milkshake (a/n as someone who has enjoyed many a tim tam milkshake this is so real)

TADASHI YAMAGUCHI + TSUKISHIMA KEI : yamaguchi’s VA once said that the only reason yamaguchi ‘s favorite food is soft fries is because tsukki eats all the crispy fries and gives his left overs o yamaguchi 😭😭

LOGAN HUNTZBERGER : got drunk and almost got a Jacobs ladder piercing but then got told what it was and broke down crying because he said he didn’t want to “damage the goods”

the end lol

MORE TO COME BUT I COULDNT THINK OF ANY MORE I NEED SUGGESTIONS PLEASE

[deedeeznoots]

We're Not Idols!

➺ Part of the “We’re Not Heroes!” Collection. 

➺ Characters: Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Aoi Todo, Takada, Gojo Satoru

➺ Word Count: 2.7k

➺ Genre: Fluff! 

➺ Content Warnings: Swearing, Mild violence, Creepy man

➺ Synopsis: The first-years are on a mission! This time, they're in Kyoto! The job? To eradicate low-grade cursed spirits all throughout the Japanese Idol Takada's concert. Unfortunately, things take a turn for the worse when a curse user with an ominous technique comes to disrupt the event.

“STUDENTS!” Gojo extends out his hands to greet his class of…three. “I have great news for all of you!”. 

“That can’t be good,” Kugisaki sighs in response. “Yeah no offense Gojo-Sensei but the 2nd years told us the last time you told them you had good news you let in a guy who had a curse inside of him…” Itadori mindlessly comments before realizing, “Hey wait a minute, that guy is kind of like me–”.

“Well it’s actually good news this time!” Gojo plays drums on the table before announcing “Students…for your next mission, you are going to KYOTO!”. 

Crickets. 

“...Where’s the good news?” Fushiguro gives Gojo a blank stare, causing the special-grade sorcerer to be taken-aback. “Okay, YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO AN IDOL CONCERT!” He waves around his hands to try to get the students more excited, but they just stare at him with blank expressions. Man… what a tough crowd. Though, every crowd was tough when you were Gojo Satoru. 

“...Again, where’s the good news?” Fushiguro looks at him upset. 

“Wha– I tried really hard to get a mission you guys would enjoy” Gojo sulks in a corner. “It’s okay Gojo-Sensei! It’s just… I don’t think any of us are really the concert type haha. Except…maybe Kugisaki?” Itadori looks at his brown haired friend. 

“Nah, too loud for me. I prefer to just listen to music on my phone. Plus, why would we need to go to an idol concert for a mission anyways?”. 

“Oh… right!” Gojo perks up. “Question students! Where do cursed spirits arise the most!” 

“Oh! Oh!” Itadori raises his hand, hoping for Gojo to pick him. “Megumi! You answer!”. “Aw…” Itadori pouts, he wasn’t even raising his hand Itadori thinks to himself. 

“Hm? In places with high population density” Fushiguro answers. “Ding! Ding! Ding!” Gojo responds. “You are correct!” 

“Now, since cursed spirits arise the most in places with high population density, there are certain places where cursed spirits appear most often. One of these places is concerts. If cursed spirits stay in these crowds unchecked, it can lead to an increase of negative energy from the crowd, causing things to escalate further and further”. 

The trio nods, showing their understanding, so Gojo continues. 

“To counter this, Jujutsu Sorcerers are often put out on posts to watch over these concerts. One of these concerts is by the Japanese Idol Takada, who you guys will be seeing in Kyoto!” 

“Oh I see… that makes sense I guess” Itadori adds. “Of course it makes sense, concerts are always sweaty and gross” Kugisaki shivers, causing Itadori to chuckle. 

“Anyways, good luck you guys! Make sure to pack a bag for a few days,” Gojo adds, “Oh, by the way. One of the Kyoto students is going to join you. I didn’t plan it but when I brought it up he insisted”.

“Oh! Who?” Yuji asks. 

“BROTHER!” Todo greets the trio (well…one of the trio) at the train station. “Oh God” Yuji cries out as Todo traps him in a giant hug, an act that is photographed by a laughing Kugisaki. 

“Man… I actually haven’t been to Kyoto before” Kugisaki comments. “Really? Now that you say it, I actually haven’t been here in a while either” Fushiguro responds. The two continue making small talk while their friend continues to struggle in the background “P-p-please…Todo…let…go…or I’ll…die”. 

“I can’t believe it brother, you’ll be able to experience all of the glory of Takada in person with me! It’ll be a beautiful experience!” Todo exclaims. The group made it to the concert area. Though, it was still a few hours before the event, so the concert hall was more or less empty, with only a few people setting up. This was okay though, because it gave them time to plan. 

“Todo will probably want to watch the concert with Itadori, so they should stay toward the front and we can stay at the back of the crowds” Fushiguro tells Kugisaki. “Should we really be encouraging him to do… whatever that is?” Kugisaki responds, looking at Todo as he continues sharing his praises about Takada to Itadori, who was desperately trying to keep up with his words. “If we don’t let him, he’ll do it anyway, so I’d rather control it” Fushiguro sighs, “If it were up to me, he wouldn’t be here at all”. 

“Hey…Fushiguro” Kugisaki taps on her friend’s shoulder. “Look at that guy”. There, they see one lone man attempting to sneak through backstage, definitely looking suspicious. He seems to catch on to their staring, but in response simply gives them a deathly glare. “Rude…” Kugisaki thinks, “Should we stop him just in case?” she asks. “Nah,” Fushiguro adds, “It’s probably nothing, but if we see him at the concert we should keep an extra eye on him”. 

Finally, the concert begins, the loud music is heard seemingly all throughout Kyoto as the crowd sings along to Takada. Many of the curses that spring up appear to be flyheads, so the group has no problems with exorcising them. The biggest problem seems to be the quantity due to the amount of them that constantly spring up. With this, Itadori struggles a bit more at the front as Todo is more interested in the concert compared to doing any sort of exorcising. 

Seriously, Itadori thinks to himself. Did he come here just so he could get paid to watch Takada? 

Meanwhile, Kugisaki and Fushiguro remain in a spot near the back and continue exorcising the low-grade spirits. Thanks to Kugisaki’s straw doll technique, exorcising them became even more efficient than it normally would have been.

Thanks to this, the duo was able to catch onto certain things they wouldn’t have otherwise.

“Fushiguro,” Kugisaki calls the dark haired sorcerer. “It’s that guy again,” she points to where backstage is, the man appears to be struggling to open the door, but was eventually able to do it. Fushiguro pauses for a moment, before saying “Things seem alright here, let’s go see what’s up with him”. With that, the two sorcerers follow the man backstage. 

Walking slowly backstage, they don’t seem to see the man. With Kugisaki at the front, hammer in hand, she calls out for him. “Excuse me, sir?” she questions, when she gets no response, she goes “Look…we work for Takada and we were just wondering what you’re doing backstage”. That apparently earns her a kick from the man who decides to show himself “Kugisaki!” Fushiguro yells out, running towards her. “You– You’re Jujutsu Sorcerers right?” the man asks, holding Kugisaki down.

“How do you–” Kugisaki tries to speak when she seems to knock out, and the man that was once holding her down is now avoiding her. They can deal with that later, “Kugisaki…?” Fushiguro inches closer to her, trying not to get too close. Something is wrong, he thought, very wrong. After a few seconds, Kugisaki seems to stand up, facing Fushiguro. “...Is everything alrig–” 

Within seconds, Kugisaki hits him with her hammer, causing the boy to fall backward. “Kugisaki what’s wro–” he begins to say when he feels a touch behind his back. It’s the man. “Tell me… if you two fought, would it end in five minutes?” 

Outside, the concert resumes, Todo continues enjoying himself at the front, Idatori joins in as well, having eradicated the bulk of the cursed spirits. 

Yet… something felt off. Itadori couldn’t put his finger on it, but he felt the need to check in on Fushiguro and Kugisaki. When texting them yielded no results, he considered trying to meet them in person. 

“Hey Todo” Itadori yells out as loud as he can. When Todo doesn’t register his voice, he yells louder “TODO!”. Finally getting the man to turn around, Itadori tells him about his plan to meet his friends, to which Todo gives him a thumbs up and says “Leave it all to me, brother!”. 

Yeah, right. You did no work on this mission! Itadori thought, hoping things would be okay while he left Todo. 

Going to where their post is, Itadori is met with nothing but what looks like hundreds of cursed spirits. What the heck? he thought. These should have been eradicated by Fushiguro and Kugisaki. The pink-haired boy’s worry grows. What could have happened? 

Turning around, Itadori finds a door to backstage slightly ajar. Aha. If they went somewhere, it was probably there. Walking backstage, Itadori calls out to his friends, where he finds them on the ground, very injured. 

“Fushiguro! Kugisaki!” He runs to them and shakes them awake. In response, he’s met with groans from his friends. “Ugh… what the heck?” Kugisaki rubs her head. “What happened?”. Her vision focuses on Itadori. “Oh…you’re here” she stares at him. Fushiguro rubs a bruise on his cheek “I think that curse user did something to us…but I can’t remember what it was… weird” he comments. “Wait… curse user?” Itadori questions. “Oh… yeah, there’s a curse user here. I’m not sure what he wants, but it doesn’t seem good based on context clues” Kugisaki comments. “I see…” Itadori thinks for a moment before he decides, “I’ll call Todo, we can see what he wants to d–”. 

“Another one, huh?” Itadori hears a man across from him, the curse user? “I see how it is…” the man leaps toward the group, bracing to fight back, Itadori is shocked when the man merely gives a light touch to Kugisaki and Fushiguro before jumping back. He’s fast. “Huh…?” Itadori is confused, but he feels a punch from Kugisaki, then another one from Fushiguro. 

“Guys…what the heck?” He tries to dodge their hits, but with both of them it becomes a struggle. 

“My cursed technique involves the ability to mind control anyone I touch for five minutes”, the man explains to Itadori as he continues to dodge his friends. “Though… now that I’ve revealed it, they’ll likely stay this way for a bit longer” the man adds. 

Itadori isn’t paying much attention though, and simply continues to dodge, trying his best to fight back without actually injuring his friends. “Guys… I need you to snap out of it!” he yells to his friends, to no response. “It’s no use…they won’t stop until the time is up. Hell, I couldn’t even release it if I wanted to” the man tells Itadori. “Dude, shut up!”, Itadori grows frustrated and tries to fight the man, but the mind-controlled Fushiguro pushes him away from the curse user. 

“You see, at first I was annoyed that you Jujutsu Sorcerers got in between me and my Takada but… I can use this…” the man continues to slowly walk toward Itadori as he’s backed into a corner by his friends. “You see… since my power is temporary I can’t make anyone fall in love with me. But…” the man begins to reach his hand out to touch Itadori “If I defeat the evil doers that dare destroy my love’s concert, she’ll have no choice but to fall for me!” the curse user laughs maniacally. 

Crap crap crap. Itadori thinks. He has to think fast, but there’s nothing he can do. He tries to go back to convincing his friends. “Come on guys… you have to snap out of this or else we’re all screwed. Guys… Guys!”. Yet, just when the man finally makes it to Itadori, he hears a soft clap before switching places with the man. 

Itadori exhales a sigh of relief, “Todo!”. He has never in his life been so happy to see that man, but Todo didn’t look happy at all. He looked pissed. His anger directed toward the curse user among them. 

Slowly walking toward the man, Todo states “When my brother told me he had to leave to check on his friends, I told him sure” he adds, “But when I noticed he was gone for a while, I decided to find him to see what happened, which leads me here”. 

“Now tell me…” Todo stops in front of the man. He’s terrified. He doesn’t know why, but he has the slightest feeling that he’s made a big mistake. “What was it you were going to do to Takada?”. 

“I–” The man isn’t able to say much before getting punched into a wall. “Brother…” Todo walks by Itadori. “Take care of your friends, let me deal with this scum,” he explains, “From the looks of it, it seems like he doesn’t actively control them, but instead gives them set commands that they follow until the technique is broken”. The younger sorcerer nods and he goes to fight his friends. “I’m sorry about this you guys…” Itadori says before lunging toward the two mind-controlled sorcerers. 

Turns out, a genuine 2 v. 1 against Kugisaki and Fushiguro is really hard, and Itadori has been punched today a little more than he usually is when he’s hanging out with them. “Come on you guys… I really need you to stop now…” he begs of them. Backing Itadori into a corner once again, both of them are about to punch at the same time. Aw shit. This is gonna hurt. Itadori thinks, bracing for impact. 

Yet… it never comes. 

Slowly opening his eyes, they meet his friends, looking at him with looks of confusion. Yet, his friends have the slightest feeling that it’s somehow their fault. They’re about to apologize when Itadori goes “Oh thank goodness!”. 

“Man, I was really worried there guys,” Itadori laughs. “Hm…you’re not mad?” Fushiguro comments. “Huh? Why would I be mad? It wasn’t your fault…” feeling brave, Itadori decides to add “Plus, your guys’ punches are super weak!” he laughs. 

“Ow! Ow!” 

…That comment earned Itadori two genuine punches from the sorcerers. 

“Good job Tokyo first-years!” Todo walks toward the sorcerers, dragging the now unconscious curse user behind him. As he’s walking towards them, security makes their way backstage toward the commotion. “Ah, hello men!” Todo greets the men in the least intimidating way he could, though, you can’t really look not intimidating when you’re dragging an unconscious bloody man behind you “Please take this… thing out of the concert area, and make sure he doesn’t bother anyone again” Todo smiles. The men comply, they weren’t sure what happened, but it seems like they were in no place to ask.

“Alright first-years!” Todo claps. “There’s still some time left, let’s enjoy the rest of the concert!” Todo hums as he goes to leave backstage back to his spot out at the front. 

“Uh… he does know we still have to work, right?” Kugisaki comments. 

“Of course not,” Itadori adds, “He hasn’t exorcised any cursed spirits since we started”. He sighs, causing his friends to chuckle. 

Turns out, the concert was actually pretty fun. When they weren’t eradicating any cursed spirits, the sorcerers were actually able to enjoy themselves a little bit, even singing along to some of the songs. “You know this song, Fushiguro?” Kugisaki laughs, “Everyone knows this song, idiot!” he retorts, causing her to give out an even bigger laugh. 

When the concert ended, the group followed the head of security backstage where they see Takada. “Great work everyone! This concert was truly unforgettable!” She thanks the entire crew. “Ms. Takada,” the security man clears his throat, catching her attention. “This group before me helped in the apprehension of that man during the concert”. 

She looks confused for a moment, before going “Oh! That guy? Thank God,” she looks at the group “He’s been walking into my wardrobe and leaving me weird letters, something about being cursed? It was so weird, but no one was able to catch him until today”. She bows “Thank you guys”. 

“It was nothing really…” Itadori laughs, scratching the back of his head “Plus… Todo did most of the work, the rest of us were just there”. Todo stands taller as a response, (still nervous, he’s never been so close to Takada before!), “Well I wouldn’t say that hahaha…Nah, I would…” he states smugly, causing Kugisaki and Fushiguro to groan. 

In response, Takada looks at Todo and steps forward, before giving him a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, really…” she smiles, before walking away from the group. “Enjoy the rest of your day everyone! Thank you all again!”. 

“Well I’m glad we helped her out, that guy was creepy. I can’t believe I let that dude in my mind. Eugh” Kugisaki says. “Yeah… I agree” Fushiguro adds. 

“Yeah… it’s great that we were able to help her! Right, Todo?” Itadori looks at his friend. 

“Uh…Todo?” 

“Shit! When did he faint?!” 

[harunayuuka2060]

Vil: What's the meaning of this, Epel?

Epel: Y-You've told me that I could bring someone to audition.

Vil: Yes. But they should be a student here. The one you've brought is Riddle's adoptee.

Epel: I-I know! However, I believe we should at least try and see what they've got!

Rook: Hmm... It seems our Monsieur Crabapple is up to something. We should give him a chance, Vil.

Vil: Hmph. If this turns out to be a joke, you know what will happen to you, Epel.

Epel: Th-Thank you, Vil! *then runs to inform MC*

Rook: It's been a while since we last saw that innocent kid.

Vil: I'm a bit surprised you haven't given them a nickname, Rook.

Rook: Oh, I would after I see what they're capable of.

*MC approaches them*

MC: Hello.

Vil: What are you going to sing?

MC: The song Cater taught me.

Vil: *is doubting already* Alright. Could you sing it for us?

MC: *nods*

Rook: The stage is yours, my dear!

Epel: Good luck, MC!

*the music plays*

Rook: Ooh... This is quite a jolly tune.

MC: Chu! I'm sorry for being too cute.

Vil and Rook: ...

MC: I'm sorry but I had been born this cute.

MC: Chu! Maybe I'm cunning, that is true.

MC: I'm sorry if my cuteness is bothering you.

MC: *bows after singing and dancing cutely*

Vil, Rook, and Epel: ...

Vil: You...

Vil: *looks at them, smiling with interest* You have quite a charming voice.

Rook: En bien! That just healed my soul!

Vil: Say, is there a reason why Epel has brought you to us?

MC: He doesn't want to participate in the contest so he asked me instead.

Vil: Hm. *looks disapprovingly at Epel*

Epel: I'm sorry, Vil. But I can't imagine myself singing and dancing while wearing an overly-cute dress.

Vil: We'll talk about this later.

Vil: And you, MC, I will send a message to Riddle later. You have to be responsible for Epel now as his replacement for the contest.

MC: *nods* Okay.

Ace: What?! You auditioned and got chosen?!

Cater: Congrats! We should celebrate!

Riddle: Celebrate for what? *just came back after talking with Vil* *crossing his arms*

Ace: Yikes. He looks mad.

Riddle: MC, you've been doing unnecessary actions recently.

Riddle: Though you haven't violated any of the rules, you're still causing quite an inconvenience.

Trey: Riddle, why don't you take a seat first? Here.

Riddle: *sat down*

Riddle: Do you have any idea what the Pomefiore housewarden has told me?

Riddle: THAT YOU'RE ONLY WASTING YOUR TALENT IF I CONTINUE TO KEEP YOU HERE IN HEARTSLABYUL! THAT WRETCHED!

Ace: Ah... So that's why he's mad... Haha...

Riddle: WHY DID YOU JOIN THAT STUPID AUDITION ANYWAY?!!

MC: The costume looks like Riddle's clothes.

Riddle, Ace, Trey, and Cater: Eh?

MC: *goes to show the design to him*

Riddle: ...

Riddle: *his anger immediately subsided* *pouts* Just because of this?

MC: I want to wear clothes like Riddle's.

Cater: Aww~ They want matchy-matchy with Brother Riddle~.

Riddle: S-Silence, Cater.

Trey: I think that's reasonable enough.

Riddle: I could've lent you a pair if you had asked me.

MC: But you're shorter than me.

Riddle: ...

Riddle: I will get mad at you.

Epel: Vil wants you to practice this song and meet him after his last class for today.

MC: *nods*

Epel: Anyway, are you sure there's nothing you want? I don't think the costume is enough as a compensation.

MC: I don't need anything at the moment.

Epel: I see.

Floyd: *approaches them* There you are, Guppy and Angelfish.

Epel: Floyd!

MC: ...

MC: Let's go now, Epel.

Epel: Huh? Why?

MC: Floyd will—

Floyd: *has already grabbed them and carried them away*

Epel: M-MC!

Floyd: Later, Guppy! Angelfish and I will play combat!

MC: I don't want to. And can you put me down?

Floyd: Nope! And combat training is more fun than singing and dancing.

Epel: *watches them leave*

Epel: Vil is going to scold me...

[natashaslesbian]

First Position

From the ‘Tiny Dancer’ series

Summary: Natasha takes you to your first ever dance class, unfortunately it doesn’t go well

Word Count: 1.2k

Parings: (Little/Kid Reader x Mama Natasha)

Angst/major fluff/comfort

Warnings: none I think :)

————

“Alright baby girl come here let’s get you ready” Natasha called as you came bolting towards her. Today was your first ever ballet class, you were so excited! You had your new pink leotard on and your mama had your tutu packed up and ready to go in your little dance bag. “There we go beautiful” Natasha said as she placed the last pin in your bun “you wanna go get your shoes” you shot out of the room quicker than Natasha could blink. You burst into your room and picked up your ballet shoes. “Got them mama!” You said with a beaming smile as you returned “oh baby girl I meant your outside shoes, your sneakers?” You were so cute, so eager to get to dance class that you forgot you’d need outdoor shoes first. “It’s ok” said Natasha as she came down face to face with you to help you into your ballet shoes “I guess mommy can always carry you” you giggled as Natasha tickled your tummy and hoisted you up into her arms

You couldn’t sit still the entire car journey to the studio, you were shaking with excitement. Natasha was in awe of you, her grown up little princess all ready for her first ballet class. Your mommy had shown you photographs of when she used to dance and you decided straight away that’s what you wanted to do. Natasha protected you from the truth of her formal dance training but she was made up she would get to see you flourish just like she did in a much happier and safer environment. You had imagined for weeks what your first class would be like, the teacher, the pianist, the other kids. The car pulled into the parking lot and you tried your hardest to wriggle out of your booster seat. You had dreamt all last night about this very moment. “Mama! Mama! Come on!” You beamed up as your mommy opened the car door and helped get you out. “Ok, ok let’s go!” Natasha said as she carried you into the building.

The second your mama put you down you were off, running over to introduce yourself to all the other little ballerinas. Natasha smiled as she watched you patter away on your little feet, she introduced herself to Miss Taylor (a highly recommended ballet teacher) and left you in her trusty hands. You waved to your mommy as she left the room to work on her latest mission report. She listened to the classical musical flowing from the studio and tried to push away the lingering anxiety of her memories. You were completely safe and she knew that - but she still insisted she stays just outside the room. You are here entire world and she would lay her life down to protect you from any harm.

The hour raced by, Natasha completed her mission report and got started on some reading assigned by Fury. The other parents arrived gathering outside the studio doors; peaking their heads through the windows to get a glimpse of their dancing angels. Natasha packed up and waited for you to come running and tell her all about your first ever dance class. You were the first one out and rushed into your mamas frame. She curled into you and asked if you had a good time but when she felt you shake your little head and pealed you from her body, she was heartbroken to find tears streaming down your face “oh my darling” she said as she came down to your level “what happened y/n/n?” You began crying your little heart out and Natasha scooped you up right away “wan-wanna go home!” You cried “alright sweetheart let’s go” Natasha said as she carried you back to the car.

Once you were safely strapped in your car seat, Natasha passed you your favourite stuffie in the hopes it would calm you down. But you didn’t want widow bear, you wanted your mommy. You started to scream and kick, just wanting to be held. “Ok, ok, ok” Natasha cooed “come here baby” she said as she pulled you back out of the car and into her arms. She sat with you in the passenger seat, stroking your hair and whispering soothing words, until you grew tired and fell fast asleep. Natasha was devastated, you had never cried yourself to sleep. She knew you must be really upset and was desperate to get to the bottom of it.

You woke up an hour later, tightly wrapped up in your mamas arms. “Hello beautiful” Natasha said gently helping you wake up “did you have a good sleep?” You nodded and buried your face into your mommy’s neck. Natasha spent a few minuets bringing you out of your sleepy state before she spoke up again “do you wanna tell mommy why you were so upset after ballet class?” You began to tear up again at the memory and Natasha gently shushed you. “Other girls were- were meanie” you whispered. “what did they say baby?” Natasha was furious “they laughed…at me because I could-couldn’t do the spins well” you hiccuped through your quiet sobs “an-and one of them said I was stupid. Am- am I stupid mama?” Natasha’s heart shattered at your question, she looked down into your teary y/e/c eyes and lent down to place a kiss on your forehead “oh y/n you’re not stupid. You’re not stupid I promise, it was very wrong of them to say that darling. Don’t you listen to them ok, you’re not stupid babygirl, you are very very smart and such a special little girl. I am so proud of you y/n/n” you smiled at your mommy’s words but didn’t quite believe them after what the girls had said at dance class.

You spent the rest of the evening being pampered by your mama with cuddles and chocolate treats and all your favourite movies. Natasha got you wound down for bed with a bubble bath and the softest pair of pjs that you owned. After tucking you into bed (Natasha’s bed that you begged to sleep in tonight) your mommy pulled out the big book of fairytales to read you a bedtime story, it was one of your favourite parts of the day. “Mama?” You interrupted half way through the classic tale of Goldilocks. “Yeah?” Natasha said, pausing her reading “can I go to ballet class again?” Natasha was surprised by your request “you wanna go again baby?” Natasha asked “yeah, wanna try another time” your mommy smiled, you were the bravest little girl. Natasha was so proud of you “of course you can go again, but I think we should find you somewhere else to dance, yeah?” You nodded and agreed with Natasha. You were glad you wouldn’t have to see those mean girls again. “Alright then, now you get some sleep” said your mama as she laid a final goodnight kiss to your temple “I love you so much tiny dancer” you leaned up and gave your mommy a kiss on the check, your way of telling her that you loved her too.

Once you were snoring softly, Natasha crept over to her computer and began searching for another place for you to dance at. She found a small club called ‘Main Attraxion’ and decided she would get in touch with Emma, the owner, in the morning. After leaving herself a reminder on a little sticky note, Natasha climbed back into bed with you and pulled you close to her chest. You subconsciously wrapped your tiny arms around your mamas neck and the two of you slept peacefully in each others arms.

————

Another little story from the Tiny Dancer series. There’s a few little sprinkles of details from my dance background:))

- Astara🩷

[lillifaba]

My thoughts on the Wicked movie teaser trailer... so far.

Before you pop off in my replies and reblogs yes I know, this is just a teaser trailer and not the official tralier. Regardless that doesn't give this movie a magical critique pass. Most of my critques on this teaser come from my own thoughts and some of points raised in this post. This is also just me rambling into the void. Don't like don't read lmao.

If you've been following me for a while, then you already know my opinion on the Wicked movie and casting. Surprise surprise, you guessed it... I am extremely underwhelmed and disappointed. For so many reasons.

I'll start off with some things I like.

Johnathan Bailey is hot asf as Fiyero. (even if he looks way older than Fiyero is canonically meant to be)

The set and props. I think some of them actually look pretty neat. I'm glad they didn't use a green screen for Shiz and put in the effort to build a university campus. The train from Shiz to Oz looks kinda dope. I was always wondering what it would look like and I'll probably use that as inspiration for my fics and art comms.

Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard. I won't lie, I haven't seen a lot of movies with Jeff in them so I was cautious about his casting. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much his look and his performance so far actually fits Oscar. Time will tell if he can hold up to those standards.

I'm happy a WOC is playing Elphaba. Everyone complains about Fiyero not being racially book accurate but nobody talks enough about Elphaba being discriminated against as an amalgamation for rac!sm. More women of color should play her on stage.

THE NAILSSSS. Come on people this is the Wicked Witch of the West we're talking about she should be SERVING WITH THOSE CLAWS! Although personally I would've preferred them sharp but I'm over here with almond arylics what do I know lol.

I'm happy they casted a disabled actress to play Nessa. I always wondered why they never did that.

With that out of the way, let's get into a million reasons why I hated this trailer and why I'll most likely hate the movie anyways.

Arianna as Glinda. Look, I don't hate Ari. I like some of her songs and even bought some of her perfumes because I like smelling good. At worst I just don't care about her. However whenever I see Arianna as Glinda, I'm sorry I just don't see Glinda, I see ARIANNA GRANDE dressed in last minute cosplay for a Halloween party. I heard one line... ONE LINE from her and the delivery is NOTHING like Glinda's character or cadence, it's just Ari in drama class.

The wigs and costumes. What the hell was the makeup and hair crew thinking when they selected that wig for Arianna???? It's an ashy dull blonde that brings no color or life to the character. The #1 thing about Glinda is her vibrant blonde hair, it's even mentioned IN THE SONGS. MULTIPLE TIMES. This wig looks like a botched bleach job. Then, there's the costumes. Good lord what are those glasses on Elphaba's face??? I get they're trying to be all "whimsy" and "peculiar" in tone with WOZ, but they just look silly. Why not stick to the glasses in the musical? Why overdo it? I fear how the Emerald City sunglasses will look (if they even add those in) Also why are Glinda's clothes so dull? Where's the vibrance? Where's the pink frilly coquette contrast to Elphaba's dark coquette?

The camera work and Elphaba's entrance. This is Wicked the musical. I'm expecting a huge and grandiose presentation, especially when it comes to THE MAIN CHARACTER. Showing Elphaba from the back of her head in slow motion while she's walking to the entrance is just... boring and an overused cliche. Not to mention the underwhelming reactions from the extras. The cinematography is just meh. I'm expecting better for a fantasy film. It's been done before.

Cynthia as Elphaba. Listen, Cynthia is a great singer and talented actress. I have absolutely nothing against her. With that being said I'm going to be brutally honest: much like Arianna, she is not Elphaba... at least not entirely. Like Johnathan, Cynthia is way older than Elphaba is meant to be canonically and the editing team clearly used the de-aging filter on her to the point where it looks unnatural. If this movie had been made at least five years ago or earlier Cynthia would've fit perfectly.

Continuing my point with Cynthia: the singing. I'm sorry but what the hell was that riff with Defying Gravity??? I'm not entirely blaming Cynthia for this because this has become a massive problem with a lot of musical film adaptations which I like to call the popification of songs. It happens in nearly all the live-action Disney movies and I'm sick of it. What confuses me is STEPHEN FUCKING SCHWARTZ is involved in the musical production. He wrote the god damn songs, how the hell does he not direct Cynthia to sing the right note instead of letting her do whatever she wants??? I don't think he did that with Idina, which is why this riff is so iconic. Come on, if a tiktok meme trend can do that riff better and more accurately than an actual singer can, that's just embarrassing. I'm not good at explaining myself in terms of singing, so I'm hoping a youtuber I occassionally watch does a reaction video to the trailer and does a better job at explaining than I can.

The acting. Like I said with Arianna, the delivery is so bland and dry. I'm trying not to judge all of the acting on a teaser trailer but if this is how the leads are going to act throughout the whole movie then I'm disappointed.

Too much CGI in some parts. I get it. This is a fantasy movie there's bound to be certain effects you can't do practically. But that's no excuse when this is a $145 million dollar movie. The flying monkeys are so painfully obvious CGI. This was a wasted chance to get Doug Motherfucking Jones to play Chistery in prosthetics. So much of this movie ends up looking like those garbage Oz spinoffs. (If you know you know) The CGI is just bad. The bubble and Emerald City buildings look so cheap.

WHY IS THIS MOVIE SO DARK? This is suppossed to be OZ! Why do I have to turn up my brightness to look into the shadow realm???

Now onto some things I'm confused about.

Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible. I'm praying to god she'll blow us away because she's such a good actress and is serving c*nt in her costumes. I haven't heard her sing (I'm dumb but unless the opera song she sang in EEAAO was her then WOW!)

The silver slippers. I KNOW! I KNOW! The ruby slippers are copyrighted and can't be thrown in all nilly willy wherever you please. But keep in mind this is a 145 MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE ALL FOR PART ONE. Do not tell me they couldn't shill a few extra bucks on signing a few contracts. AND YES I KNOW. The musical uses the silver slippers in the first act in ode to the L. Frank Baum books which I love, but don't forget, they turn red when Elphaba enchants them to give Nessa the ability to walk. Dorothy shows up after Nessa is killed and has her shoes stolen. Why aren't they red now? Not to mention most of the audience might not know the original slippers in the books were silver. This would've been a great chance to combine two different canons.

WHO IS PLAYING DR. DILLAMOND???? ifitisjamescordenandyouusecrappycgiiwillgotoyourhousejohnchuand-

Finally, why did John Chu absolutely insist on this being a two parter movie with a year long intermission? Is this shit show really that fantastical that it can be akin to Kill Bill part 1 and 2?

That's pretty much it for now but expect an update to this post with a reblog with updated thoughts when an official trailer drops. My mind probably won't change though. I'm totalllllyyy not considering pulling an Eddy Burback sneaking into Morbius for a week when this movie comes out lol.

Universal Studios and AMC theaters that was a joke please for the love of god do not send Nicole Kidman after me.

[hauntedwizardmoment]

OKAY so: 2, 10, 11, 14, for any oc(s) you wish, but also, assuming you're taking asks about 'em, for jace's former party from blood and turpentine fic series bc I am legitimately obsessed with them and think about them daily

HIII oh my god this got so long i am so sorry but i got carried away:

2. What's something about your OC that people wouldn't expect just from looking at them?

Peregrine: he’s a theater kid! he wanted to be a bard soooo bad or at least multiclass a la Fabian but due to the [gestures at his neuroses around his masculinity] he never did. i think in terms of levels, he ended up a level 20 fighter until he did some paladin training as an adult that put him at like, a 17/3 split between fighter/paladin. in a kinder timeline he’d be doing community theater and taxes with jace. in blood and turpentine. well no spoilers for what im currently writing but it’s not that.   

Dagbert: out of everyone in the group hes the one thats into musicals unironically. and not even good musicals. like picture this massive goliath that’s taller than porter and just as broad, i think i have him as like 7 ft 1, and he just fucking loves Cats. he’s obsessed with fantasy andrew lloyd webber. has a jellicle-sona. 

Ysvelde: she’s somehow got even less of a solid grasp of her identity than jace does. part of it is that she’s an actress, part of it is that she’s never really lived for anything besides the approval of other people (first her mom, then her adventuring party). she has no idea who she is without the approval of others. if you put her in a room alone she’d start climbing the walls instead of sitting alone with her own thoughts. girl who is constantly experiencing The Dread but she covers it up with a winning smile + really cool artsy makeup. 

Aurora: [dan howell voice] one time she had a MESSY night out in [bastion city], kissed a GIRL, and SMOKED A CIGARETTE. no but seriously she has a secret wild side that she rarely lets out, especially as she gets more and more into fundamentalism and what she believes is sol’s true word, the very early beginnings of the harvestmen cult. during their first year adventuring, shes the one that suggested matching tramp stamps while they were all wasted. 

Invidia: she’s a romantic. she really does want her friends to find love. she’s at aurora and peregrine’s wedding as a bridesmaid, and when she realizes that jace and porter are serious about each other, she’s genuinely happy for him. underneath all the cattiness and jokes she’s so glad that everything “worked out” (woman who does not know jace is a dead man walking)

10. What's an AU that would be interesting to explore with your OC?

not to keep talking about this but my infidelity fic which is an au of blood and turpentine? i have so many dramatic scenes from it that i rotate in my head. when peregrine finds out that jace got promoted to vice principal and starts a huge fight about it. dagbert’s father’s funeral. invidia and ysvelde’s falling out. when peregrine finds out about jace’s affair and subsequently gets murdered by porter. aurora’s creepy midsommar-ass family hosting everyone for fantasy easter. 

11. What is your OC's weapon of choice? Have they ever actually used it?

Peregrine: a lance!! by the time he’s a full-time adventurer i’m sure it’s a magical weapon too, probably has like a +2 or something. hes definitely used it before love a martial class. 

Dagbert: his battle axe, absolutely has used it. he’s definitely got a magic weapon too, i think i call out in love’s never meant much to me that it has magic runes on it so yeah let’s call it the same level of magical as perry’s lance

Ysvelde: so she’s a college of eloquence bard and a fiend pact warlock, so i think she probably has a shortsword as a backup weapon but honestly that eldritch blast cantrip is getting her through most of her fights juuuust fine. 

Aurora: circle of life cleric, definitely has a crossbow that she’s used a couple times in a panic early on but she’s more a healer than anything. i picture her spiritual weapon (the cleric spell) as a scythe. 

Invidia: she’s a circle of the moon druid so i think she’d have a pair of broad claws that do some sick slashing damage, plus obviously her wild shape forms, and her animal companion (a wolf but for funsies ive flavored it as a husky named luna and she loves her so much, she treats her like a child, has little bows to put in her fur, etc. luna is fantasy instagram famous)

14. How does your OC want to be seen by other characters?

ohhhh this is sosososo juicy 

Peregrine: the true driving force in his life is to be seen as a protector, as a provider, as a good fighter and a good man. he will Freak Out if he perceives anything as getting in the way of that. especially if its his own actions that make him look weak or immoral in any way, i.e. sleeping with jace when he and aurora are on a break. 

Dagbert: truly. genuinely. from the bottom of his heart. he could not give less of a shit. he wants to be known as a goddamn professional, unlike the rest of these people, apparently. he’s out here trying to earn a fucking paycheck meanwhile everyone else in his party is ensnared in insane psychosexual drama. he’s angling to get a raise to buy out his ailing father’s construction business from him and let the man retire and this clownshow of a party is fucking it up for him.

Ysvelde: she’s not real unless youre clapping and cheering for her if you dont clap and cheer for her she’ll die. she lives and dies on the approval of an audience. she’s a star. but like for real she needs validation constantly, it doesnt matter where it comes from or how she gets it, she just needs to know that she’s getting a good grade in existing, something normal to want and possible to achieve. 

Aurora: her main thing is being right. she’s a cleric, she receives the divine word from sol, she’s his hand upon the world and she’ll spread his light to the darkest corners of spyre and consecrate it for him, make the world holy. she has her convictions and is firm in them, and she wants everyone to see her as a source of good and truth, both in battle and in spirituality. i think after a certain point she couldnt care less what her party thinks of her, she’s mainly looking for the approval of higher-ups in the church of sol to further solidify herself as a priestess and help shape the vision and direction of the church. 

Invidia: her and aurora butt heads a lot because she also is very into being correct, but in a way that is entirely divorced from divinity. instead, she wants other people to see her as observant to a scary degree. she wants you to know that she sees what you do, knows your habits inside and out, all your secrets, and is taking notes and filing them away for blackmail purposes. and when you slip up she WILL brag about predicting your downfall to your face. it’s why she and jace are the ivy-and-oisin of their party, they both love gossip and reveling in the misery of people they dont like. 

[haolovre]

secrets hidden in you

“they all say that park seonghwa, the most popular and dangerous person in the school doesnt have a heart, does he?”

student! ateez

this series can contain:bullying, beating up, blood, fluff, drugs, smoking, swearing

this is all fiction! nothing is real!!

masterlist of this serie

second day

U get woken up by ur alarm, as u growl u got up and went to the bathroom room. u check the clock 7:30 AM. Well u have enough time. U brush ur teeth and shower. then u check the clock 8:00 AM u put your clothes on and went down to eat breakfast. “Honey i made pancakes! U should go at 8:30 so hurry abit before u miss the bus” “mhm alright mom thanks!”

u ate ur breakfast and went to the bus stop. as u were right on time the schoolbus was there. u went to the school bus to see ateez only in the bus. u went to sit in the front as ateez was sitting in the back. “Hey new girl, wanna sit with us” a male voice said. thank goodness u had ur headphones on so u could pretend u couldnt hear them. U heard footsteps coming at u, then ur headphones were taking of “hey! what the fuck was that for” “oh~ so u were listening to music, thats why u didnt answer my question” u looked up who u were talking to.

choi jungho-

“oh im sorry, but my music is pretty loud so i didnt hear u” “ohh~” he smirked “excuses , excuses, excuses. dont have to lie to me” he put your headphones on. He was quite shocked at the music u checked ur phone. now playing: guerilla - halateez. Know u get why he was shocked. He drew the headphones on ur lap and went back to the group. As u were finally at school (well not finally but yk) u thanked the driver and went to the gates to be greeted by sooha. “Heyy girly well haeyoung is sick sadly. People saw newjeans put something in her waterbottle” “naur way poor her hopefully she gets better” u signed “well u still have me! And great news the cheer club had accepted u!!” “oh my days ur kidding” “im not~ well we both have the same classes but the training is today at 5:00 pm u’ll get ur uniform there so dont worry! And the coach is amazing so no stress” mhm alright u said to urself “well maybe lets get going will be late if we keep standing here.” “Alright lets get going. Literature it is” sooha said sadly. U two went to literature, yeahyeah boring stuff we’ll skip that part. “Well we have self study now so lets-“ sooha got interrupted by something.. well poor u got ice bucketed by newjeans and ateez. u heard them laughing “oh my days lets go to the medic before u catch a cold” sooha took ur arm and ran to the medic but got stopped by a male figure. “Well i can bring her” he smiled as u looked up who it was.

kang yeosang.

“No. U did this to her-“ as yeosang picked u up and threw soohas arm off urs. as he walked to the clinic. “Yeosang u better not do anything to her” sooha screamed to him “yeahyeah ill take care of her dont worry” he responded looking at u with a caring smile. As the school doctor looked at u and gave u a new uniform so u’ll not catch a cold. “Thank u yeosang for bringing her. I was scared for her that she’ll actually catch a cold” he softly laughed “mhm its oke ms hwang” u came out thanked the doctor and went out. “Wait ur not going to thank me i literally brought u here” u stared at him “u did it for ur reputation.” As u walked off u see the ateez and newjeans looking at u and yeosang. U went to the library to see sooha by herself doing the biology assignment. “ oh there u are! I was worried . did yeosang do anything to you?” She sounded a worried mother “no no he did nothing, just brought me so his reputation is high” “ew that player, well im working on my assignment so maybe do urs too” “mhm alright, weres beomgyu?” “Oh he has a other lesson then us.” Great ur only partner is park seonghwa “oh well im not doing it with seonghwa” “did u call my name?”

u looked to see seonghwa and yeosang at the entrance of the library. “Thank god i could get out of that group, minji keeps clinging on me like a fly” seonghwa said now walking to u “well we should work on the project, no?” “Yeah alright move a chair here so u can sit” as seonghwa went to get a chair, yeosang came up too u “ heard u were the new cheerleader well be cheering for me and seonghwa yeah?” u looked at him as u wanted him dead “gosh im joking comeon” as seonghwa came back with two chairs so yeosang could sit too. U and seonghwa were doing pretty well on the poster. As u never thought that seonghwa could be helpful. But then the bell went. “Oh well its best me and yeo get going see u around y/n” as both male figures waved goodbye and left. “Well~ how did it went” sooha asked “went better then i expected def”

time skip to the end of the last class

“YN LETS GO WE NEED TO GO TO PRACTICE”this girl has energy for days😞 “alright alright! im coming” u went to the coart were the cheer coach was. “Ohh u must be the new cheer member! yn right?” u nodded” well welcome to wave cheer club! here are the uniform” it was a blue cheer uniform and the pompoms were blue with gold “ well practice start in 10 minutes!!” u look over the bleachers to see someone staring at u, but u couldn’t recognize the face as it turned away quickly.

After practice u go to ur locker seeing alot of love notes in it. U were kinda surprised seeing the fall down. U didnt want to make a mess so u quickly put them all in ur bag. Ur surprised that it all fitted in

. U go home by bus and opened every love letter. All of these letters had something common. There signed with 0304. U looking confused but said to urself u’ll read them tomorrow.

—next—

[susagnon]

Katsuki and Izuku are not best friends, part 3

The start of "To the Limit" was a perfect fit for their escape. Forever one of my favourite music moments in this series.

When Deku designated Kirishima to be the one holding his hand out to Bakugou, he wasn't only thinking about the pure likelihood of Bakugou being willing to hitch their ride. I'm convinced that Deku took what Uraraka said before the Bakugou-Rescue-squad went to Kamino, to heart: Deku thought about Bakugou’s potential feelings regarding who would hold out their hand to him.

Let’s fast-forward a bit:

This was the wrong way for Deku to offer Bakugou a helping hand. At this stage of his character development, Bakugou would have not been able to accept this type of help from most people, but least of all from Deku.

This had been the right way to help Bakugou. Deku's narration during the scene confirms his own recognition of it. And Bakugou didn't lash out against this help from Deku, only because he didn't recognize it as such.

Let’s fast-forward a bit more:

By the time Bakugou and the rest of 1-A launched Iida at Deku, he had accumulated enough character development, that his actions mirrored Deku's thinking during Kamino:

Speed is Class Rep’s thing, so having him chasing Deku had the highest chances of success - but it's also better for Deku’s comfort. Because with Iida, Deku doesn’t have to fear being called a stupid for having done what he did or having all of his shortcomings pointed out.

When it’s his turn to try and talk Deku into coming back with them, bad-boy-turned-good-boy Bakugou doesn’t do any of that crap. But the treatment that Deku had received from Bakugou for most of their long acquaintance, has conditioned him to expect such reactions from him. Deku couldn’t have guessed anything different from him.

With Iida, Deku feels secure. Iida is Deku’s friend unreservedly, so the emotional defences that the rest of 1-A have chipped away at, are better broken through by their Class Rep.

My point is, for all that meddling when you don't need to be is supposed to be the essence of a hero, I think that both Deku and Bakugou would feel like it's not their place, to do so in regards to the other, as long as there are better suited people who want, can, and will take care of that.

To put it differently, there are some things that Bakugo and Deku can do for each other. And there are other things, that they can’t - including things that most would view as essential to a (best) friend.

Type C: Spending time with each other voluntarily

Aside from Deku trying to hang out with Bakugou when they used to be little children, I can only remember one instance, where they spend time with each other one-on-one voluntarily:

After Bakugou learned about OFA, and was trying to help Deku with his training.

Again, they “hung out” because it was for a higher purpose. I also accidentally lied: The training sessions weren't one-on-one. They happened with their mutual idol All Might.

Real friends spent time with each other voluntarily for no reason, other than the joy of being with each other.

I can't see Deku and Bakugou getting ice cream together. I can’t see them going to the arcade together. Except for serious hero work-related stuff, I can’t see them doing anything together one-on-one.

At no point in the story, have I ever gotten the impression that either of them wanted to spend time with each other, because they enjoyed each other's personality and company.

And why would they? Referring to my previous post on this topic: Due to their history, neither Deku nor Bakugou feels truly comfortable around the other.

For all of their inferred closeness, both hold reservations towards the other, that friends - especially best friends – shouldn’t have between each other.

While the permanent absence of one of them would spark great sorrow and rage in the other... I'd dare to say, that their presences in each other's life doesn't exactly spark joy.

...

If I had to put a label on their complicated relationship: Like I mentioned before, rather than friends, I feel like Deku and Bakugou are more like siblings, who don't particularly get along.

Due to their chosen aspirations, Deku and Bakugou's paths became intertwined, and will probably remain so... with having to watch each other almost-dying for the nth time, they are trauma bonded for life anyways.

Even the way Bakugou yells at Deku during their training sessions, made me think of an older brother who's truly annoyed about having to spent time tutoring their younger sibling, but doesn't want them to fail their exams. Especially since in this case, "failing exams" = getting killed by villains.

...

In light of Bakugou's heavy injuries and Deku's fairly certain permanent loss of OFA (at the time of writing this post), it is uncertain, how each of their futures will look like.

Assuming that both will still become pro heroes: I think Deku and Bakugou will live and breathe each side of All Might’s legacy with each other (as well as with any of their peers proceeds on the hero path, after the war).

In such an outcome, I headcanon that Deku and Bakugou will continue to work and train together as adults. However, I don’t see them calling each other much on their days-off.

I just don't see them confiding in each other beyond anything that isn't hero stuff and/or All Might-related. I don't see them talking to each other about worries such as romantic relationship difficulties, child-rearing issues, aging parents problems, their mortgage... (well, perhaps their mortgage. I can see Bakugou bitching to Deku about this topic. Be it scolding the latter, or even complaining about it himself.)

Meaning that as grown-up heroes, I headcanon Deku and Bakugou doing stuff for each other like taking more of the other's workload, so that they can take care of things in their private life, when it's needed.

But when Deku needs friends, he has learned to go to Iida and Todoroki. And when Bakugou needs friends... Kirishima and Kaminari would break into his home and force their company on him.

…

As it is with a lot of families, you might care, you might even love them…

It doesn’t mean, that you want to or should be around each other more often than necessary.

Yeah, no thanks. I'd say, hardworking Pro-Hero Deku deserves relaxing days off, without somebody going off on him permanently.