#literally only saw it cause I was directly across the bench

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

and I am too. 😭

Oh he’s so done😭

[thesunicarusfellfor]

WAIT WAIT— what if 👀 what if Yandere!Tubbo and Yandere!Tommy falling for the reader at the same time

BROO— THE ANGST POSSIBILITIES

ooooooOOOOO DAMN this one is gonna be good! I love the way you think! So I wrote this as headcanons, but I will write this as an actual story if requested. ^^

This is not exactly implied romantic??? I'm still scared about writing their characters as directly romantic????? I'll probably get braver about it but still lowkey worried.

Yandere!C!Tommy x GN!Reader x Yandere!C!Tubbo Headcanon/Fic

Tommy, at first, completely denied even acknowledging your existence.

Until he saw someone interact with you.

Then he would start pulling out his sword or glaring at them from across the room.

He would definitely pin them in an alleyway and threaten every single one of their canon lives.

Tommy, please. Niki was just trying to give you cookies.

He's the kind of Yandere that would greatly keep his distance both physically, emotionally and mentally. Basically, he would be a Tsundere Yandere.

Tubbo, on the other hand, would be extremely sweet to you.

Need netherite? He had an extra few ingots ready in his pockets!

Interacting with someone who wasn't him? Was he not good enough for you??? Fine. You don't deserve him.

He would cry to you and make you feel guilty OR completely ignore you for a week straight until you come crawling back to him and apologizing.

Straight up can flip emotions like a switch.

The first time either of them realized the other liked you as well, was when they were listening to Mellohi on their bench, watching the sunset when they saw you having a conversation with Ranboo at the bottom of the cliff.

"What're they doing talking to him?" Tommy growled lowly and leaned forward to glared at the enderman who was talking to you. He reached for his bow n' arrow before Tubbo grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks, "What? I don't want them talking to anyone but me."

"What do you mean 'anyone but you'?! You avoid them like they're a virus!" Tubbo stared at him, digging his fingers into Tommy's bicep a small bit to show his anger a bit more, "They should only be talking to me."

The blond turned towards his brunet friend and yanked his arm out of his grasp, "Excuse me?" He glared into Tubbo's dull blue eyes, gritting his teeth, "You do nothing but give them stuff!"

"And you treat them like shit and avoid them!" The smaller of the two retorted angrily, trying to keep his tone level enough to where you didn't hear.

Mellohi, the music that had been playing mere moments ago, slowly came to a stop and left nothing but silence and tension in the air. You had noticed them arguing from below, but Ranboo (who had heard their entire argument) decided to pull you away from them and bring you to the Tundra.

"Are you trying to take everything from me?!" Tommy tightened his grip on his diamond sword, although part of him knew that if Tubbo equipped his netherite armour, there would be absolutely no competition whatsoever.

"Take things from you?! They're a human being and you choose to ignore that fact when you ignore them or call them terrible names!"

"I treat everyone like that! You already have Ranboo, I don't understand why you're chasing after them with hearts in your eyes when you're fuckin' married! Loyal much! Oh wait, you aren't loyal, you EXILED ME!"

"It's platonic! I told you that already! And you're starting this again now, Tommy?!"

Ranboo actually felt nervous leaving you alone around both Tommy AND/OR Tubbo after hearing their entire argument that day.

Tommy, although now a lot nicer, became extremely clingy towards you and constantly would walk over and drag you away mid-conversation with anyone that wasn't him. ESPECIALLY if you were talking to Tubbo.

Man would bring you everywhere with him if you would let him.

Netherite mining? Get your pick.

To get new discs? Pack your bags, we're going on an adventure.

Straight up does everything he can do to get you away from Tubbo because he's petty.

He tried giving you as many gifts as Tubbo, but mans is broke.

Tubbo would get extremely annoyed by Tommy even just walking through the area when he was with you.

Would start to hold your hand or link arms with you (if you're comfortable), just so Tommy couldn't pull you away as easily.

Started to try guilt-tripping you into living in Snowchester, and even tried to get you to live in the mansion.

Ranboo actually lied to Tubbo, saying he was scared of enderwalking and hurting you, to convince Tubbo not to guilt-trip you further into living in the mansion.

Tubbo's constant gift-giving got so much more extreme.

Want netherite ingots to make armour?

Nope. No lifting a finger.

He already made you fully enchanted netherite god armour anyway.

Has definitely tried to convince Ranboo to let him involve you in the platonic marriage.

"Ranboo! My beloved!" Tubbo called jokingly, walking into their home. He kicked the snow on his boots before pulling down his hood and taking off his hat, hanging it on the hook as he took off his footwear, "I have a proposition for you!"

The monochrome-coloured man lifted his head and set down the journal in his hand, the ink likely still wet judging by the quill in his hand, "Yeah? What's that?" He placed the feathered pen in the pot of ink and turned to face his platonic husband.

"What would you say to extending our marriage to three people? Like a polyamorous relationship. Like Sapnap, Karl and Big Q?" Tubbo sat down in the chair beside him, watching as Ranboo was left reeling for a few seconds.

"W-well, one, I think you mean expanding. Two, with who?!" The tall male sat up quickly, bumping his leg on the table from his minor flailing, "A-and, and, what about Michael? Are you sure they can be trusted with him?"

Tubbo held out his hand to calm his friend down, making his friend put his hands down so he didn't accidentally hit something, "You know what I meant, and (Y/n)! Y'know... Like, the one with (h/l) (h/c) hair, (tall/short)! (Y/n), them!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know who they are, it's just..." He paused to gather his words, glancing away from his friend. In all reality, he wouldn't mind inviting you into the platonic marriage, even if he knew Tubbo felt more romantic feelings towards you. He didn't shut up about it. It was the fact that he was worried about what kind of mental manipulation Tubbo would do to you if you did agree to be in the marriage. Or even what Tommy would do to you or Tubbo!

"...Just?"

'Your relationship with Tommy is beyond screwed already... Imagine what would happen if both of his friends left him to be in a platonic relationship with me. Tubbo, all of us would be in severe danger.' He thought silently before taking a breath. "I-I don't have my enderwalking state under control... I'm already scared for Michael enough, and I don't want to hurt her as well... Give it some time and we'll see. Please.." He whispered, lying through his teeth. Ranboo knew you were damn good at protecting yourself and could knock his long and lanky ass to the dirt within seconds.

Tubbo's bright shiny eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as his smile began to falter, "Ah... Yeah. I guess that makes sense. For their safety I suppose." His normal look returned and he gave him a smile, "Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. I'll ask again next month to see what happens."

"What... What about Tommy-"

"What about him?" He demanded sharply, his smile vanishing in mere seconds which caught Ranboo off guard yet again, "He doesn't need to be in their life. He would do more harm to them than good!"

Ranboo was left gaping, his mouth moving but not creating any sounds. He watched as Tubbo eyed him carefully before he got up, murmuring something about grabbing food then going to bed.

Once the goat hybrid was completely out of sight, Ranboo reached for his memory book and took the quill again.

'Protect (Y/n) from Tubbo and Tommy. Get them out of DreamSMP.'

Ranboo was scared for you.

He was stuck watching as these crazy two men fought over you, threatened you, manipulated you... It was worrying, to say the least.

Don't get him wrong. If he didn't have an adopted son, a platonic husband that he still cared about despite him being another Dream at this point, and a Syndicate to protect him from, he would've packed everything and ran, bringing you with him.

He was practically walking on eggshells around this man that he had once been extremely close to!

It practically sent shivers down his spine...

Eventually, it got to the point where Ranboo had gone to your house in the ungodly hours of the morning to talk to you.

This man LITERALLY crept into Tubbo's room AND Tommy's house to make sure they were both asleep before going to talk to you.

"Ran... Boo?" You asked, yawning softly as you leaned against the door, your hair all frizzy and messed up, "What's up? It'sssss... Like 5:30am. The sun is barely even up..."

"(Y/n)... Can we go inside? Please... There's something very wrong.." He murmured softly, his memory book tightly held in his grasp as he glanced around. Tommy could be waking up sometime soon, and he did not want to get caught talking to you. He would certainly be down a canon life before he could even say 'sorry'.

You watched the nervous man in front of you and nodded before stepping aside to let him in. Peaking outside, you looked around for what was causing him to panic but went back inside once you didn't see anything. "What's wrong?" Softening your tone, you gestured for him to sit at the table while you made coffee.

Once he had a fresh mug of coffee in front of him, Ranboo slowly began to gather his nerve and speak. He told you everything he could remember, and even opened his memory book to tell you about the things he didn't remember. Everything from the fight where Tommy and Tubbo's friendship completely went downhill a few months ago, to the threats Tubbo used against Tommy, the manipulation against you, the threats he had received by talking to you, and even Tubbo's violent mood switches when talking about you or Tommy.

The entire time, you just sat there wide-eyed as you listened to him ramble on about his fears and worries, and everything in between. He even mentioned wanting to actually divorce Tubbo because of how scared he was for you and his own life. "I don't... Not... Believe you... But this is- this is a little difficult to believe." You knew the enderman hybrid wouldn't lie about something so serious, and he definitely wouldn't be shaking like a leaf if it was a joke or a lie.

"Y-yeah, I expected that... But I really do care about your safety, honestly. You know I wouldn't joke about this kind of thing, especially about Tubbo." He murmured softly, looking at his crown laying on the table in front of him, "In all honesty, I came here this early because I was scared about Tommy trying to kill me if he saw me talking to you..."

"He wouldn't ki-"

The door slammed open dramatically and there was a cheerful shout of your name, "(Y/n)!!! Let's go mining for diamon-" Tommy walked into your kitchen, only to freeze mid-step and midfacial expression. His expression went from surprised to annoyance to a grim smile, "Hello Ranboo!" He gave him a smile that was more like baring his teeth as he twirled his axe nonchalantly.

He was going to hurt him...

[drakenology]

Bully!Dabi laughing and making fun about a school girl big tiddies😳 it's as if the buttons on your uniform blouse are going to explode at any moment, and Dabi love make you feel bad about it

 𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐈

“baby, can you meet me tonight in detention?” 

MDNI

tw: non-con (yeah ik crazy right? i’m taking that out of my rules so feel free to request now.) , bullying, third year aged, mean!dabi, creep!dabi?, boobjob, cumplay, degradation, raw sex and public sex

A/N: hi hiii, this is a lovely request that I literally started writing as soon as I got it. Thank you nonnie for sending this in and as always enjoy!

You tried to keep them hidden whenever you saw him walking through the halls with his asshole entourage. But oversized sweaters, hoodies and cardigans never did the trick. Dabi always ended up seeing them, practically bursting through your school blouse after an administrator would yell at you to get into proper uniform. He was ruthless, grabbing your shirt and popping it open by the buttons to expose your large breasts. He’d laugh at you as you go to cover yourself up with the remnants of your blouse, poking and prodding at the exposed skin of your breasts. He’d pinch your cheeks as you become flustered, smirking and leaning in close to you.

“What? They were gonna come out anyways. Stupid tits were practically opening your shirt for you. Thought I’d give ‘em a hand.” He mocked, squeezing your breasts as he pinned you to a nearby locker. You snatch away from him and run away to the bathroom to fix your blouse, tears stinging in your eyes from the embarrassment of it all. The rest of your day was full of shame as everyone stared at your ripped blouse, administration granting you detention for violating dress code for the second time today. 

At the end of the day, you stay behind in class, watching as everyone chats their way out the classroom doors to return home for the evening. All the other students who were to stay for detention come trudging inside; Dabi included to your displeasure. You shuffle in your seat out of discomfort, pulling your sweater down further and holding it in between stern fists as if it were to fly up at any second to reveal your breasts to the whole class. Dabi winks at you after sitting directly across from you, softly mooing at you to insinuate that you were a cow. 

“I see they made you cover up those udders, fat tits. What were you thinking walking around with your tits hanging out? This is a school you know.” He says to you at a low tone of voice, talking not allowed in detention. You try and ignore him, scribbling on your notebook as you try and concentrate on your homework. Dabi sits slouched in his seat, writing something on a piece of paper and balling it up to throw it at your head. You glare over at him, the paper ball falling onto your desk in front of you. You open it and see that it’s a note. 

“Meet me on the roof, fat tits.” it read, hand-writing just as childish as he is. You roll your eyes and crumple up the note, standing to go to throw it in the trash. Dabi smirks, sitting up in his seat to raise his hand. 

“Yo, teach. I gotta piss. Can I use the bathroom?” He asks, chuckling to himself when the administrator grants him another two weeks detention for his foul language. 

“Ask correctly or ‘piss’ on yourself, Mr. Todoroki.” He spits, returning to his book. Dabi sighs, rolling his eyes before caving in. 

“Fine. May I please use the restroom, sir?” He asks once more, sarcasm dripping from his tone. He stands once he has permission, leaning over to whisper in your ear.

“I’ll be waiting, utters." He taunts, poking your chest before walking out of the room. You sit for a while, stirring in confusion. Do you go outside to see what he wants or do you stay seated and let him wait for nothing. You sigh and raise your hand, politely asking to use the restroom too. The administrator, uninterested at this point waves you away and returns to his book. You shuffle out of the room and walk upstairs to the roof of the school where Dabi stood by the metal fences barricading the ledge.

"Ah. So nice of you to meet with me, fat tits." Dabi smirks, pulling you up to him by the arm. You groan, shuddering at his touch in disgust.

"What do you want, Touya?" You ask, folding your arms over your chest unconsciously; a defense mechanism you've picked up dealing with him over the years.

"Haven't you heard the saying? A guy who picks on you also has a crush on you." Dabi hints, pulling your arms away from your chest, lifting your sweater up to expose your pretty bra. You shriek, trying to cover yourself up again only for your hands to be pinned above your head against the wall. 

“So your excuse for treating me like shit is because you’ve got some sick crush on me?” You spat, yet unable to be completely furious as his lips meet yours in a hot and sticky kiss you can’t seem to shake. His tongue slips into your mouth to travel around inside, pulling away with a single string of spit as you pant. You hated him but, fuck, why did he have to be such a good kisser?

“You’ve always been my favorite little toy. Wanna know why?” He asks, leaning in to kiss and lick the skin of your neck. You stifle a moan, not giving him the satisfaction of knowing he’s turning you on. 

“Why?” You choke, cheeks burning as his cold hands travel up the sides of your frame.

“These.” He answers, his hands pulling your breasts out of the cups of your bra, hissing at the sight of your pretty nipples. He takes one in his mouth, smirking against your skin when you start to moan helplessly. Your thighs press together as your panties start to soak with slick, Dabi noticing his effect on you quickly. 

“P-Please stop..” You whisper desperately, looking into Dabi’s crystal blue eyes with a mixture of lust and uncertainty. He grins, knowing deep down you want him too, whether you said it words or not. His hands travel up your thighs and between your legs, forcing them open to prod his fingers at the growing wet spot on your panties. 

“Heh.. I don’t think you want me to stop, do you? God, look how sloppy you are already.” He retorts, yanking your panties down and hiking up your skirt to further expose you. He reaches down to unbutton and unzip his own pants to let his length spring free, your eyes locking onto his bright red head as it leaked with pre-cum. 

“Help me out with this, will ya, doll?” He asks, hands caressing your face as you lead you onto the concrete ground. As you sat on your knees, your hands wiping away a stray tear that streams down your cheek. You pull out your breasts a bit further, taking Dabi’s cock in between them and stroking it slowly beneath your cleavage. Dabi sighs out, his head handing back as he ruts his hips upward to match your pace. 

“Fuck, just like that. If only you could see how slutty you look.” Dabi groans, voice slightly hoarse as you get him off with your breasts. You groan when you feel his cock start to throb against your skin, half of you disgusted and the rest of you turned on beyond belief as you watch him writhe in pleasure from the very breasts he teased and made fun of so harshly. 

“Fuck, stand up.” Dabi demands, practically yanking you up on your feet by your arm and pinning you against the metal fence behind you.  Not caring enough to prep you before, he pushes himself inside your weeping pussy; starting his thrusts at a brutal pace. You cry out, your moans echoing through the vast space of the empty roof of the school. Dabi’s hand comes up to cover your mouth as his hips moved faster, wet slapping causing him to groan.

“Ya like that, huh slut? Like being stuffed full at school don’t you?” Dabi asks, expecting an answer out of you after he uncovers your drooling and mewling mouth,“You’re mine. Say it. Tell me you’re mine.” 

“”M yours, Touya!” You gasp, feeling the delicious head of his cock brush against your favorite spot with reckless abandon as it blurs your reasoning. You feel your slick spill down your thighs as he ruts into you from behind, his balls slapping up against your swollen clit only adding to the sinful pleasure you were feeling. You almost can’t believe you’re being fucked by your bully on the roof as your hands cling to the metal barb-wired fence you were pinned against, feeling Dabi’s hands reach up and grab your breasts from behind to pull you back onto his cock with fervor. Animalistic growls leave his lips as he pinches and teases your nipples, huffing obscenities into your ear. 

“That’s right you fucking whore, take my cock like a good little slut.” He growls as he uses your pussy like he owns you, his cock throbbing inside you as he threatens to cum inside you, “Gonna make you mine forever, yeah? Sound good, slut?” You shake your head no, your body language telling a different tale as you feel your legs get so weak you can hardly stand on your own as Dabi holds you up by your neck. 

His hand squeezes around your throat as he cums thick inside you, your gooey cunt fluttering around his cock as you follow shortly behind him. You pant and sob as you come down from your high, Dabi continuing to use your pussy until every drop of his cum is deep inside you; even going the extra mile to scoop up whatever remnants of his cum that leaked from you with his fingers and shoving them into your mouth with a satisfied groan. 

“Now, that wasn’t so bad was it?” Dabi smirks, taking your panties from the ground and handing them to you with a smug look in his eye. You take them and slide them up over your legs and put them back on with a sniffle, ashamed of what you’ve done with him yet strangely satisfied as your cunt still clenches and throbs around nothing after the fact. Confusion stirs within your mind, your thighs trembling as you sat on the bench and watched Dabi walk down the stairs once more. 

After you wait for Dabi to walk back downstairs to the detention room, you follow behind shortly after, folding your legs as you feel Dabi’s cum start to spill out and onto your panties. He smirks over at you, leaning back into his seat as he passes another note to you. 

“Let’s do that again tomorrow, fat tits. You’re fun ;)”

[chaos-event-horizon]

Home

New home, old men.

~~~

Rian smiled stiffly, gently petting Hinata's hair as he calmed himself. "Toshinori."

A smirk. "Yes, Kitten?"

"Who the fuck did you murder in order to get this house?"

Rian stared up at the literal mansion before them. A mansion that somehow happened to be nestled discreetly in the mountains, surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods and wilderness. Nearby was a greenhouse, large dish-shaped solar panels, and a detached three car garage. Renovating had been the work of a few months, and this was the first time Rian had seen the property with his own eyes. The picture they'd used to let him generate the portal to get here only showed the driveway and garage.

"I'd tell you to pick your jaw up off the ground… but you'll just drop it again once you see the pool."

"Toshi…"

The tall blonde chastely kissed his nervous young husband, then also the top of his daughter's head. "Calm down, hot stuff. Nobody died… this place is legit. All bought and paid for, with paperwork and everything."

"I was there as a witness, I can vouch!" Izuku said, looking excited as he pulled things from the back of the moving truck they had rented. They'd driven into a secluded alleyway after going a few miles, then put Rian's portalling quirk to use after ensuring that the truck's gps was jammed. His recently blonde-ified hair gleamed in the sunlight.

The brunette sighed, gently bouncing Hinata and getting a few giggles out of her. "I know, I trust you guys, this is…" he glanced back at the building. "...just a very nice house."

Toshinori smiled softly, tweaking the baby girl's nose and reassuringly squeezing Rian's shoulder. "I know… if it makes you feel any better, there's only one pool. And I think we all intend to use it," The older villain said, then paused. "...I even made sure there was a gate built around it, since this little one will start walking eventually. And the security system is military-grade."

The shorter of the two grinned. "Okay… you've convinced me," he said, smiling at their daughter. "Let's go inside and see what your dad and big brother have done with the place."

Rian would admit, this was threatening to give him flashbacks. The entryway was fancy, two sets of stairs leading from the ground to a balcony-esque landing The front door was solid and a bit hefty, and upon opening it he realized that was because it had a metal core.

"Your dad isn't kidding around with the defensive measures…" he said softly to Hinata. "I guess he really does expect us to be attacked."

They continued in.

The entryway was spacious, with plenty of room for shoes and things between the door and yet another short set of stairs. To his left, there seemed to be a room divided from this open space by railing. Above, there was a walkway connecting two halves of the upper story together; a bridge with yet more railing to keep the area open.

"Toshi's a fan of open floor plans, it seems," the brunette murmured, his skin prickling slightly as he took in the number of windows he could already see. "Guess he wants this to feel different from the literal bunkers we've lived in before."

He carried Hinata up the three steps in front of them, and looked around the large great room. Directly across from the foyer was a set of sliding glass doors leading to a balcony. To the right was an open doorway, and a bit further away was a set of open French doors. Looking to the left, he saw a large and amazingly well designed kitchen that had him instantly excited to cook.

"We'll save that and go this way first!" He said, twirling the little girl and causing her to giggle. As he spun, he noticed stairs leading both up to the second story and down to a basement.

First was the doorless room, which appeared to be a parlor with a raised fireplace surrounded by stone bench, and yet another open doorway that led to what he assumed was either more parlor, or some kind of office or study. Turning back around, he realized the parlor had windows peering into the room with french doors… which had more windows than Rian had ever seen in one space. A sunroom? Or was there a different word for that?

"Holy shit, he really went all out," he murmured, then walked out of the parlor and into that room, smiling. "You'll have a lot of fun playing in here, sweety. Nice and sunny, just like you are!"

He twirled Hinata again, getting her to laugh, then went to explore the other half of the first floor.

The kitchen was still awesome, open to both the great room and a little breakfast nook that overlooked the backyard… which he refused to look at yet. Instead, he carried Hinata towards a door on the opposite end of the kitchen, which led to an enclosed Butler's pantry. On the other end of that was the downstairs bathroom, complete with a shower, and there was also a doorway into the room with the railing that overlooked the Foyer. A dining room? It seemed like it, being attached to the pantry and great room, with a great view of any guests coming in…

Just as Rian and Hinata entered the dining room, Izuku came through the front door carrying entirely too many boxes for his frame, earning a snicker from Rian. "Careful not to trip!"

"I won't!"

Toshinori came in, then, just a few steps behind, carrying some grocery bags… and two thirds of the new sectional couch. The brunette couldn't help his lingering stare at his husband's very fine muscles. And ass.

Hot damn…

Hinata babbled a little bit, causing Rian to look down, seeing her make grabby hands toward Izuku. Rian chuckled. "Let them finish carrying a few things, sweety… let's explore a bit more~"

He took his young daughter through the pantry and back out into the kitchen, once again marveling at the open counter space, large stovetop, and plenty of cabinets.

"Mmm… what's cookin', good lookin'?"

Rian snorted, turning to see his husband set the groceries down on their new counter. "Nothing yet, pretty boy… want me to start now, or should we pull out the furniture first?"

"Nah-ah-ah, leave the heavy lifting to the muscle heads. I'm considering it a part of the kids training."

Rian laughed, adjusting his grip on their daughter so she could turn and see her other dad. "You're just trying to give me time to adjust to the house…" he murmured, then blushed with a soft smile. "... Thank you for that, by the way. The big space is… a little strange for me."

"It's different enough, right?" Toshinori asked softly. Reaching over to give the little girl his big hand without looking away from the brunette. "I want our family to have plenty of space… but if this is too big for you, we can work something else out. We're well hidden in the woods, so I thought the windows would be alright, but—"

"Shhhhhhhh," Rian said, laughing slightly, gently sitting Hinata on the counter to lean over and kiss the blonde on the nose. "This is wonderful… it's a little big but…" the younger man smiled softly. "If you're around, what could I possibly be afraid of? The scenery looks beautiful here, and I'm glad I get to see so much of it with you."

Suddenly, Toshinori gave the younger man… the look. That soft smile, where his eyes crinkled at the edges, and the piercing blue calmed with unabashed affection. A look that was simultaneously enthralling and familiar, but also so rare and precious. A look that didn't suit his dark, ruggedly punk clothes and his willingness to kill and maim. A smile that belonged in another time and place… yet was somehow, regardless of such a contrary fit into reality, was meant for Rian and not another single soul.

"Kitten… you really know how to make this old man happy."

The hazel-eyed young man winked. "What, like it's hard? You smile just cause I enter a room."

"Of course I do…" Toshinori said, kissing Rian's cheek, then Hinata's forehead. "To make up for all the rooms I've been in without you."

The younger adult stifled laughter, shaking his head, just as Izuku appeared with Hina's highchair. He let the teen take charge of the giggling little girl, then started sorting out the groceries while speaking in english. "You're silly, honey-bunny."

"Only for you."

Rolling his eyes, the brunette waved the older man off. "Just hurry up and get the furniture squared, muscle-head. I'll get the meatloaf started… but then I'm going upstairs, so you better be ready to give a tour by then!"

"Of course, babe," Toshinori snickered, clapping Izuku on the shoulder and steering him back to work, much to Hinata's apparent disappointment.

[jj-babebank]

Camp Willowdale / JJ Maybank AU / PART 5

Synopsis: Camp Willowdale is buzzing with new campers. It’s Caroline Windsor’s first year as a camp counsellor after attending the camp as a camper for ten years. Little does she know that this year Willowdale Lake is going to be a little different from what she is used to it being… Warnings: future chapters may include curse words, mentions of drugs, mentions of alcohol, mentions of sexual activities, mentions of death. Pairings: JJ Maybank x fem OC Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; Part 4 Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 5 -

53 days of camp left

The first day at Camp Willowdale was usually pretty straightforward – campers arrive, sign in, move into their designated cabins where they meet their counselors, then all gather in the Wildcat Lodge to get their schedules, maps, badges and compasses. Ever since Pricilla’s daughter left her, she ditched the idea of having a stable with horses at camp (saying it reminded her way too much of Wendy, and also cost a lot of money to maintain), and settled for scavenger hunts in full scout mode in the forest, hence the compasses and badges. Every camper was given a first badge for participation and would get the chance to earn new badges to add to their collection during their nine week stay. Pricilla made sure that there was a badge for literally everything – from successfully starting a fire to throwing out the trash. She liked to do this to make all the campers feel included and special, which on its own sounded like a wonderful thing, however her actual motives were selfish – happy kids meant happy parents, and happy parents meant money. She also liked to turn everything into a competition, so she established a scoring system that nobody but her understood, where she’d award or deduct points from different groups and the group with the most points at the end of the summer will be crowned conquerors of the camp at a made up end-of-summer event Pricilla named the “Camp Will-all-hail banquet”. Caroline always found the name to be extremely tacky, but much like mostly everything that Pricilla put her finger onto, it wasn’t surprising.

JJ and Caroline had gotten assigned to Teens 2. Unsurprisingly, everyone in their group was almost their age, which seemed like somewhat of a recipe for disaster, as Caroline feared that this could result in the teens refusing to follow orders from someone who is basically their age. She was pleasantly surprised to find out that their group of teens was actually quite well-mannered and well-behaved. John B and Sarah’s teens, however, were a whole different story.

“You sure you got T2 and not T1?” panted Sarah after finally sitting down at the counselors table beside Caroline for dinner.

Caroline smirked, “Positive,” she confirmed, not being able to hide her amusement at the sight of an already tired Sarah, “Why’d you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” said Sarah sarcastically, “Well, besides all the girls, and I’m pretty sure one of the boys, having a massive thing for John B, and them all quite literally being the spawns of Satan, hm… no reason,”

Caroline laughed at Sarah’s words, looking over at the table where her group and Sarah’s were seated at. Two of the T1 girls were giggling while telling a story, while everyone else’s attention was on them. Caroline came to the conclusion that they would be the It Girls at this year’s camp, bossing everyone around. She couldn’t help but laugh at the irony that it was Sarah who got these two as they were literally mini versions of her.

“Heard my name being called,” John B slid onto the bench across the table from the girls. Now that everyone had been sorted, the Wildcat Lodge seating area had been rearranged so that the groups would be sat together according to their ages, and the counselors would be sat together according to their groups. The head staff had their own table at the very foot of the podium, right next to where the food was, conveniently.

JJ was quick to join their group at their respective table, “What’d I miss?”

“Oh, nothing,” Caroline said nonchalantly, “Just Sarah being jealous over her girls liking John B, no biggie,” Sarah kicked her under the table, earning an, “Ow!”

John B’s eyes immediately shot up, that familiar twinkle of excitement swimming through his honey orbs, “Jealous?”

“As if,” barked Sarah, squinting her eyes at him threateningly.

“We’ll see about that, baby cakes,” John B winked, diving into his dinner.

“So,” said JJ, lowering his voice in case any of the neighboring tables were listening, “What’s the plan, guys?”

Caroline shook her head, “I don’t even know where we could start, I mean, the only clue we’ve got so far is that message we had to scrub off the rock this morning before the campers arrived…”

John B thought for a second, “Hey, wasn’t Topper paired up with her?” he said suddenly.

Caroline’s eyes widened in realization, “John B, you’re a genius!” she said, earning a proud smile from the boy, “Last night at the counting, Topper said something about feeling guilty for not offering her his jacket!” the four of them turned to look towards Topper’s table. He was sitting quietly, barely poking at his food, while the rest of his fellow counselors were having an animated conversation around him. Caroline turned back towards her friends, “Chances are he was the one who saw her last!”

“Yeah, and judging by the look of his face, he doesn’t seem too excited about it,” remarked JJ.

“Can you blame him? I’d be pissed if I was paired with Madison, too,” muttered Sarah, scrunching her nose at the leafy salad in her plate.

“Tonight at the bonfire,” said Caroline, “Sarah’s going to offer him some help with his girls, seeing as he’s dealing with all of his kids alone,”

“Hey, why me?” Sarah frowned at the plan.

“Because you’re the one who had a massive crush on him back in the day,” Caroline whispered in Sarah’s ear, resulting in Sarah kicking her under the table again. Caroline bit back a groan as she smiled forcefully, looking at the two boys in front of her, “Okay, well, sounds like we’ve got a plan.”

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

After handing out the songbooks and marshmallows to all of their teens, Caroline, JJ, Sarah and John B took a seat at their designated log next to their groups, which had somehow bonded during dinner and were all laughing together.

“Alright, settle down kids!” Pricilla said, causing everyone’s chatter to die down, “As you have already been informed, it is a Willowdale tradition to perform our very own rendition of Bomfiara every morning and night until the end of camp. The songbooks you’ve been kindly given by your counselors contain the lyrics to all of the camp songs we’re going to be singing this summer, but I’m sure that by the end of it you won’t be needing the books anymore,” Pricilla fake-laughed at her own joke while everyone just started at her blankly, “Okay, well, let’s sing!” she gave the tone and everyone started signing.

“This is so lame,” said one of the girls Caroline proclaimed as “It Girls” earlier that evening, “We’re too old for this BS,”

“You got that right,” mumbled Sarah.

“Oh, come on, I love it, it used to be our favorite tradition!” whined John B.

The two girls squealed and started pinching each other, immediately opening their songbooks and joining in on the singing, making intense eye contact with John B with their best seductive looks. Sarah rolled her eyes at the scene.

“See?” she whispered to Caroline, “This is what I meant!”

Caroline smirked at the blonde girl, “Am I sensing… jealousy?”

Sarah scoffed at the remark, “Pf, yeah right,” she said defensively, “I’m just annoyed that they’re only listening to what he’s saying and we’re supposed to be counselors together.”

Caroline nodded slowly, pretending to be buying the story, “Yeah, sure,” she turned to look at Topper, who regardless of the fact that he was surrounded by his group and fellow counselors, still seemed down, the camp fire illuminating his distant face, “Speaking of together, when do you wanna go talk to Topper?”

Sarah followed Caroline’s gaze towards the boy, “Once this stupid song is over,”

Caroline nodded and both girls turned towards their group again, where the It Girls were still making sexy eyes at John B, who seemed totally clueless to their approach as he was belting the lyrics of the much familiar song out loud, waving JJ’s hands every so often.

Once the song was over and everyone got back to their regular chitchat, Sarah stood up and straightened her shorts and camp sweatshirt as she made her way towards Topper.

“Hey, Top, this seat taken?” she said, referring to the empty spot on the log next to him where Madison was supposed to be sat.

Topper looked at Sarah as if she’d just said a distasteful joke, “Hey, Sarah…” he muttered, “Obviously not,”

“Awesome!” Sarah smiled widely, plopping down next to the boy.

“So,” Topper started awkwardly, “What brings you here?”

“Saw you from across the pit,” she explained directly, “Couldn’t help but notice that you seem lonely,”

“Yeah, well,” Topper looked at her with a look of disapproval once again, “I sort of am,”

Sarah pretended to only just realize what he was talking about, “Riiight… So, about that,” she chirped again, “Last night you said something about a jacket?”

Topper sighed, “Yeah, Madison said she was cold when we were in our cabin and instead of offering her my jacket, I sort of felt… relieved that she was going to leave me for a second to go grab hers. I should’ve known that something was wrong when she was gone for over 10 minutes, instead I just laughed around with Kelce and the boys and then we heard the scream…”

Sarah rolled her eyes, “Oh, please, you’re not blaming yourself for it, are you?”

“I mean, I kinda am,” Topper confessed, “If I wasn’t too caught up in being annoyed that I’d been paired up with her, I’d have just given her my jacket or followed her to your cabin to get hers and none of this would’ve happened,”

Sarah tried putting on her best apologetic smile as she reached for Topper’s hand, taking him by surprise, “Look, Top, I hate Madison just as much as the next person, but I hardly think any of this was your fault. She probably just used the jacket as an excuse to ditch and got excited to see her rookie boyfriend, hence the scream,”

Topper frowned, “Don’t tell me you actually believe all that?”

Sarah shrugged, “I mean, she was a drama queen,”

Topper pulled his hands away from Sarah’s, shaking his head, “Just go, Sarah,”

Sarah looked over towards her friends across the fire pit who were all staring at her in anticipation, as she shrugged her shoulders and mouthed them a, “Sorry, I tried,” making her way back to where they were seated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Camp has finally officially begun and so has the search for truth ~~ As always, let me know what you think, I hope you are enjoying the story so far, I'm super excited to be writing this xxx

tags: @k-k0129 ; @hayleyy-l ; @marvellover04

Part 6 here

[the-stressmushroom]

AFTG Headcanon #2

(I’m gonna be doing a few more of these for writing/idea practice)

TW: canon typical violence, blood

Neil, while being very attractive, does not have a perfect face. And I don’t mean the scars. Whenever I see fan art of Neil, he always has this super symmetrical and straight nose, and I just cannot believe that is the case.

Neil’s nose is crooked and has a large bump in the middle.

He first broke his nose when he was 8. He had been running around the kitchen, experiencing a rare moment of genuine childlike joy in the Baltimore house. His father was away for business and had taken Lola, Romero, and Patrick with him, leaving Neil alone with Mary and only Jackson guarding them. Neil didn’t pose much of a threat so Jackson stayed practically glued to Mary’s side. There was soft music playing throughout the house and Neil, Nathaniel then, was happily humming along as he did laps around the kitchen island. However, as one song bled into the next, he heard Mary shout followed by a big crash. As he whipped his head around to find the source of the noise, he lost his balance and fell headfirst into the marble counter top. His nose cracked, and he felt himself begin to cry. Mary had told him to stay out of trouble though, and he didn’t want to make her mad, so he went to the bathroom closest to his bedroom and locked himself inside. He tried desperately to keep the blood off of any light materials and sat prodding at his injured nose for about an hour before he squeezed it tightly, and tugged it straight. It hurt, but not nearly as much as his fathers hands or lolas knives. The bleeding stopped, so Neil did his best to clean up his mess and carry on with the rest of his day. His mom didn’t even question it when he came down for dinner that evening with swollen eyes and a purple nose; she couldn’t really talk with the bruises around her throat left by Plank.

The second time he broke his nose, it wasn’t his fault, and his name was Stefan. They were driving through the Swiss alps when a member of the Moriyama’s syndicate caught up with them. The roads were snowy and the 1972 Volvo they were stuck with did not make the best get away car. Despite Mary’s skill, the car spun out after hitting a patch of black ice on a particularly winding road. Neil couldn’t remember the car colliding with the tree, but he could remember the feeling of his mother’s freezing fingers snapping the cartilage back into place. He could remember the scream he tried and failed to bite back, and the slap he received for making too much noise. The slap jostled his nose and though it had been properly reset, that break never quite healed properly.

There was a third, fourth, and fifth time; all on the run as well, but the first time he broke his nose as a fox was different.

It was the second game of his Sophomore season. The Jackals had put up a hell of a fight, but the foxes had managed to pull out a win. When the final buzzer sounded, Neil pulled off his helmet and shook out his sweaty hair before looking to the score board; the 8-5 he saw there put a smile on his face. If he hadn’t been quite so distracted, he might have noticed the angry looking backliner for the jackals watching him. He might have noticed the ball being tossed in the air, and he might have noticed the racket swing that sent the ball hurdling towards his face. Andrew noticed. He noticed immediately but didn’t quite make it to Neil in time to push him out of the way. The court rang out with a deafening crack as the ball connected directly with the bridge of his nose. Andrew was over him as soon as he hit the ground, muttering a quick yes or no before pulling Neil’s head into his lap. The other foxes had thrown themselves at the Jackal player in question as soon as they saw Neil fall, but Andrew couldn’t be bothered. He gently touched Neil’s nose and dabbed at it slightly, trying to stop the blood from going into his mouth. Neil groaned and sat up, leaning back on his hands. The fight between the jackals and the foxes had ended with the offending jackal player being benched for the next two games thanks to a much deserved red card.

As his teammates began to circle him, checking in, asking him questions, Neil put a hand up to quiet them.

“Guys, I’m fine, I swear,” Neil said before reaching up and resetting his broken nose without so much as a flinch. “See, all good.” The foxes went deadly quiet.

“Neil,” Matt said softly, “that’s not all good. How do you know how to reset a broken nose?”

Neil blinked at Matt owlishly before responding, “cause I’ve done it a dozen times? To my mom and myself. Couldn’t go to hospitals while on the run and the nose is a very delicate part of the body.” This wasn’t the first time the foxes had heard something like this from Neil, but it didn’t make it any less heart breaking. Neil began to shift around in discomfort from all the eyes on him, and Andrew, as always, noticed right away.

“Come on junkie, you and I are doing press duty.” Neil nodded, his face blank, but he found himself able to breath easier thanks to the distraction. Andrew always knew exactly what Neil needed, always.

As the press conference came to an end, a lingering journalist asked for Neil’s opinion of the Jackals player who had, quite literally, taken a shot at him. Neil’s composure slipped slightly and he let out a laugh at the question before answering,

“If only they had aimed that well during the game, they might have won”

Andrew let out an exasperated sigh beside him and grabbed Neil’s wrist before pulling him out of the press room, leaving the wrap up to Wymack.

“207%”

“Okay, but was I wrong?”

“208%, thin ice junkie.” Andrew said, before turning and pressing a soft kiss to the tip of Neil’s very crooked and very swollen nose. “It’s time for you to go see Abby.”

Years down the line, Neil is having a particularly bad day and Andrew sits down next to him in their shared bathroom. He had found Neil on the bathroom floor with a hand mirror, a box of black hair dye and a fifth of whiskey, and decided enough was enough.

“Neil, you look nothing like your father.”

“Yes I do Andrew. Every time I look in the mirror, I see him. His eyes, his jaw, his hair-“

“Neil, I have an eidetic memory, I know what he looks like and I know what you look like. You do not look the same. The nose is all wrong.”

This puzzles Neil, he’d never really taken the time to look at his nose. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, your nose is completely different from his. It throws off the resemblance completely. You do not look like him, and you never will.”

Neil signs, letting his head drop between his knees before bringing his fingers up to dance carefully across the bridge of his nose. “It is a little crooked isn’t he?” He says with a slight chuckle.

“Yes,” Andrew responds before taking Neil’s chin in the palms of his hands and bringing his face up so their eyes meet. “It’s perfect.”

Neil smiles at that, a soft smile that is typically only reserved for Andrew.

“Yes or no, Neil?” the words are softly muttered into the mere inches of space separating their lips.

“Yes,” Neil murmurs in response, closing his eyes and leaning forward into Andrew’s space. He’s expecting a kiss on the lips, so is surprised when Andrew delicately kisses his nose instead. He smiles and Andrew’s lip twitches upward in response.

“511% junkie.”

[maladaptive---daydreamer]

No more secrets

(This is set in 6th year, no voldemort being back business)

Sunlight filtered through the dormitory windows onto your sleeping form. You had asked your older brother to teach you a charm to bewitch your windows to reflect the weather outside, growing tired for the green murk courtesy of the black lake. You fluttered your eyes, blinking the sleep from them and rolled over to check the small clock at your bedside. Despite it being the weekend your body still woke you up at 7 am like clockwork, causing you to groan in frustration and smack your bedsheets

“Some of us are trying to fall back to sleep, you know” Daphne grumbled from her bed, beside you.

“Seize the day miss Greengrass” you replied, deciding you might as well get out of bed and follow your own advice.

You kicked your sheets off and made your bed before gathering your things and heading to the prefects bathroom for a shower. You returned to the dormitory with clean hair that smelt of your apple shampoo dressed in some comfy muggle clothes you purchased. Despite their shortcomings, muggles really knew how to dress comfortably. You had stumbled across Piccadilly Circus while trying to get to Diagon Alley during the Christmas break in your fourth year while on your own. In one of the shops you had seen joggers folded on a display and just had to purchase them, they were warm and soft, perfect for cold days.

“My, my what would your pure blood ancestors say if they saw you dressed like a muggle” Daphne teased from her bed.

“Someone has to be the family disappointment don’t they” You replied, putting your clothes in the laundry basket.

“I highly doubt you’re the family disappointment, Y/N, you’re top of the class in basically everything, you’re the first prefect in your family too!” Lily said. She was easily the most positive witch in Slytherin house and hated to see you bring yourself down like that

“Well, Granger is all those things and she’s a mudblood, our parents don’t care about academics as much as you’d think they do” Pansy interjected

“Pansy, no one asked you. As I recall this was a conversation between Daphne, Lily and myself” you snapped, knowing she was attempting to remind Lily of her half-blood status.

Pansy scoffed and rolled her eyes, over the last few weeks she had really been struggling to hide her dislike for you. It didn’t bother you, Pansy was a bitch to put it quite plainly. You wondered how someone could be so venomous and be content with their life.

You began to gather your things to head to the library after breakfast. 6th year meant you and your classmates were inundated with homework from all your classes. You hoped you could get ahead of your work so you could keep Sunday free.

“It’s literally Saturday, why are you voluntarily doing work?” Daphne asked, her head barely visible from under her duvet cocoon.

“If I didn’t, who would you run to at 11pm on Sunday evening because you forgot to write your charms essay?”

“You are a true friend Y/N Y/L/N”

“Hey, Y/N,” Pansy hollered

You looked at Pansy and waited for her to speak

“If you see Draco at breakfast, you mind telling him I’ll be a bit late?”

“I don’t think he’ll care Pans” Daphne replied for you

“Oh but he will, we’re going to the library to do out potions work together”

You were about to frown but stopped yourself, Draco had promised you that the two of you would write your 3 feet of parchment together. Lily caught your eye knowing how you felt about the platinum blond.

“Sure thing Parkinson” You said, with a sickly sweet smile.

You turned on your heel and went down the stairs into the Slytherin common room, despite it being only 8.30 on a Saturday morning, the common room was densely populated with slytherin students of all ages. A small group of second years were sitting on the floor playing gobstones in your path. They looked up and paled, scrambling to move out of your way.

“Scaring second years now are we Y/L/N” The voice of your friend Blaise Zabini asked.

“Me? Of course not, Zabini, I’ll leave that to you and your friends” you replied waking out of the portrait hole

“It hurts me that you think so lowly of us” He feigned hurt as he began to walk alongside you

“I apologise for hurting your feelings”

“What would your father have to say, hearing you apologise to a half blood”

“Here’s me thinking you knew me better, you already know I don’t care for the purity of blood”

“Where are you headed to after breakfast”

“The library, I’ve got a ton of homework to do”

“Have you heard about the party the 7th years are planning?”

“Nope, not that I’m interested anyway”

“This is coming from the girl who managed to get half the quidditch team drunk off fire whiskey the last time we had a party”

“What can I say, academia looks better on me”

“I can’t say I disagree with that. You should still come, bring your friends along too, it’s been a while since we all got together.”

“I’ll see if Daphne and Lily want to come along.”

The two of you had reached the door of the Great Hall

“There you are Zabini, we’ve been waiting for ages” Draco yelled from across the room

You and Blaise walked to your normal spot on the Slytherin table. He took a seat and you stood behind the bench.

“By the way, Malfoy, Parkinson said she’ll be late. Have to do the potions essay you promised you’d do with me a bit later”

“Y/N I-”

You rolled your eyes and opted to grab some sliced of toast wrapped in some tissue and go straight to the library rather than listen to whatever excuse Draco had planned to spew out.

You settled yourself near the fireplace pulling your textbooks out and laying them around you. You managed to write your charms essay, aswell as your Defence Against the Dark Arts essay and some reading for Transfiguration. You looked up at the big clock in the library and noticed it was past two, your stomach rumbled, clearly upset at the measly breakfast of 2 slices of buttered toast and some water. You gathered all your books again and stuffed them back into your bag and headed to the kitchens. The house elves were well aware of what you preferred to eat for lunch and handed it to you wrapped in a gingham handkerchief, you settled yourself by the window eating your lunch enjoying the view over the grounds.

“Y/N”

You looked up to see the face of your academic rival.

“Hermione”

“Do you mind if I take a seat?”

You shook your head and she sat down next to you.

“I was wondering if you could help me”

“Wow the great Hermione Granger needs help? From me?”

“I- nevermind it was silly of me” She got up feeling flustered and began to walk away

“Lighten up, Granger, it was a joke”

“What would you do if you liked someone, but they had a girlfriend and probably don’t like you back?”

“You’ve finally admitted you like Weasley huh” You patted the window sill next to you, prompting her to sit down

“What? No! Ron-“

“You do know Lavender has been slipping him love potions right?”

“But that’s against the rules! She could get expelled for that”

“She doesn’t care Hermione, if I were you I’d slip a bezoar down Weasley’s throat and see what happens after that”

“How do you know? That she’s been making him drink love potions?”

“I saw her buying some in hogsmeade”

“Well thank you for your help” 

“Can I ask why you thought I’d be the best person to come to for this advice?”

“Well to be quite frank, I don’t know myself. All my other friends are Ron’s friends too, I didn’t want them telling him anything. And we’ll you’ve been the kindest to me, and I would like to think despite everything you respect me. So thank you for your help” With that she got up and began to walk away

“Hey by the way, Granger, he’d be an idiot to turn you down”

Hermione flashed you a true genuine smile before returning to the Gryffindor common room.

You finished the remnants of your lunch and headed back to the dormitory. Daphne and Lily hadn’t left their spots on their beds.

“Who’s up for a party tonight?” You asked the both of them, a wide grin across your face.

After some further information from some 7th year girls, you, Daphne and Lily found yourselves standing outside the room of requirement at 9pm. Despite being a small, debaucherous get-together, in true Slytherin fashion the three of you were still impeccably dressed. You wore a thin silver satin blouse with a plunging neckline, a blouse he bought for you over the summer, along with some fitted black paper bag trousers and a pair of Chanel flats.

The door opened to reveal a room that looked exactly like the Slytherin common room only the table in front of the fire was covered in alcohol and snacks. Blaise, Draco, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle were sat in a small group off to the side. Draco’s head snapped up when he heard the door open and he looked as though his breath catched in his throat. You knew he was trying not to stare but it was like he couldn’t move his eyes off you. You’d be lying if you said this wasn’t the effect you wanted to have. Daphne ran off to a 6th year boy that she had been flirting with and you and Lily headed over to your friends.

“You made it!” Blaise exaclaimed getting up to hug you.

You saw dracos knuckles whiten even more as he gripped his butterbeer. You hugged Blaise back, after all, it was Draco who wanted to keep the two of you a secret. Blaise hugged Lily too and the two of you sat down. You made a point to sit directly opposite Draco, forcing Blaise to sit on the arm of the sofa with his arm resting on its back. A butterbeer had been forced into your hand which you sipped every once in a while whilst making conversation with your friends. You had noticed Pansy almost sticking to Draco’s side. She’d laugh overly loud at any small thing he said, even if it wasn’t funny, and failed to get Draco to dance with her numerous times.

After a while the 7th years announced the commencement of a drinking game. They placed an empty bottle on the floor and spun it, if it landed on you, you had to choose a truth or a dare, if you didnt want to do the option you selected, youd have to take a double shot of firewhiskey. You chose to sit it out, standing on the outside of the circle only a few steps away from Draco, who coincidentally also decided to sit out.

“I like the blouse” He commented, taking a swig of his butterbeer

“Thank you, it was a gift” You replied, folding your arms together to accentuate your cleavage. 

“Would have preferred you wearing it with just the two of us. Goyle won’t stop staring at you.”

“Well if you offered to take me to a nicer place than a broom cupboard or the empty classroom on the fourth floor, then maybe I’d wear it”

“I was told you were talking to Granger today”

“And? Am I not allowed to speak to people?”

“Not that filthy mudblood”

“Does it really hurt your feelings that bad that she’s smarter than you despite being muggle born that the ONLY thing you can comment on is her blood status?”

“I don’t want you to be seen talking to her again”

“Newsflash, you can’t tell me what to do. I’m not Parkinson, I won’t obey you like some lost dog.” And with that you moved further away from him leaning on a column in the corner of the room. 

So far people had only chosen to spill truths, some choosing to take shots instead of their truths. Daphne and her little boyfriend had been dared to enjoy 7 minutes in heaven, made possible by a random broom cupboard supplied by the room of requirement, it had been more than seven minutes and you were sure you’d get a detailed play by play back in the dorms. The empty bottle of fire whiskey landed on Charlie, he joined hogwarts in 5th year after being in America for the last few years.

“Truth or dare Charles?” Blaise asked, rubbing his hands together

“Truth”

“Who do you think is the most beautiful girl in this room?”

“Oh that’s easy, Y/N”

The whole group turned to look at you. You could see from the corner of your eye that Draco had tensed up. He himself slowly turned his head to look at you

“I have to admit, Charlie, you have great taste. You’ll go far in this world” You said, smiling.

“I’ll go as far as you want me to”

This caused the whole group to laugh and return to their game. You checked the clock and saw that it was getting close to 1am. You tapped Lily’s shoulder and she got up.

“Leaving already girls?” Blaise asked from his spot infront of the fire

“It’s getting late, parties aren’t Y/N’s scene anymore anyway” Lily replied smoothing out her skirt

“I’ll walk you back to the dormitory, I’m rather bored here myself” Draco offered, finally getting free of Pansy

“No need, Lily and I are big girls, we can get ourselves back without Filch finding us.” You replied cooly

“I insist”

“No no, Draco. Stay, enjoy the festivities”

You and Lily snuck out of the room of requirement and returned to the dorms undetected.

“What was going on with you and Draco?” She asked while the two of you were getting ready for bed

“Nothing”

“It sounded like the two of you were having a tense conversation”

“You know how Draco can be, always trying to one up everyone”

“Did you hear about Pansy and Draco?” She asked once she was comfy in her bed.

“No” you put your hair brush back in the drawer and got under your own covers

“I heard from Marietta in the year above that Parkinson was bragging about how her and Draco went on a date today. Apparently he took her to the black lake for a picnic”

“Well good for them, I hope they’re happy”

“I know you like him but maybe now she’ll stop being such a raging bitch”

“Maybe, goodnight Lily”

“Goodnight Y/N”

You weren’t crazy, you knew Draco wasn’t stupid enough to even attempt to cheat on you. Your family was just as affluent and your father was just as influential as Lucius for him to know that a cheating scandal between two of the oldest pure blood lines would not turn out well for him. Yet it did nothing to stop the anger bubbling up inside you.

You and Draco began to get closer during your 5th year. You two studied together often and you both were prefects, made to patrol the corridors at night. It was inevitable for the two of you to strike up a bond. You didnt expect your bond to become so strong that an owl would end up dropping a letter on your bed one rainy summer afternoon, with a letter from Draco enclosed about how bored he was over the holiday. The two of you sent letters back and forth, he even floo’d into your bedroom when your parents were out. On the first hogsmeade trip of the year, he asked you to join him and he asked you to be his girlfriend. However, he wanted to keep your relationship a secret. He knew that people would talk and both of your parents would find out, it would lead to talks for the future, something he was not ready for. You saw where he was coming from and agreed, you just didn’t think it would end up like this. In the beginning he tried, he really did, he’d leave cute notes in your bag, he’d hold your hand under the table, save you a seat at dinner, even sneak you into his dormitory, but a few weeks ago, it all suddenly seemed to stop. But you were sick of it. You deserved to be treated better than you were being treated right now.

You awoke on Sunday feeling slightly less angry than you did when you went to sleep. Sunday’s were the day you and Draco would lock yourselves in an old empty classroom on the fourth floor and finally get to be yourselves. You went down to breakfast and sat in your usual seat, waiting for him to make his way down. You were half way through a bowl of cereal when you noticed him walk in with his boys, and Pansy. You dropped your spoon into your bowl causing milk to splash everywhere

“Merlin’s beard Y/N!” Daphne yelled, scooching to the side

You and Lily grabbed some napkins to clean up the small spillage.

“I’ve suddenly lost my appetite” You deadpanned

You got up and walked past draco, purposely bumping his shoulder on your way out. It hurt you more than it hurt him but you still had a point to make.

“Jeez Y/L/N, watch where youre-” Pansy Scoffed

“Oh fuck off pansy” 

“Y/N!” 

You ignored him and carried on walking out of the hall. You heard his footsteps behind you and he managed to catch up to you, grabbing you by the wrist.

“What is the matter with you?” He demanded

“Me? What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothings wrong with me you’re the one acting crazy”

“Firstly, I don’t like your tone. If you’re going to shout at me I refuse to listen to another word.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t understand what the issue is”

“My issue is YOU”

You ended up raising your voice to a volume too loud for Draco’s liking and he pulled you into a nearby storage cupboard.

“This is my problem draco, being forced to hide everything. Arguing in a fucking broom cupboard for fucks sake.” You sighed

“Y/N, you know how-“

“No, I am tired, Draco, sick and tired of hiding, of keeping secrets, of not being able to come and collapse next to you when I’m upset”

“You can still do that,”

“No I can’t, you always surrounded by one of your posse members. If it’s not Crabbe or Goyle then it’s fucking Parkinson. Did you know she’s going round telling everyone you took her to the black lake for a picnic?”

“She said what? I didn’t even see her yesterday, Blaise and I went to the quidditch pitch after breakfast.” He had a face of visible disgust on his face at the thought of people thinking him and Pansy were a thing.

“Well yeah now the whole school thinks you’re going out with Parkinson and you’re not going to say anything to stop those rumours”

“You know why, princess”

“Yeah you don’t want to think about the future. But if thinking about a future with me really scares you so much Draco, why are you still with me? Surely if you just kept yourself single, you’d have no future to worry about and no girlfriend breathing down your neck”

“You know that’s not what I mean”

“Then what do you mean? Because -” you cut him off, you were starting to get annoyed and he could sense it

“If you stopped interrupting me, I’d be able to explain my thoughts” He said calmly, placing both his hands on your cheeks, forcing you to look at him in the eye.

“Speak then”

“Yes I don’t want to think about my future. I don’t want to think about what ministry career I’ll be forced into to keep up my family’s reputation, who I’ll be forced to call my friend for the sake of appearances, what I need to name my first born child. I don’t want to think about all the skeletons in the Malfoy family wardrobe that I’ve yet to discover. This, me and you, it’s so innocent, so pure. You get me, you see me for more than my family name. And I want to protect this. I don’t want our parents getting involved and tainting what we have.”

“It’s the only way we-”

“Interrupt me once more and I’ll hex you.” 

You closed your mouth and decided to listen for just a short while more.

“However, if the key to your happiness, and the future of our relationship, is for everyone, including our parents, to find out about us. Then I will walk straight into that hall and stand on the table and announce it to the whole school.”

“You really mean that?”

He nodded

“So if your father sent you an owl tomorrow that says we have to get married in the summer...” you linked your wrists together behind his neck, swaying slightly as you looked up at him

“I’ll marry you. I would sacrifice my own life if it meant I could see you smile.”

“Bit dramatic there, Malfoy” you laughed

“You taught me well, Y/L/N”

“I’d rather you didn’t embarrass the both of us by getting up on the table. You can hold my hand though.”

“Anything for the Slytherin princess.”

You smiled and gave him a quick kiss before getting out of the broom closet. Draco took your hand and held it firmly in his as you both walked into the great hall.

He started to think out loud about his breakfast but you watched for the reactions of your peers as you made your way to your table, no one was really shocked, most of them looked up and smiled excitedly before chattering to their friends, you walked past the gryffindor table and heard the words ‘bet’ and ‘owe’ get thrown about. Once you got to your friends Draco waited for you to sit down, right next to Pansy, before sitting on your other side with his arm around your waist.

“Y/L/N and Malfoy? I never saw that one coming” Blaise laughed, the sarcasm evident in his voice.

“Well get used to it, Zabini, cause you’ll be seeing it a whole lot more” You responded, moving closer into Draco’s lap.

Long gone were the days of hiding, as well as the days of Pansy Parkinson thinking she could steal your man. 

[marvels-writings]

When the World is Against Us (3)

Signings Gone Wrong

Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch) Masterlist

Series Masterlist

| Preview | Part 1 | Part 2 | 

A/N: I literally have this entire series planned in my head and I wanna read it but like i’m too lazy to write it sometimes. 

The events of the day eventually caused you to fall asleep before you could think anymore about the accords, you stayed asleep until early the next day when someone knocked on your door, you groggily yelled at them to come in before burying yourself in pillows again. You heard soft footsteps approach as the bed next to your feet sank. 

“Hey, it’s me.” Natasha greeted, sitting next to you on your bed, you turned around and blinked your eyes to find her dressed up, you sighed and sat up, rubbing your eyes a little.

“What’s up?” You asked it wasn’t like her to leave for somewhere this early.

“I’m going to sign the accords,” Natasha stated, you nodded a little as she continued. “I want you to be there, but I’m visiting Steve in London first, you can go directly to Vienna with Tony if you want.”

You thought about what she said before answering.

“I’m gonna stay with Wanda for a few hours before coming with Tony.” You answered, voice still heavy with sleep. 

“So you’re signing?” Natasha asked you nodded silently.

“I want us to stay together mom.” You answered, Natasha sighed, emerald eyes filled with sympathy as she moved to hug you. 

“We will,” Natasha whispered, trying not to show the uncertainty in her voice. 

You sleepily hugged her back before she pulled away and kissed your forehead, bidding you goodbye and letting you get back to sleep. But, you couldn’t sleep, not after what was going to happen. You sighed and got up, lazily making your way to the kitchen and deciding to make yourself some green tea. You put the kettle full of water on the boil while leaning against the counter, trying to think.

“Hey kid,” Tony greeted, wearing some fancy steel suit when he came into the kitchen, you nodded at him.

“So your mom told me you’d be coming with,” he said conversationally, you hummed and moved to pour the water into a mug before putting a cinnamon vanilla tea bag in it. 

“You know Wanda can’t come, right?” He asked, a little nervous at your response. You sighed and nodded, bringing the cup of tea to your lips and sipping quietly.

“It’s okay Tony,” You sighed, looking up at him and smiling slightly before pouring another cup of tea.

“I’ll see you outside at 10:30 for the flight.” He said and walked off, you said okay before putting another cinnamon vanilla tea bag in the tea and walking towards Wanda’s room, both the cups in your hands.

“Hey Wanda, it’s y/n.” You said once you were outside the door, you heard a little shuffling before Wanda opened the door, looking more tired than ever.

“Having trouble sleeping?” You asked, Wanda, shrugged and let you in, you sat down on the bed and waited for her to join you.

“Nightmares or thoughts?” You asked, setting the tea down on her side table as she turned around to face you, looking a little confused.

“I’m supposed to be the telepath.” Wanda joked weakly, you shrugged, a grin on your face as Wanda sat down on the bed, back leaning against the headboard as she stared at the ceiling.

“Well I was raised around the Avengers.” You retorted, Wanda rolled her eyes playfully, eyes still turned up to the ceiling. 

You sighed, knowing you weren’t going to get anything out of Wanda for a while. You moved to lie down in her bed, Wanda frowned at you slightly before you patted the space in front of you, she sighed, trying to hide her grin with her hair before lying down next to you, moving to rest her head on your shoulder, listening to your heartbeat as your arm wrapped around her waist resting on top of her stomach. 

You kissed the side of her head while staring at the ceiling, too deep in thought to notice Wanda sliding her hand on top of yours, mindlessly tapping your knuckles before you took her hand in yours, rubbing your thumb across her knuckles soothingly. Neither of you spoke, you knew Wanda needed sleep, so you stayed there until she fell asleep, you tried to keep your thoughts quiet as you thought about the accords.

Wanda fell asleep within minutes in your presence, you smiled softly and glanced at the alarm clock, it was half an hour until you needed to leave. You sighed and wriggled out of her arm, resting her head on her pillow, taking off the hoodie you were wearing, and leaving it there with a note on the tea to tell her to rewarm it and eat something before leaving her room to pack.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The flight to London was fairly short and pleasant, you flew on Tony’s private jet with a few others who were signing, your fingers tapping on your phone in case your mom or Wanda texted you about anything. Neither did, Natasha texted you once to tell you where she was and to tell you that Steve wasn’t signing. You didn’t know if this was going to tear the Avengers apart or not, you hoped it wouldn’t tear your family apart. 

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

“Mom!” You said, waving to her in the large conference room. Natasha turned around from the King of Wakanda to see you nervously walking over to her.

“Thank you Miss Romanoff.” He thanked Natasha before heading off to the microphone after chatting with his son.

“Thank god you’re here.” Natasha sighed, walking with you into the seats, you furrowed your brow in confusion. “I’m starting to go crazy in all the politics.”

You laughed, then settled down in your seat, listening to what the king had to say with a patient smile, frowning when you saw his son look out the window and frown.

“EVERYBODY GET DOWN!” He shouted, Natasha instantly covered the side of your head with one arm and forced you under the desk as the bomb exploded, blowing everyone backward. 

Your heart was about to pump out of your chest as you looked at your mom who gestured for you to stay down as she looked around. 

The king of Wakanda was dead, his son was sobbing over his body.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Wanda watched the news about the conference impatiently, blunt nails tapping on the empty mug of tea while the newswoman chatted on and on about the conference. An explosion behind her turned all eyes to it, she stated the conference had just been bombed. 

She quickly checked every news channel, everything she could for the death toll, all of them only said that the King of Wakanda was dead, a few people in ICU, and some injured. Wanda felt her breath getting faster as she quickly dialed your number on her phone.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Your phone vibrating broke you out of your thoughts, it was Wanda. She must have watched the news and the death toll, the king was the only one dead.

“Hey Wan.” You greeted softly, sitting on one of the benches outside the Vienna conference with your mom.

“Oh my god are you okay?” She asked quickly, you were half paying attention when you saw T’challa walk-off furiously somewhere and your mom go on her phone, looking around for someone.

“I’m okay,” You reassured, your suspicions arising when Natasha put her phone down and signaled for you to do the same. “Look Wan, I need to go right now, I’ll call you later, I promise.”

“Stay safe,” Wanda demanded, you could hear the fear in her tone.

“I will.” You answered, putting down your phone as your mom led you to where Tony probably was, you didn’t know what you were supposed to be safe from, yet. 

| Part 4 | 

Tag List: @capcarolsdanver, @versdan, @lesbian-girls-wayhaught, @lovebotlarson, @dhengkt, @5aftermidnight, @hstoria, @natasha-danvers, @veryfunnyal, @xxxtwilightaxelxxx , @ophelias-heart  , @never-didbefore , @justarandomhumanhere, @the-most-unicorn-of-them-all , @thatssocamryn , @lesbian-x-blackwidow , @wlw-imaginesss , @username23345 , let me know if you’d like to be in any of my tag lists!

A/N: I’m willing myself to write this so I can get to the intense parts faster. Thoughts?

[let-it-raines]

another kind of green (7/10)

Emma Swan spends her days in pretty white dresses and heavy layers of makeup. Day after day and dress after dress, she poses for pictures and acts like she’s in love and having the happiest day of her life with the man standing next to her.

It’s not. This is all a gig, and at the end of the day, she’s no longer the girl in the pretty dress who’s faking getting married for a magazine cover or a wedding convention. Instead, she’s the girl who probably never wants to get married.

Little does she know, she already is.

Rating: mature

a/n: I apologize for the wait on this one. I’m obviously super spacey lately because I forgot I was supposed to be posting this story🙈

ao3: beginning | current

tumblr: 1 | 2| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

-/-

Emma didn’t notice the leaves change.

Yesterday, she swears that she looked outside and all of the trees were full of deep green leaves and that the grass on the ground was an equally vibrant shade. Today, however, there are brown leaves on the ground and orange and yellow leaves hanging off of limbs, and the grass growing next to the sidewalk is browning the slightest bit. She blinked, and the days changed from early September to mid-October.

How in the world?

Where did all of the time go? Wasn’t she just doing a local commercial (her least favorite kind of job) for the autumn festival that’s happening downtown? How is time for that to already be happening? They shoot those weeks and months in advance.

“On your left,” Killian calls out, and Emma doesn’t flinch. She’s used to it.

“You’re late.”

“Traffic.”

“You walk here.”

“A hell of a lot of pedestrians, Swan.”

She rolls her eyes, but she doesn’t slow down her pace, letting her legs keep powering her through this run. She’s on mile two, so Killian really is late. They’ve been getting up and going running a little after six most mornings for the past month. It’s far earlier than Emma would ever normally do it, but she likes having a running partner surprisingly enough and Killian has to go to training at eight every morning. It’s either this or run by herself so that every step is pretty much agony.

Just like she didn’t notice the changing leaves, she never really noticed how Killian wormed his way right into her run.

(At least he buys her smoothies…most of the time.)

(He’s grown fond of his mango one as well, and sometimes she does foot the bill.)

Emma turns to the side to finally look at him. He’s dressed in a pair of joggers and a BPD training sweatshirt he has to wear to the Academy, and he must be leaving directly from here instead of heading back to his apartment to take a shower.

She ran into Graham while grocery shopping last week. He was with his girlfriend, so she didn’t talk for a long time because that’s awkward as hell and she wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, but she did learn that Killian told Graham that their marriage wasn’t something intentional. She’s not really sure when or where or why, and while something like that would normally piss her off, she’s relieved that the guilt of Graham finding out she got married like that is off her shoulders.

She’d forgotten about seeing him until she saw Killian’s sweatshirt. Graham had one just like that, and life seems to like bringing things back around for her. Maybe she should ask him about talking to Graham, or maybe she should just forget about it and move on.

Everyone else seems to have done so.

“You want to race?”

“Huh?” Emma asks, blinking away until Killian comes back into focus. She’d totally zoned out.

He raises his brows before reaching up to push his hair off his forehead. “Do you want to race me, love?”

“Please,” she scoffs, turning away from him to focus on what’s in front of her, “you couldn’t handle it.”

“Perhaps you’re the one who couldn’t handle it.”

Emma quickly turns to him again. His smirk is obnoxious, and she’s not about to pass that up.

“First one to the bench with marks from where that guy sat on wet paint wins, okay? Loser buys smoothies.”

“You’re on. When do you want to – bloody hell…”

She doesn’t hear the rest of his curse, and she does know that it’s a curse, because she’s already increased her speed and is sprinting as fast as she possibly can. It’s at least half a mile until that bench, maybe a little over, and Emma can run that far this fast without any issue. Her problem is that Killian, even though he was slower than her when he started, has started to catch up to her. His strides are already longer than hers, but with his speed catching up after so much training, she needs every advantage she can get.

Smoothies aren’t something to play around with.

He’d be so obnoxious if he won.

Killian’s on her heels for every step of the run. His muttered words and the panting of his breath hover just behind her, and she knows that if she were to suddenly stop running, he’d stumble over her. But she doesn’t stop. She lets her legs and her lungs burn and keeps going until she gets that adrenaline high that she’s been searching for. It’s been elusive lately, most of her runs dragging along at a snail’s pace, but this isn’t a long run anymore. It’s a sprint to the finish line.

Very literally.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out.

The bench is in her sight now, the poor markings left behind by someone who ruined their pants by sitting in wet paint last week, and she propels herself forward to get there before Killian when she feels a hand on her wrist, tugging her back, until she’s falling to the ground, her elbow hitting hard against the grass until she rolls over onto her back and feels the weight of Killian on top of her.

“What the fuck?” she grunts. All of the breath has been knocked out of her, and Killian’s entire body pressing down on her doesn’t help. “What was that for?”

“Sorry,” Killian grumbles, propping himself up on his elbows to lessen his body weight. His cheeks are flushed a slight pink, and his hair is falling over his forehead in sweaty sections. It makes him look younger than his usual penchant for styling his hair off his forehead. Maybe her brain just isn’t functioning correctly and he looks exactly the same. “Are you hurt?”

“I imagine my ass and my elbow are going to be bruised, but other than that, I’m fine.”

“You were about to be run over by a bike, love. Did you not hear me calling you or the incessant ringing of the bell?”

“Uhhh.”

“Exactly. I saved your life, and I think a little gratitude is in order. I do normally prefer to do more enjoyable things with a woman on her back, after all. Of course, you would know.”

His brows quickly wiggle across his forehead, and when his tongue runs over his bottom lip, heat curls between Emma’s legs that has absolutely nothing to do with how sweaty she is from running.

“Just like our marriage, I’m wiping that part from my memory.” “Ah, but you weren’t drunk for it. You actually remember it. Tell me, darling, what was your favorite part of that night? Was it when my mouth pressed into your neck in the hallway or was it when it pressed into another rater delicious – ”

“Okay,” Emma mutters, pushing her hands up against his chest until he rolls off of her and onto his back on the grass, “that’s enough of that. I haven’t eaten yet today, and you owe me a smoothie.”

Changing the subject. She has to change the subject.

“I don’t believe you won the race.”

“I was going to if you hadn’t tugged me down and nearly caused me to break a bone.”

“I was trying to pull you to the side. You’re the one who went down.”

“Semantics.” “I don’t mean to upset you, Swan, but I think we make quite the team. When it comes to running, of course. I save your life from a horrific bicycle accident, and you, well, I’m not sure what you do.”

Emma sucks in a deep breath before exhaling and twisting her head to the side. Killian’s already looking at her, lips pressed into a soft smile, and he reaches over toward her until his fingers are brushing against her skin as he tucks loose tendrils of her hair behind her ear

Did she just get a chill or was that her sweat drying?

Getting her sports bra off is practically going to be impossible. At least she can do it in privacy.

Sports bras are obviously both the best and the worst.

“I kick your ass in races.”

Killian laughs, finger brushing against her cheek again. Her body is basically a puddle now. “I’ll buy our smoothies, Swan, but you have to agree to let me take you out for your birthday next week.”

“How do you even know my birthday is next week?”

“It was on our annulment papers.”

“Oh.”

Killian twist over until he’s on his side and propping his chin up in his hand and tapping his temple. “I know you may not remember things, at least according to your manager, but I do have an excellent brain up here.”

“I’m ignoring you basically calling yourself a genius because I have to ask: when the hell did you talk to Mary Margaret?”

“Last week. Ariel was talking to her on the phone at a shoot, and they got to talking about how I’m reliable while you are not.” “I have only missed one appointment, but Mary Margaret holds onto that and brings it up every time I almost forget something. It was for an understandable reason, too.”

“And what was that?”

Emma blinks, and her mind catches up to what she just said. Shit.

“It was nothing.”

“Oh, no, it was definitely something. Inquiring minds want to know.”

“Yeah, well, inquiring minds don’t get to know.”

Emma quickly gets up from the ground, moving so quickly that she’s dizzy, but she doesn’t want to be lounging on the grass any longer. People are running by them, dirty shoes near her face, and she doesn’t even want to think about how many animals have relieved themselves where she was just resting her face.

She doesn’t want to think about anything other than getting some calories in her, taking a shower, and meeting Ruby at Flock so they can shoot next month’s catalog of clothes for the website.

“Swan,” Killian calls out, but she keeps on walking. “Swan! Love! Emma!”

“Not in the mood, Jones.”

“You were two minutes ago, and I cannot figure out what I possibly could have done to piss you off in that time.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I obviously did something.”

“Can’t you for once just do what I say and leave me alone?”

“Perhaps if you had actually told me to bloody leave you alone.”

Emma quickly turns on her heels to look at him. She nearly smacks herself into his chest, but she doesn’t need another collision with him, not today.

“Killian,” she says slowly, “leave me alone.”

His gaze doesn’t move away from hers, deep blue staring at her and making her want to back away, but she doesn’t. In the back of her mind, she knows he’s done nothing wrong, that he isn’t the one who’s actually pissed her off, but he’s here. What better excuse is there than that?

“If that’s what you want,” he begins, leaning down and giving her a mocking bow with a flourish of his hand, “then that’s what I’ll do.”

-/-

“This is the smallest piece of fabric I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve seen your underwear drawer, Ems. I know that’s not true.”

Emma rolls her eyes at Ruby and tugs on the top, adjusting it until it covers her boobs. How this boutique expects any normal person to be able to wear this piece of fabric is beyond her.

“It’s ridiculous,” Emma continues, still trying to tug it down, “and this is supposedly a winter sweater. Has anyone here ever actually experienced a winter in Boston? This isn’t going to cut it.”

“Who peed in your Cheerios this morning?”

“That’s a disgusting phrase.”

“It’s obviously very apt today, though.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re a liar.”

“No, I’m just cold.”

Emma turns on her heels and walks back out in front of the camera and the white wall as the photographer and the owner of the boutique wait for she and Ruby to be ready. Emma does the standard poses, flipping her hair and fake laughing, and then she trades off with Ruby until they’ve both gone through the entire catalog of clothes that were on the racks in the side of the warehouse.

This is the weirdest job, and she’s honestly not sure that she enjoys it much anymore. That seems like a problem for a day where she’s not already pissed off at the world.

“I will buy you lunch if you tell me what’s wrong with you.”

“Nope,” Emma sighs, tugging on her coat and fluffing her hair out as they get ready to leave the warehouse. “You cannot bribe me.”

“Okay, but what if we go back to my place, and I make Granny’s onion ring recipe?”

Emma stops and turns to Ruby, her eyes narrowing at Ruby’s wolfish grin. “You’re evil.”

“But you love me.” “That’s debatable.”

“Nah,” Ruby sighs, wrapping her arm around Emma’s shoulder, “it’s really not.”

They walk the fifteen minutes to Ruby and Mulan’s apartment, the chill of the air nipping at Emma’s nose, but once they’re inside and the heat is on and there’s that wonderful smell of onion rings and grilled cheese being cooked, Emma’s no longer freezing. She’s warm and calm and maybe she doesn’t have to be as pissy as she has been today.

“So, Mulan says you haven’t come to class in a few weeks.”

Ruby says it casually, doesn’t even bother to turn around, but Emma knows that this is the beginning of her fishing into what Emma has been doing. The woman isn’t sly at all.

“I’ve been doing other things.”

“Other things or…men?”

“Running. I’ve been running, Rubes.”

“Mhm, and you wouldn’t happen to be running every day with a very handsome man that makes me thankful that I am interested in both men and women while poor souls like you only get men?”

Emma huffs into her glass of water. “How could you possibly know about that?”

“Because I, too, avoid my girlfriend’s Pilates studio and like to go running that path sometimes.”

Well, shit. She didn’t think anyone really knew she was doing that.

“We both run. We happen to run into each other. It’s a thing.”

Ruby turns around and arches a brow, cocking her head to the side. “What’d he do to piss you off today? Might as well just skip to that question.”

“He didn’t piss me off.”

“You don’t get onion rings if you don’t tell the truth.” “Screw you.”

“That was the deal.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not very good at keeping deals.”

Ruby sighs and plates another few onion rings before turning the stove off so that the cackling of the grease quiets down. “You’re going on runs with the man that you married.” Emma opens her mouth, but Ruby holds her finger up. “Yeah, I know about that. You know Marg can’t keep things to herself. I also know that if you want to shake him off, you wouldn’t be spending so much voluntary time with him. So did he actually do something to piss you off that I need to kick his ass for, or is this just Emma being Emma?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know exactly what that means.”

Emma ignores her and reaches up to take an onion ring only for Ruby to hold the plate away from her. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.”

Sighing, Emma crosses her arms over her chest and leans back on the barstool. She was pretty sure Ruby was joking about Emma having to talk about her mood, but apparently, she wasn’t.

“Nothing is wrong with me.”

“Yeah, and I’m a rocket scientist.”

“You could be.”

“Emma, do you like your husband? Is that what’s freaking you out?”

“He is not my husband.”

“You’re evading the question.”

“No,” she mumbles, “I’m not, and no, I don’t like Killian. I guess I just slept on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Can I have my onion rings now? The full plate?”

Ruby’s brow stays arched until it falls so it can furrow with her other one. “Do you really not want to talk about it?”

“There’s really nothing to talk about.”

-/-

Emma’s a liar.

She’s a lying liar who lies, but she’s not about to admit that to anyone other than her glass of wine and the can of icing that she’s eating. However many calories she burned today don’t matter because she’s consumed all of them since this afternoon.

It’s totally been worth it.

Mostly.

She can’t binge watch Poldark and not drink wine and eat icing, right? That would just be stupid.

Her phone buzzes on the couch cushion next to her.

Killian Jones: I owe you a smoothie. Is there a chance I can buy you one tomorrow?

Shit. Of course he’s texting her.

And of course he’s being nice.

The man knows exactly how to be an ass. Can’t he be one of those right now?

Can’t she not want to text him back?

Emma Swan: I feel like I should be the one buying you one since I was so bitchy today.

Killian Jones: I wouldn’t say that.

Killian Jones: Because I think you’d murder me if I did.

Killian Jones: And also because it’s not true.

Emma snorts into her wine, taking another sip, and then leaning forward to put the glass on her coffee table.

Emma Swan: It was true. You can say it.

Killian Jones: I’d rather you not kick my ass. You could do it anyways, but training already beat me down today. I’m in a weakened state.

Emma Swan: That bad, huh?

Killian Jones: It was like I ran for six hours without stopping while also having to climb over obstacles and have men my own age yelling at me while twenty-one years old just ran by with no hesitations.

She laughs again before stretching back onto the couch. She should crawl back into bed and get herself comfortable, let herself fall asleep, but this is pretty comfortable too.

Killian Jones: But I love it.

Emma Swan: Yeah?

Killian Jones: It’s awful, but I also feel like I have a purpose, you know? I’ve wanted this for so long.

Emma’s heartrate picks up, and she closes her eyes and drops her phone to her chest. She doesn’t know. She doesn’t have some kind of great want that’s driven her life. She’s always been a foster kid, someone who isn’t sure what’s coming around the corner, and even when she aged out of the system, she still didn’t know. There was Neal and jail and…he ruined her life. Neal ruined her fucking life. He took away her choice for her life, and even though she’s doing okay now, she could be doing better. It’s not something she wants to think about because a decade has gone by since then, since he abandoned her like most everyone else has, but rarely a day goes by where he doesn’t come up in some way.

But really, it hasn’t been a decade. It’s been three years since he showed up at her apartment door, finding her somehow, and acted like not a day had gone by, like he hadn’t done this awful thing to her and like she must still love him.

She didn’t then.

She doesn’t now.

Neal will always be her first love and the person who loved her first, and what a shame that is.

That’s why she missed her shoot that day. Mary Margaret had been pissed, had gotten angry with Emma for maybe the first time ever, but then she’d sobbed into Mary Margaret’s shoulder as everything in her life felt like it was falling apart.

Again.

And here she is letting Neal worm his way into her thoughts again, into her life. He’s not around anymore. She doesn’t know what he’s doing with his life, and he really doesn’t deserve to occupy so much space. She’s been doing it for years, wearing these pretty white dresses at least once a week and pretending to be someone who could even think about getting married when it’s never been what she wanted, not after him.

Not even with Graham.

Maybe one day she’ll figure out how to move on completely and how to leave Neal in the past where he belongs.

She’s got to get out of this headspace before she drinks herself into an oblivion, so she opens her eyes and looks back at her phone. No one can see her face or hear her thoughts, and even if she is absolutely terrified of Killian Jones, he’s the only thing that’s making her feel remotely safe right now.

Emma Swan: I’m happy for you!

Killian Jones: Thank you, love.

Killian Jones: Did I tell you about the guy who is now wearing an eye patch because of an unfortunate fall on the rope climb?

Emma Swan: This sounds like the beginning of a really bad high school soap opera.

Killian Jones: Oh, but it’s even better than that.

Killian tells her the story, as well as several others from his first few weeks at the Academy, and Emma distracts herself with it, finding that it’s easy to get lost in Killian’s stories. Even texting, he has a way with words that has her easily being swept up into the conversation so that her lips tug at the corners and there’s a smile permanently press into her skin. He’s funny and charming and he deals with her shit even when he shouldn’t. He should run away and never look back.

The thought causes her breath to hitch and her chest to pang and…

Maybe Ruby was right. Maybe she does have a thing for Killian.

Oh shit.

-/-

-/-

Tag list: @xemmaloveskillianx​ @therealstartraveller776​ @stahlop @shardminds @carpedzem @captainsjedi  @galaxyzxstark @thejollyroger-writer @kmomof4 @tiganasummertree @xellewoods @idristardis @karenfrommisthaven @shireness-says @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @a-faekindagirl @ultimiflos @jamif @dreameronarooftop15 @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke  @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @superchocovian @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @qualitycoffeethings @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @spartanguard @snowbellewells  @onepunintendid​ @bluewildcatfanatic​

[selfwriting-sugarquills]

Hey love! I absolutely love your writings and the Weasleys, so could you write a George x reader imagine where they're playing quidditch (did i spell that correctly) against Slytherin, and her playing like as a chaser and getting hit and falling and him reacting to it y'know? Sorry my english sucks :]

A/N: (ok I adore this request!!! I hope it’s good enough, these past two weeks have been really hectic and tiring, so I’m lying pretty low in terms of creativity :( but I have two weeks off for Christmas now so hopefully, I’ll have plenty of time to write all the amazing requests I’ve gotten!!) 

Warnings: None (implied broken bones?) 

Word count: 1.605

Fall

You were tightening the laces on Angelina’s sleeves when the twins stumbled into the changing room, 

“Sorry we're late,” said Fred, dumping his bag containing quidditch gear down on the benches next to Harry, 

“We ran into Filch on our way here and it turns out, he wasn’t a fan of our latest endeavours in the arts of surprise.”George’s face split into a grin as he pulled his shirt over his head and feeling suddenly flustered, you to avert your eyes. You had had a thing for George since your third year which you’d spent gawking at him and blushing deeply whenever he’d looked at you, then in your fourth year, you’d been paired up in charms, where he succeeded in a very literal sense. He’d asked you to help him practice on the quidditch pitch and you’d said yes, mostly because you wanted to spend time with him alone and you hoped that was his intention too though when Fred showed up on the pitch as well, you weren’t surprised, just a little disappointed. 

Now, you were in your fifth year, your crush still going strong, not that that would help you in the biggest match of the school year, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. The weather seemed to be on your side, being on the clear, cool side with little wind but the tension between the two teams was at an all-time high, meaning you, one of the chasers, would probably be spending most of the match trying not to be murdered. 

“you know,” said Angelina, breaking your trail of thought, “there’s going to be this huge party after the match when we win,,” a smirk was playing on her lips, as she glanced towards the twins, who were sharing the tale of their latest prank with Harry and Katie, 

“and when we win, which we will,” she reassured quickly, mostly to herself, “I think it’s about time you tell a certain redhead how you feel,” her smirk grew as she watched your eyes widen, 

“shh!” you hushed, “he is right over there could you say it a little louder you think?!” 

“I can if it will make you two finally get together,” 

“Shut up!” 

“Alright team,” Wood said, gesturing to your small group of people as to bring you closer, “as I’m sure you’ve noticed, there’s a lot hanging on today's’ results and Slytherin wants a victory no matter the cost, so let’s try to stay alive, and Harry,” he turned to Harry who gulped, “I assume there’s no need for me to tell you just how much I need you to catch the snitch before that Malfoy kid does,” he said with such seriousness that even you felt a surge of adrenaline. 

Walking up to the entrance you were gripping your broom tightly, remaining quiet despite everyone else chatting quietly to each other, your eyes were fixated on the grass below as you listened to the cheers from the stands. An arm nudged you slightly, 

“you nervous?” George’s chocolate coloured eyes watched you with amusement, though you thought you could see a hint of nerves behind the confident sparkle, 

“A little,” you chuckled, 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, the Slytherins are all a bunch of gits, we’ll have the snitch before they even realise the game’s begun,” he smiled and you looked back at the grass at your feet, 

“Alright team,” Wood said at the front, turning around, “‘s time.” 

** 

Normally, flying wasn’t scary to you, ever since you’d tried it for the first time you’d become somewhat enchanted by the surge in your stomach when you dipped and the dizzying satisfaction which came with learning a new manoeuvre. 

A bludger zoomed past you as you dipped, the surge in your stomach feeling more nauseating than exciting. The Slytherins were indeed ruthless but so were the Gryffindor team and it hadn’t taken long before the two teams had begun to pursue a more personal feud than anything. The foul playing had begun after Katie Bell had taken a bludger to the stomach, sent by one of the Slytherin chasers, who’d somehow gotten hold of one of the beaters’ bat, causing the game to be paused for several minutes. Then, the twins had retorted by sending two bludgers after the chaser who’d sent the bludger after Katie, both hitting him, the first sending him off-course by hitting his broom, smashing it to pieces, the second hitting his stomach, much like it had hit Katie, and sending him onto the ground with a thump which caused the audience to let out a collective groan. The beater’s downfall and injury caused another break. The team was getting restless, the twins pacing back and forth, most of you sat quietly, bouncing your legs and wringing your sweaty hands as you waited for Madam Hooch to call you back onto the pitch.  

When she finally did, the beaters from both teams were sending bludgers directly after each other, exchanging various swear words as they whacked the balls towards each other, completely neglecting the chasers and goalposts. You were flying in formation with Katie and Angelina, who was holding the quaffle, she sent the quaffle to Katie, who dropped it when a chaser from Slytherin collided with her, Angelina and yourself were quick, though, and without much need to communicate you dived down, where Angelina seized the quaffle easily from one of the younger Slytherins who was quick, but incredibly clumsy, passing the quaffle to you as the opposing chasers tried to surround her in order to take it from her. You headed straight from the goal, you could hear the twins cheer you on as the Slytherin beater yelled something from behind you, in a fear of being pursued, you chucked the quaffle towards the tallest ring with your eyes closed and without opening them you heard a bell go off and a roar from the stands. Sighing in relief, you opened your eyes,  

“L/n scores leaving Gryffindor in the lead with 30-10” Lee’s voice could be heard ringing out over the pitch over the cheers but you stopped listening to his remarks about Slytherin, as you focused instead on a small whistling noise, which seemed to grow closer and closer, when the realisation of what it was hit you it was already too late for you to react, something fast, hard and round hit your arm with a crack as you were knocked off of your broom. 

*** 

George had had little time to react. After you’d scored both he and Fred had been too occupied cheering for you to react when a Slytherin beater sent a bludger towards you with such speed that if George had blinked, he’d have missed you being knocked off of your broom, his heart racing as he saw the bludger collide with your side. 

Only seconds later he was on the ground along with the rest of the team, running towards you as fast as his legs could possibly carry him. Madam Hooch was already crouching beside you, inspecting you, you were sitting awkwardly, holding your arm and wincing as Hooch inspected it, 

“ow,” you hissed, a tear slipping down your face, George held himself back from sitting beside you and comforting you, instead, he heard himself say, 

“Is she going to be okay?” to Hooch, 

“Oh she’ll be just fine after a visit to the hospital wing,” Hooch said, helping you stand, 

“Can you still play?” asked Wood, Hooch let out a laugh, 

“With a broken arm? not a chance,” She said, “we’ll call the game off, congratulations, I believe you’ve won.” and with that, she marched off, an arm around your shoulders. George couldn’t look away as you went, his insides hurting when he heard you let out a choked sob, as McGonagall joined you and Hooch. His stare was broken by Fred hitting his arm gently, 

“Let’s go get changed,” he said, George nodded but turned to look after you once more before following. 

** 

You sniffed as madam Pomfrey finished wrapping up your arm, she placed a glass of skele-gro on the small bedside table, you sighed. 

“This is the worst,” you muttered as you grabbed the glass and downed it, grimacing as poured down the foul-tasting liquid, you opened your eyes when something hit the duvet resting on top of your legs. What you found were two boxes of chocolate frogs, 

“Figured you might need something to help with the taste of that stuff,” George smiled, you put the glass down, 

“Thank you,” you said, picking up a box, “and I’m sorry for getting hit,” 

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault the Slytherin team is a bunch of gits,” he said as he sat down on the bedside, “I’m just glad you’re alright, you gave me a real scare there,” he said earnestly, his lips forming a grin. Blushing, you glanced down, suddenly unable to look him in the eye, you sat there in silence for a few seconds, painfully aware of how George’s eyes were resting on your face, in an attempt to bring the silence to an end, you grabbed the other chocolate frog, 

“Want one?” you asked, holding the frog out for him to take. 

And so that was how you spend your afternoon, eating chocolate frogs while George told you his worst (best) jokes in order to make you laugh, someday you figured you’d gather up the courage to tell him about your crush but for the moment, you were satisfied with George sitting across from you trying to catch a chocolate frog in his mouth and failing epically, much to your entertainment. 

[chillax-kass-w]

After All | RM1

[Reiner Braun/Reader]

[TW: Canon-Typical Character Death/Violence]

Happiness seems impossible for Reiner, but he may get there after all. 

Read on AO3

[As a note, the format of this story is as follows: chapters actually titled “Chapter _” are current to the Marley Arc, chapters titled “M_” are Reiner’s memories in succession, and chapters titled “RM_” are the Reader’s memories in succession]

Previous

It was a battle getting out of bed the day after graduation. In truth, she should have felt lighter than ever. Her goals were closer than ever, and yet, she found herself bogged down by the eyes of a former friend. As she rolled over again, begging for those few more minutes of rest, she saw them again.

Hazel...

Reiner had been so cold at the get together that night. She knew why, but that didn’t make the cold sting any less. She’d caught eyes with him across the room, a small smile curving her lips. She’d felt so proud of him, even after their falling out. All of their hard work had paid off. He’d been named second, and she, sixth. Their names were cemented amongst the most capable of Humanity. So, without a care for their mutual agreement to part ways, she grinned at him. She half expected him to return it, but he proved that wrong with what could only be called a glare. It lasted a millisecond, but it was worth two years in her mind.

To think they had cleaning duty together that day.

She really didn’t want to face him.

Despite the dread that curled in her stomach, she arrived at the meeting point for those tasked with cleaning the training facilities so an influx of recruits could make them their home for the next three years. What a send off, cleaning the day after graduation. She wished she would’ve been tasked with Wall maintenance with Eren and the lot. She’d much rather have a view while getting to work.

Thankfully, she was blessed to work with a girl named Sarah. Just the chance of being lumped with Reiner caused her anxiety to skyrocket. He didn’t look at her as he walked off to his station, and she tried to ignore the pit in her stomach as she followed Sarah to the mess hall.

Even so, it still felt as if he was there. He haunted her thoughts as she scrubbed the tables and benches. She wondered if the dissolution of their friendship affected him as it did her, or even at all. He certainly acted unfazed. She knew she needed to be the same, but questions kept her mind running.

Was she replaceable?

Too friendly?

Did he care about her at all?

Did he know about her little crush?

At the thought, she scrubbed harder. She needed to throw herself into her work, lest she throw herself into a trash bin. She had no idea how long she’d scrubbed but it came to a brisk halt when another cadet burst through the doors to literally screech:

“The Colossal Titan broke through the Wall!”

Any thoughts pertaining to trivial matters ceased in that moment, and she ran with all her might to get her gear. She barely registered that others were following close behind, nor did she heed the screams of fear coming from all angles. Her own heart was screaming with them, but she knew her duty was to protect the people without a way to protect themselves.

That had been her once.

Her harnesses had never been fastened so fast, nor had her gear, yet she felt it wasn’t fast enough. She regretted not wearing them despite her job for the day; these minutes could cost lives. She made a note to always be prepared. Next time, she’d be the first to action. Next time, there would be a next time. She had to be sure of it.

“Report to HQ immediately!”

Upon arrival, she recognized the organized chaos a breach brought. Soldiers were running left and right, refilling gas and moving equipment. She refilled her gas as quickly as possible before heading off to receive her orders. She barely had time to survey her fellow soldiers, lined up in rows, before a voice broke through the air.

“I want everyone split into four squadrons, as practiced! All squadrons are responsible for supply running, message running, and enemy combat under the command of the Garrison Regiment! The Intercept Squadron will be taking the vanguard! Cadets will be taking the middle guard, led by the support squad! Rear guard will go to the elites! I expect you all to man your posts knowing the Advance Team has been wiped out!” A collective gasp permeated the air. “That’s right; the outer gate is history! The Titans are in! This means the Armored Titan is likely to reappear! If and when he does, the inner gate will also be history! Right, those in the vanguard, be ready! The whole area is well-nigh saturated! Your mission is a very simple one: defend the Wall ‘til the evacuation’s done! Now, be aware, all of you, that desertion is punishable by execution! If it comes to it, lay down your lives! Dismissed!”

“Sir!” came the collectively determined and scared-shitless reply of the troops, their fists clenched tight over their rapid hearts. With that, they ran to their designated stations, and (f/n) followed with her eyebrows furrowed. She didn’t know if it was shock, rage, or fear that caused her tension, but she knew it was anything but good. She met up with her crew to find Floch,  Gordon, Sandra, Keno, and Sarah. They all appeared terrified, especially Floch.

She was too.

But she remembered that she was given a higher rank than these comrades. That weight on her shoulders, along with the weight of the lives of all the people of Trost and further behind Wall Rose, caused her to shelve her fears. She had to take charge and lead her friends to combat the Titans; that was her duty, and she would see that it was carried out. She would use all of the training she’d gone through. She’d lead them to see another day.

She wasn’t weak anymore.

“Alright, let’s head out! Gordon and I will take the front, Sandra and Floch will take the middle, and Sarah and Keno will take the rear. We’re ready for this! It’ll be just as practiced. Slice the nape, but only with an opening! If you see an Abnormal, do not engage without alerting the rest of the squad!”

Her words seemed to stir them a bit, but that innate fear still swirled in their eyes. She couldn’t help that. No words would do. She could only hope their training paid off in that moment, and that the sight of the Titans didn’t stop any of them dead in their tracks, literally. She led the charge by shooting her wires into the nearest building, propelling herself south toward the destroyed gate. She recognized the figures of other soldiers soaring between the buildings, but she didn’t set eyes on any foes in that first shot over the roofs. She continued on, looking between her destination near the center of the town and her comrades. Some determination shone through their fear, and she felt satisfied.

She hoped it would last.

“(f/n)! Titan approaching from the west!” came Gordon’s sudden call. She turned to her right to see what looked to be a ten meter Titan stumbling through the streets. It hadn’t seen them yet, or it was just dumb. Either way, it was a better start than an Abnormal, so she was glad for that at least. Still, fear welled up in her gut, and she barely contained the bile in her throat. She hadn’t seen one since that day in Shiganshina five years prior, but the fear was the same.

This time, though, she was prepared.

“Okay, we’ll split into two groups! I’ll take Sarah and Floch; Gordon has Keno and Sandra. We approach from the sides and the group it doesn’t face takes it out! Don’t get close unless completely open, alright?! Only engage if both arms are far from the nape!” She hoped her strategy was correct. She was taking ideas directly from the instructors, but that didn’t mean she was using them in the right situations.

“Yes, sir!” came her responses, and she almost choked at the title. Yes, she was their senior by a year, but that didn’t mean she was of a higher rank than them, explicitly at least. The top ten rankings really had no use in the different factions; she was a cadet, just the same as them. However, she had no time to form a rebuttal. They had a Titan to take down.

She ran as hard as she could along the rooflines, her chosen comrades behind her and Gordon and his charges directly opposite. The Titan took notice of them when they got within a hundred meters, and it showed this by stopping its sluggish waddling to all but charge at them. It seemed to take a liking to Gordon, and he jumped from the roof before its hand connected. It continued to thrash about in the opposite direction, so (f/n) decided the opening was adequate.

“Engaging!”

Her wires dug into the nape, propelling her straight into target range, as well as harm’s way. Gordon and his crew continued to maneuver back and forth on the other side of the building, drawing the Titan in and keeping its focus away from her. A rush of adrenaline pounded in her chest as she spun toward the nape, muscle memory kicking in from all that extra practice. The slice was clean; the Titan fell instantly. She retracted her hooks and aimed for the roof Floch and Sarah remained on, a grin of victory playing on her lips.

“Nice one, (f/n)!” Keno shouted from across the way. The other three made their way back to them as she scouted the area. They could never be too safe. “That was a good strat!”

“Yeah, we’ll keep on like this unless we spot an Abnormal.”

With a nod from her group, they started off again. They didn’t see another Titan for a while, and that worried the girl. Something terrible was bound to happen. She constantly checked to make sure her comrades were alright, while keeping note of her blindspots. It terrified her that she couldn’t be aware of all sides at once. Suddenly, she spotted a cluster of smaller Titans, and she alerted her squad to their presence.

“Alright, same formation!”

They closed in quickly, and the three Titans noticed immediately. They broke off, two heading for (f/n)’s group and the other went for Gordon’s. She jumped out of the way of a rogue hand, yelling for her group to separate to find an opening. Floch followed Sarah in the opposite direction as (f/n) carried on, the smaller of the two following her. She cursed at this, as she knew Floch was the closest to the other Titan. He couldn’t handle it on his own in the state he was in, but he had Sarah. Even so, she felt responsible for them, so she needed to get this one off her tail stat.

All the adrenaline in her blood reached a maximum, and her fear all but vanished in the face of a comrade’s life hanging in the balance. She turned suddenly, redirecting her momentum and shooting her hooks into the Titan’s shoulder. She narrowly avoided an outstretched arm, pivoting in the air and swinging up to cut the nape. It fell instantly, but it could never be quick enough. Continuing on, she found the other Titan reaching for a stiff footed Floch, his arms above his head as he cowered in the face of death. As she ran with all her might to save him, she noticed Sarah doing the same thing. The blonde was charging the Titan head on, and it barely missed a beat in snatching her from the roofline. (f/n) screamed; she pushed her legs harder, shooting her wires into the Titan’s back. She was so close. So close. So close. She positioned her blades to strike, her heart beating faster with every second. The Titan slowly brought Sarah to its mouth, her screams permeating the air. So close. So close. As she brought her blades forward to strike the nape, the Titan did something (f/n) would never forget.

No, it didn’t eat Sarah.

It crushed her in its hand.

Just one squeeze, and all life ceased to be.

She screamed. She sliced the nape. She felt her friend’s blood coat her skin, mingling with the steaming blood of the killer. The adrenaline that had helped her before fizzled out, and she landed on the roof with little to no grace at all. Floch was screaming, his eyes tearing up above her. All she wanted to do was lay on the tiles of the roof, but she knew that was a far off dream.

Gordon’s voice rang through the air, as did Keno’s. Death rattling.

She shot off the roof, only knowing she didn’t want to experience death again. Keno was in the hand of the other Titan. So close. So close. She was closer this time.

She had to be.

Gordon was yelling for the Titan to put his friend down, but no openings were seen from his side. Sandra was further away, trying to get its attention as well. It just continued to morbidly stare down at Keno, whose lighthearted grin had given way to absolute terror. He was screaming for his mother. He was screaming for his friends. He was screaming for his life.

(f/n) would make sure he kept it.

A shout ripped from her lungs as she barrelled towards the nape, the opening as good as any. No focus was paid to her, not even after the howl that left her. Death was quick, but not for Keno.

She’d made it in time.

Her legs screamed at her despite the rigorous training she’d put them through. Even with that, flesh and bone was never meant to be pushed so hard. She knew she’d torn a muscle, or two, or three. But Keno was alive, and that’s all that mattered in that moment.

Sarah wasn’t.

She shook her head to empty it. She had to focus on getting them out of harm’s way. Keno was still shaking, as was Floch. Actually, everyone was.

Including her.

“Let’s get to higher ground!”

With that, they made their way to a tower not far away…

Without Sarah.

Next

[wrathfulspark]

@xreznikovx

Tamryn managed to avoid Elidi almost entirely since she had heard her apologize for not being there for the human girl. To Tamryn, the whole reason Elidi had in fact not been there was due to them being away. In the she wolf’s eyes they had nothing to be sorry about. However the entire display that day had shifted Tamryn’s energy entirely towards both the witch and wiccan.

 Tamryn often ignored an onslaught of messages from others though she never thought she would find herself to be out right avoiding the efforts of her lover. The very idea warped her perception of the thought as she felt Elidi was to some degree apologetic for their love being in the way. The trip was so much more than just a trip to the she wolf, she was trusting and vulnerable moments that she now felt were unwanted and to some degree devalued. It crippled not only her pride, but her heart, which few were actually able to affect personally. Even though disinterest was the alpha intentions, she couldn’t find herself to actually be done with the witch entirely.

 She did love Elidi, which was a rare thing Tamryn had never felt for another before. It was the sole reason when Elidi mentioned meeting up to talk in person that she was more than willing. As she approached the meeting place she held her head and her shoulder higher, her resolve seemed to harden with each step as she finally made eye contact with the witch. Her jaw tensed as her heart fluttered against her will, why was she so weak to this woman? With each step her thoughts faded as she focused more so on the reason they were in this position in the first place. Sitting by her lover’s side she looked directly at her with a stern expression upon her face, her brow arched almost as if she were expecting Elidi to speak first, and was making it clear she didn’t feel the need to speak, the look in her vivid blue hues spoke for itself.

Her gaze darted down to Elidi’s hand upon her knee, how she longed for the touch of her lover, but she would never voice that in the moment. The look she had hid well how much she needed that touch, she appeared more bothered by it than comforted though it was just the level of unphased Tamryn was maintaining, listening to her words she rolled her eyes and finally looked elsewhere as she sat back against the bench,

 “You really brought me here to have the same conversation we have been having over texts and not reaching any end point with...You feel sorry too much as of late darling, its an unattractive look for you. You sure seemed to regret it when you said sorry on your knees. You also seemed to forget that she tossed you aside twice for her own benefit, yet you are sorry for not being there for her, where is she ever for you? Like a typical human, she expects forgiveness and understanding when she has done nothing to earn it. I get it Elidi, you see yourself in her, I saw that from the moment you picked her up as a student despite how she is. I also get that her family is gone now, but the issue between us, has nothing to do with her.”

 At this point she was now focused directly on Elidi as she spoke,

“It has to do with me now questioning if I was falling for you faster and harder than you appeared to be falling for me. I am not sorry for us not being here. I offered her help when I caught her selling your magic. She denied it, that's on her...But to hear you apologize for not being there for her when the only reason you weren't was because we were together, going through what we through...”

 She trailed off and simply growled before looking away again, she refused to show that it affected her deeper than causing her to just question things, sitting upright more she arched a brow,

 “You can’t be everywhere at once, that does not mean you have to be sorry for it all the time.”

Tamryn didn't seem all the comforted in her touch, more so bothered, so she withdrew her hand, letting it reside in her lap where her gaze had fallen. Had she really messed everything up already? This was all new to her, it wasn't that bad yet, right? Just for a moment she turns her attention toward the box next to her, brows knitting together, anxiously, scared. She steadily exhaled through her nose, hesitantly lifting bright hues to stare at Tamryn.

She felt the warmth in her cheeks spread at Tamryn's words, her hues narrowing as she felt her temper flare, her hands balling into fists in her lap. The weather threatens to change, the subtle scent of rain in the wind as a breeze blows. No. She was not going to lose control, she wouldn't show it in the slightest. This wasn't about anger or fear. Elidi could manipulate all of it, all but her reddening face. "What does it matter if I am sorry? I'm not trying to be attractive, I'm being apologetic. I apologized to her and I apologized to you. She doesn't need to be there for me, I take care of myself, I am her teacher, she is not mine." Though she says nothing on the matter of how similar her and Kiki exactly were, her fingers tapping together impatiently, gaze momentarily averting. What was wrong with that too?

Tamryn's next words make her heart feel like it's stopped in her chest, her lips settling in a thin line as she turns her attention away from the Alpha completely. "How can you say that?" She asked incredulously after an awkward pause, illuminated hues stared intently at her lover, "It's like me apologizing for not being there for Kiki suddenly erased everything we've gone through together. I do feel bad. Her family is dead! You understand that right? Her mother and grandmother were literally burned to death. You telling me not to feel bad, isn't going to change that, but don't tell me that I wasn't falling for you just as fast, that you're in this deeper than I am." Elidi exhaled a huff, taking in a deep breath once more, her throat aching, "I've been honest with you from the very beginning. At the beach, on our dates, at the compound, in the forest. Hell, I'm the one who said I love you first! Yet it suddenly doesn't matter anymore? You won't even say it back." Digits drummed across her kneecap, "I looked past your former crimes, I covered Jaylah's indiscretions, I helped organize your birthday and..." She inhaled sharply, shaking her head as she broke her gaze, sighing as she rubbed her wrist where the bracelet was.

She bit the inside of her cheek as she stared down at the stone, she wondered if Tamryn could really understand how Elidi felt. Could she feel the ache in her heart, the tight pressure dead center, wanting to press her palm to her chest just to relieve some of the strain. Glossy hues rose to meet Tamryn's, gesturing idly toward the bracelet, another thing she had done for the Alpha.

"... I already told you I don't regret going with you. I loved the trip, I love you, I adored everything about it and more. I said you were my only exception, and I meant it, but I don't.. I am the one who should be asking how you feel." Reaching for the boxes, she set them gently in Tamryn's lap, moving to stuff her hands in her coat pockets. Another hand crafted project, that definitely took her blood and sweat, a tiny storm in a bottle, and one box of chocolates. "Happy Birthday."

[louhooo]

Hello My Old Heart | Chap. 9

Chapter Summary: You know what they say about ‘assuming’....

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader [AU]

Warnings:Swearing, minor fluff, angst

A/N: I definitely meant to have this up on Wednesday, but work has sucked all of the energy from me this week. Hopefully next week is better!

All feedback is welcomed! 💘

Giddy was the only way to describe your mood. Schoolgirl giggles and longing gazes at the words on your screen carried you into the early hours of morning, until finally falling asleep with your phone in your hand just around four in the morning.

You didn’t need much sleep, it seemed, when you had something exciting happening in just a few hours. You woke around eight and quickly got ready for the day. A little more time was spent on your appearance, but you resisted the urge to go the full nine-yards, deciding jeans and plain white t-shirt would make you seem more casual for your date.

Date. 

A date with your husband. 

Maybe it was best to not freak out about that part yet, and just take it step by step…. Right?

Your eagerness efficiency had you ready an hour before you were meeting him. Instead of sitting in your hotel room, thinking too much and stressing yourself out, you drove downtown and decided to shop to keep yourself busy. A cute boutique beckoned you in first. Soft indie pop played over the speakers and it smelt like warm vanilla. You browsed through a rack of dresses, debating on if you still liked the dress you brought for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night.

“Are you finding everything alright?” You looked up at the source of the voice and you nearly screamed. She screamed for you. “Ohmygod! Y/N! I heard you were back in town…!

Dot Williams. Everything about her presence sent you right back to high school when you’d stand in front of the mirror, and pinpoint every flaw in your appearance. 

You grinned (at least, you hoped that’s what it looked like).

“Hi, Dot, how are you?”

“Oh, I’m great! The store is doing fabulous, so I’m doing fabulous!” You grinned politely with a tilt of your head.

“Oh, this is your store? It’s cute!” Can someone giggle conceitedly? Well, if no one else could, Dot had it covered.

“Oh, thank you!” God, was she this bubbly in high school? “So, what brings you back to town?” You couldn’t help but pinch your brows slightly.

“Steve and Sharon’s–”

“Oh, right! The wedding! Duh!” She smacked her forehead and laughed, “I’m super bummed. I’m going to the Hamptons this weekend otherwise I totally would’ve gone.” Sharon would have never invited Dot in a million years. There’s no way– “Bucky was pouting so much when I told him I couldn’t go.” You blinked.

“Bucky?” A soft gasp and a gentle hand landed on your arm.

“Oh, Y/N, I’m so sorry. I wanted to ask you if it’d be alright, but he said it’d be fine.” Your grip loosened from the dress you had in a vice and you turned your body directly towards her.

“If ‘what’ would be alright?”

“Well… he and I are dating, you know?” Your heart sank to the floor, going back into its fortress.

“Oh… I… I didn’t know that.” 

“Ya did pretty much leave him, so… can’t hurt that much.” Snotty and condescending. Just like high school.

You swallowed back your tears and cleared your throat, “Well, uh, it was…. Your store is nice, but I’ve gotta go. Stuff to do for the wedding.” She gave you a perky goodbye, but you were already hightailing it to your car.

How fucking dare he? You should have known better than to agree to the date. You’d both changed, and he had clearly moved on. You should, too. Finally end it like you should have done four years ago.

Peaches: Can’t make it. Sorry.

Bucky stared at his phone for ten minutes, trying to find a reason for why you’d cancel twenty minutes before you were supposed to meet.

Bucky: Are you feeling alright? I can get some of your soup from Peg’s and bring it by? With extra crackers even :)

He only waited a minute before texting again.

Bucky: Is it stuff for the wedding? I can help!

Bucky: Even if it’s just to tell Sharon to chill out about the details!

Bucky: But, honestly, I think Steve is worse, so I’ll just talk to both of them!

After another twenty minutes had passed without a response, he tried calling you, but the line just rang until it went to voicemail. He stopped leaving messages after the seventh one. He sat silently on the deck trying to figure out what happened in the last seven and a half hours since you’d last texted him. 

Did he say something? Bucky scrolled through their conversation, only noting the times when he’d teased you and you teased him right back. Everything had been great, so why was this happening now?

“I’m not sayin’ you ‘owe me one’ or anything, but I did just convince your mother to let me come here instead of her, so… you’re welcome.” George plopped down on the bench beside Bucky and leaned back with his arms crossed. Bucky glanced at him for a second before looking back at his phone.

“Hey, dad.” Had he teased too much about her mugshot? He knew he should have told Sam not to send it to him. A ten-dollar bill appeared on top of his phone. Bucky blinked and looked at his dad with a confused face.

“For mowin’.” Bucky raised a brow.

“You don’t hafta pay me for mowin’.”

“Ya sure?” Bucky nodded and George quickly snatched the money back up and shoved it into his back pocket. “It’s your mom’s ten dollars, anyways. So, free money for me.” Bucky chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“How was movin’?” Bucky locked his phone and set it on the bench in between them. George sighed and stretched his legs out.

“You know how your mom and sister are when they’re stressed.” Bucky chuckled.

“That good, huh?” George crossed his eyes while softly shaking his head.

“They wouldn’t even let me tell my best jokes! Becca lectured me the whole car ride there on things I could and could not say to her new roommates.” Bucky stretched and crossed his arm, his flannel tightening against his biceps.

“Can’t really blame her for that. Your jokes embarrass everyone.” George pushed Bucky’s shoulder, making Bucky burst out laughing.

“You little shit…” Bucky laughed harder and repositioned himself on the bench. Bucky sighed as his laughter died out and watched the stray black cat chase a bird across the yard. 

It’s his own fault. He started leaving food out for him two years ago, so it was no wonder he stayed around. But, then again, Bucky hadn’t seen a single mouse since he showed up…. George cleared his throat, “So, Sarah called your mom last weekend.” Bucky sighed in the back of his throat. “She said Y/N looked good, that they talked and caught up.”

“Yeah, they did. I saw her Friday when she got into town. We talked yesterday. About everything.” George uncrossed his arms and turned towards Bucky.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Bucky sighed. “It went good, or… I thought it went good. We were gonna have lunch today, but she cancelled and she hasn’t responded to any of my texts or calls, so…. I don’t know.” George sighed and rubbed Bucky’s shoulder. 

“Can I ask ya something without you getting mad at me?” Bucky didn’t respond, so George took that as the go-ahead. “Do– Are you sure you still wanna be with her?”

“I…” It’d been one of the first questions Bruce ever asked him. Do you still wanna be married to your wife, ‘cause you love her, or because you don’t know any different? “I do. I still wanna make it work, as fucked up as that sounds.”

George sighed, “It’s not fucked up, it’s…. Love is fucking confusing as it is.”

“Yeah.” Bucky’s phone buzzed and he quickly looked at it, hoping it was you answering his texts. His shoulders dropped. Clint.

Barton: Do you know why Y/N’s at the house crying in her bedroom?? 

Barnes: Is she okay? 

Barton: I mean, she’s crying, but other than that she seems fine.

Barnes: Can you find out what’s wrong? She won’t answer me. 

Barnes: Maybe I can come and see her and we can talk?

“Everything alright?” Bucky looked at his dad and chewed on his lip.

“I… don’t know.” George studied his son for a few minutes, trying to decide what would help him most.

George groaned softly and stood up, “C’mon. Let’s go get somethin’ to eat.”

“Dad, I’m not–”

“Fine, watch me eat, then.” Bucky wasn’t going win this one. He checked his phone one last time before following George to his truck. “Do ya think mom will make us lunch, too?”

“Dad, that has literally never worked.”

“Ya never know, James.” Bucky raised a brow at him, “Zip it and buckle your seatbelt.” Bucky rolled his eyes and did as he was told. Maybe he could convince Dad to stop at Clint and Nat’s to check on you….

“Oh, boys, just the people I wanted to see,” Sarah wiped her hands dry and Steve and Bucky stood semi-patiently in the doorway to the basement. They had only two levels left until they beat the video game completely, and Sarah was only slowing them down.

“Yeah, mom?”

“A new family just moved in a few houses down, and there’s a girl who’s your age. Why don’t you go introduce yourselves.” Bucky and Steve groaned.

“But, mom…” She gave him a pointed look, and he sighed. “Fine. Bucky let’s go.” Both boys grumbled and put on their shoes by the front door.

“Why do we even hafta? We don’t even play with girls.” Bucky just wanted to play the dang game. He’d looked up a hint last night, and he was hoping that would help them win.

“Yeah, you tell my mom that.” They sighed and rode their bikes down the street to where the moving truck was parked. Bikes were dropped unceremoniously in the front yard as they followed the sidewalk to the front door. 

“You knock.”

Steve scoffed, “No, you.” They both stared at each other before quickly doing rock-paper-scissors. Bucky grumbled after losing right away.

“Best two outta three.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake.” Another round and Bucky still didn’t win. Steve grinned smugly as Bucky knocked three times on the door.

“Shut up, jerk.”

You peeked through the curtain and noticed the bikes in the yard first. What? You went to the door, cautiously opening it up. Two boys stood in front of you with equally cautious faces.

“Hello?” The blond boy grinned and stuck out his hand.

“Hi. I’m Steve, and this is Bucky,” Bucky picked his hand up in a short wave, “My mom told us to come say ‘hi’, ‘cause I guess you’re the same age as us.” 

“I’m Y/N.” Steve noticed your face stayed scrunched in confusion. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I… Why are you guys here so early?” You only were awake this early during the school year, not on summer vacation. Bucky laughed.

“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine in the mornin’…?” You blinked at the brown-haired boy. Who’s this guy?

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Steve and Bucky both choked on air.

“What?! No!”

“Yeah, not surprised.” Bucky’s cheeks were on fire as Steve doubled over in laughter. You stared back at him, very tactfully hiding a grin. Bucky pushed Steve, his laughter only subsiding slightly. Steve wiped the tears from his eyes and stood straight.

“Wanna come to my house? We’re playin’ a game.”

“What game?”

“Spyro. We’ve beat almost every level! We only have, like, three more and we’ll beat the whole game!” You smiled.

“Okay! Wait here and I’ll tell my mom.” Steve nodded and you shut the door to go change and let your mom know you were gonna leave. Bucky couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Steve! What the heck are you doing?! A girl can’t hang out with us!”

Steve’s brows pinched, “Why not? I like her.” Bucky scoffed.

“Yeah, ‘cause she didn’t make fun of you!” Steve rolled his eyes.

“So, it woulda been fine if she said that to me?”

“No…”

“You hesitated.”

“Did not!” Bucky exhaled, frustrated with his friend at the moment. “She doesn’t get to play any levels. She just gets to watch.” 

“She can play a level or two if she wants to, Buck! Jeez…” The door opened again and you were dressed in jean shorts and a turquoise t-shirt. You smiled.

“She said it was fine!” Steve smiled and led the trio to the bikes, where your face dropped. “Oh, uh, I don’t have a bike.” Steve shrugged.

“That’s fine. Buck’s got pegs on his so you can just ride on the back.” Your eyebrows pinched skeptically and you slowly looked at “Buck”. He seemed less than thrilled. He sighed and picked up his red bike and walked it to the street. Steve got on his bike and waited for you to get on Bucky’s.

“I don’t know how ‘ta…”

“How ‘ta what?” Bucky glanced at you and saw you chewing on your lip, staring at the pegs on his bike. “It’s not as scary as it looks,” his voice was gentler, like how it was when Steve had his panic attacks at school and needed help calming down. “Let me get on first, then I’ll help you.”

Morning become night and Sarah had told you and Bucky it was time to go home for the day. You had grown on Bucky, but only a little! He still hadn’t forgotten what you’d said.

“Are you guys doing that again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, probably. We might go to the pool, too.” You hummed and walked unhurriedly back to your house. “You can come if you want?” You looked at him eagerly.

“Yeah?” Half of Bucky’s mouth pulled into a grin.

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” You smiled and stood in your driveway under the streetlight. “Well, I gotta get home ‘fore my mom starts lookin’ for me. I can pick you up tomorrow morning?”

“Okay!”

“Is 8:30 too early?” You shook your head quickly. “Alright. I’ll be here.” You nodded and bounded up to your door and turned to wave goodbye to him.

“Bye, Bucky!” He got on his bike and rode past the house.

“Bye, Sunshine!” Your cheeks heated up and you hid your grin as you came inside. 

Maybe this new town wouldn’t be so bad.

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Previous // Next

[desiree-harding]

After This

A fic about what directly follows the Day of Story and Song, in regards to Taako and Kravitz’s relationship.

Just a little something I cooked up in a sitting. For context, Taako and Kravitz have dated a bit, but have only kissed on the Sapphire Mirror and neither of them have shared more on those dates than casual touch. This little ficlet is a first for them both in the relationship. (This is not explicit it’s literally like 80% fluff but every sentence I wrote up here to summarize sounded like innuendo it isn’t I swear.

Enjoy!

“We will hook up after this, no doubt,” he had said, but the thing was that “after took so very long to reach.

Now, Kravitz had been alive (or, well, dead) for close to two thousand years now. A few days felt like nothing, that was true, but still. After Taako kissed him senseless on a Sapphire mirror, and then boarded a ship bound for the sky, and saved everything, Kravitz hadn’t had one moment to think, or breathe, or rest.

There were so many dead.

The world has survived, and would live on, thrive, even. Somewhere Lady Istus sat smiling down at her knitting, Kravitz knew, but in the confusion of the apocalypse, in the reckoning across the planes, souls got lost. It took days and days for him to track them all down. Space and time and reality had warped during that horrifying day, and the planes were closed and then open and then closed again, and Kravitz was tracking down souls wandering in the Plane of Fire, hopelessly lost in the Plane of Magic; he even had to deal with a few cases of serious “hauntings” in the Plane of Thought, caused by wayward souls that slipped over from the Prime Material Plane in the chaos.

It just took so long. So long until every soul was accounted for, and the whole time Kravitz thought of Taako every moment, the entire time. He thought of their kiss, and the way Taako clung to his cloak in that moment, the pressure points of his fingers as his arms came up around Kravitz’s neck - 

And he would have to refocus, going back to his work with even more vigor. The quicker he finished this, the quicker he could see Taako again.

He called, once, two days after the Story and Song, and Kravitz’s stone crackled to life from his pocket, Taako’s voice coming out muffled.

Hey bones, he said, you there?

Kravitz, if he had a real heart, could have sworn he felt it beating.

“Yes,” he said, bringing the stone to his mouth, “I’m here, Taako.”

Cool, cool. His voice said, cool, just - uh... I was just checking in, I guess. Making sure you didn’t forget about me, bones. And he was trying so hard to sound jovial, Kravitz could tell, but hidden in that voice was real fear, and Kravitz wanted to throw down his scythe in that moment, and damn the Raven Queen, and just stop. He wanted to go to wherever Taako was and wipe that fear away, blot it out and smother it with his lips and his hands, and - 

“I haven’t forgotten, Taako,” he said, “I promise. I have to shepherd the dead now, there are still souls that need help, but I’ll - I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Yeah, he said, no big, but there was such disappointment in it. I guess, uh, you uh, know where to find me, huh?

That was three days ago. 

And Kravitz was looking at his book as now, for the first time, his ledger was finally, finally clear. All souls accounted for.

He breathed a sigh of relief, needless as it was, and sent a quick prayer to his goddess that he was taking a day off. And then he cut a rift.

Stepping into the Reclaimers’ quarters was a new kind of strange. In part, because the place was empty.

Or mostly empty, anyway. There was still the furniture, the couch he had sat on as Taako talked him out of a reaping and into a date, and the kitchen, just adjacent, and the hall to the left that led to the other rooms, but... it was so quiet. Kravitz wouldn’t have expected it to be so quiet.

And something else. There was a mess in the kitchen, but it was contained, and there wasn’t - there weren’t clothes and scarves and hats strewn around the room, and the place just looked -

Deserted.

“Kravitz?”

Kravitz turned, and there was Magnus, standing in the doorway from the living space to the little hall, and he was rumpled and tired-looking, stubble a few days old growing down into his chin from his signature sideburns, and the bags under his eyes deep and dark.

“Oh,” Magnus, said, as though remembering something, “you’re looking for Taako.” A statement.

“I am,” he said, shifting awkwardly, scythe still out. “Is he here?”

Magnus just shook his head. Kravitz didn’t remember everything he did looking so absent last time he saw him. “He’s down on the planet,” Magnus said, “wouldn’t stick around here a moment longer than he had to. Barry and Lup went with him.”

Strange, he thought, strange that he would leave his family. But he supposed it made sense, in its own way. Perhaps after the revelations the Song brought on, the old place in the Bureau was not the best place to get a pleasant night’s sleep.

“Do you know where he went?” he asked Magnus, who shook his head like he was clearing clouds away from it, and raised it once more to answer.

“He said something about Neverwinter?” Magnus said, shrugging. “I’m sorry, that’s all I know.”

“Thank you Magnus,” he said, “that will do just fine.” Neverwinter was small enough, and Taako’s soul familiar enough, that he would be able to locate him there without too much difficulty. “Take care,” he said awkwardly to Magnus, and cut another rift, this time leading to the gates of Neverwinter.

He stood at them, letting the hot sun of summer beat down on his black cloak and dark hair, and he cast out for Taako’s soul. 

Searching... searching... and then. There.

He cut a rift close to it, but not upon it - he didn’t want to startle Taako - and it brought him to the small living room of a fine Neverwinter condo, windows behind him looking out upon the half-ruined city. It was a miracle the building was still standing, he thought wryly. He wondered who lived in this condo, if it was recently vacated.

Those were morbid thoughts. He brushed them away.

There were two doors leading out of the living room. Kravitz could hear very faint talking behind one, one so very like Taako’s, and the other, deep, and gruff -  That would be Lup, then, and... Barry? Was that what Magnus had said? Yes, Barry, his memory told him quickly, a thousand associated events with it cropping up in his mind, moments that the man had lived over the course of a century.

It felt invasive. Kravitz couldn’t imagine what he would do if his anonymity were so compromised.

Taako. This night was about Taako. And Kravitz had been away from him too long to get distracted in the living room.

Blessedly, the door to the other room was open, and Kravitz cracked it, poking his head in. His eyes adjusted to the light, or the lack thereof. Thick curtains were drawn over the windows, blocking out the daylight from the outside and plunging the room into deep, dark, quiet shadow. But Kravitz slipped inside anyway, quiet as he could, leaning back against the door and letting it shut behind him with a quiet click.

His eyes adjusted.

There was a dresser, another door to what was likely a bathroom or a closet. There were end tables and a low bench along the wall, and paintings, abstract and nondescript, on the walls.

There was a bed.

And out from the covers, facing away from him, poked a head, ears laying low back and distressed, visible mostly because of the braid keeping his long hair contained, but even that was in sorry shape, flyaways and wisps falling out and tangling with each other on the pillow.

He had the covers pulled all the way up, nothing visible but just his head, and pulled tight around his shoulders, and something in Kravitz stretched and swelled and broke at the sight of it, like his soul had suddenly decided to rearrange itself inside his construct, and Kravitz couldn’t tell which way was forward or up or north, but knew, somewhere instinctive, that every single thing in him was pulling toward the figure of Taako, lying there in that bed.

“Hi,” Kravitz said, hardly thinking it, just breathing it, because it felt wrong not to greet him, to just climb into the bed, as badly as Kravitz wanted it, without an invitation.

“That you, bone boy?” Taako said, his voice barely audible.

“Yeah,” Kravitz breathed. Taako shifted indistinctly.

“C’mere.”

It had been so long since Kravitz had been alive, but something... something about stripping his jacket off, vanishing his shoes and his tie and his belt and his waistcoat until he was just comfortable in slacks and shirt and socks, and sitting down on the bed, it just...

Felt so mortal.

He sat down atop the covers, scooted over to lie beside Taako until he heard Taako say, “don’t be an idiot,” and his hand reached back, fluffing up the covers in a clear indication for Kravitz to get under.

So he did, with no small amount of awkward shuffling. Gods, how long had it been since he lay in a bed? How long had it been since he felt pillows against his head and the back of his neck? This was unprecedented, everything about this situation was entirely unprecedented.

But the moment he slid under the covers, Taako turned over, and snaked his arms around Kravitz’s waist, and buried his head in his chest.

And Kravitz was filled with something that felt so fragile and heavy, like it was pressing against the back of his eyelids and would run out of his eyes at any moment. Was mortality so full of feeling? He couldn’t remember ever being so full when he was alive.

He brought his arms up, hesitant, wrapping them gently around Taako in return, letting the weight of the limbs keep him pressed to Kravitz’s body.

There was something so wrong about his being here, here in this strange apartment, here in the bed of a savior of the entire universe, of all universes - 

“Cold,” Taako murmured.

“I’m sorry,” Kravitz said.

“Don’t be,” Taako whispered fiercely, pressing his cheek against Kravitz’s shirt even more, pressing against his construct skin. “Don’t be. You’re here.” 

Ah, but Taako, savior of all universes or not, had called upon Kravitz in his hour of need, had remembered him when the world was falling apart, and had wanted him enough to kiss him in the midst of the ashes.

That had to stand for something.

“Took you long enough,” Taako said from his chest. “A whole week.”

“You must at least allow me to be sorry for that,” Kravitz said back, whispered, all of it whispered. Something about the room so dark and still that it seemed a crime to disrupt it. “I had a lot of work to do, but I wanted to be with you, the whole time.”

“Did you mean what you said?” his voice wavered just ever so slightly, “on the Sapphire Mirror?”

Kravitz knew what he was referring to. He hadn’t gotten a close enough look in the dark to see if Taako had the spell up that was altering his appearance. He hoped he didn’t. He wanted, so badly, in this space, to be with Taako. So present and honest and true. He didn’t want Taako to hide anything from him.

So he said, “I did. I still do.”

Taako nodded, the feeling of his head rocking against Kravitz strange, and that was when when Kravitz notices that there was wetness soaking through his shirt. And that Taako was crying, silent tears slipping, sluggish, from the corner of his eyes.

And what could Kravitz possibly do? For someone like Taako, who has seen such horrible things, who has died and watched his loved ones die, over and over, who has had such a life so as to never, maybe never really have lived without crippling fear biting at his heels - for someone like him, any measures of consolation Kravitz could concoct would be useless. The grief that must have been pushing at every corner of Taako, such incredible grief for all the things he’s lost and found - there was nothing Kravitz could say to that. Even to try to do so would have felt so... disingenuous, with how much he knew of Taako’s past, and all without Taako’s consent. 

So when Taako said “hold me,” into the dark still space of the room, and the nothing between them, Kravitz took an unnecessary breath.

And pulled Taako in tight.

[thegingerwriter]

Istanbul - The Umbrella Academy #1

(Discontinued)

Characters: Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Five, May (my character) and Vanya Hargreeves.

Word Count: 3944 Words

Warnings: None I think. Occasional swear word, nothing that’s not in the dialogue in the show.

Things you need to know about the character, I’ve added:

- Her power is simply the ability to turn into a cat. No added effects. Just a cat. 

- She is Number 6 and Ben is now Number 7. 

- Her and Five have a very platonic friendship/relationship. Sorry if you thought that was an x reader. 

Hi guys! So I’ve been writing this first chapter since the Umbrella Academy first came out but I wasn’t sure if it was good enough to post! If you’ve watched The Umbrella Academy, this will be easier to understand. Thanks for reading xx

I fell onto Five, hearing him groan underneath me. “Sorry.” I mumbled, pushing myself off of him and rolling onto my back, landing in the dirt. Instantly I noticed I was, in fact, human. I was me again.

Five noticed this too, sitting up to stare at me. “May- you’re- you’re… you.” Five muttered. I guess we were both surprised to find me like this.

We continued to stare at each other and I realised me being human wasn’t the only thing to notice. Aside from me, Five was also different. He was a boy again- the same 13 year old that got himself stuck in the future all those many years ago. Another voice caused us to break out of it, suddenly remembering where we were.

“Is it just me, or do you guys also see little number Five and Six in front of us?” Klaus said and I looked up at him. At all of them. I barely recognised them now. 17 years later they’ve all grown up. Except for us apparently.

“Shit.” I said, glancing at Five who was also starring. Diego, Luther, Vanya, Klaus and Allison. It’s been so long. Five stood up next to me and I followed suit.

What exactly do we tell them? I thought to myself and I could tell Five was thinking the same.

“Anyone wanna explain?” Diego said.

* * *

I sat cross- legged on the bench of the kitchen, the rest of us dead silent as we watched Five at the table, spreading peanut butter on two pieces of bread. He seemed the most relaxed, despite the disbelief the others displayed.

“Wait- where you have you been again?” Allison asked.

“The future. Which sucks by the way.” Five didn’t look up from his peanut butter sandwich.

“Called it!” Klaus hollowered.

I fidgeted with my tattered clothes. “I see we only just missed the funeral.”

Luther looked up at me. “How did you-?” He started but Five cut him off.

“What part of ‘the future’ do you not understand?” He glanced at his sandwich before looking straight at me. “Ruby, could you pass-.” I didn’t let him finish as I chucked him a packet of unopened marshmallows on the bench next to me.

Peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. Now that is something I haven’t seen in a very long time. It’s a Five delicacy.

“You two have just been running around the future for 17 years?” Diego asked.

“We’ve been stuck in the future for…” Five paused to look up at me. “Forty five years, give or take.”

“So... what? You’re both 58?” Luther questioned, looking at the both of us suspiciously.

“No, my consciousness is 58.” Five corrected.

“But we’re both apparently 13 again, unfortunately. I blame him.” I said, nnoddingat him.

“I obviously miscalculated.” He responded, shooting me a look.

“How did you guys even get back in the first place?” Vanya asked.

Five stuffed his sandwich into his mouth, thinking for a second. “I still don’t know how I brought Ruby along with me but,” He swallowed. “In the end, I just had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time.”

The others all went silent. “That doesn’t make sense.” Diego confessed and the others nodded.

“Well it would if you were smarter.” Five retorted and Diego pushed his chair back roughly and stood up. I instantly jumped off the bench and stood in front of him, blocking his path to Five and pushing my hand against his chest. I gave Diego a warning look before he huffed and stepped back.

“What were you even doing in the future for so many years?” Klaus asked, suddenly contributing to the conversation.

“We just did whatever we could to survive. I would often try and figure out ways to get home and when Ruby wasn’t attempting to communicate with me I guess she was off chasing mice.” Five gave me a goofy smile and I glared at him.

“That’s not even remotely funny.” I said.

“It was a little funny.” He mumbled.

“You try being a cat for that many years and then you can make jokes.” I crossed my arms over my chest, about to say something else when Vanya stopped me.  

“Wait, what?” She stared at me in complete and utter disbelief. “Cat? You mean for 45 years you were there, you couldn’t change back?” The others looked at me.

I rolled my eyes at the sudden attention. “I’m gonna go change. Gotta be something that fits my 13 year old body.” I said, gesturing to the loose suit on my body.

I began to walk out of the room before Five called out to me. “Yea, me too. Not like this fits me either.”

“What- so that’s it? You’re not gonna tell us anything else?” Allison said and I didn’t even stop walking as I gave my response.

“Nothing else to tell.” I shrugged, and walked out of site.

* * *

Wonderful. That’s the only thing that fits, I thought to myself as I stared at myself in the mirror, As kids, the only clothes we really owned were our academy uniforms and pajamas so there wasn’t much to choose from in terms of outfits.

So I went for the full, regular uniform with the black blazer and my grey skirt. I guess looking like a schoolgirl was better than wearing the ruined clothes that were far too big for me that I had on before.

Sighing, I pulled a comb through my hair, straightening my uniform out right before I heard a knock at the door.

“Come in.” I called out, not even looking at the door. A moment passed and no one came in. I huffed and walked to the door, pulling it open to find an empty hallway.

Confused, I closed the door. Someone cleared their throat behind me and I jumped, turning to find Five sitting on my bed, dressed in his own academy uniform as well.

“Jesus Christ, don’t do that.” I breathed. “You scared me half to death.”

Five didn’t respond to this as he looked me up and down. “You look good.” He noted. I made a face at him and he smiled. He smoothed his hair out with his hands as we both went silent. “So go on then.” He said and I glanced at him in confusion.

“‘Go on’ what?” I said and Five frowned.

“You’ve been unable to talk to me for so long, you’re obviously ‘dying to say some things.”

I shrugged, walking over to sit on my desk. “Nothing in particular comes to mind.”

“Oh.” He raised his eyebrows. “I guess I just assumed you’d be mad at me or something-” I didn’t let him finish as I threw the plastic pencil cup off my desk at his head.

“Ow!” He cried, pushing a hand to his forehead after it bounced off and landed on the floor.

“Of course I’m mad with you, idiot!” I yelled at him, grabbing one of the pillows off my bed and throwing it at him again. “But don’t you think that would have worn off by now? We were stuck in the future for that many years because you decided to be a rebellious teenager and not listen to anything that dad ever told you about time travel!”

I went to throw another pillow at him but he teleported out of site. I didn’t even have to look behind me to know where he was.

I gave a heavy sigh and I sat on the bed, not even bothering to look up at him. “Yes, Five. I was mad at you. And some part of me will always hold a grudge against you for jumping so far into the future.” I met his gaze and he gave me those stupid sympathetic eyes that you could just never stay mad at for long. “But if I never tried to stop you, I would have spent the last 17 years here thinking you were dead.”

A silence filled the room again. “I’m sorry.” Five finally said but the words no longer mattered to me. I let it go a long time ago.

“Anyway.” I said into the silence. “I’m starving.”

“Wanna head down to the kitchen? Probably something down there.” He suggested, before he suddenly gave me a cheeky smile.

“What now?” I asked.

“Race ya.” He said, raising his eyebrows at me and I scoffed.

“We both know you always cheated at this game.”

He shrugged, striding over to the door. “It was always your choice to believe a cat could beat someone who could literally jump through space and time.”

Well, now I wanted to throw another pencil cup at his head. My eyes flicked to the open window and I could tell Five knew exactly what I was I was thinking. The kitchen was three floors beflow us. If I could jump out through the window and onto the second floor railing, I could easily- Five suddenly disappeared and I jumped off my bed.

I leaped for the window and as I did, I changed from human, to a fluffy dark gray cat, landing on the edge of the window before speeding down the railing and jumping onto Allison’s balcony.

I could see the kitchen window from where I was speeding along the drain pipes. I jumped onto the dumpster on the ground, directly across from the kitchen window. I couldn’t tell if it was closed or not but I leapt forward anyway, ready to change back as soon as I landed inside.

My face slammed into the glass, right as I saw Five, standing at the window, a stupid grin on his face as I fell backwards.

I climbed back up to the window, perching myself on the windowsill and waiting him to open it. He ignored me, walking away and leaving me to stare into the kitchen. I saw Diego and Allison sitting at the table, and I pawed at the window until they looked over and Diego rolled his eyes as he got up and pulled the window open, allowing me to jump through.

As soon as I landed on the ground, I was standing on two legs instead of four and I was smoothing my hair out on my head. “Jerk.” I said, glaring at Five.

“You know, for people who are 58, you’re still as childish as when you were kids.” Diego said and it sounded like an insult but I could see the laughter in his eyes. I gave him a smile but I don’t know if he thought it was sincere.

I was about to begin raiding the cupboard when Luther stuck his head into the room. “Hey guys, it’s almost sundown.” He informed us, before leaving again.

Diego and Allison went stuff and Five and I looked at each other. “Does he always come in and tell you what time of day it is?” Five questioned. Diego turned his head towards us but didn’t meet our eyes.

“Luther wanted to have a memorial service in the yard at sundown.” He explained.

“I guess food can wait then.” I said, as Diego and Allison got up to leave. Five and I stood there together again, silence surrounding us.

“A funeral for Dad. Joy.” He said bluntly, before following the others and I did the same.

Outside, it was bucketing down with rain. I stood in the doorway a few minutes later, looking at the others in the wet courtyard, black umbrellas over their heads. I smiled a little when I saw Pogo and Mum. I saw Pogo before briefly but I haven’t seen Mum in four and a half decades. It’s been a long time.

I hugged myself as I walked out into the rain without an umbrella before I suddenly saw Five appear beside me, holding an umbrella over the both of us. I gave him a grateful look before we joined the others.

Luther stood in the centre of the yard, obviously not bothering with an umbrella, holding Dad’s ashes in a stone urn. Allison and Vanya stood off to the side and I glanced over to Diego who also opted to just let the rain fall on him. I didn’t seem like he really cared. I nearly laughed when I saw Klaus walk out and join us with a clear plastic child umbrella and cigarette in his hand. I guess some things just never change.

We all just stayed silent, not really sure where to start. I huddled close to Five, the cold wind not making situation any more bearable. We only looked up when Mum spoke “Did something happen?” She asked, a blank look on her face.

“Dad died. Remember?” Allison said, looking at her skeptically.

“Oh. Yes, of course.” She replied sadly.

Allison turned to Diego with concern. “Is Mum okay?”

“She’s fine, yea. She just needs to rest. Recharge.” Diego answered quickly.

I gave Five a funny look and I could tell he understood. Something was obviously wrong.

Pogo interrupted our thoughts a moment later, looking at Luther. “Whenever you’re ready, dear boy.” He said kindly.

Luther was silent as he stepped forward, clutching the urn and took the lid off. He looked at each of us, as if expecting us to stop him or do something before he turned it over and poured it out into the middle of the yard.

The only thing we could hear was the rain bouncing off the umbrellas as we stared at the pile of ashes heaped on the ground.

“Does anyone wish to speak?” Pogo asked, moving towards the ashes with his cane. When none of us responded, he did so himself. “In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master… and my friend and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-” Pogo was interrupted when Diego jumped in.

“He was a monster.” Diego stared at the heap of ashes, as if hoping it would go up in flames. Klaus let out a chuckle as Diego kept going. “He was a bad person and a worse father. The world’s better off without him.”

“Diego.” Allison and I said warningly. There was no need to go that far.

“My name is ‘Number Two’. You know why? Because our father couldn’t be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mum do it. Five is still called by his number because he was the last one to get a name, but Mum never could give him one. That wouldn’t be the case if he had actually been a dad.”

“Would anyone like something to eat?” Mum cut in and asked cheerfully. There was clearly something wrong with her.

“No, it’s okay, Mum.” Vanya said.

Diego was louder when he spoke this time, angrier than he was before. “Look, you wanna pay your respects?” He stepped out into the middle of us. “Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kinda man he was.” He looked at Pogo.

“You should stop talking now.” Luther interrupted him. Diego turned to glare at Luther.

“You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One.” He said sarcastically.

“Guys, stop.” I spoke up but they ignored me.

“I am warning you.” Luther said, clenching his fists.

“After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away.” Diego stepped even closer to Luther and I could tell this was going to end badly.

“Diego, stop talking.” Luther warned.

“That’s how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!” Diego pushed his finger into Luther’s chest and this is the thing that very clearly fully set him off.

Luther pushed Diego’s hand away and immediately threw his arm out to punch him but Diego ducked under him and punched Luther in the stomach. Within moments, the two boys were in a heated fight.

Vanya pulled Mum back while Klaus put his arm out of in front of Five and I. We pushed his hand away in annoyance, but after Luther pushed Diego so hard he nearly fell into us, Five hooked his arm through mine and pulled me back, too.

“Boys!” Stop this at once!” Pogo yelled, sounding just like when were kids and the boys were fighting, all the same.

Diego and Luther completely ignored him as they fought in the rain, shoving each other and throwing punches. “Stop it!” Vanya screamed.

Luther grabbed Diego and threw him halfway across the courtyard, rolling across the leaves and the dirt.

“Cut it out!” I exclaimed, going to step forward but Five still had his arm looped through mine and wouldn’t let go. ‘Leave them’ he mouthed to me.

Pogo huffed and shook his head, turning to walk inside. The boys simply wouldn’t stop.

“We don’t have time for this.” Five said, as he turned on his heel and was about to walk back into the house when I stopped him. Diego was directly in front of Ben’s statue, obviously ready to crouch as soon as Luther swung his arm.

“Luther, don’t!” I yelled, but it was too late to stop him as he threw another punch at Diego and he ducked, Luther’s fist colliding with the metal statue.

The Bronze statue fell backwards, breaking in half as it did so. We all turned to stare at the broken figure of our brother, now in pieces on the ground thanks to the boys.

“And there goes Ben’s statue.” Allison said.

It looked like the boys were finally finished until Diego pulled one of his knives out. “Diego, no!” Vanya screamed at him, but he threw it at Luther, just cutting his arm as he jumped back.

Luther gasped and gripped his arm, storming past Diego and the rest of, inside the house.

Vanya walked up to Diego as Luther disappeared. “You never know when to stop, do you?” She asked.

Diego didn’t look at her as he leaned close to her. “Got enough material for your sequel yet?”

“He was my father, too.” She said, before going inside as well.

Just before I was about to follow the rest of the family out of the rain, I walked out from under our umbrella and up to Diego. “I may have been gone for seventeen years, but that doesn’t mean I don’t remember anything. Just because we didn’t necessarily like Dad, doesn’t say we get the rights to talk about him like that after he’s gone. Is it really fair to talk shit about someone when they aren’t here to defend themselves? Even if he really was a crappy person.”

Diego didn’t respond as he pushed past me, attempting to escort Mum undercover. I turned and walk with Five into the house, trying to forget about family drama for even just a moment.

* * *

I walked back into the kitchen again later with Allison. We had been looking for Vanya but couldn’t find her anywhere after the funeral. Instead, however, we found Klaus and Five.

Five didn’t look up at us as we entered, too busy flicking through cupboards and cabinets to really notice, or care probably.

Klaus sat at the head of the table, his legs up and his arms wrapped around around an electric guitar.

“Where’s Vanya?” Allison asked. Klaus looked up at her.

“Hmm? Oh, she left.”

“Five, what are you doing?” I walked over to him.

“That’s unfortunate.” He mumbled.

“What is?”

“An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee.” Five slammed a kettle on the bench and I jumped.

“Dad hated caffeine.” Allison said.

“Well, he hated children, too and he had plenty of us.” Klaus laughed, hugging the guitar to his chest. I snickered a little at that.

“I’m taking the car.” Five said, grabbing the car keys out of a bowl on the bench.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To get a decent cup of coffee.”

Allison stopped him. “Wait, do you even know how to drive?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

Five scoffed. “I know how to do everything.”

There was no way I was letting him go alone. Right before he disappeared, I grabbed a hold of his blazer and I teleported with him outside in front of Dad’s old car.

Five pushed my arm away when he realised I was beside him. “Do you not remember the last time you decided to do that?” He growled at me.

“Do you remember the last time you decided to run away from the family because you got pissed off?” I shot back. Five huffed and opened the door of the car, hopping inside and I did the same in the passenger side. 

He started the car and gave me one last look before pushing his foot on the pedal and we were off. It was only when he was speeding down the road did I finally ask him something. 

“Why do you suddenly need coffee so bad?” 

“You’re tryinging to tell me that after that many years eating whatever food scraps we could get our hands on, you don’t want a donut from Griddy’s?” He asked, glancing at me as he drove down the street. 

After a few minutes, the car rolled up in front of the diner. “Okay, wait here. I’ll see if they’ve got any donuts left for you.” He said and I scoffed at him. I was about to argue but he got out and slammed the door before I even had the chance to. “Jerk.” I mumbled, for the second time that day. 

As I watched Five enter the diner, the bell ringing as he pushed the door open, I recalled the memories I had of this place. We used to come here when we snuck out as kids when we were bored. Ate donuts until one or all of us threw up and then sneak back into bed like nothing ever happened. 

We never physically got caught, but some part of me always told me Dad always knew. Maybe he was just letting us have some fun for a change, which was something we never got to have as kids anyway. 

I looked through the window to find Five talking to an older man. A truck driver, I believed, since there were only two other cars in the carkpark out front and I had a feeling the pick up truck was his. 

I didn’t feel like staying in the car any longer, waiting for Five to drink his coffee, so reaching over to pull the keys out, I got out of the car, letting the door fall closed behind me. As I approached the door, it opened and the truck driver walked out, holding the door for a split second so I could walk through. I gave him a kind smile before walking up and joining Five at the bench. 

Looking straight ahead, Five said, “’Wait in the car’?” He repeated and I rolled my eyes. 

“I got bored. What’d you say to the truckie?” I leaned my chin on my hand, resting my elbow on the bench. 

“I got an address from him.” Five said, sliding a piece of paper across the bench to me. A clinic of some sort. 

“Why is this important?” I cocked my head at time. He looked distracted, looking at the curved mirror above him to see out into the parking lot. “Five?” 

“I’ll tell you later. We’ve got company.” 

* * *

By the way, Chapter titles are gonna be names of songs from that episode. Because I’m unoriginal :)

[aswithasunbeam]

August 1807

The words on Hamilton’s outline seemed to swim in the dim lamplight. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, vainly attempting to ease the dull headache between his temples. His back twinged with his movement, a now familiar throb in the base of his spine.

In the quiet of his office, he could hear Eliza humming in the next room. The sound drew closer, and, as he’d expected, he heard a perfunctory knock at the office door. Eliza admitted herself without waiting for his answer.

“Still working?” she asked, voice light and conversational as she dusted the spotless mantle. She’d taken to cleaning in here far more regularly than the room required; a way to stay close and keep an eye on him, he understood.

“Oral arguments for the motion to arrest the prosecution’s evidence are tomorrow morning,” he said. “I need to prepare.”

“I know, sweetheart,” she said. Her attention turned back to tidying the already perfectly tidy room, tacit permission for him to resume his work.

The argument had been mostly prepared for days, now, but he still labored over each phrase, rounding out each idea. He’d hardly spoken yet, his mere presence at the defense table enough to cause a stir without him speaking a word. He could feel the expectations for his eventual remarks mounting each day. Luther Martin had handled the opening argument and most of the cross examination of the witnesses, except where Burr had been unable to contain himself.

“How long did you work with Blennerhassett?” Burr had asked of Jacob Allbright on the second day of testimony, bouncing up out of his seat as soon as the George Hay had finished with the witness.

“Six weeks,” Allbright had answered evenly, eyes locked on the jury.

Burr moved around the table, approaching the witness box like a panther about to strike. “And at what time was it you saw me there?”

Allbright hesitated. His brow pinched together, and he looked to Hay nervously. The prosecutor sat back in his chair, frowning, but nodded him on. At last, Allbright answered, “I do not recollect.”

“The counsel for the United States know, I presume, this circumstance, and have testimony to ascertain it?” Burr pressed, smirking at the prosecutor now.

Hay’s expression was thunderous. “We do not, as far as I am informed.”

“If they have no objection, I will state when I was on the island.”1 A distinct smugness had entered Burr’s tone as he’d made the offer.

“We have no objection, Your Honor,” Hay had all but spit out.

“You may proceed, Mr. Burr,” Justice Marshall allowed.

“I was on Blennerhassett Island on the last day of August and the first day of September,” Burr reported to the jury before sauntering back to his seat.

Hamilton had watched the faces of the twelve men as Burr settled himself. Frowns of displeasure marked most of their faces. They hadn’t taken well to the performance.

“Don’t get cocky,” Hamilton had muttered, leaning towards Burr.

“I’m not,” Burr had replied, defensive.

“Juries don’t like smugness, and your life quite literally may depend on those twelve men’s favorable opinion of you.”

Burr had slid down somewhat in his seat, petulant as a child at Hamilton’s rebuke.

But where the jury were somewhat cool towards Burr, they were fascinated with Hamilton. He felt their eyes on him, scrutinizing his every movement and expression, waiting for him to address them. Hay had clearly noticed that phenomenon as well. When Hamilton had moved wrong during Commodore Truxton’s testimony on the first day, the twinge in his back making him wince, and Burr had touched a hand to his elbow in a gesture of concern, Hay had actually paused in his questioning to shout, “Objection!”

“You can’t object to your own questions, counselor,” Marshall had remarked dryly. An amused titter of laughter had risen from the journalists and spectators crammed in the back of the cramped Richmond district courtroom.

Hay’s cheeks had gone red. “I’m objecting to the stunt Mr. Burr is attempting with his counsel, Your Honor.”

“Stunt?” Marshall had asked.

“Mr. Burr touched Mr. Hamilton’s elbow when he winced.”

“Are you in pain, Mr. Hamilton?” Marshall had asked.

“I’m well, Your Honor.”

Marshall had given a put-upon sigh as he looked back at Hay. “Mr. Burr, please refrain from showing concern for Mr. Hamilton in front of the jury.”

“I shan’t even bless him if he sneezes, Your Honor,” Burr vowed.

The amused laughter had risen from the back of the room again.

Hamilton well understood Hay’s concern regarding the jury’s fascination with him. That breathless anticipation for his every word didn’t make his nerves any better. There was always a thrill to addressing a courtroom, a tingle of anticipation that built in his stomach like flapping butterfly wings, but the stakes tomorrow felt much higher.

Eliza resumed her humming as she picked up a stack of books to return to the shelf near his desk. Her hips swung subtly to the tune as she moved, he noticed, a fond smile starting on his lips. A pang went through his chest as he remembered all the times he’d stood with her on a dance floor, his hands resting on her hips, feeling her sway to violins. Seeming to sense his gaze on her, she looked back over her shoulder.

“What?” she asked coyly.

“I miss dancing with you,” he said.

“You can always dance with me, my love.”

He gave his legs a significant look.

She shook her head, shoved the last of the books onto the shelf, and sauntered over to him, tumbling into his lap. He let out a surprised puff of breath as he hastily reached out to embrace her. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

“Spin me,” she demanded, grinning.

With some slightly awkward maneuvering, he did manage to spin his chair in an approximation of a circle. It wasn’t anything like the way they used to dance, slow and graceful, anticipating each other’s movements, but with the weight of her body pressing against his torso, the warmth of her cheek on his, it seemed close enough. He laughed as he attempted to speed up their movement.

“That’s better,” she said, when his arms had grown to tired to keep wheeling them both around the office.

“What?”

“You’re smiling again. You were looking far too pensive when I first came in.”

“I’m nervous,” he admitted.

“You’re one of the best attorney’s in the country. You can’t help but do wonderfully. Whatever you say tomorrow, you’ll have every person in the room hanging on your every word.”

“That’s what’s concerning me. I understand Martin’s strategy to keep my remarks limited, that they might have the maximum impact when required, but it does create a heightened…expectation.”

“I’ll be right behind you,” she said. She’d staked out a seat directly behind the bar separating the well of the court from the public gallery on the first day, and no one had dared attempt to take it from her, despite the premium on space in the cramped courthouse. “There’s nothing you can say tomorrow that won’t make me proud.”

His smile brightened; the stress somehow dissipated by the reminder of her unwavering support. “Thank you, my angel.”

**

The courtroom was alive with chatter the next morning when Robert pushed his chair through the aisle towards the defense table. Necks craned as he moved past the crowds, eyes fixed on him. His stomach squirmed with nerves at the gawking. As he settled at the defense table, however, he felt a hand brush his shoulder. Looking around, he saw Eliza seated just behind him, as she’d promised she’d be last night. Jemmy was seated across the aisle in the same place, showing support for the prosecution, he noted.

“Go get him, sweetheart,” Eliza encouraged, her eyes moving towards Hay, who was rearranging papers at prosecution table.

He smiled.

A loud pounding proceeded the bailiff shouting in full voice, “Hear ye! Hear ye! All rise for the Honorable Chief Justice John Marshall. All those with business before this Honorable Court draw near, and you shall be heard.”

Marshall swept in through the rear door and sat on the bench, frowning in thought as his eyes swept over the briefs both sides had submitted. “The defense wishes to be heard on a motion?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” Hamilton said.  

“The jury will please step out while the Court considers oral arguments by counsel.”

Scrapping chairs and general grumbling sounded from the jury box as the twelve men who had only just taken their seats were ushered back out of the room. The eyes of the room followed their progress back out the door to the jury room. When the door was safely shut, Marshall looked to the defense table.

Luther Martin rose. A titan in the courtroom in his own right, Martin had defended Justice Samuel Chase in the 1805 impeachment trial. Hamilton more than trusted him to make the more technical side of their motion with deft skill.

“The indictment against Mr. Burr limits the prosecution to only evidence of his actions on Blennerhassett Island. By Counsel’s own admission, they have nothing further to submit before this Court to that very narrow issue to which they have confined themselves,” Martin began.

An hour passed, Martin ably establishing why the Court had little choice but the grant the defense motion to arrest the prosecution from submitting further, irrelevant evidence. The basis in law was irrefutable, concrete, but Hamilton knew that it alone would do Burr little favor in the public eye. The prosecution’s poor draftsmanship in the indictment would end the treason trial surely enough, but it would be a technical victory; the pall of suspicion around the former Vice President would remain.

“If it please the Court, my co-counsel will now submit arguments on this matter.”

“Mr. Hamilton?” Marshall invited.

“Yes, Your Honor.” With a last look at Burr, he pushed at the wheels of his chair to back himself out of his seat at the table and rolled towards the center of the room. Clearing his throat, he recited, “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

“Those are the words written in the Constitution. My learned colleagues for the United States have argued, and will, I’m sure, continue to argue, eloquently about the meaning of those words. If I may humbly submit, however, from personal experience, I know we who wrote the Constitution did not pull the definition from thin air or sudden divine inspiration. They were informed by the deep history of the law, stretching all the way back to the Statutes of Edward III.”

His nerves ease as he fell into arguments about precedent and legal meaning. Marshall nodded as he made his points, clearly agreeing with his thread of logic.

“There is a reason in law that we do not permit an accessory to a crime to be tried before a principal without a charge of conspiracy to make the underlying act their own. I would remind the Court that no single person from Blennerhassett Island at the time the prosecution alleges such treasonous actions to have been undertaken has been arrested, tried, or convicted of any offense. How then, could Mr. Burr be found guilty of treason for aiding or even inciting these activities? What crime has been committed? Were these men, in fact, levying war against the United States, as the Constitution requires? Why are they not here standing trial beside my client, then?

“And what, then, is the meaning of levying war? War is an appeal from reason to the sword; and he who makes the appeal evidences the fact by use of the means.2 The United States has failed to prove that Mr. Burr, or anyone for that matter, used those means.”

He maneuvered himself that he might address the greater room along with Marshall. “Many of you know that Mr. Burr and I have had…difficulties, in the past.” A swell of laughter rose from the onlookers at the carefully selected phrase. “I have no reason to make arguments on technicalities to set my client free. This isn’t a matter to be decided on clever legal maneuvering or moldy precedent. It is a matter of justice. Perhaps God spared my life for this purpose, to see the Constitution and all it’s promised protections preserved. We are Americans. We, like our fathers before us, fought and bled to see our liberties preserved, that we might not be bound by the dictates of a tyrant. There is no evidence against my client, save that which has come down from an office on high.”

Jemmy’s face darkened, and he fidgeted in his seat behind Hay, as though itching to make a retort. He’d caught the references to Jefferson, the allegations that he had abused his office by pronouncing Burr guilty before the trial had even begun. Marshall, however, appeared to take the argument seriously, his pen moving across the paper to make a note.

“I ask the Court to find in favor of the defense’s motion to arrest the prosecution of submitting yet more evidence which can only be called corroborative, at best. And if they have nothing more to add on the subject at hand, the jury must be left to their deliberations. God will justice be done.”

Marshall gave him a deliberate nod, and Hamilton felt tension in his chest ease.

“Mr. Hay? Have you a rebuttal?” Marshall invited.

Whatever arguments Hay might have devised, Hamilton felt certain that Marshall’s decision would fall in like the with the defense. The jury would be left to deliberate, and without further evidence by the prosecution, would be bound to find Burr not guilty. When he’d rolled back to his seat, Hamilton gave Burr a companionable nudge.

“I think congratulations will be due to you tomorrow, Mr. Burr,” Hamilton whispered, adjusting to ease another twinge in his back, sharper than the others had been.

Little did he know in the moment, that he wouldn’t be present to give Burr any such well wishes.