#man driving me so insane he brings out the german

[skibasyndrome]

IN GOTTES NAMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kittenchancorruptionarc]

It is not a breeze. It is a typhoon, smell so wretched and sudden it brings silence with it. The lights flicker, inundating the room with darkness once… twice…

What shows up first is the fire. It crackles within broken rotten ribs, shining bright between the flashing lights. Then… his eyes.

Not tawny, or honeyed, but with the same vicious desire they held in life.

“So soon?”

It is a rhetorical question, the satisfaction as clear on it as the thick German accent. The demon does not move, eyes shining down, watching intently… his body is still mostly out of sight.

[Fox had been waiting in anticipation, sitting on his bed and nervously toying with his hands as he waited. Waited. Agonizingly Waited for HIS arrival. He was wearing nothing but a fancy, red silk robe that barely covered his body. He had a stash of cigars, lubricant to prevent any bleeding this time…hopefully, wine, and various “tools” behind him. Oh, he came well prepared this time.

Then it finally happened. The lights flickering. That rancid stench. The “breeze” that could knock someone off their feet. Finally. The wait was over.

The beastkins orange eyes lovingly looked into the demonic black and green eyes staring down at him, fueled by a similar, strong desire.

It was obvious they both wanted to see each other again.]

“Indeed. I couldn’t wait any longer. It was driving me fucking insane…~”

[The older man’s voice sounded MUCH more confident then last time, when he was a whimpering, scared mess as his viewers watched the pairs “reunion”. Was this a front? Did he finally grow a REAL spine after that incident? Who knows. It was…very new regardless.]

“You know exactly why you’re here again, don’t you?”

[superzombiewho]

It’s too late

This is from @janilee’s Post-Revelations Edward and Nikolai edit. I got permission to make a short fic. This whole thing is dedicated to them. And I give them 100% credit. I just loved the idea and wanted to do something.

I apologize if it’s bad.

But Janilee, I hope you like it. Enjoy everyone!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He had been acting unusual. Well more so, if that was possible. He kept blowing off the Russian, coming up with excuses to not talk to him, saying there was much to do. This was more unusual than their constant bickering at each other.

It was so unusual that Dempsey and Takeo noticed.

There were many nights where the two would let the Russian rant about Edward. They were slowly getting annoyed, getting sick of Nikolai’s whining and Edward’s excuses.

There were times that Takeo tried talking with the German, but he never got anywhere with it. Even Dempsey had tried to talk with him, but all he got was a, “Vhy do jou care, Dempshey?”

I mean. What were you expecting to happen? Edward actually cooperate? This is Richtofen we’re talking about. He speaks in riddles, he talks to himself. His answers never make sense and are never straight forward.

So what do Dempsey and Takeo plan? To pair the two of them up. Not even both Edward’s together or Nikolai’s together, not Primis Edward with Ultimis Nikolai, non of that.

Just Eddie and Nik together.

What could go wrong?

Nikolai was keeping watch for the undead while Edward did what he had to do in the lab. Making sure the German wouldn’t die.

“What was the point?” Nikolai would think. “It’s not like he would care.”

But the silence was driving Nikolai insane. The smell and the flickering lights didn’t help.

“Why do you ignore me?” He asked.

Edward stayed quiet. But his working paused for a bit. He shook his head and continued.

“Do not ignore me any longer, German!”

“Zhere is much to do.”

Nikolai just looked at him dumbfounded. Really? That excuse again?

“Ever since the house, you’ve hardly spoken to me, or even looked at me! You’ve even stopped your bickering at every single thing I do! What happened?!”

“Jou really don’t remember, do you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do jou remember vhere ve vere before zhe house?”

That made Nikolai stop and think. Where were they again? So much has happened, everything doesn’t make sense anymore.

“Mein Gott, jou don’t.”

Edward’s mouth turned upwards in an evil smirk.

“Do jou know vhy Edvard alvays bickered vith jou?”

Why was he talking about himself in the 3rd person?

“Did jou know zhat he had feelings for jou?”

“Why are you talking like that?”

“Did jou know zhat he never said anyzhing because he didn’t know how jou vould react?”

Memories of catching extra long glances from Edward popped in his head.

Nikolai looked at the ground.

“Jou just found out jou liked him back. Didn’t jou?”

Nikolai never looked up.

“I didn’t want to say anything. In case you didn’t return those feelings.

Edward chuckled darkly.

“Of course you could have been together. Edward loved you the moment he laid eyes on you.”

Nikolai remembers that day in France, at the dig site. He was there to bring the German doctor into questioning. He remembers the gun pointed at the man who had just finished killing his father figure, a request from Maxis. He remembers the damaged man.

“He was just scared of his feelings.”

Nikolai remembers all the times he would yell at the German man about a thing going wrong in a mission. He remembers the man cowering before him. The regret in Richtofens eyes.

He also remembers when he would pick up something heavy, muscles flexing a little, Edward would always blush and look away.

He also remembers some conversations, Edward would stutter.

“For all his cockiness, he didn’t know how to act around you.”

His memory goes back to Nikolai helping Edward when ever he got down, or when ever no one else was there to help, he would yell at the Russian.

Nikolai hears yelling in the back of his head.

‘I’m still here’

‘No’

‘Nikolai!’

“And you know Edward,” Edward walks up to the Russian and leans up to his ear. Nikolai’s eyes widen at the voice in the back of his head.

“He likes to,” Edward whispers.

‘I vas zhe nicest one. Und jou von’t even… remember’

“Run.”

‘I love… you’

[i-dont-write-as-often-as-id-like]

The French Resistance, Chapter 3

Thursday, March 9th, Paris, France

I held the book Sebastian had given me the night before, Der Tod in Venedig. I tilted my head a bit, I couldn’t bring myself to read it. Even though I wanted to, I couldn’t. I sighed tiredly; it was too early for me to go to work, and I had nothing to do. I set the book on my desk carefully and headed downstairs, looking at the clock that hung next to my bookshelf. Shit, it was only 4am. I cringed at the thought of having to wait two more hours until I could go to work, two hours god I could not stand this early morning. I looked around, even Clarisse was still asleep. I groaned in frustration and walked outside, looking around. The street was silent, nobody was outside aside from a few resistance members I recognized. I stepped onto the broken concrete and walked towards Magnus’ bar; he was always open. I carefully stepped over the bricks and misplaced concrete that lay around on the ground. I ignored the resistance bustling about, unbothered by their glares. I was used to it. How could I not be? 

I stepped inside Magnus’ bar, rubbing my eyes a bit “Good morning Magnus, awake as always?” He nodded, chuckling a bit and grabbing me a beer and leaning on the counter. “I can’t fall asleep, so I decided I should come and visit.”

”I’m happy you thought of me, but you need your sleep, Ian, you have work today. Today’s my day off, one it’s eight, at least.” I nodded, sitting on one of the bar stools. “Something on your mind tonight? Sebastian? That coworker of yours? What?”

”Sebastian, it’s always Sebastian Magnus..” he just nodded and smiled, pushing the beer over to me. “That man… he just, I don’t know, he just pushes every one of my buttons in the right way… I don’t get him. He straight, he’s said so himself, yet… the way he acts, with me, seems to say the exact opposite. I just don’t get him. I don’t understand how a man like him is okay with the Reich, the only thing he has that they like is that he’s German, and ‘straight’ as he says.”

”I don’t know, you know the man far better than I do Ian, he doesn’t even come here, I just know him from what you’ve talked about.” I sighed, grabbing the beer and swishing the heavy glass mug around a bit. “I still don’t get how you’re such good friends with a man who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, and is highly against smoking. I mean, Ian, you reek of smoke, smoke and your honey lavender soap.” 

“He’s just always been there, he’s an amazing friend, even if he does drive me insane lecturing me about smoking. I know he just cares about me.” I took a swig of the beer, letting out a content, comfortable sigh. “And in my opinion he cares too much. As Sweet as it is it’s just too much, y’know?”

”So you’ve said my dear friend.” I heard him chuckle a bit, a smile on his face as he topped off my beer. I looked up at him, raising an eyebrow “You know you’ll get drunk either way, Ian.” He pursed his lips, god I both loved and hated how he did that. With a click of my tongue I reluctantly drank the beer, at least it was soothing and I could feel fog creeping up in my brain. It was nice, not to think. It felt like heaven. Magnus kept filling up my cup, and I kept drinking, I hated to admit that I was a bit addicted. It only took a few minutes before everything was foggy, Magnus finally taking away the glass. I pushed myself off of the stool, stumbling a bit as I held my head. 

“Ugh…. My head-hic-hurts…” I mumbled, grabbing the counter to steady myself. “This is… m-hic-more drunk then I normally-hic-get…” I couldn’t see properly, Magnus was just a blur and then, with a thud I hit the ground, the world around me going black. I felt myself being dragged somewhere, the scratching of rough wool carpet burned my back. Occasionally the world would blink into my mind, but as fast as it came it disappeared. The last thing I remembered seeing was a car. 

“Ian~ it’s time to wake up bud, you’ve been out for a bit~” there was a light slap to my face as I blinked my eyes open, in-front of me was a fuzzy figure that I could vaguely recognize as Magnus. I went to speak but I found my mouth shut with a cloth. “Finally, you’re up. You know, they paid me a good bit of money, to bring you in.” He purred, grabbing my jaw and studying my face. My heart was pounding against my ribs, it hurt. There was such a disgusting grin on his face. “Such a Same you’re a homosexual, your genes would have been perfect for the Reich.” 

“Loosil, you have the traitor, correct?” I heard Heilmann’s voice, the door creaking open. “How sad, Goldblatt, you were a great worker.” I couldn’t help but start crying, fear gripping my soul.

”Mhm, hear he is, Officer.” Magnus grinned, “All tied up.” Heilmann nodded, grabbing me by the hair. 

“You’re pathetic, Goldblatt. Pathetic.” I looked to Magnus, begging him with my eyes to help.

”Oh Ian, did you really think I was your friend?” Magnus laughed, mocking me, his silvery eyes staring down at me “Why would help such a pathetic man? Even the resistance is less pathetic than you. Enjoy life in prison.” Heilmann laughed as well and I was dragged out of the room, my vision going dark once again…

“I… Ian…. IAN!” I was roughly shaken awake, tears pouring down from my eyes. “Ian! Jesus Christ Ian-“ Magnus sighed out, Sebastian standing next to him. I opened my mouth, a slurred mess of words coming out. “Ian, good god you hit your head hard, you hit it off the damn counter!” I slowly reached my hand up to feel my head, wincing as I felt bandages.

“I was so worried- Loosil had called me, and when I came to help you, you were bleeding so much, I thought you were going to die Ian!” Tears were in his eyes as he spoke, his lips trembling. 

“S…sorry Sebastian…” I forced out, struggling to smile. My head hurt so badly. “I didn’t mean too…”

”Just rest, shut up and rest Ian.” He hissed, hugging me tightly. “Please, I was so, so scared… I never want to have to see you like this again. Now rest.” I nodded, and fell back asleep, the soft feeling of lips on mine lulling me back into the dark.

[dollystuartwrites]

Not Holding Back - Chapter 12

Pairing: Boss!JacksonWang x f!PersonalAssistant!reader

Genre: fluff, smut, obsessive behavior, Jackson-is-a-fashion-designerAU

Wordcount: 1904

Chapters: [1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11] - [12] - [13] - [?]  MASTERLIST

Summary: When Y/N starts working as a personal assistant for the director of TEAM WANG DESIGN: Jackson Wang himself, she finds it hard to hide her secret. After all, she used to be a massive stan of her boss! But she's not the only one holding back...

Warnings: Swearing, some angst, degradation, sir kink, namecalling,  masturbation, obsessive!Jackson, dirty talk, corruption kink?, praising, sexual fantasies, fingering, posessive!Jackson, grinding/humping by both parties, multiple orgasms, overstimulation, use of sex toys, lots of teasing, orgasm denial, breeding/impreg kink?, WILL ADD MORE AS STORY ADVANCES, PLEASE LMK IF I MISSED ANY

That night he didn't contact you either.

Nor did you speak to him at work the next day.

Day by day passed without you speaking to him. Sure he'd send you emails of things he needed you to do for him, but they were always short and formal. And whenever you needed to take something out of his office or bring something back, he wasn't there.

With every passing day, the events of that Sunday were starting to feel more and more unreal.

It didn't help that you were absolutely fucking craving for him. His touch, his attention, his kiss, his voice, his eyes... At this point, you'd just be happy to see him wave at you.

Your mind kept replying to the events of Sunday, trying to find a fault in something you had done or said, any reason why he was ghosting you right now. But whenever that happened your brain just got stuck in the heated part, leaving you horny and even more needy for him.

It was driving you insane.

By the time it was Thursday, you had turned into a miserable mess of despair and craving. You felt exhausted and even Elisabeth started to notice that there was something wrong.

'Erm, Y/n,' she said Thursday afternoon. You looked up from your desk to her.

'You were supposed to send this to the client, but you send it to me,' she said, a light crease between her eyes.

'Oh right,' you said feeling stupid.

'And I think you also might wanna change Mr. Espresso to Mr. Ereppos. The man is Latin, not a coffee,' she added.

You sighed and nodded.

'Yo, Y/n, Elisabeth,' Jay B came looking around the corner a few hours later.

The two of you looked up at him.

'I just ran into Seunie, he needs you both in his office,' he said with a nod and a smile.

'Be right there,' Elisabeth answered instantly as she typed something in quickly on her computer and got up.

Jay B nodded and left.

Your heart had started pounding and your legs felt like lead as you got up too.

He wanted the two of you in his office.

Why?

Had you done something wrong?

But Jay B smiled, so it couldn't be that bad.

But maybe he didn't know what it was about.

Chewing nervously on your lip you and Elisabeth made your way to Jackson's office. Elisabeth didn't seem at all bothered by the sudden call. She walked her usual elegant walk and looked quite calm.

As soon as you step into his office it felt like you got hit by a truck again. The perfect contours of his face just seemed overwhelming.

'Ah great, you're here,' he said when he saw the two of you come in. He seemed calm too, not at all bothered by your appearance as you were by his.

'You called,' Elisabeth said jokingly.

'Yeah, Elisabeth, you speak a little Dutch right?' Jackson asked her.

'Dutch yes, not German. Don't get those mixed up,' Elisabeth said with a raised eyebrow.

'Yeah, I meant Dutch. How well do you speak it?' he asked.

'Pretty well, I mean, my mom is Chinese but my dad is Dutch and we used to speak more Dutch at home than Chinese,' Elisabeth said shrugging.

'Do you think you'll be able to talk to a potential client in Dutch?' Jackson asked.

'Yeah, I think I should be alright. And the Dutch a pretty well versed in English so I'll think it'll be fine,' Elisabeth answered.

'Good. I've been contacted by a Mrs. Jansen and she's interested. Can you reach out to her by e-mail and make an appointment with her as soon as possible?' Jackson instructed.

Elisabeth nodded. 'Sure, anything else?'

'Hmm,' he said looking at his watch. 'It's fine. It's almost 6 so feel free to leave it 'till tomorrow. You all worked hard today,' Jackson said friendly.

'Sure, see you tomorrow then,' Elisabeth said and she turned around and walked towards the door. You followed her.

'Y/n, can you spare me a minute?' Jackson said calmly before you reached the door.

You stopped and turned around. You could hear the door close behind you, Elisabeth had left.

Your heart was pounding so hard, you were sure he could hear it. You didn't know where to look or how to look at him.

'Come here,' he said. His voice had changed. It wasn't calm as calm anymore and it seemed to have dropped in pitch.

You walked to his desk, stopping at the other side of it but not looking at him.

You heard footsteps and you knew he had walked around the desk to come and stand next to you.

'Look at me baby,' his husky voice said softly as he used his finger to lift your chin up to face him. There was a sparkle in his eyes and the corners of his mouth were turned upwards.

'I'm sorry I've had so little time for you this week, but you know how busy I've been,' he spoke. You knew he meant it but didn't reply.

'Are you mad at me?' He asked you, a small frown on his face.

You shook your head.

'You have the right to be though. I would be pissed if you'd ghost me like that all week,' he admitted. He let his hand stroke your cheek and you closed your eyes at his touch.

'Hmm so good for me,' he hummed.

'Jackson' his name rolled of your tongue without your consent.

'Yes, baby?' he spoke, his voice in your ear, his warm breath on your skin making you shiver.

You let out a deep sigh and opened your eyes slightly.

His face was close to yours and his eyes were partially hooded. His lips moved towards yours and your opened your mouth for him. But he only brushed his lips over yours softly and momentarily. Hungry for his kiss you tried to move with him, but he pulled back slightly, a playful grin on his face. He dipped in once more, brushing his lips over yours, breathing into your mouth, but not really kissing you.

'Jackson,' this time his name sounded like an actual moan.

'Tell me what you want baby,' he whispered.

'Kiss me,' you said instantly, your hands finding his and intertwining.

'Say please,' he taunted. You weren't in for games right now. You needed him.

'Please,' you breathed, instantly giving in. Jackson finally pressed his lips against yours and it felt like your heart was swelling up like a balloon. One of his hands slid upwards to cup your face, as the other stayed fingers intertwined with yours.

He kissed you slowly, lazily, deeply this time. Although not as hungrily as before, it was still enough to start a pooling in your panties.

You let go of his hand and started fumbling at his pants wanting to undo the belt. Jackson groaned into your mouth and pulled back.

'So eager for me,' he said lowly. You mewled in frustration and he chuckled. 'I know you just can't wait for me to fill you up good,' he spoke the words slowly, 'but you have to earn it,'

You were feeling frustrated and angry. You were horny as fuck and had been clenching around nothing for almost a week. You had behaved and not contacted him or bothered him at all. You had even done all your work and corrected every little mistake you made almost instantly. How had you not earned this?

You let go of his pants and stared at him angrily.

'I know you're pissed off baby, but I got a gift for you,' he said mysteriously. You couldn't help but be interested.

'I bought you something nice, and I want you to wear it to work for me tomorrow. If you do, I promise you, I will reward you,' he spoke. From his pocket, he took a small square box. It was dark velvet red, with a ribbon tied around it. You took it from him and went to open it but he stopped you again.

'Open it when you get home, okay?' he said kissing you on your cheek.

You looked at him questioning but he just smiled cheekily at you.

You had rushed home as fast as you could. Jackson's gift seemed to  burn in your bag and you quickly threw yourself and the bag on your bed.  

Sitting on your knees on the bed, you took out the small box like it was some sort of holy grail.

With shaking hands, you opened it.

Your mouth fell open.

It was not at all what you had expected.

You  recognized the round oblong shape immediately. It was a soft pink color  that stood out sweetly and innocently against the dark red velvet of  the box.

Your mouth suddenly felt very dry, and you swallowed.

Carefully  you took the sex toy out of the box. Although not a full-on dildo, it was still bigger than any bullet toy you had owned before.

For a moment you just sat there staring at the ty in your hand. Then you realized something.

He wanted you to wear this...

To work...

He had to be crazy, insane.

How would you be able to work with your pussy filled up like that? And even worse, knowing that he would know you'd be wearing it for him.

Did he want you to make mistakes while working? Did he want you to ruin his company?

No, you wouldn't do it. Fuck any reward he'd give you, this was insane. You simply couldn't...

xxx

'Goodmorning Y/n,' Jay B said friendly as you walked into the office.

'What? Oh yes, g-good morning,' you said jumpily.

'Already with your head into work I see,' he laughed.

'Yeah,'  you smiled slightly uncomfortable as you went on your way. You could feel the toy shifting inside you, pressing against your walls in a spot that made your knees jittery.

You had just sat down in your office and were readjusting your position hoping to shift the toy inside you to a place where you wouldn't feel it as much when Elisabeth came in.

'Good morning,' she said in her usual cheerful way. You smiled and nodded at her and quickly stopped squirming on your chair, hoping she hadn't seen.

You opened your email and read the first new email. You had barely gotten through it when the door opened again.

It was Jackson. Your heart stopped.

'Goodmorning ladies,' he said smiling politely. You both greeted him. 'Elisabeth, don't forget that Dutch client Mrs. Jansen,' he reminded her.

'On it,' she nodded curtly.

Then suddenly something happened. Inside of you, the thing had started vibrating softly. Filled with shock and terror you straightened your back and looked at Jackson. It took only a second but it was enough. He glanced at you, his eyes mischievous, and his hand moved in an odd way. He was holding something small. Concealing it in the palm of his hand.

'Oh and don't forget we have like three meetings today,' he reminded her casually.

'Jia'er, how long have I been working here?' Elisabeth said with a dead stare and annoyed tone.

'I was just saying,' Jackson shrugged, putting his free hand up in defense. 'Oh, and Y/n,' he began, he turned to you now, his back to Elisabeth. His eyes were shining and his lips curled.

'I want you to attend all of the meetings too,' he said simply. You couldn't answer.

His closed fist spasmed.

The toy inside you started vibrating a little harder.

'See you in ten minutes then,' he said plainly before walking out.

It was clear.

Jackson Wang was insane.

[earnestly-endlessly]

Hi! I'm wondering if you can make a list of fics where Erik's jewish heritage isn't ignored? I just came across the fact that a lot of authors don't explore this part of him for some reason and i found it kinda upsetting so i'm wondering if you have any recs! I liked "As They Kiss, Consume" and "Who Shall be King Hereafter" by sherwoodfox, in case anyone who's reading this ask is interested in the same topic.

Hi Anon. I'm sorry for taking so long with this list but your request sent me on a wide search for fics that fit with your request. I tried to find a variety of fics where Erik's Jewish heritage is addressed. Some of them aren't necessarily cherik, but most of them are. I hope you enjoy this list.

Mistletoe, Latkes, and Long-Term Revenge Strategies – pocky_slash

Summary: Charles knows that Erik hates working at a department store in the best of times. Being Jewish in a department store during the holiday season is far from the best of times. He does what he can to help.

A Nice Boy (the Family Matters Edition) – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

A Road Trip to Pennsylvania – Aainiouu

Summary: For a year Charles has nurtured the biggest and most embarrassing crush known to man towards Erik. They are friends and roommates and when Erik asks Charles to accompany him to home on Thanksgiving of course Charles goes.

In the Bleak Midwinter – keire_ke

Summary: It is not easy to find out, well into the second decade of the twenty-first century, that your mother arranged a marriage for you. It is even less easy to convince her that you have no interest in the very fertile Magda, she of the wide hips and lustrous auburn hair. Fortunately, with a good friend at his side over the holiday weekend, Erik is sure he will prevail.

Speech Making – phalangine

Summary: Modern Emma AU- Charles Xavier, accomplished matchmaker and headmaster of North America’s preeminent school for mutants, intends to add another notch to his belt: setting up his friend Moira. His oldest friend, Erik, has doubts about this plan.

Charles doesn’t share them.

This is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

Summary: Edie Lehnsherr came into Charles' life long before he ever heard Erik Lehnsherr's name, and her death left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone in Charles' family. As the first Purim without her approaches, he begins to get creative in his efforts to bring everyone out of their grief. Kitchen creativity, however, is not quite his strength....

Bashert – AvengingAngel

Summary: Erik and Charles meet and fall in love. I wanted to write a story where Erik had a huge family. Pretty fluffy (for me anyways). I suck at summaries.

Note: The summary doesn’t reveal much but if you’re looking for a fic where Erik is jewish and has a large family with a heavy dose of cherik fluff and angst then this one is for you.

Math Reasons – pearl_o,  pocky_slash

Summary: "Mom says Erik always knows what he wants, it just sometimes takes him a little while to actually realize it," Ruth said.

Charles fell in love with Erik the first night they met, the first week of freshman year. Two years of friendship, adventures, arguments, hijinks, secrets, and summer visits later, Erik is starting to catch up.

Ser

It’s kind of our whole things – pearl_o, pocky_slash

Summary: After two years of best friendship, Charles and Erik thought they knew everything there was to know about each other. They're surprised, then, when their first summer as a couple reveals that they have a lot to learn about each other and themselves.

Sequel to Math Reasons

A Winter in New York – nextraordinaire

Summary: Charles and Erik have been childhood friends for as long as they can remember – Erik, living with his mother in Queens, and Charles in the big mansion in Westchester. For all, expect themselves, it was just natural progression that they'd end up together.

A series of ficlets from the same universe – can be read as separate and are out of chronological order.

Baby, It’s Cold Outside – heyjupiter

Summary: "It's just, this is my first Chanukah away from my parents. And it's--it's like 90 degrees out."

Erik Lehnsherr and Kitty Pryde celebrate a Genoshan Chanukah. It's a little different from the way it used to be in New York, but some unexpected visitors help them embrace the spirit of the holiday season.

Hold Back the Rain (front!strict mashup) – euphorbic

Summary: Charles Xavier: society darling, powerful political activist, well-known professor, and Dominant.

Erik Lehnsherr: anti-social, international motorcycle racer, and defiant submissive.

Erik is at Sepang in Malaysia for the fourteenth leg of the International World Championship. After doing poorly in qualifying, he's furious to find he has to take another VIP around the track instead of meeting Charles at the KL airport.

The Swan – waitfornight

Summary: In 1939 Erik and his sister Ruth are sent to Devonshire, England, during the Kindertransport refugee program to live with Kurt and Sharon Marko as foster children just before the start of World War II. Angry and wishing he could return home on the night of his seventeenth birthday, Erik meets a boy alone in the forest who is cursed to transform each day into a swan, only taking his true form by night.

Swan Lake AU.

The boy with the heart on his sleeve – euphorbic

Summary: Charles loses a high-stakes bet to Raven and is required to get a tattoo. However, when he makes a disparaging remark about the art form, Raven's acerbic mentor, Erik, steps in.

Or, the one where Erik and Raven are tattoo artists.

The Wurst Case Scenario – sareyen

Summary:If anyone asked why Charles, come rain, wind or shine, made the significant trek during his dismal lunch hour to dine at "Edie's Kosher Delicatessen", he would stubbornly say that it was because their pastrami on rye and potato knishes were absolutely to die for. He wasn't completely lying, because the deli's namesake, Edie Lehnsherr, made the best matzah ball soup Charles has ever had in his life. Still, Charles would rather shave his full head of hair off than admit that the real reason he would willingly walk through hail and fire to get to the corner deli was because of Erik, the insanely attractive man working the counter.

Sure, Erik has barely spoken two words to Charles other than "Hello, what can I get you?" or, after the third day in a row that Charles came to the deli, "Welcome back, what can I get you?", but Charles was more than happy to just ogle at the man from afar while devouring the juicy wurst Erik had put together with his (large and very capable) hands.

But, little does Charles know, Erik doesn't usually work the front counter. He only does it when he knows the cute blue-eyed man will be dining in.

This is life (and everything’s all right) – pocky_slash

Summary: Edie Lehnsherr came into Charles' life long before he ever heard Erik Lehnsherr's name, and her death left a gaping hole in the lives of everyone in Charles' family. As the first Purim without her approaches, he begins to get creative in his efforts to bring everyone out of their grief. Kitchen creativity, however, is not quite his strength....

c'est regarder ensemble dans la même direction – melonbutterfly

Summary: Since that day on the beach, Charles and Erik have learned to agree to disagree for the sake of living and working together. Then, for Christmas, and Charles gives Erik Hanukkah back a second time, and their relationship shifts a little further.

Terrible Hanukkah Sweaters and Other Life Challenges – professor

Summary: “Why am I here again?” Erik groans.

“I need you to lift things and glower at people over my shoulder when I tell people that it’s not ‘politically correct’ or a ‘war on Christmas’ to have a non-denominational winter holiday festival,” says Theresa Pryde.

Well, at least those are two things he’s good at.

Shrapnel – librata

Summary: It's late 1940, and tensions between the Axis and the Allies are tightening. Displaced and alone, 16-year-old German Jew Erik Lehnsherr finds himself employed as a servant by some snobby, terrible family in England whose house is far too big and whose money never seems to end. The worst part is, he isn't just mucking stables or cleaning plates–-he's tasked with tending to the whiny, disabled son named Charles, who might just drive Erik into absolute madness.

Or, the World War II fic in which Erik and Charles experience a changing world and a lot of teen angst.

Defying Expectations – Baamon5evr

Summary: Charles and Erik meet each other’s family. Neither of them gets what they expect.

table for three – pocky_slash

Summary: Erik should have known to call ahead to the Chinese restaurant--it's Christmas Eve and he lives in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood, after all. But before he can go home to mourn the loss of another one of his mother's yearly traditions, he's accosted by a teenage girl with a strange proposition--that he should stay and have dinner with her and her mother, instead.

different from all other nights – metonymy

Summary: "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free." Kitty and Erik host a seder for Passover at the Xavier School.

Libertad – ariadnes_string

Summary: Erik knew the look, had seen it his whole life, even before the war.  ”You, with your height and blue eyes and straight nose, you can pass. You can be free of us. You are not marked with your difference.” If you only knew, he’d thought then. He thought the same thing now. And it was that thought, as much as anything, that made him move towards the gate.

Wash Away – sebastian2017

Summary: One quiet, lonely morning, before Yom Kippur, Erik makes his way to the sea in search of forgiveness.

After? There is No ‘After’ – Unrepentant_Marvelist

Summary: Erik knows what he is for. He has known his responsibilities as a survivor since the moment he woke under a scratchy, lice-infested blanket in the Red Army hospital. His world is painted in lucid blacks and whites (so often splashed in red) and there is no room for uncertainty or indecision... until a certain sunburned Englishman throws himself into his world.

The Children of an Idle Brain – Margo_Kim

Summary: Sometimes, when he’s lucky, Schmidt can’t hurt him. It’s like there’s a room inside of Erik’s head that’s he’s usually locked out of, that won’t open no matter if he beats himself bloody against it. On those days, he endures. But sometimes—and Erik doesn’t know why, whether it’s that the stars align or some higher power takes pity or Erik screams loud enough to earn his reward—the door opens. Erik can duck inside and slam it behind him and watches himself through the windows as Schmidt slowly, methodically tortures him to strength.

These days, this past week, there’s a boy in the room with him and he tells Erik, “That’s horrible,” like that means something.

Somehow, across the world, Erik's and Charles' minds touch when they need each other most. They can't be sure that the other boy is real. They suspect that he is not. But that doesn't mean they aren't each other's lifeline until they lose each other and then for a while longer.

Tehillim – kvikindi

Summary: Erik, in Israel, afterwards: another life he could have had. If.

I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) – childishinquiry

Summary: Erik has worn long sleeves his whole life, even before they had to wear yellow stars. Marching along his arm, in neat, black, English letters, are the words "My name's Charles Xavier."

Precious Few Years – sherwoodfox

Summary: Erik and Charles (known only to each other by the letters inscribed on their wrists) are meant to be together, soulmates, destined for the most powerful kind of love and connection a human being can experience.

But they are separated in almost every possible way- by distance, by circumstance, by language, by war. Their chances of success- of finding one another in the labyrinth of the world- are very slim. There is a reason why most people never find their soulmates.

But of course, Charles and Erik aren't ordinary children-

They have their gifts.

[baeddel]

uzumaki spoilers [again, read Uzumaki first]

i think we are licensed to say that Ito was influenced by Lovecraft when making Uzumaki. he has described Lovecraft as an influence himself, and he makes a comedic reference to the Mountains of Madness in one of the self-insert skits. the infohazard theme that was important in Lovecraft is an important theme in Uzumaki. but it’s interesting to see how they differ. Lovecraft was worried about humanity; the limits of human rationality, the development of the human species, and the fragility of human civilization. for Lovecraft only white men have access to rationality, so only white men can understand the horrors that lesser men bring into existence; this is alluded to in Pickman’s Model (“I’ve got a place that I don’t believe three living Nordic men besides myself have ever seen...”), and is implicit in stories like the Mound. Lovecraft’s protagonists are white American academics, scientists and artists who use their superior reason to uncover the horrible truths of the universe which humanity had until now been too primitive to witness. when they do reach beyond the veil they go mad, catatonic, chittering, or else kill themselves. lesser men mistake what they see for gods and make cults to them with obscene practices, or else degenerate into subhumans.

when Ligotti takes up the same things he uses similar characters and similar devices but with new coordinates. his refernces are not racial scientism and theosophy but structural anthropology and German idealism. the horrible wisdom of the world was not out of reach of Ligotti’s humanity but inescapably evident to it; all of our discourses and social institutions are ruses and devices through which we can hide from it. his protagonists uncover the truth because they are curious, knowledge-hungry fools. impulsively following the intellectual riddles that preoccupy them they disturb things that were better left alone. if they leave with their lives then they find their own way to avert their gaze and put the truth away.

in Uzumaki i think the relevant comparison is shūyō, self-cultivation. virtually every strain of East Asian discourse (religious, philosophical, etc.) has some version of this. what it means to cultivate yourself varies according to tradition but you should have the idea from the name. it’s about developing one’s learning, one’s habits and morals, or one’s te, inner power. everything from Buddhist meditation to martial arts to alchemy to keeping a rock garden is built on a theory of self-cultivation. while self-cultivation isn’t uncommon, there is an expectation that a very cultivated person will be strange (especially outside of Confucianism). sages are different from ordinary people; people can’t understand them, they have a different sense of right and wrong from other people, etc.

the first character in Uzumaki who has any idea about the spiral horror is Suichi’s father. he has renounced everything and devoted himself to the spiral; he spends all of his money on spiral merchandise and sits in his room staring at them. he learns, just by looking at the spirals, how to work miracles; he can move his eyes independently, extend his tongue unnaturally and curl it up, and finally extends and twists up his whole body into a spiral. he achieves a sort of twisted immortality in the spiral. you can easily read this as a dark paroday of self-cultivation; he is a middle-aged man who gets taken by fanciful ideas and spends a lot of money on it. it could as easily be green tea or anything else. his contortions are like a sort of evil tai chi.

Suichi is the second character who knows about the spiral horror. he knows, perhaps, more than his father; he knows how terrible it is. he withdraws from the world, sits alone in his home and does not eat. he rejects whoever comes to him except his lover-disciple; he teaches her how to avoid the spiral, though she cannot learn from him. he is one who has “drowned in the midst of dry land.”

Suichi’s father introduces Yasuo, Kirie’s father, to the spiral horror. he calls pottery “the art of the spiral,” a phrase Kirie’s father repeats for the rest of the manga. he turns his pottery into a form of spiral-cultivation. yet unlike Suichi’s father he doesn’t kill himself doing so. he listens when his family express their troubles and he goes on working on it quietly; he functions well even in the finale when everyone else is losing their minds.

when we get to the bottom of Dragonfly Pond we collect the fruit of cultivation. correct me if i’m wrong but i don’t think we see Suichi’s father in the underground structure at all. he remains in Kurôzu-cho, in the mud, the trees and smoke. Yasuo joins the tangle of bodies and is petrified next to his wife. Suichi basks in the light of the spiral without being petrified; he embraces Kirie and they become a spiral together in a happy infinity.

Uzumaki contains something of a self-cultivation manual. it shows us three sages, but also three lovers, and their different routes to immortality and also love. Suichi’s father cultivates himself excessively; he achieves a restless immortality within a few days but he never learns the truth of the spiral. as a lover he neglects his partner, and then calls to her from hell. he drives her insane and then condemns her to share his fate, all the while she begs him to stop. i don’t know about a Japanese parallel but in the Daoist system you would say that he shattered his shen and lost his vitality. Yasuo cultivated himself slowly, doing a little bit every so often by gathering the clay and firing it. he listened to his wife’s concerns and moderated his practices. he and his lover were petrified by the light of the spiral below Dragonfly Pond. as he lived a normal life, he met the same fate as the townsfolk. now Suichi: where common people are mesmerized by the spiral, and the other sages sought to harness it, Suichi rejected it. he withdrew from society into a reticent life of skeptical contemplation. he advised and mentored his lover so he could protect her from the spiral horror. thus he united with his lover and became immortal with her. it was because he rejected the spiral that he found a peaceful immortality in it.

interestingly we already find a lot of what we like about Bloodborne’s use of Lovecraft in Uzumaki. whereas in Bloodborne the Cthulu cult and its horrors are carried out not by primitives but by the Church, the hospital, and the repressive organs of the state, in Uzumaki it’s done by fathers, teachers, doctors and so on. whereas in Bloodborne it takes the form not of shamanistic religion but revealed faith and academic science, in Uzumaki it takes the form of self-cultivation. and in Bloodborne we also find a sort of practical-philosophical manual which stands along with the best tetsugaku, with its own failed sages (Micolash’s delerium, Rom’s ignorance) and ultimate successes (the Hunter in the third ending).

[uglymanchronicles]

Ugly Man Chronicles Reignition Book 2 Chapter 2: My Breakfast With Evan

Just a couple dudes getting to know each other.

“If you must know,” Evan sighed, spearing a glistening sausage on the end of a flimsy plastic fork, “my jackass older sister thought it would be hilarious to give me a cupcake she'd baked with about a dozen powdered viagra for my fifteenth birthday. I wound up passing out eventually. Burst a lot of blood vessels. Damaged the erectile tissue beyond usefulness.”

Titus froze mid-coffee-sip. “Seriously? What a bitch!”

“Buddy, you don't know the half of it.”

“So... no signs of life down there?”

“Nothing for twelve years.”

“I think I would literally kill myself.”

“It's not so bad, I guess. At least I don't have to drain the blood out of it any more.”

“Eugh! Fuck! Did not need to hear that!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn't ask questions you don't want the answer to.”

“Do you get, like, blue balls all the time, then?”

“That's basically my ground state of being.”

Titus whistled flatly, avoiding looking Evan in the eye. He settled for staring at the table. There wasn't a lot of Evan's face that he felt comfortable looking at; every part seemed to at least be adjacent to some unpleasantry or another. About the only safe area was his right eye, which, as luck would have it, was directly opposite Titus's 'good' eye. Titus rallied and met Evan's gaze again. “Alright, your turn.”

They'd agreed on a sort of mutual interview process, taking turns asking questions to suss out what the other was capable or if he was worth having around. Evan took a bite out of the sausage and chewed thoughtfully for a moment.

“Who's Moreno?”

Titus hissed through his teeth. “A real piece of shit.”

“I'm going to need more than that.”

“I'm getting to it. He's basically, like... a freelance henchman? Like, sort of a mercenary criminal. Sells his services to the highest bidder.”

“And why's he matter?”

“That's another question.”

“No, it is not,” Evan said, quiet and serious. “Do not argue with me in bad faith, Titus. I have very little patience for it in the best of times.”

Titus regarded him for a long moment. The man across from him was wider than the table they sat at. His muscles were so pronounced in some points that Titus could tell when he was about to move by the way they bulged and contracted. Yet he gave the impression that he was constantly trying to pull himself inward, to make himself smaller. He spoke quietly and with a simple formality, but only hours before Titus had watched him single-handedly beat down some of the nastiest people he'd met in the past month.

Hmm.

“Fine. Moreno matters because I'm after the guy he's working for. You see, Moreno isn't just a normal scumbag. He works for people who need nasty things done. Not like regular nasty, either. How much do you actually know about magic?”

“I've got some... notes. So far I'm not able to find a lot of coherent rules. It mostly seems like it relies on things that nobody would normally do.”

Titus snapped his fingers and pointed at Evan. “Hit it right on the head. Rituals, reagents, that kind of thing... the reason—well, one of the reasons—magic doesn't just happen all the time by accident is that it's all weird little things. A lot of the more heavy magic relies on some pretty elaborate and obtuse shit to get it going.”

Evan momentarily thought back to the Book of Fate and his ritual in the woods. “So Moreno does these things for people?”

“Yeah. Thing is, though...” Titus stopped raising a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth and set it down again, as if he'd momentarily lost his appetite. “The people who use his services generally practice some pretty vile magic. Real depraved shit. And to empower depraved magic, you need depraved rituals. Moreno is the guy you go to when...”

“I think I get it,” Evan interjected, since Titus seemed to be struggling with deciding whether to continue. “Your turn.”

Titus tapped his fingers on the table for a moment, then looked Evan in the eye. “How smart are you?”

The scars on Evan's face squirmed around as he actually smirked. “What kind of question is that?”

“Hey, we agreed no 'whys'.”

“Alright, alright. Well, there's really no objective metric for it, but... I have Master's degrees in computer science and theoretical physics, Bachelor's in those in addition to mathematics and electrical engineering, and associate's degrees and certificates in everything from EMT training to ballet. I should have my doctorate in physics, but...” he said, with a bitterness that Titus made a note of, then changed gears. “Oh, and I also speak Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, French, and Arabic pretty fluently. I also know ASL. I can get by in German and Russian, too. I don't know if any of that is what you meant but--”

“Jesus, I get it,” Titus muttered, rubbing the side of his head. “How the fuck do you make money?”

“Software consulting, mostly. I specialize in security and processing efficiency. People pay me to break into their systems and then patch the holes, or to make their code run quicker or make their programs smaller. I've got a few patents I've licensed that bring in most of my income nowadays, though.”

“Anything I would have heard of?”

“If you've used a computer made in the last four years it probably has something I wrote integrated somewhere into it. I also helped develop a protein-sequencing program that helped develop a vaccine for this nasty SARS variant that broke out in China last year. They say if they hadn’t nipped it in the bud it could’ve spread worldwide and we’d be looking at millions of deaths by now.”

Titus scrunched up his face. “Oh yeah, just say that like it’s no big deal.”

“I’m just glad it turned out not to be one. What I'd really like to do is get my compression algorithm out there, but if I do that, somebody's going to try to hoard it all for themselves.”

“Are you talking to yourself or me?”

“Look, I... a few years ago I figured out a way to compress memory down by a exponential factor of six with zero loss. All it takes is a couple software plugins that don't take up much room themselves. Essentially, I could make a gigabyte fit in a kilobyte with very little trouble, now that the math's figured out.”

“Holy fuck, that's insane! Why haven't I heard anything about this?”

“Mainly because I don't tell people. If I put it up on the market, some ISP would buy it and bury it. If you make information smaller, you make it faster. Can you imagine what it'd do to internet access if dial-up and barebones cellular networks suddenly had the bandwidth of fiber optics? It would... maybe not revolutionize our society, but it would level a lot of playing fields. Bring a lot of underdeveloped areas of the world—hell, this country—up to modern levels with no extra cost. The telecomms would crash and burn so hard. But I don't have the means to get it out there without going through someone else. Yet,” Evan added. “So I basically work watered-down versions of the compressor into the software I make. Nothing that can be duplicated, and nowhere near its full potential, but enough to get me hailed as some kind of genius and pay the bills.”

“So why aren't you on your own private island or something somewhere instead of puttering around God's Ashtray in a shitty old Bug?”

“Hey, the Beetle is not shitty,” Evan said, defensively. “And I'm just waiting for the AC in my RV to get fixed or I'd be driving that.”

“Oh hot damn! Now that's the way to live!”

“Not the one I'd choose voluntarily, but it could be worse.”

“How come you're doing it, then?”

“I think it's my turn to ask,” Evan said, mildly.

“Fine,” Titus said grumpily, crossing his arms.

“How do you make money?”

“That's easy. I'm basically a freelance bailbondsman. I just roam around, drop my advertising around bars and courthouses.”

“You get many clients that way?” Evan asked, cocking his remaining eyebrow.

“Oh, you'd be amazed how desperate people can get,” Titus said, shrugging. “Of course, they're usually not the most responsible people, so when they bounce, I track 'em down myself, drag ‘em back to jail, get the money back. My eye usually makes it super easy. Sometimes they don't even see me before I get the cuffs on 'em.”

“Why did you feel the need to rob a bunch of drug dealers, then? The thrill of it?”

“I had a pressing need for a large amount of cash that my normal work doesn't bring in. That got me enough to hold it off for a while. My turn.”

Evan waved down a waitress for a refill of his coffee, trying not to take it personally when she gasped upon seeing his face. “Go ahead…”

“No, no, hang on.” Titus waved a hand dismissively. “I want to try something. Take your hair out of the ponytail.”

“What? Why?”

“Humor me.”

Evan groaned and reached back, removing his hair tie. After shaking his head, his hair fell over his face, obscuring everything but his nose and mouth. Titus pursed his lips and regarded him seriously for a moment.

“Can you see?”

“Yeah, I guess. Well enough to not walk into things, I think, and I could probably read if I had to.”

Titus snapped his fingers. “Good. Go with that from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because now you don’t look like God’s mistake. Now you look like a big, dumb-but-lovable goon. Like Jack Black would voice you in a cartoon.”

“And that’s a good thing?”

“Do you like seeing people contemplating their own mortality and the general cruel absurdity of the tragic farce that is human existence when they get a glimpse of your face?”

Evan felt his cheeks burn and was actually grateful his hair was covering most of his face. “…not particularly, no.”

“Then there you go. You’re welcome. Okay, question time. Uh… how did you get your powers?”

“Which one?”

“Oh, now who’s arguing in bad faith? Fucking all of them, you thick-lipped gargoyle.”

Evan had the feeling he hit a sore spot. Titus's easy-going, jocular tone had bled away from him, leaving behind the hard-edged razor-blade of a man that had ambushed him the night before. He decided not to belabor the point.

“I don't know why I can rege—why I heal so quickly. No, I'm serious, as far as I know, it just started happening sometime in the past few months. I can't remember. Don't look at me like that, I'll get to that in a minute. When I was younger I recovered from a lot of injuries a lot quicker than the doctors thought I would, so maybe it's something I was born with and it just got stronger recently for some reason.”

Evan took a sip of coffee, mainly to buy a few seconds to think of how much to explain for the next part.

“The ability to shut off powers... that's part of, well, I guess you'd call it a magic ritual, because I don't know what else to call it. I found a weird old book that said it contained the key to making someone an instrument of universal justice, or something of the sort. Since then I can see... I guess they're souls? Maybe? I can sort of move mine and when I run it into someone else's it seems like I can shut off their powers. Or... take them entirely, if they're dying.”

“Horseshit!” Titus scoffed. “That's... that's like meta-magic. I don't even know if that's real.”

“No, seriously! I don't think it's just magic powers, I think it... 'normalizes' things.” He briefly recounted his encounter with the pain monster.

“Are you kidding me? That...” Titus took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair, exhaling slowly and loudly. “Look, I don't know much, but the fact that you even ran into something like that, let alone survived... those odds are astronomical. And you say you negated not just its powers, but its whole form?”

“Yeah. Once I... reached into it, like I did with you—oh don't make that face. Grow up—I kind of disrupted what made it... different, I guess? Like I cut it off from its special qualities. Like it was...”

“Disjuncted,” Titus cut in.

“Yeah, that's a good word for it. Like the old Mordenkainen spell?”

“Fucking nerd.”

“Eat my ass. Anyway, after I killed it, I was able to reach into its... soul? Animating force? Aura? I don't know what to call it. I was able to grab something and pull it out and it just got pulled into me.”

“Not aura.”

“What?”

“Aura's a different thing,” Titus said, dismissively. “So what did you get from doing that?”

“I.. I feel pain differently. I don't flinch or get adrenaline rushes from injuries that don't actually impede my ability to function. I think I have a better sense of what is actually dangerous to my body now. It still hurts, but I don't react to pain like people normally do. It's like...hmm.” Evan drummed his fingers on the table. “Do you know anything about video games? Fighting games, specifically?”

“I used to fuck around on an old Alpha 3rd Strike cabinet when I was a kid. Why?”

“Do you know what 'super armor' is?”

“Isn't that where a move can't get stopped by being hit when you're doing it?”

“Right. I'm kind of like that now. Pain doesn't interrupt me.”

“Fucking nerd.”

Evan's fist involuntarily clenched. “I'm trying to put this in terms you can understand, you stupid reprobate. My experience with your judgment thus far hasn't given me much faith in your intellect.”

Titus burst out laughing. “So he does know how to banter! I thought you might be one of those Rainman types.”

“Oh sure, call it 'banter' to try to excuse the fact that you've been insulting me for the past half hour. Do you say you're ‘just joking’ when people get mad at you for saying stupid shit, too?”

“C'mon, lighten up! We're partners now! Tell me more about this soul thing. I still think you're full of shit.”

Evan sighed through his nose, then held up his left hand, forming his fingers into a circle and peering through them.

“Yours is... a sort of cross between a sea green and an oil slick. The tendrils of it keep reaching out and snapping back, going all over the place. It seems to keep expanding and contracting. It's almost flickering, like... it's indecisive. Very chaotic. The tendrils that aren't snapping around seem to be kept pretty close to your body, wrapping around you like... I can't tell if it's protective or restrictive.”

Titus's expression slowly became serious. “What does that mean?”

“I don't know. I have a lot of theories, but nothing solid to go on. I'm not sure if it's allegorical or a literal representation of a person's... power, maybe? Yours definitely looks a lot different than most people's.”

“I don't believe this for a second. Let me see.”

“How would I do tha—hey!”

Titus grabbed Evan's wrist and held his hand up to his eye. “Ho-lee...”

He pulled back from Evan's hand, staring at him. Then he looked around the room, mouth slack as he took in the diner's other occupants.

“Huh. Did you know it keeps working until you blink?” He said after a moment, a faraway tone to his voice.

“I didn't even know other people could do it,” Evan said, awe in his voice. “Hey, wow, you're right!”

“Jesus, yours is, like, really blue. It looks like... a bunch of steel cables. It's weird, I felt like I both could and couldn't see the edges of it...”

“I can kind of move it, but I'm not sure if I can do anything with it beyond interfering with people's powers. It's like learning to use a muscle you didn't know you had.”

“Huh.” Titus was again silent for a long moment. “Your turn.”

“Can you do anything else supernatural? Besides your time-eye?”

“Don't call it that, it sounds stupid. And... sorta. I seem to have whatever innate talent you need to actually do magic, but it's not like it's easy to find instructions. Most of the people I know who can use it just dabble with half-broken magic items—wands, amulets, charms,” he pulled the silence charm out from under his coat and bounced it at the end of its chain. “I guess I'm sort of a dabbler. I know a few tricks, I can use a lot of magic tools, I can sense magic pretty well, I can dowse... Most of the time I really never have to use anything besides the eye, though.”

“Is the eye all-or-nothing?”

“Yeah. It's not nearly as useful as you'd think, but any edge is an edge.”

“When I turned off your power and it was coming back, though, you started speeding up—or, I guess, everything else was slowing down? You were moving faster, one way or the other. You were able to touch me, and those punches hurt.”

“Huh, yeah, you're right.”

“Do you think there's a way you could learn to only partially activate it?”

“That'd be great, wouldn't it? Thing is, just using it is a huge strain, and that time spend outside of time adds up. Going by normal calendar time I'm only 26.”

“Fuck, I'm 27!” Evan laughed.

“Yeah, well, I'd rather be prematurely gray than what you've got going on. My turn. Uh... huh, I can't really think of anything else. Uh... are you gay?”

“Are you fucking serious?”

“No, but the question still counts.”

“I'm bi,” Evan mumbled, crossing his arms across his prodigious chest. “Not that it matters. And before you ask, no, you are not my type. We're done talking about this.”

“Huh. You ever sucked--”

“We. Are. Done. Talking about this.”

“Fine, God. Go.”

Evan mentally circled back to an earlier question he felt hadn't been properly answered. “Why are you after Moreno?”

To Evan's surprise, Titus didn't hesitate. “I'm actually after his current boss. He's just the best lead I have to go on.” He took a deep breath, then started talking with a rushed, deadpan pace, as if he was eager to get the words out as quickly as possible so they wouldn't be in his mouth very long.

“Moreno is working for a guy only known as the Soultaker. He has an innate supernatural ability to pull a person's soul out of their body. When that happens, the person just... shuts down, usually. No motive force behind them. Eventually they just die of dehydration, usually. I've seen some people so set in routine that they keep going without a soul, but... it's not really life.

“It seems like the extraction process takes a while, so he can't just walk past you on the street and pickpocket your entire essence. So he needs people rounded up for him, held until he can do his nasty juju. So that's where a degenerate like Moreno comes in.

“So when he pulls out a soul, it, well, it looks like this.”

Titus pulled a battered, faded Crown Royale bag out of his jacket. It bulged strangely and made a quiet clacking when he set it on the table. He pulled out what looked like a large marble, or maybe a dull pearl, and handed it to Evan.

Evan brushed his hair out of his eyes and peered into the milky depths of the sphere. After a few moments of staring, the murky clouds inside the thing seemed to clear and a face floated to the surface. A black man, maybe in his late 40s, going thin on top. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be sleeping, but his expression had a look of discomfort to it, as if he was having a bad dream.

“Jesus Christ,” Evan whispered, “I've seen this guy... Martell Calloway? I saw some news article about how his family found him tied up in his apartment and completely comatose! But he didn't have any injuries beyond being a black eye... so he's dead?”

“Life support,” Titus said, taking Mr. Calloway's soul back from Evan's unresisting fingers, “technically, he's one of the lucky ones. They found his body before it wasted away to nothing, and I was able to intercept his soul before it got to a buyer.”

“Why would someone buy something like this? What use is it? Can you fix him?”

“A human soul is a damn near exhaustible arcane battery,” Titus said gravely. In the split second between sentences, Evan noticed something—after he'd put the bag back into his jacket, Titus surreptitiously touched a pocket on the other side of his jacket, as if he was making sure something was still there.

“If you know what you're doing, you can power a lot of magic using a soul. And you can reuse them as long as you don't overdo it. If you know what you're doing, you can wring all but the last drops of essence out of a soul and let it heal or recover or whatever, and it'll eventually be back to full strength. Very resilient things,” Titus continued. “I don't think they're conscious in there, but... anyway, it's supposed to be really hard to extract a soul. But this guy was born with or spontaneously developed or somehow figured out a shortcut to the whole process. So the market is getting flooded with torture-batteries and ECUs are getting flooded with vegetables. And families are winding up with loved ones who are as good as dead, without having any idea why this happened to them. Dozens of them have been taken off life support in the past few months. Half these souls have no body to return to. And no, I can't fix it. At least not yet,” he sighed again. “I was hoping once I found him, I could somehow get the secret out of him or force him to put them back, or... maybe I thought if I killed him it'd reverse the effect. He needs killing, either way.”

Titus's eye widened as a thought struck him and he looked Evan in the eye for the first time since he'd started the story. Evan realized what he was thinking and looked down at the tattoo on his left arm, flexing his fingers.

“If you can take people's powers after they die...”

“...then we can save these people.”

Titus put a hand over his mouth and for a moment Evan thought he saw his eye well up.

“I'm in,” Evan said, a sense of righteous purpose welling in his heart. “I don't really know what the universe wants, but I doubt... I know it's not this. We'll find him, we'll stop him, and we'll save as many of these people as we can.”

“...thanks,” Titus mumbled behind his hand. He swallowed hard, then seemed to come back to himself. “We're back to square one, though.”

“You said you could dowse? Like, for real?”

“Yes, for real. I can find things and people with the pendulum method. It's handy for tracking down bounties.”

“Why don't you dowse Moreno?”

“Why didn't I think of that?!” Titus said incredulously, smacking his forehead. “Because he's warded. He's not magic himself, but he's collected enough gear through his career that my normal methods don't work.”

Evan rubbed his chin. “What if we used an abnormal method?”

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

An hour later, they were in the RV. Titus was poring over the collection of Evan's notes and the strange papers he'd bought from Delmann's shop. Evan was very carefully slicing a strip of skin from his own ankle up all the way up his leg. The Guiding Light—the Finder's Follysat on the table between them, filled with fresh blood.

“Even if this works, he's going to know we're coming,” Titus muttered, engrossed in the pages. “Remember what I said?”

“That's why we're not going to look for him,” Evan said, adjusting his grip on the potato peeler. “I don't know how we'd even write his name. Can you read that, by the way?”

“Kind of. This is... most of this is written in, like, arcane pidgin. Who compiled these notes?”

“I did, I think.”

“You think?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to clarify on that. Apparently a couple months ago, before the ritual, I drilled a hole in my own brain to erase some kind of very dangerous memory.”

“You what.”

“That's not a metaphor or anything. Really did it. I could show you the video.”

“I'll pass. So you don't remember where this came from?” Titus shook the Book of Fate at him.

“Nope.”

“Jesus shit, do you have any idea--”

“How reckless that was? Yeah, yeah, I'm still here and I'm the answer to your fuckin' prayers, aren't I?” Evan gave a whoop as the peeling skin reached his thigh. “Got it this time!” he said cheerfully, snipping the flesh-ribbon off with scissors.

“God, that's so fucking gross. Anyway, you haven't explained how we're going to use that thing to find Moreno.”

“We don't set it to look for him. We look for somewhere he's been. Maybe the last place he slept. Do you think you can describe him well enough in that language for it to work?”

Titus looked like he might actually be impressed, but he hid it well. “Yeah, probably.”

“Good. I've got a dictionary I've put together on that tablet next to you, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Maybe it'll help?”

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

Two hours later, they had it.

Find where a man born between the 27th and 28th north parallels during a new moon under the sign of capricorn with black hair and green eyes who has killed at least 10 people slept in the past week.

They really had to squeeze the letters in, but when Evan put a flame to the wick, it sprung to life, wavered for a moment, and then pointed east. Both men cheered. Evan threw Titus the keys.

“Drive! Drive north until I tell you otherwise!”

While Titus started the engine, Evan spread a map of the United States on the table in front of the lamp, then produced a protractor and a notebook from a drawer. “Okay, you bastard... let's see where you've been hiding...”

It took three days—one spent driving north, one spent driving back to where they'd started, and one spent driving south. While Titus drove, Evan made meticulous notes of the flame's direction, marking angles on the map. Finally he threw the pencil down triumphantly.

“He's in Salt Lake City.”

“Well, that narrows it down a little, I guess. So what, do we just go there and hope this thing points us in the right direction?”

“Too slow,” Evan called, stepping back into what used to be his bedroom and sitting at his computer. “Now I work my magic.”

After parking, Titus walked back to look over Evan's shoulder. The half-dozen monitors on the wall were flickering between rapidly-changing pictures of faces and what appeared to be CCTV footage.

“What is this?”

“This,” Evan said with dramatic pride, “is Blaccat. Facial recognition algorithms that the CIA wishesit had. I actually started working on it years ago before I thought about the implications of it, but I shelved it. I figured since I may be needing to, uh...”

“Be Batman?”

“...yeah...that I should get back to work on it. Right now it's comparing faces to the description you gave me and cycling through every damn security camera in the city looking for it.”

“How illegal is this?”

“Soooooo illegal.”

“Oh, hey, can you get into police department records?”

“Does the Pope shit in the woods?”

“See if you can get into the Las Vegas mugshots from... February 2019. Run your face-recognition thingy there.”

“Alright.... and... is that our boy?”

A handsome Latino man in his early 30s with shoulder-length jet-black hair and piercing green eyes stared at them from over a booking clipboard.

“That's him,” Titus breathed.

“Perfect! Now I just have to feed that into... wow.” Evan made a gesture and a black and white video popped up on the biggest monitor. The man in the mugshot was walking along the street, flanked by a short stocky man in bandanna and a lanky man with the ugliest white-boy dreads Evan had ever seen.

“That's him! Where is that? When is that?”

Evan grinned up at Titus. “That's live. I can track him and put us at the nearest intersection.”

Titus smiled, eye overbright, and began breathing heavily through his nose. “We got him.”

Evan met his eye and nodded. “Let's get him.”

[unstoppableforcce]

early morning

pairing: santiago “pope” garcia x reader

masterlist

a/n: to contrast my smutty trivia night and to keep riding my Santi obsession wave, I offer you this sickly sweet fluff !! special thanks to @tiffdawg for the breed and name of Frankies pup and for the encouragement !! hope y’all enjoy :)))

The blustering chill of the early fall morning settled in all his injury-ridden joints. 

Stepping out onto his back porch in nothing more than a tee shirt and sweat pants, he could feel the piercing cold anchoring into his neck and knees, dipping under the clothes and beneath the jagged scar tissue. Yet something about it was still refreshing. The wind bit at his cheeks, pulling a fresher shade of red out of his pigment as he licked over his chapped lips and rubbed his aching hands over each other. But as he took a deep breath in, inhaling the freezing air deep into his lungs, he felt awake and alive. 

Scout, the boisterous German Shepard, let out an excited yap as he ran a few circles around his small back yard, basking in the faint light of dawn before pacing away to do his business. 

Frankie had gone out of town for two weeks and Santi had initially been a bit annoyed to have been the only one of the guys with a backyard, Will and Benny both in inadequate apartments for a dog with so much energy. But after just one night, Santi was very quickly falling in love with having a dog by his side. 

“He’s one of the family, you know,” Frankie had said as he passed Santi the leash and bag of dog food, treats, bowls, balls, toys — Scout practically had a travel bag. “Make sure he gets some exercise every morning though, or he’ll drive you insane.”

Speaking of that...

As Santi took another step out into the damp grass, Scout met him with damp paws of his own, jumping up onto his stomach and letting out another happy bark. The sound Santi let out was similarly animalistic as he bent over in a groan, holding his stomach as he nudged the dog away. 

“You want to go for a walk or something, buddy?” Another yelp in response and Santi nodded, wiping at the damp grass stain of two paw prints on his shirt and turning back to the porch. “Let me go put some clothes on...”

Scout barked again, as if he was voicing a counter of ‘you’re already wearing clothes’ and Santi surprised himself when he talked back to the bark. 

“Some exercise clothes, buddy.”

He was talking to the dog who couldn’t understand him and it had only been a day, what was two weeks with this dog going to do to him?

Pulling on a pair of shorts, a clean shirt and a jacket, he aditionally opted for a beanie and gloves for the cold before moving to the bag in his living room where he kept the suitcase Scout was sent with. Except he found Scout with the leash in his mouth already, gnawing on the hand loop.

“If you eat the leash, we can’t go.” Santi mocked, grabbing the leash from him and digging through the bag for the harness. 

He had a whole checklist to go through; Scout was harnessed and the leash was connected, he had poop bags, he had his coffee, gloves and beanie—

Scout barked again. 

“Ok. let’s go.”

Except he didn’t know where exactly he was going. Frankie said he liked walks, so he was just planning to walk until either he or Scout tired out first, out of his neighborhood, maybe down the street. 

With almost no one around this early besides the occasional car going by, Santi became pretty content with just walking aimlessly. And while he didn’t know exactly how long he had been walking for, he knew he hadn’t gone too far when he found the dog park. 

He had driven by it before but heading there hadn’t even been a conscious plan, he just ended up there. Judging by how aggressively Scout was beginning to pull on the leash, he was too excited to deny him even if he didn’t see any other dogs. 

It was 5:30 in the morning, of course there were no other dogs. But Scout wanted in nonetheless. 

With the clinking cold gate shut behind the two of them, Santi felt safe bending down to unhook the leash and let Scout take off towards the open field. Except, as he took a few steps in to follow the excited dog, he realized he wasn’t quite alone. 

Not as a happy red golden retriever came darting out from the opposite side of the park. 

Golden retrievers were always so happy to see you, no matter who you were. And this dog was no exception... except maybe they weren’t happy to see Scout, nor even to see Santi, though they were heading in that direction. They appeared to be sprinting head first for something else entirely. Like the ball coming straight for Santi’s face that he only saw in the last second. 

“Look out!”

He stepped aside just in time as the eager dog came barreling straight towards him, leaping for the ball and catching it before quickly turning on their heel and darting back off towards the source of the voice across the field. You came into view around the neighboring play structure and the dog moved in a beeline for you.

You were jogging up to meet your dog half way, waving your gloved hand in a greeting and apology at the same time as your dog dropped the ball at your feet. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there!” You apologized, reaching down for the ball and petting down the back of your dog as Scout began to bark in greeting, catching your attention so you’d shift your back scratches his way. 

And for a second, Santi considered barking himself if it would get your attention. 

As the bright light of dawn began to shine just over the tops of the neighboring trees, he was entirely caught off guard. Not only was he not expecting anyone this early, but he certainly wasn’t expecting someone beautiful enough to knock the cool breath from his lungs, so radiant in the chilling sun. 

“It’s alright...” he chuckled out, whistling to get Scout back as the eager dog made a move to jump on you. 

He half-expected Scout to be more interested in the dog or the ball, but with your dog just sitting by your side, waiting for the ball to be thrown again, Scout easily returned to run an eager circle around his feet. 

“I don’t usually see anyone here this early,” you continued on, turning from him briefly to send the ball flying in the opposite direction, your dog taking off in an instant. “And I think I’d remember meeting someone so cute.”

Someone so cute? Santi had never been flirted with this early in the morning, he didn’t even know how to respond— oh, you were talking to Scout. 

The cheeky Shepard returned to your side to be pet some more and Santi had no choice but to take the final steps forward to greet you head on. 

He cleared his throat some, adjusting the leash around the back of his neck, “I’ve actually never been here before, I’ve driven past it but figured I’d bring him today.”

“He’s precious.” You noted, going down on your knees to scratch around his face and Scout looked to be in absolute heaven. 

Santi could understand why. 

“Scout?” You asked, glancing up from the tag on his collar and he nodded, “good name.”

“Your’s?”

“Ferguson or Fergie.” You hummed, giving Scout another few scratches before letting him run around and sniff some more, getting back onto your feet. But Santi merely twisted his face in moderate confusion before realizing you were talking about the bounding retriever coming back to the two of you with the ball in his mouth and not your own name. 

“That’s a good name.” He nodded, bending down on his bad knees himself as Ferguson dropped the ball right in front of his feet, “Do you want me to throw it?”

Was he expecting a response from the dog? Man, he was going full dog owner now, staring into the excited eyes of the beautiful dog. 

“He will love you forever if you do.”

“Oh really? Well I think I have to now.” He smirked back to you, reaching down for the ball and launching it the same way you had a few seconds ago, Ferguson taking off immediately. 

“Nice throw.” You mused, taking another step forward until you were side by side with him then turning to face your sprinting dog off in the distance. “He’s obsessed, there could be one dog or forty here and he’d still only want the ball.”

“He’s dedicated at least.” Santi laughed back, searching over your shoulder to find Scout sniffing at some bushes that lined the fence line, probably in search of lizards or rabbits. Returning his stare to the side of your face, he smiled, “I’m Santiago, or Santi.”

You turned to him and offered your name back just as Ferguson returned and dropped the ball right between the two of you. 

“Should I throw it or should you?”

Your face grew a smirk to match his as you bent for the ball and passed it to him, “I think this is all you.”

The morning didn’t feel so cold anymore.

And he quickly discovered you were there at the same time every morning. 

He effortlessly fell into a routine around it. Each and every day, he’d wake up with the sun, like he always did, and take Scout out to sniff around the backyard. Then he changed and headed for the park, getting there just around when you did, sometimes earlier by a few minutes and a sometimes later by a few minutes. 

And sometimes, right at the same time, like this morning, about a week after your first meeting. 

“Good morning,” you smiled cheerily, one of the only other people he knew who woke up and embraced the cold as bright and awake as himself. 

Or well, maybe he wasn’t that bright but he certainly felt like he was when he was around you and your beautiful disposition every morning. 

“Morning.”

Reaching for the gate, just a step ahead of you, he held it open for you and watched you carefully as you, your adorable dog, and your bright smile continued in front of him. Scout even joined him in the greeting, barking out a ‘good morning’ that Ferguson reciprocated. 

The two of them had become quite the duo, ‘puppy friends’ as you had described. Once the two of them actually began playing with and chasing each other, they seemed to have become best friends, as long as there were no balls to distract Ferguson. And you and him had gelled together effortlessly as well. 

It started off with simple conversations about what each of you did for a living, the weather, weekend plans, and basic smalltalk, but the two of you easily exhausted that in the first few meetings. 

Next came really getting to know each other, finding out (among other things) that you were single, what kind of movies you liked, how your boss was annoying you, your hobbies, and more. He told you about his idiot friends, vaguely described what he did for a living, talked about buying a house and him needing to call his mother more often... it wasn’t much but it was more than he ever expected sharing with someone at the park so early in the morning. 

It was sweet and simple and...well, it was honest. 

Honest besides the fact that Scout wasn’t his dog. 

It almost came up when you asked how he named him but he worked his way out of that without revealing anything. “My best friend Frankie named him actually, part army, part adventuring... he’s good on hikes and such.”

But besides that, he never actually came right out and revealed that Scout didn’t technically belong to him. And as the two of you walked around on one of the last days before Frankie got back from vacation, he realized he’d either need to tell you or make a move, because he was about to lose his fluffy wingman. 

It just also happened to be the day he woke up too late to make himself his morning coffee. 

As the two of you were leaving the park, from the same way you came in, Scout, exhausted and panting, leashed by his side and Ferguson, equally tired, by yours, he finally found the breath to make that move. “Any chance I can interest you in a cup of coffee? There’s a little cafe down the street.”

Your bright smile only grew, and he thought that was good news until your stare fell to your feet, “I would love to, but I’ve got a busy day today at work, I’ve got to get Ferguson back home.”

“No problem,” he waved his hands, taking an unconscious step back in case he was over stepping but you took the space back with a step forward of your own. 

“Maybe tomorrow?”

Now was his turn for his smile to grow as he nodded, “perfect, tomorrow.”

And as he began to walk off towards his house, you towards yours in the opposite direction, he stole a look back over his shoulder and caught your stare doing the same. He gave a small wave, trying not to seem as boyish as he was at the prospect of just a coffee date, and you returned it. 

It was only then he realized he was giving Scout back to Frankie tonight.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath as he continued to walk away, Scout barking to reciprocate the sentiment unknowingly. “What are we going to do, buddy?”

Scout barked again, keeping perfectly at his side while they walked. 

He needed a plan. And as convoluted as it was, he was pretty sure he had one. 

Step 1: call Frankie and tell him that he didn’t have to worry about getting Scout tonight, Santi would bring him over tomorrow. 

Step 2: meet you at the park like nothing was different, get coffee and eventually explain mornings might not work for going to the park anymore

Step 3: win you over, have more dates, eventually get a dog of his own to call Scout and never explain—

That would never work. None of it. 

Well, maybe step one would but not two or three. If he could execute step one, maybe he could buy himself some time? Maybe that could work?

And by the next morning as he woke up even earlier that he usually did, getting up and ready even more excited than he normally did, he still had Scout. Step one working so far. 

He met you at the park and the morning went as well as every other morning had. He hardly believed it was possible to have sustained such easy conversation so many days in a row... he didn’t want it to end. Why wasn’t Scout just his dog? Why didn’t he just try and convince Frankie to donate the dog to him? It was for a good cause—

“We still on for coffee?” You asked as Ferguson brought the ball back for the last time and laid down tired at your feet. 

“Yes, yeah, of course.” He smiled, calling Scout back, snapping the leash back on while you did the same with Ferguson, and began walking towards the gate. 

When the two of you got to the cafe, you laughed through a deal, you staying outside with the dogs while he went inside to order and pay, even in spite of your protests. He came back out with two cups of coffee, two muffins, and two dog treats, also a smile that he didn’t think he would ever wipe off. 

He liked this.

He thought asking you out, even casually would make this awkward but the simplicity of your easy relationship at the park translated just as well to the cafe as you ate and drank your breakfast.

He liked you. 

He knew that from the beginning but even more so now as your coffee cup, with the lid removed to cool it off, left a thin line of foam over your lips. 

“You’ve got some...” he wiped over his own lip and you quickly caught yourself, licking back over it and returning to your smile. Your heart-fluttering bright smile. 

Maybe he should just steal Scout, he liked the company around his empty house and you made it worth it to steal a practical member of Frankie’s family. 

All he knew was that he couldn’t come right out and admit that Scout wasn’t his, he needed to work around the truth of it for as long possible until you loved him too much to notice that technically he was keeping a secret about a pretty integral part of your relationship. Or at least until he figured out a better step two and three. 

You gave him a sweet hug as you left in time to get back and ready for work and that sealed it. 

He had to keep this going.

For the next three mornings, he showed up at Frankie’s side door at the crack of dawn. The first two times, he was able to sneak Scout out without waking up the Morales clan, but the third day, Frankie was already awake with a screaming baby in his arms and a confused look on his face as he found Santi in his backyard. 

“What are you doing here, Pope?” He asked, sliding the back door open as he bounced the baby in his arms. 

“I was uh...” wow, this was harder than he thought it’d be. “I just wanted to take Scout out for a walk, I was up early, I figured I’d just help out.”

“You figured you’d sneak into my backyard and steal my dog to... to help me out?” Even the tired shell of Frankie the father was seeing through him, there was no way he could get through today, much less continue this act.

But he was trying anyways. “You’ve got the baby, you know... Hi, little Mia...”

She kept screaming, as unamused with him as her father was.

“You miss having a little companion around your house?” Frankie scoffed and Santi figured this was his only way out. 

He threw his hands up by his sides and shrugged, “I guess I do.”

“Okay, you can take him today but don’t get used to this, Pope, get your own dog before it gets weird.”

Little did he know that it was already so weird.

But he had no plans to tell him. He just nodded in thanks and strapped Scout’s harness back on to meet you at the park and then eventually for coffee. 

Make a move, Pope, you’ve gotta make a real move, he reminded himself as you emerged from the cafe with the same order for the two of you. You’re running out of time.

“Got any plans tonight?” He hummed from behind his coffee, fighting through his first sip as it singed his tongue. 

“I do actually, a couple old friends from school are in town tonight so we’re going out.” You said, your smile growing in a way he didn’t think was for your friends. It felt like you saw through his reason to ask. “Got nothing to do tomorrow night though, if you’re free and want to do something, maybe.”

Thank god you were making a move, stealing the words right out of his mouth. 

“Tomorrow sounds great, dinner?”

“Dinner sounds great.”

And when he returned Scout after, Frankie seemed even more suspicious seeing as his smile had grown bigger than he had ever seen it before, but he let it slide, something else on his mind. 

“Benny wants to go to this new brewery tonight, it’s half outside so I’ll bring Scout if that makes you more inclined to come.” Frankie joked, as Santi began hanging all of Scout’s stuff up on the hook outside. He still had the baby with him, still bouncing her in his arms, but she was happy and laughing instead of crying like she was earlier. 

“Yeah, I’m down.” He nodded, adjusting his hat over his head, “text me the address, I’ll meet you guys there.”

It wasn’t too far away, but just far enough that he had to drive instead of walk which meant not too much drinking but he could live with that. He was really going for the guys anyways, and by the time he pulled up, they were all there and drinking by the small fire pit set up outside for the chilly night.

Scout included.

“Hey buddy.” He cheered, ruffling the fur around his face as the dog excited barked back. 

“You see,” Frankie fought, looking somehow less rested than this morning. “He’s obsessed with my dog.”

“That’s kind of weird, Pope.” Will argued as he brought his glass to his lips. 

Benny nodded, “Just get your own dog man.”

“Scout is special.” He defended, grabbing a glass and filling it from the pitcher before stealing his seat. 

The guys gave him some more shit, but it was nothing new, eventually the conversation drifted elsewhere, talking about Mia, talking about the harem of women Benny seemed to be seeing at any given time, Will’s debate over buying a new car for the amount of traveling he did. 

It was just an average night out for them until a familiar red golden pushed his nose up to the table. 

“Damn...” Benny cursed at the table shook from the excited attack, but as he repeated it, catching sight of the person chasing after the excited dog, his whole tone changed, “Damn...”

And that was all it took for Santi to put the pieces together. 

Looking up from the red golden as he jumped into his lap to lick towards his face, he realized it was you who lost control of the leash and the dog pawing his way up his body was Ferguson. It was like putting the pieces of a puzzle together that would ruin everything, if those kinds of puzzles existed... 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry... He never acts like this—” You rushed to the table to apologize, bending for the leash and flipping your hair back up as you stood back up, freezing with the realization. “Santi?”

You were beautiful every morning, in your leggings or your sweatpants, beanies or gloves. It didn’t matter that you had just rolled out of bed and walked to the park, you were amazing. But now? You were clearly dressed up for a night out and you were gorgeous. As Benny had so aptly, though inappropriately, said, damn...

Damn for so many reasons. 

“Hey,” he smiled, quickly getting to his feet and meeting your outstretched arms for a hug, “Hi, I didn’t expect to find you here.”

“I’ve never actually been, but my friends picked it,” you smiled, brushing some of your hair from you face as you turned to the table waiting with stares directed purely your way. “Hi...”

He cleared his throat, and introduced you to the table, his hand sliding down your back as he did, just in case the boys didn’t get the message immediately. But as he turned to Frankie and found him staring at the dogs and putting the pieces of his own puzzle together, he knew he was screwed. 

“How do you two know each other?” He asked, leaning forward to pet Scout almost protectively over his ears. 

“Oh, we met at the dog park.” You easily explained, not thinking anything of it but the rest of the table nodded suspiciously, coming to the realization that Frankie got to two seconds earlier. 

“Really? With Scout?” Frankie scoffed a little, twisting your face into confusion as you turned to look back to Santi. 

“Yeah—”

“Just ignore them.” Santi quickly shook his head, “Can I buy you a drink or...”

You just shook your head, your smile vaguely returning to your lips. “No, I should probably find my friends, but it was good to see you, and nice to meet all of you.”

Giving one final wave, to the table, you gave Santi a half hug and moved to the wrap-around section of the outdoor patio. The quiet squeals of excitement and bark from Ferguson signaled that you found your friends, but he was forced to turn back to his. 

And they quickly spiraled into a beer-fueled argument.

“You know, it’s making a lot more sense now—”

“Shut up ‘Fish—”

“Your dog Scout. Santi and Scout—”

“Stop—“

“You should have just told me instead of trying to sneak my dog away from me,” Frankie laughed out with the rest of the guys, “Seriously though, you just wanted to help me out because of Mia? Or that you were lonely? I knew something was fishy about that.”

“No, he is lonely, just a different kind—”

“Shut up, Benny.” Santi scoffed, rubbing over his face like he could somehow wipe it all away. But no amount of rubbing was going to make that possible. “I met her when I brought Scout to the dog park, and I really like her...”

“Awwww,” each of them cooed out in mocking unison that forced his drink back into his hand and up to his lips. 

“It would be cuter if you didn’t drag my dog into your lies.” Frankie fought and the laughter broke out again. 

“Yeah, what do you do when you get her to go home with you? huh? And there’s no dog there?” Will argued, leaning forward on his elbows as if to punctuate how idiotic the whole thing was, like he didn’t already know that himself. 

“I wasn’t thinking, I just...” He sighed, futilely looking over his shoulder but you were behind a wall and out of sight. “Are you sure you don’t just want to give Scout to me? I mean, you’ve got the baby and—”

He couldn’t even get the absurd question out before the laughter around the table broke out again. 

“You should tell her.” Will reasoned and the rest of the table nodded, Santi included. 

“I know, I know.”

He would tell you in the morning. That would work. Not tonight when you were out with friends, he didn’t want to do that to you. Tomorrow. 

“Is Scout available tomorrow morning by chance?”

“No.” They all said together before Frankie continued, “go alone.”

And that was what he did. 

Just like every morning previous, he woke up with the sun and wandered out back to breathe in the cold air before getting changed. And despite not having Scout by his side, he walked to the park and found you already inside the fencing, playing with Ferguson and a ball. 

You turned to see him as the whining gate gave him away and your bright smile seemed to warm up even the frostiest morning. 

“Where’s Scout?” You asked, walking back over to him with your gloved hands in your pockets. 

All he could do was shrug until he was close enough to you to feel your radiant heat and see the leftover makeup that graced your lashes.

Then he had to come clean. 

“Technically...” this was even harder than he expected. He raided drug lord estates and had basically been in combat mode for his entire career, but this, this was hard. “Technically, Scout’s not my dog.”

You chuckled at that, “Yeah, I kinda got that vibe last night.”

“I was watching him for the past few weeks and then... well and then for the past few days, I’ve kinda been stealing him from my friend’s house to still meet up with you.” He hoped that sounds romantic and not creepy. 

Romantic, not creepy. He was almost pleading to ensure it with his eyes as your smile twisted into a satisfied smirk. 

“You stole a dog just to see me?”

He shrugged, figuring it was all out on the table and you hadn’t ran yet, so he kept going. “He’s got a baby too, he didn’t really notice until yesterday but last night kind of gave me away.”

“That’s a shame, I like Scout.” You laughed and his stare dropped to the grass under his shoes. “But I guess I probably like you a bit more.”

“So we can still go to dinner tonight?” He smirked as his eyes scanned up from the grass to your beautifully awaiting face. 

“Yeah, you don’t need a dog to do that.”

As your gaze drifted down to his lips and he took a step forward, a heat bubbled within his chest much hotter than anything he ever remembered experiencing before. And when you took another step in as well, eliminating any space between you two, the cold morning seemed to disappear entirely. 

At least until Ferguson dropped the ball between you two and let out a solid and disrupting bark. 

“He’s just jealous...” you mused, lifting your lips to his cheek for a quick kiss before pulling away to grab the ball. And you did it so quickly, he barely even registered it. “He’s been the only man in my life for a while.”

“Well, he should be more considerate,” Santi laughed, waiting for you to throw the ball before wrapping a hand around your waist. “I’m ready to make him the only dog in my life.”

“Yeah, a decision made completely on your own...” You mocked slightly but he caught your lips before your laughter could roll off your tongue. 

For having been so afraid of becoming a dog-person, he now refused to imagine life without it.

He had to make sure to thank Scout for his service.

—

tags: @tiffdawg @spider-starry @rogueonestan @lostgirlheather @pizzahutmonkeybutt @itsamedeemoney @cathrinexxxv

[pikaflute]

hi, sudafed cleared my sinuses long enough to think so here’s a giant post about most of my charles headcanons

Playlist

OH btw here’s my 4 hour and 23 minute playlist for Charles. Enjoy. Yes I know I’m insane: https://open.spotify.com/user/pikaflute24/playlist/4DBxaaxbqsmJt9Fvl8AgwZ?si=OcXlYCdFRzOhuKa4p_HdUQ

General Headcanons

He was born November 24 1965. He’s currently 56, but I usually write him in his late 40s in most fanfic and content I make. So there’s this middle aged man....

He has hazel eyes. Sometimes they look green, sometimes brown. Sometimes they’ll be white but that’s when he’s using his magic so mind your business

Gear brand over his heart >:)c

:) i think he has piercings and tattoos, a skull (dead man teehee) on his upper arm, a tattoo of a date (the date pickles and him first met TEEHEE) on his left arm also has a tattoo on his arm of the day he “died” on his right. had his ears pierced when he was a teen.

Has a sweet tooth so hard. Smuggles in treats into the drawers of his desk just to snack on during the day and has a mini fridge just filled with ice cream and also sorts of other goodies. He loves brownies and cookies the most

Likes to work out and keep himself in shape. it takes his mind off of stressful things like work and the boys, and just take his morning practice sparring and doing various exercises in the mordhaus gym. 

he’s uh also very flexible so he does yoga a lot when he exercises. don’t. look too deep into that

cannot cook to save his life. he almost burned mordhaus down trying to make himself a sandwich

he can play guitar! he used to play it more often when he was younger but he rarely has the time to play it nowadays. when he does get to play it, it’s usually in private (and mainly songs by dethklok), or it’s to show off to a certain lead guitarist that yes he is playing that solo wrong

he’s ambidextrous but prefers using his right hand. he’ll use his left hand to spar in order to go easy on his opponents because hes a smug cunt

he’s 5′7 but intimidation factor adds a couple inches doesn’t it

has a scorpion named princess as a pet. he lets her sit on his desk sometimes and it scares the shit out of dethklok which makes charles laugh on the inside

hes also a cat person. one time toki brought a cat home and it settled on charles’ lap and he almost cried

loves to be a smug asshole and relishes in it. will not take shit from anyone, especially from some asshole who is trying to pull one over on him

he has no idea how social media works at all. will print memes out to show to dethklok, he’s very fond of cat memes specifically (i can has cheeseburger type beat)

he has no idea what any internet memes means he isn’t going to start learning. he is going to misuse internet phrases. are you boys, ah, finding the imposter? [cue five groans from dethklok]

knows a lot of languages. not a comprehensive list but: french, swedish, norwegian, spanish, italian, japanese, chinese, german, russian and korean

is very competitive. scarily competitive. once he starts losing in smash or mario kart all hell will break lose

very bad at showing emotions or affection, when he gets compliments he gets all red and quiet and mumbles a thank you. 

weird about being touched as well and will usually avoid it unless it’s with someone he trusts

speaking of, his love language is acts of service :)c

hates being called charlie or chuck, unless the right person calls him it ;)

he’s autistic. was nonverbal for most of his life and only talked to certain people, or anyone at all. he stims with his hands and uses his pens to fidget.

has a collection of novelty socks. he likes the ones that have polka dots or stripes

sleeps with a garfield plushie he had since he was younger. it helps him with the nightmares

when any of the boys need help sleeping (usually toki or pickles), he’ll sleep with them in his bed. after dying he had trouble sleeping some nights, so dethklok returned the favor and all piled up in his bed and helped him sleep. he didnt have nightmares after that night

hes nearsighted, and prefers to wear glasses over contacts

lactose intolerant, hes still eating mac n cheese and paying the price

metalhead but pretends to not be just to mess with his boys

crippling addiction to match 3 games. also loves to play minecraft.

overly self sacrificial. puts ones he love needs before his own, results in himself being very isolated and distant from those he cares about because he’s afraid of hurting them

his favorite colors are black and purple

coffee kinda guy. black coffee or bust

has a lot of cute novelty mugs to put his coffee in. he ones from places where dethklok tours, dethklok official ones (the only two that aren’t adorned with spikes), some cat themed ones, a couple that have ties and math references, and one from his boys that says “most brutal manager”. he drinks out of that last one the most

he has a couple of grey hairs and wrinkles, but he keeps them because they remind him that he’s human. also pickles said old men were hot but you didnt hear that from me

likes to play chess but he can never find a good opponent. all the klokateers are too scared if they win and dethklok is too distracted to ever play with him or they end up losing to quickly if charles plays against them

really wants kids. he babies his sister’s sons and daughters a TON (uncle charles always brings the best gifts :) ) and also treats toki like his own son in a way. toki doesnt mind, he really appreciates the love

speaking of, toki does call charles dad once and it makes charles cry for like. a week and a half

his favorite dethklok song is the gears :)

he likes to collect knives as a side hobby, his favorite of his collection is a sleek black one with skulls on the handle

he has a motorcycle and likes to drive it around sometimes to just be alone with himself. it’s all black with a red gear on it

lightweight but only if he drinks the amount dethklok drinks. can hold his alcohol fairly well if he drinks like a sensible human, prefers brandy and wine

he can smoke cigars to be sexy for me and me ONLY

likes to read in his spare time. he likes mystery novels and science fiction

he has soft spot for cheesy sitcoms, they’re his guilty pleasure

his favorite youtuber is lockpickinglawyer. yours should be too

usually sleeps in only his boxers but will wear a shirt if its’s cold. he tends to sleep on his side (also wants to be the little spoon when cuddled but he will never admit that)

takes vacations sometimes away from the boys despite his worry that something will go wrong (it will!). many of his vacations are usually going to visit his family and going to the shore with them, or travelling to somewhere new for a change (cue charles being a yakuza substory on his one vacation per year)

he can sew pretty well. learned from his mom and used to sew the whole his sister use to put through her soccer uniform.

can also do makeup, and usually does it for one of the boys of there’s no one else around to help

bites his lip when he’s nervous. which is a lot

likes chococat and gudetama. he’s a man of tastes

laughs really loud if you catch him off guard. he snorts sometimes too. he’s embarrassed by it, but i think its’ cute

loves law and order obviously 

he likes men

has a lot of pent up rage. very good at compressing it. sometimes

as high priest, he stays up very late trying to decipher the ancient prophecies that dethklok needed to fulfill. he doesnt sleep very much when he starts out because he misses home, so the band makes him come back (or else)

also as high priest he becomes more intune with magic granted to him after he died and he mainly uses his magic to protect his boys when they go back to being a band. also to fuck with them

the band he managed before dethklok was a band named savior who said they were a metal band with a unique sound, but that unique sound was actually just being a christian metal band that were bad at playing music. they also treated charles like shit and blamed him for them doing so poorly with sales and shows. had an unfortunate “accident” with a tour bus after charles had enough of their attitude towards him.  he denies he had anything to do with it (he did.)

Family/Childhood

He’s the baby of the family. Spoiled rotten to the max. He doesn’t admit it though but whenever he comes home you know he abuses the “:)c im the favorite” card

He has 4 older sisters: Caroline who is a high school civics teacher, Cynthia who is a librarian, Callie who is a coach for a soccer team, and Charlotte who is a lawyer/manager who manages Ladyklok, which gets awkward (and funny) when Abigail starts dating the lead singer Natalie

charles is actually one of the tallest in his family. his dad is 6’1 and his older sister Callie is 5’11. cynthia is 5’6, caroline is 5’6, and his mom and charlotte are 5’5.

his mom is a doctor and his dad is an accountant. his mom’s name is giovanna and his dad’s name is elijah

caroline is the oldest sister, followed by cynthia, callie, charlotte then charles.

Charlotte and Charles are sworn enemies since they were born on the same day a year apart and basically have the same job. They do love each other though

His father calls him Charles. Caroline and Cynthia call him Charlie. Callie calls him Chuck. Charlotte calls him Charles (derogatory). His mom calls him a whole slew of nicknames that she made up when he was young (she calls him cheese ball and he turns red)

caroline has a wife (lauren who is a chef) and two kids (evan and shelby)

cynthia is dating a coworker (viola)

callie has a husband (john who is a stay at home dad) and they have three kids (brenda, melissa, and jeff)

charlotte is dating ladyklok (and abigail). this is a weird flex on charles i think.

He had a race car bed when he was like 5

He also was also one of those kids at family game night. He almost killed Cynthia over a game of monopoly

Always got to lick the spoon first after his mom baked brownies

He grew up in North Jersey (derogatory) (also yes im projecting state shot)

He’s also Italian (derogatory)

He got bullied in middle school for a little bit but once his older sisters found out, oh boy did all hell break loose

Was in band in high school. He played flute (DONT TALK TO ME I LIKE PROJECTING), he was of course a soloist and incredibly smug about it

Took gymnastics as a kid. Can do a backflip on command. Also very flexible.

First manager gig was helping his sisters sell girl scout cookies. They raked in a lot of profits when baby bro was behind the scenes. His cut was eating thin mints for free

Loved Star Trek when he was a kid

Was incredibly gifted, and taught himself to read at a young age. didn’t talk that much though

was always sick when he was little. he would always get sinus infections and colds if someone even sneezed weird

was in mock trial in high school. one guy on his team was a jerk to him so charles made it a point to be this poor kid’s nemesis

was on the student council, treasurer of course.

was also in nhs, and he was treasurer there too

was that kid who insisted on doing the group project by himself because he didn’t want to wait on anyone to finish their part

was super rowdy as a kid, always got into trouble but his mom was a little lenient of punishment (hes a mommas boy)

when he was like super young he bit people cause he was just a little monster (charles' sisters: mom charles is biting again. charles, biting one of them: im not :/ sheesh)

wanted to be a lawyer since he was 7

put his own siblings and parents on trial and would win every trial and would always get the last cookie or a higher allowance

he shared his room with his sister Charlotte and they would set up a pillow fort on one of the beds and stay up late reading together 

loved going to the beach as a kid, his mom still has his collection of shells from the beach

on the boardwalk, he would dominate at claw machines anad carnival games. he won a bunch of plushies from himself (and his sisters obviously)

his dad and him have a super close bond. they watched star trek together and also like to watch how the stock market would do. his dad was also sometimes the judge in charles’ mock trials at home

they were very supportive when he came out as gay, he was also the first of his sibilings to come out of the closet

College

Got his masters in business management at rutgers and a JD (law degree) from seton hall law.

Started college when he was 18 (1983) and ended college when he was 26 (1991)

Wasn’t a party guy. Never got invited to many, but he never went unless a certain redhead was in town

Sustained himself off of ramen, coffee, and SSRIs to get his masters (hey man i feel ya)

Did weed like three times. Three of those times were because of, you guessed it, a certain redhead

Speaking of, his first time having sex was in his dorm with Pickles. Pickles also kicked him off of the bed (those beds are fucking tiny) while they slept, and almost burned Charles’ dorm down trying to make toast the next morning

Absolute did not do essays until the night before. Bad habit that made it’s way into Dethklok managing when he’s forced to write a legal brief before 12 am.

Loved calculus 2 for some reason. Nerd

Had a mullet. Pickles thought it was hot (still is) while Charles would rather die than remember anything about that horrid hairdo

Also went through his goth/emo phase while in Law School. He stuck out amongst the sea of sweater vests and polo shirts

Was in a band with his fellow college bandmates. The band was called Habeas Corpses and he was the lead singer who also played guitar. Their sound was kind of similar to TWRP’s first two EPs (The Device and 2nite). they had a grunge aesthetic, and yes charles dyed his mullet black (with a purple streak), for the band.

his bandmates were all fellow law students. dillan was on drums, margaret was their bass guitar, and nick was their keyboardist. all three of them also got tutored by charles while in law school. they are still best friends and write to each other sometimes

Was on the debate team, but uh kicked off due to be very competitive (he threatened to punch the opposing debater)

Was also in the chess club, also kicked off for being too competitive (lunged at a kid for cheating)

After being kicked from the two previous clubs, he joined fencing, his very competitive nature made him the best in the state

nick (the guy in charles’ band) was charles’ roommate the whole time they were in college. they may or may not have had a brief relationship before they realized they would be better as friends

nick also has a nes and charles loved to played zelda and wrote an entire guide for himself because he’s was that into the game (nerd)

occasionally would be found sleeping in the library on campus

wanted to be an RA but the resident association at his schools thought he was a little much. charles took this as a compliment

worked out a lot between studying and classes. a lot of jocks underestimated him because of his size but charles was just :) [casually lifts something heavy]

a lot of fellow classmates thought he was super cool cause of the leather he wore, and how cool and quiet he was, too bad they didnt know he was a huge nerd

tried skateboarding. once.

had a cadillac that barely started and drove like a piece of shit but that was charles’ baby

pickles tried to have sex with charles in said car btw, charles almost killed him for even daring to suggest to tarnish his beautiful baby

has damaged his back permanently because of all the books he used to carry around in his crappy back pack

did some modelling for one of his friends in college. he was very attractive and got some other modelling job through it. he tries to hide that from the boys in the future because he thinks it’s embarrassing

Relationship with Dethklok

Pickles - he’s known the drummer the longest out of any other member, and if you couldn’t tell by now, he had a brief relationship with the drummer back in the 80s (and maybe also still has a crush on him :)). charles respects and admires pickles’ talent as a musician and sometimes they play together when they have time alone. he tries to be there when pickles has a relapse in either emotions with his family or something else, but still tries to maintain a distance because he thinks that pickles doesn’t feel the same as he did in the 80s. (he does btw). nothing could break the bond these two share. not even death

Nathan - understands nathan’s quiet nature (nonverbal kings!) and strive for perfection in everything dethklok creates because he is the same way. their similarities allow them to connect on a level that allows nathan to open up about his feelings that he likes to lock away. nathan also gets charles to open his feelings up and actually care for himself for once in his damn life. charles also helps nathan with the depression he develops after charles dies and how to deal with it despite it being not brutal. nathan wants to give back and he does by becoming one of charles’ closest friends (and maybe even lovers hehehe)

Toki - charles has taken it upon himself to be toki’s father figure after seeing the way toki’s family has left him for essentially dead. ever since toki joined the band, charles has made it a point to be there for him whenever he needed it. even if it meant spending late nights reading to toki or sleeping over in toki’s room to help him sleep, he’ll do it. he blames himself for toki’s disappearance but toki assures him that he did the best he could. toki calls him dad a lot after doomstar. it makes charles cry.

Skwisgaar - unstoppable asshole meets immovable object. skwisgaar sees himself above everyone else like he does with the other dethklok members but with charles, skwisgaar knows that charles isn’t intimidated by him nor will he bow to the guitar god in anyway. this develops a game of cat and mouse between the two, with skwisgaar trying to no subtly push charles’ buttons and to see what makes him ticks, while charles resist him at every turn with a smug ‘:) is that all you got’ and it delights him to finally see the guitarist squirm under pressure.

Murderface - at first the two are very. distant to say the least. murderface used to see charles as unemotional robot and charles was fine with that and accepted the distance. overtime however, and especially after charles died, murderface warmed up to charles confiding in him things he hasn’t told the band, mainly things about his insecurities because charles is ‘fucking smart with crap like this’. and charles helps him and is happy to see him work out his problems and not bottle them anymore like the rest of his bandmates. charles also enjoys murderface’s company as a friend as well. and….he’s gonna help murderface the most with the whole traitor stuff too.

Abigail - mlm and wlw hostility. but seriously they’re good buds. he sympathizes with having to deal the moronic actions of dethklok on a daily basis and also thinks she’s really intelligent and overall fun to hang out with. they take lunch breaks frequently together and like to make fun of people at dethklok dinners together as a fun activity together. abigail will bully his ass once she finds out she’s dating charles’ sister and WILL bring up those baby pictures to get a higher raise thank you very much

Knubbler - can you say coworker besties! like abigail, he gets along because they both have to deal with dethklok being, well dethklok, but with knubbler, charles can relax a little more. the two cause problems on purpose just because they can. the two are also close friends and knubbler tries to get charles to relax for once in his life, and despite charles protests and objections, he sometimes caves and hands out with his friend (maybe boyfriend OOOOO who knows)

Sex Headcanons (IM SORRY)

um maybe he can have a giant dick (10 inches for me), it do be swinging though

daddy kink (everyone stay on this side, ill take care of him….come to daddy ;)c)

likes to do roleplay. he has a lot of costumes prepared for when his partner wants to do a scene with him

likes to bite and be bitten during sex. after a very long night, he’ll be covered in bite marks, it’s kinda hot

no gag reflex ;) he likes to deepthroat but good luck trying to get him to go down on you without him teasing

remember how i said he was flexible like eight times? yeah he uh, uses that a lot to his advantage. likes being fucked in weird positions because of it

the suit stays on during sex

he likes topping because he likes to be in control of everything he does all the time, but really wants to be told what to do sometimes and will let those he trusts do that for him

he has a dick piercing i know it

he's a very busy man, so he relies on his huge collection of toys he keeps in his bedroom and office

really good with his hands. as soon as those hands are on you, its game over

he loves to do it on his desk, makes him feel powerful. when he gets blown under his desk, it really takes all of his willpower to not cum immediately

really sensitive in weird places, specifically his ears

he likes to cuddle after sex, hes the little spoon :)

likes to be tied up, sometimes he’ll get tied up under his suit

mating press and riding are his favorite positions, giving and receiving

size queen, likes large toys and well ;)

has a private room that he sometimes goes to relieve stress, it has a fucking machine that he likes to use often when his job gets too stressful

he’s sucking people off at the klokateer glory hole, he’s uh, very good at what he does

likes to be spanked and like to spank

uses collars and leashes

maybe the klokateers can fuck him, if they’re good ;)

freeballing

likes cum on his face but doesn't seem to realize that means he’ll get cum on his glasses and will need to clean them

he can wear a chastity belt :) for me

likes being came in but will still complain about being gross after

pretty much up for anything, he’s not picky, he just wants to be in control and get off

[demwhore]

Rocketeer (N.YT)

Pairing: Jaeger Pilot! Yuta & Female Reader

featuring some nct and wayv members

Jaeger! au | Pacific Rim! au

Description:  It takes high courage to ride a Jaeger and to kill a Kaiju.

Or: Yuta deadpanned, “I’m a fucking Jaeger pilot. That is something I should boast about.”

words ➙ 15k

genre ➙ sci-fi, angst, romance, action, fantasy, smut

warnings ➙ major character death, graphic description of monsters, physical violence, language, scenes of making out, smut 

A/N ➙ I am deeply inspired by the movie, Pacific Rim. However, i made some changes in the plot. This was rushed, im sorry. This wasn’t proofread, I apologize for some grammatical errors. This took me a while to write but it was worth it. Happy Reading! Kindly reblog and like! <3

P.S ➙  I edited the fic poster using photoshop cs4 and polarr. All credits (pictures used) belong to the perspective owners (sm entertainment & the creators of Pacific Rim) that edit took me ages (please credit me if you wanted to repost the edit, don’t let my efforts go to waste D:) I also created the moodboard (in the teaser), all pictures used are from pinterest. I had to cry blood while editing oml lol, however it was enjoyable and im drooling for yuta pls claim me

Playlist ➙ rocketeer by far east movement, surrender by cash cash, i’m feeling good by michael bublé, pacific rim by ramin djawadi & tom morello

Tags ➙ @shinseobs​ [hi tiff, ily so much!], @insomni-writing​ [hi somni, thank you for proofreading the draft, ur the best!], @jaehyunspaghetti​ [hi bby, i hope u are doing well!], @neocultvretechs​ [hi my lovely kai, i hope u enjoy my little yuta fic offering to u], @milkinqjungs​ [love u], @jaextapose​ [ruth ur the best ;)], and all the yuta stans out there!

Kaiju ( 怪獣, かいじゅう, kaijū) Strange, Giant Beast.

Jaeger (yāɡər, German) Hunter.

“Is this a gift for winning against the Kaijus?”

Yuta murmured, “Ask me to fuck you, and I’ll glady do it.”

You whispered back, “Then do it.”

He responded well; responded to a need he could no longer control. He was driven by lust, passion and determination. Yuta crashed his lips onto yours. Your lips parted on a quiet moan; your hands busy hovering over your boyfriend's body. Instantly, you cling onto him, having his body as your support. Both of your mouths; busy, wild, willing, driven with so much anticipation. Breaths ragged. Darkened eyes. Yuta pressed his body onto you more, you felt giddy; his erection throbbing against your core. Your body vibrated against his; similar with a string plucked with so much force; like a plucked harp. His heart pounded  hard against his chest, his hands exploring your body; every curve of you that drives him insane in his room at the Underbase.  Your hollows that tormented him. You alone, made him drive to insanity, and he’s living for it. Every cell in your body screamed for only Nakamoto Yuta, your core ached for him, and him alone. Every need Yuta felt was only for you. Only you.

“I missed you.” You whispered the moment he left your mouth to dive into your exposed shoulders. Kissing your clavicles, leaving purple marks every suck he took. Yuta didn’t stop as he marked every exposed column of your throat. You tugged at his dirty blonde locks. Your breast rose and fell against his needy touches. “I missed you so much.”

Being a Jaeger pilot means sacrifice. Being deployed to far bases, away from each other. Fighting off Kaijus as if it’s the end of the fucking world. And the constant feel of fear never leaving both of your systems. Questions running through both of your minds, will you still see Yuta after a mission? Will he still see you? Will both of you survive? The world you both live in is so complicated to the extent; complex. Both of you always believed that the world is as alive as the inhabitants were. There is life everytime you look up at the skies. The celestial body is as alive as humans are. It was really fascinating. That is what both you and Yuta thought when you were both highschoolers; turns out the world has made a whole one-hundred and eighty turn; both of you were looking in the wrong direction. There was no life above but beneath. When alien life dominated the Earth it originated deep down the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Their entryway came from the fissure of the two tectonic plates; Pacific and Southern Plate. A made portal from hell to Earth. The Breach. 

Yuta breathed and looked at your eyes. Those tantalizing eyes that never failed to make Yuta in awe. He had seen how those eyes morphed into different emotions. Lust, fear, love, sadness and Yuta loved it, so much. Yuta could still remember the first landing of the Kaiju at his hometown, Osaka. He held your hands, and ran as far as he could bringing you out of the chaos you were in. 

He was vulnerable that time, young, not older than fifteen. He heard how loud the roars resonated from the giant beast. He saw how every infrastructure, made meticulously by humans, crumpled under one swing of the Kaiju. Yuta heard every alarm wail around his neighborhood, every shattered glass, every startled cry, including yours. That is the time Yuta swore, to fight off to the last of his breath, to protect you because he loved you so much. You don’t deserve any of this fucking mess. 

Your skin was flushed, your eyes slumberous, as you slid down your hands to cup his face.  “When I was there, fighting, all I could think was you. And all I know is, I love you so much.” Your words touched him, he had his hands framing your cheeks. He smiled, “I will kill every Kaiju so they won’t block my way into you. I’ll fight for you, my love, for us.” You raised a trembling finger, “I want to be alone with you. I will be deployed again tomorrow in Hong Kong. Make me yours tonight, Yuta.”

“That’s far, I’ll be staying here. But your plan is what I can’t argue with.” Your head was spinning, vision blurred into daze. Yuta looked at you as if you were a shimmering glass of cool water and he cannot control himself but to indulge you, as he was a man with a desperate thirst. You approached his face again but you dodged his lip, he grew impatient at your actions. You nibbled his right lobe and his familiar musky scent filled your senses. That scent that you always miss to smell every time you are on a mission. It made your heart thud. Nakamoto Yuta could drive you mad. “We are in the corridor of our base. I don’t want the marshal seeing us fuck here. Which room is closest?”

Yuta breathed out, “Mine.”

“Do you perhaps know an elevator that is barely used? I can’t let people see me in this kind of state.”

Yuta kissed you again, nibbling your lips. You elicited a quiet moan. “Trust me, people are almost asleep at this hour.” He linked his fingers onto yours and dragged you towards the elevator. The lift gave a sudden jolt. You turned around to capture Yuta’s swollen lips. Murmuring, “I want to feel you.” You scrambled and yanked away his tie, undo-ing his shirt, the buttons shoved aside the stanched material. A hum of pleasure surged on Yuta’s throat while you explored his chest; savoring the power of sinew and muscle underneath. You used a fingertip to trace his nipple, then your mouth replaced your fingertips in an instant. Yuta gasped and whispered incoherent cusses. His body lurched, beneath your plump lips you could feel his heart jolt at your sudden actions. Yuta groaned, he looked at you with half-hooded eyes, “You’ll be the death of me, (Y/N).”

You didn’t answer him, instead you tugged into his nipple using your teeth. “Fuck, (Y/N).”

The elevator halted. Yuta immediately scooped you around his torso. He squeezed your ass, making you yelp in surprise. His mouth took yours, initiated a dazzling, dizzying kiss. Your blood heated against his touch, it was hot like a burning flash against your skin, roaring through your core. One moment you felt a wall behind you, and Yuta trapped you and captured your lips once again. He sighed, then growled, “I want you naked.”

“Open your room, mister.” He assisted you down and approached his doors. He held the keys with a shaky hand. With a lot of effort he shoved the door wide and yanked your arm. The door shut with a loud thud. Yuta pushed your figure towards the door. He shoved your shirt out from your shoulders, down your arms. For thrilling moments, Yuta’s dark look made your core throb  with so much anticipation. The need raged, clawed inside her systems like a resident virus as his teeth seared off your exposed chest. Yuta wrapped your ponytail into his hands, then arched it towards the left to devour onto your exposed, now marked throat. You were a moaning mess, eyes shut at the delicious feeling Yuta is making you feel. He then neglected your throat, then claimed your lips once again. The vague sense of warmth enclosing both of your bodies. Your top is completely removed leaving you in your tank top and bra. Yuta was still completely dressed. Both of you staggered as you tried to push him away to undress him. He shoved you again to the nearest wall, his pounding erection making you cry out, you want him, badly. You thrusted against his bulge. Yuta’s breath hitched, following a harsh rasp through his lips. He caught your face, eyes dark as midnight, he stared down at you, “You want this?”

“Yes. Fuck me all you want, Yuta.”

On a vicious oath, he yanked your tank top. With an expert flick of his fingers, he unhooked you bra and yanked it off. Yuta’s hand is now at your waist, tight, he lifted you off your feet to take your breast into his mouth. The air around you thickened. Your breath snagged, in both of your lungs, as you arched back giving him more access, your fingers gliding down his shoulder blades. Yuta’s mouth fed sucked, his teeth scraping erotically on your tensed, aching, budded nipple, You whimpered against the wall, the mixture of pain and pleasure taking a toll on you, you were desperately calling out for his name, your pussy pounding, panties soaked. 

“Oh, god, Yuta. I can’t.”

“You can.” He lowered downwards. Your stomach, then your navel. He let go of your waist then he kneeled. Unbuckling your jeans and sliding it down in a tormenting manner. He then, twirled the lace of your panties, a playful smile tugging at his lips. “That’s it, be wet for me.” He pulled down the fabric down to your ankles, your eyes shutting at his touches. He parted your legs, then slid a slim finger onto your folds. You gasped. “Oh fuck.”

“Can you lie down?”

“On the floor?”

“I’m impatient.”

Yuta is shining, with sweat with the lamp light above both of you. You immediately lay down, the floor was cold. The sudden cold contact making you hiss, but you couldn’t care less. Yuta teasingly rubbed your labia, in a tortuous slow pace. Yuta gave a triumphant smile. He felt a sense of pride making you mewl onto the floor because of his touches. You shutted your eyes, moaning at the contact. His slim fingers going in slow directions; up and down. It was smooth with your juices oozing out. You couldn't bear with his teaching, you grabbed his wrist to push it into your core further. “Woah, woah, excited?”

“I hate you.”

He rubbed your clitoris; in a slow, sensual, circular manner and it made you gasp for air. You were now a moaning mess. Your eyes screw shut, your mind went haywire; black; full of desire and all you could think was Yuta’s fingers; torturing you erotically. It felt heavenly. After your clit, he dragged his fingers downwards, his other hand spreading your legs more apart. He slides in two fingers with ease, dragging your walls. Your hands clenched. Yuta dragged your arousal into his fingers. Then left you there, hanging, waiting for more. You peeked up, brows furrowed, but the sight in front of you was a masterpiece. Yuta looked like someone who was crafted by Michael Angelo; he knelt there, he looked ethereal; golden, in the yellow hue of his lamp, his slim fingers glistening with your juices, eyes locked into yours; dark as the midnight, full of lust. He licked his fingers and slid it all into his mouth. The flash of passion, the fury of need that darkened his eyes, filled with a sense of decadent power, as you laid there, all ready for him. Time and place was a virtue, but all you wanted was to spend your nights with him, only him.

“You really want to fuck me here? You’ve got a damn bed, Yuta.”

“Later.” The sight before him was something so lovely and intricate. The need you felt for him was primitive, overwhelming. You scrambled out from your position and one moment Yuta felt your greedy hands unbuckling his belt and unhooking his pants. He watched you in amusement, he didn’t complain, more; let you do your own will. You never moved so fast in your life, you undressed him so fast, it even surprised you. Yuta dragged you down onto the floor again, the coolness of the tiles against her back made her register to her dazed mind. Yuta leaned over. His mouth feasting over your flesh, greedy hands roaming and racing around your quivering body in a ruthless manner. Heat pumped into both of your systems. You felt yourself going warm, soft, melting into his touch. Becoming one. Your mouths connected once again. Hot and greedy. Salivas connecting. You nipped onto his lips, chest. Fingers grazing and digging into the hard ridge of his shoulders. Both of you couldn’t get enough of each other; savouring pore by pore. He palmed you, again. You gasped at the sudden touch, it sent shivers to your spine. His fingers went down to your core, moving against your heat, relentlessly building you up, the drive, the need for release clawing viciously. 

“Look at me, (Y/N).” His hair is mopped overhead. Damped, but still beautiful as it is. “I love you.” The shadows around you seemed to shift while your fingers stroked. His fingers are still busy devouring your core.  Sensation slid after sensation, building inside you, in trembling, shuddering layers, then exploded. Your vision blurred; a half sob tore from your lips. Strength gone, you lay there motionless, air around is thick with ragged breaths and sex. Your heartbeat stumbled. Yuta caressed his shaft, then the head; red, oozing with pre-cum. 

“You’ll hate me more.” Yuta grinned as he slammed his throbbing cock onto you. A sob of pure, overwhelming pleasure eased up your throat. You heard both of your flesh clicking with every move Yuta made. The air smelt of sex. Dark. Your body opened and joined with his. Arching, you meet his heavy thrusts lifting your hips after his attacks, moving in a desperate manner, urging him on “Shit, you feel so good.” In that fleeting moment, in the deep night. You understood, there will be no other man in your mind, only the man in front of you, deep, thrusting, Yuta was only the one. The one.

Underbase. South Korea

Yuta sat alone. He stared at your sleeping figure on his bed. The marks lingered on your neck like wild berries. He felt his arms shake uncontrollably. He stood up in his black boxers; and approached the medication box just inside his drawers. He searched for the familiar capsule. Chloroquine. His breathing steadied, and found the strength to look at your figure again. His subconscious is having an internal battle with his heart. He drank his medication and went to the bed with you. Your skin glowed like warm honey. Yuta whispered in, “I will stop loving you until the last rose dies.”

Yuta and you have been in ups and downs. Of which included; surviving the Kaiju attacks. 

Yuta could still remember that devastating day. Indistinct radio chatters. Government jets. Explosions. Roars. Chaos. By the time the Kaiju was taken down by tanks and jets, exactly seven days and 40 miles later, three cities were already destroyed. Tokyo, Kyoto, and his hometown, Osaka. Thousands of lives were lost, including those of his beloved parents. The city mourned for the lost souls, memorialized the ones who died because of the giant beast, and the people slowly moved on. Three months later, there was another attack. Taiwan. The beast shattered Taipei. People clamoring, people killed, the toxic blood of the beast painting the streets a vibrant blue. Then, another attack hit Los Angeles, the same destruction happening, the same trauma. Again, it was stopped. Then and there, the people learned and realized. The attacks wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. Everything that happened was just the beginning. The calm before the storm. There was something waiting out there, something more grotesque, more destructive. 

There both of you entered the dangerous world of being a Jaeger pilot. 

The nation had been reborn, and set an alliance in order to be better prepared in case of another upcoming Kaiju attack. Resources were clamped together to build an indestructible weapon against the Kaijus. For the sake of the innocent lives, for the sake of their own sanity and peace. The people created their own version of the Kaiju. The Jaeger program was created. At first, there were a series of malfunctions and setbacks. A single pilot couldn’t withstand the neural load to catch up and interface with a Jaeger, the strain so powerful that it could cause intracranial nerve damage. And so, the two-pilot system was proposed. The left pilot for the left hemisphere and the right pilot for the right hemisphere. 

With the Jaeger, the people started winning, soon being able to stop attacks of the Kaijus everywhere. Then came the propaganda. Kaiju and Jaeger toys. The Jaeger pilots became celebrities. Everything was going smoothly, all success falling into the people’s palm.

Then, it all changed.

“Alert Gipsy Danger. Kaiju movement spotted at Bay 10. Code name. Kaiju Sharp Snout. Category 3. 9,000 metric tons.”

Yuta scrambled immediately out of his bunk bed. He whispered and shook your figure lightly, “I need to go, I love you.” You groaned in response. He made a sudden jump and knocked at the door of his younger co-pilot, Mark, aggressively. 

Mark’s door is slightly ajar. Yuta made himself in, further waking up the younger boy. “Wake up, Canada Boy. There’s Kaiju movement at the breach,” He slapped the bed of Mark’s lightly, “We are deployed to baby Mark-03.” He said in reference to the nuclear powered Jaeger.  The machine they were piloting, Gipsy Danger, was Yuta and Mark's pride and joy. Mark opened the door to his room and Yuta moved in his room, and approached his cabinet and put on a grey t-shirt.

Mark groaned, “Not a good morning to you.”

Yuta smirked, “It’s a good morning to kick some Kaiju ass. Road to seven wins.”

Mark wiped his eyes, “What time is it?”

“Two.”

Mark made a face, “In the morning?”

Yuta grinned while fixing his cross necklace, “Yep.”

“Why are you so pumped up all of a sudden?”

Mark glanced behind Yuta’s shoulder and saw your sleeping figure on his bed. Their rooms were just interconnected with a single door as a barrier. He gave the older pilot a smirk. Mark’s unanswered questions are answered; Yuta was the sole reason of the sudden moaning at twelve fucking midnight.

“What category is it?”

“Three, the biggest one, yet.”

Mark narrowed his eyes, “Code name?”

“Sharp Snout.”

Yuta approached the younger boy and made a playful fist bump with him. “It’s superhero time.”

Mark gave him a toothy grin. A knock disrupted the two from the main door of their rooms. A male voice grunted from the other side of the steel door. 

“Hey, Handsomes, time for the drop.”

Mark made his way to the bathroom, “Who gave them that code name?”

“Me.”

Mark gave Yuta a questionable look, “Handsome? Really?” then grinned afterwards. “Don’t get a big head, hyung. Also, tell (Y/N) I said hi after our mission.”

By the time Yuta and Mark were preparing for their mission, you were still asleep. The boots of the two young bachelors clinked towards the steel platform. Yuta and Mark met when there was a Jaeger Pilot sign up in Japan. Yuta and Mark had a similar childhood experience, having lost their families because of the Kaiju Attack. They weren’t the stars among their classes, never have been selected for an urgent attack. However, there was one thing that made the two exceptional among all the Jaeger pilots; they were drift compatible. They had a strong bond which made their fights more successful. The drift compatibility was, in essence, two completely different systems conjoined together to create an enormous battle defense against an intruder. Finding a drifting partner was like searching for your other half, your other soul. Yuta didn’t want to have you as his co-pilot; he gets distracted by your beauty easily.

Yuta and Mark arrived at the drop facility. The workers assisted the two in wearing their titanium metal suit, tools whirring, a metal spinal cord attached to their back. The two pilots gave each other playful glances. They wore matching white helmets, a yellow liquid dispersing downwards.

“Data on Helmet. Data relay gel dispersing on circuit plots.”

The machine gave a low hum. The lights flicked on, the others following. The heavy secured door opened with a loud hiss. Yuta and Mark entered, each stride followed by a clank. The attachment metal descended, a loud swish coming from its origin. It looked like a harness, but there was no attachment on the pilot’s torso; the metal straps are only connected to the arms and foot. Yuta and Mark placed both of their feet on the pedal platform, then the equipment wrapped around their soles and ankles, securing both of them tightly. It gave an impression as if they are flying mid-air, the security straps hidden behind their lavish suits. The staff whirred the screw onto their backs, the driller machine turning the screw aggressively. Another metal, similar to a handcuff automatically attached on the boy’s wrists, clicking after each wrist. Then a circular device was connected to their palms, a light emitting from its center. A circular plot on Mark’s right palm and another on Yuta’s left palm. 

A voice came out from the p.a system. 

“Good morning, handsome boys.”

Yuta grinned and pressed the overhead controller, “Taeil, what’s up, my man?”

Taeil chuckled, “Mightier than ever. Won an algebra quiz.”

Yuta pressed the button again, “Having a sexy brain makes you so attractive, brother.”

Mark pressed in his buttons calling out to Taeil, “How was the date? Did you score?” Then the two laughed boisterously. 

Taeil smirked from his station and levelled the mic onto his plump lips, “She loved me, that’s a giveaway, however, someone was barking. I will leave it to you guys to imagine what exactly that was.” Taeil went on a blind date, however, it didn’t go as well as he’d planned. The girl’s father didn’t fancy him at all. 

Yuta groaned, “That must’ve hurt your ego, man.”

Taeil clicked his tongue, “Have established my ego and pride for several years. That one was chicken.”

Marshal Lau entered in his navy suit, “Engage the drop, Mr. Moon.”

Taeil’s body jerked up in surprise and he cleared his throat, “Engaging drop, Sir.” The hologram flashed in front of Taeil's face as he typed down the keyboard, vigorously. A bracelet lingered on his wrist. He spoke towards his mic again, “Marshal Lau on deck.” He pushed the button on his console, then jutted the controller similar to a joystick in an upward direction, “Securing conn pad, then, we are ready to drop.”

The staff from the conn pad attached the steel with the shape of a bowtie. The steel conjoined with a loud hiss.

“Conn pad attached, Sir Taeil. Back door secured.”

Yuta and Mark pressed the p.a button, “Ready for the drop.”

Yuta voiced out, “Gipsy Danger ready for the big drop.”

From a distance, the place Yuta and Mark are in, is actually a robot head. It was gigantic, it had a black exterior, the eyes that looked similar to a windshield, are colored a bright yellow. The air around it swooshed, steam coming out of the pipes. Then, the robot head dropped in an instant. The two pilot’s stomach churned as the head plunged from a high altitude. 

Yuta hissed, “Here comes the roller coaster ride.”

Mark answered back, “Never was my favorite.”

Gipsy Danger’s head attached on its enormous torso. The two groaned at the impact of the drop, but recollected immediately. The head descended and locked onto its open neck. The head tilted towards the right, and a series of chains connected to each other. 

“Connection complete, Sir.”

“Engage the pilot-to-pilot protocol now.”

Taeil typed in again, “Engaging pilot-to-pilot program in three, two, one,” he clicked a button, “Now.”

An AI voice sounded from the speakers, “Pilot-to-pilot sequence, protocol engaging.”

Gipsy Danger’s neck continued to move, securing all the heavy duty alloy into their places. The gaps from the neck closed in an instant. The enormous robot’s center core illuminated a high glow of red, the internal part turning in a fast, clockwise direction. The tower cranes moved away. The platform beneath the Jaeger’s feet moved slowly. The marshallers waved their luminous sticks guiding the moving vehicle with care. The doors of the base opened; violent waves flashed the bottom and strong winds blew into the base. 

“Gipsy Launch. Bay nine.”

Mighty gales. Rain. Thunder Strikes. Gipsy stood out despite the storm eating in. Several lights luminated from the robot; the topmost head, chest, legs, the forearms. There were indistinct radio chatters heard, and the helicopters flew against the tempest. The moving platform dropped slowly into the water, creating a huge wave from the impact. 

Taeil pressed several other buttons from the overhead console. “Gipsy Danger, ready and aligned, Sir.”

Marshal law leaned onto the microphone, “Rangers, this is Marshal Lau. Prepare for the neural handshake.”

Taeil moved again. His fingers grazing the buttons, the hologram screen illuminated robot parts and the brain; both left and right hemisphere shown. “Initiating neural handshake in fifteen seconds.” Taeil started counting downwards while typing vigorously, making sure the programs are set well. An image of the brain turned against the screen, “Ten.”

Marshal Lau observed the holographic screen, then took a peek at his watch. It was past three already. 

“Eight.”

From the Gipsy, Mark pressed some buttons, then looked at Yuta. “I really can’t hide my secrets from you.”

Yuta tsk-ed, shaking his head, “Do the honor of stepping into my brain first.” 

“Pilot-to-pilot sequence, protocol engaging. Neural handshake initiated.”

Mark and Yuta stood there, and closed both of their eyes. Both of the pilot’s visions looked like a big whirlpool; making them remember the significant memories of their past, then a blackout, then another memory. Each could read and see the latter’s memory. This was called the Drift. Jaeger Technology. Based on the fighter program neural systems. The two pilots mind-meld each other’s memories with the body of the giant machine. The deeper the bond shared between the two pilots, the stronger they fight. 

A gigantic loading screen flashed on Taeil’s screen. “Neural handshake complete. Strong and deep.” 

Marshal Lau stood behind him, staring deeply.

Yuta raised his left palm, the circular device illuminated. “Left hemisphere calibrating.”

Mark did the same, raising his right, the device glowed after his movements, “Right hemisphere calibrating.”

Both of the pilots moved simultaneously, raising one arm after another and throwing a punch. The gigantic machine followed the action of the two; lifting its gigantic arms then flexing them afterwards. The control and movement originated from its main base, the head from the two pilots engaged. 

The female AI voiced out, “Calibration completed.”

Marshal Lau breathed then spoke, “Gentlemen, your orders are to hold and block Kaiju from entering Manila's waters. Copy?”

Yuta answered, “Copy, Marshal.”

Mark spoke, pressing the button from his overhead controller, “Sir, there is movement on the west coast. A fishing vessel--”

“Rangers, we are not risking millions of lives for a vessel that contains twenty. Orders are orders, understood?”

The two rangers answered at once, “Yes, Sir.”

Yuta pressed the button to cancel the message transmitting from the base. He gave Mark a stern gaze. 

Mark gulped, “Is he serious?”

Yuta gave him a determined look, “Mark, you know what I have in mind?”

Mark’s lips pressed into a thin line, “Our minds are connected, I’m basically in there.”

Yuta grinned, “I know. Let’s go for some fish.”

Mark gave a lopsided smile, “Then, here we go!”

The two pilots made a step. The left then lifted their rights. It took great effort to take a stride with the machine. The two pilots were suspended mid-air; starting from their feet, there was an enormous chain turning into a clockwise direction from every movement made by the rangers. The Jaeger took big strides along the waters. The machine stood about two-hundred fifty feet; complex, weaponry used as defense for the alien life domination. Gipsy Danger walked in the waters as if not fazed by the violent thunders and winds blowing its enormous metal body. There are phenomena that are impossible to fight with; hurricanes, rain, thunderstorms— all acts of God. However, when you are in a Jaeger, everything impossible could be made possible. Being in a Jaeger meant, winning, defending everything coming at your way.

Shores of Manila

From the mile anchorage. The fishing vessel was wiped by the aggressive waters of the peninsula. The boat swayed carelessly along the violent waves, heavy currents hit the hull of the water vessel, splashing water everywhere its bow. The fishermen yelled instinctively while chaining their equipment to the post. Slipping on the deck, panicking and helpless. They were soaked while they ran around the open cabin to secure every paraphernalia in place; their yellow raincoat stood out in the dark storm, the wind tackling them out of their posture. A man in his mid-forties; with an Indian descent, trotted inside the cockpit. Another man, an African-American, controlled the helm, whirring it towards the right. The radar beeped loudly. The windshield wipers were busy; vigorously wiping the windows, left and right.

The man in his forties yelled out of his lungs, “How long is the port from Manila?!”

The man behind the wheel answered, speaking on top of his lungs, “Ten miles, Sir!”

An old man, from the right of the driver; wearing a beanie, roared while staring at the radar, “We’ll be dead by the time we reach Manila!”

The storm makes it hard for them to communicate; the only thing that is effective is through shouting on top of their lungs in attempts to hear each other, while the wind is aggressively slapping the vessel from left to right. The Indian shouted back, pointing at the radar. A green light blinked after his taps, “What about that island by the east? Two miles?!”

The American answered him, “It’s a mile, Sir!” He yanked the wheel again, stirring towards the East direction, “The island is getting closer!”

The old man in a beanie cried out, “How the hell is the island getting closer?! We ain’t even accelerating forward!”

The Indian caught his tongue, and stared intently ahead. The radar was beeping rapidly. The waves splashed and an enormous black rock came into a view. The island. The American shouted, his tone hinting victory “The island!”

The Indian shook his head, “It’s no island. Kaiju.”

The enormous monster swam across the waters. Its back was hunched, rising up and down from the waters.The Kaiju gave a low growl, its feet dragging heavily along the floors of the ocean. It was massive and its scales luminated a cerulean blue. This beast was neither lithe, nor blessed with grace. Its beady eyes glinted a deep black; upright soulless and evil. Underneath the drone of the rain there came another sound. At first it was quite indistinct, but as it drew closer to the vessel where the fishermen huddled, it became louder. A deafening growl that was bone-shrieking. The Kaiju swam fast, approaching the vessel in an instant. 

The man in his forties cried, panic surging up his systems. “Fucking hell! Turn the vessel around!”

The Kaiju stood up. Standing about hundreds of feet. Yellow lines lingered around its back. A blue illuminating its sharp nose. Its giant claws raised, about to ponder the vessel to pieces. Luckily, the vessel had swerved to the right, missing the blow of the monster. The Kaiju roared loud as the thunder struck from the skies. Its gigantic mouth had illuminated a warm blue glow; its tongue raveling out. A string of curses unraveled from the fishermen’s tongue, like yarn unfurling, as the Kaiju advanced. It's golden and blue scales shimmered with hot anger along with it's dark, cold, greyish eyes. Every step it took rattled their bones, struck their hearts, and shook the waters. The Kaiju stared down at the vessel, its beady eyes hungry, angry, dangerous. The men from the deck cried in agony and panic, “Oh God!”

Another one yelled, “What the hell?” As several splashes of water sprayed them from the deck. Gipsy Danger rose up from the waters, its light blinding the people from the vessel with an electronic buzzing. The center core of the enormous machine glowed a fiery red, turning in a steady, fast, circular direction. The Jaeger’s large right hand grabbed the vessel from its bottom. The fishermen ducked their heads; figures crouched on the deck, trembling in terror. The vessel rose up in the air, in the palm of the gigantic robot. The fishermen yelled. 

A female robotic voice boomed from the pilot’s control center. “Fishing vessel secured.”

From Mark’s circular plot; a holographic image of the vessel was shown. “Adjust the torque!”

Yuta nodded and pressed the buttons from the overhead consoles, “Alright!”

“Torque secured.”

The Jaeger kneeled on its one foot and pivoted its body towards left, the right arms extended forward, releasing the vessel on the other part of the ocean; away from the roaring Kaiju. The Jaeger turned around and the two pilots quickly threw a right punch aiming towards its jaw. The Kaiju had a loud howl as it staggered backward, falling into the waters. The Kaiju quickly stood up in an attempt to attack the Jaeger, however, the machine had already mustered another blow, coming from the left arm. Smashing the creature's chest, Yuta and Mark both groaned while they raised both of their arms up in the air; fist closed to pound on the flat part of its sharp snout. The Kaiju’s head dropped into the waters; its mouth lighted up a sharp color of blue as it exhaled underneath the surface of the sea. It rose up again, and let out an angry shriek, advancing towards the Jaeger and smashing itself towards its torso. Yuta raised his left arm in defense, but the Kaiju was too fast, ripping some of the parts of the Jaegers arm. The pilots staggered on their places; the system beeping rapidly, they both shouted.

“Hyung! I’ll aim the missile! Hold the demon to its place!”

Yuta held its body; holding the sharp snout in place; the Kaiju protested against the stronghold of the machine. Gipsy Danger’s right arm transformed into a missile launcher; a circular beam ready to be launched. “Get it!”

The missile was launched. Three shots. They smashed right against the chest of the Kaiju. The monster gave a loud screech and fell from its back. The waters gave a loud splash after the downfall of the Kaiju. 

From the base, Taeil read the beeping lights from his holographic scene. “Discharge reading, Sir. Plasma cannon released in the peninsula ten miles of Manila.”

Marshal Lau pressed in the p.a system, “Rangers, what the fuck just happened?”

Yuta smirked and pressed onto the p.a button from the overhead console to answer back, “Kaiju down, Sir. That makes that our seven.”

Marshal law yelled through the microphone, “You disobeyed a direct order! The plan is to avoid the Kaiju from entering the waters of Manila!”

 Mark answered back, “We did, Sir! We released a launch and saved the vessel from being crumpled!”

Marshal Lau’s nostrils flared up, “Go back to the base, Now!”

The rangers grinned at each other. They had made the Marshal annoyed, again. Yuta pressed the button, “Okie dokie, Sir.” He pressed the button again, to cancel the p.a message transmitting to the base. 

Taeil cried out loud, “Kaiju signature sending. I repeat, the Kaiju is still alive!”

Marshal Lau pressed the microphone again, yelling, “Rangers! The thing survived! Grab the vessel and return to your post now!”

Gipsy stood there in the waters, the two pilots frantically searching for the Kaiju. The waters glowed with the Kaiju’s blood; the ocean colored a fascinating shade of cerulean blue; despite its aesthetic appearance, it was highly toxic. The Marshal’s voice boomed into their p.a systems, “Gipsy, get out of there now!”

Gipsy lingered right, then left. It was still and quiet. Only the violent blowing of the winds were heard. Then, suddenly the creature attacked, taking the pilots in surprise. The Kaiju roared angrily and clawed at the machine. Gipsy held in the Kaiju’s mouth, controlling its attempt to eat out the machinery. Mark and Yuta grunted, as they swayed back and forth from the Kaiju’s impact. 

Yuta yelled, “I got this!” He swung his arm, the machine’s fist shifting into a missile launcher. He then made an attack, taking a movement from below. The Kaiju swatted the arm then lashed with its sharp snout onto its shoulders, clawing the arm away from the source. Yuta screamed loud in pain as he held his left arm. The radar from Gipsy’s head beeped rapidly, the screen blinking a bold text of ‘Alert’.

Mark yelled through the mic, “Taeil hyung, we’ve been attacked!”

Taeil from the base, typed in. Gipsy’s figure flashing on his screen. He turned towards the Marshal, “Left arm, gone, Sir.”

Gipsy’s arm was clawed out by the Kaiju. With another attempt, the monster chomped on the arm, ripped it away and threw it towards the ocean. The Kaiju went mad; berserk; screeching as it violently attacked the Jaeger. Its right claw lashed onto the Jaeger’s head; where both pilots were stationed. The glass shattered as the Kaiju roared. Mark and Yuta swayed, ragged breath leaving their lips. The Kaiju have gone through the hull. It clawed up and managed to destroy the right side of the Jaeger’s head. Opening from Mark’s side.

Mark threw a panicked look towards Yuta, “Hyung, listen! You have to--”

Mark shouted loudly. Desperate, full of panic. He was so helpless. Mark wasn’t even able to finish his sentences as the Kaiju snatched his figure apart from the metal supporting him, his body flying away. Yuta cried out loud, “NO!”

From the hull, Mark’s spot was now empty, replaced with electricity and fires. Yuta screamed in agony, “NO!” He grunted as he was electrified. The computers were beeping rapidly. Red Alert. Alarms wailing. Yuta bit down his lips as he tried to raise his injured arm, transferring the circular plot on his right palm. The Kaiju gave a loud roar, advancing towards Gipsy, again. Pushing the machinery with brutal force. Yuta grunted as he staggered from his post. The monster growled and placed its sharp snout on the Jaeger’s chest. Yuta screamed, as jolts of pain shooted out his body. Yuta aimed the missile launcher. The creature was dominating, clawing and smashing against the Jaeger’s body. It roared after a huge attack. Then, again and again. 

“Missile Loading”

The Kaiju chewed on the Jaeger as if it was a feast. Yuta yelled again. Then, he aimed directly at the gigantic monster’s chest. Three shots. There was a massive, blinding light. Darkness. Its body parts littered everywhere. 

From Taeil’s screen, the red dot has disappeared in a blink of the eye. “Second missile, launched, Sir. No Kaiju signature noted.” He typed in again, “I’m not getting any signals.”

“I cannot reach Yuta, Sir.”

The Marshal walked away from the base. A sullen look painted his face. It was not a time to celebrate; they did ward off the Kaiju. However, they had lost another brave soul. Mark Lee fought until his very last breath.

Bali, Indonesia

“Grandma! Look what I found on the shores!”

The little girl showed her grandmother an old, rusty, robot toy; a Jaeger to be precise. Her grandmother gave her a pleasant smile, standing up from picking up shells. “That is absolutely beautiful my dear.”

“It is mama! I wanted to see one Jaeger someday!” She beamed at her grandmother, clapping her hands excitingly. Then the elderly shushed her, “Okay, you will! Now let us pick some shells, shall we?”

The younger girl nodded and crouched down and helped her grandmother to pick up several shells. All were pearly white, some with a tint of orange and pink, some long, others short. Loud footsteps were heard from the distance. The young girl peeked up, her eyes widening at the sight. She cried out loud, “MAMA!” The younger had wished for a Jaeger, and a Jaeger appeared. Mark 03, Gipsy Danger. Clattered and destroyed. 

The grandmother raised a hand on her mouth. Surprised. “Oh my heavens.”

Gipsy staggered with every step it took. The machine creaking. Then suddenly, it fell on its knees and made a drop towards the ground. The machine powered down after the fall. The two ran towards the machine quickly. The elderly woman flailed her left arm, “Stay here!”

The grandmother approached the hull cautiously. Then she saw a figure crawling from the machine’s gigantic head. Yuta panted as he struggled to get out of the Jaeger. He quickly stood up. He looked like he was run down several times. His left arm suit was already busted, burned to the extent; pools of blood dripping down his forearm. From his left bicep were several vertical wounds. It was red and bloody. His helmet was cracked and staggered, almost collapsing. Everything was circulating, he couldn’t think straight, couldn’t clearly hear the words from the elderly woman. He felt as if he was drowning. Muffled voices. All he could think of was his younger brother, Mark Lee.

Yuta whispered while he turned around, “Mark... Mark? (Y/N)?” His legs couldn’t carry his weight anymore and he collapsed on the ground. 

“Darling, quick! Call for help!”

The elderly woman held his face, “It’s gonna be okay. Hold on for a little longer.”

Could he hold on a little longer?

“Where the hell is Yuta?” You shook Taeil’s shoulder, tears welling in your eyes. The news of their expedition has made it through the Underbase. It was already four in the morning, yet, no signs of Yuta. No signs of Gipsy. This is what you feared. You did spend a lovely and memorable night with the love of your life but, is this the price you have to pay? Your fingers trembled, as you observed Taeil type in his keyboard. “Taeil, please find him.”

“I’m trying my best (Y/N). For now, calm down.”

“How can I calm down Taeil?”

“(Y/N), you know exactly how dangerous our job entails. Death chases after us, I hope you are aware of that.” You are. You’re not just ready to let go of him yet. Not now, never. You stood up again, this time, you roamed around the base. Looking at every monitor in sight; just to divert your attention. You told the marshal that you won’t be deploying bases not until they give out any information about Yuta. Hong Kong could wait. You would be needed if there is a brought mutilated Jaeger. After all, you have already settled with the restoration team and upgrades of the Jaegers. You were once a pilot, too, but Yuta was concerned about your health. The Jaeger tech is too much for your health; it almost had your ECG line flat that one moment you had a mission in China. You were also responsible with the cadet selection and combat training. 

You blinked hard. Throat tightening. You gave an abstracted look then, took a deep breath and slowly initiated expiration. You felt the relaxation of your diaphragm and your lungs pushed out air. You licked your lips; it was already dry. The holographic screen of Taeil showed the maps of Manila, he zoomed in to the nearby countries surrounding the country. Tracing any signs of the Jaeger or Yuta. A staff from the other side of the room suddenly alerted the people inside the vicinity. 

“A report came from Indonesia, Sir Moon.”

Taeil gave you a quick glance. “That guy has nine lives. Don’t worry, we’ll find him, (Y/N).” 

Taeil’s voice boomed inside the control base, “Coordinates?”

“8.3405° S, 115.0920° E”

“Where is the call coming from?”

“Seminyak, Sir.”

“Prepare the chopper now!”

You approached Taeil’s figure, “I’ll come with your team!”

“(Y/N), no.”

“Why not?”

“Orders are orders, (Y/N).” You whipped your head towards the direction of the voice. Marshal Lau. You reacted, “Yuta is my boyfriend, I need to see him!”

The marshal nodded, “I know. But It could crowd the chopper. It’s much better if you’ll wait here.”

You tried to argue back but the marshal held up a hand, silencing you. He gave you a curt nod, “Orders, (Y/N).”

You stormed out in frustration. Fuck orders.

Yuta narrowed his eyes. He felt really exhausted. The elderly assisted him and managed to remove the suit from him; to let his body to breathe. The nasty wounds clinging onto his skin. Yuta tried to move his body, but he cannot move his distal muscles. And his fingers are shaking uncontrollably. He tried to remember when was the last time he had taken in his medication; one a.m, and he drank it while looking at your peaceful sleeping figure on his bed. The medication he had taken has already subsided. Now, he is suffering with uncontrollable muscle shaking, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He felt helpless, adding the fact that Mark was already gone. He wanted to diminish out. After all, his time was already set in a time bomb; time for Yuta was expensive, and there is no such thing as bargaining. The medics around the island checked upon him, and he didn’t sustain a concussion; but the mission surely left him an ugly scar. Thoughts swirling around his mind; was it really worth it to be a Jaeger pilot? Is it time to diminish the Jaeger tech of his system? The fire, determination, urge to kill and to protect the world from the enormous beast has threatened to fall down the day he piloted Gipsy Danger alone, and collapsed at the beach somewhere in Indonesia. Mark’s death is still taking a toll on him. 

A large helicopter. Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Hovering in the air above the clinic he is currently housing at. It was painted a deep green and yellow, a heavy, military aircraft with a figure in dark glasses and helmet hunched over the controls. It swung around over the site, it's blades beating the air. Then settled on the ground. Yuta narrowed his eyes at the aircraft before him. The familiar emblem caught his eyes; a large sword that struck a Kaiju’s chest. He walked out of the site and approached the man that had jumped out of the vehicle.

“Nakamoto Yuta.”

Yuta called upon the name of the higher up before him, “Marshal.”

The Marshal nodded, “Now's not the time to mourn. My number one priority is your health.”

Yuta nibbled on his lips, “It’s always been our oath marshal. Mourn later, Kill Kaijus.”

“I also lost a brave soul. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Yuta furrowed his brows, then looked towards the Marshal intently, “Marshal, I have something to tell you concerning my health.”

The helicopter they rode flew high in the air. Passing through the familiar cities of Taiwan, China, Singapore, then they finally arrived in South Korea. Military time, 1800 hrs. Jaeger Station, South Korea. 

It was raining hard. Busy. The people at the bay were occupied. Some are pushing the Kaiju specimen drenched in formuline in a large glass dome towards the southwest direction in the laboratory. The marshallers were waving their glow sticks guiding the arriving helicopter towards the helipad. Military men in raincoats walked back and forth. Trucks and machineries are busy. Cargo ships at the nearest dock. You stalked out of the base, a large black umbrella covering you from the rain. You were still frustrated that Marshal Lau hasn’t let you go on their search rescue. The anxiety is slowly killing you. You have heard rumors about solo piloting, and it has a backlash. All you know, it could affect Yuta’s health. A whistle caught your attention.

“Looking good, Miss (Y/N). Can I have a taste?” 

“Fuck off.”

You didn’t know the guy and so, you ignored and paid no attention to him. Your world wasn't just experiencing the attacks of Kaijus, there are creatures that are jerks, scattered around the world, Misogynists. They are of a different breed, but they don't differ as they share the same attitude. You clutched your work laptop tightly against your chest. Your long black coat swaying against the violent winds and followed your figure from behind. Your black combat boots made a loud splash every stride you took. You looked up and saw the Boeing CH-47 Chinook ready to take off. Your hair was swept away due to the winds coming from the blades of the aircraft. You stood there and waited expectantly. You felt queasy and uneasy. The staircase descended down the floor and Marshal Lau approached you. You handed him the extra umbrella you took with you, with shaky hands. He gave you a curt nod and opened the other umbrella for the person following him from behind.

“Oh my God.”

The mashal spoke, “(Y/N), Yuta needs to be sent to the infirmary--”

You saw how Yuta limped. His injuries are seen from afar. Your eyes welled up as you approached his figure cautiously. You cupped his face, his deep, sad eyes staring back into yours. That wasn’t the same eyes you were used to seeing; his eyes were your favorite; it felt so alive, charismatic, full of determination, but those staring back at you are just as black as midnight. Empty. You took a sharp intake of breath. You leaned in, temples touching, you closed your eyes and whispered. “I thought I lost you. Hell, I was so afraid I wasn’t gonna see you again.” The tears finally fell down. It was so melancholic. With the rain, your pounding heart, the man you loved the most stood there looking as lost and hurt. This wasn’t the life you wanted. 

Yuta stared at you intently. Never have he seen someone as ethereal, standing confidently despite the storm paving its way on the base. He observed you, you had blue highlights on your hair, pinkish lips that are kissable, deep eyes—unreadable. It hurt him to see you hurting too. He tried to force a smile, showing a perfect set of pearly white teeth. You sobbed into his chest, “I don’t know what I will do without you.”

Yuta whispered, “You should start standing on your toes. It’ll hurt you more if you rely on me a lot.”

A fortnight. Underbase.

“It's a surprise that there isn’t a Kaiju attack these fortnight. Are they on hibernating mode or something?”

“Trust me marshal, they are preparing for a bigger attack. This isn’t the time we should be letting our guards down.”

Taeyong dissected the heart specimen that lay on the table. Scalpel and tweezers. It was still fresh, its arteries a glowing color of cerulean, the veins are colored a deep crimson. However, it stinks of toxicity and ammonia. Taeyong’s arms are drenched with Kaiju blood and it covered most of the tattoos that lingered on both of his forearms. Sicheng, on the other hand, is writing vigorously on the blackboard. Chalks and dust. Formulas. Numerous data. 

Sicheng voiced out. He pushed the glasses falling from the bridge of his nose, “The Kaiju attacks from the last months as by my calculations were about two and that is the maximum. However, as I’ve outlooked the data given by the other labs, the attacks could multiply and the frequency of Kaiju ambushes could rise for about three or worse four. From Sydney it was two weeks, then a week, then days. No time from preparations, I say. Ergo, your rangers should always prepare for a Kaiju attack from the coast. A category four.”

“Doctor Sicheng, I am about to plan on to group a 2,400 pound of nuclear bomb in the Breach to stop the attacks. Please give me more precise data, not just a prediction.”

Sicheng cleared his throat, “Numbers never lie marshal. They are the most accurate thing and never close to a prediction. The frequency of attacks will increase to the point we couldn’t stand their domination anymore, and--”

Johnny finished the sentence for the doctor, “We’re dead. Alas.”

Sicheng lifted his chin, “Exactly, Lieutenant Johnny.”

Taeyong smirked. Kaiju mucus drenching his surgical gloves, “You speak like a mighty doctor.”

Sicheng gave him a quizzical look, “I speak the truth. Continue on examining Dr. TY.” He clasped his fingers and headed towards his digital monitor, “Here comes the good news.”

The marshal spoke, “We are listening, doctor.”

“You see, the Breach is the gateway. And it is quite confusing as to how the hell is the Kaiju going to different countries like Australia, Alaska, Manila, Japan this comes up to the conclusion that there might be a new portal or much more, several gateways for these monsters. However,” He paused and clicked the enter key, a deep portal showed at the screen, “They only came from one source. Here, deep and close to the Marianas Trench lying underneath the oceans of the Pacific. We disrupt the throat for it to widen, don’t worry, that is its natural structure. It is beyond flexible for the monsters to go through. So, If we disrupt the gateway, that is where we drop the bomb and boom.”

Taeyong butted in, “But we could rely on much, limited data. Hear me out marshal.”

Johnny and Marshal Lau turned towards the other pink-haired doctor, “Do you see how unique these creatures are?”

“They’re not--”

“Some would look like a lizard, next would look like a deadass fish. But despite their appearance, they do share one commonality, they have the same exact DNA.”

Johnny narrowed his eyes, “What are you implying now, doctor?”

“Cloning.”

Yuta entered the laboratory after listening to their complicated discussions. His voice startling the men inside. “I will be piloting Echo Panther, Marshal. That is where you will attach the bombs right?”

“Yuta, Why all of a sudden?”

Yuta gave a half shrug. “This is the best thing I could do, marshal.”

“You’ll die, idiot!”

Yuta deadpanned, “I’m a fucking Jaeger pilot and I’ll die as one. That is something I should boast about.”

The marshal tried to calm his nerves. “This isn’t the right time to boast!”

Yuta gave a solemn look. After the incident, he contemplated that participating in this mission is something that could cut his time-bomb. He made sure to spend his remaining days making himself busy, pushing you aside from his systems, even if it's painful for his part. It was a dick and dumb move, but he knew spending his limited days with you would cause damage to you and to him as well. He made sure to avoid you. “Marshal, I told you that I loved my mother right?”

Marshal Lau crossed his brows, “Yes.”

“And do you know what she did to prove her love to me? She sacrificed herself, for my own fucking sake.” He paused, fist clenching. The tremors are back, again. The marshal gave him  a concerned look. Yuta continued on, “Even if I choose not to participate in the mission, I would still die, it's all useless, marshal. Living is something out of my vocabulary.”

“This suggestion of yours will lead you to your death. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.”

“I know, but if it means keeping everyone safe, keeping my (Y/N) safe, it’s worth everything even if it costs me.”

“What about (Y/N)?” Yuta didn’t answer him. Instead, he gave a rose drenched in resin and a flash drive.

Yuta breathed, “Give that to her after this mission.”

The three of you entered the facility. Then the marshal took a left turn, towards the base’s large elevator. Marshal Lau spoke up, “We will take a look at the facility first, then (Y/N) will take you to Echo Panther. Copy that Yuta?”

“Yes Sir.”

You snapped back, turning your head towards the marshal and your boyfriend. “What Echo Panther? Is there something I missed out marshal?”

The door was about to close when a frantic screaming interrupted you from pushing the buttons of the lift closed. 

“Coming through!” Two pinked haired doctors scrambled inside the enormous lift. They pushed a Kaiju specimen through, crowding the space. The marshal pushed the button this time, giving you a meaningful look. Yuta felt the glass behind his back. The doe-eyed doctor wailed, “You are still injured, Yuta!” The elevator gave a sudden jolt, and descended downwards.

Yuta cajoled. Smiling wide. You were stunned at Yuta’s behavior. The time you saw him get down at the chopper since his last mission there was only one word that could describe him; lost. But the guy in front of you is really different, let alone he is acting as if nothing happened. “It's been a fortnight, doctor. I’m perfectly fine.”

You eyed Yuta. He’s been acting distant around you, and he seemed to be keeping things to himself. He was also acting differently around you; he never allowed you to nurse his injuries, or he never initiated intimate contacts with you unlike before. He acts completely different as if you weren’t molded as one. Dr. Taeyong spoke, “Just call me TY.” Yuta eyed the Kaiju tattoo lingering on Taeyong’s arm. 

Yuta continued to eye the tattoo and spoke towards the doctor, “Is that Tailjaw?”

Dr. Taeyong smirked, “A good eyesight you have. Yes it is. Truly one of the fascinating things I have ever seen.”

“Mark and I have taken them down in 2018. A category 3 as I could recall.” You blinked hard. Yuta made sure to not waste some dead air to let you interrupt. You tried to initiate a conversation but you were cut mid-way. You gritted your teeth

Dr. Sicheng interjected, “The only thing that fascinated you TY is that it’s heart still pounds even after its three long hour death.”

Taeyong spatted back, “And that was really fascinating, tell me otherwise or I’ll fight you Dong Sicheng!”

The elevator’s door with a loud hiss. You and Marshal Lau have stepped out. Yuta gave Dr. Ty a pat on the shoulders, “Kaijus were never fascinating, doctor. They are killers, ruthless blue-blooded creatures.” And he stepped out. 

He followed the two figures ahead of him, “Your research team is quite peculiar.”

Marshal spoke, “The two of them can outnumber a whole squad of researchers. They are pretty talented and brainy.”

The marshal gave Yuta a look, “Knowledge is always the outermost defense, Yuta.”

Pissed is an understatement, you couldn’t describe the anger boiling inside your gut. You pressed a series of codes on the biometric attached to the wall. The electronic beeps after your taps. The heavy secured door opened. Marshal Lau raised his right arm, “Welcome to the Underbase, again.”

People from the Underbase clamored around. Gulf carts beeping. Machineries wailing. Three tall Jaegers stood on each of the base’s corners. There are lights everywhere. Indistinctive radio sounds and chatters.Yuta turned around the base, his face awe-stricken. Above the large doors was a large digital clock.

The marshal’s voice boomed, “War clock. I hope we could reset it after your mission.”

Yuta narrowed his eyes, “I guarantee that.”

“We are lucky that they aren’t attacking, it surely gave us time to prepare.”

You interjected, “Excuse me marshal. But Yuta couldn’t participate in a mission. Can’t you see? He is still injured for heaven’s sake!”

The marshal looked at you, “He reported to me and said that he was perfectly fine.”

You stopped in your tracks and yanked Yuta’s arm, he voiced out, “Why?”

“What the fuck is running inside your mind Yuta?”

He looked straight into your eyes. No signs of love nor light. He glanced at you as if you were just an ordinary colleague, “Nothing. We should be going.” He left you there astounded. 

“It is. That is Tanker Shoalin. Assembled in Hong Kong, one of the greatest. Large titanium core, powered digitally. That machine eats up a lot of diesel. That will run up for your defense.” The marshal trailed. Yuta glanced up to see Tangker Shoalin. It was standing a hundred foot tall. It colored a deep color of indigo. Shimmering due to metal. “She’s piloted by the Wong brothers. Lucas, Kun and Hendery. Don’t be deceived by their soft looks, they are precise fighters, deadly. Defended the borders of China, nine times. They used their signature move, the triple tiger claw.”

“I knew of that technique. That was powerful.” He glanced at the brothers on the bench. Pretty busy with their own businesses. They wore a leather jacket, and their hair was colored a vibrant color of violet, pink and green. From Yuta’s left, a heavy duty grey Jaeger stood. 

The marshal pointed at it. “That one was the last of the first generation Mark 01 models, Hunger Mercenary. It may look as if it could be slammed down easily. But don’t be fooled, Yuta. That one is a bloodlust killing machine.” He paused, “Those two,” he pointed at the two men in a deep army green suit, “Doyoung and Jaehyun piloted the Hunger Mercenary.”

He stared at the figure of Kim Doyoung and Jung Jaehyun, “Yes, I have heard of them. New York based. Deadly killers.”

“Exactly. Gates under their watch remain unbreachable.”

You stared at Yuta. Eyes narrowing. He was observing the first generation Mark model. Then a booming voice caught all of your attention. Lieutenant Johnny approached the marshal, “Marshal. A pleasant morning.”

The marshal nodded, “To you too, Johnny.”

The lieutenant blinked. He stood tall, he had a new cut; an undercut. “Hey, Yuta. Oh, hey (Y/N)” Yuta nodded. You gave the lieutenant a faint smile. Johnny raised a brow; he is quite surprised at both of your behaviiors. You were both inseperable; clingy and full of love. The couple before him acted as if they despised each other. Johnny cleared his throat and gave Yuta a sullen look, “I’m sorry for the loss of your brother.”

Yuta only nodded. The marshal spoke again, “His cousin, Haechan will be your co-pilot in Echo Panther towards the Breach. That machine is as mighty as flash, quite fast and the last generation of the Mark 06.”

Yuta narrowed his eyes, “We’d be compatible. I’ve ran combat against Haechan before.”

“That’s a good thing. In that way we could stop the monsters from going in and out of our world as if they own the place. The Russians have given us enough resources such as nuclear missiles to be attached to Jaeger’s back.”

You clicked your tongue, “So you have a plan? What is my purpose then? To be an ornament?”

The marshal smiled, “An ornament is a fancy word, (Y/N). You are a warrior and so you will be backing the machine up to successfully enter the Breach.”

You snapped, “How could I back the Jaeger marshal? When you keep your plans to yourselves? My boyfriend doesn’t even talk to me as if I’ve got his fucking tongue.”

Marshall Lau blinked. This was the reason why he is opposed to Yuta’s request; you will be enraged once you find out. The Marshal called for Johnny’s attention, “Let us go to the control base.”

You raised your voice in annoyance, “Fucking hell, marshal. I feel like a fucking joke!”

Yuta cleared his throat, “Let’s go.”

“I won’t. Not until you tell me what the fuck is going on!”

Johnny fidgeted and bowed his head awkwardly towards Yuta, “The mission’s tomorrow. Let me know if you need something.”

Yuta answered back, “Thank you, sir.”

You cleared your throat, “Well? If you won’t talk, then I’m out.”

This is what they feared. What Yuta feared.

Your boots clanked every step you took. Yuta followed you from behind. There are electric sparks everywhere. The people were busy. Welding. Yuta heaved a sigh. Echo Panther stood there; tall, mighty and beautiful as ever. Beside it was Gipsy Danger, its familiar yellow windshield is noticeable from a distance. Memories came flooding his mind again, where he used to pilot the machine back in their glory days, with his best friend, his brother, Mark Lee. “She’s beautiful as ever.”

You tried to conceal your annoyance. “The last among the Mark 03. I made some major improvements on her model. Her nuclear core is powered tremendously, more stronger than before. There are weapons added, missile launches, laser ammos, et cetera.”

“She looked so new.”

“Better than new.” Yuta gave you a look. A look that you wish to see everyday. It is a glance that a man ever gave to a woman he truly admires, he truly loved.

“How do you like your new toy now, handsome boy?” Taeil walked on the metal platform. Yuta grinned widely and tackled the operator. 

“Good to see you, my man, Taeil.”

Taeil chucked, “Good old times. Where the hell have you been?”

“The infirmary,” Yuta inquired, “Ready for tomorrow?”

“I’m always ready.”

You stalked away; annoyance taking a toll on you. You glanced behind your shoulder and made sure to raise your voice for him to hear, “We better talk Nakamoto Yuta. I’m tired of guessing what the hell in running inside that pretty head of yours.”

Yuta entered his room, it looked similar, untouched, unfolded. It was a fortnight since he’d last slept in his room. Last night he was here; he was making love to you. Holding you close to him. Kissing passionately as if there is no tomorrow. But things have changed. Yuta cozened himself  with vain hopes and fake smiles, acting as if everything’s fine. The room looked lonely, empty, rusty. He turned to look at you. His eyes unfathomable, “What is it that you want to know?”

You let out an exasperated smile, “Stop acting so inconspicuous. I know something’s going on.”

“There is. Kaiju everywhere. I’m sure you know of these, (Y/N)”

You yelled, “I’m not fucking stupid, Yuta! Do you really enjoy doing this? Acting as if I’m not existing? This is bullshit, Yuta! Stop acting like a dick!”

There was a long silence. It was deafening.  

Yuta raised his brows, “I don’t understand why you are acting like this, (Y/N)”

“I’m acting like this because of you! You’re acting like a jerk!” You called out. Your fists balled up to fists; shaking uncontrollably. Your eyes glistened with tears.

Yuta chuckled bitterly, “Oh. I had no choice.”

Tears started to fall from your eyes.“Were you trying to destroy us?” You wiped your tears aggressively, inhaling rapid breaths,  “How do you sleep at night?”

Yuta let out a long, slow, exhale and ran a finger on his dirty blonde locks, “What I’m doing is for us, (Y/N). You’ll understand.”

“Did you expect this to turn out better? Yuta, what you are doing is bullshit!”

“I never meant to hurt you, you know?”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you did. For the weeks that passed, I was longing for you! I wanted to take care of you, but all you did was to push me away!” You sobbed, vision blurring with tears, “Tell me where did I go wrong, huh? Yuta, tell me!”

Yuta exhaled, giving you a cold stare, “Aren't you tired? Can we just stop this and give our hearts rest?”

You choked back your tears. The universe you are both in—is indeed in chaos. However, that chaos didn’t stop both of your feelings for each other. It was a feeling so rare, raw, full of love. This universe both you are in, gave a lesson to make introductions for lovers that are destined to do great things together, to seize the limited moment the universe has to give to the both of you. Yet the introductions can take time, can be staggered over weeks, months or years. In those times, you and Yuta have sorted out things; to not further complicate everything and stress each other out. This is what you’ve feared, when the time comes, the time of separation, the downfall of the love you both have established for so long. The pain ransacked your systems. It acts like a focusing lens; memories have flooded your mind, flashing towards the next. You saw that one time; the purity of his love, his words echoing in your ears; that you were the only one lover for his lifetime. Then all of a sudden, the jittery feeling collapsed. 

Your vision is blurred; you tried to hold anything to prevent you from collapsing. This wasn’t the ending you wished. Never in your life wished to have this dreadful moment; you slapped your cheeks. In attempt to slap out of the paranoia your mind is molding in; but failed. What you are seeing, hearing, feeling—they are all fucking true. The piercing pain, it is present. He approached your figure, you took a step backwards. His breath fanned your face, “I’m already tired, (Y/N). Let go of me, remove me from your system as if I never occupied it in the first place. I don’t deserve you nor you deserved me.”

You shook your head. “No. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I am not, (Y/N). I need air, having you with me, suffocates me.”

You exhaled and looked intently at his eyes. You sounded wounded and incredulous. Your voice is cracking, your heart pounding hard. You tried to reach out for him but he took a step back, “Please, please just give me another chance.”

Yuta stood there with an unreadable expression plastered on his face. He whispered,“Leave me alone, (Y/N).”

You blinked. Your chest is heaving up and down. You couldn't help but compare the night with his own state of mind. Just like those clouds, your insides were in chaos. A mess. “Why? Yuta, why?” You tried to reason out this unbearable burning but your mind is in an endless swirl of darkness. Everything felt so confusing, a joke; just like a jumbled set of a puzzle.

“The one you love most isn't always the one you spend your life with. I’m not the guy for you.”

You blinked. His expression darkened. You tried to convince him, it might just be Mark’s death as to why he is acting this way.“You were always the one, Yuta. Where did I go wrong? I will try to change, please.. Just don’t.. I love you so much.” Your emotions turn jagged, insides tight.

His tone was cold. “I know you love me, but I'm sick of lying when I say it back.”

You gasped and clutched your chest. Yuta did everything. Almost everything. Disobeyed a direct order, fucked his subjects, fucked you, loved you, killed, lost someone, everything. But, making you cry wasn’t part of his agenda. He had his reasons, he loved you so much. But for him, this is the thing he should be doing. He had already made a mistake, and he surely doesn’t want to commit it again. He disobeyed the orders of the marshal just to save the people from the vessel. If he just listened, Mark could've been breathing up to this day, fighting with him. But, what he did was for the greater good, and choosing has always come with a price and a consequence. 

What he did will surely give you a scar. But he would rather choose to be hated by his love rather than having you suffer forever. Waves of melancholy pooling over you. You bit down your lip, and dropped your gaze. “How could you do this to me? After everything we’ve been through?

You raised your head and saw Yuta. His figure is far from you; away from your reach. He graciously stalked around his room; topless. Several vertical scars lingered on his shoulder blades, his biceps, on his latissimus dorsi. That was the scars from his battle. The scar that reminded him of his loss. You stared at his figure intently. He had defined muscles; his abs are sticking out, his overall physique is a viewpoint and enough evidence of how well-trained and strong his body is. A body of a true ranger. A Jaeger Pilot. Both of your eyes locked. 

"People change, and people grow. And I think we just grew apart."

“That is stupid, Yuta!”

“Once, a long time ago, I thought I loved you. I do, but everything has its ends."

You were a big fan of literature. Yuta knew that. And one poem struck to your mind, 

"Of all nights, today's the one that had to break my heart fully and irreversibly."--A. M. Wolowicz

Yuta had molded your heart, took care of it, guarded it. But he was also the one who crushed it to pieces to the point, you were so lost, you can’t think of how to mend it back in one.

Military Time: 2100 hours.

“Marshal, the nuclear has been attached to Echo Panther’s back.”

“That’s good.”

“There’s one thing.”

The marshal stopped on his tracks, “What is it?”

“About Yuta.”

The marshal gave the staff a meaningful stare, “Is anything wrong?”

The staff shook his head, no. “The ranger wants to tell you that he’ll be stopping taking in his medication. And he also said to not engage his pod.”

The marshal narrowed his eyes. “Why so?”

“He didn’t disclose anymore, sir.”

The marshal exhaled, “Understood. Is the Jaeger ready?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where are the movements?”

“Along Hong Kong, sir. Then, deep in the breach.”

“How many signatures are noted?”

“Three, sir. Category five.”

“Gather all the Jaegers.”

“Marshal.”

The marshal turned around and saw your figure. You look dishevelled, ruined, broken.

“How can I help you, (Y/N).”

“Place me in the control base.”

“Will do.”

“Movement in the Breach. Double event.”

The alarm wailed inside the control lab. There was a movement, after two weeks of calm, the demons are now starting to strike. Category four.  Taeil looked at his flashing monitor, a doughnut in hand. He called in all the staff. The pilots of Hunger Mercenary; Jung Jaehyun and Kim Doyoung are in the base; in their deep green metal suits. Jaehyun and Doyoung stood tall and glorious. The Wong brothers; Lucas, Kun and Hendery, pilots of Taker Shaolin, has worn their glossy red suits. Hairs are noticeable from afar. Your figure is standing near the consoles. You searched for the familiar figure of Yuta. And there he stood, beside Haechan both in you midnight black metal suits. 

Taeil walks in the base, back and forth. “Double signatures. Code name Tailcleaver and Thornbreaker and one, unidentified. They’ll reach Hong Kong in an hour.”

Marshal Lau’s voice boomed, alerting all the staff, “Evacuate the city, shut down the bridges. All people should be in refuge. Hunger Mercenary,” he looked at Jaehyun and Doyoung, “Tanker Shaolin,” then towards the Wong brothers, “I want you guard the harbor. Echo,” Then he gave a glance towards Yuta and Haechan, “Stay back at the miracle mile. You are the final option, we cannot afford to lose you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s go.”

The metals are thudding as the choppers are set to fly out the three Jaegers to the coast lines. There are indistinct radio chatters heard. The pilots are alert, adrenaline pumping in. The orders of the marshal booming in their p.a systems, “Guys be alert. These are category 4s, large in both size and weight.

Jaehyun spoke, “We are near the coast line. Disengaging transport.” The choppers rope disengaged from their Jaeger, and the machine descended downwards. The Wong brother’s have already disengaged their transport as well; their Jaeger dropping onto the oceans. The Jaegers walked along the oceans; creating massive waves after their strides. The night was calm; eerie. Lucas sensed a movement from his right; three o’ clock. The Kaiju was swimming silently, moving fast. The Kaiju looked similar to a large lizard. Its feet were a bed of gloopy pustules; grotesque. Its legs are as thick as tree trunks. The Kaiju’s skin is so thick; leathery; with occasional blue scales lingering on its back. They also do have ginormous torsos, body covered in scales. Each step it took, made the ground shake. A roar. Height tall as a skyscraper. Teeth like rows of ebony daggers. Small beady, ruthless eyes searching for its enemy. The doctor wasn’t wrong when he said the Kaijus were adapting; they were surprisingly fast, agile, strong. The stench of raw flesh on it's humid breath, a glowing blue light illuminated its throat. Flaring nostrils. It was thrashing its tail as it took a fast movement, taking the pilots by surprise. It stood up tall. An ear-splitting roar like thunder booming.

From the right; three o’ clock of the Wong brother’s Jaeger. The Kaiju appeared; its tail sweeping from left to right. Its roar resonated along the coastline. Then, it took a sudden turn, it’s tail aimed for the Jaeger’s torso. The pilots grunted; the hull they were shook at the attack. They recovered from its attack. Kun instructed to engage the nuclear missiles and aimed fully at its throat. There was a loud splash, followed by a spine-chilling shriek. 

From the base, Taeil noted the missile launch. His fingers typing vigorously. “One down. The other one is attacking Jaehyun and Doyoung.”

The marshal squinted his eyes, “The unidentified?”

“It’s staying on the portal. Stationary.”

“And what are they up to?”

Taeil shrugged, “Echo Panther will find out about it soon,” he pressed a red button, “Dyoung, Jaehyun, what’s the situation?”

A string of curses unraveled from Jaehyun’s tongue, like a yarn unfurling. The Kaiju advanced. It's golden scales shimmered with hot anger along with it's dark, cold, beady eyes. Doyoung hissed as they staggered from its attack, their metal harness shaking at the aftermath. “This is one son of a bitch.” The Kaiju roared. Jaehyun and Doyoung took a swift punch. But the Kaiju struck up its sharp claw onto Hunger Mercenary’s torso; holding it to its place. The pilot grunted and shouted in pain. The Kaiju roared loudly; as its throat expanded; a glowing cerulean blue liquid spewed out from its mouth. Doyoung yelled, “Marshal, it purged out some type of acid. It is slowly penetrating through the hull.”

“Engage the nuclear bomb and attach to the pod. Now!”

From the base. You watched the electrocardiogram on the digital screens. The electrical signals of the pilots moving in a normal manner. The electrodes are placed on their chest to record the heart's electrical signals, of which causes the heart to beat. The signals are shown as waves. The Wong’s waves were moving fast a while ago; it signified stress. Jaehyun and Doyoung’s waves were also moving at a fast pace. Haechan and Yuta’s waves are moving calmly. Normal. You sighed as you fidgeted on your seat. 

“Missile Launching. Alarm Code Red.”

Doyoung and Jaehyun were now heading for their security pod. The AI is counting to five and for five seconds, they have to get the hell out of the JAeger. Otherwise, they will be fried to death. There was a loud blast. The people from the city wailed. Panic. Chaos. Then, loud roar followed by a blinding light. 

The marshal grumbled, “What is the health rate of the pilots of Hunger Mercenary?”

“Jaehyun passed out, he got delayed and thus, hit his head inside the pod.”

“Assessment?”

“Dyoung’s vital signs are normal. Jaehyun is unresponsive, I cannot read his pulse.”

“Engage the transport immediately. Lucas, Kun, Hendery, go back to the base. Now! Yuta, Haechan,”

The voice of the two pilots boomed onto the base’ speakers. Yuta’s voice sent a chill towards your spine. “Yes, sir.”

“Transport. Bring Echo Panther to the Breach.”

It's now or never. Yuta held only two choices; to die or to fucking die. And he wishes to die on a Jaeger rather than to die in a hospital 

“All ports sealed, ready to submerge.”

“Roger that.”

“400 miles.”

Doctor TY held the microphone, “Remember, Yuta, Haechan. Attach a Kaiju onto your body for the Breach to open through. This is our only way to get through their den. Take the monsters as a bar code, kaching.”

The ocean was fascinating, deep, eerie, lonely. Such thrills as the ocean could only give. Only the deep sea could bring. Yuta and Haechan walked, their strides heavy, the fall was close. It was like a changing panorama if only the Kaiju’s were not present. A rocky wall, not twenty feet away from them, stood up like a sky-scraper, straight and tall. Here and there it was broken by fissures and caves. Everywhere it was festooned with sea vegetation--seaweed, kelp, anemones. All these, with coral that rose like Gothic architecture, were entrancing. Like a dream come true. Suddenly a Kaiju attacked them from behind.

Yuta groaned, as their metal harness shook from the attack. The alarms are wailing. Then, there was another swing penetrating through Yuta’s side. It shoots a piercing pain onto his legs. You gulped nervously, Yuta’s vital signs and rhythms are going berserk. Wild. Even though he had ended everything, the love you have for the man is still present, even if the pain is taking a toll, corrupting you to blindness. 

Haechan furrowed his brows, “I cannot see anything. It's moving too fast!”

Yuta pushed the p.a button, “Taeil hyung, we can’t see anything!”

“To your left; one o’ clock!”

So far down in the ocean the sunlight is a soft diffuse glow. But for the most part, the ocean is dim, majority; dark. There were once golden rays from above; and it gave a warm blue hue of the waters; and the deeper the Jaeger went through; the darker the blue color they saw. 

The rocks are now silhouettes in the dim. The headlight from the Jaager lit up like the glow of the heat from a winter campfire. There was a lone fish, invisible until it entered the feeble beam. 

With the increasing pressure, Yuta and Haechan begin to feel like the water is becoming thicker, like soup. They glanced upward to the surface and their heart rate rose. It was so deep. The voice of caution whispered softly onto them; not to rise so fast, but it can't break through the scream for unfiltered rays and fresh air. Not, until, a Kaiju roared again and penetrated through their nuclear core.

“Let’s get this son of a bitch!” Yuta engaged the sword and struck it towards the head of the Kaiju. It screamed so loud. Its toxic cerulean blood is gushing onto its penetrated head. Echo Panter took a step while dragging the sword that struck the creatures head near the opening of the Breach. Where the lava spews. The Kaiju gave a loud screech. Its tail swooped from behind taking Yuta and Haechan by surprise. 

“Echo, be alert of a sudden attack!”

The Kaiju swam far away from them. Then, attacked directly at the Jaeger, coming over at full speed. Yuta kneeled, then Haechan raised his arm; sword glistening. The Kaiju’s mouth was wide open; screams and shriek coming out of its throat. But one thing, a Kaiju does not have is a sense of control. If it strikes, they will, and no one’s gonna tell them to maneuver their ways. Haechan grinned as he ripped the Kaiju apart. Yuta grunted as he controlled his body; the aftershock of the attack was heavy for him. Yuta needs to be stable for the Jaeger not to fly out from the assault. Its cerulean blood clinging onto the body of the Jaeger.  Haechan grunted, and folded his arms; finally striking and ripping the creature in half. The sword clamored. The people from the base felt glory. 

“Echo, attach the Kaiju onto your body!”

Echo Panther moved and gripped the Kaiju’s head. The people from the base where expectant; glory is coming their way. Not until, Taeil sensed another. “Fuck.”

Yuta screamed into the p.a. The alarms were not wailing, “The hull is compromised! We can’t shoulder another attack!”

“Jump onto the Breach now!”

“Copy sir!”

All the systems are critical. There is a lot of fluid loss. Code Red. Yuta’s leg was crippled. They held the Kaiju carcass limping, towards the opening. The Breach is a meter away, then the category five Kaiju suddenly appeared in front of them. Haechan gulped. Yuta gritted his teeth in anger. Yuta looked at the younger pilot, “Let’s do this.” Haechan gave him a strong nod. Then, they jumped ahead, with the help of the rear jets. Tackling the Kaiju onto the portal. Then, Haechan lifted his arm and sliced thoroughly onto the Kaiju’s back. The Kaiju screeched. Haechan grunted. Yuta yelled, “Hold on!”

The Kaiju screeched out loud in pain. Its tail swinged upward, attacking the rear part of the Kaiju. Haechan and Yuta were already exhausted. Taeil saw how Haechan’s oxygen levels dropped down fast. His monitor beeping wildly. Half capacity. Haechan felt like drowning. Taeil moved to another monitor, typing as fast; to reroute everything. Yuta yelled, “Hold on! I will burn this motherfucker down!”

Yuta activated the heat purge. The nuclear core flashed; burning the chest of the Kaiju. The creature groaned, and wiggled against the Jaeger’s hold. But their tackles and grip was strong. The fire penetrated through the creature's chest reaching its back. It screeched again, then its eyes turned grey. It fell onto the Jaeger’s chest, limp, unalive. They have reached the opening, electricity around them were whirring.Taeyong was right; the only way to enter the portal is you fool the Breach into believing you are of its people. From Taeel’s screen, Echo Panther’s signature suddenly disappeared. They have now successfully entered the portal, The lair of the demons. 

Oxygen from Haechan’s side was in a critical state. If he continues on, he will die there. And Yuta won’t allow that to happen; he pulled in his oxygen tube and attached it onto the younger’s suit. Haechan gasped for air. His helmet was fogging. He gave a faint smile, “You’ve done a good job, buddy. You know I was a jerk to (Y/N), but please guard her for me. I will finish this alone.” He pressed a series of buttons. Then, the metal harness whirred, sending Haechan’s figure inside the evacuation pod. Haechan’s eyes were heavy. He cannot decipher his surroundings. He gave Yuta a faint smile. He pushed a button then the pod was released ascending towards the surface.

Taeil voiced, “Yuta is giving Haechan his oxygen. He has already ejected the pod.”

You stood up quick. “What happened? What is happening?”

The marshal breathed, “It was his last will, (Y/N).”

You shook your head, “I don’t understand you marshal.” You pushed aside the marshal and spoke onto the microphone, “Yuta! Yuta!”

Yuta smiled, he heard your lovely voice, again. He blinked slowly; his oxygen levels were already low. He activated the nuclear core. There was a countdown. Five. Five seconds to live his life. He smiled, “I love you so much (Y.N). I’ll love you till the last rose dies.” Yuta initiated the reactor override. You blast the Jaeger to pieces; self destructing. The breach was like a large intestine. Pink and full of life. Electricity everywhere. The baby Kaiju chattered. Their beady eyes staring at the Jaeger. Then there was a loud blast. You were startled at the sound. The ECG line of Yuta was beeping, flat. You burst into tears, calling out his name on the microphone, “Yuta! No!”

It was Yuta’s last will. To save the world, to die in a Jaeger and to tell you how much he loved you. He did it. And he was content.

Five years.

It was five years of play-pretend. Finding ways to numb the pain. It was the start of the dark force. Tearing out the sewn paranoia you had. And replaying the pains of your past. You couldn’t forget about Yuta, he was your first love. Yet, after his death, all you could feel was the terrible pain; because of his disappearance. You would wake up in dawn just to cry till you could no longer lash out your tears. It was clarity that brought each of you, molded you to one, then had become one unit of two souls. But right now, your other half is gone, and you were left alone, numb, in pain. You decided to go to the bar. You felt high, in a daze, this was the thing you could do to forget that you are missing Yuta terribly. A guy pushed you in the bathroom, a tequila in your other hand. He began undressing you. You wanted this, to remove the pain. But was it worth doing? He kissed you. The scene was intimate; two people osculated. But in your mind; you wished it was only him, Nakamoto Yuta. He unbuckled his belt and sat on the toilet bowl. He pumped his member, it’s tip oozing. You immediately removed your pants, and panties and climbed onto his lap. You drank the last shots of your alcohol drink and began to thrust. The guy held your waist hard, guiding you up and down. He gave a moan of pleasure. You tilted your head back, tears flooding out of your eyes. You gripped on the metal pole overhead. You sobbed while thrusting deep. It wasn’t pleasure that you were feeling, it was fucking pain. Grief. It was five years of restlessness. If you could just pay to have him back, you would, but you couldn’t. He was now gone, permanently. You felt the pain glowing into your chest. You stopped thrusting and buried your head onto your fuck buddy’s shoulder. 

He hugged you, “Are you good?”

You breathed. You felt bitter, “It’s been so long since I last hugged someone…I had forgotten how it feels like to be held.”

You grabbed the rose from Yuta. His words are still clear in your mind; he won’t stop loving you till the last rose dies. And so, he gave you an undying rose. You felt your vision blurred. You grabbed the flash drive and plugged it into your laptop. Yuta’s gorgeous face came to view and it made you wail. All you did was to cry. 

[1] Formylove.mp4

“Hey love. This took me thirteen fucking tries, and I want to make sure this comes out perfect. Handsome I am right? Hehe.. First of all, I want to apologize for being a jerk to you; it was all an act... I don’t want to make you suffer anymore. You see? I was diagnosed with Helmer’s Myopathy and even if I won’t go on a mission, I will still die.. and so I did what my guts wanted me to do… spend my remaining days in a Jaeger fighting off till my last breath... This two weeks I’m away from you, it felt like hell, fucking hell… I wanted to touch you, hug you, but I did this, I distanced myself from you.. to hate me, because this is the only thing I could do to ease your pain. To replace it with anger. But please.. I love you with all my heart.. I won’t get tired of being with you.. To say that I love you.. I fucking love you so much.. I devote myself to telling you that.. I will always be in your heart, my love. I will never disappear.. If you ever miss me, just close your eyes, and I will appear.. That is how much I love you… What I did was for the greater good.. You deserve a peaceful world, (Y/N), my love. And I am willing to sacrifice myself to offer a serene world, for you. I know how much you love literature, hold on.. I have a quote for you, “I guess that's just part of loving people: You have to give things up.” I will give everything up, just for you, (Y/N). I love you so much.”

im nervous about this but since i didn’t proofread this sike. anyways <3

[comingtothetree23]

A Film By Peter Parker (Peter Parker X Reader)

So, This is my very first X Reader fic on Tumblr! I hope it isn’t too bad, Enjoy! 

(H/n) - (Hero Name) 

"What are we waiting for?" Peter asked while looking out the car window. All he knew was that Tony Stark needed him, and man was he excited!

"Someone important." Was all Happy said, looking bored and annoyed out of his mind.

"Who?"

"You know (H/n)?" Happy asked finally looking Peter's way 

"Y-yea?" He looked confused before his eyes widen as he realized what he meant, "(H/n) Is coming with us!?" He sat up in his seat still filming.

"Yes, She's coming. right now actually." 

Peter's head darted right out the window, The camera shows a girl with (H/C) (H/L) hair coming their way with a suitcase or two. The girl and Peter made eye contact and all he saw was her (E/C) eyes. After the girl put her stuff in the back she opened the door on right Peter's side saying, "Sorry, Sorry I'm late!" She put her seat belt on as she exclaims, "Something came up and- Oh you know how it is." She finished with a wave of her hand

"Yea, yeah I know, kid." Happy sighed before backing out of the driveway. Not excited for the trip

The screen cut a little before showing the scenery of New York passing by at a high velocity. they seem to be on a highway. Peter in a gravelly voice narrates, "New York. Queens. It’s a rough borough, but hey, it’s home." 

"Who are you talking to?"

The camera moves to face Happy, who was still driving, "No one. Just making a little video of the trip." he explains in his own normal voice

"You know you can’t show it to anyone." 

"Yea, I know." The camera quickly moved to Peter's other side showing (Y/n) sitting there with an amused smile on her face

"Then why are you narrating in that voice?" Happy asks looking at the two teenagers through the mirror

" Uh... Because it’s fun." Peter shrugged as he explains causing (Y/n) to giggle a little. Peter looks over at her with a smile.

"fun." Happy scoffed, Apparently, Happy thinks this whole situation is the opposite of fun. He puts on his sunglasses and solemnly looks out the windshield.

"Oh lighten up, Happy!" (Y/n) smiled as she through a piece of food at him

"No eating in the car! (Y/n) You know this by now!" happy scolded, (Y/n) was unfazed by this apparently. All she did was give the camera a deadpan look. 

" So, uh, why do they call you Happy?" Happy raises the limo’s partition. We see a reflection of Peter Parker holding up his phone and filming.

"Soooo..." (Y/n) starts causing Peter to start filming her, "Know any cool games?" She asks with a small smile scooting a little closer to the boy with a small smile.

The three gets out of the car to find a small private plane waiting for them. (Y/n) and Peter were laughing at something on (Y/n)’s phone. Happy took Peter's stuff out from the back saying, "Come on. I’m not carrying your bags. Let’s go."

"Always in a hurry." (Y/n) scoffed with a roll of her eyes while she took her own stuff.

"Hey, should I go to the bathroom before?" Peter asks still filming the two. 

"There’s a bathroom on it."

"Amen for that." (Y/n) muttered before she gets on the plane almost dropping her stuff

Inside the plane, we see a view of the cockpit. Two seats for the pilot and the copilot are there no one is sitting in them, "Whoa. No pilot? That’s awesome."

Peter sits down across from Happy, directly facing him, "Is that where you’re gonna sit?" he asks the boy, watching as (Y/n) sat right next to him. She gave him a smirk that made him uneasy. 

"Yeah."

"Of course we are, Happy!" (Y/n) starts with a small smile, wrapping an arm around Peter's shoulders, "This guy is actually Super interesting and fun to talk to." You move your arm finishing, "You should try it." 

"This is your first time on a private plane?" Happy asked Peter completely ignoring (Y/n)'s comment. He’s used to it at this point he knew her for years now.

"My first time on any plane." Peter explained before Happy moves away to sit in another seat.

"Really!?" (Y/n) asks looking over at the boy, Peter nodded as her smile hot bigger, "Oh this is going to be SO much fun! Don't worry. we’ll be okay...probably." She looked over to where she saw Peter eyes widen before she nudged him, “I’m kidding! I’m Kidding! We’ll be fine.” 

"Should it...? Should it be...? Should it be making that noise?" Peter asks when the plane starts to make a weird noise.

Later, Peter puts a finger to his lips and makes a shushing sound. The camera reveals Happy snoring. At the sound of Peter’s chuckle, Happy jerks awake, causing the whole frame to shake. There's laughter heard and it showed (Y/n) laughing in her seat, having seen what happened.

inside Berlin Brandenburg Airport, we see German signs, Happy dragging his luggage behind him, and Peter’s face in quick succession and (Y/n) making faces behind him. 

"No one has actually told me why I’m in Berlin or what I’m doing. Something about Captain America going crazy." Peter is sightseeing Berlin. We see Berlin streets, the Brandenburg Gate, a street performer, foreign girls, and a pretzel vendor.

"he went insane!" (Y/n) appears into the frame next to Peter, “At least that’s what I was told.” (Y/n), Happy and Peter enter a hotel. 

"(Y/n) that room is yours." Happy explains while pointing to a door, "This is you." Happy points to the door across from (Y/n)'s and next to Happy's

"Oh, we’re neighbors?"

"We're not roommates. Suit up."

The shot changes in a dark room, suddenly the lights turn on showing Peter his hotel room.

"WHAT!? No way!" Peter starts to film his room, "Look at this place!" Peter flips the camera to show his face as he smiles, "Oh my god this is insane!" Peter suddenly makes a face as he shows the camera an orange chair, "Not loving the orange chair."

"Not the best color." a voice came in, the camera flips to show (Y/n) standing in the doorway with her arms crossed an amused smile on her lips, "Oh but you haven't seen the best part!" she smiled and drags peter to the window to see the view

"What!?" Peter exclaims as he films the view. Suddenly a bunch of candy is on the screen, "Look at the candy." 

"I know right?" (Y/n) smiled as she picks some up, "I always make sure Mr. Stark bring some. He....kinda overdoes it." She smiled down at the snacks, "But hey it's nice." she shrugs before the camera changed

"I have a TV in my bathroom!? Yea!" Peter smiled as he films his bathroom, seeing himself in the reflection. The camera changed to Peter just sitting down

"I brought my homework just in case, ya know Don't know how long I'll be here." He explains before placing the book down. 

“You go to school?” (Y/n) asks as she lays on her stomach, watching Peter look through his bag not really caring that she’s being recorded anymore

“yea, do you not?” putting down his books Peter looks over at (Y/n) waiting for her response

“Nah, I tried once but...” She averted her eyes as she explains, “I kinda... burnt my classroom.”

“What!?”

“I didn’t mean to!” She quickly sat up holding her hands out, “I was stressed! My powers show when I’m stressed!” 

"Come on!" Happy's annoyed voice came through the room. He quickly realized the teens weren’t getting ready for the battle

"Give us a minute, goddammit!" (Y/n)'s voice yelled back. She’s seen running out of Peter’s room to get her suit. Peter watched as she leaves unable to think for a moment

"Guess it's time to fight...the bad guys." Peter made a face at the screen as he heard something fall and most likely break.

"Sorry!" (Y/n)’s voice came through, “I’m just... really stressed right now!”

"Okay, Peter, you got this. You got this." Peter mumbled to himself Standing in front of a mirror, Peter is now wearing his homemade Spider-Man suit, consisting of a thin, baggy sweatshirt, goggles with shutters, and web-shooters

"What the hell are you wearing?" Happy is staring at Peter with a horrified look. 

“it’s my suit.” Peter tilts down the camera to reveal his feet

"what's is holding us up-Oh." (Y/n)'s suddenly entered the room, now in her superhero outfit. She looks over at Peter and nodded her head at him asking, "Homemade suit." there a second of silence before (Y/n) nodded mumbling, "It's a homemade suit."

"Where’s the case?" Happy asks, confusing Peter

"What case? That’s not my..." He trails off as Happy opens a door, showing Peter another area of his suite, "What? I thought that was a closet. This is still my room?"

"Go. please."

"My room is way bigger than..."

"There." A case is sitting on a coffee table

"Trust me, You'll love it!" (Y/n) smiled at him before leaving his room.

" I found the case. I found the case. I found the case." He plucks up a card that says “A minor upgrade -TS” from the case, "'A minor upgrade'?" When Peter unbuckles a lock the case unfolds itself, revealing a high tech Spider-Man suit complete with awesome holograms, "Whoa. Oh my God."

"Put it on." Happy rolled his eyes at the kid

"What the...? This is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen-" 

"Let's go." Happy cut him off with an annoyed look.

"But, yeah. Well, I don’t understand. Is it for me?" Camera spins to find Happy leaving the room, "Happy, Happy, wait." Peter takes off the mask of his homemade Spider-Man suit with a huge, excited grin on his face, "This is insane. Insane. Look at this thing. Look. Look at the eyes. This is the greatest day of my life."

"Let's go." Happy rolled his eyes. He has come to drag a hyped-up Peter out of the room

"Okay."

"Come on."

"Oh my god, Happy." (Y/n) growled as she pocked her head in, "Give him a minute!"

Outside Flughafen Leipzig-Halle, We see Iron Man, War Machine, (H/n), Captain America, Black Widow, and Black Panther confronting each other. (H/n) has a ball of fire in her right hand while her left hand had a handful of water floating right above it. 

"Okay, there’s Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow. (H/n) as you've seen earlier, Whoa. Who’s that new guy?" Peter whisper as he films the fight.

"Underoos!" Peter, now dressed in the Spider-Man suit that Tony gave him explains to the camera

"Oh, that’s me. I gotta go. I gotta go." Peter puts down the phone and proceeds to snatch Captain America’s shield with his web, "Hey everyone."

"Whoop! Whoop!" (H/n) cheered as she points to him, “There’s my Man! Spider-Man!”

"Not now (H/n)!" Tony and Steve both yell at the same time, making (H/n) drop her hand

A little bit later,

"Okay, so the craziest thing just happened, right? I just had a fight with Captain America and I stole his shield and I threw it at him-" Peter is holding his camera and flying through the air to find a safe spot. We see and hear explosions everywhere. 

“Oh, not cool, Clint!” (H/n)’s voice rang through the battlefield

Suddenly, there’s a metallic noise. Ant-Man grows into a giant in the background and grabs War Machine by his ankle. Peter turns to see this, "What the hell? He’s big now. I gotta go. Hang on."

The phone is put down and for a moment, all we see are the sky and the clouds. Then we hear the battle commencing and see Peter being flung through the air.

"Stand down, Man!" Suddenly it shows (H/n), shes blasting Ant-Man with balls made out of fire. She quickly uses air to blow out a flame by one of the planes. She takes a glance at the phone before doing a double-take. She rolls her eyes before turning to where Peter was flung, "Are you seriously recording this!?" While she's distracted she's hit out of fame with a yelp.

“Not cool, man!” 

The screen cuts for a moment before showing (H/n) grabbing the phone and running somewhere with it, not realizing it’s still recording. 

“Hey, you alright?” She reaches Peter where he’s just laying down holding his side.

“Y-yea, I’m alright.” Peter replies, coughing a little. He looked fine but it was clear he was injured.

“I-uh have your phone. Here.” She hands Peter back his phone. Peter gives a smile under his mask as he realized it’s recording

“Thanks.” 

“We should clean this up.” (H/n) kneels down and gently touches Peters side causing him to flinch and (Y/n) to frown, “I got this.” she raises her arm and uses her power to make the water move closer to Peter.

Peter tilts his head in confusion, which (H/n) notices and chuckles, “It’ll make it better.” she smiles before she closes her eyes to focus on healing Peter. As shes doing this Peter pain starts to slowly go away. When the pain is fully gone (H/n) open her eyes and moves away a little, “There should be good.”

“H-how?” Peter touches his side where he was injured before looking over at the girl. 

“It’s just part of my power. The elements are amazing!” She gives a small smile and shrug. She opens her eyes and looks around before taking of her mask, “We should get out of here. Don’t you think?” she looks over at Peter who nods at her. The screen cuts out for a moment.

Back in Peter's hotel room. Peter is facing the camera, now dressed in a grey NASA T-shirt. It is obvious that he is still high on adrenaline, (Y/n)'s sitting on his bed next to him using her power to move water on her injured arm. (Y/n) looks over at Peter with a smile, enjoying watching him rant to the camera 

"It was the most amazing thing that’s ever happened! So Mr. Stark was like, ‘Hey, Underoos!’ and I just sort of flipped in and I stole Cap’s shield. I was like, ‘Hey, what’s up, everybody?’ And then..." There's a knock on the door, "Hey, just a second! Coming!" He back flip to the door, shocking (Y/n), but before he can open it, Happy enters in a bathrobe, "hey."

"We have thin walls here." annoyed he starts looking around the room and makes eye contact with (Y/n), she just shrugs as Happy sighs, "Just... clean this up before housekeeping see’s." He leaves without another word, making (Y/n) and Peter look at each other. (Y/n) snickers as she moves the water into a cup

“he’s always like that don’t worry.” 

When you both hear his footsteps walk away Peter jumps onto the bed right in front of the camera, "I should probably go to bed, but I really don't want to." He gives a smile to the camera

"Ain't that the truth." (Y/n) mutters and Peter looks at her with a smile. 

"I have an idea." Peter and (Y/n) looks at each other before smirking. The shot changed to Peter in his bathroom recording himself in his new suit. He puts a finger to his lips and shushes the camera

"Hey, you ready to go?" (Y/n) whispers as she walks in, now in her (H/n) suit. Peter looks at her with a nod. Peter records himself opening the window, "This is gonna be fuuun~" (Y/n) whispers as she holds onto to Peter. (Y/n) now records the scenery as Peter swings them onto a random roof. 

“hey, Wait up! I can’t run that fast!” (H/n) yells when the two starts to parkour the city. He laughs a little at her but stops and waits for her regardless 

"Hey, Do you hear that?" (Y/n) asks as they both suddenly hear music. They both look at each other before slowly turning their heads to the direction of the music. Peter films where they are looking, at a party, "Why don't we celebrate your first fight?" (Y/n) asks with a smirk on her face.

The camera suddenly shows a bunch of moments from the party, Girls dancing with (Y/n), Peter and (Y/n) taking selfies with the people there. There is this one part where it was just (H/n) challenges people to take shots with her and they did. There were some videos of Peter swinging some girls around vlog style. All of them were screaming though 

"Hey, Hey, Hey! Look at them go!" (Y/n)'s voice ranges through showing she is the one recording now. Her words are a little slurred showing that she might be a little drunk. The camera shows Peter swinging girls around the city as they are hopefully enjoying themselves. The video continued of the two just enjoying themselves until it changed into the morning. 

The camera now shows a bunch of food and the names of them. One of the waitresses puts down and cup and gives (Y/n) and Peter a smile. Peter flips the camera to record him and (Y/n) giving each other a look. Their now both in their normal clothes except (Y/n)'s hair is a big mess and she is wearing sunglasses, she is most definitely hungover.

"Out late Superheroing?" Happy asks from behind them, making them both shoot around to look at him with panic on their faces.

"Nooooo?" (Y/n) more asked, holding her arms behind her back trying to calm herself down.

"Oh yea, ya know just around the block," Peter explains making (Y/n) shoots him a glare from behind her sunglasses

"Peter!" 

"Sticky boi saves chancellor? Element girl saves mayor?" Happy shows them a newspaper that is in another language. 

"That was the chancellor?" Peter asks 

"That was the mayor?" (Y/n) asks at the same time as Peter

"I mean." Peter started, trying to play it off, "it's not like they got photos." Happy flips the newspaper to show them that people indeed had photos of Spider-man and (H/n), "That's awesome! Can I keep this?"

"I mean, people already know about (H/n)." (Y/n) says nervously fiddling with her fingers. Happy gives them both a look and grabs the camera

Camera starts rolling up again, now inside Tony's car. A hand reaches for it and it tilts up to find Tony Stark in a suit and sunglasses ensemble. (Y/n) is sitting next to him crossing her arms and pouting. Her hair is now brushed and her sunglasses are on her head.

"What are you doing, a little video diary?" Tony asks as he gives the camera a look

"yeah," Peter mumbles suddenly feeling embarrassed about recording everything, including the party he went to with (Y/n). (Y/N) was already in trouble for that.

" It’s all right. I’d probably do the same." Tony shrugs it off making both (Y/n) and Peter look at him in shock.

" I told him not to do it. He was filming everything." Happy explains to Tony from the front seat, still annoyed with the two teens.

" It’s okay."

" I’m gonna wipe the chip." 

"What!?" (Y/n) sits up to look at Happy, "You're going to wipe it!? Why!?" She points to the screen as she says, "there's some good content in there!"

"Of you drinking?" Happy raised a brow at her, she mumbled under her breathe and sits back down and pouts harder. Tony laughs a little and gives her a pat on the back.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You know what? We should actually... We should make an alibi video for your aunt anyway. You ready?" Tony takes off his sunglasses, revealing a badly bruised face making (Y/n) wince and gently touch her own eye at the thought.

"Yeah, hold on."

"We rolling?" tony asks looking straight into the camera

 "An alibi? Sure." Peter shrug

 "Get in the frame."

"Okay." Peter awkwardly goes into the frame giving the camera an equally awkward and dorky smile making (Y/n) smile at Peter.

"Hey, May. How you doing? What are you wearing? Something skimpy, I hope." Peter turns to Tony with a frown on his face. Tony chuckles and pats Peter’s shoulder, whose face now wears an uncomfortable smile. (Y/n) gives Tony a look with a slow shake of her head, "Peter, that’s inappropriate. All right, let’s start over. You can edit it." Peter nods at him

"Three, two, one. Hey, May. My gosh, uh, I wanted to tell you what an incredible job your nephew did this weekend at the Stark internship retreat. Everyone was impressed." Tony is putting on a solemn face. Peter offers the camera a wide-eyed, tight-lipped smile, trying to look innocent. (Y/n) leans into the fame and gives a peace sign. Suddenly, we hear a loud honk making the girl jump. 

"Come on! It’s a freaking merge." Happy then says to Tony, "I’m sorry."

" This is because you’re not on Queens Boulevard.” He looks toward the camera, “See, Happy is... is hoping to get bumped up to asset management. He was forehead of security, and before that, he was just a driver."  Still driving, Happy gives Tony a sidelong glance.

"That was a private conversation. I don’t like joking about this. It was hard for me to talk to you about that." 

" No, seriously, was he snoring a bunch?" Tony asks look at both Peter and (Y/n). (Y/n) looks over at Happy with an unreadable look on her face. Happy slams on the brakes, making the car screech to a stop, making (Y/n) fall out of her seat.

"That's why we wear seat belt, kids." her muffled voice came through the car. Peter wince as he looks at the girl who’s face down on the car floor, not even trying to get up.

" All right. Here we are. End of the line. Whoops." Tony laughs and films Peter, who looks a bit pale. 

"Happy, can you give us a moment?" Tony asks as he looks at happy

" You want me to leave the car?" 

"Why don’t you grab Peter’s case out of the trunk," Tony suggests making Peter so shocked that he stops filming. 

There’s one more part of the film, one that Peter himself didn’t even realized was recorded.  Peter smiles as he was able to go inside, it was until he heard

“Peter! Wait!” 

Peter immediately stopped in his tracks and turned around to face a now panting (Y/n).

“what up, (Y/n)?” Peter asks the dying girl with a small smile. He liked her, she was fun and chill to hang around with, “Need anything?”

“I-uh just wanted to say” (Y/n) started fiddling with her fingers before making eye contact with Peter, “You did a good job on the mission and I hope I’ll see you again.” She gives Peter a sweet smile as she finally stopped with the fiddling.

“he, Thanks (Y/n). Hope to see you again too.” He looks at her awkwardly not really knowing what to say. It was until she smirked at him

“One more thing.” she gently put her hand on Peter’s shoulder before giving him a small kiss on the lips, leaving Peter beyond shocked, “See ya around, Spidey!” She wave him a wave before walking back to the car

Peter stood there for a moment before he looks up to watch her leave. He smiled as the car drives off. He reaches up and gently touches his lips he gives a big smile before entering the apartment with a skip in his step. 

[inkribbon796]

Lost in the Lightning Storm Ch. 1: Lightning in a Bottle

Summary: Henrik is a naturally curious person, and with there being something between him and Anti, he just wants to know what kind of person he’s dealing with.

Chapter: 1, 2

Henrik had more than a bit of a problem.

Anti had stopped making his presence so apparent, almost like he was trying to avoid Henrik but still watch him. It gave Henrik time to think about a lot of things. About what he wanted, and if even pursuing a relationship with him was even remotely a good idea.

The glitch demon was angry, violent, prone to random fits of destruction, and left gifts outside of Henrik’s office like a deranged cat. But he also saved Henrik from fights, wasn’t attacking him, and it was clear that although he left organs and teeth for Henrik that he meant for Henrik to actually like the gifts.

So Henrik was unsure of what to do about Anti. He was mostly curious about how a relationship like that would progress. But Anti had a history with the Septics that reminded Henrik that this tepid infatuation could end with Henrik’s blood and guts smeared all over the walls.

Henrik had spent a lot of time thinking about it as the gifts and stalking kept coming. So to clear his head, he headed towards the base.

The German doctor meant to find Logic, ask for some surveillance equipment, but when he walked into the comms room the Side wasn’t alone in the room. He was with Tubbo and Nate.

Logic was busy managing several different screens as the situation was calming down as Tubbo was holding some remote and shouting information into a headset. Both of them were on their feet. Nate was next to them, looking braced to rush out of the room.

Henrik paused as Logan fell back into his chair and let out a sigh of relief.

“Holy shit,” Tubbo commented, and started to drive his remote again. He was bringing his little bee drone back to him. What came back faster to him were three little bee familiars which buzzed around his head and settled into his suit. “That was ridiculous.”

“Now do you see why I keep you away from the Duke, his particular breed of unpredictability makes him exceedingly dangerous,” Logan explained.

“Is everything alright?” Henrik asked as he walked in.

“It is now,” Nate answered with a sigh of relief.

“Vat[1] happened?” Henrik looked at the screens.

“The Duke decided to live up to his title of “Intrusive Thoughts” and terrorize a baseball stadium full of people and make them hallucinate,” the logical Side explained. “At the most inopportune time, of course.”

“Of course,” Henrik rolled his eyes. Then he turned to Nate, “Ahhh, Nathan, it is so good to see you. It is a rare thing to see you in ze base zese days.[2]

“Been busy,” Nate commented. “Just wanted to meet the new guys, they seem alright.”

“Damn straight,” Tubbo smiled back at him, before continuing to pilot his bee drone back to him.

“Heard this place was haunted now,” Nate smiled.

“Ahh, yes,” Henrik smiled. “Big Man has a bro’zer currently viz Marvin. He calls himself Ghostbur und can phase z’rough valls.”[3]

“No shit, he like Big Man?” Nate smiled.

“Nein,”[4] Henrik smiled. “He vas[5] much calmer, und[6] quieter.”

“Really? That’s hilarious.” Nate laughed, but he was just staring at Tubbo, he seemed to be studying the young apprentice.

Henrik was about to leave and give up on his questions for another day. But Nate got up.

“Coffee?” Nate smiled.

Shrugging, Henrik followed but they didn’t go to the common room area for coffee, they left the base entirely.

“I like researching demons,” Nate told him, their topic veering to what Nate had been up to since Henrik had last gotten to sit down and talk to him, “and glitches have always been interesting to me. Even more so after I found out that Logic was a demon. I used to think they were all chaos incarnate, and they are, but they’re more than that. Logic is a way different demon than Anti, and both of them are different from the Jims, who I’m fairly certain are just super weird glitches.”

“Really?” Henrik asked, confused.

“Yeah,” Nate smiled as they kept walking down the road to this little coffee shop. “Makes me really glad I started distancing myself from the hunters. The only research they care about is if it makes killing demons easier or safer for them.”

“So you wish to become a university professor on ze[7] demons?” Henrik smiled.

“Dude, if that was possible, I would,” Nate promised. “The process from a human soul to a demon one. What they lose? What they gain? Can you predict who’s actually going to turn into a demon? What type of demon are they going to turn into?”

They took the time to get their coffees and take their seats outside the coffee shop as Henrik thought about Nate’s words. “I assume zat[8] you have taken copious notes about ze[7] demons already in Egoton?”

“Course I have,” Nate smiled. “As much as I was able.”

“Vat[1] do you know about Anti?” Henrik asked. “I know vat he is now, but vat about before. Vho vas he before he vas a demon?”[9]

“Huh,” Nate let out a loud puff of air and tapped his fingers to his coffee mug. “Never tried to look him up that far back.”

The singer looked down at his coffee before looking back up in thought. “I think Mare said something about Anti being a little over a century old. That’s probably just in demon years, so who knows how old he was when he actually died. But he’s a glitch demon so . . .”

Nate let out another pensive breath of air, rubbing the inside corners of his eyes, “He was probably killed by lightning. But that was around the same time as an industrial revolution so he could have died in a factory accident and still turned into a glitch. His turning would have probably been sometime in the early 1900’s, late 1800’s maybe.”

“Und[6] could he be found?” Henrik asked.

Nate looked a little concerned, “Maybe, finding him would definitely be easier than finding Dark or Mare. They’re older than him and Anti is also a glitch so that narrows it down. Even if he did die in a factory accident.”

“I cannot imagine a vorld vere he did not get into some type of trouble viz ze law,”[10] Henrik commented, pushing up his glasses.

“Yeah that might make it easier,” Nate agreed. “Usually a soul doesn’t change too much from how it used to be in life. There’s some drift but not too much.”

“Yes, but—” Henrik thought out loud before Mare seemed to appear out of nowhere and turned over a bag of cookies right into Nate’s lap.

“The fuck are you doing?” Nate shouted.

“Shut up and eat them, you still reek,” Mare spat at him, digging some loose cookies still in the bag and pushing them into Nate’s hands. “Anything’s better than how you smell right now.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Nate tossed the cookies back in Mare’s face so hard they bounced off his face as they crumbled.

“I don’t like that kid’s aura,” Mare crossed his arms. “He smells weird.”

“Which kid?” Nate argued loudly, Henrik was watching Logan leading Tubbo down the street, the two obviously coming from the base and going out on a patrol. When Tubbo spotted Nate and Mare arguing the two stopped to watch them cautiously from across the street.

“The little goat demon with the bee theme,” Mare slapped down a hand to hold it about at Tubbo’s height. “I didn’t know you guys were picking up spawnlings off the street. I thought that was Dark’s shtick.”

“Bomble? What do you mean he smells?” Nate demanded. “What does he smell like?”

“How are you still alive?” Mare let out a frustrated sigh. “You know how toast smells when it gets burnt?”

“Yeah?” Nate agreed.

“Okay so imagine that burnt toast also set the toaster on fire, and that’s pretty much it,” Mare told them. “Anti doesn’t smell anything, but I can. I don’t know why! I checked with Dark, he can smell it too. But he doesn’t think he smells like toast.”

“Vat[1] did Dark say he smells like?” Henrik questioned.

“Death,” Mare told him. “At first I thought he was joking, like he was just being overdramatic, but then he told me he smells like a village that was on the verge of death from illness. Like a household taken over by the Plague. And after thinking about that, I’m inclined to agree. He kinda does smell like sickness. More like the burnt toast and toaster thing, but I get it. Dark is really old and he would go for that explanation. Don’t know how Anti doesn’t smell it, but he smells like bad news.”

“Zat[8] is very interesting,” Henrik hummed, everyone in the Coalition knew that Tubbo was a bomb expert and that the Coalition had some samples of a couple of his projects under lock and key so no one else could use them.

“Doesn’t help that everything he comes into contact with also winds up smelling like him,” Mare complained. “I thought Pixels had had something blow up in his face because he smells like him, all the time now.”

“Did you tell Logic about it?” Nate asked.

Mare huffed out, “Yeah but he had no idea what I was talking about, couldn’t stand to be in the base because the kid’s got the place carpet bombed.”

“King und[6] Host do not seem to have a problem viz[11] it,” Henrik thought out loud.

“Then their noses are broken, or maybe they have a tolerance to it, I don’t know,” Mare threw up his hands in defeat. “Point is the kid reeks, where’d you dig him up from? He die in some kind of explosion or something?”

“Not zat ve know of,”[12] Henrik sighed. “But he does have an affinity for explosives und bombs.”

Nate looked confused, “Does a person’s death influence their aura?”

“Kinda,”[13] Mare shrugged. “Sometimes it’s a little weird in how it manifests. I can tell if a demon was splintered from another demon, or came from a human soul. Wil probably became a demon in some insane asylum. Dark, it wouldn’t surprise me if his ringing is tied to how he died.”

Mare’s nostrils flared as the direction of air changed and the demon turned to glare at Tubbo who was quickly buzzing across the street and Logan yelled after Tubbo and raced to keep up.

The older demon hissed and took a step back. Logan physically put himself in-between Mare and Tubbo, physically baring his arm in front of the young man to keep him back.

Tubbo just nonchalantly hovered in the air as his wings buzzed. Mare wrinkled up his nose and glared at Tubbo, who was looking quite smug.

“Hey,” Tubbo smiled. “Heard yeh we’re talkin’ about me, mate?”[14]

“You smell,” Mare spat.

Tubbo finally touched his feet to the ground and leaned over to smell his arm, but his helmet shield was still down, so all he did was uselessly shrug. “I showered this mornin’[15].”

“Not what I meant, your aura reeks,” Mare told him. “What’d you do to it?”

Shrugging again, “Just me, bossman.”

“I’ve never,” Mare looked personally insulted. “I’ve never smelt a glitch aura like yours, you must have done something to it.”

“Huh,” Tubbo thought on that before he realized something, “interesting, so I don’t smell like honey anymore?”

“How the flying fuck do you smell even remotely similar to honey?” Mare demanded, almost sounding angry.

“Dunno,”[16] Tubbo shrugged. “E’eryone in the Server always said I smelled like honeycombs. Why do yeh think I started goin’ with the bee aesthetic?”[17]

“Yes, I was wondering how you arrived at the theme you did,” Logan commented.

“You’re lucky I’m in your territory or I’d take your face off,” Mare snarled and he disappeared into a puff of dark black-purple smoke.

“Nice ta[18] know I’m a natural demon deterrent,” Tubbo boasted proudly.

“I don’t think you smell bad, you smell like any normal person,” Logan commented.

“Maybe it’s a glitch thing, then,” Tubbo shrugged.

Logan was quiet at that.

“So I was right, you are a glitch then,” Nate commented.

“If I’m not a glitch, then I don’t know what qualifies, big guy,” Tubbo chuckled.

“Fair, but you and Big Man came from the same gang,” Nate was just watching Tubbo, the young man’s wings buzzing nervously. “How many glitches does the Server have?”

“Like, still? Or before me an’[6] Big Man left?” Tubbo’s tone sounded extremely guarded.

“Not including you two,” Nate qualified.

Tubbo paused to think, “Uhmm. Skeppy, Foolish, Sam, Karl . . .” He kept silently counting for a little bit. “Seven? Eight? Dream is really big on collecting glitches an’[6] empaths. There are even more empaths.”

“Did he ever say why, specifically?” Nate asked. “Glitches are really territorial, so are empaths for that matter, I wouldn’t think it would be so easy to have so many close together.”

“Well, yeah, it was hell,” Tubbo agreed. “But it helped that a lotta us were turned demons, we always kinda existed in the same type ‘a space e’en before we turned so we would have less reason ta kill each other.”[19]

“Yeah but people don’t just collect demons because they can,” Nate told him. “Do you know why he’s doing it?”

“I dunno[16],” Tubbo shrugged. “I always figured it was some kinda[13] power trip thing.”

“I think we should keep moving,” Logic interjected, he’d been watching Tubbo get more and more fidgety and nervous so he stepped in and whisked the young man away from Nate. They went off to go meet up with the other Core Sides and survey the damage that Remus had caused.

Nate and Henrik watched him go.

“That huge pact Dream has really bothers me,” Nate admitted. “Seven or more glitches all in such a tightly packed area, with that many empaths thrown in as well is a recipe for disaster.”

“How so?” Henrik asked.

“Anti and Dark are at each other’s throats and they’ve got different territories the size of cities,” Nate reminded. “By my research, Dream’s got a couple dozen young demons all in an area the size of three football fields and they haven’t all slaughtered each other. You don’t get that without a lot of coercion. It just . . . I don’t like it.”

Henrik thought about that, “Are you still going to do more research today?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Nate shrugged. “Write some music too.”

“I vill[20] join you,” Henrik offered.

“Sure, but why? If you don’t mind me asking?” Nate gave him an odd look.

“I vish to find Anti, und figure out exactly vat type of person zat I am dealing viz,”[21] Henrik explained.

“If you start knocking on that door, just know that demons don’t like talking about what turned them into demons. Some demons are too traumatized by it, others see their old human selves as weaklings. Anti is probably going to fall into the second category. You are going to start a shitstorm.”

“Zat[8] is alright,” Henrik dared as he stood up. “Anti und I already have been on bad terms, und zis vould be no’zing new.”[22]

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

Post A/N: Tubbo’s familiars are named Spinz, Spunz, and Spoonz. His bee drone is named: Bee Innit. (Named after the canon bees Tubbo had in his New L’Manberg apiary.)

Tubbo’s aura actually smells like radiation, with a thin honey undercurrent, but demons older than the 1960’s can’t place specifically what his aura smells like and the radiation drowns out his original aura too much.

Accessibility Translations:

1. What

2. Ahhh, Nathan, it’s so good to see you. It’s a rare thing to see you in the base these days.

3. Big Man has a brother currently with Marvin. He calls himself Ghostbur and can phase through walls.

4. No

5. was

6. and

7. the

8. that

9. I know what he is now, but what about before. Who was he before he was a demon?

10. I can’t imagine a world were he didn’t get into some type of trouble with the law

11. with

12. Not that we know of

13. Kind of

14. Heard yeh we’re talkin’ about me, mate?

15. morning

16. Don’t know

17. Everyone in the Server always said I smelled like honeycombs. Why do you think I started going with the bee aesthetic?

18. to

19. But it helped that a lot of us were turned demons, we always kind of existed in the same type of space even before we turned so we would have less reason to kill each other.

20. will

21. I wish to find Anti, and figure out exactly what type of person that I am dealing with

22. Anti and I already have been on bad terms, and this would be nothing new.

[mnthpprt]

Chapter 45: Skeletons In The Garden

It has been almost a week since I decided to give William a chance. More than that, I decided to earn his trust, no matter what it took. I think I am succeeding so far, but there is a price I have to pay. With every day we spend together in town, with every night we join our bodies into one, we become closer. Just as I have gained his trust, he is beginning to gain mine. I have to constantly remind myself why I came here, but then he looks at me with that smile, that light in his eyes... It takes all my effort not forget the reason I agreed to be with him in the first place.

I sleepily stumble around the kitchen in search of the jar of ground coffee, wearing nothing but William’s dressing gown. I borrowed it again last night to head back to my bedroom and fell asleep in it. Though the sleeves are way too long for me, the fabric is luxurious and soft, and I have taken up the habit of stealing it after our nightly activities.

A few minutes ago, William woke me up without bothering to knock on my door.  He said we were going somewhere, but did not explain any further. I was too tired to ask. Though it is not that early, I have been having more trouble sleeping than usual, and I have the feeling it has nothing to do with my new vampiric condition. Fuck, this man drives me insane in every way possible: I either want to kiss him, break his nose, or both. That last one gets very confusing, and usually ends up involving lots of bites from me, out of anger, and from him, in retaliation. 

I pour a cup for him before taking my coffee up to my bedroom. I stare at my clothes, which are laid out on the bed, as I drink it. I have been putting off returning to the mansion for my stuff, but I do need more dresses. I would also like to resume my research, so I’ll have to borrow some books for that.

When I return downstairs, empty cup in hand and hair loosely braided, William is waiting for me on the sofa. He offers me a bottle of rouge, and I pet Puck as I take it.

“Today is the troupe’s day off,” I observe.

“I know,” he simply replies. Where is he taking me? As if he could read my mind, he smiles and sips his rouge before explaining. “Dost thou remember how I wanted thee to meet someone?”

I nod, but narrow my eyes as the implication sinks in. Either he really trusts me enough to introduce me to his deranged accomplice, or this is his way to get rid of me once and for all. Sure, he has been nothing but charming and sweet since I moved into his house, but this is William. If there is a God, even He doesn’t know what he’s plotting.

An hour later, our carriage pulls up next to an old church. From the outside, I see no signs of it being used. It looks rather abandoned. However, as we approach the entrance, I catch the scent of burning candles, meaning there must be people inside. What is this place?

The wooden door creaks loudly when William pushes it open, just enough for us to pass through. Once inside, he closes it behind us.

“Please lock that, will you?” a man’s voice chimes from the altar. I cannot see him, but I hear glass tinkering behind the decorative screen in the back.

“Do not worry, we shall be quick,” William says, but obliges anyway. Great, now I am trapped here with a stranger who might have killed me.

He takes my hand and guides me down the nave. Our steps echo ominously under the high stone arches, and I have to take a deep breath to relax. Do not show them you are nervous, Anaïs, for they might take it the wrong way. For God’s sake, act normal.

We walk past the altar and into the ambulatory, where the stranger in question seems to have set up a lab of sorts, packed with all kinds of flasks, beakers, and, uh... medical equipment. Creepy. He is slightly taller than William, slender and dressed in clothing as black as his hair, and wears glasses with a chain around his neck.

“What do we have here?” he asks with a malicious grin that gives me shivers. He has a mild German accent. “Is this the neophyte you mentioned? She would make a fine guinea pig...”

“No, thank you.” He raises an eyebrow at my quick reply, while William chuckles and wraps his arm around my waist.

“My nightshade, this is Johann Georg Faust. Johann, meet Anaïs.”

“Faust like the legend?”

“The very same,” William smiles.

“Oh. Nice to meet you, I guess. So, um... What are you doing there?” I ask, pointing at the collection of scribbled on papers and lab equipment.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, fräulein Anaïs. I am sure you would find my experiments rather tedious...”

I ignore the condescending tone of his answer. A sculpture behind him has caught my eye. Faust interrupts his deceivingly polite excuse when I march past him to approach it.

“Oh, hell no,” I mumble. “María, cariño, ¿qué te han hecho? (Mary, honey, what have they done to you?)”

 I reach up to touch the Virgin’s gilded coat and, sure enough, the gold leaf crumbles in my fingers, leaving behind a glittery mess. I turn to the bespectacled man, only for my look of indignation to be met with his, equal parts intrigued and offended.

“She’s falling apart! See?” I show the golden dust on my palm to the two men. “I need to fix this before it gets-” Oh no he didn’t. Right beside Faust, on his work table, I see a clean rag neatly folded beside a bottle of clear liquid. ‘Carbolic acid’, the label reads. I bring the cloth to my nose and immediately put two and two together. “You wiped it with phenol?!” I exclaim, incredulous, as I furiously wave the rag around. “I don’t know why you needed to disinfect poor Mary over here in the first place, but for fuck’s sake, don’t do it again. God, no wonder everyone hates this stupid century, y’all discover something and decide to use it for everything without ever thinking about what it might do.”

“Everyone?” William asks, confused.

“This century?” Faust says almost at the same time.

“In my line of work, I mean,” I explain, completely ignoring the second question. I am not sure how safe it would be for me to mention that I come from the future. “Seriously, the amount of damage I’ve had to undo is insane. Why you people use so many questionable compounds is beyond me. Can I borrow a scalpel?”

“You came through the door,” Faust states. Shit, I guess he knows about it.

“Yes, I’m from the future,” I sigh, before grabbing a scalpel myself, not bothering to wait for permission.

I return my focus to the sculpture and carefully examine it. The state it is in is poorer than I had previously noticed. Judging by the proportions, it looks gothic. That makes it around 300 years old at least. Though the passage of time has obviously taken its toll, I have no doubt that its degradation has been made worse by well-meaning yet ignorant attempts at preserving it. Or, in Faust’s case, by his attempt to prep the area for whatever freaky surgical shit he has going on here. I must admit, the fact that he allegedly sold his soul to the devil for knowledge does not exactly reassure me about his intentions.

“The year 2020, to be exact,” I continue as I awkwardly manoeuvre around the sculpture to scrape some paint and gesso off the back in order to check the state of the wood underneath. “I’m guessing you’re not a pureblood... Do you know how to use a shotgun, by any chance?” I ask casually without looking up from my delicate task.

“Is this about Salieri?” Judging by Faust’s tone, I can tell he is rolling his eyes. “That would be Charles,” he sighs. Whoever this Charles is, Faust sounds like a bored babysitter. He has no interest in the conversation whatsoever. “May I have my scalpel back? You’re going to blunt it.”

“I’m almost done.” I manage to cut a cross section just in time to see him approach and forcibly take the sharp object from my hand. I then make my way back to the work table and search for what I need, carefully holding the thin slice of wood and gesso between my fingers. “Do you have a... What are they called, those round looky things with the handle?”

“Magnifying glass,” William aids.

“Yeah, that. Actually,” I change my mind when I see a pile of neatly stacked glass slides, “I’m gonna take one of these. I forgot that microscopes already exist. Where is yours, anyway?”

“Safely locked away,” the alchemist deadpans. Oh well, it looks like I’ll have to save my sample for later, then.

William takes my hand and gently ushers me away from the improvised lab, I assume to stop me from annoying its owner any further. Though he acts polite, I can tell it is nothing more than a weak façade that could drop any second.

“My dearest,” he says, “we should move on to the reason of our visit?”

“Vlad, was it?” I nod. He merely mentioned the name in passing days ago, but I have hung onto that minuscule snippet of information like my life depends on it. It might.

He leads me to a discrete door nestled in the corner of the transept to our left. Before we can reach it, however, Faust calls out from behind the altar.

“I look forward to studying you, fräulein.”

“Well, I do not!” I sing in response. He lets out an unnerving chuckle that I decide to ignore.

I follow William through the door and up a dark staircase. As we walk along the hallway, I get the feeling that he does not know exactly where he is leading me, either. Still, he finds the person he was looking for inside a small room. It looks like it had been used for storage in the past, but now is completely empty save for a desk and a few chairs. The white haired man sitting on one of them looks up when we enter through the already open door. This must be him. The pureblood that is going after the residents.

He is strikingly beautiful, despite the unnervingly red shade of his eyes. Dressed in expensive clothes, he moves elegantly to greet me. I instinctively do the polite thing and offer my hand for him to hold.

“Anaïs Bertran, I presume?” His voice is slightly breathy, and as delicately controlled as his poise. “You are as beautiful as a rose.”

I do not dare to complain out loud, but I give William an exasperated look, causing him to laugh. I smack his arm.

“Stop being a dickhead,” I scold him, even though I have to hold back a smile.

“Ah, I see you have thorns as well,” the other man chuckles. “It is rare for such a pretty flower to be so foul mouthed. I must confess I appreciate it, it adds character. Was that some kind of joke between you two?”

“I guess you could call it that,” I sigh. “I just think there are more interesting flowers to be compared to.”

“Such as?” he prompts.

“I don’t know, lisianthus, dahlias... Sunflowers are pretty nifty, and I’ve always liked orchids. People tend to think they’re really hard to grow, for some reason, but they just need a bit of attention and the right amount of light. Chrysanthemums are also really cool...” I ramble.

“Those are an old favorite of mine, but not as much as roses, I’m afraid. Do you enjoy gardening?”

“Is it that obvious?” I chuckle, embarrassed. “But yeah, I worked as a florist for a few years.”

“Oh?” he smiles. “I own a flower shop in town. I sense we are going to get along well, Anaïs. Oh my, how rude of me! I forgot to introduce myself. You may call me Vlad.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” I politely say before tilting my head. “I have to say, I find it a bit strange to be here, speaking to you. I mean, you sent a sniper after Salieri to stop him from revealing your identity, yet here we are, being formally introduced,” I remark.

“Yes, I am well aware of the incident that took place. Quite a fortunate outcome you got, don’t you think?”

“If by fortunate you mean bleeding out in a sewer, then sure, but I beg to differ.” A cold smile accompanies my response. Not only did dying obliterate any semblance of a schedule I had, it also caused me to be turned into... this. I have nothing against vampires, but I’d rather not go through the pain of being a neophyte, or whatever these people call it. 

“Pardon my crudeness, but isn’t that what happens when you jump in front of a bullet that is not meant for you?” Vlad quips.

“Yeah... That is the stupidest thing I have ever done, can’t argue with that logic,” I mutter, resigned. “By the way, if you’re gonna play with gunpowder inside a tunnel, I’d recommend finding another one that isn’t full of highly flammable methane gas. Just a tip,” I wink.

Our tense exchange is interrupted by a knock on the door frame. Under it stands another man with a boyish smile and shaggy hair.

“I bought those strawberries you- Oh.” He pauses when he sees me, his eyes growing wide in recognition. “Hello there.”

“Are you Charles?” I innocently ask, approaching him. When he nods, I smirk. 

There is no warning when I grab his jacket and shoot my knee into his groin at full force. I hear William’s incredulous snort behind me, along with a muffled chuckle belonging to Vlad.

“Argh, putain!” Charles groans, folding over in pain. I observe him as I wait for him to recover. “Why?” he cries from the floor. I simply pull my dress down to reveal the scar on my cleavage. His mouth opens and closes quickly, not knowing what to say.

“Sorry, just had to get that out of my system,” I explain with no trace in my voice of the violence I just displayed. “I’m Anaïs,” I smile, offering my hand. He takes it, and I pull him to his feet. The boyish grin returns to his face as he awkwardly scratches the back of his neck.

“I am so sorry about shooting you, it was an accident. You jumped out of nowhere! I didn’t even want to in the first place, but- Ehem, sorry.”

I follow his gaze when he suddenly interrupts himself with a fake cough. Vlad’s eyes are slightly narrowed in what I can only assume is a look of warning. Okay, something’s going on. Well, yet another thing, on top of the long list of unexplained actions from this strange group of people.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say before the silence becomes awkward, “we’re even now.” I turn to the pureblood and look at him inquisitively. “Anyway, I have a lot of questions. I don’t want to judge until I know exactly what your intentions are for doing whatever it is you’re doing. I have to admit I am finding it hard to keep my emotions under control, so we better get on with it, yeah?”

I do not need to justify my volatile state. Vlad knows perfectly well that he was the one to cause it.

[talkfastromance4]

Calum having to bribe Duke back into liking him cause Duke sees the kid crying when his diaper gets changes and thinks they need protection. Baby growing up and coming on tour but not realising Duke couldn't come so they have to go to who knows How Many stores to find them a plushie that looks like Duke.

Calum finishes loading the dishwasher when he heads back to the living room where Adah is playing with Duke. Ever since she began to crawl she and Duke have become inseparable. For being a grumpy old man dog, Duke doesn’t seem to mind when Adah holds onto his tail while they cuddle on the couch or the floor or as she waddles throughout the house now that she’s walking. 

He’s her best companion.

Right now, she’s playing with the light up keys that sings a song and lights up. Duke’s nose sniffs at the odd contraption and Calum grins going to sit down with his daughter when he smells it’s time for a diaper change. 

“Uh oh, come on stinky girl,” he chuckles hoisting her into the air. Duke yips as he hops up following Calum to her bedroom. 

When Calum lays her on the changing table Duke sits very near Calum’s legs, eyes cast upward and alert. Low growls rumble through him and vibrates Calum’s leg. 

This is the only time Duke comes around Calum anymore, whenever he changes Adah. After that when she’s safe back on the ground, Duke goes back to ignoring Calum. 

“She’s okay, Duke,” Calum sighs fastening the new diaper on his baby girl. 

Duke growls again shifting even closer to Calum’s leg, as if that were possible. Adah is staring up at Calum with an adoring smile, singing a song that has no words. 

“Such a pretty voice for a pretty girl,” Calum smiles fondly. He wiggles her black leggings up her chubby thighs and she giggles up at him. He stands her up then gives both her cheeks kisses and Duke begins to bark now standing on his four little paws. “All right sweet girl, go play with your best friend.”

He sets her down gently, keeping his hand on her back making sure she’s steady before she reaches for Duke’s tail and they walk off to her toy chest in the corner of the room. Calum has an idea. He sits down in the middle of the floor, he’s going to get Duke to be man’s best friend again. 

When Adah picks out a toy she turns around, her light brown eyes shining bright when she sees her daddy sitting on the floor. She tosses the toy and picks up a book running into Calum’s lap. Duke begins to park and jump around in a circle, as if signaling some dog police that his little human isn’t near him. 

“C’mere, Duke, you gotta trust me buddy. I won’t hurt her, yeah?” Calum says softly and opens the book. 

“Go dada!” she punches the book lightly and Calum begins to read. 

He glances up at Duke after every page turn to be met with the dog’s hard stare. Duke licks his nose then comes to sit in front of Calum’s lap. 

“See? I love her just as much as you do, old man,” Calum tells him holding out his fingers for him to sniff. Adah yawns and becomes heavier against Calum as she gets more comfortable. Duke licks Calum’s hand then lays down at his feet, his eyes staring up at him. “That’s my boy.”

Calum rubs between his ears and continues the story while both little girl and little dog fall asleep to his voice.

***

“Sweetie, Duke can’t come with us on tour,” you try to tell Adah for the hundredth time. “He’s going to stay with Roy while we go with daddy.”

“Duke come, too! Duke come, too!” Adah kicks her feet in her car seat while they drive to yet another toy store.

Calum sighs along with you as she continues to wail about her best friend staying behind. You were on a mission to try and find a stuffed animal she can bring along to sleep with. It’s not the same but it’s the next best thing. This is your fifth toy store and thankfully it has three full aisles filled with numerous types of stuffed animals ranging in all sizes. 

Adah leads you up and down each aisle, her brown eyes inspecting each and every one. She stops abruptly, her Moana light up shoes flickering as she points up. 

“Up, daddy, up! I can’t see!” she exclaims waving her arms. 

Thinking the search is over, Calum is quick to lift her in his arms and searches the array of animals in front of him. 

“Which one, peanut?” he asks and she points to a colored animal that does look like Duke. “This one?”

Calum wriggles the toy free from two other stuffed animals then frowns when he sees it’s actually more of a german shepard. 

“You found him, Adah!” you say happily shooting Calum a look to pretend along with you. 

She scrutinizes the toy, petting its nose and touching it’s tail. Calum holds his breath.

“He’s good,” Adah confirms then squeezes the toy against her chest. 

You both exhale that it actually worked. It looks nothing like Duke but as long as it made Adah happy, you’re both happy to play along. She’s reluctant to let the cashier ring it up then holds the dog tight to her chest as you all exit the store. 

When you arrive home, Adah runs to her room to find Duke not even acknowledging her Uncle Ashton sitting on the couch. 

“Hi Adah, bye Adah,” Ashton laughs watching his niece and goddaughter run away. “You two look like hell.”

“We just went to five different stores trying to find a dog that looks like Duke so Adah can take him on tour,” you huff slumping into the chair. Calum joins you resting his head on your shoulder. 

“That looks nothing like Duke,” Ashton deadpans. 

“Don’t tell her that,” Calum mumbles, “I can’t go to another toy store. I’ll go insane.”

“You guys do know there’s a website where you can send a photo and they’ll make a stuffed animal to look exactly like your pet, right?” Ashton pulls out his phone.

You freeze and Calum bolts up straight. 

“You’re joking.”

“Nope,” Ashton sighs tapping away on his phone. “I’ve sent a photo and expedited the shipping. You’ll have him tomorrow. You’re welcome.”

Calum turns to you slowly, his eyes wide in defeat and a forlorn look on his face. You grimace, this was the longest day of your life. 

“Next time, we’re using Google,” Calum sighs in defeat and slumps against you once more. You pat his head in reassurance but also knowing he’d do it all over again just to make his little girl happy. 

[captain--sif]

When you know, you know

Fandom: 9-1-1

Word count: 1.9k

Relationships: Buck/Eddie, minor Buck & Christopher, Bobby &Eddie and Bobby & Buck

This is my Secret Santa gift for ImDivingDeep

Summary: Buck learns random facts when he helps Christopher with school projects. The team is baffled. Eddie - not so much.

Find it on AO3 or read it here:

Later, none of the team would remember what the call was even about. What they would remember however was how Buck, in a (possibly misguided) attempt to distract the young and visibly uncomfortable sex worker they were rescuing, blurted out: “Did you know that one of the most popular songs in Germany in the 80s was a song about a prostitute?”

Bobby might have scolded the young firefighter for the tactless approach, had it not worked or had the woman shown some other emotion than just pure confusion. “It was?” He motioned their colleagues to keep working.

Buck continued explaining. “Well, you see, the phone wasn’t as well-established then as it is now and this prostitute they are singing about, she was the only one that had a number you could call.” “And they made a song about that?” “A really popular song, it seems”, Buck shrugged.

Hen and Chimney slid her into the back of the truck, the rest of the team following suit shortly after.

“How does he even know that?”, Bobby asked when he passed Eddie.

The other man laughed. “Buck helped Christopher with a school project last week. They are talking about different musical decades in class and Christopher got the 80s. Don’t ask me how they ended up at European hit charts though.” Bobby shook his head and followed his team into the truck.

---

On Friday, the team was deployed to help out on standby duty at a climate strike. So far, not much has happened to demand their attention, leading them to be able to observe the protesting teens.

“Do you think they are successful?”, Chimney asked Hen curiously.

“Hard to say”, the woman replied, “They are definitely getting the attention they want, that is for sure. I don’t know enough about it though. Denny is still too young to have an interest in it.” She shrugged.

“Chris has also yet to voice an interest”, Eddie chimed in, “how long do you think we still have until they start to lecture us on politics?” Hen laughed about it.

“I think they might be successful”, Buck voiced, “considering renewable energy sources already make up a third of the energy produced on earth, there is a good chance that with a push from these kids these numbers will increase.”

“A third?”, Chim pondered, “I would have thought it’d be less. Good for the planet though.” “Yeah, I thought so too”, Buck agreed with a  smile.

Expectedly, they did get some work to do, meaning right now, causing the paramedics to rush to help while Buck and Eddie stayed behind until they were needed.

“Did you learn that when researching with Christopher for that science project of his?”, Eddie asked the other man teasingly, bumping their shoulders softly.

“Maybe.” A cheeky grin accompanied Buck’s reply. Eddie shook his head fondly.

---

“A cat? In a tree?”, Eddie asked, “could it be more cliche?”

Buck only laughed and readied himself to climb the ladder.

Bobby approached the younger man to supervise the ordeal. “If he wasn’t so excited, I’m sure he’d tell you that the more cats get stuck in trees that we have to rescue, the more we get to cuddle with cute cats. Which”, he bobbed his head as if to think, all the while looking fondly up at the man reaching for the animal, “is not entirely untrue if you count holding a cat already as cuddling.”

“He’ll probably make the most of it on his way down”, Eddie jokingly replied the captain. Both men followed Buck with their eyes as he was descending, the cat clutched tight and, in fact, keeping it as close to cuddling as the descent allowed.

“You were right”, Bobby nodded in the brunet’s direction before stepping towards Buck.

He greeted them by holding the cat to their faces. “Look at the eyes.”

The two men exchanged a surprised look before doing as told.

“Did you know you can tell the time by looking into a cat’s eyes?” Realizing the raised eyebrows he met with when looking up, Buck added apologetically, “I helped Chris with a fact sheet about cats.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that fact listed on one of those before”, Bobby responded perplexed.

Buck shrugged. "I don't know when that would be useful anyway. It's still fun to know." He bobbed his nose against the cat's before carefully stroking its fur until its owners took it away from him, leaving him looking like a kicked puppy. Bobby patted him consolingly on the back.

"I think I wanna get a cat", Buck announced then, earning an amused look from Eddie.

"Does your apartment even allow pets?"

Buck sighed sadly, "I don't think so."

---

“Did you just put cinnamon into the hot chocolate?”, Eddie asked curiously, a smile tugging at his lips.

Buck turned around to where his friend leaned against the table. “I thought it might be good for Christopher. Seeing as cinnamon is supposed to be antispasmodic and supposed to stimulate the blood circulation which makes it perfect for gastrointestinal problems. He won’t even realize we’re giving him medicine.”

“And here I was, thinking you wanted to indulge him while he’s sick”, Eddie smirked, “Instead, you had ulterior motives.”

Buck started to fill the liquid into a mug he had just taken out of a cupboard. “I think when it comes to getting hot chocolate out of it, I think no one will dwell on my motives.” He grinned at his best friend. “Or would you like to dispute that?”

Eddie laughed fondly.

“How did you know that anyway?”, he asked then, “was that another one of Christopher’s school projects? Man, I really need to stop letting you help him or you will make everyone else feel inferior with all of the knowledge you amass.”

Buck bites his lip. “Does it bother you?”, he asked cautiously.

“What? That you help my son with his homework?”, Eddie asked, taken aback, “I would not know what to do without you.” Now it was his turn to bite his lip. He felt like he had said too much. “... helping my son with his homework”, he added quickly.

“No, I meant the me talking about all the random stuff I found out while researching with Christopher thing”, Buck clarified. With a playfully affronted look, he then added teasingly: “Also: is that all you keep me around for? To do homework with your son?”

“Hell no”, Eddie replied, “to both of those.” While he took his own mug of hot chocolate Buck was handing him, he debated internally if he should say more. Fuck it, he decided. “I like hearing you talk about these things. I can’t speak for anyone else but I enjoy listening to you, even if it’s rambling about German 80s songs or alternative time telling methods. And as to what I keep you around for...”, he stopped for a dramatic pause and sipped at his drink, “whatever reason I had in my mind before, it is now replaced by your hot chocolate.”

Buck stared at him, unamused. “Okay, give me your cup”, he ordered.

“Why?”, drawled Eddie and cocked an eyebrow, clutching his mug tight.

“You’re no longer allowed to drink my hot chocolate”, Buck stated and tried to get a grip on Eddie’s mug who recoiled and dodged him, every time Buck lunged forward to grab it.

“Stop it, you’re gonna spill the good chocolate”, Eddie shouted, laughing, taking a last step before realizing he was backed into a corner. Seizing the opportunity, he pushed his mug into the far corner behind him, shielding it with his body.

Buck would not be deterred from taking the hot chocolate away though, and wormed his arm around Eddie’s torso, pinning him against the counter in the process.

Shit, Eddie thought when his brain had processed their proximity.

“That’s dirty, man”, Buck mumbled when he resurged, “How could I anticipate that? You know your kitchen better than I do.” “Barely”, Eddie muttered distractedly. Buck halted and blinked at him.

Eddie forced himself to look up, fearful he’d blurt something else out. Something that would change their friendship. Make this easy banter impossible.

Buck reciprocated the eye contact, none of the men saying anything. After a few seconds, Eddie cleared his throat, desperate to distract from the fact that he got lost in his best friend’s eyes.

Said best friend surprisingly seemed just as shaken up, color surging into his face when his eyes wandered downwards and took in their closeness. When he looked back up, Eddie observed him curiously, averting his gaze as soon as their eyes met again.

Now it was Buck’s turn to clear his throat. “We should probably bring your son his hot chocolate.”

In a surge of confidence, Eddie made his smile turn into a smirk and said: “You’re not the one who can’t move because you’re being pinned against the kitchen counter.”

Buck blinked. “Right. Sorry.” He backed away and Eddie felt a pang of sadness at the sudden coldness where Buck’s body had touched his just a second ago.

In silence, they picked up the three mugs again and made their way to Christopher’s room, trading glances that were not as subtle as they thought.

Eddie stayed in the doorway while Buck handed Chris the chocolate, taking in the picture of the man interacting with his child. He’d like to keep it that way. Keep Buck in his house. In their little family.

Buck turned to smile at him, before sitting down on Christopher’s bed. All three of them sipped their drinks in silence, the sick child not having the energy to and both of the adults not knowing how to.

Christopher soon fell asleep again, as he’s been doing on and off for the whole day, making the men move back to the kitchen as to not wake him. Buck started to clean up, the silence continuing and starting to drive Eddie insane.

“This is awkward. Why is this awkward now?”, Buck finally interrupted. Turned to him. Eddie bit his lip, thinking about what to answer and how much to reveal of his own feelings. Bucks eyes flicked down to that movement which settled it for Eddie.

“I hope I didn’t misread this now.” He moved towards the other man whose eyes widened. “I think”, Eddie explained, as he got closer, “that it feels weird because we grazed a line both of us did not try to cross until now.”

“Yeah”, Buck drawled, his eyes not leaving the other man’s even for a second, “I didn’t mean to. Does that mean you want to cross it now?”

“If you want to cross it too, then yes.” Eddie stopped in front of his best friend, oh wait, is that term even right anymore, looking at him expectantly.

“I definitely do, yes”, Buck exhaled and closed the gap between their bodies. Their lips found each other, the two of them not hesitating to drape their arms around each other and melting into the kiss.

When they parted, Buck sighed. “As nice as this is, now I dread going to work tomorrow.”

“Mhm”, Eddie replied, going in for another kiss, “I don’t want to be the one to tell Bobby.”

“Oh”, Buck’s face scrunched up in thought, “I was thinking more about the teasing from Hen and Chimney that I’d have to endure.”

Eddie grinned fondly. “I promise I’ll make it worth it.”

Find it on AO3