#maybe have her explain that she talked/tricked her way out of it and deflect that because shes still here shes Clearly Perfectly Fine

[branmuffins22]

via @imhumanguysiswear

not technically what this post was talking about, but a while ago i found a fic by eedsknees that pads this scene with one of MY favorite things: petrification angst!

and while id probably do it differently, its still really really good and it makes me super duper glad that someone else saw the potential :)

Okay but can we talk about Camila seeing the Grom memory.

[princessamericachavez]

There’s really not much to talk about after Chris brings up Shannon. Buck wants to say something more, to ease the kid’s pain, to reassure him that people who love him won’t always leave, but he’s still a little shaky on that department himself and doesn’t want to be hypocritical about it. So they deflect, change the subject, and a couple minutes later he lets Chris to his homework.

Eddie, of course, was listening. Buck knows. He almost expects to find him waiting by the door as he steps out of the room, but he’s not in the hallway, or in his room. Finally, he finds his best friend standing in the kitchen with a sour look and two unopened beers.

Buck opens one beer with another (a trick he’s used many times to impress dates) and settles for a bottle opener for the second one. Eddie accepts the drink and all but collapses on a seat by the kitchen island.

“He’s mad at her,” Eddie whispers into the bottle’s neck after two long gulps.

Buck tries desperately to find words of comfort but fails once more. His eyes fixate in his own hands instead. Waiting.

“I- I was so angry, too, but I thought maybe he could… I thought I could protect him from it.”

“You’ve done so much for him, for her,” Buck offers. “You’ve kept her memory alive.”

“It’s not enough.”

“It’s better than the alternative, trust me,” he says, thinking of the brother he only just started mourning. “Christopher loves his mom, and he knows she loved him. Even if… if the other stuff hurts, it was also part of her.”

“I don’t want him to judge her harshly.”

“Maybe you couldn’t help it.”

Eddie’s eyes snap towards him, pinning him with something defensive that could be mistaken for anger. But Buck doesn’t let himself flinch away.

“Eddie, Shannon was a person. A whole person. With her… mistakes, too. You can’t really love someone who is just a pretty picture. Chris can’t think his mom was just… just a perfect mom. She was more than that, the way you are more than a perfect dad.”

“In far from perfect,” Eddie scoffs, shaking his head.

“Not arguing with you there,” Buck huffs, teasingly, hoping to ease the tension. “But you’re a pretty damn good one, and you’re doing your best. And that’s what Chris knows, and that’s why he loves you.”

“Shannon was trying her best too.”

“I know. And… I think Chris knows it too. But he also gets to be a little angry about the not so perfect parts.”

Eddie puts the beer down. For an instant, like a flash, Buck is afraid of having pushed too far. Even with all the years and the trust between them, he will never truly shake the fear of one day crossing a line he can’t walk back and lose his best friend like everyone else in his life. But he has grown enough to not let that fear hold him back. Not with Eddie. Never with him.

“I’m kinda lost here, Buck. I feel like I screwed up somehow.”

“You didn’t.”

“How do I fix it.”

“You taught me that’s not always the answer, Eds.”

But Eddie looks at him with those big pleading eyes and, dammit, Buck wants to help him fix this too.

“Okay, so… if Chris was mad at you, what would you do?”

“Give him some time to cool off,” Eddie replies almost immediately. “Then try to talk to him, explain myself, see each other’s side of things.”

“Right,” Buck frowns. “Though I guess that’s…. Not a possibility with Shannon.”

“No,” Eddie rubs a hand over his face, “it’s not. Unless-“

His gesture freezes. He’s had an idea.

“Oh, Buck you’re a genius!”

“I am?”

“Yes! No. Yes… I- okay I think I have an idea. Maybe. I gotta think about it.”

Buck is eager to know the plan, but the way Eddie’s words are bouncing around it makes him feel like it’s a complicated topic. Or at least one his friend isn’t ready to voice yet.

“Well, I’m glad I could be of some help. Since my attempts at keeping Chris from turning into a little Buck 1.0 kinda failed,” he offers instead, as a change of topic.

It works. Eddie startles with a laugh that makes the kitchen feel five times lighter.

“You did alright, Buck. I really appreciate your help.”

And he means it. Buck can tell by the way their eyes meet, with an electric intensity, like they did before at the changing room. The ghost of Eddie’s hand on his shoulder lingers like static over his collarbone.

“Maybe you can ask Marisol to try next. You know, get some female wisdom in there.”

Buck doesn’t know why he says it, wants to kick himself in the teeth immediately, but then Eddie’s reaction fills him with relief. He looks appalled by the idea. Buck tries not to think too hard about why that reactions feels so good, tells himself not to let it go to his head.

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he laughs nervously. “I mean, she’s great! But I don’t think we are there yet.”

Yet. Yet, yet, yet. Not yet, but some day. Soon, probably. Buck has been quietly living with that dread for weeks now. Knowing his days of… this are counted. That some day, soon, Eddie will have someone else to rely on for this. That the day is approaching when Eddie will sit him down to talk about his will again, to let him know he’s changed it all over again. For a better choice. A more permanent one.

“Better not to rush into things this time,” Eddie keeps talking.

“Right. Yeah. Yeah… no rush,” Buck barely remembers to smile.

Eddie sighs, takes a sip. Buck mirrors him.

“So, anyway,” Eddie stretches on his chair, “you got time?”

Barely enough.

“Always.”

As much as he has left.

“Cool,” Eddie smiles, “because I do believe I promised Chinese in exchange for this.”

“Really, Eddie, it was no favor. You know I’m happy to help with Chris.”

“I know, I know,” he rolls his eyes, standing up. “Just bare with me, okay? Will make me feel less like a failure tonight.”

“You’re not a failure, Eddie. Don’t say that.”

Eddie pauses on his way out. Puts a hand on Buck’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Buck. Seriously.”

The touch is almost as electric as lightning. Buck ducks his head, feeling his heart stop and restart all over again.

“Anytime, Eddie. Now, about that Chinese…”

“Right, Chinese,” Eddie perks up. “Your usual?”

[toyybox]

Spiderwebs #12: Clutter

Masterlist

content: lab whump, captivity, immortal whumpee, death wish

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Jackie didn’t know what to do. It felt like a mistake, giving in and lying down and going along with whatever inane idea struck that woman. Throwing a plate against the wall had seemed like a good idea, somehow a way to re-establish control, but he should have known that all of his ideas were stupid and he was stuck there and he was going to die—

That thought made him stop panicking. Death? Wasn’t that the one thing he couldn’t have? He would have loved to be six feet under, in fact. That silly fear of dying transcended even immortality and suicidality. Blame it on his nerves, he supposed, or his deep-rooted instincts, or just his complete inability to get a grip. 

The plate had been empty, at least. The madness of hunger transcended all petty refusal. And the chicken had been really good. It wasn’t his fault, okay? He was doing the best he could with the paltry resources he had. The shattered pieces of ceramic or porcelain—he hoped to the heavens above that it hadn’t been expensive—could be swept under the bed. His captor would forget she ever gave it to him. 

That was the plan, until the door opened behind him.

Well, fuck me.

He turned around, hands held up in a futile gesture of peace, heat already flushing his palms and the back of his neck. 

“Jackie.” There Heather stood, a wraith in the doorway. The gleam of her eyes was like the gleam of a reaper’s sickle. “I thought I heard something.”

“Hey.” He leaned his elbow against the wall, in yet another futile gesture, this time attempting to cover up the broken plate. “Do you know CPR, by any chance?”

This took her aback. “Yes, why?”

“Because you take my breath away.” He batted his eyelashes.

With that look on her face, he might as well have told her to go screw a chainsaw. “Are you—are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Am I?” Was he? Jackie didn’t know. He said the first thing that came to mind. His thoughts had completely blanked out. 

“Stop trying to deflect my questions. This is your last warning. Explain yourself.”

“It’s simple.” He stepped away from the plate shards. “I was eating. All of a sudden, I wanted to look at that table, over there.” He waved his hand towards the table. “But I was so tired that I tripped. I totally forgot I was holding the plate.” 

“Why would you want to look at the table?”

He just needed to keep talking. The trick was to keep talking. Never falter. “I was bored. There’s not much to do down here. I was getting restless, you know, and I didn’t want to sleep yet, so that’s what I was doing. Walking around. The furniture is really nice, by the way. Let me guess, IKEA?”

She let out a deep, infuriated breath. “You’re bored?”

Jackie nodded. She didn’t look convinced, but she wasn’t beating him to death either. This could work. 

“Why didn’t you just say so? I could—I could get you a book, or something. You don’t have to throw plates at the wall.” She stifled a yawn with her hand. “I was trying to sleep.”

“I didn’t throw—“ He stopped himself. “You’re right. I’m sorry. And I’d love a book.”

Heather placed her hand against the door frame, as she furrowed her brows. “Are you actually going to read it, or are you just saying that to be polite?”

“No, I love reading. Went to the library every week.”

“Okay.” She stood up straighter. “Do you want anything else?”

Well. He was actually kind of bored. No harm in asking. This could be a way to gain an upper hand. “A pen and a notebook, if that’s possible. Also, I’d like a clock. Maybe a watch. Oh, and the newspaper.”

“I’ll get you the pen and notebook.” With that, she left the basement. 

Left him in silence, alone with his thoughts, with the aftermath of his adrenaline. Jackie was surprised. He was impressed. He had managed to talk his way out of trouble. Holy shit. If he kept this up, he would survive the week in one piece. If luck allowed, if its favor shone over him. If he kept his fingers crossed.

When she returned, she held a pretty black leather notebook and a ballpoint pen in her hands, alongside a copy of Oliver Twist. “Here. Catch.”

Jackie caught the items. “Thanks.”

“This is a reward for good behavior, all right?” He hated the way she said that, like he was a little kid, but arguing wasn’t an option. He let her continue. “In return, I want something. I want… honesty. Honesty and respect.

“Sure. No more disrespect. Got it.”

For a long moment, Heather stared at him and did not speak. He wondered what she was thinking. Had he somehow upset her? Or was she thinking of something, or someone else? Was she waiting? For what?

“Go to sleep.” Then, his captor stepped out of the room.

Ha. Sleep was an impossible memory, after all that excitement. Jackie took the notebook and flipped through the pages, which were all thick and cream-white. He was sure he’d find some use for it. He placed it, the pen, and the book on the nightstand. 

The nightstand was the same shade of faded chocolate as all the other furniture in there. The edges had been decorated, carved with leaping rabbits and curving flowers. The furniture was lovely. That upset him, for some odd reason. Everything had been chosen with care. The vague smell of blood and smoke, which Jackie had grown accustomed to, was now replaced with something heavier and pleasant, like laundry detergent. The lightbulb now actually provided light, rather than a dim buzzing glow. The bed looked comfortable. The blanket was thick, dark blue and patterned with white lace. It was all so lovely, so revoltingly sweet. He was meant to live here. He was meant to like living here. Although the basement was not small by any means, Jackie was starting to feel claustrophobic. 

He needed to get moving. He needed to distract himself, or he’d go crazy. Jackie opened the nightstand drawers, all three in fast succession. They were all empty. 

He didn’t bother to close them, instead moving on to the bed. The edges were carved in the same way as the nightstand, with the exception of a few additional ferns and birds. Ducking underneath and lifting the blanket up, he saw a cluster of cardboard boxes.

The first one, Jackie noticed as he pulled it out, held a few shirts and a chessboard-pattern sweater. The second one contained some jeans and other pants. The third box contained a pair of black boots and a pair of matching black gloves. 

This only made Jackie feel worse. He didn’t want to wear her clothes. He didn’t want to use any of these things. He didn’t want to sleep in her pretty little bed and use her cute little nightstand and rot away in a basement for the rest of his life. We don’t always get what we want, do we? What an asshole. 

He was unhappy. Did that mean anything? What could he do? So much of his life had been simply accepting that everything was less than ideal. This was just another problem he needed to learn to live with.

The worst part was that things were finally starting to get better. Being a waiter didn’t make him anything close to rich, but it paid more than being a bartender. He liked his coworkers—they weren’t his friends, sure, but they liked him and he liked them, and they all got along. His nightmares had been slowing down, too. He rarely thought of the past anymore. He could have made a life for himself, the kind of life that sounded so ridiculous in the movies and books.

Sure, things weren't perfect. Change came at a worm's pace. He’d take three steps backward before ever moving forward. Compared to kidnapping, though, it was skittles and beer.

That all went down the drain now. Well, not necessarily. But it was a setback. And that was being alive, wasn’t it? C’est ça. That was how it went. Entropy was everything. Chaos and clutter. Living comfortably meant living in a dream. Nothing stayed as you needed it. Nothing worked out as it should.

Jackie glanced at the writing desk, which he had feigned so much interest in. The wood was also dark brown, but less worn out. It must have been new. There was nothing carved on the sides. There was a water bottle, just a small metal thing, placed on top of it. The chair was nothing special. It wasn’t wooden, but rather asphalt-colored plastic.

The bathroom looked the same, more or less. He now possessed a toothbrush and toothpaste, as well as a comb, a plastic razor, shaving cream, and several containers of soap. Still nothing to escape with. 

Jackie sat down on the bed. Anger had given way to fear and then to restlessness. It lit every nerve in his body like the spark of his lighter, like faulty electrical wiring. He needed to do something. Just to get moving again. He slid down and looked back under the bed. Nothing there. Except…

Now, Jackie had to twist into a strange position to look at the bedframe. Under the mattress. It was an old trick from childhood. Hide things under the mattress or inside the pillowcase. Food, keys, even knives. Although Jackie never found the courage to actually use the knife as a child, it made him feel that much safer. The table leg was gone, but he could find a real weapon. One of her scalpels, perhaps. Or the bone saw, if he could get his hands on it.

With a determined heave, he lifted the edge of the mattress up. Yes, it would work. He couldn’t imagine any reason for Heather to check there.

Yeah. Yeah! What reason was there to be upset? It wasn’t like his life was over. He would win this game. The odds were in his favor, he thought, considering how society treated kidnappers. It was nothing to get upset about. Nothing at all.

One day at a time. He would survive this. And now, he needed to sleep. Fatigue was a fog in the back of his mind, glazing over his thoughts. There was not much else to do, anyway. 

Instead of getting into the bed, Jackie curled up in the corner. He winced at the cold, but he wasn’t wearing Heather’s sweater, no way. It was exciting, this rebellion, until a slow sort of fear seeped in—would she be upset about this? Would she hurt him for this?

She’s going to hurt me anyway. Jackie curled up a little tighter. I’m not actually scared of her. He was used to pain. A bruise or cut was nothing. He’d have his tiny rebellion either way. A microscopic revolution. He’d have this little bit of autonomy, this sliver of control. He’d get his way. He’d win this war. He was going to escape. 

Right. Now, he needed to get some rest.

That was the plan, at least. But the low hum of dread grew like a tumor, and it was incredibly uncomfortable to sleep on the concrete. Was it his imagination, or was everything getting colder? The bed looked absolutely delicious, warm and safe and inviting. Not safe, actually. Bad things could happen in beds. But it was warm? And worse things could happen on the concrete, probably. Especially if his captor was in a bad mood. 

Oh, but wasn’t he the great and powerful Jackie? Unafraid of anybody? 

It’s not because I’m scared. I’m doing the smart thing. Wasn’t I supposed to gain her trust first? What about that whole part of the plan? 

That was a good point. And his posture on the floor was terrible. His back was going to hurt like hell in the morning if he kept this up. How was he going to escape with back pain?

Jackie crawled into bed. It was softer than he expected. Much softer than the floor, at least. The weight of the blanket was comforting. For the first time in a while, he felt warm.

Sleep came for him like a vulture to a liver, but not before he could think—one last time—I’m going to get out of here.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Taglist:

@theelvishcowgirl

@lthrboy

[pika-ace]

Ask you about your Dark Choco Cookie joins the Brave Squad au (please I'm curious)

I explained the basic premise in the replies of the original post but FUCK IT, I've had time to ruminate, it's time for more details!!

SO! We begin right after the Brave Squad have their fight with Dark Choco. Everything basically plays out the same, but maybe with a few more added lines from Gingerbrave, saying wholesome things and basically being a foil to DC's edgy bullshit.

DC: I once clung to the naive notion of friendship and happiness, but I was wrong

Brave: Well...maybe you didn't have very good friends back then. ...You could be OUR friend :3

Wizard: BRAVE, NO-

Anyway, they go on the usual story, blah blah blah, White Lily Cookie, crystal cage, whoopsie we freed Dark Enchantress Cookie, oh shit, she just summoned that huge monster from the opening cutscene. FIGHT! Dark Choco watches the fight, and for the first time, he feels...impressed, watching these kids fight. This monster is showing NO mercy, but they're still getting up and going. They're not giving up even though they're getting the tar beaten out of them. Of course, they win, and DC is just confused as all hell. These cookies were able to best him AND Dark Enchantress Cookie?! Dark Enchantress then starts her evil manipulating talk that she says in the scene. 'You lost to kids, wow, you suck, but if you do what I say, then I'll make SUPER strong >:3'

And before DC can respond, little Brave pipes up 'He's NOT weak! Don't listen to her, mister! Just because you lost once doesn't mean it's the end of the world! Heck, we've gotten kicked around a bunch of times on the way here! But we didn't give up, and neither should you! You ARE strong, and she's just taking advantage of you!' The rest of the kids speak up as well, mostly agreeing with the point that Dark Enchantress is absolutely tricking you, she doesn't have your best interests at heart, don't just blindly do what she says, and Dark Choco is basically reeling. No one has said that to him in so long and maybe that was something he really needed to hear...?

Before he can really have a crisis about it though, DE is absolutely OVER this mushy friendship talk, and while they're distracted, sets up for a powerful magic attack. Dark Choco sees this, and the next thing he knows, he's between the kids and the attack, deflecting the magic blast with his sword, and honestly, EVERYONE is caught off guard.

Brave Squad: :Oc

DE: Did you just...BLOCK MY ATTACK?!?! >:O

DC: ........I guess I did 8/

Jokes aside, Dark Choco makes it clear that he can't let DE hurt these kids. He has no idea why or what is going through his head right now (feelings???) but whatever it is, it's something he can't ignore, just like how he was drawn to the cursed sword. Dark Enchantress is obviously pissed about this, saying that if that's the path he chose, then he would die with the rest of these miserable little cookies, and the portal opens. The school goes boom (I'm going out on a limb here, I mean they kinda skipped what happened after the giant hell portal with a dragon opened up, so I ASSUME that a lot of nearby areas got kinda fucked up) and the Brave Squad and Dark Choco are left in the rubble, a bit banged up, but alive.

Now, in a normal situation, the Brave Squad would press on and keep looking for the Vanilla Kingdom, but they kinda have to address the big, scary, dark, cursed elephant cookie in the room. Brave is the first to jump up in excitement, gushing about how FREAKING COOL it was when Dark Choco deflected that attack like that, but DC isn't exactly in the right mindset for this right now. He just betrayed his Dark Master and now he has nothing left for himself. But of course, Brave jumps in, 'Don't be silly, you have us!'

DC: ...?

Brave: Look, you really saved us back there! I don't think we'd be here if it wasn't for you! I wasn't lying when I said you were super strong! And now, since Dark Enchantress Cookie is gone, and you don't know what to do...why don't you join us?

Squad: WHAT!?!?!!

(cue Wizard Cookie yanking Gingerbrave aside for a VERY SERIOUS group discussion!)

Wizard and Chili Pepper are the ones most against this. I mean LOOK AT HIM! How can we POSSIBLY trust this guy?! But Brave shoots back, 'Uh, because he saved us! Duh!' Strawberry is mostly just terrified of him and Custard is ruminating on the idea of having such a big strong swordsman as one of his royal subjects; I mean, his manners could use some work, and maybe he could dress a little less 'black' but, he has potential... The discussion basically goes nowhere, cause Brave is DEAD-SET on this, no matter what anyone says. Eventually, Chili caves, saying that if he tries anything, they can just beat him up again, which seems to calm Strawberry and Wizard who also puts in the condition that he is going be keeping a VERY close eye on him, and if he so much as TWITCHES wrong, he's getting a lightning bolt to the FACE. Brave is perfectly fine with these terms, they break the discussion circle, and Dark Choco is officially on the team!

Dark Choco has no idea what he just got himself into, especially when Chili Pepper comments that she's so glad that she can FINALLY stop being the 'adult' of this group cause the stress was killing her. ...This is gonna be quite an eventful journey.

Tune in for more when pikaace is able to farm enough EXP jellies to actually level up her damn cookies and progress past World 9 XP

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Lucky Charm: Reflekdoll

Summary: Adrien struggles to adapt to his powers as Mister Bug while facing an old villain with a new trick. Will he be able to learn fast enough to save his partner?

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

"Reflektas, start turning the rest of Paris into me!"

Adrien hid behind the overturned car as Reflekta's clones started attacking untransformed civilians. Apparently, Reflekdoll broadcast a signal that brainwashed any copies. "That's new."

"You are Chat Noir, correct?"

Turning, he spotted a red kwami holding a pair of earrings. "Yeah? And that over there is... Ladybug?" Adrien asked as someone who could only be his Lady launched herself at the giant sentimonster. The suit may have been different but the cat ears were a dead giveaway.

"There's been a little mix up with the Miraculous. I'm Tikki, pleased to meet you!" Tikki offered Adrien the earrings which he accepted.

"Well! Tikki, transforme-moi!"

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

Marinette dodged blast after blast from Reflekdoll.

"Well, my Lady Noire, looks like you're playing the easy part today!"

Lady Noire looked over to see who could only be Chat Noir with her Miraculous. "Not so sure about that!" Placing herself in front of him Lady Noir whirled her staff as a shield, blocking Reflekdoll's beam. "Looks like we'll be taking on two opponents that amplify each other's powers!"

They jumped onto the top of a nearby stone pillar as Reflekdoll attacked again.

"Stay focused, Mister Bug!"

Mister Bug took his yo-yo out and whirled it like he'd seen Ladybug do countless times. "Just my luck. I'm gonna have to capture two akuma instead of one."

"No, one akuma and one amok," Lady Noire corrected.

Reflekta fired her beam into one of the ports onboard. The magic layered by Reflekdoll before it shot a concentrated beam. Mister Bug acted on instinct and tackled Lady Noire out of the way. They rolled to their feet and charged up Reflekdoll as Lady Noire explained what a sentimonster was.

"Would've been nice to know what the Peacock could do before their sentimonsters started showing up!" Mister Bug commented as he launched a kick at said sentimonster to little effect.

"It was on a need-to-know basis!" Lady Noire swung her staff into the sentimonster with similar results.

"I really need to talk with the Guardian about what he considers 'need-to-know'!" Mister Bug leapt back towards the ground with Lady Noire. "Okay, so we need to find Reflekta's akumatized object and the baby monster's amok."

Lady Noire deflected another beam from Reflekdoll. "Can you manage or should we switch back?"

"C'mon! I'm totally capable of doin' it!" Mister Bug smirked.

Lady Noire pulled him out of the way of Reflekdoll's beam and they ran towards the Eiffel Tower. "We need to figure out where the akuma and amok are!"

"Probably the same place as the last time we fought her. In her bracelet!"

They jumped onto the tower itself and used the iron structure to shield themselves. "Maybe. We're gonna have to check that!"

"If I could just get my hands on a mirror I'd be able to reflect her own beam back at her!"

Landing on the first level, Lady Noire turned to look at Mister Bug. "That's not how it works." She crossed her arms. "The Lucky Charm doesn't just give you what you want."

"You ever asked? Watch and learn!" Mister Bug grinned. "Lucky Charm!"

"A mirror!" Oh, Adrien was gonna lord this over her so much! 

"Beginners luck," Lady Noire declared. Chat Noir was gonna be insufferable about this she could feel it.

"You're just jealous of my mastery!" Mister Bug teased.

A loud banging interrupted them and they looked down to see Reflekdoll climbing the tower. Reflekta steering with one hand and shooting her much smaller lasers through the window eyes with the other.

Mister Bug held out his mirror and reflected one of them back at her. Bullseye!

Reflekdoll shot at them with its big beam.

 "Very effective, Mister Bug."

"Hey, it worked didn't it?"

Lady Noire sighed in exasperation. "May I remind you that the Lucky Charm doesn't just give you an object to defeat the villain with-"

"I thought that's exactly what it does?"

"You actually have to figure out exactly how to use it!" Lady Noire poked him in the forehead. "Using your head!"

Reflekdoll reached there level and started firing. Mister Bug jumping for cover while Lady Noire blocked its attack with her staff. "Since you wasted your Lucky Charm. I guess that means it's my turn, buggaboy! Watch and learn! Cataclysm!"

Lady Noire leapt at the sentimonster and-

Her body was pulled out of the way of Reflekdoll's beam just in time. Mister Bug unwinding his yo-yo none too gently. "What was that about using your head? May I remind you that Cataclysm needs a physical medium to work properly! If that sentimonster is made outa magic I doubt it'll do what you want!"

Lady Noire held the Cataclysm as close as she could without actually touching it. "Well, what do you suggest?"

Mister Bug pulled her out of the way of another beam. "Uh... I... Knock her back to ground level while I come up with something?" Adrien smiled with the most conviction he could muster.

Lady Noire groaned. "Think fast!" And rushed out. Dodging Reflekdoll's attack she extended her baton and struck the sentimonster with her full momentum. Reflekdoll crashing back down to earth.

Taking advantage of Lady Noire's distraction Mister Bug glanced around from his high vantage point. Trying to spot anything that would spark an epiphany like Ladybug. "Okay, I admit it!" he cried out, shoulders slumping, "Being Chat Noir is way more fun."

Lady Noire leapt around the sentimonster and struck at its body. The Black Cat giving her a bit more agility than she was used to. Very handy.

Mister Bug added a swing of his yo-yo to one of her attacks. Reflekdoll stumbling with their combined force.

Lady Noire landed beside him. "What have you got?"

"Ah," Mister Bug rubbed the back of his neck. "About that..."

She stared at him. "Seriously!?"

"Well, I'm sorry! Some of us are just slow learn-"

"LOOK OUT!"

Lady Noire didn't think. She just acted. Mister Bug was the only one who could purify the akuma and he needed to keep going. She pushed Mister Bug out of the way as one of Reflekta's clones attacked... Just as Reflekdoll fired its beam.

"My Lady!" Mister Bug cried out.

Lady Noire stood immobile as a Reflekta copy.

"Yes! Now get bug boy's Miraculous!" The original Reflekta ordered.

Springing to life, the Reflekta that used to be Lady Noire aimed her bracelet and fired.

Mister Bug whirled his yo-yo as a shield and leapt to the nearest roof.

"You won't get away from me!" Reflekta called after him as he fled for cover.

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

Adrien leaned against the wall of his hiding place. Breathing deeply, heart hammering in his chest. "Okay. It's okay. Ladybug does this all the time! What would Ladybug do? What would Ladybug do?"

The Ladybug earrings beeped insistently.

"This is fine!" Adrien announced as he detransformed.

Tikki falling into Adrien's palms as he fell to his knees.

"This isn't fine! Tikki, I can't do this! I'm no Ladybug! We should've switched back when she said! I-" Adrien's chest constricted and he forced his breath to slow.

"She trusted you enough to keep going," Tikki said weakly.

Her state bringing Adrien out of his head. "You need food."

Tikki hovered closer to his face, looking him in the eye. "No two of my Ladybug's have ever been exactly alike. Some are slower learners than others. I trust you, too."

Adrien looked away, shoulders hunching. "But I messed up."

"Remember Stoneheart?" Tikki prompted. "Ma- Ladybug messed up too. But you still believed in her." She placed a paw on his cheek. "Believe in yourself now."

Adrien's gaze came back to her.

"Don't ask what Ladybug would do. Ask yourself: what would Adrien do?"

Steeling his resolve Adrien nodded, rising to his feet and cupping Tikki in his palms. "First things first," he inched closer to the alleyway's entrance. The overturned car with his stash of Camembert a short sprint away. "Let's get you recharged."

A gaggle of Reflekta clones chased a group of civilians past him. The people hit turning into more copies and standing still until the akuma villain's voice came booming over the city. The new clones springing to life so they could follow her orders.

They lit up in Adrien's mind and his head shot back to the sentimonster in the distance. Its beam lighting up too.

Adrien gazed down at Tikki and grinned. "I've got an idea."

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

"Lucky Charm!"

A mirror fell into Mister Bug's hands. "Wow, twice in a row. Lucky me," Adrien deadpanned as he tied it to his arm like a shield using his yo-yo. The plan was a laughably simple two step process.

Step One: Get shot.

"Hey, Reflekta!" he hollered from a rooftop at convenient shooting hight. "Don't you know that pink frills are so last season?"

"Once I turn the whole world into Reflektas it'll be the only season!" She fired into Reflekdoll's port which concentrated her energy into a stronger blast.

Just as planned. Mister Bug braced his feet and held his Lucky Charm directly in front of him. "Here we go!"

The sentimonster fired.

Step Two: Shoot Reflekta with her own sentimonster's magic.

The beam reflected off Mister Bug's mirror and perfectly into the round eye windows. Blasting Reflekta dead center.

Adrien held his position for a moment, peaking past his makeshift shield. Reflekta and Reflekdoll stood still. Waiting for orders from... themselves. The enhanced magic dependent on the sentimonster and by extension whoever was driving it.

"Yes!" Mister Bug raised both fists. "Now just a little pest control and we can all get on with our day!"

Finding and purifying the akuma and amok was easy when he wasn't being shot at. Grabbing Juleka as the sentimonster vanished and setting her down on the ground.

Adrien looked at Mister Bug's reflection in his mirror... "I've always wanted to do this." And tossed his Lucky Charm into the air. "Miraculous Mister Bug!"

As the ladybug's restored Paris he spotted a familiar black suit. Adrien ran for her.

"Mister Bug? What- OOF!" Lady Noire stumbled as her partner barreled into her and tried to squeeze all the air out of her lungs. Once she could breathe Marinette wrapped her arms around him and patted his back. "You did good, little bug."

Adrien just held her for a moment. She was okay. He'd saved her. She was okay.

Then his earrings beeped.

Breaking the hug, Mister Bug jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Ah, we should split."

"Yeah..." Lady Noire readied to extend her baton. "... I think I finally get why you're so protective."

Mister Bug smiled. "And I get why you're so focused all the time."

He offered a fist bump and she accepted. Both heroes leaping in opposite directions.

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

"Tikki!" Marinette cradled her friend to her chest.

"Marinette!"

"I can't believe how much Chat trusts me... Knowing you might have to do that again? I don't think I could handle it."

"He's your Chat Noir for a reason, Marinette," Tikki agreed.

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

"Fighting by yourself is horrible, Plagg! I don't know how Ladybug does it." Adrien held him tight. Deciding never to let his Miraculous out of his sight again.

"She's got you most of the time, doesn't she? You're supposed to support each other, ain't ya?"

"Yeah. You're right..."

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

"... Well, one things for sure, Tikki." Marinette gazed off in the direction Plagg flew towards.

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

"She definitely-"

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

"He definitely-"

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

"-got the short straw."

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

Yes, this is technically the last prompt... But it's already written and I'm impatient.

@adrienaugust

[devinescribe]

Hatter Troubles

This is basically a chapter where your dad is Hatter himself, finding out about the relationship, or that they like you or something.

Arisu

You two thought it would be best if he didn't know. You loved your father, but the way he had been acting recently, about the games and the cards in total, made you two keep quiet.

You couldn't sleep. After your dad saying he was going to play in all the games coming forth starting tomorrow, your mind wouldn't stop playing through every worst case scenario. The thoughts running through your head made you stay up, staring up at the ceiling. 'Want Arisu...' you thought. He'd always made you feel better when you were sad or after a particularly hard game. So, you decided to go visit Arisu. Sure, it was the middle of the night, but who cares? Hopefully not him. And if you knew him, he was probably up. But there was a small chance he wasn't. You hoped he was up, so you wouldn't feel bad about waking him.

You got out of your bed quietly heading to your door. You opened it softly, looking out into the hall cautiously, hoping there was no militals walking around on their patrols. Especially Aguni. You could tell Niragi or Last Boss any lie, and they'd be easily tricked. Well, Niragi was a bit harder to trick, but he usually didn't care, and would mind his own business. You tread quietly to Arisu's room, knocking on the door once you got there.

You heard shuffling from behind the door, and saw the doorknob twist. The door opened, and there was a sleepy Arisu standing in front of you. He yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly, giving you a tired smile when he saw it was you. "Hello?" He greeted, although it sounded more like a question than anything. "Hi... I'm sorry for waking you up... can I come in?" You asked, feeling bad you woke him up. "Yeah, come on in. And it's no problem. If you woke me up, it must be serious," he said, stepping aside for you to be able to come into his room. "No one saw you, right?" He asked, yawning as you stepped into the room. You shook your head, and he closed the door.

      He lead you over to his bed, sitting down. He asked you to do the same, but you rejected his offer, feeling a bit to anxious to sit down. "What's wrong?" He asked, sensing your nervousness. "It might be stupid, but when dad said about him joining all the games starting tomorrow... it's just made me uneasy. I can't sleep," you explained, pacing on the floor. He nodded, and grabbed your hands, bringing you into him. You fell onto his lap with a short shriek. "Risu! Stop, you can't do that!" You laughed, lightly pushing his shoulder. "Oh yes I can," he smiled back.

He smiled down at you on his lap, before sighing. "You know... when Chota hurt his leg, I was so worried. So... as a way to get over the fear and anxiety, I talked to them about it. I think... If you talk to your dad about how you feel, it could make you feel better," Arisu advised, rubbing your shoulders. He was just trying to make you feel better about the situation, sharing his personal experience, hoping it would help you. He gave you a kiss to your forehead. "Mmm... you're the best boyfriend ever," you muttered into his neck. "Well, it's my duty as the best boyfriend to take care of the bestest, most amazing girlfriend in the world," he laughed, as he begun to tickle you. You screamed, laughing and trying to get him to get away from his attack. "A-arisu!" You squealed, trying to get him to stop. The once quiet hotel room was filled with laughter, and screams.

You two had started chasing eachother around the room, you trying to escape his attack, and him trying to tickle you. You had fallen on the bed, tripping over something on the floor. In an attempt to save yourself, you had grabbed Arisu's shirt. So that's how you ended up in the position you were in now. You were under Arisu, your arms above your head, and to stop from crushing you,  he held himself up on his forearms, caging you in. "Woah, I was not expecting to walk into that," a voice said from the entrance of the room. You froze, turning your head slowly to the door. "H-hi dad," you stuttered as Arisu got off you. Arisu stayed quiet,  and looked down, waving awkwardly. "I- I promise we weren't doing anything. I tripped and he fell a-and we got like... that..." you explained, a blush on your face. "Ok... I mean, it's none of my business what you two do," Hatter stated after clearing his throat awkwardly. You let out a quiet sigh of relief. "I don't mind you being with him, just be careful," Hatter said. "Thank you," you said, walking over and hugging your dad. "Now, get to your room. It's late, and I might let you be with him, but sleeping in the same room is a no for now," your dad said, giving you a soft smile. "Ok... Bye Arisu! Thank you for your advice. Goodnight dad," you said as you walked out the door.

"If I break her heart I'll throw myself off the roof, don't worry."

"I... was not expecting that, but ok. Deal."

"But on that note, I would never hurt her. I promise I'll always protect her."

"You keep that promise for me, ok kid?"

Niragi

(Reader has a noise sensitivity for sudden loud noises for this specific one)

Hatter had honestly never paid attention to you two. He assumed you would never be into a guy like Niragi, so what did he do? Ignored it.

It had been just another boring meeting, talking about the games, theories, how many had died. All normal things at the meeting. Except when a topic that had everyone going back and forth came up. Niragi, seemingly having enough of everyone being so indecisive on something he viewed so easy, stood from his chair, slamming his hands onto the table. You jumped in your seat, closing your eyes tightly. You grabbed onto the edge of the table tightly, your knuckles turning white. He noticed, but kept on with his business.

At the end of said meeting, he found you out in the hall. 'I've got nothing to lose by talking to her. Well.. except maybe my head, but besides the point. Let's see where this goes.' He thought, hoisting his riffle onto his shoulder as he walked over to you. You noticed him, and smiled to yourself. "Hello Niragi - San," you greeted, turning to face him. His brain froze, but he shook his head, ridding from the rather nasty thoughts he was having. "Hey there," he said. Your eyes looked him over, focusing on the gun. "You got safety on that thing?" You asked, nodding over to his gun. He shook his head. "Why would I? No rules," he reminded. "I prefer archery to guns, but anyways, was there something you needed Niragi?" You asked, holding your hands behind your back. "Uh, yeah. Why did you jump in the meeting? Don't lie saying you didn't, because I saw," he asked, looking at you. His eyes seemed to study every detail of your body. "Oh.. you saw that? I'm sensitive to sudden loud noises," you explained. He made an 'oh' sound, nodding awkwardly. "Well... good luck at the games tonight!" You chirped, patting the top of his head. He stared in shock, watching you walk away. "Did she just?" He muttered to himself, "I think she did."

"Hatter, I can take care of her," he responded to the man in front of him. "I don't trust you with my daughter. She's special to me, I don't trust you won't kill her, so no," Hatter said, a smile on his face, though the subject was making him rather annoyed. "Listen, I wouldn't hurt her. Besides Aguni, I'm one if not the most powerful of the militals," Niragi stated. "Then I'll just send her with Aguni, I'm glad we had this talk!" Hatter deflected, wanting Niragi to give up. But, he underestimated how stubborn Niragi was. "Then you'll have no one to go with you in your games. I can and will protect her. Send her with me tonight. Her visa expired soon," Niragi almost begged, but he didn't. He had some self respect as to not beg, especially over a girl. Maybe back in the old world he would, but now? No way. Hatter thought for a moment, taking into account how out of character it was for Niragi to act this way. "Fine. But if she comes back with so much as a scratch, you will feel what it's like to be at the receiving end of your gun," Hatter threatened. Niragi left the room after, and shuddered. He was not really scared of anything, but an angry overprotective father had now been added to the list.

There were many situations where your noise sensitivity was bad. Case 1 being the horns that sounded before the games. Case 2 being guns. And case 3 being yelling. So that's why you stood shutting your eyes tightly, holding your hands over your ears. "N-niragi, stop too loud..." you whispered besides him, hoping he heard you. He heard you, and stopped, looking to you. You were shaking your leg, eyes screwed shut, and hands over your ears. "I'll deal with you later," Niragi spat at the guy in front of you two as he led you off to a desolate corner. "You ok?" He asked. "I didn't think you cared, but yes, I'm ok," you responded, still twiddling your fingers. "I don't care. But your dad does," he said. Obviously he cared. "Oh... um... thank you for that. He was getting a bit... touchy," you thanked. Truth was, Niragi has been watching the guy ever since he went up to talk to you. Niragi was a great liar, as much as people thought he was a moron with a gun. Once he saw the guy touching you, and your face of obvious discomfort, he decided to step in.

"Learn how to defend yourself against people like that," he stated, going to leave. "People like you, you mean?" You said, stopping him in his tracks. The way you had said it without fear or hesitation made him turn back to you. "People like me?" He questioned. He tried to hide his smirk. It was interesting to say the least. You were just acting like a scared little mouse. What happened to her? "People like you. People who think hiding their weaknesses makes them less weak. People who bully the weak, because they've been the weak. People who hate the weak, only because it reminds them of what they were. So when I say people like you, I mean people who have finally snapped. They're tired of getting pushed around, so they use their newfound power to push others around,'' you stated. You kept eye contact with him the whole time, watching for a reaction. He had none. 'How boring...' you thought before you sighed, walking away. Suddenly, he grabbed your wrist, pushing you into the wall. He trapped you, having his arms on either side of your head. "You don't know anything about 'people like me' but I know a lot about you. Especially your weakness," he whispered. You stared back, unsurprised by his actions. "People like you are so predictable," you both said at the same time. "Predict what I'll do next then," you said. "You'll hit me, try to run away, and I'll chase you," he guessed. "Wrong," you whispered, grabbing the collar of his shirt, pulling him to you. "So wrong, it's funny," you whispered, your lips centimeters away from his. He ran his tongue over his teeth. "You piss me off. Switching in between the shy, sweet one to the independent, badass, tease," he said. You giggled, letting him go. You started walking off, leaving with the words, "See you tonight at the game!" He stared off at where you had been not even a minute ago, thinking about what had just happened.

"Dad, I promise I'm ok! Niragi protected me," you giggled as your dad checked for the hundredth time that you were ok. Niragi stood behind, waiting for this to be over. Hatter sighed. "I guess you protect her just fine," he said, walking off. Niragi rolled his eyes, starting to leave the room again. "Thank you, Niragi. I wouldn't be here right now if you hadn't helped me back there... I made a stupid mistake. Um... I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I wasn't trying to be rude... or a tease," you said, grabbing his arm. He chuckled, turning to face you. You let his arm go, seeing as he was paying attention to you. "No problem. I'm the one who asked to go with you, so it would be stupid of me to let you die. And apology half accepted. I'll be off now," he said, going to leave once more. "Hey, um... do you want to walk around?" You asked. "Can't. I'm going for target practice outside the Beach," he said, nodding his head to the riffle over his shoulder. "Then I'll go with you," you stated. "Loud noises. You don't like them, remember?" Niragi said, trying to get you to stay. What had happened earlier today was still definitely fresh in his mind. "... I can deal with it... please? I just want to talk? Please?" You pleaded, looking at him with the puppy eyes. 'Goddammit... say no, say no, resist against the cute girl.' "Fine. But only this once. Let's go walk around," he said, giving in. 'You fucking idiot...'

By just this once, he meant it happened all the time. You two had gotten closer, and Hatter had definitely noticed.

Niragi watched the party going on in the pool area from the balcony of one of the rooms. You had explained your noise sensitivity to him in a bit more details. Like, listening to loud music was ok, because it wasn't sudden. Which is why you were who he was watching currently. He saw you waving at him with a smile. He waved back, smiling to himself. He could see you laugh, before one of the girls pushed you into the pool. He winced. "She's not going to be happy about that..." he muttered to himself before laughing a bit. "She likes you, you know," a voice said behind him. He quickly cocked his gun, aiming it, before seeing it was Hatter. He let out a sigh of relief, putting the gun down. "Just me. No need for alarm," Hatter laughed. "Like I was saying, she likes you. Won't shut up about you in fact," Hatter repeated. "Sure she does," Niragi stated sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Believe what you want. But, in any case, she does. And before I wouldn't have let you near her, but after seeing how you've stopped some of your usual habits, and how you protect her, I'll allow it. It's only fair," Hatter said, before leaving.

"I didn't change shit. Crazy old man," he whispered to himself. 'Well, we did stop banging on doors if she's near. And started killing the traitors when and where she won't hear. We tried to stop making loud noises at meetings if she's there. And we still go on walks when she asks us to, even though we said only once.' His mind told him. He scowled at his thoughts, realizing they were right. He walked back over to where he was, scanning the party for you. "Damnit... where'd she go?" He muttered to himself, not being able to see you. "Where'd who go, Gigi?" A voice said besides him. He turned to the side quickly aiming his gun again. "Jesus fuck, (Y/N)!" He shouted, seeing was you. You squeaked at his sudden shouting, hiding behind your hands. They shook slightly, and he cursed himself for yelling at you. "You can't sneak up on me like that, you could get hurt you damn idiot," he sighed, putting his gun down. " 'M sorry..." you apologized. "It's... it's fine, just be careful," he said, patting your head awkwardly. Your hair was wet, and you were dripping water onto the cement floor of the balcony. A few minutes went by, and neither of you had spoken. You stood in comfortable silence looking down at the party going on. Niragi had been trapped in his thoughts. They went between wanting to scold you for the nickname you had used, and telling you how he felt. After a few minutes, you spoke up.

"Can I do something a bit crazy?"

"Uh... Crazy is good most times, so... go ahead."

"Good."

Those words were all that was said before you pulled him into a kiss.

"I like you. A lot, actually."

"..."

"Are you ok?"

"Mhm. Totally fine. I like you too.''

"Does this mean I can call you Gigi now?"

"No way in hell princess." (No way in hell senpai-)

Chishiya

It was almost an instant connection with Chishiya and yourself. You two had a relationship in which everyone could see you guys liked eachother, but no one had confessed. You two acted like a couple too, so many people were confused. He didn't say anything, not because he was scared... ok, well maybe a little bit, but because he didn't want to have a weakness. You also had the impression he only liked you as a friend, so no matter if you liked him or not, you assumed he wouldn't like you.

"Chishiya, gave you seen (Y/N)?" Niragi asked. "No. Why are you looking for her?" He responded.  "None of your business," Niragi scoffed, walking off. "I suddenly have the urge to find (Y/N) to piss him off," he stated to himself, shoving his hands in his pockets, and walking off to go find you.

He eventually found you in the meeting room. "Hi Chishiya," you greeted, your back still turned to him. "How'd you know?" He asked, walking besides you. "You walk quietly, and your walking pattern is distinct. And you don't smell like alcohol, chlorine, or booze," you stated. "Noted... Anyways, Niragi is looking for you," he stated. You groaned, hanging your head. "Is he? Alright... guess I'll see you later? There's a meeting tonight, so... see ya then," you said before leaving. He watched as you walked out, your footsteps getting softer the further you got. "Something's up with her, but what I can't figure out,"he muttered to himself.

When he returned to the meeting room, there was a couple of people. Hatter wasn't going to be at tonight's meeting due to some other business, so the number two was in charge of this meeting. Among those people were you and Niragi. You laughed at whatever Niragi had said, making Chishiya huff. He sat down in his usual spot, glaring at Niragi who was still talking to you. Why did he feel the need to talk to you so much? Hadn't he been out the whole afternoon with you?

You finally sat down besides Chishiya smiling at him. "Hello again," you greeted. "So what did the psychopath want with you?" He asked, a tone of anger in his voice. "Target practice. Dad wants me to be prepared, and since Niragi is one of the best shots here, he's been teaching me. Not alone of course, Aguni is there. Obviously," you explained.

A few minutes into the meeting, you yawned, looking out sleepily. "Stay up late again?" Chishiya whispered, keeping his eyes out on the table. "No... they just have me on night patrols... I'm so tired," you whispered back. He nodded, going back to paying attention to the meeting.

Not even a minute later, he felt a weight fall onto his shoulder. He looked out of the corner of his eyes to see you asleep on him. He smiled to himself slightly, before looking back to the meeting, acting as if nothing had happened.

After the meeting was over, Aguni asked if someone could take you back up to your room. Many of the men there offered to do it, but Chishiya stepped in. "I'll take her. She fell asleep on my shoulder, and honestly the 'princess of the Beach' shouldn't get touched by the dirty hands of these men," Chishiya states, using sarcasm and his usual tone of knowing better. Aguni held back a laugh at his words, but nodded. "You sure you can carry her?" Niragi asked. Chishiya knew this wasn't Niragi wanting to take you back to your room, it was Niragi poking fun at him. "I've carried heavier medical equipment. Please shut the fuck up and let me through," Chishiya said, hoisting you up. Niragi scoffed, walking away.

Chishiya carefully placed you in your bed, covering you up with blankets. " 'Shiya... Stay," you muttered, grabbing his hand. He froze up for a minute, looking down at your sleepy eyes. With your other hand, you held your body up. "Only... only for a little bit. Until you fall asleep," he muttered, getting into bed behind you. You turned, hugging him tightly. "Thank you 'Shiya... you're the best," you yawned, quickly falling asleep. He ran his hand over your hair, not wanting to get it caught and wake you up.

"You need to take better care of yourself... honestly, it's one thing if I don't, but you? You need to live through these games," he whispered, knowing full well you wouldn't wake up. "You're so sweet.... I really wonder why you stay around me... You're asleep, so it doesn't matter what I say, but I hope you know I... I quite like you. A lot actually. So... yeah," he whispered his confession, softly getting away from you. "Dream a little dream of me," he sang as he left the room. A song he'd heard once. But it was fitting. He hoped you dreamed of him.

When he went to leave, he heard someone call out for him. He turned to see Hatter, Aka, your father, Aka, the person who could kill him for what just happened in your room.

"So, she asleep?" Hatter questioned. "Yep. No funny business, I promise. I just stayed with her till she fell asleep like she asked of me," Chishiya stated, placing his hands up in mock surrender. "Oh, I have no doubt. She trusts you, so I don't have a reason to kill you. Yet," Hatter said, a bit too cheerfully for Chishiya's tastes. "Trust me?" He asked. "Yeah. Likes you too," Hatter mentioned. Chishiya felt a weird feeling in his stomach. Like... is that what they called butterflies?

"Likes me? Really. Interesting," Chishiya commented. "Won't shut up about you, actually. Chishiya this, Chishiya that. It's annoying sometimes, but...  it's nice to see her happy," Hatter said, smiling too himself. Happy? You felt happy around him?

"She hasn't been this excited or happy about anything since... since she was very young. I don't really mind you, just... don't hurt her," Hatter stated, walking away. Chishiya was still trying to reel in the fact that you liked him. You talked about him. To your father. "I'll... I'll confess when she's awake next time."

Last Boss

"Taka! What're we doing today?" You asked when you reached the target field. He jumped, startled by your voice. "Oh... hello (Y/N)... and we'll be doing basic blocking and striking today again," he mentioned. You smiled, and nodded. You gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and watched his face slowly turn pink. "You're so cute," you teased. He looked away, stretching his hand out to you. You grabbed it happily, pulling him along.

There was only two people allowed to touch his katanas. You and him. That's it. You because you were his lovely amazing girlfriend, and Jim because... they're his. Obviously.

His body was behind your own to position you as he was teaching you, making sure you were correct before moving on.

"OK and then I can do thi-" you didn't get to finish your sentence because as you went to strike, you fell. Instead of letting Last Boss witness the utter act of embarrassement, you brought him down with you.

You landed on top of him, still holding onto his shirt. "Well... we've been in this position before haven't we?" You questioned with a sweet smile on your face. He blushed, knowing what you were referring to. He sat up, you still in his lap. "Come on, there's no need to be shy about it Samu," you giggled, kissing his forehead. "Well no... but yes?" He responded. You shook your head, kissing his lips. He pulled away almost immediately, making you pout. "We could get caught," he said, his hands resting on your waist.

"And?"

"You're dad would quite literally kill me. And if not him, Aguni. You're aware of how scary that man is, right? And how protective both of them are of you?" He stated. You frowned, knowing that Last Boss did not enjoy PDA. Especially since no one knew about you two.

He sighed, caressing your face with one of his hands. "I... fine. But we have to be careful."

A few innocent kisses and touches turned into a full make out session that left you both gasping for air, and wanting more.

"(Y/-"

"So uh... is this what you meant by Last Boss helping you?"

You had never jumped away from anything faster than you did when you heard your father's voice.

"H-hey dad," you stammered, looking around, not wanting to meet his gaze. "Hi, so just wanted to let you know we have a meeting in a bit, and to be ready. That's it," he said nonchalantly. A but to nonchalant for your tastes.

Your DAD had just walked in on you two making out, and that was his only response? No fucking way.

"I-im sorry about... about that," you apologized, looking down in shame. "Don't apologize for that. Who cares. As long as you're safe and happy, I could care less who you're with. Plus, he's decent. And pretty smart, so I'm ok with it," Hatter explained, patting your head. You smiled up at him. "Thanks dad," you said. "No matter what, you'll always be my little princess, so... go have fun. I'll let you two be," Hatter stated. "Oh, before I leave, Last Boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Hurt her, and I'll hurt you back, got it?"

"Yessir."

I love the idea of Hatter being a supportive dad who's just like "as long as they love you and you love them, who gives a fuck?"

And honestly. I just needed some fluff today.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Day five of Horror on Cherry Lane Challenge! Today’s prompt was monsters!

Little brat’s been in the school ten minutes after the bell.

After they both broke curfew, Max staying out late trick-or-treating and going to one of her little friends’ house to trade candy, and Billy crashing at the lingering party until he was sober enough to come home and not get his ass kicked, they were supposed to be straight home today. Used up all their free time for the week apparently.

Max knew that this morning, he already told her to forget about the damn AV club. If he had to cancel on whatever chick he was going to take out (was it Carol? No, Carol is Tommy’s girl. Fuck he doesn’t know anybody yet) Max had to give her shit up to.

He gets bored of waiting for the little twerp and tosses his cigarette to the ground, marching in there his damn self.

Only time he’s ever been in this building was to pick Max up from AV. His dad made him come all the way inside and give his assessment on the teacher. Asked (slapped him and demanded it) that he do so to check on Max. Just to be sure. Like he cares.

But it works out anyways that he knows the way now that Max has decided to disappear and it’s up to him to track her down. Only problem is he gets there, and the room is empty. Not even just that Max isn’t in there, there’s no damn kids or teacher or nothing. Just a knocked over lamp and some shit on the floor.

He ain’t trying to hunt her down, but he has to get her back home in like, the next half-hour, and she’s somewhere she ain’t supposed to be. The school isn’t very big, half the damn building is closed off for the school board to use, so there isn’t much ground to cover.

He’s not trying to get himself arrested either, so he makes quick work of the school, checking all the places Max might be. Still, he comes up empty, and he’s about to just give up and let whoever she was with keep her when he sees something scurrying across the floor out of the corner of his eye.

It’s not really any of his business whether or not the middle school is infested, but it catches his eye for the wrong reasons.

It’s a gnarly little thing, a cross between a frog and rat or some shit, but Billy’d recognize that thing anywhere. It’s a fucking monster, crawling around the halls of his sisters school.

Purely on instinct, he tracks the thing to where it cornered itself, taking advantage of the fact that it’s still small and growing into its demon teeth to stomp on the gross monster. He stops once he’s positive it’s dead and not just faking him out like they do sometimes, he’s not gross or something, but he nearly jumps out of his skin when behind him, Max shouts, “Billy!”

He turns, ignoring the pile of goop that was one of those things to face his, apparently, from the flush on her cheeks and the bitterness in her tone, “Jesus, shitbird. What is wrong with you?”

He’s hardly even got the question out before Max snaps at him, “Why would you kill it!”

“Do you even know what that thing is?” Billy raises eyebrows, no patience for Max telling him what to do, but she counters with something that surprises him, “It was Dustins, he discovered it, you jerk!”

“Yeah, no. These things’ve been around longer’n any of us have been alive. And I don't care who found it first. They’re fucking monsters.”

“How do you even know what he was? You killed him.”

“It. Not him. Don’t humanize them.” Billy hisses, warning Max, “And anyways, I seen some shit kid. Don’t ask. And don’t play around with anymore of these little fuckers. Give ‘im a day or two ‘n he’ll be the size of a gray wolf. Another month or so and he’s seven feet tall.”

“But what is he?” Max demands stubbornly.

Billy answers simply, “Something you don’t want anything to do with.”

By now, the rest of Max’s friends have followed the sound of her yelling to their little showdown, and it’s Dustin, the owner of this thing, that chimes in, “But wait, does that mean you know?”

“Know what?” Max huffs, but she gets ignored, Billy firing back at Dustin, “Do you?”

All four of the kids nod at once. Billy sighs deeply, “Jesus, how the fuck did a bunch of little kids get caught up in this bullshit?”

“How did you?” These kids aren’t very original coming back at him with his own questions like this.

Again Max interjects, being left out of the questioning just making her more confused. “Excuse me, but what exactly are we talking about?”

But again nobody acknowledges her, Billy busy answering the boys’ questions.

“Had a friend came from that lab. You know about that part too?” He clarifies, getting three attentive nods, and this time one disapproving scowl, as he explains, “Well the monsters followed ‘im. Through their portals and his head and shit, they were out in California too. That’s how I know I was right to kill that thing.”

There’s a moment of stunned silence before Mike insists, “I don’t believe you.”

“I don’t know, man. How else would he know about everything?” Lucas shrugs, exciting Dustin and promoting him to ask, “Do you think he knows about Eleven too?”

“I’m still here too you guys. What is going on?” Max interrupts, serving only as a reminder, Lucas turning the conversation back to Billy as he asks, “Why haven’t you told Max?”

Billy smugly tries their little deflecting shtick on them, “Could ask you the same. Why are you showing her the monsters if you ain’t gonna tell her jack about ‘em either? I was keeping her safe. You assholes were keeping her stupid.”

Max interjects, “Hey!”

“No, that’s not fair. We had to sign an NDA.” Dustin corrects, very matter of fact for a kid who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

“Yeah, me too kid. It wasn’t any secret that number six escaped. I’ve had those assholes watchin’ over my shoulder for years and I didn’t even do anythin’.” Billy feels like he’s having a trauma competition with a bunch of middle schoolers, and he hates it. His tone is harsh as he demands, “Which brings us into, what the hell did you do to get caught up in all this?”

“None of your business.” Mike spits, but for the first time in the conversation, Will chimes in, “I got taken. By the demogorgon.”

“Okay. What’s that got to do with this, kid?”

“The demogorgon is what we called the big one. Before El killed it.” Lucas explains.

“Look, I don’t know who El is, but believe me when I tell you, you brats don’t know nothing. There ain’t just one of those, you know. Every last one of those annoying little fuckers like the one I just squished’ll turned into a ‘big one’.” They all look collectively defeated by that, maybe because he knows more than they do, or maybe just because they didn’t want to admit it was that bad.

But none look more ghastly than Will, who barely manages to inform them, “That’s bad. Last night, I heard them while we were trick-or-treating. They were everywhere.”

“Then we’re gonna have to do something.” Dustin declares determinedly, but Billy shuts it down right away, “No. Seriously, what the hell? All you sorry little punks are going right the fuck back home and pretending none of this never happened. If you don’t provoke ‘em, they’ll stop.”

“But they weren’t provoked when they took Will.” One of then argues, but Billys ignoring them now, turning back to a no less calm Max, “I don’t care. I ain’t doing this shit all over again. Come on, Maxine. Gotta leave your little friends to their baby ‘demogorgon’ and their world saving bullshit.”

Max scrunches her face up and argues, “Um, did you forget that I still have no idea what the hell is going on?!”

“Honestly, yeah.” Billy admits, “But s’better if you don’t ask questions. Now if you please, we gotta go.”

“No. You’re being a jerk.” Max crosses her arms and glares at him, a clear sign shes refusing to leave with him.

Billy just shrugs, “M’always a jerk. Thought you’d know that by now.”

“I do. And that’s exactly why I’m not listening to you. If my friends are going to do something, I want in on it.”

“Look what you little fuckers did.” Billy grumbles at the boys before trying to reason with his sister again, “Max. We only got fifteen minutes out of an almost half hour drive to get home. Come on.”

“This is so much bigger than that! I don’t care what your stupid dad says, I want to do something!” Her attitude gets on Billy’s nerves. That’s definitely deliberate if the spite gleaming in her cold eyes is any indication.

“You don’t even know what it is!”

“Then I deserve to find out!”

Billy sighs deeply, done doing this with a bunch of little kids in over their heads, “You know what, fine, but we’re stoppin’ at a payphone and you’re gonna be the one to tell my old man I’m takin’ you out for.. I don’t know, fucking ice cream or some shit. And if we get in trouble, I’m blaming you. Deal?”

Max smiles to herself at having gotten one over on him, “Deal. Where are we going though?”

“I dunno. Ask your nerds. S’their big fucking idea.” Billy grumbles, matching Max’s bitterness.

“We’ll have to call a meeting.”

“Will my basement work?”

“No offense, but I don’t think he’s getting past your mom.” Dustin nods towards Billy, the older boy rolling his eyes even though he’s not wrong, then offers, “My mom doesn’t like visitors. Maybe Will’s?”

“Yeah, Mrs. Byers will let anybody come over.”

“And she already knows what’s going on.”

They all nod again, and Billy rolls his eyes at them again while Lucas relays their decision to Max, “Alright, meet us at Will’s in an hour.”

“Why that long though? We’re all here right now.”

“Gives us time to cover our tracks, shitbird.” Billy hums in response to Max, stepping forward and asking, “What’s the damn address?”

This ‘meeting’ the twerps called was pretty much everyone in this hick town that knows the same dirty little secret as he does getting together in a tiny house and panicking. Billy and Max get fully interrogated like, a dozen times, once by the damned chief of police himself, all the while everyone is coming up with theories and plots and arguing. So much fucking arguing among this lot.

It gets to be too much pretty quickly, day five in this place and he’s already having to jump back into some of the worst things that ever happened to him. None of these people realize how big this is. Especially not the kids who just think it’s badass to fight monsters.

He leaves without telling anyone, or without anyone noticing among the chaos, to the back porch to light one up. There’re ashtrays all over the house he could use, but looming smoke in that cramped little kitchen wasn’t going to be any better than watching it curl upwards to the stars. So outside it was.

He leans against the wall, gaze fixing straight to what’s above him. He doesn’t notice the presence of another person until he hears them speak, startling slightly at the sound of a voice breaking the calm silence of a humid November night.

It’s Steve, sitting on a rusty and banged up glider at the opposite end on the porch, lit up just like he is. “So, uh. I guess you’re a part of this now?”

“I guess I am.”

Steve just nods and responds simply, effectively ending the conversation, “Right.”

But that’s not satisfying to Billy. He might appreciate peace more than what’s going on in that house, but he doesn’t like empty silence either. “What’re we all awkward like this for, Harrington? Spit out what you’re thinkin’.”

“I dunno, man.”

Billy frowns, prompting, “Come on. I know them gears are turnin’ over there. You've been quiet since we all got here.”

Steve looks away from him, but he does answer, “I dunno it’s just.. We’ve lost so much. People died because of this. People I knew. And I don’t like that anyone else is involved I guess.”

Billy scoffs, “Even me? You don’t even know me other than the asshole you met at the party last night.”

“So? What do you mean even you? I don’t want anyone anywhere near those fucking monsters. Could be my worst enemy and I’d still save them. I’d protect anyone from those things.” The haunted look behind his eyes, which seem so tired the longer Billy looks, tells Billy everything he needs to know.

He doesn’t mean to sound so soft when he asks, “What makes you so confident you can? Save ‘em I mean.”

“I fought a demogorgon myself. Well, not really by myself. Nancy and Jonathan were there. But I took a nail bat to its fucking face. Like hell I’d just let one of those things get anyone. Even you.” Steve

Billy flicks away his burnt out cigarette, sitting next to Steve on the old glider. “That’s real touching H, but I ain’t letting nobody sacrifice themselves for me. Need I remind you I’ve fought these assholes too.”

“But you told the kids you didn’t. Said it was all your friend.” Steve looks at him, sort of doubtful, but Billy blows off the remark, “No shit Sherlock. I ain’t airing all my business to any nosy brats like them.”

“I get that, but.. “ Hesitantly, he clarifies, “Is.. your friend, you know, even real?”

Billy must look at him like he grew a second head, “Shit, man, you think I’m one of those freaky experiments? No way. ‘Course he was real.”

“Oh. You said ‘was.’ Does that mean...” Steve’s voice trails off, sparing him hearing the words out loud.

“Don’t know. He got caught about two years back. Haven’t heard from him since. They might’a brought ‘im back here, they might’a killed him. I dunno.” Billy shrugs, picking at his nails while he talks so he doesn’t have to acknowledge Steve, or the fact that he’s even admitting this shit to him, “That’s why we’re here in Hawkins though. Susan’s got family over in Hope and a little ways up by Indie, so I suggested Hawkins. Just to come see where he came from. Get some closure I guess.”

“Guess he was really important to you then?” Steve smiles softly, but Billy only sighs through his nose, “You got no idea, Harrington.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ll meet someone like him again.” He offers.

Somehow that sentiment immediately sets Billy on edge though, something about his tone implying that he knows, knows him and six were more than just friends, and Billy really doesn’t want to face that kind of monster tonight. He snaps, suddenly defensive, “What the hell’s that s’posed to mean?”

Steve’s face falls a little, evidently surprised by how upset Billy is, and he tries to fix it, “Oh I just thought that, the way you talked about him- and you look so sad when you do- that he was, you know, special to you.”

“So what? You gonna leave me to the monsters or some shit for that?” Billy growls, quickly warranting more defense from Steve, “What? No way. No I.. I get it, Billy. I do. More than you probably think I do.”

Billy half nods, his shoulders untensing as he slowly recognizes Steve’s genuinity. He mumbles eventually, working through what he needs to in his head to be comfortable talking openly with him again, “Didn’t expect to be getting relationship counseling too. That your assignment on the team, mister romance expert?”

“Shut up. You’ve never seen me swing a bat before.”

“Oh believe me, I cannot wait to.”

Steve’s smile returns, something Billy is personally glad for, though he might not be ready for that realization yet. He bumps their shoulders together, to hold Billy's attention and let him know he’s genuine, “Still, in all seriousness man, I hope you can find someone else like that for you. I know it’s not really easy pickings around here.”

This time, Billy’s tone is light, his features soft and vulnerable for the boy next to him, for the way he makes him feel less weighed down, less alone in this, “You got no idea, Harrington.”

[grokebaby]

Summary of the eldritch angel story

Terminology masterpost

Central Characters

Heaven:

Lamera

ZZZ

Grandefel (Persecutor)

J'aimekiel

Ngah (High angel)

Kxxxtr (High angel)

Combfa (Caretaker)

Samuel (Angel in training) (not my character)

God's throne

Hell:

Deirdre (Persecutor)

Delilah (High demon)

Xerxes (High demon)

Hart (High demon)

Devoul

Limbo:

Godwatcher

Story summary/walkthrough under the cut

Our story kicks off when Lamera, J'aimekiel, ZZZ and Grandefel are all wondering what hell is like, since none of them (except Grandefel, who's lying about it) have ever been there. ZZZ is extremely curious by nature and decides to just go there because why not. Grandefel tries to resist and ZZZ calls her a coward (You can read this first part here, but it's not great quality imo)

About a day passes without much happening, until everyone hears a distress call from ZZZ. Ngah who's the mother of Lamera and ZZZ, scoops them out, whereupon everyone sees the sorry state the angel is in. Something bad and violent had happened in hell (You can read this part here, content warning for nonhuman gore)

We come back to the story not long after, with our two persecutors, Grandefel and Deirdre meeting secretly in limbo. Deirdre has news she's worried about but loses her chance to tell them when Ngah bursts into the scene, foaming at the mouth, demanding retribution for how ZZZ was treated down in hell. Grandefel is forced to leave and Ngah makes Deirdre escort her to speak to hells manager high judgement. Apparently ZZZ violated several rules upon entering hell and was generally very rude, driving some of Deirdre's friends to attack them on her behalf. Deirdre stayed compliant because she hasn't been feeling well lately and isn't fond of angels in general (except Grandefel). The explanation and lukewarm apology for what happened doesn't please Ngah and she decides to call on a high court case, aka essentially suing them. Hells high judgement has no option but to attend the case (You can read this part here)

After about an hour, hells high judgement along with Deirdre and a few punishers make their appearance in heaven, but not before J'aimekiel can wonder outloud about how empty heaven is. She tries to ask Lamera about why there's barely any angels but the high court case starts. Deirdre gets her apology in, but before it can be accepted properly by all high angels, Ngah directs the conversation elsewhere. She accuses Grandefel of "using her time unprofessionally", and starts trying to squeeze out something from both Persecutors. Delilah, Deirdre's sister, intervenes so the court won't dissolve to off topic accusations but Xerxes wants to hear what Ngah has to say. (You can read all that in more detail here)

After dancing around the topic with increasing frustration, Grandefel reveals that she and Deirdre are in a relationship. Ngah not-so-subtly expresses her disgust with this and makes a direct jab at Deirdre, revealing to everyone that she's pregnant. Since it's a surprise to everyone but Deirdre herself, the revelation is met with backlash. Ngah knows this because as a high angel she can sense angelic life, and because she has a habit of stalking keeping a very close eye on everyone around her. Now that everything has finally been outed, the court dissolves into arguing.

Most angels aside from Ngah and maybe Kxxxtr are actually pretty fine with this kind of crossover happening and Lamera would gladly step in to Grandefels defense but is held back in fear of Ngah's rage. J'aimekiel however isn't, and raises her voice from the crowd. She calls out Ngah for her hateful remarks and reminds everyone that she was born a demon but became an angel after, and if that is fine, this should also be fine, right? Ngah starkly disagrees and in vague terms makes it clear that J'aimekiels existence is only tolerated, and might be because they quote on quote don't have better options right now. J'aimekiel is quite distraught by this and Lamera tries to come to her defense but is shut down by Ngah.

After a painful few hours the court case finally draws to a close with some new rules put in place going forward. One of them being that only the persecutors can make cross visits regularly, since it's required for their job. If any high judgements want to make cross visits it needs to be agreed upon beforehand. This is to avoid all possible conflict. Ngah also makes it clear that, "if they ever survive birth", Grandefel and Deirdre's children must pick a side and that "it would be for the best" if they never knew what they really were, or who their parents were. Despite the backlash, she gets everyone to comply thanks to everyone still being a little confused about the whole ordeal, and Ngah promising to be their personal problem if the children act out of line.

Case closed, everyone goes home. Deirdre feels extremely isolated from everyone now. Grandefel is kept busy by being given alot of heaven-centric work. While not explicitly getting in trouble for it, it's heavily implied that Grandefel really shouldn't be seen with Deirdre again outside of work related situations. J'aimekiel also feels isolated from everyone now.

A few dreadful months later the children are born in hell with Delilah supporting her sister. There's three. One is confirmed an angel via her halo. When Grandefel hears about their birth she can't keep herself away from them anymore, and with her help the children are named. The oldest is Mihail, middle one Meredith and youngest Gabriel. They also make the difficult decision of who gets to live with who. Despite all Grandefel doesn't take the angel child with her, instead taking Gabriel who she thinks would fit in due to how he looks. The children are raised apart like this and don't get to meet their other parent, despite being aware of their existence.

Somewhere along the line, one of Lameras halos gets a crack, something that's painful and quite a big deal for an angel. It's on the collar halo. The crack is small enough that he manages to hide it from everyone, especially since his beard covers most of his neck from view anyway

About a year later things have mostly calmed back down again. Although there's now alot more people who hate Ngah. A certain rather ordinary demon named Devoul makes the news in hell, thanks to Lamera hearing about him from a mortal. The thing is that Devoul has been tricking mortals into working for him in exchange for superpowers and getting something they desperately want. He's been doing this under the guise of being "The Devil" who rules in hell. This is obviously unture and a trial ensues, but it's only kept to hell because nobody wants to involve heaven after last year's occurrence. It goes surprisingly smoothly, and a portion of the souls are reborn and the rest decide to continue on with their lives. One of them, Samuel, inspired to make up for his bad deeds, becomes an angel in training. Devoul is sentenced to 800+ years of tedious physical labor, case closed.

We resume to the story when in limbo, by pure happenstance, Devoul and Lamera bump into each other. They have a moment of "YOU" where Devoul manages to hit Lamera right in the mommy issues, making him drop all attempts at being nice. Devoul is taken aback by how much he unintentionally managed to rile up Lamera, knowing him to be one of the good™ angels. Devoul notices the crack in his halo and becomes curious, whilst also trying to pull up any shreds of decency he has. Lamera tries to deflect most of it and finds out Devoul is here to look for Godwatcher to ask some questions.

On their way to find them, the two talk over a few things and find themselves understanding each other better. Lamera still feels iffy about Devoul though, despite him trying to explain himself

They find Godwatcher together and ask some general questions about morality and the nature of angelhood. Godwatcher can't really give them any one correct answer, rather than "What you think is good or bad depends on what you value in this world. No angel is born being better and no demon is born being worse". The two mull over some of the things they've heard and talk about ""God"". Devoul keeps asking Lamera increasingly difficult questions that cause him to doubt his own worldview and dig into the fact that Ngah is absolutely not a good angel. This causes Lameras halo to crack all the way through, causing him pain and distress. He's deeply afraid of Ngah's reaction if she were to see him like this, and feels like he'll be in trouble. Devoul, having gained sympathy for Lamera, feels guilty that he caused this and tries to offer various ways to help, none of which end up helpful. Figuring that he'll have the next 800ish years of being punished anyway, he decides to dig his grave deeper by pretending to attact Lamera. As a cover up for what broke the halo, so Lamera himself won't be blamed since it obviously broke in conjunction with his trust in his mother.

Speak of which, Ngah hears them and scoops up both. Right on time too, since Deirdre was just about to retrieve Devoul to do his work. Up in heaven, Ngah Is "Dissapointed but not surprised" that Lameras halo broke. She lifts him up by it, intending to fix it, but being manhandled by his mother, through an injured body part, distresses Lamera alot. It doesn't sit right with Devoul and he tries talking to Ngah, who dismisses him as a speck of dust not worth listening to, and they dissolve into arguing. The stress of it all causes Lameras collar halo to finally shatter and fall off completely. He deflects any further attempts to fix it, and tries to confront Ngah about her behavior. This infuriates Ngah who then accuses Devoul of corrupting her child. More arguing ensues, during which Devoul uses his special power of reading people's memories to briefly look at Ngah. He sees her attempted murder and banishing of their third high angel who hasn't been seen in a long time. Apparently heaven had a big inner conflict some time back, which Ngah resolved this way. Their current low number of staff is due to a huge chunk of the angels leaving since they supported Ezekiels cause more.

Ngah, despite wanting to sweep it under the rug, doesn't deny that she did all this, which upsets Lamera even more. He and Ngah argue. Lamera hits her where it hurts (insulting her divinity) and she's about to possibly get violent, when Devoul casts a spell that paralyses her physically. As she's a powerful high angel it won't hold her for long, and the duo flee heaven

Devoul and Lamera hide out and rest at the foot of a mountain on earth. They go over everything and get to know each other better. Lamera is surprised that Devoul would care this much about what's happening upstairs to which he replies "Hey I still have morals" - "Except for that one time". Their bonding is interrupted by Deirdre who caught up to them finally, intending to take Devoul back. Lamera resists, to her surprise, and they explain the situation. Deirdre sympathises with them heavily but is unsure if they can do much. She promises to speak to the high judgements about this all anyway, as a start. Lamera decides to try talking things out with the high angels. Devoul makes a spell that allows him and Lamera to call and talk to each other just in case. The duo separate after sleeping through the night at that mountain.

Heaven: Lamera goes to talk to Kxxxtr about everything he's found out. Kxxxtr expresses regret over letting everything go on like this, especially since she doesn't necessarily agree with how Ngah works things around here. Witnessing the murder attempt has been traumatic for them, hence they stayed compliant out of fear. Kxxxtr does also make clear that whatever Lamera tries to do to change things in heaven, he'll have their support. Ngah who's been listening in on them, bursts in angrily, accusing them of conspiring against her. Kxxxtr tries to get past their fear and stand against Ngah, who proceeds to purposefully trigger them in order to get them to stand down. Instead of backing out, Kxxxtr strikes Ngah in a bout of rage. Regretting the move immediately, they send Lamera up to the higher heavens to safety, and so he could talk to the highest power: God's throne.

Hell: Devoul goes to his house to look at his spellbook in case there'd be anything useful, while Deirdre proceeds to talk to the high judgements. Before he can really find anything, Lamera calls him to tell that Ngah and Kxxxtr are at each other's throats and he's afraid and not sure what to do. Devoul helps him calm down and barely gets to explain what he's doing before the call forcefully disconnects with Lamera notifying how beautiful God's throne is (using both he and it pronouns). Devoul has just enough time to find a spell that will take away a big chunk of power from a powerful individual, before Deirdre comes to him in a rush. One of the high judgements, Xerxes, takes things related to Ngah very seriously and has decided to go fight her. It's not entirely clear if there's ulterior motives, other than wanting to fight her. Deirdre and Devoul head to an opening where they find the three: Delilah chewing out Xerxes for throwing his staff at the heavens, and Hart snickering in the background.

While waiting for the staff to hopefully return, Devoul decides to call Lamera back just in case. At first it feels like the call is forcefully blocked and directed away but eventually he responds. His answers are cryptic and he sounds overall very out of it. At one point, he starts talking entirely differently, way louder and with a completely different voice, asking Devoul if the staff should hit something. He makes it clear that it should definitely not hit anyone or anything and the staff gracefully floats back into Xerxes' hand. The call disconnects. Devoul is worried and decides he really needs to get up there. Luckily for him, despite Delilah's efforts to stop him, Xerxes is about to throw again. Impressed by Devouls determination, he puts the little demon onto the staff and throws it. This time the throw is alot less coordinated due to Delilah physically restraining his hand. Devoul however makes it to where Ngah has currently dropped Kxxxtr down from the cloud. They have a brief confrontation before Devoul uses the powersucking spell on her, causing her to also fall off the cloud. The spell takes a physical toll on him, partially by causing him to feel extremely hungry. All of Ngah's now removed power manifests as an orb. He hopes Lamera is okay and tries to look for him, and is suddenly lifted up to where he is, as if on command.

He enters the throne room where Lamera looks.. Off. He's extremely swollen, like a balloon blown to it's limits, and his entire face is engulfed in flames. He doesn't respond to Devoul trying to make sure he's okay. He only speaks in that different voice that's clearly not suited to his vocal chords. In the background Devoul sees God's throne, mouth moving slowly. He has a hard time really registering the Throne's physical form into something he can comprehend. There's separate elements (Crystals and gems, large mouth and eyes, galactic matter streaming in and out of it) but his brain can't bring them together in his head. Despite this he addresses the Throne With "What the fuck did you do him? (Lamera)". The throne proceeds to ignore his questions and attempts to take the orb from him through Lameras body, since the entity itself can't move much at all. Devoul is unwilling to hand it over until God's throne explains that now, since Kxxxtr is heavily injured, and Ngah technically not a high angel (in terms of strength), they need a new one. He exposits how He was just going to make Lamera into a high angel instead but having Devoul enter with the orb brought another option to the table. Devoul hands over the orb, which God's throne takes into it's mouth and Lamera falls limp, now presumably free from it's control. After both making sure they're okay, they exit the throne room and take a moment to collect themselves and pass out from the exhaustion.

Meanwhile Kxxxtr fell down to limbo, bleeding, where they're still laying, unable to move. Xerxes, who partially went to look for his staff, and partially to punt Ngah in the gut, discovers her. Kxxxtr is terrified at first but Xerxes offers her his armor, to cover for her leaking insides. She's taken aback by the kind gesture and they just sorta awkwardly hang out there while Kxxxtr explains what happens. Xerxes escorts her back later. Ngah has turned into a giant three headed serpent, and is having an episode somewhere, enraged and miserable at being demoted. Samuel and J'aimekiel are shook by the commotion and are trying to figure out what's going on. Xerxes finds Ngah on his way back and they start fighting (he still hasn't gotten his staff back).

Upon waking up, Devoul and Lamera lament over the whole mess. Samuel and J'aimekiel find the two and want an explanation. Devoul and Samuel aren't thrilled at seeing each other again. After a thoroughly uncomfortable interaction they part ways, Lamera leaving to clean up things upstairs and Devoul returning to his punishment work downstairs, dreading all the more trouble he might be in now. He stumbles upon Xerxes with Ngah in a chokehold, and doesn't even recognize her. Ngah is now even more pissed at him, but with some help he realizes who she is. Xerxes seems intent on killing her but Devoul tries to stop him, knowing Lamera would be destroyed by something like that happening. They heavily discuss it before concluding that Ngah really should answer for her crimes instead of getting the easy way out. She's locked up in the Void District until she can play nice again (and until they can figure out a proper punishment for her). Xerxes and Devoul chat on their way back, and Xerxes, still very impressed by the little demon's spirit, offers to recruit him. Devoul, although surprised, accepts the offer. He still has alot of punishment work left but at least he'd get to do it in consistent company.

About a day passes and everyone is almost getting to settle in, when something strange captures the attention of all the angels. God's throne is now finished making them a new High angel - how exciting! The new angel, instructed by the Throne, fetches and throws Xerxes' staff right back to him. They then backflip out of the high heavens to meet everyone, making a thoroughly.. Interesting first impression, to say the least.. The angels have a hard time swallowing that a demon - Devoul specifically, kickstarted the creation of their new High angel. Samuel nopes out, Grandefel heavily considers asking for a refund, and the new angel, not seeing anything wrong with any of this, hops down to hell to meet their "Daddy". Devoul is taken aback by the news but welcomes his "child" with open arms. He with Lameras help, proceed to name them Terjey, since God's throne didn't give them a name (which is very unusual). Heaven returns to cleaning up the mess and dealing with the staff shortage and Devoul returns to his work.

And that was everything that happened up to this point, the present day.

The end - for now!

[browniefox]

The Illusion of Friendship

@wrightfamilyweek day 3 - Friends. You can also find this on AO3 here.

Trucy contemplates Kristoph Gavin.

oOo

There’s a knock at the office door, the perfect excuse to stop doing homework, and Trucy pops up right away.

“I’ll get it!” Trucy calls out as she runs over to the door. She swings it open with all her might. “Welcome to the Wright Talent Agency, where you’re always in the ‘Wr-’”

The usual script gets caught in her throat when she sees who’s in the hallway. Her smile freezes in place and she forces it to stay as she says, in her happiest and kindest voice,

“Oh, Mr. Gavin, what a surprise!”

“Please, Trucy, I’ve told you you can call me Kristoph.” Kristoph Gavin says. He smiles kindly at her. From back in the office, there’s the sound of Daddy’s laptop being slammed closed.

“Daddy hasn’t left for work yet, did you want to see him?” Trucy asks completely superfluously. Gavin almost always wants to talk to Daddy if he comes to the office. There’s been a time or two when he’s wanted to talk to Trucy, but usually those are when Daddy’s not home (and Trucy has a feeling that Gavin comes knowing perfectly-well Daddy isn’t home) and when he tries to ask Trucy questions, she deflects with practicing her performance and other magic tricks. Eventually, he gets the idea and leaves.

“Kristoph, just couldn’t wait a little longer until I got to work?” Daddy asks. His hands are stuffed into his hoodie. He doesn’t have his hat on - the one Trucy knitted him not too long ago - but she can see it peeking out of his pocket, just waiting to be stuffed onto his head.

“Thought I might save you a bit of trouble and give you a drive down to the club. If you’d like, I could even give you a ride back here after you get off.” Kristoph offers. His hands are clasped behind his back as he steps into their office, drawing closer to Daddy. Now that he can’t see her, Trucy sticks her tongue out at him. Daddy sees her do that and his smirk becomes a little more real.

“I’ll be alright walking home, but you’ve already come all this way, I might as well take you up on that first offer huh?” Daddy says. He pulls his hat out and puts it on, obscuring the rampant and wild spikes of his from view. Trucy likes Daddy’s spikes, but ever since she made him the hat, he’s been wearing it. Well, that’s just fine, because Trucy did make it partly because Daddy doesn’t seem to like his spikes, especially recently. There’s been some channels running stories about the ‘fall and corruption in the legal system’, and they tend to bring up Daddy a lot, so he’s started to be recognized in public again, “Well, why wait, huh? If we go early, we can have a nice long meal. Maybe you can even challenge me.” Daddy winks at Gavin. Gavin is still smiling, but Trucy swears he’s giving off a bad kind of feeling. Or, well, worse kind of feeling.

“Oh, and of course I haven’t forgotten about darling Trucy,” Gavin turns back to her and Trucy looks at innocent as can be, like she hasn’t been making faces at his back this entire time. He pulls a cute little doll out of his pocket and presents it to her. The doll has a blue hat and cape just like her, “I was overseas and had this little thing made for you. Of course, I wish there was more I could do for you two,” His eyes cut to Daddy, and Daddy looks away, “But, if giving you a little toy is all I’m allowed, then I’ll do it.”

“Thank you Mr. Gavin!” Trucy takes it from him, turning it this way and that, admiring it. The little doll looks like she’s made of porcelain, a cold ceramic under her fingertips.

“Let’s be off then, yeah?” Daddy suggests.

Daddy kisses her forehead, tells her to be good and do her homework like he always always always does, and then he leaves with Gavin.

At the window, Trucy watches them climb into Gavin’s car and watches it speed down the road.

Trucy does not like Gavin. She’s pretty sure Daddy also doesn’t like Gavin, although he rarely says it in such plain words. He usually says it with ‘don’t let Kristoph into my office if I’m gone, alright?’, or checking the locks on the windows after Gavin has been by to visit, or telling Trucy not to talk about any of their other friends when Kristoph is over. Daddy always seems so careful when Gavin is around.

Daddy says that Gavin is a friend, but Trucy is pretty sure he isn’t.

Gavin isn’t like Aunty Maya, who takes Trucy out for ice=cream sometimes and marathons the Steel Samurai with her. He isn’t like Gummy and maggey, who teach Trucy how to use a gun - for her performance, of course - and how to shop frugally and the tricks to dealing with police. He’s, well, he is kind of likes Miles.

Both Miles and Gavin seem to have some kind of odd relationship with Daddy that Daddy doesn’t explain to her. They both tend to give her gifts of little toys or candy or something, usually from a foreign place. They both make little comments, subtle hints, that all Daddy would have to do is say the word and their money problems would be taken care of. They both ask Daddy for help with legal cases and stuff.

But Gavin and Miles aren’t he same people.

See, the difference is that Trucy doesn’ like Gavin, and Daddy always says that Trucy can trust her gut - especially her gut, over his even.

And Daddy doesn’t like Gavin. Daddy likes Miles, and when Miles is in California and shows up with groceries her bought them, Daddy grumbles about not needing help but then prepares a nice meal for the two of them the next night. When Gavin brings over groceries, Daddy smiles and says thank you and then he tosses every last thing that was handed to them.

Gummy and Maggey had to move because of a promotion Gummy got. Miles lives in Germany. Aunty Maya and Pearls live in Kurain. Gavin has been coming around more and more often. It worries Trucy.

Trucy doesn’t fall asleep until Daddy comes home, safe and sound, that night. She hears him come in and runs to her door, cracking it open just enough to see him walk through. It’s well past midnight. She watches Daddy come in alone, clearly tired like he always tries to hide in front of her (even though he can rarely hide anything from her, not things like his real feeling). He doesn’t even get changed, just staying in his hoodie and sweatpants as he flops down onto the couch.

After Daddy starts snoring, Trucy tiptoes out of her room, grabbing a blanket and putting it over him. She goes to the window, looking out at the hotel across them, wondering when will be the next time that Miles is here. Daddy always seems to take better care of himself when Miles is around.

She looks down at the street and sees Gavin looking up at their office.

Trucy checks and double checks all the locks again.

She doesn’t sleep that night.

[adenei]

Day 16: January Word Challenge

a/n: Another Jily fic!! 😁

**********************

Together

Lily’s hand brushed James’ as they walked down the lane where James lived. A shiver ran up her spine at the light contact and left her wanting more. Something had changed since the end of term and the first month of summer holidays. 

Throughout the month of July they exchanged regular letters, so often that the first thing Lily would do was check the window for his owl every morning. It was almost as though Lily had become dependent on the routine. Her stomach would flip flop with excitement when she heard the familiar tap on the window from his tawny brown owl at her window, and on the days there was no letter, her heart would sink into her stomach in disappointment.

For some reason she still didn’t understand what was happening. She told herself she wouldn’t fall for his witty charm, and his damning good looks. The way his black hair had that perpetual bedhead look, and his brown eyes always looked as though he could see right through her. Not to mention how fit he was from Quidditch training. And let’s not forget the mischievous grin he’d been flashing at her since they met first year. 

Thinking about his smile led to thinking about his lips. How would they feel against her own? “Stop it,” she whispered harshly under her breath. Her mind was desperate to win the war against her heart.

James pulled his hand away when she accidentally spoke. Shit, Lily thought. “Did I do something wrong?” James asked with a confused look on his face.

“No, sorry. Was just thinking,” she tried to explain, hoping that would suffice.

“About what?” Of course it didn't, but then again she wasn’t surprised.

“Nothing,” Lily said quickly. She could tell he wanted to press her further, and was surprised when he didn’t.

Maybe accepting his invitation to join him for a night out was a mistake. Was it a date? Wasn’t it? Lily kept flip flopping back and forth. One moment she wanted it to be, but then the next moment she criticized herself for letting her feelings get the better of her. 

This is James we’re talking about. The guy who thinks he’s better than everyone, she thought. But that wasn’t entirely true. She was starting to realize through his letters that it was more an act than anything else. He really wasn’t as self-centered as he let on. In reality he was actually kind hearted and incredibly loyal to his friends, and that loyalty extended to her. 

Lily knew she’d been too wrapped up in her own determination to hate him than to allow herself to see it. If she thought back, she knew his true colors were revealed when Sev called her that awful word towards the end of fifth year. After he’d defended her, she started to let him in; she gave him a chance, and he continued to prove himself over and over.

And now here she was, sauntering down the streets of Ipswich after sharing a meal with James Potter in a muggle restaurant, left wondering about the state of the evening. Lily was fairly certain they were nearing his family’s home, which meant the night out was probably going to end soon. They’d say their goodbyes, she’d apparate home, and be none the wiser on the state of their relationship.

The sound of his voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “This is me,” he said, gesturing to his house. They stood there awkwardly for a moment before he spoke again. “We could go sit in the garden if you wanted, or you could apparate home, too. I’ve probably exceeded my allotment of your time and patience,” he said with a laugh.

“The garden is fine,” Lily said indifferently. 

He led her to the back of the house where they settled on a bench that was toward the back of the property. The lights from the house cast a dim shadow on the yard, but it was still fairly dark where they were. 

“I have to admit, Evans, I’m surprised you haven’t left yet,” James said with a chuckle.

 “Why do you say that?” she asked him.

“When have you ever spent this much time with me? Willingly, that is,” he clarified.

“I studied with you quite a bit during sixth year,” she countered.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t alone,” James reasoned.

“Well, you could have invited them tonight,” Lily said, referring to Sirius, Remus and Peter. Definitely not a date if he’s bringing up his friends, she decided.

“Did you want me to?” he asked as he turned to look at her. There was that piercing gaze again.

“No,” she answered honestly. She saw the hint of a smile creep across his lips. “Did you?”

“What do you think?” James asked sarcastically. 

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, would I?” she retorted. She sighed in relief as their banter returned.

“Well, if I remember the invitation I extended in that letter, I believe it read something like, ‘How about we get together and grab a bite?’ I like to think that implied it was just the two of us,” he said.

Lily snorted. “Oh, yes because that screamed ‘just the two of us,’ Potter. Honestly, could you have been any less romantic?” 

Lily froze at the realization of what slipped out of her mouth. Maybe I didn’t actually just say that out loud, she thought, willing it to be true. But James’ face said it all.

“Are you looking for romance, Evans?” he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

She was thankful it was dark, so he couldn’t see the blush she knew was plastered on her face. “That depends. Was this meant to be a date or not?” Lily was satisfied in her attempt to deflect and avoid his question.

His hand inched closer to her own. She could feel the heat of his skin against her own. “Do you hear yourself, Evans?” James let out a laugh. “Asking me if this is a date or not, after I’ve been asking you out regularly for the past two years. Of course it’s a date! I hope you didn’t accept under any false pretenses.”

“Considering you didn’t explicitly say it was a date in the letter, I could argue you did,” she said with a lofty smile. “I can’t say it feels like any other dates I’ve been on, though. I thought your dating game would be a bit stronger, Potter,” she teased.

He raised an eyebrow at her comments. “Yeah? How so?”

“Well, every other date I’ve had has at least held my hand,” she said first.

“Like this?” James asked as his hand slipped under hers, his fingers intertwining with her own. 

Lily nodded. Feeling her hand in his gave her the courage to lean in a bit closer. She knew she was testing fate, and perhaps going against everything her mind had been trying to resist, but she didn’t care. She wanted him to kiss her, no matter how frightening and exhilarating that thought was.

“Are there any other guidelines in your date handbook that I’ve neglected?” James asked.

Lily waited a moment before answering as she peered up at his face, trying to gauge his reaction to their proximity. “Hmm. Well, it is nearing the end of the evening,” she said casually.

“It is. Does that mean anything to you?” James pressed. 

She wasn’t sure if the moonlight was playing tricks on her or if he’d leaned in closer as well. Lily didn’t trust her voice, so she nodded, looking up at him through her lashes. Just as she was trying to come up with a witty remark, James leaned in closer and she felt his lips brush hers. Her eyes fluttered shut at the contact, and she pressed lightly into him, indicating she wanted more. 

She felt James pull away slightly, but before she could be disappointed at the loss of contact, she felt him lean in again, pressing his lips firmly into hers with more confidence. Lily returned the kiss eagerly, and before she knew it, his hand was in her hair as the kiss deepened. His lips felt exactly as she’d hoped, soft yet firm, feeling natural against her own. 

Lily’s heart soared in triumph as their innocent first kiss was on the verge of turning into a full on snog. Her free hand was reaching up to rest on his chest when she heard a rustle in some nearby shrubs, causing them to break apart. Despite the darkness, she could vaguely see the silhouette of a figure in the distance. She immediately reached for her wand, but James held her arm gently to stop her.

“Pads, is that you?” he asked, a hint of annoyance and amusement in his tone.

Lily shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was. James did mention that Sirius was staying with him for the summer. “I should go,” she said quickly as she pulled away from James’ embrace.

“You don’t have to—” James started to say before Lily cut him off.

“I know, but it is getting late. I’ll write to you in the morning,” she said as she flashed him a smile before slipping away. 

She didn’t give James a chance to say goodbye as she walked across the dew laden grass. Lily was about to apparate away, when she heard James call to Sirius.

“Pads, where are you going? Get back here!” James yelled to him, sounding annoyed.

“I’ve got to write to Remus!” Sirius said through gleeful laughter. “He needs to know! James and Lily are finally together!” 

Lily couldn’t help the wide smile that took residence on her face, as her heart beat with joy. Sirius’ words echoed in her mind as she returned home. Finally together.

[yoonsshadow]

BLIZZARD BLUES ⎯ myg

⇰ summary ; There’s a storm coming. Literally. And some idiot is standing outside singing Christmas carols.

⇰ pairing ; yoongi x fem!reader

⇰ genres ; strangers to friends to lovers[?], snowstorm!au, romance, fast burn [?]

⇰ themes ; fluff, a bit of crack

⇰ warnings ; talk of a natural disaster [blizzard], lots of banter, brief talk of male genitalia [balls lol], a bunch of sweetness

⇰ word count ; 1.8k

⇰ note ; Happy holidays everybody!! I hope that you all have a safe and happy day, no matter what you are celebrating. [Also this is largely unedited.] xx

It doesn’t always snow on Christmas Eve. Sometimes, when the sky feels selfish, it will open its clouds and welcome through the sunlight, especially harsh against the previous snowfall that is melting on the ground. What was once a white wonderland, snowflakes clustered together in a fine powder, becomes a muddy expanse of grass, dampened by the flowing tears of the melted icicles.

The magic of Christmas, so often associated with the pure white sheen of snowfall, is gone within hours of a clear sky.

But not today.

Today, the sky is selfish in a very distinctly opposite way.

“Temperatures will be reaching a record-low tonight, and snowfall is expected to only get heavier. With the possibility of a blizzard on the way, citizens are urged to stay indoors tonight.”

“Aish.” Licking droplets of mulled wine from your lips, you sigh at the latest news update. Just yesterday, you had been complaining of the warmth in the air, expecting yet another disappointment out of Christmas Eve. The universe seems to have answered your pessimism with a natural disaster.

Thankfully, you are one of the many lucky ones with a roof over your head tonight. The townhouse is small by standard means, but it feels so big to you. Though it may be cosy, it holds everything that is important to you, every memory that you have collected over your life, every momentum that has ever brought you joy. It is an extension of yourself, of your innermost being, and now it even protects you from the howling wind that you can hear picking up outside.

As you sit in front of your roaring fireplace, wrapped in blankets and listening to the Michael Bublé christmas album play on your scratchy record player, you think that maybe this is serenity; this feeling of calm, of contentment, when chaos surrounds you.

A harsh knock at your front door breaks through the sound of the wind.

At first, you think that maybe it was a trick of the mind, or perhaps a branch hitting a window, but the rapid knock-knock-knock against the wood is far too deliberate to be a mistake. Plus, when it’s followed by several more⎯⎯less patient⎯⎯knocks, you know that someone is here. At your house. At ten o’clock at night, as a blizzard is brewing.

It takes a moment to detangle yourself from your comfortable cocoon of blankets, but you eventually shuffle to the door as quickly as your cold toes [the things just never seem to be warm] will allow. You’re expecting an emergency official telling you to evacuate, or a neighbour asking to borrow supplies.

You don’t expect a shivering, disgruntled man reluctantly singing ‘Oh Christmas Tree’.

“Your boughs so green in summertime...stay bravely green in wintertime...O tannenbaum, O Christmas Tree...How lovely are thy branches…”

“Are you seriously carolling right now?”

The man stops his ‘singing’ to glare at you, as if you’ve just interrupted the most important performance of his life. “Hey, either let me finish the song or let me move on. It’s fucking cold out here.”

“No, but like, why are you singing at all? Didn’t you see the news?” The chill of the wind is biting at you even through all of your layers, so you don’t know how he’s surviving right now.

The man sighs, the air fogging in front of his face. “Look, lady, I lost a bet, okay? I gotta sing these carols, and I’m not backing out just because it feels like my internal organs are shutting down. So, what’ll it be? I can take song requests, if you’re feeling spicy.”

It takes you barely a moment to make your decision. “Option C. Come here.”

And you all but drag him into your house.

“Y’know, this could be considered kidnapping,” the stranger says as he slides out of his soaked jacket and toes off his boots. Despite his words, he doesn’t seem at all reluctant to be within your warm abode. “You could at least take me to dinner before inviting me in.’

His voice sounds harsh, mean even, but for some reason you aren’t intimidated by him. Maybe it’s the way his nose shines pink from the cold.

“Well,” you say, already gathering some towels for him, “it seems as though you haven’t watched the news in the last three hours. There’s a blizzard on the way, buddy, and you looked about halfway to frozen already. I thought that I would save the neighbours the trauma of digging your body out of the snow.”

“How considerate.”

“What’s your name, by the way? Since I’m extending my home and hospitality to you. I’m Y/N.”

“Yoongi. Also, you barely extended anything. More like forced. But, I’m a kind man, so I’ll let you believe that you’re being selfless. It is Christmas, after all.”

“And a merry Christmas to you too, mister Yoongi.”

“Ugh. Don’t call me mister.”

“Whatever. You should go take a shower to warm up, I should have some of my dad’s clothes for you to wear. I also have a shit-tonne of blankets and a big pot of mulled wine, so whenever you’re done just come downstairs and sit by the fire. And don’t steal anything. Or piss on the carpets.”

“Oddly specific, but okay. Thanks, generous kidnapper.”

Yoongi takes nearly an hour before he re-emerges from upstairs, to the point where you wonder if he’s actually pissing in your carpets. He looks clean, though, and flushed with warmth. And absolutely adorable in the ugly, oversized Christmas sweater that you laid out for him.

“This is fucking horrendous.”

A snort escapes you at his blunt statement, watching as he sinks into an armchair opposite you. His hair is sticking out from where he’s hastily dried it. “Thank you. My dad is the reigning champion in his workplace ugly sweater competition. He takes immense pride in inducing nausea. Want some wine?”

“Absolutely.”

When you pass him a mug, the liquid steaming and aromatic, he seems to pause, hesitation in the grip of his fingers. You give him the time he needs to arrange his words.

“I guess, um...thank you. For bringing me inside.” Yoongi isn’t meeting your eyes, but the tips of his ears are turning pink. “I was probably too stubborn to realise how bad it was and...I don’t know, it could’ve ended up really bad. So. Thanks.”

“Hey.” His eyes flicker up, briefly, but enough to see the bashfulness hiding behind all that sarcasm. “It’s seriously fine, but you’ve got to make a habit out of taking care of yourself. I’ve known you for two hours and even I can tell that you don’t take yourself very seriously. Hell, I could’ve been a serial killer, and you still just walked into my house.”

“I could’ve been a serial killer as well, hypocrite.”

“Killer Caroller does have a certain ring to it,” you admit. He’s deflecting, but you accept the divergence easily. “So, mister serial killer-”

“Don’t call me mister.”

“-Why don’t you tell me about yourself? There’s a chance that you’ll be here for a little while, so we may as well become acquainted.”

Taking a lingering sip from his mug, Yoongi keeps his eyes trained on the fire before him. “My name is Yoongi, I’m a Pisces, and I enjoy long walks on the beach.”

“Romantic.”

“I was born in Daegu.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m a music producer.”

“Impressive.”

Yoongi rolls his eyes, though they hold more mirth than annoyance. “Oh, and what about you, miss charity? Tell me about yourself.”

Biting back a chuckle, you reposition yourself in the armchair to face him better. “Well, my name is Y/N, and I have never been to a beach.”

“That’s sad.”

“I take self-defense classes.”

“Convenient.”

“And I’m a social worker.”

“Very fitting.”

The quick banter between the two of you pulls a smile across your face before you can tamp it down, but it seems like Yoongi is fighting one of his own.

Somehow, you have both converged to your larger couch, huddled together in a wine-drunk, giggly mess.

“No, I seriously would’ve won! But then he totally caught me off guard. I was sabotaged.”

Yoongi’s recounting of the story of how he lost his bet is nothing short of hysterical. “This Jeongguk guy sounds like a menace,” you say, throwing your legs over his lap. “I mean, who swings their balls in a friend’s face just to distract them? That’s just low.”

“Right?!” His voice is so loud, but your little bubble is barely disturbed. “And they were all hairy, too. I swear that I found a pube in my hoodie.”

This sets you off, for some reason, and your chest erupts in light giggles. Yoongi has only told you a few stories about his six male friends, and it has filled you with a kind of joy that you don’t remember ever feeling.

“It’s just...I bet that women aren’t this immature with each other. Am I right?”

You hum. “Sort of, but also not really. A friend of mine once stole my diva cup just because she was mad at me for using her hair brush. I tried to explain that it was an accident, but man was she pissed.”

Yoongi pauses. “What’s a diva cup?”

Blinking at the man that you’re draped across, you bring a hand up to pat his soft cheek. “Oh, honey,” you whisper, offering a small smile.

Slowly but suddenly, his hand comes up to cover yours, keeping it on his face. Your heart skips a beat, but you don’t notice.

“You’re really nice,” he says. His pupils are blown from drinking, and maybe from your faces being so close. Your cheeks are flushed for the same reasons. “And totally not a serial killer.”

“I’m still undecided about you,” you joke, breathing out a laugh. “But I do know that you’re pretty nice, too. And not as bad of a guest as I thought you might be.”

“Is it-” Yoongi cuts himself off, takes a slow breath as he closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he seems determined, if a little nervous. “Is it weird if I say that I enjoy spending time with you? And would, maybe, want to spend more time with you in the future?”

A lazy grin stretches your cheeks as you tuck yourself a little closer to him. It’s peculiar, maybe, that you’ve just met a man that you feel you’ve known your whole life. Curious, perhaps, that conversation with him feels more natural than with most people you know.

But weird?

No, you don’t think so.

“No. Not weird.” You lean forward a bit, shyly; wait for him to maybe do the same. “You do owe me the rest of a Christmas carol, after all.

He does lean forward, just a bit, and just as shy.

[big-dong-zhong]

Chapter 1 has received a buff and has been posted to Ao3. Here is the link for those who want to view it there. For those who don’t, the modified chapter is under the cut. Apologies for any formatting errors, it doesn’t copy/paste to tumblr very well.

1 - Melt

[This is the First Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Words: 2,648

Rated [T+]  - Here is an explanation of my rating system.

Childe/Lumine, fluff (i guess?), sorry I really don’t know what to say here.

Lumine is ill-prepared for Snezhnaya’s weather.

Tartaglia lay in his childhood bed, staring up at the ceiling. It had been years since he had last slept there, and the scratching of the wool against his skin gave him a nostalgic sorrow, like he had left something behind. The other bed laid empty, another single wool blanket carefully draped over it. He put his arm over his eyes, wondering if it had been a good idea to return so soon. One day wasn’t quite enough to spend any meaningful time with his family, and he wasn’t sure if he was grateful for having any kind of time with his family or if he regretted making the trip at all. He supposed that worrying about it wouldn’t do him any good; they were leaving first thing in the morning anyway. Regardless, his restless mind was robbing him of his much needed sleep.

The sound of the bedroom door opening quietly distracted him from his thoughts. He listened as light and hurried footsteps traveled over the rug and to the other bed. The wood frame creaked under the weight of someone sitting upon it for the first time in years. A loud huff. Tartaglia could feel eyes on him. It was nearly impossible not to crack a smile, but he would pretend that he was asleep for now unless she addressed him.

"Tartaglia?"

"Lumine?" He grinned and quickly pulled his arm from his face and turned his head to look in her direction. Lumine was sitting upright on the bed, completely wrapped in the wool blanket with only her face visible, and she was pouting. Her cuteness caught him off guard and his heart may have skipped a beat or two, but he quickly regained his composure.

"It's cold," she grumbled, pulling the blanket even tighter around herself. Tartaglia laughed at such on obvious statement.

"Of course it's cold! We're in Snezhnaya. I really hope you didn't forget that somehow.” Lumine grumbled and turned her head defiantly to deflect his insult.

“Aw don’t be like that,” he sang. “You could always come over here and I'll keep you warm." He turned to his side and lifted up his own blanket flirtatiously, inviting her to share his bed.

"No!" Lumine whispered harshly. "No way! I am not sharing a bed with you!" She shook her head as she declined.

"Well I guess you'll just freeze then," Tartaglia conceded and rolled back over with an exaggerated sigh. "A shame too. How will I ever be able to explain this to the Knights of Favonius? I guess I'll just have to run away and change my identity. They'll surely come after me if they think I let something happen to you out here." The sounds of the other bed creaking, and then footsteps toward him.

Got her.

"I didn't tell them," she said. He turned to face her again, this time he was confused. What did she mean she didn’t tell them? His puzzlement must have shown on his face because she repeated it.

"I didn't tell anybody I was coming here. Not the Knights of Favonius or even the Adventurers’ Guild. Let me tell you, it was hard enough to convince Paimon to keep this just between us.” Lumine shook her head as she spoke. “It's not everyone's business what I'm doing every second of every day. I'm allowed to do things on my own, contrary to popular belief."

Her gaze was serious. He had thought that when she reluctantly agreed to come to Snezhnaya with him for leisure that it would be a one time adventure, that she only did it because she had promised Teucer. He figured she would have told each one of her friends every tiny detail about the trip as a precaution in case the Fatui made a move on her, but now he was feeling unsure of her intentions. Had she really trusted him, a Fatui Harbinger, enough to travel so far from her other friends without telling them where she was?

Tartaglia snorted, then laughed at the situation. Everyone really wanted a piece of her, didn't they? This girl who looked like a dumpling wrapped up in his brother's old wool blanket pouting at him was so important that several organizations felt the need to constantly keep tabs on her. It was only fair though, he figured. She was incredibly strong, not to mention nobody knew where she came from. She was very intriguing. He wanted to know more about her.

She sniffled. Tartaglia could see that her nose was getting red, and she kept scrunching her face like she felt a sneeze coming.

"Come on," he chuckled, "you can bring the blanket with you; just get in." Lumine glared down at him and very reluctantly sat on the edge of his bed, her back toward him. She scooted herself back on top of Tartaglia's blanket then lifted her legs into the bed and laid down, never once removing the blanket she already had around herself. He laughed.

"Well this isn't exactly what I had in mind. It's not going to make a lot of difference if you're still under just one blanket."

"Then give me both of the blankets," she mumbled.

"Now that's cold, Lumine. You would let me freeze in the night? And after my family showed you so much hospitality. Imagine how upset my poor little siblings would be to find me frozen solid in the morning: a big brosicle!"

"Argh, fine!" Lumine seemed to have finally had enough of him telling her what to do. She jumped out of the bed and threw the second blanket she had wrapped herself with onto Tartaglia's face. "Make it up however you want, just do it fast okay!"

He laughed as he sat up, grabbing the blanket and spreading it out to toss over his own to create a double layer. Once he was satisfied that it was good enough he glanced toward Lumine and saw what she was wearing. A very short, white night dress with a frilled hem and collar, the latter of which rested halfway down her shoulders, exposing bare skin as well as her collarbones. He could see how delicate her legs were beneath the hem, which only barely covered the tops of her thighs. The fabric also seemed to be quite thin; silk from Liyue perhaps? Her arms were crossed over her chest so he couldn't gauge exactly how sheer it was. Unfortunate, but he could live with the mystery for now. He grinned.

"Well no wonder you're cold," he teased her and lifted up the blankets. "Come on now before you freeze." Lumine glared down at him in contempt.

"I'm not going to do anything weird," he insisted with his sweetest smile. She lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Promise?"

"Maybe I wouldn't go that far-"

"I'm sleeping with Paimon and Tonia," Lumine said as she began to turn around.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I promise I won't do anything weird," Tartaglia urged. She pursed her lips into an unsure frown and climbed into the bed, this time facing him directly. He nearly forgot to breathe in that moment she was so close. Her toes brushed against his shin for a moment and he felt how ice cold her skin was. The sensation made him jump.

“Really? You’re not even wearing socks?” he interrogated, moving his shins further away to avoid her toes.

“I can’t sleep with them on,” she rebutted as she continued to pursue his warmth until he finally gave in to the momentary discomfort. She really hadn't prepared for this trip, had she? At least it was just a short leisure trip and she wasn't alone. Tartaglia took comfort in the fact that this exposure would better prepare her for the future.

The future… That was right.

Peaceful moments like this won’t last, he thought to himself. He had enough political knowledge to realize that the world was spinning into chaos, but not enough to know how to stop it. His folly in Liyue Harbor was proof of that. Even the man he felt he had grown close to as a friend was only using him as a pawn in a much bigger scheme, just as so many others had. It wasn’t safe to put his trust in others anymore.

Tartaglia was pulled from his thoughts when Lumine shuffled her arm to her front and placed her hand between their faces, her fingers curled except for one in particular.

"Pinkie promise me you won't do anything weird to me in my sleep."

"You really don't trust me, do you?" Is what he said, ironically, but she had to trust him to an extent. She wouldn’t be there with him in that moment otherwise.

She pushed her hand closer to his face. Lumine was really serious about a pinkie promise, wasn’t she? He was tempted to lightly nip at her finger just to get a reaction out of her, but he knew she would be furious if he did. He wasn't too keen on the idea of chasing her down in the snow in the middle of the night, so he elected not to bite her this time. He sighed with a small laugh and brought his own hand to meet hers. He hesitated at first, his heart skipping a beat when their fingers first touched.

She doesn’t know.

Of course, the traveler from another world wouldn’t have the same knowledge used to trick him over and over. Rex Lapis had fooled her just as well. Would other archons try to use her to their own ends as he and Barbatos did? Tartaglia couldn’t watch that happen.

“I’ll make this promise: I’m going to keep you safe,” he told her in a hushed voice as if any notes of affection in his tone needed to be kept secret between the two of them. “The Knights, the Guild, hell even the Liyue Qixing won’t have to worry if you’re with me. Whether it’s money or strength, you can always rely on me when you’re in need.”

“W-What the hell are you talking about?” Lumine stuttered as her face grew red. “Is this some kind of confession?”

“Hmm,” Tartaglia hummed in response. “Try not to think about it too hard.” He gave her a wink and grinned as he watch her face flush all the way to her ears. He was proud of himself that he managed to get her to make such a cute expression.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “As long as that promise includes not doing anything weird to me in the night.”

“I said I’d keep you safe, didn’t I?” A loaded promise, but in the moment he didn’t care.

“How am I supposed to know what your definition of that is?”

“I just don’t want you see you hurt,” he confessed. Lumine’s expression softened into a more serious gaze.

“Just stick with promising me only for tonight, all right?” she sighed.

“All right,” Tartaglia replied to her with a tender smile. In his heart he knew he would promise more, however. He wanted to be by her side more than just a night.

"You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life," he started.

"You break a pinkie promise," Lumine continued and narrowed her eyes, "I throw you on the ice." Their little fingers wrapped around each other.

"The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend." He tightened his grip, feeling his breath hitch in his throat. He wondered if she noticed how fast his heart was beating, and if hers may have been as well.

"The frost will freeze your tongue off, so you never lie again." They unclasped their little fingers and let their hands rest between them, not quite touching, but Tartaglia could start to feel her body heat under the blankets.

"Feeling warmer now that you're with me?" he asked with a smug grin. Lumine nodded and let out a small, breathy yawn that tugged on his heart strings. He wished he could fall asleep as fast as she did. Now that she had fallen asleep, laying next to her made him even more anxious. Every time she let out a deep breath he held his, unsure of what to do. Of course he knew he should just close his eyes and go to sleep, but he couldn't stop looking at her. She looked so small and calm, unlike the fury and excitement she radiated while awake. Tartaglia liked this side of her too. He stroked her arm with the tips of his fingers, feeling the warmth radiating off her skin, the sensation making his heart beat faster. He had promised he wouldn't do anything weird, but he still wasn't sure what Lumine's definition of weird could be. She stirred in her sleep, startling him to pull his hand away from her. It may have been just a nursery rhyme, but he knew Lumine would literally cut his tongue out if he broke his promise.

He held his breath, waiting for her to wake up and scold him, but she didn't open her eyes. Instead she moved even closer to him. One of her legs slid between his, which in turn caused her dress to ride up and expose her abdomen to his own bare stomach. Her hand slid over his navel and reached around to his back under his shirt. The sensation of her smooth skin sent what felt like a bolt of lightning through his body, though somehow far different from any electro powers he’d used. Her face was only inches away from his. Lumine was so close to him that he couldn't breathe for fear of waking her. Yet, the anxiety he felt was invigorating. It was a new and foreign kind of excitement to him that he never even dreamed of experiencing. In fact, he'd never given any thought at all to this kind of intimacy with another person. Lumine. Her thoughts, her feelings, and her body; they were a whole new battlefield for him, one he wasn't sure if he could ever conquer, but that made the idea all the more exciting.

Tartaglia's breath finally escaped his lungs, involuntarily shaky and vocal. He moved his tongue around inside his mouth to get rid of the dryness that had taken hold. Luckily the cold had made it so he wasn't sweating from all of the new sensations he was experiencing. He was starting to feel lightheaded from all of the times he'd held his breath, but that in turn with their combined body heat had also started to make him finally feel sleepy. His breath steadied and Tartaglia was finally starting to relax. Lumine was definitely fast asleep, and it didn't look like she was going to wake up to any small movements he made. He decided that wrapping arms around each other wasn't anything weird and moved his arm to cradle her back.

He already knew that he liked her. Since the moment he'd met her he had wanted to be involved in her life, and fighting her had brought him exhilaration he could have only dreamed of. Now he felt that they could have something even more. Lumine was in his home, in his bed with him, the rest of his family sleeping soundly within the house. She didn't belong and yet she fit in so well. He didn't want to let her go. If they could lie there and hold each other forever he might even have been happy with just that. The tiredness was finally beginning to take over. He was as relaxed as he had ever been in her embrace.

Tartaglia shifted to grace Lumine's forehead with a long and chaste kiss, holding her body against his own. He rested his forehead against hers, and finally he was able to let sleep take him.

[starrysupercell]

UwU the rest of the outline at per request. @lumpy-veev (still unfinished but it's okay! This should be thought of as a rough draft.) 💙

🦝 "RaR 3" or "Breaking Point" 🐍

It would be an unofficial Brawl, which is not allowed, but it happens, and what can you even do?

I see the two as basically ignoring each other's presence upon finding out that the other is there. Of course, as much as they won't admit it, it's making them think of. Everything.

This leads to even more on edge tense atmosphere whenever they would cross each other's path, because even if it’s a big park, you can only avoid someone for so long, especially when you happen to have common associates. (the Coworkers, Tara, etc.)

It doesn’t help they have growing animosity and take every little thing personally for every interaction.. and it’s only been a month or two.

Rumors begin to pick up around the park-- Just a little chatter at the bar. Just a little observation that those two sure have something between them huh? The gossiper is shushed, because did you forget who runs the place? his connection to Byron?

Luckily, the bartender didn’t seem to hear. He was busy cleaning glasses. The topic’s changed. customers continue to come and go.

One who arrives is Piper, who sits down at the bar. It’s busy, so she waits patiently for Barley to get her usual. (he’s good at that.) He sets down a coaster and the glass in front of her, but instead of a greeting and bustling away this time, he sticks around.

“Byron is well on his way to becoming a topic of interest around here...” he tells her.

She leans forward with a smile. “What have they said? And who, for that case?”

He explains what he heard, and omits the names.

Piper thoughtfully considers this. She had noticed this, but hadn’t chalked it up to a personal history, just conflict of interest. (byron was well off, belle was a thief. he would be cautious) Now that she knew, she wanted every drop of intel.

“I can talk to him. we wouldn’t want our dear coworker being talked about, do we?”

“I do not.” Barley replied, tipping his hat to bid her goodbye as he steps away to another client. He lets Piper take care of this, because he likes letting people come to him if they want to talk, and he feels that Byron would have already approached him if that were the case.

~

So, it’s another one of their patented teatime tête-à-têtes.

Piper skirts around the issue before dropping the news of whispers about the two.

But Byron doesn’t humor the topic, and refuses to talk about it.

Piper cheerfully pokes at him. “Crossed paths? Did you know her before the Park? maybe previous business associates? She robbed you, but you had good insurance, and one day she tricked you? Ooh~ Former flames-?"

And then Byron stands up and is about to leave wordlessly until that last suggestion processes bc if he doesn’t clarify now, ugh that’s gonna be what Piper thinks is plausible (kind of, bc he gay af) and he does NOT want that to be a thing.

“She’s a relative,” he says with so much distaste before he leaves that Piper is even more intrigued. but at the same time, there’s something that tells her she shouldn’t fan the fire any further.

they’ve had their share of back and forths, and it’s been a blue moon since something had gotten him so upset that he just up and leaves.

she drops it, and as the #1 gossipmonger of the park, the hushed whispers of “mystery between byron and belle?” is completely stamped out with a dismissive attitude and several “Really? I didn’t notice anything.”

If Byron really and truly didn't want this around the park, she'd honor that.

~

Of course, with QD Edgar on occasional trips with the Gang, that’s the biggest connection the sibs have at the moment.

The first time Edgar name dropped Byron, Belle froze and listened to 2.47 more seconds of the teen's rambles before telling him to get a move on around camp and quit yapping.

Edgar didn't notice this first time around and grumpily went about his way.

But I'm sure there's one thing or another that makes Edgar talk about his dad manager again, and one thing that will really piss Belle off, is comparison.

Tara, who notices the shift in mood, puts herself in between Edgar and Belle and swiftly soothes things over. She suggests getting on with the plan they have (already knowing what Belle will respond with).

"heist cancelled," Belle states, rearing up Elodie and galloping away from camp. (She usually winds down on her own after celebrating a big heist, but never before-- and never had called it quits at that.)

Edgar is put off. Tara muses that it's nothing he could help...

On her own, Belle just contemplates everything. Hours. It brings up familiar memories of being up on the rooftop with her head buried into her arms and knees feeling terrible.

Except now she's more than grown, with her share of things to be proud of and great memories she forged on her own. She's not curled up on herself anymore. She's staring to the long distance of the desert-- her home-- traveling with ease.

That stupid rooftop section of her life is nothing more than a fraction of her well-lived life.

It doesn't make her feel better.

Yet another thing Byron ruins for her without even trying.

She needed a drink.

~

Not wanting to head back to her camp for the night, and not in the mood to try nabbing some good drink, Belle simply walks into the bar and orders something.

Barley treats her the same as any Brawler, despite what he now knows about her.

As far as he was concerned, she came in there as a customer. And as long as she paid, he saw no problem in serving her...

She drinks quietly, and he keeps an eye on her intake.

And eventually, just like with any other customer with something heavy on their mind and enough drinks, words flow easier.

She doesnt use names, and keeps terms vague. Speaks angrily of her parents. Calls the brother a "dumbass of a pushover."

Now, it isnt like he associates Byron as a (pardon his french) 'dumbass' in any way, but it's the way she uses it that makes Barley connect the dots. The tone wasn't as bitter. Almost fond. Almost.

He lightly prods for a little bit more insight, and she gives up a little more as she drinks.

Unlike the other two members of his Trio, it wasn't in his nature to gossip, so this would stay between them.

Barley listens, because that's what she needs right now. Not advice, not interjections or lectures or deflecting the subject. Just someone to listen.

Eventually he cuts her off before she gets too inebriated (and probably causes trouble.)

{I AM going to write this scene out in depth. And cry while doing so.}

~

On the other side, after the season and back at the Gift Shop, Edgar is 🤔🤔 over that incident. He considers talking with Colette but 1) she's as mad as a Colette could be at the fact that he hung out with the NEW BRAWLER and TARA and didnt bother getting her ANYTHING. and 2) tbh she's a blabbermouth.

Byron does his regular check of the shop that day. Making sure Colette hasn't run off and Edgar isnt sneaking a nap.

He welcomes Edgar back from his little trivial loot and shoot games.

While Edgar hadn't even thought twice about it before, he recalls that when he had told Byron he'd be working at a different section of the park (namely with the new Brawler, Belle) he had acted just as dismissive.

Like yeah, there was your usual "old man doesn't get the teens" shenanigans, but Byron had never belittled his interest in anything before. Calling his involvement in the season a 'trivial game' sounded... personal.

He outright asks Colette if Byron was acting weird.

Any snippiness that Colette may have had for 2 minutes diminishes when there's a chance to talk with her favorite person in the world that she's seen little to none of for two months, AND about her favorite topic: Brawlers!

She spills everything she knows, because despite Piper's efforts, theres no secret a Brawler can try to keep when shes around.

She didn't find out everything of course. But she knows that there were questions involving Byron and Belle. Piper hushed it up, so for sure there was something.

Edgar nods. "Totally. I think she was close to rippin' my head off once. I brought up Byron once and she was ready to chew me out." (in case i didn't make it clear, Edgar picked up a slight drawl because of belle)

"Cool!" Colette exclaimed. "..I mean, not the rip your head off part. But that is cool too. I meant do we have lore on our hands?? That nobody ELSE knows!!?"

Edgar shushed her. Byron is in his office but the shop wasn't really sound proof.

......cue shenanigans from the Coworkers trying to figure things out in their very amateurish ways compared to Piper by "sneaking" around and "nonchalantly" trying to get him to admit something.

Byron knows they're up to something, and humors them until realizing the topic when Edgar tries bringing up the Goldarm Season.

He shuts them down even faster than Piper.

Of course, instead of deterring them like her, he just confirms their suspicions. Colette and Edgar are "o yeah we are def going to get to the bottom of this."

~

So, it's plan B! If they even try asking Piper she throws them for such a loop and leaves them so bewildered that Colette even forgets to ask for anything she could keep, and Edgar didnt realize she gave them nothing to work with until they're already out the door and down the street with cake pops in their hands.

So, Plan C! ...Barley.

It's hard to find a time to go there, since it's busy when they get off work. And Barley always seems to be at one place or another....

So the kids choose the perfect time (roughly midday), and just wait for the perfect day... when Byron comes in and checks the shop, then decides on his own that they could handle it for the rest of the shift and leaves them to it.

When the stars align, the teens wait until Byron is out of sight, and close up the gift shop. Their plan is to head to the bar... and maybe try and get something out of Barley..... not much of a plan, but they don't realize it there.

They make haste, running to the bar, because time crunch (when/if complaints start rolling in.)

Bursting through the doors of the Bar, Barley gives them a look. "Don't.. do that, please."

Colette apologizes enthusiastically, and urges Edgar forward. "Ask him! I'll keep watch!"

She hops over to the door and peers through it periodically.

Meanwhile, Edgar is stammering because he didnt plan anything to say, he expected Colette to talk to the robot.

"If you two think I allow underage drinking, I most certainly do not, no matter what Penny says." Barley warns.

"Uhh, no it isn't that. ...Umm. do ya know... well, you would know about Byron, and not Belle, I guess. But they've been acting weird lately, and we want to know why."

. . .

Barley pauses in consideration.

Options and questions flood around his mind, and he still had no answer.

Wonders if he should even mention Belle's visit some time ago, or the fact that he knows more in depth about it than Byron would care for, or that if Piper found out he knew more than her, and then told these two over would she be offended? ....Actually, in that case, why was he considering telling them anyway? Well, if they were interested in the topic for genuine reasons...

Edgar doesn't even know what to do either. Barley's not saying anything.

Colette squeaks, and scrambles from the door. "Edgar!! Any luck here? Because we're out of it over there!"

"What?"

"I think I see Byron heading here!!"

Who would have thought.

this is where i kind of dropped off the outline, but to continue/wrap it up, Barley points them to the curtain that covers the back room. There's an exit there which he tells them about, but the teens stay to EAVESDROP bc they care.

Barley and Byron chat. the conversation dips into the area having to do with Belle.

Byron frowns. "If I didn't know any better, I would think you're trying to get me to admit something, Barley. I can understand Piper, but you?"

"Me?" Barley asks. "Sir, you know I never mean harm."

"..." Byron stares at him unconvinced. "If Piper did put you up to this, you can tell me."

"U.. Believe it or not, I am among others in this park who care about you, Byron."

"...." wouldn't that be nice. But Byron believes him. My bad. He humors his coworker for now. "Fine." And asks for a drink.

Barley gets him his preferred one. [Lol I'll come up with it eventually.]

They talk. Barley finds out a little more. But just a little bit. Byron... it isnt like he has practice talking about ☆~feelings~☆

The teens listening in leave before too long. Colette is like O.O;; and Edgar decides that all they wanted to know was the relation between Byron and Belle, and they got that.

She agrees, and they both leave through the back door.

Byron didn't get as drunk ofc, it's still his working hours. Just enough to loosen up a bit and get through mild robot therapy.

After his leave, Barley sees him off, and then goes to check in the back. They're gone and he has a brief "oh, thought they would have gotten the hint to, listen in. Oh, well."

[There's one more event, involving the Coworkers interacting with Belle one last time, but still unplanned <3 it leads to the meet up and the fight... somehow though. I'll release that when I think of it.]

I can also see Piper being ":0 you knew before I did? And didn't tell me? You're mischievous, Barley!" In a very light hearted way at the very end.

Barley frets ;;; "I am not!"

[sparkleofpizza]

The archer - Tim Drake x reader 2/?

The archer - Tim Drake x reader 2/?

Requested: no

Warnings: bit of angst 

Taglist: @isthataladybag

Summary: Y/n Queen will be living in the Wayne Manor for a while, and Dick Grayson decided to be the Cupid between her and his little brother Tim Drake.

Word count: 2.671

Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6  - Part 7

After the sleeping incident, Tim couldn't look at you without blushing madly. You only smiled sweetly at him, not really trying anything to make him more flustered. You figured if he had the same interest in you as you had in him, eventually he would come to you and you both could find out what to do about that. 

Obviously, you had to talk to someone about that, and that lead to a big wave of teasing coming from Connor Hawke, your best friend . You wished you could talk about that to your sister Emiko, but unfortunately that wasn't possible at the moment. You were still adjusting to the fact that you had a sister, and right at the moment where you wished to speak to her about something important to you, you simply couldn't reach out to her. 

You were sitting at the Batcomputer watching Jason do some workout routine. You had went down there once you found out they had a treadmill, and decided to take on the opportunity to run a bit. Just to get the blood pumping.

"So, when was the last time you practiced something?" Jason asked, pulling you out of your thoughts 

You looked up at him, watching as he had finished up his routine. You smirked, pulling your hair up in a ponytail, walking towards him. 

"Before I got here." You replied 

"Oh, you must be rusty then. It's been a couple of weeks." He laughed "Are you sure you're up for sparing?"

"Are you sure you're up for sparing?"

He laughed at you, motioning with his hand "Bring it up."

You lunged at him, deflecting some of his punches and trowing some of your own. You caught on his hand as he want to punch you in the face, twisting his arm around to his back. He let go, making you stumble a little before you got back on your feet, elbowing him on the ribs, and successfully kicking him on the knees making him loose his balance as you went around his back and got him on the ground with a painful thud. 

You smirked down at him, offering a hand.

"Looks like you're the one who is a little rusty." You teased him 

"I was going easy on you." He grumbled under his breath

"How did you do that?" Damian questioned, standing beside you, looking at his brother on the floor and then back at you, narrowed eyes 

This was one of the first times that he was talking to you without that air of disgust he always have. You smiled, pushing some hair strands from your face. 

"My brother taught me that." 

"Yeah, but Todd is more than twice your size." He remarked, not truly believing in what he had witnessed before his eyes "Fight me!"

"Ok." You nodded, getting in fight stance once more 

Jason chuckled lowly, getting out of your way and joining Dick and Tim who had stopped to watch you and Damian fight. The two later, who had not seen you and Jason fight, were looking concerned about your well being. Damian knew how to be ruthless during fighting, he had been trained by the League of Assassins after all. 

The little boy lunged at you with all his force, only growing frustrated as you dodged all of his advances and managed to punch him in the ribs. It was easy to understand a bit of his moves, he was raised at the League of Assassins, you had your fair share of encounters with them to now that, and also had spent five months being trained by them after some ridiculous stunt that Malcom Merlyn had pulled.

He screamed in frustration when you held both of his arms on his back, him on his knees. 

"I demand you tell me how you know all of this."

Damian would never admit it, but you were too good of a fighter and he didn't want to give you the credit for it. He was supposed to know all the cool and different tricks he learned at the league. 

His brothers were staring at you in a awe as Jason only laughed at scene in front of him. Tim thought his heart was going to come out of his mouth, it was beating just way too fast. If he didn't think you were way too incredible for him before, now he was a 100% sure of it. 

"Your mother taught me that." Was all you said, before pulling the boy up and leaving to grab a bottle of water 

At that all four of them had their mouthes hung open. Talia had taught you that? How was it possible that you, of all people, had been trained by that woman? That only made them realize they didn't know much about you as you seem to know a lot about them. That certainly wasn't good, they were supposed to be a family of detectives, how couldn't they know who was the girl that was staying at their house? 

"You mean you were trained by the demon's mother?" Jason exclaimed "Roy never told me that."

"That's because we do not talk about that. She tried to kill me once or twice, and I also spent some time at the League." You explained, turning to look at them as you leaned against a table "That's not big deal, really."

"Uh, yes it is!" Tim exclaimed, waving his hands around "You turned on the tables of her wanting to kill to being trained by her. If this isn't amazing, I don't really know what it is."

You smiled at him, it felt good to be complimented by him. Thank God you checks were already red from the physical effort or else everyone would have seen you blush. 

"Well, when your brother is the Green Arrow, his girlfriend is the Black Canary and you're surrounded by bad guys trying to kill you and your family, you kind of have to find a way to defend yourself."

Tim's eyes went wide. Was he crushing Oliver Queen's little sister? Oh, this was much worse than he had previously thought. He thought you were Roy's sister, which was already bad enough, but being Oliver's sister? He's going to end up with way to many arrows' wounds if they ever find out about him having feelings for you. 

He failed to notice as everyone left the room, leaving the two of you alone. They had all been rushed out by Dick who wanted to make sure you guys would end up together by the time you left. He wouldn't let it go until you were a couple.

"So..." You broke the silence, taking a few steps towards him "We haven't really talked much since that day I helped you out with that case. How is it going?"

His eyes went wide, he didn't think you'd notice he had been kind of avoiding you lately. 

"It's good to go. We're going to bust them tomorrow, that's when the sale is going to take place." 

You nodded, standing right in front of him. You were only a few inches from him, if he lifted his hand he could brush it against your skin - he really wanted to do that. He wanted to feel your warmth and your body close to his just like that day when you slept in each others embrace. 

"Maybe I could join you guys on the field." You said, looking up at him thought your eyelashes "I have some experience on that area already."

"Yeah?" He breathlessly asked, leaning down a bit, just to take a better look at you "But that's too dangerous, you could get hurt."

"So could you." Your chests were almost touching "I guess we would have to have each others backs, then."

"I suppose we would." He pushed some loose hair away from your face, keeping his hands there "But still, I can't picture someone so wonderful as you at a weapon sale."

"I could say the same for you." You pressed your hands on his chest, patting it slightly, feeling some of its muscles "Normally big bad mobster buyers have a girl in his arms."

"And you would be my girl?"He questioned, his hand on your face going down to your jaw as his other hand pulled at your waist, pressing your bodies together 

"Oh, yes. You can bet I'll be your girl." You replied, gripping his biceps 

He leaned down more, your lips was just about to brush, you could feel your heart beating faster and faster. Then there was footsteps approaching making you pull apart. 

"Father is asking for you, Drake. You have a meeting at Wayne Enterprises." Damian announced, eyeing you two very suspiciously, considering how red your faces were

"Yeah, I am coming." Tim rubbed the back of his neck

He looked at you sheepishly before leaving with his little brother, leaving you alone at the batcave, frustrated.

So much for a kiss.

Later that week, they were all getting ready for the weapon sale. You were sitting on a chair, looking rather disappointed when Bruce had told you he had promised your brother to keep your safe, and letting you go to a mission full of weapon wasn't really keeping you safe. You tried to argument that you knew how to take care of yourself, but Dick had told you it was hard to change Bruce's mind once it was already set up.

All there was left for you to do was sit with Alfred and watch the cameras. Hoping that everything would turn out to be ok, you didn't want any of them to get hurt, being in there would make you feel a bit more calmer. At least you would be able to intervene if it was necessary, you could help out. 

"They're going to be ok, miss y/n. That includes master Tim."

You looked at Alfred with pure shock. Sure it wasn't that visible that you had a crush on Tim. 

"I saw the both of you asleep at his bed a couple of days ago." He explained "I am glad he found a girl like you."

You smiled happily at him. Getting Alfred's approval was important to you, even if you still didn't know what was going on between the two of you after having almost shared a kiss yesterday and saying stuff about you being his girl. But, you were always inching towards each other, and right now all you wanted to do was be by his side on the field. 

You heard them talking over the coms, wishing they'd all be alright by the end of this. God, if they showed up with any bullet wounds, you'd be pissed. 

"We're about to get in." Bruce said over the coms "Red Hood was already able to get the information we needed to get all these men in jail."

"I'm cutting the power right now." Alfred informed, clicking some things on the bat computer and shutting down all energy from the building

Right now all you could hear was grunting and gunshots as the fight started. You bit your lip nervously, you were already used to this kind of stuff, you watched your brother do it every time and most times you stayed behind because being a vigilante isn't one of your top priorities, but you have no idea how the batfamily works. You've never actually seen them in action before, so obviously you were a nervous wreck waiting for them to get back.

"Perhaps I should prepare you a cup of camomile tea while you monitor them to me." Alfred offered, already standing up and not waiting for your reply

Honestly, this man is way too good to everyone in this house. 

Your eyes stayed glued on the screens, looking trough all of the surveillance cameras to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary happening there. But that's when an alert popped up on the screen and a lot made sense to you in that moment, this wasn't just any kind of weapon sale. 

"Uh guys, you need to get out of there." You said, typing away on the keyboard trying to get more information - grateful for whatever tech info Felicity ever taught you "There's a bomb in the building!"

"What? Can you find where's located?" Tim breathlessly asked 

"It's under it, but I can't disarm it from here! Someone must do it remotely. I'm sending you the infos."

Why would someone plant a bomb at a weapon sale? That didn't make any sense. 

"Here's your tea, miss... What just happened?" Alfred rushed to your side upon looking at the bomb's instructions 

"There is a bomb in the building!"

"I'm already on it!" Damian exclaimed 

You took a big gulp of the tea, wishing that the camomile would instantly calm you down. That was too much for your nerves, Damian was just a kid, what if it exploded on him? This mission was testing your anxiety levels a lot more than you expected it to. 

A painfully half an hour later, you heard all of their bikes and the batmobile pulling up at the cave. You and Alfred had already prepared all of the necessary stuff in case they were hurt, which of course they were.

All five of them came limping towards the medical bay where Alfred ushered them to start patching them up. You looked up from the medical gloves you were placing on your hands to see Tim stand beside you, a hand on his shoulder and a small smile on his lips.

"It was nice working with you over the coms. You did a good job."

"Thank you, I normally help Felicity the best I can when I'm not out on the field." You smiled back at him, pulling his hand away from his shoulder to take a better look at the injury "Sit down, please, you're too tall for me and this is gonna hurt."

He chuckled at your choice of words, but then proceeded to whimper in pain as he sat down on the medical bed behind him. You shook your head, helping him pull out the top half of his suit to have better access at the wound. You inspected it closely, standing between his legs, before pulling the bullet out of his shoulder, it didn't go too deep, so it was easier to get it out. 

You cleaned all of the blood with alcohol to make sure it wouldn't infect and then proceeded to stitch him up. 

"You're full of surprises, little Queen." Tim broke the silence, looking at your adorably concentrated face "A very skilled fighter, good at patching people up, good with techs. Is there anything else you'd like to share?"

You bit your lower lip, placing some gauze over the stitches and rubbing it slightly. You looked up at him, a smirk adorning your face.

"And what's the fun in that? I think you're gonna have to find out all of my secrets, Mr. Drake."

He chuckled, placing a hand at your hips to keep you from moving "Oh, you can bet I'm gonna find it all out."

He leaned in a bit, but you placed a finger on his lips. He frowned, pouting slightly against your index finger.

"We can finish flirting later, pretty bird. Right now you need to rest and I have to help Alfred patch up the rest of your brothers."

"But I may need assistance while resting."

Your finger traced the outline of his lips, eyes never failing to leave his as you slowly took a step away from him.

"If you go up to your room right now, take a shower and actually lay in bed to rest, after I'm done here, I'll visit you to make sure you have the assistance you need."

Tim nodded eagerly, standing up too fast and wincing from pain one more time. 

"I can do that." He smiled, kissing your check 

[shebeafancyflapjack]

What She Needs

Quick EOTB (not a) drabble for @cecret-with-c . This should make up for me clearly not finishing my other whump fic by the weekend as I’d hoped.

This stinks!

For that matter, when did the waves outside get so rough and loud? It’s as if every sound in this little corner of paradise he created has been amplified for his annoyance, right down to the mice scurrying around in the walls who only came out to help carry a lost remote or dropped earring.

No matter how what position he lays in, no matter how much he tosses and turns, he can’t seem to get himself comfy. It makes no sense! He made sure to summon the most desirable sofa, specifically for human napping, as he knew it would be used as Eleanor’s second bed as much as sitting to watch TV. Neither of them had any issues with it before so why was it so hard for him to get to sleep now?! Why did the pillows suddenly feel so damn lumpy?

Maybe sleeping on the couch was always this difficult. He can’t say he ever did it before. Ever since he learned how to sleep, it was always with Eleanor, in her bed. Sometimes they would take the occasional nap on the sofa together, curled up in front of a movie or spent after a day of simulated adventures. She took many a snooze on here during those early weeks, where she’d be buried underneath a blanket, clinging to one of the cushions like a shield while Michael pottered around her, trying to create as calm and normal an atmosphere as possible. Perhaps she found it as awkward as he did now, but was too frightened (and mute) to complain?

Oh, stop it, Mikey. Stop trying to rationalise this. 

He knew the reason he was truly so alert. The same reason he had been exiled to the couch in the first place.

“Are you just not gonna talk to me for the whole weekend then?” He asks once they’ve made it through the threshold and she’s still storming ahead.

He makes sure to scan the area, ensure the soundproofing is on, never too careful if one of his coworkers has followed to spy on them.

“Yep!” Eleanor snaps back before realising her mistake; “Oh...fork, that didn’t count!”

“Oh, c’mon, I said ‘my bad’! What more do you want?”

“Cockroaches, dude! You called me and my friends ‘cockroaches’ - you really don’t get why that pisses me off?!” She turns and rounds on him.

Maybe she, too, had been waiting until they were out of demon-sight to rage at him.

Michael raises his hands; “I did not say that!”

“Oh so your exact words weren’t ‘you guys are like cockroaches’?!” She quotes him, lowering her voice to badly imitate him.

He waves his hand.

“Yes, but I wasn’t...I wasn’t trying to insult you. Chidi asked me a straight question, I gave him a straight answer...Which happened to be a metaphor!” He tried to defend, stepping through the foyer of the beach house.

Eleanor was already on her way into the kitchen to grab a can of J.D and coke.

“Look, he asked me if I knew why I was struggling with understanding some of the things in his class and I was just trying to say, as an immortal being, I am technically superior to the rest of you...Your species!” He corrects himself as soon as she turns to scowl at him; “And I tried to put that into perspective for him! How it feels for me, a creature with unfathomable abilities and has been around since the dawn of time, to have to be taught lessons from a creature like him - a tiny, fragile, mortal species whose only existed for a tiny blink in all eternity.”

“And the first thing that came to mind...was a cockroach?!” 

Oh, she really is pissed about this.

He took a breath and tried to move closer, his hands out.

“Babe, c’mon now. You know I’d never mean to call you anything like that. It was just a force of habit, it’s how they would explain our jobs to use in Torturing 101.” He tries to tell her, his palm hovering near her elbow as she swigged her drink; “Old habits die hard but I’m trying my best, you know that, right?”

She meets his eyes, the sternness in her brow weakening a little, he can see. There’s a twinge in her lips as she refuses to melt.

“Old habits seem to be alive and well this week, man. Especially when you made Chidi’s writing come off the wall and attack him, just because he corrected you on Consequentialism!”

“Come on! You laughed at that!”

“No, Jason did! I...wanted to but resisted, which is what you should be learning to do! Stop lashing out at Chidi whenever he gives you the slightest bit of negative feedback, he’s only trying to help - which he keeps doing even though you can be such a nightmare student that you make me look like a teacher’s pet!” Eleanor cringes, putting down her can and stepping back; “Oh, what the fork have you turned me into?!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’ve become a total nerd! That’s on you.” Michael deflected as he hung up his jacket and removed his bowtie, snapping his fingers to turn his trousers to jeans. 

“Actually, ding dong, only reason I even asked Chidi to help me be a better person was because you tricked me into believing I wasn’t good enough to get into Heaven!”

“That wasn’t a trick, that’s a fact of the Universe.”

“You know what I mean! This is all your fault! We’re having to put up with these stupid fake tortures every day and when I’m not pretending to be miserable about that, I gotta babysit my demon boyfriend to try and stop him from actually torturing one of my best friends!” Eleanor raises her tone as she rounds on him; “And even when I finally get a chance to escape it all, I end up having a fight with said stupid demon boyfriend who’s too much of a jerkash to admit when he’s crossed the line!”

He watches her get closer, inch by inch, doing his best not to dismiss her comments and only focus on how cute she looks when she’s angry, as well as how hot it is for her to be so fearless shouting down an all-powerful immortal being.

Michael blinks as he realises she’s waiting for a response.

“Oh, you mean me?”

Eleanor groans again, moving back to the fridge. She grabbed as many J.D cans as she could carry before pushing past Michael and heading towards their bedroom.

He watches her go with a frown; “What you taking all those in there for?”

“Because I am gonna spend my torture-free night alone, in my room, drinking, eating crab and watching Real Housewives until I pass out.” She mutters as she turns the knob.

“Sounds good, count me in.” He went to follow.

“Alone!” 

That sounded less good. Michael stops in his tracks, watching her slam the door. He scoffs. She’ll be back out soon. What’s she gonna do, just leave him to sleep alone on the couch?

-

Yes, apparently.

Were he a true demon, he’d be hoping that Eleanor was having as much trouble getting to sleep as him. That she was regretting starting a fight on what was supposed to be their monthly getaway together and was going to appear any second to apologise and agree to forget it ever happened.

But he doesn’t, because he’s already passed failing at being evil, try as his natural instincts might try to rear their ugly tentacles again. He can’t wish anything bad upon her, the woman who changed his life, who shone a light in the darkness. He doesn’t even enjoy torturing her friends, not really. Chidi, a little, as an outlet, but only for an instant high that quickly wore off when he had to deal with the consequences. Which was mostly Eleanor being pissed at him.

He wondered how close she was coming to being tempted to turn a steak knife on him again? He probably deserved it.

It was...tough, being part of a team. Bonding with Eleanor on her own, two of them here isolated away from everyone else, had run so smoothly, as if it were destiny if he dared to entertain such a lame concept. But having to share her with others, taking classes with them, sometimes it was fun but other times...Ugh, he could gladly wish for retirement. He didn’t enjoy feeling dumb or small or...so clearly inferior to the kind, ethical human who got to spend way more time with his girlfriend than he did.

Not that Michael would ever bring that up. He’d sound as bad as Ross in Season Three when he was being possessive of Rachel with that Mark guy. What a tool.

Don’t be a Ross, Mikey. That’s Ethics for Dummies right there. 

He sighs, heavily, imagining losing Eleanor forever because of being like that doofus was with Rachel. He was better than that. He understood how important this was to her. He tried to respect her friends and what it meant for her to have all of them as a group; the family she’d been denied...that they’d all been denied in some way or another.

It’s on you to make this right, he tells himself. 

He hit his pillow before groaning again. Fine! First thing in the morning, he’ll wake her up with a nice breakfast, he’ll say sorry, he’ll let her know how frustrated he’s been with Vicky and others lately, and how he should make it up to Chidi and-

Click.

Michael freezes. That was definitely Eleanor’s bedroom door.

He closes his eyes, pretending to sleep. He doesn’t wanna try to do this now, not at this hour. Let them have a night apart to think, let her sleep, let it be a surprise to wake up to. She’s probably just coming in to grab some water from the Brita. Or some midnight shrimp from that infinite platter in the fridge. There’s a rapid thumping sound rippling through the air. He can barely hear her bare feet pad across the carpet...

On their way towards...him...

He struggles not to open his eyes when he feels the smaller body push against him, moving him back against the cushions and slipping under his arm for the lack of a blanket. He doesn’t need one and, even without his natural fiery body heat, it’s warm enough tonight. So why is she shaking all over as she curls into him-?

Oh. Oh shirt. Not again.

“You okay-?” he whispers only to find a palm pressed to his lips.

“Shut up!” her voice commands, her fierce tone trembling with fear; “M’still mad at you!”

Clearly. That’s not his main concern right now.

He nods, opening his eyes. The remnants of tears shine on her cheeks.

He carefully moves his hand to wipe them with his thumb, cradling her face as if it were the most precious object in existence.

“Just tell me what you need.” He says, softly.

They can deal with all the rest in the morning. Right here, right now, he’s to do what his role has always been since they first arrived here.

Does she want to talk about it? Can he get her anything?

He doesn’t need to ask these questions. They’ve been uttered a hundred times, over a hundred nights, throughout this house. He’s never denied her a thing and he’s hardly going to stop tonight.

Eleanor sniffs; “...Just...do the thing...”

He nods; “C’mere.” he lifts his arm again, letting her curl in close against this chest before he wraps her up tight. His fingers gently massage up and down her back as she tries to sync her breathing with his, burying her face in his chest. He whispers the same soothing words, the same promises of safety, the same tender reassurance that it will all be okay. She can never hear it enough, not after what she had to endure. It’s a miracle she ever came back from it.

Michael chances his luck a little when he feels her begin to calm by brushing his lips against her hair. She gives the smallest hum, fingers still clutching on tight.

“Still mad.” She mumbles, nuzzling into him.

“I know.” He whispers, “And I’m still here.” Always.

He’s not sure when the couch became comfortable again but he can feel his own eyes becoming heavy. He watches her face, so close to his, admiring the smoothness of her skin and each hair out of place.

“Guess I might as well stay...” Eleanor says, sleepily; “I know you need me to look after you.”

He grants her that, smiling; “We cockroaches gotta stick together, right?”

She doesn’t respond.

“Still not good?”

Her lips twitch; “Getting better. We’ll make a human outta you soon, demon babe. Now go the fork to sleep.”

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

There was a thing in my mind that needed to be written. Unfortunately, somewhere during this I knew I would not finish it, I would not make that into an actual fic – for several reasons, one being I reached some low point in writing once more, which seems to be quite normal but rather unfortunate for finishing ideas ;) Still, there is something here that may work for its own. It’s a bit angsty, I guess, and for once this is actual Emhyr whump, which feels a bit strange. Maybe you would like to guess how it could have ended. I think Geralt would have found some trick to convince Triss to heal Emhyr. 

The pain was sharp and harsh, strangely familiar, like an old acquaintance. Even as he fell, before he hit the ground, above all the noise and chaos that immediately erupted, he recognized that pain. How peculiar to recall, Emhyr thought, as he watched his blood form a puddle beneath him. The confusion around him did not seem to concern him, and the noise subsided.

Faces appeared above him, orders were yelled; there were sounds of fighting and a lot of shouting, and he was glad that all of it was getting quieter. Finally, there was the only face that mattered. A wolf with cat eyes, sometimes golden, sometimes amber.

"My flame," Geralt said softly, and that's when Emhyr knew it was severe, and his eyes fell shut.

When he opened them again, he was almost surprised to be there still. Sounds, smells, and the feel of soft sheets told him he was in his bedroom. It was not a dream, and he was still alive, of which the pain was both warning and reminder. Geralt was there, sitting on the bed and holding his hand; how strange this was, tables turned. That seemed to be Emhyr's duty: to take care of his adventurous husband. To scold him, to calm him, to take his pain away.

It had been a long time since he had felt like this, so helpless and powerless in the face of pain. A long time since it had been his own. Now he almost did not know how to meet this foe adequately. Holding hands didn't seem to help that much, he realized. It only aided the one who wasn't lying there.

"When were you planning to tell me about this?" asked Geralt calmly.

Too calmly. He was angry, Emhyr realized. No, not necessarily angry. He seemed confused, amazed, maybe even hurt. How ironic, Emhyr thought.

"Who was it?" he asked, surprised by how normal his voice sounded. How ordinary, when nothing was ordinary.

"Don't deflect," Geralt growled, "Someone managed to ram a knife into you in the middle of the throne room, and it's only thanks to Adan that I didn't rip the guy to shreds on the spot. Don't look at me like that; yes, there's still enough of him left. We'll figure out who he is."

"Some lunatic, that's all," Emhyr replied absently. He found it unusually difficult to focus.

"No, you know who is a lunatic?"

Here it comes, Emhyr thought. It was inevitable.

"Seriously. You made a contract with Triss that she can't heal you in certain situations? What's this nonsense?"

Emhyr felt a sigh rising inside him, a strange feeling bubbling to the surface, demanding to be expelled like excess air.

"This contract has existed for a very long time," he replied. "It has been made with every sorceress, not only Merigold, but every one before her."

"Why don't I know about it?"

"You are not the court sorceress, Geralt. There's no reason you should know about it."

"No reason? You dare to tell your husband to his face that he has no right to know about such decisions?"

"The fact that certain things have altered in my life does not change this fundamental decision," Emhyr replied firmly. Solid as a rock, at least he hoped so.

"That's insane," Geralt argued.

Emhyr watched him, his beautiful, headstrong husband who had never learned not to show his emotions on his face. The tense jaw, the brows pulled sharply, his voice, somewhere between undisguised anger and fear – he was just always too emotional. Geralt was his channel, his catalyst, the manifestation of his own feelings, which encompassed far more than what he ever showed on the outside – and that was very little, for a good reason. Emhyr also felt this anger and fear. This pain, utterly different from the physical sensation that was drilling in his guts.

"This contract," Geralt continued as if giving a lecture, "says that if a severe injury is not instantly fatal, it may only be treated conventionally."

"Well? I'm still alive, so apparently, that kind of treatment is possible."

Geralt ran his hands through his hair as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, as if he were talking to a child who was on his last nerve because he just couldn't make it understand how the world worked.

"Possible," he said, "but also uncertain and dangerous. And simply unnecessary."

"Unnecessary, yes," Emhyr replied unexpectedly and with some bitterness. "I didn't expect it to end like this, of all things. "

"It doesn't end at all," Geralt disagreed.

"Geralt..."

"No. Neither like this nor otherwise. Your stubbornness is ridiculous. This can be healed in no time."

"It's not a small thing."

"It's only not a small thing if you don't do anything about it," Geralt replied heatedly. "Are you going to throw away everything you've built because of some silly aversion to magic?"

Emhyr looked at him sternly.

"I have a daughter, as you know. The realm loses nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

Geralt jumped to his feet, and as he spoke, his voice grew louder.

"And what about me? Doesn't what I lose count?"

His fists clenched, protruding knuckles so white that Emyhr could almost feel the fingernails in his own palms. Somehow, Geralt managed to calm down. He sat back down at the bed. With a firm grip, he took Emhyr's right hand in his, held it up, held the ring in front of his eyes.

"This is a promise you made," Geralt said seriously. "You think two years is enough? That's fucking selfish. You think those two years were so wonderful that they outweigh the past. As good as two decades or more because they made you forget what was before. And that's true, but not just for you. And I want more of that. I don't want it to end now, and you know very well it doesn't have to."

"Magic of this kind always comes with a price," Emhyr replied, searching Geralt's gaze. This was significant; it was important for Geralt to understand. "Keeping someone alive may have side effects that you find worse than the thought of dying. You should know that."

Oh, Geralt knew. He had experienced this kind of magic not only once. All the memories, the dark feelings, the pain that was sometimes worse than the wounds, even if they were already healed. Magic that gave so much, more than was natural, also took something. It took a piece of you and made the worst of it that was possible. Unpredictable, inevitable. To live on, even if the will to do so was strong, was not always a gift. At that moment, he understood.

"It's because of the curse," he stated, his gaze as soft as his voice, and that's what made it so hard.

There was this pain that wouldn't subside, and part of Emhyr felt he deserved it. That it was right that this feeling was boring into him, like hitting a hook into such a rigid wall, it was slow going. The wall hardly gave way, even when the plaster crumbled. He was used to hiding behind that wall, but the plaster crumbled much more quickly when he looked at his spouse.

"Back then," he explained quietly, his gaze drifting, far into the past and away from Geralt, "a long time ago, someone told me that true love could be one-sided and still have enough power. The words of the original spell could certainly be understood that way. But spells are tricky, aren't they? So all these years, no one could tell me for sure if the seed of that curse had not remained in me. Whether the sheer fact that the curse was overcome with lies and tricks mattered."

"And then what?" asked Geralt. "Do you think that would make me love you any less?"

Emhyr resented that hopeful little smile on his face. That assurance that everything would be all right if he just let him do his thing. He didn't believe in that.

"I would love myself less then," he answered sternly. "There are some things that no one wants to go back to. Things you've done. Thoughts and feelings that should never resurface. Don't you understand that this isn't about you, Geralt? What I would do to save you, no one can put into words. But I don't want you to do that. Some things aren't worth it."

Emhyr saw by his eyes that he still did not believe him. But he saw more, and that hurt almost more than the pain in his side.

"You know I could just make you," Geralt said, and as if to prove it, he snapped his fingers, a gesture meant to imply a power that was meaningless to Emhyr for a good reason.

"I know above all that you wouldn't," he replied.  

Geralt lowered his head. Then, very slowly, he withdrew his hand from Emhyr's, forgoing the impulse to stroke it one more time, and stood up. Without another word, he left the room.