#meanwhile: everyone's confused by the fact she appears to be enjoying it

[animezinglife]

You know Dorian's judging the fire out of Cullen for inviting a woman to play chess and making some sarcastic remark about how he might as well have taken a celibacy vow.

[luci-in-trenchcoats]

Not My Brother

Summary: What happens when two guys looking exactly like you show up in your world yet no one bats an eye except the three of you? A whole lot of confusion. Especially when everyone keeps calling those guys you've never met before your brothers...

Pairing: None (features Dean Winchester, Beau Arlen & Ben/Soldiery Boy)

Word count: 8,600ish

Warnings: language, Soldier Boy's language, mention of torture, spoilers for Supernatural, The Boys & Big Sky

A/N: Here's the triplet fic! I wrote this basically a year ago and finally finished! Told from all 3 guys POV's. Enjoy!

_______

Beau

“I’ll be heading out in five,” I said, turning the corner with my eyes locked down onto a file. And smacking straight into a body. Poppernak bounced back, an apologetic look on his face.

“Sorry, boss.”

“It’s fine Pop. What’s…” I trailed off.

Sat in the two chairs in front of my desk were what appeared to be my fucking twins. One had shorter hair and a days worth of scruff on his jaw while the other’s hair was a tad longer than mine, a beard on display. He was a bit more muscular than the other one, which was saying something since they were both strong. The one with short hair was more of my body type, his green eyes flashing with a flicker of surprise at the sight of me but then nothing more. He shifted in his seat, his flannel shirt riding up in the back. 

Meanwhile the other one looked pissed as all hell, jaw clearly clenched. Unlike the other one in jeans and workboots, the angry one was in a pair of sweatpants and a zip up, his sneakers absolutely filthy.

None of this would have been alarming if not for the fact that I was not a fucking identical triplet.

“Nollins found your brothers fighting again,” said Poppernak as I noticed the little scrapes on their cheeks and knuckles. “We brought ‘em to you per instructions.”

“Right…” I said, Poppernak staring at me. Was I hallucinating or something?

“You want to charge them?” he asked just as Hoyt walked into the doorway with a file in hand. 

“I need a signature…well if it ain’t the Arlen boys,” she grinned, looking at my clones sat in the chairs. “Let me guess, Ben started it.”

“I did not!” said the angry one. The short haired one quickly argued against that, Jenny giving me an apologetic smile.

“I thought Ben and Dean were getting along better lately?” she whispered as she held out a file and pen to me.

“Uh, guess not?” I said, quickly scribbling on the form she wanted me to sign. “I need to deal with this.”

“Night guys! Behave for your brother for once,” she said, giving them a quick wave. Poppernak left behind her, allowing me to shut the door and lock it after them. I closed my eyes and spun around, the two men still sat there. Oh god, I was losing it.

“What the fuck is going on!” I said. Dean and Ben shared a look as I held up a finger. “Ah. I know what’s happening. I’m having a stroke. Oh! I bet I slipped on that damn front step that’s been wet all day. I slipped and hit my head and now I’m dying on the ground somewhere. Huh. That’s sad. I never got to get Emily that motorcycle like I wanted. Is she going to cry at my funeral? Stupid question. Of course she’s going to cry. God, I hope she’s not too upset. Poor baby doesn’t deserve-”

My face was suddenly tingling, Ben standing there with his hand clenched as I cupped my cheek.

“You punched me!” I said, the pain feeling way too much like a real hit. “What kind of near-death hallucination is this!”

“Stop being a fucking pussy and man up. You think I’m happy about losing my powers? You don’t see me being a bitch and crying about it,” said Ben. Dean yanked him back, pointing a finger at him. “You want to go again?”

“Shut up and sit your ass down!” Dean growled. He rolled his eyes, turning to me with a friendly enough smile. “Relax dude. You’re not dying, okay? I have a good idea of what’s going on and if I’m right, me and jackass over here will be out of your hair really soon.” He slapped my arm, dropping his smile when I stared at where he’d touched me. 

These guys were real. Like in the flesh real.

“Before you freak out on me, let’s take this conversation somewhere more private, hm? Maybe not a police station? Okay, Chief?” said Dean.

“I’m the Sheriff,” I mumbled, closing my eyes. 

“It’s just a nickname, buddy. You got a house? Let’s go to your house okay, Sheriff?” I nodded in what felt like slow motion, grabbing my jacket as Dean convinced Ben to come with us. 

If I was going to have a mental breakdown, at least the Dean one seemed nice.

“Where’s my airstreamer!” I said twenty minutes later when I pulled up to where my home should have been. Instead, a large, beautiful wood cabin sat in it’s place, nestled in the trees. “That’s not my house!”

“According to google it is,” said Dean. I glanced to my right, glaring at him as he scrolled through my phone. 

“How did you get that!” I said, trying to snatch it away.

“You tossed it in the cupholder, dumbass,” scoffed Ben from the backseat. “Is this numbnuts house or not, cocksucker?” Dean turned in his seat, his features tight. 

“First off, dickwad, I screw women. Second, there’s nothing wrong with sucking cock, got it?” he rolled his eyes and scrolled the phone more. “We totally would have a homophobic alter ego out there in some universe. We’re just that damn lucky. Even you with your Sheriff job and seemingly normal life, I bet it’s fucked up to a degree huh?”

“Yeah,” I breathed out, Dean humming as he stopped his finger on the phone.

“I’m not homo whatever you called me,” said Ben, leaning forward in his seat. “I know what that means. I don’t care if a dude fucks a dude. You just look the type.”

“That’s still a problem, jackass. People don’t look-”

“Guys,” I said, swallowing thickly. “Can we just agree we shouldn’t judge other people, for anything besides their character and focus on more important things like what the fuck is happening?”

“Yes, Beau, excellent point,” said Dean, slapping my shoulder, giving Ben a glare. “Isn’t it?”

“Sure, whatever,” he said, getting out of the car. Dean slid out too with my phone, leaving me scrambling to put the car in park and follow after. “Oh you’re so a dirty cop to afford this place. I can respect that.”

“I am not a dirty cop!” I snapped, Ben raising his eyebrows as I got in his face.

“Well, well. Maybe our little pussy has a dick after all.” I looked back at Dean, his face in an apologetic smile.

“You can see how we got arrested for getting in a fist fight now, huh?” said Dean. He walked past me, slapping my shoulder before putting a hand on my back, guiding me forward towards the house. “So this isn’t your house, Beau?”

“Like I said, I live in an airstream on this plot of land. There’s an old cabin not too far but my house was right here this morning and now-”

“Fuck!” growled Ben. Dean and I froze, carefully spinning around to watch him fall to the ground on hands and knees. He started to shake, Dean moving fast over to his side. I looked around, this close to going back to my dying theory, when Dean hoisted Ben up, an arm around his body. 

“Beau. Inside. Now.” He was moving fast and I jogged up the few front steps to the porch, opening the door and flipping on a light switch. I blinked, catching a framed picture on the wall. It wasn’t one I recalled taking but I could clearly see why.

There was Ben, Dean and I, arms around each, wearing big smiles on what looked like some sort of camping trip.

“Beau!” shouted Dean, already past me and up the stairs, Ben clinging to him for dear life. “Find us a bathroom now!”

“Right, sorry!” I said, jogging up after them. I skirted around them in a hallway, finding a bathroom in the first bedroom I checked. I whistled as I hit the lightswitch, Dean inside with Ben, sitting him down on the floor before he reached inside the shower and turned it on full blast. “What’s-”

“He’s having a panic attack,” said Dean. I glanced down, Ben shaking hard, his eyes staring at the tile floor but not quite seeing anything. I didn’t even notice Dean leave, quickly back in the bathroom and returning to Ben, slapping a pair of noise-canceling headphones over his ears and wrapping a blanket tightly around him. 

Ben blinked, staring at Dean with tears in his eyes, anger and shame in every feature of his face.

“Go ahead and call me a cocksucker all you want man, but I ain’t leaving your ass until you’re though this, understand me?” Ben nodded once. Dean sat back next to him, sighing deeply. “Sheriff? Maybe you want to go tell your wonderful neighbors to fuck off with the fireworks? I want this guy with us when I tell you guys what’s going on.”

“Yeah, I’ll, uh, I’ll be back in ten.”

“Are you a cop? Or ex-military?” I asked Dean half an hour later. We were sitting on the large sectional in the family room of the home, big enough for more than three grown men to comfortably lay on at once. Ben glanced at Dean from where he sat by himself way down, steadily nursing his glass of bourbon and refilling it.

Dean cleared his throat and shook his head.

“You act like it,” said Ben. He said that with certainty, a twinge of remorse in my gut for not realizing he was suffering from PTSD earlier.

“You must have served,” I said to him, Dean sipping from his cold beer. I drank from my own as Ben closed his eyes. “Like Dean said, I think we’ve all had some bad hands dealt to us. Maybe of our own doing, maybe not. I’m still pretty sure this is a fever dream and isn’t actually real-”

“It’s real,” they both said. 

“How do you know that?” said Dean with a nod at Ben. Ben smirked, slumping back in his seat.

“Where I come from, I was born in 1918. When I was a young man, I signed up for a secret war effort and then injected me with Compound V. It made me a superhero. Superstrength beyond what you two can even comprehend. Invulnerability. I never aged past my mid-forties. I was a war hero. A movie star. Women, men, everyone wanted to get fucked by me or be me. And then my team betrayed me, I was tortured for forty years by the russians, and they stuck nuclear waste down my gullet. But I was so damn tough it didn’t kill me. No, no. It made me powerful. I could fucking explode. Bring down buildings. Turn other supes human. Kill them.” 

Ben knocked back his bourbon and smiled, looking between Dean and I.

“I was born exactly like the two of you. Just a boy. Just a man. And I could do all that before they drugged me up and trapped me back in a box. So if all that was real, then I can believe that life has the ability to throw me into another fucking dimension, or whatever the fuck this is, too.”

My eyes couldn’t have been wider, Ben snickering at me but I couldn’t even try to be mad at him.

He’d been a fucking superhero? A superhero? That was-

“I hunt monsters. And demons and the supernatural and a whole bunch of shit. Even took on the devil and God a few times and won. Technically I died in 2020, even though I did that a bunch too, but I was dead dead last I checked and it was also like 2070 something last I knew and according to the calendar in your office it’s like fifty years earlier so something weird is definitely up,” said Dean.

My head turned slowly to him, eyes still wide, mouth gaping now. 

“Also, other worlds totally exist which what I’m pretty sure is happening. We’re all different versions of the same guy in different universes,” said Dean.

“You hunt monsters? What kind of fucked up world do you live in? At least he’s like superman!” I said, pointing at Ben.

“If superman does hard drugs off a hooker’s ass then sure, I’m like that guy,” chuckled Ben. My head whipped back to him, Dean holding up a hand. “Who died and made you the head of this operation in the first place, Deanne weenie? I'm the oldest. I’m in charge.”

“I spent forty years tortured in hell by demons, grandpa,” growled Dean. “I know what the hell I’m talking about so sit down, shut up, and let me figure out a way to get you back to whatever universe you belong in.”

“I spent forty years getting tortured too, cum guzzler. It don’t make you special,” said Ben, getting to his feet. Dean rose fast, the two of them bumping their chests against each other.

“Wait!” I jumped over the ottoman in the center of the couch, forcing them each to take a step back. I took a deep breath, Ben grabbing my arm to yank me backwards.

“Not now, kiddo. I need to finish what I started with this one,” said Ben. I planted my feet but Ben was strong. Maybe not super strong anymore but still, he pulled me back hard and fast. Fast enough to make me trip and hit my head on the way down.

“Ow!” I gasped, wrapping an arm around my head, slowly getting to my knees. When I opened my eyes, Ben was worriedly staring at me, his hand on my head. “Get off-”

“What is going on?” Ben asked Dean, looking over his shoulder. He was wide eyed when he looked back at me, looking me over. “Why the fuck do I feel bad I just did that? I don’t give a shit about you. I don’t know you. I don’t…”

I looked at Dean, his eyes closing. 

“When Ben had his panic attack-” I said, Ben growling. I ignored him, looking to Dean still. “When he was scared, you went full blown…you were acting like you cared about him.”

“For some reason, when that happened, something clicked,” said Dean, kneeling down on the floor beside Ben and I. He found Ben’s gaze and nodded. “It felt like you were my brother. Even when you pushed Beau just now, I don’t hate you when I easily could. I just…”

“Care that Beau’s okay,” said Ben. He held out a hand, helping me sit up, a gut punching hitting me in the stomach. I swallowed, the same thick swallow they were sharing. “Dean.”

“You’re using my name. Now I’m concerned,” said Dean. Ben groaned but I understood where he was going with this.

“Dean, I think what Ben’s trying to say is…this isn’t your guy’s universe and it’s not mine either. I have one brother and he’s not you guys so wherever the hell we are-”

“We’re brothers here,” said Dean. He closed his eyes. “This is our house too. There’s too many pictures of us in this house, the bedrooms are too different, the garage outside has my muscle car in it I’m pretty sure. Which means we’re in a completely different universe.”

“Or we’re not,” said Ben. Dean opened his mouth to argue but Ben slapped his hand over it. “We could be dead. Or in purgatory.”

“I was already dead and you two weren’t there,” said Dean. “Besides, it’s 2023. I was dead and Ben was in a box? Or some shit. We couldn’t die twice.”

“I wasn’t dead in the box, moron,” sighed Ben. “I was just in a coma kind of. On ice. For probably the next forty years.”

I stood up, needing something for the splitting headache between my ears. I left them to bicker in the family room, something nagging at me that this was familiar. It couldn’t be though, right?

I wandered into the kitchen and swiped some pills from the cabinet, ducking down the hall to a bathroom and tossing a few down.

“Guys?” Loud footsteps approached as I existed, holding up the bottle. “How did I know where this bottle would be? I’ve never been in this house.”

“I’d assume the medicine would be in the kitchen,” said Dean, Ben shrugging. I shook my head, shaking the bottle.

“No. No I always keep my medicine in the bathroom. I always have my whole life. My parents did, I did, my ex-wife. Always in the bathroom. So why did I know to go to the kitchen?” I asked.

“Because that’s where Dean keeps them, isn’t it?” said Ben, crossing his arms.

“I think I know what’s happening,” said Dean, very slowly holding up a hand. “Ben. You and I woke up on that trail, remember?”

“Obviously,” said Ben. “Get to the fucking point.”

“Beau, did anything weird happen today? Did you…did you have an emergency? Did you black out?”

“No. I was at work, pursued a thief, caught them-” Dean grabbed my wrist, his face tight. 

“How did you pursue the thief? Was it dangerous?” 

“It was on a motorcycle. It got a little fast but-”

“I know what happened,” said Dean. He dropped my hand and ran his own over his face, eyes wide. “I don’t know how to fix this. Fuck, I think we’re stuck until we die.”

“Fine with me,” said Ben. 

“What happened?” I asked, crossing my arms. Dean shut his eyes and breathed deeply.

“We are in a world where the three of us are brothers. Triplets obviously. And the reason the three of us care about each other and get flashes of things, like knowing where the pills were, are because we’re remembering lives that aren’t ours.”

“Uh…” Dean swallowed.

“Today Ben and I died. This version. We fell off a cliff while hiking. Ben fell and I tried to catch him but we both went over. And you Beau, you got hurt on that motorcycle. The versions of us from this world, they all died today. But for some reason, we all got put in the wrong damn bodies and now we’re here.”

“That makes zero fucking sense,” said Ben. He held up a finger. “Actually, it’s fucking stupid. It makes more sense that-”

“Nope, Dean’s right,” said a voice behind us. I spun around, a young man in his twenties smiling back with a wave. “Sorry, paperwork mix up. I’ll pop you guys back where you belong.”

“Hold up shortstack,” said Ben, striding over to the young man. “If-”

The man disappeared, Ben and Dean still close by. The familiar nagging feeling was gone but the three of us were still there.

“Jack! It didn’t fucking work!” said Dean.

“It did! You three are exactly where you’re supposed to be. Beau, I shuffled a few things around in your universe so Dean and Ben can stay. Ben wants to and Sam wants you to have a fair shot at life too so he’ll see you when it’s time, okay? Talk to you guys when you die! Bye!”

“The fuck is going on!” shouted Ben.

“This is why God should not be a child,” groaned Dean. “We’re stuck. We’re fucking stuck as brothers. For real now. All because man-child druggie over here wanted to not go back to being in a coma. I was dead and I was ready to go!”

Ben threw a right hook, Dean barely dodging it. He tried throwing another but I caught his bicep, yanking him away from Dean.

“Enough!” I shouted, holding up a hand in front of each of them, keeping them at arms length from one another. “You fucking calm down, Ben. And Dean, cut the guy a break for not wanting to go back to being captured.”

“He’s clearly a piece of shit. You heard him talking before, Beau,” said Dean. “I-”

“I said enough!” Dean’s jaw snapped shut, both of them huffing, giving each other dirty looks. “Ben, go take the bourbon and hang out on the porch, alright?”

He said nothing and went past, not without forcefully bumping Dean’s shoulder. When the front door slammed shut, Dean wiped a hand over his face again. “Really dude?”

“Beau, I get you want to be the nice guy but he doesn’t belong here and neither do I,” said Dean. I skirted past him, stopping in the main hall of the house, looking out the front door to find Ben sitting on the front porch with his head between his knees. “We don’t know Ben. Maybe he deserves to be locked up. Trust me, I’d love to be alive again but I want that with my real brother, not this place. Ben and I aren’t supposed to be here.”

“Actually you are,” said that young man’s voice again. We both looked around, the young man sighing. “Listen, Dean. This is Beau’s world, the Beau in front of you. Maybe I went ahead and switched things up a bit, made you guys all brothers and yes, you can recall memories when needed. Maybe I did fuck up Beau’s world. But there’s a reason for that. All three of you need each other. You-”

“I was at peace Jack. I-”

“You were bored out of your fucking mind in Heaven. Hey, you want to get back in the game? Consider this your audition. Help your new brothers,” said Jack. “Beau?”

I pursed my lips, crossing my arms. “Yes, uh, Jack?”

“You don’t have to be afraid of me. But I don’t pop into your world often. You guys don’t get into as much trouble as say, the world Dean lived in.”

“Excuse me but who’s fault was that?” argued Dean.

“My point being, Beau, is to be yourself. Your ups and downs are as valid as your brother’s. Your monsters just don’t come with claws or lasers,” said Jack. “Now I really, really need to go. Dean, magic doesn’t exist here so yeah, you guys are stuck until you kick it. I promise I will pop you back to Sam when you do, okay? Just try to be there for each other. And maybe get a stiff drink in Beau. He’s pretty sure he’s lost his mind. Be sure to stay away from rebar!”

“Little shit!” shouted Dean. He grumbled but was quickly going to the liquor cart, grabbing a bottle of tequila and shoving it in my hands. “Drink.”

“Was that…God? Is God a kid in his twenties?” I asked, Dean ripipng the cap off, and pressing the bottle to my lips. I swallowed back two shots worth before he let me up for air, patting my back.

“Yes…technically he’s his grandson. God was a major dickhead. Jack’s cool but hands off which means-”

“Which means this is for real,” I finished. Dean knocked back some tequila himself before throwing an arm over my shoulders and leading me outside.

“We stuck?” grumbled Ben.

“Yup,” said Dean, sitting down on a porch seat, leaving me to lean back against the railing, taking another swig from the bottle. “Happy fucking new universe to us.”

“It’s actually pretty nice,” I hiccuped. Ben groaned and drank down a fifth of the bourbon bottle without so much as a flinch. I blinked, staring at him as I felt flashes of a memory. “You were in special ops. You went to rehab twelve years ago for a drug problem but you’ve been clean since,” I said. Ben narrowed his eyes at me, smirking darkly.

“Your wife divorced you and left you for a rich schmuck. Oh, and your kid potentially wants nothing to do with you. Sheriff.” I turned away from him, Dean closing his eyes in his seat.

“Can we all just agree to shut up and drink tonight?” sighed Dean. 

“Agreed,” we both said. No one said a word as we silently passed the bottles between ourselves. 

I knew I’d have a killer headache in the morning but I didn’t care. If I was ever going to have an excuse to get blackout drunk in my forties, this was it. But even as the three of us lay on the porch hours later, everyone too far gone to even move, something tickled the back of my mind.

“We used to have sleepovers on our parents porch,” I mumbled.

“Are our parents nice?” breathed out Ben. I hummed. “Is our dad?” His voice was thick, Dean shifting beside me.

“Don’t worry about it man. Look at Beau. I’m sure his…our parents are really nice people, right Beau?” said Dean.

“Good. I don’t want anymore shitty ass parents,” said Ben. I forced my head to the left, finding his back to me. He was soon snoring, Dean relaxing comfortably close by.

Maybe when I woke up, I’d realize this was all a very intense dream that had never actually happened.

Somehow I knew in my gut though that in the morning when the sun rose, Ben and Dean would be exactly where they slept.

And they weren’t going anywhere.

Dean

I groaned as I sat up. Sleeping on the hard wood of the porch had been a mistake. I noticed a blanket had been tossed over myself, Ben snoring loudly off to my side with his own blanket and hugging a pillow to his chest. 

The smell of coffee hit me and I hummed, wearily following it inside. Beau was in the kitchen, sipping on a cup of nearly white colored coffee and the thought to tease him hit me.

“You like to drink a lot of cream in the mornings do we Beau?” I said before I could help myself. Beau slurped it back, his annoyed smile letting the tightness in my chest relax.

“Only if he bought me dinner first,” he chuckled. “And yes, I like cream in my coffee. Sue me.”

“Leave some for the rest of us is all,” I said. He poured me a cup as I got out the carton, the two of us working around each other like we’d done it a million times. It was only when I sat at the kitchen island did I realize he was freshly showered and dressed, a badge and gun on his hip. “You going to work?”

“Yup,” he said, pouring more coffee in a travel mug. “I don’t get the most time off in the world and I’d rather save my vacation days for…”

Emily. In my head I saw a clear picture of her, a protective instinct towards her I’d only felt towards Sam before. Glancing at Beau though, I sensed it too and somehow, I knew it’d be there for Ben too.

“I’m so jealous of you,” I said. Beau fixed the cap on his mug while he worked on putting together a ham and turkey sandwich. “I mean…”

“You want to be a dad. I know. I feel like we’ve had this conversation before,” said Beau. “I get the feeling my daughter adores you and Ben.”

“The bastard has to have a soft spot somewhere,” I said. I glanced over my shoulder towards the front door, a pang of guilt rushing through my veins. “I can keep an eye on him.”

“I appreciate the gesture but Ben’s a big boy. He makes his own choices,” said Beau, sliding his sandwich into a baggie, tucking it away in a soft sided lunch box. “You guys probably have jobs too you ought to get to. Maybe check your rooms?”

“Good idea,” I said. I quietly watched him finish packing his lunch, Beau rinsing out his mug before placing it in the dishwasher. “I guess we’ll see you later today then.”

“Yeah. It’s friday last I knew so maybe we can order some pizzas, try to get to know each other?” I smiled, a small twinge of jealously in my gut again. “Sounds like a plan. Text if you need something.”

“Sure thing,” I said, watching him gather his things and start to head out. He froze halfway down the hall though, spinning around to look at me. His face was curious and bashful at the same time. 

“When you say you fought monsters, that include demons?” he asked. I nodded, his eyes widening for a moment. “Does…does salt actually keep them away?”

I chuckled, looking him over. I liked Beau more and more. “It’s actually ghosts the salt works on. Demons you need either an enchanted amulet or something like that or an anti-possession warding.” I peeled down my shirt collar, revealing my tattoo. “Doesn’t seem like an issue in this world.”

“I’d rather not know the answer to that,” he said, smiling softly. “Later Dean.”

I nodded, the house quiet for a beat. I trudged upstairs, finding a bedroom that I instinctively knew was mine. It was the room the three of us had crammed in the night before, the memory of Ben shaking on the bathroom floor forcing an unpleasant ache.

Only Sam had ever elicited that ache.

But something about Beau, even Ben…it rushed in my blood, made me hope Beau got to work safely. Made me wish Ben didn’t have to endure that kind of fear. 

“This is what I get for complaining that heaven was too fucking boring,” I mumbled. I opened a closet, eyes darting around for clues when I caught a pair of coveralls with my name stamped on the front. “I’m a mechanic? That tracks.”

My phone on the nightstand rang, an unflattering picture of Beau eating a plate of nachos popping up.

“Hey,” I said, flipping through the closet. “I think I’m a mechanic.”

“Actually it looks like you’re a firefighter. Your work badge is sitting on my passenger seat,” he said. “And uh, you’re probably going to be pissed but your name is Dean Arlen according to it.”

“It’s whatever,” I sighed, resigning myself to that fact I’d be spending the next forty years in this world. At least.

“Any luck on what Ben does?” I slipped out of the room, going to the one across the hall. 

“Nope. I just checked…aw, this must be your daughter’s room. It’s so pretty. Will you be my dad?”

“No, idiot,” he laughed. “I might be oldest but-”

“No offense kiddo but I’m pretty sure I’m oldest,” I said, closing the door and heading down the hall.

“Tell you what? I’ll look up our birth records when I get to work. Loser has to make dinner.”

“You’re on, kid.”

“Asshole,” he mumbled. “I’ll drop your ID off at the firehouse, okay? It’s down the block from the station.”

“Ten four, Sheriff.” Beau sighed and hung up as I pushed open a door, this room neat and tidy, a framed children’s drawing on his dresser. I went to the only other room in the hallway, grimacing when I opened the door.

Ben’s room was a disaster. Clothes everywhere. A pungent smell of old spice in the air. There were beer cans and bottles on nearly every surface. I almost decided to give up and assume Ben didn’t have a job when a slip of paper on a covered desk caught my eye. I slipped inside, frowning at it.

“Guessing this one’s mine,” grumbled a voice behind me. I spun around, Ben walking in with a glass of something gross looking. He took a sip and closed his eyes. “We should get a maid.”

“Or you can clean up after yourself,” I said. He chuckled, his features dark. “Is that beneath you?”

“Listen,” he said, putting the glass down and walking up to me, pressing his chest against mine. I was not a small guy but this one…he had twenty pounds of muscle on me easily. He stared me down, narrowing his eyes. “I don’t know how they do things in your universe but in mine, people do what I say, understand?”

“We’re in Beau’s universe so tough shit. Here, you can be a damn man and clean up after yourself.” Ben leaned in close, smashing his nose against mine, a threat of violence in the air that reminded me of when I had the mark on my arm.

“Give me a reason to snap your neck, boy,” Ben growled. “Unlike that pussy cop, I don’t give two fucks about you or anyone else here.”

My instinct was to snap back, headbutt this asshole into the next century. But...if I couldn’t shake the feeling of giving a shit about these guys then that meant he couldn’t either.

“Then kill me Ben,” I said, raising my chin. “Go ahead. If you really don’t care, do it. I won’t even make it hard for you. Because I’ve died. I know where I’m going. You though? Something tells me you might end up going downstairs and trust me, you won’t like it one bit.”

Ben’s hand shot to my throat, a threat in the air. There was no pressure though, only his heavy pants in the air.

Suddenly it was gone, Ben storming across the room, throwing most of the things from the dresser onto the floor. Glass smashed against the hardwoods, items bouncing against the carpet before coming down with a hard thud. He kept his back to me, breathing heavily.

“I’ll take that as you aren’t going to kill me then,” I said. Ben mumbled something, shoulders shaking slightly. “Listen, you got crap? I get it. I get whatever the hell this is too. But it’s the twenty first century. You can get help and be a fucking man too. I have work. Can you survive on your own?”

“I don’t need a damn babysitter.” With a roll of my eyes, I left, going down to my own bedroom. After a minute, I wash changed into a fresh pair of jeans and had found a t-shirt with a fire emblem on it, one I assumed matched the fire station I worked for. I quickly grabbed a black flannel and a pair of white and dark olive green sneakers out of my closet, whistling to myself.

“You look new,” I said to myself, pleasantly surprised they fit so well. I jogged downstairs and noticed Beau had made up an extra pair of lunches while we were talking earlier, grabbing one and heading for the door.

“Wait.” I had my hand on the handle as heavy footsteps came downstairs, Ben changed into a baseball jersey and pair of tight jogger sweatpants. He slipped on a pair of sneakers in the tray by the door, staring at me. “Alright, let’s go, jackass.”

“I didn’t realize I was your fucking chaufer.”

“I’m drunk,” he growled. I nodded back at the kitchen.

“Beau made you lunch. Might as well take it before I drop you off wherever it is you’re going.”

“I’ll be back before then,” was all he said. Two minutes later we were on the road, driving in dead silence. For the first time I caught Ben smiling as we rode along in Baby, his hand running over the dash. “Ah. See this is a car I could drive. Don’t get me wrong. That cocksucker of a brother we have-”

“Don’t insult him.” Ben’s lips pressed into a thin line. “The man might not have fought monsters like I did or had super powers like you but he’s divorced with a teenage daughter. And he’s a cop, in charge of all the other ones. In charge of this town. The man is kind but don’t underestimate him. He’s got crap too. He’s us, remember?”

Ben crossed his arms and stared out the window for ten minutes until we hit the edge of town. I wasn’t sure where we were going but I let muscle memory guide me, eventually coming up to a small complex of doctor’s offices. Ben didn’t move when I leaned forward, recognizing the name on the sign from the letter on his desk.

“You’re an asshole,” I said. I saw his lip twitch up in the passenger mirror. “Go on before I kick your ass out. I got work.”

“You’re such a bitch,” said Ben, climbing out of the car and heading inside the building without a second glance. I shook my head, driving down the road for a few minutes, passing by Beau’s truck out front of the police station. I let instinct take over, eventually finding a fire station down the block. I found an empty spot out front and parked, inhaling sharply.

“Here goes nothing.”

Work was amazing. I wasn’t just a firefighter. I had seniority. I worked on arson investigations. I got to teach little kids on field trips all about fire safety. It was like tapping into these untouched parts of my brain. The more I let go, the more memories filled in. One’s about work, about Beau and Ben. 

Maybe Sam had a point about forcing me to live a normal life like he’d been able to. I missed the hell out of him but I knew I’d see him again and for him, it wouldn’t be that long. In the meantime, I knew two guys that could do with my help right here.

“Howdy, Sheriff,” I said late in the day as Beau and the pretty female cop my brain told me was named Jenny pulled up to the scene of a small house fire. “We just put out that fire, Beau. What you doin’ bringing more hot things my way?”

Beau’s eyes glared as Jenny laughed, smacking my arm. “Oh, I love you Arlen boys. All of you are such flirts. Except Beau. That some sort of big brother thing?”

It was my turn for my face to fall as Beau threw his arm over my shoulder, giving me a tight squeeze. “It must be. My little brothers are such flirts. Especially the baby, isn’t that right, Dean?”

“By twelve minutes!” I said, dread filling my veins as a memory popped into my head. I so was not the baby brother. I hadn’t spent a lifetime of being Sam’s big brother to suddenly be thrust into baby brother status.

“Enjoy it, kid,” Beau whispered in my ear, slapping my back as he pulled away. “Everything settled here?”

“Space heater caused the fire. Minimal damage. No injuries,” I said, Jenny looking me up and down, a twinkle in her eye. “Jenny, you want to grab a drink after work?”

“I would but I have a hot date with Cassie. Unless you want to join us?” 

“Sorry, Dean’s going to have to take a raincheck. We need a little guy time after the incident yesterday. Plus Dean has oh so graciously offered to make us dinner,” said Beau, narrowing his eyes when Jenny wasn’t looking. 

“Right. How is Ben by the way?” she asked. “I thought rehab stuck this time.”

“It did for the drugs,” I said, my mind filling in a gap it didn’t know existed a split second before. “We’re still working on the drinking.”

“He’s cutting down,” said Beau as I found myself nodding along with him. We shared a concerned look, Jenny polite enough to not say anything.

“Well, I know he’s a big softie deep down. He’s making progress which is something,” she said, clearing her throat. “Beau, I’ll do a quick interview and write up the report.”

“Excuse me, are you volunteering to do paperwork? What demon are you being possessed by?” Beau teased. I stared at Jenny, probably too long, Beau grimacing behind her. “Uh, sure. Need a ride back to the station when you’re through?”

“Dean can give me a lift,” she said, a curious smile on her face. 

“Alright. Dean, I’m ducking to the grocery store. You’re making me pizza tonight,” he said. He waved as he walked away, Jenny crossing her arms and staring after him.

“Your brother is something else,” she said, dipping her tongue out past her lips.

“Oh,” I said as it clicked. “You’re hot for your boss.” She grabbed my arm, quite hard for how small she was, dragging me around to the end of the fire truck. 

“Dean, I told you I don’t know how I feel about Beau. I just…don’t say anything to him. Or Cassie or Ben or anybody, got it?” I held up my hands, Jenny letting out a small exhale.

“Can I ask a personal question?” 

“Careful, Dean,” she said but nodded anyways.

“Why not me? What’s so different about Beau and me?” I asked. She smiled softly, resting her palm on my bicep.

“You’re sweet, Dean. A good friend. You boys are similar in ways but Beau’s friendship…it lifts me up if that makes sense. There’s a light to him that-”

“I understand,” I said, flashes of memories that weren’t my own but were popping into my head. “Beau’s the good brother, Ben’s the bad one and I’m the one that’s known for sleeping around.”

“You’re known for pushing women away when they start getting to close Dean. I know you boys have only been in town a year but I’d guess that’s who you’ve always been. It’s a shame. You’d really make someone happy if you just let yourself.”

Awesome. I was the same guy in this universe, just without a legitimate reason for being alone.

“Thanks, Jenny,” I said when she pursed her lips. “Honestly.”

“Life’s funny. It doesn’t mean it’s too late for anything,” she said, walking past me. “If you know what I mean.”

“Like you wanting to fuck my brother?”

“Shut up Arlen!” she said with a huff. “All you fucking men…”

I had the feeling Beau was still very much in love with his ex-wife. Yet…something told me Ben and I got on his back about Jenny. One man and two potential women to enjoy?

I’d rather deal with the devil all over again.

Ben

My head was fucking killing me and not just from the hangover. Everything was so fucking confusing. There was too much information in my head. It was too fucking much. I knew what the internet was and bluetooth and all those other fake fucking words Hughie had made up. Or I thought he’d made up.

I’d been gone almost forty years and in that time everything had changed so fucking much.

Funnily enough, I fucking enjoyed therapy. It turns out I wasn’t a complete piece of shit. If you don’t give a shit about everyone equally, you’re just an all around asshole which was a step up in my book. 

But apparently my language was “inappropriate” or some shit. It “hurt” those around me. Like my brothers. Yeah right. Those two little shits would get hurt walking to the damn mailbox in my world.

Maybe not Dean. He seemed…angry in a way Beau wasn’t. But they were both still pussies by all standards.

It was getting late in the afternoon as I walked down yet another sidewalk in downtown, the air slightly cool. It must have been early fall based on the few trees starting to turn color. 

“Hey Ben,” said a gorgeous woman with a small wave as she struggled to get her keys in the door. Cassie. She was Beau’s friend and by proxy, mine too. 

“Hey,” I said, walking over, resisting the urge to comment on her ass as I took a box out of her arms.

“Thanks,” she said, opening up the shop door. “Today’s been a disaster. I can’t believe it’s already after three and I’m only now just getting in.”

“I bet,” I said, following her inside, trying very hard to keep my mouth shut. I mean this woman looked good. The old me from before Russia would probably already be screwing her over the desk by now.

“You’re abnormally quiet,” she said, taking the box from my arms. “And no flirting? I bet your interview didn’t go as bad as you think.”

“Interview?” I asked, Cassie rolling her eyes at me. 

“You know, the one you were supposed to have today…the security thing?” Memories flashed in my mind about Beau and Dean pulling strings with a friend of theirs to get me an interview with a private security company. A job I could clearly recall not wanting in the first place.

“Oh. Yeah,” I said, catching a clock on the wall. This supposed interview was in less then fifteen minutes. “Doesn’t sound my style.”

She suddenly looked annoyed, setting the box on a counter off to the side. “Well I’m kind of busy so maybe you should go anyways.”

“Baby-”

“I have a boyfriend, Ben,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Go to the interview for your brothers sake.”

“Whatever,” I said, leaving and walking once again. It only took five minutes to find the place I was supposed to go but I didn’t want a fucking job. The only job I’d ever had was being a supe. A movie star. Model. All of those I’d made the rules.

Anyone who tried to make me do anything other than what I wanted could get fucked.

One Hour Later

I took the fucking job. Why oh why did I say yes to that fucking job? Worst of all, they wanted me to start on Monday.

At the fucking daycare. They wanted me to work at a fucking daycare at the front desk. Me. 

“Hey,” said Beau, pulling up to a stop on the street as I sat on a bench, a stack of black polos with the security logo stamped on them beside me. “You cool?”

“Just get me the hell home,” I grunted, grabbing the shirts and pilling into the passenger seat, grateful when he kept his mouth shut most of the way there.

“So uh, Cassie texted me.” I glared at Beau, his eyes on the road. “I guess you had a job interview?”

I mumbled the story to him, Beau making a surprised sound when I finished. “What’s that supposed to mean, dickhead?”

“Means they must like you, must think you have the capacity to deal with an environment full of kids all day,” grinned Beau. 

I would have slapped him in the face if he hadn’t been driving.

“If I’m lucky I’ll die snorting coke off a whore’s tits before Monday,” I said, Beau frowning as we pulled up to the house. 

“Don’t do that,” he said when I was halfway out the door. I rolled my eyes, Beau’s face so pathetic looking though that I closed the door and sat back in my seat.

“Why not? I don’t want to be here and the world don’t want someone like me in it. I was someone in my universe. Here I’m a mooching scumbag apparently. So who cares if I go out the fun way?”

“I do.” Beau shook his head at me, my annoyance growing. “God, Jack, whatever…that kid put you and Dean in my world for a reason. Dean, I get. He died young and this is a chance to live a normal life. Me? Maybe I do things differently and don’t bottle up my shit and move on from my ex. And you? Maybe you need to get rid of your superiority complex and learn to just be a normal person without superpowers or torture or whatever. So don’t do something stupid cause I will find you in the afterlife and I will kick your ass if you do.”

“Fine,” I grumbled. A minute later I was in my bedroom, frowning at the space. It was pretty fucking filthy. “Why don’t we have a fucking maid again?”

“Because we’re not rich,” said Beau as he walked past my open door. I heard him go into a bedroom and exit a moment later sans his firearm and badge, his shirt untucked. “Dean’s making homemade pizza when he gets in.”

“Good. I’m starving,” I said, following Beau downstairs. “How much to get you to clean my room?”

“What did I say to you not five minutes ago?” asked Beau, spinning around on the stairs, looking up at me. “Find a closet or bathroom. I’m sure there’s cleaning supplies in there.”

“Well I’ve never cleaned shit so how was I supposed to know that?” Beau raised his eyebrows. “What? I grew up rich and then got even richer.”

“Well I seriously doubt mom and dad would let you get away with not cleaning your room. Think and you’ll remember.” I frowned. Of course I knew how to fucking clean something. It didn’t mean I wanted to.

“Still stupid,” I mumbled.

“Ben,” said Beau, raising his voice. “I know you think you’re hot shit but you are a sorry excuse for a man. Start acting like one and maybe every conversation you have won’t be a fight.”

Beau went downstairs, leaving me standing there feeling for the first time in a very long time like maybe my dad had been right.

I really was a fucking disappointment.

I cleared my throat an hour later as I went downstairs to find Beau and Dean laughing in the kitchen. They turned their heads when I walked in, a strange awkwardness settling in my gut.

“I uh, cleaned my room,” I said, glancing at the three ready pizzas. “One of those for me?”

“Come on, man. You can make up your own,” said Dean. I settled next to him, looking at the different topping options. “I heard you got a job today.”

“Yeah,” I said, sprinkling some pepperoni on top of one. 

“So what was it like growing up rich?” asked Dean. “Personally we had jack shit after I was four. Nice to know I was well off in one universe.”

“It was alright,” I said, Beau passing me a bowl of peppers and onions. “Actually it sucked. I was never good enough for my dad.”

“Been there, done that,” said Dean. “I mean, I made up with my dad eventually but it wasn’t until after he died.”

“My dad’s nice,” said Beau softly. “Our dad. You guys will like him.”

“I’m sure we will,” said Dean, nudging my ribs. “Hey. Even if he’s not perfect, beats being tortured for forty years, am I right?”

“You have a point.” I put some extra jalapeños on my pizza before I was done, Beau hopping up on the counter. Dean grabbed a few beers from the fridge, handing one to each of us and then putting the first pizza in the oven.

“So,” said Beau, taking a draw from his bottle. “I know this situation is kind of crazy but not gonna lie, I don’t mind having some company at home again. Em stays with her mom a lot lately.”

“I lived with my brother most of my life,” said Dean with a small smile. “It’s not half bad.”

They both glanced at me, waiting for me to share something personal. I resisted the voice at the back of my head screaming for me to snap an insult back at them.

“I’ve kinda always been on my own I guess,” I said, fiddling with the bottle in my hands. 

“Well not anymore,” said Beau.

“Just stop calling us pussies all the time?” asked Dean, a smirk on his face.

“No promises,” I said, Dean slapping my back.

“Told ya you’d warm up to us,” he said. I rolled my eyes, Beau chuckling into his beer. “We’ll work on it.”

Beau held up his bottle, raising his chin. “To Ben working on his potty mouth.”

“To living in a world where we can have normal lives,” said Dean, lifting his. I tilted mine up, nodding once.

“To my new, weird as fuck, brothers.” 

“I’ll drink to that,” said Dean, throwing an arm over my shoulders, a strange warmth filling me up. “Now who’s hungry?”

________

[madsciencestudent]

Lobbing more stuff about Idyia and Rubra-Harenas over at @laurentiuvladut , @emuwarum , @entityandstereo , and @potnialabyrinthoio95 because again, you guys made the mistake of encouraging me. And I have more thoughts you guys might enjoy while I'm messing with the beginning stuff behind the scenes.

Sort of a running joke is that when other Saurians meet Idyia for the first time, they automatically assume she's a Blue Song soldier since she stole and is wearing the armor while traveling with Rubra-Harenas. Eventually they'll bring it up, especially since it's very strange and jarring to see a living Blue Song soldier with a Kindred of the Tusk member. Idyia then will quickly explain that no, she's not a soldier, she just stole the armor because she "needed it to sneak out of the Embassy and wasn't about to go prancing off into the Kindred of the Tusk's home territory without SOME form of protection". When they ask about what she was before that and she tells them she was an archivist, librarian, and research assistant, pretty much EVERY single one- especially if it's an older Saurian- will stare at her before gesturing at her and going "AN ACTUAL CHRONICLER!" Idyia- who has no idea about what the Avi-Saurian's reputation was before the invasion- just sits there so very confused by this reaction. Rubra-Harenas thinks her confused reactions are adorable and hilarious so he pretends he has no idea why everyone reacts that way when she asks.

I don't know if I'm going to include this or not, but I did have the idea that Idyia getting her Carnotaurus mount continued the trend of Idyia seeing the biggest, most aggressive thing in the 'room' and going 'Yep, that one. That one's good.' I was thinking the Carnotaurus she ended up with was a large, aggressive female (going with the idea that like birds, the females are the bigger ones) who only really let Rubra-Harenas work with her before and was difficult for everyone else. But Rubra-Harenas was the one who dragged Idyia into their camp, and Idyia, while nervous because you know- looks like Blue Song soldier in the middle of a Kindred of the Tusk camp- doesn't react like prey would when the Carnotaurus sort of makes an attempt to appear threatening. (The Carnotaurus growls and snarls at her, but Idyia stands her ground, talks in a calm tone ("Yes, yes, you're very scary"), let's the Carnotaurus come to her if it wants to and smell her hand first before she attempts getting close herself.) Meanwhile, Rubra-Harenas isn't paying attention to any of this because he's trying to convince his Kindred that no, this isn't a 'blink twice if you need help' situation. He only becomes aware of the situation happening behind him when one of his 'Brothers' starts glancing over his shoulder every few seconds and then trails off in what he was saying, staring behind Rubra-Harenas with an expression of concern and deep confusion. He looks behind him and finds Idyia on the back of the problem Carnotaurus, helping scratch off some patches of dry and dead skin and the Carnotaurus happy as can be. ....Needless to say, it throws everyone else for a loop and Rubra-Harenas is starting to wonder just WHAT he got himself into.

(If I do go with the above, I hate the fact that my very first idea when Idyia asks if the Carnotaurus has a name and told she doesn't is Idyia pausing to think for like a SECOND before going 'Her name's Bonecrusher now!' (It makes sense to Idyia! She read that Carnotaurus jaws can crush bones and get to the marrow! Why are you all looking at her like that?))

Idyia obviously did not tell her uncle about her doubts leading to nor about what she was doing when she snuck out of the Embassy. Her uncle- I want to be clear- has never been malicious or cruel towards her. But just based on what David has said about Blue Song society and what we're shown, I don't think he was very close with her either. He did what he could for her, he did what he thought was right, and he cared for her like any parent would, but there's always been a distance caused by Blue Song standards and what they think is acceptable. And Idyia never felt it was safe or even just a good idea to talk about her growing doubts and worries about their society and beloved Chancellor to him. That said, even though it took a few days to notice since they both had their own lives and work, and Idyia didn't even leave like a note for him, once he realized she was missing he ABSOLUTELY tore through the Embassy going "WHERE'S MY BABY?!?" Her uncle hadn't been military before Idyia went missing but he very quickly became at least involved in patrols and missions outside the Embassy once they realized Idyia was no longer inside. They do meet again after Idyia has been 'living wild' for like a year or maybe a few years. (Also when they learn she never told him, Rubra-Harenas and the other members of their group do initially judge her for that. ("Rubra, stop that!" "I didn't say anything." "I can feel your stare. It's your 'judgement stare'. Cut it out!") I don't know for sure if her uncle will end up joining their little band but given all this, he probably would and never let Idyia out of his sight again.

...Also, just these two trying to briefly catch up and all the Trauma hitting Idyia all at once before she just says "...We've killed so many Forefathers...." "Wh-what?" "Oh, and I have teeth now." "WHAT?!?!"

I have gotten more thoughts about the other Saurians who end up tagging along with the dynamic duo (besides Idyia's uncle, eventually). The "third" member (in my head anyway because they met him first but he doesn't tag along until later) I have SO much details already planned for since his event is one of the first once the pair exit the Endless Sands. (I'll share that if you wanna see.) The fourth I don't have as much but that's because she comes in later. Basically for her is when Idyia and Rubra start heading south after the INCIDENT winter in the north, they come across two other Arctic Saurians- a mother and her adult daughter. And the daughter takes one look at these disaster children (to her they are anyway) and goes "Welp, I can't NOT adopt them!" And team mom is acquired. (Part of me wants to give her a moose or Irish Elk to ride but I don't think that'll work, size wise and all that. But the other part, when ever I see a wild moose or Irish Elk skeleton just goes 'damn wouldn't that be cool to ride?' and wants her to live out my fantasy.)

Probably another running joke that might be going on in the background that Idyia and Rubra are oblivious to is SO many people trying to figure out whether or not they're courting if not married. They're not, but after the travels through the Endless Sands which works as the 'strangers-to-friends' leg of the journey, they're so comfortable around each other and since everyone else is confused by them it's what everyone else's minds go to. (There may be SO many betting pools going on in the Kindred of the Tusk.) (I'm a bit more iffy on this one but a small part of me is amused by it and knows they do get very close that I'm not mad about the idea.)

[tdoong15]

Can you do 2yeon a parents of twice girl and they give birth to tzuyu and they bring her home and they help their mama take care of their newborn sister

Hello of course I can do this, I hope you enjoy it :)

Baby!Tzuyu, Kids!SaMoJiMiDaChae, Parents!2yeon. Ft Blackpink

Warnings: none

Helping out

“Aunty Nini n’ Jichu, when is mama and mommy comin’ back?” Mina lifts herself onto the couch to try to get away from Chaeyoung who was chasing her with her tiger plushie. “We're not too sure, buddy, hopefully it will be soon.” Jennie smiles reassuringly and Jisoo adds onto Jennie's sentence. “We can always message them if you want to.” Mina's eyes light up and she quickly nods her head. So with that, Jisoo took out her phone and she messaged Jeongyeon.

You: Hey, where are you guys? Your kids, specifically Mina, are wanting for you to come back.

Yoo Beep Beep💚🐶: We're on our way home now, with the newest addition to the family.

You: Oooo, well then see you three soon.

Jisoo looked up from her phone and she saw not only Mina staring at her but also Sana and Momo, which startled her a bit since she felt like she wasn't on her phone for long and within that short time Sana and Momo teleported to her, not in a literal sense though they just moved quickly over to her. “Where are mama and mommy?” Momo questions while Sana attempts to see Jisoo's messages. “They're currently driving back right now so they'll be here at any moment.”Jisoo responds which makes MiSaMo cheer in happiness, in fact Sana jumps off to tell the others.

Meanwhile with Jennie, she was now running around the house because she was being chased by Rosé, Lisa, Dahyun and Chaeyoung. “I thought the teams were meant to be more fair?!” Jennie merely escapes being hit by a flying chipmunk to her head. “It is fair. Nini you're grown up ‘n we awe kids.”Jihyo counteracts since she decided to be the referee for whatever this game was called. Jennie couldn't think of a rebuttal so she just accepted her fate.

As the game was about to start up again, Sana charged through all of them. “Mama and mommy are coming home!” Sana jumps up and down and she points to the front door, while Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Chaeyoung were excited, Rosé and Lisa were confused since Jisoo and Jennie were with them. “Haha Wosie ‘n Lili awe silly, it's not Aunty Nini ‘n Chichu.” Dahyun laughs at the faces Lisa and Rosé made which made the duo pout. “We knew dat! We were just… uhh just… testing you!” Lisa responded now with a smug grin on her face.

Thankfully before any arguing could start, the front door started to unlock and when it was open, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and now Tzuyu had appeared. “Hey guys, I know that you're all excited to see us, but we all need to be quiet, your youngest sister is sleeping.” Nayeon says quietly, the girls plus Jennie and Jisoo nod their heads and they let Nayeon and Jeongyeon enter the house before they all crowd around them.

“Aww she's so cute, please send us pictures whenever you feel like it.” Jennie whispers while she takes hold of Lisa's hand, Jisoo doing the same with Rosé. “We'll leave now so you guys can have some well deserved family time.” Jisoo waves goodbye and Rosé copies her mom, they then swiftly leave and Jennie and Lisa followed them once they said goodbye.

Now it was just the nine of them left, the girls got a better view of their youngest sister. “Chaeng, look you're a big sister now.” Jeongyeon mentions which makes Chaeyoung smile widely at the fact that she was no longer the youngest, however, there was a slight feeling of jealousy inside of her because she was used to being the baby out of them all, but her love for her little sister trumped the jealousy.

“As you guys know, this is your baby sister and her name is Tzuyu.” Nayeon whispers since she noticed that Tzuyu was still fast asleep. Despite everyone's attempts to stay quiet, it ultimately failed after 10 minutes since Tzuyu's eyes fluttered open due to the hushed tones all around her, she then looked around to see a whole bunch of people she didn't know so she had a confused and slightly disgusted look on her face. “Why is she lookin’ at us like dat?” Momo asks her mama and mommy. “It's because you're unfamiliar to her since this is the first time you're all meeting her.” Jeongyeon explained and there was a collective sound of ‘Ohhh’ as they all understood what was happening.

For the next couple of minutes Sana, Momo, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun and Chaeyoung introduced themselves to Tzuyu, who just stared at them with not a single thought behind her eyes, until she saw a dog plushy on the floor, which belonged to Sana. The baby then whines softly and she keeps her eyes on the toy to indicate that she wanted it. Jihyo follows Tzuyu's eyes over towards the toy and she walks over to where the plushy was, picking it up before going back to Tzuyu and giving it to her.

Tzuyu takes the toy and she places the ear into her mouth to suck on it, Sana noticed that Tzuyu had one of her toys and she was about to complain about it when she realized that Tzuyu looked absolutely adorable like that and in that moment an idea popped into her head. “Mommy, can we pway with Tzu?” Sana asks and the other girls also decide that they want to play with Tzuyu too. “Alright then, you guys can play with Tzuyu, but we need to be gentle since she's basically incredibly fragile. Also we can play until dinner is done.” Jeongyeon tells them and they all agree to not play roughly around or with Tzuyu.

So with that in mind, Nayeon left to make dinner for everyone. She decided on cooking pizza since it was quick and easy to prepare. Everyone else was still in the lounge and they decided to play a superhero game with Jeongyeon moving Tzuyu's new toy for her and Tzuyu simply giggled and smiled whenever something interesting happened, in her opinion anyway. After 20 minutes, the pizza was ready and Nayeon sorted out slices so they were as even as possible. She had used two pizzas so people can get more than one slice and they didn't have to argue over the spare slice.

During the time everyone else ate, Nayeon sorted out Tzuyu since she was basically a newborn baby, she had to have something else to fill her up, which meant that Nayeon gave Tzuyu milk to also make her bones stronger. Once Tzuyu had finished her bottle of milk, she yawned which showed that she was about to fall asleep. “We can hewp with Chewy's night woutine. Pwease?” Mina offers to help out because she wanted to bond with Tzuyu more and so did everyone else.

Nayeon found it hard to deny them from helping her out, since it could be beneficial to have some extra hands instead of doing everything by herself or only just with Jeongyeon. “Okay, you can all join me with Tzuyu's bed time.” Nayeon smiles and she goes to go through the routine that she created and used for all of the girls when they were babies since it always worked. However, this time for Tzuyu there were 2 kids at each station to pass things to her. The only difference being when Tzuyu was placed in her crib because Dahyun decided to read Tzuyu a story despite the book being upside down and she was making everything up.

Hi, I hope that everyone has a good day/evening/night. Also sorry for the late upload I basically had a brain fart over the last couple of days.

[phantarein]

Prophetic Lies ch.1

A silly little work in progress of an OC story :)

Story below!

Ever since Ark was born, he was promised a bright future.

“You shall defeat great Evil, and become King of Aetheria,” The Great Prophet told him.

The current King, his father, was pleased with this news, so he favored him over his other children.

He had seven siblings, yet none of them were fond of him. He was completely alone for most of his youth, having only maids to talk to and the daily meals with his father.

As Ark grew older, the weight of his destiny pressed down on him more heavily with each passing day. The prophets didn’t specify any kind of date, so he could only live in the fear he would never meet everyone’s expectations. Because of this, he spent his entire time training his swordsmanship and learning how to be a good King, meanwhile, his siblings enjoyed the riches of life, being able to do whatever they pleased.

They may be jealous of his destiny, but all Ark wanted was a normal life. No kings, no isolation, no destiny.

Ark longed for a genuine connection and companionship. But the prophecy loomed over him like a shadow, reminding him of the solitude that accompanied his predetermined path. That was until the day came.

It was a normal day, he was speaking to his father over lunch when suddenly a guard came interrupting their meal.

The guard, out of breath exclaimed: “It’s here! It’s free! It escaped, it’s free!”

His father got up from his seat. “Is it- is it the prophecy?” He said with glee.

The prophecy.

This could only mean that his time has come, his time to save the whole Kingdom from certain doom, seal the great Evil in the Tower of Babel, and become King. It was time.

Adrenaline rushes to his veins, being unable to concentrate on what his father and the guard are saying. He hadn’t seen his Father as happy as he was right now, he didn’t care about how many people suffer, he just wanted Ark to become powerful and make the Kingdom even richer.

Ark holds back tears, making sure to not show any fear.

“Where is it? The great Evil.” He asked with a strong voice.

“It appeared at the south of Sanduria, in a small Leporian village.” The guard replies. “It would take two months to get there.”

“By that point, the great Evil may be already coming our way… So it might take less time than anticipated.” His father exclaimed. “Oh my son, you will make me proud.” He puts a hand on his shoulder, Ark suppresses a flinch. “Go get prepared, you’re leaving tonight, you have a legend to make.”

-

Everyone in the castle was moving, it felt suffocating. So as the maids prepared all the necessities he’d need for the week, he went to the gardens, sitting in silence. The prophecy foretold that when he went into this adventure, he’d go through countless hardships, but eventually would win against evil and seal it forever. He’d marry and have kids… He’d be a gentle, but fierce king.

He didn’t want that at all, but he knew it was his destiny. 

He senses that someone is coming near him, so he turns around and sees his youngest sister.

“Ruth, what are you doing here? Don’t you have lessons to take care of?” He wasn’t close to any of his siblings, but he had a soft spot for Ruth, since she never antagonized him, instead always being quiet and looking at him from afar.

“Lord Ark… I- I-” She trembled, holding something in her hands. “I have a gift for you.” She extends the gift towards him and leaves running. Confused, he looks at the gift. It was a book, not one he was familiar with. Although, he wasn’t much of a reader, much less a mage. What was the purpose of this gift? Hoping it wasn’t cursed, he opens it.

“Hm…?” It wasn’t a spell book or anything like that, it was a herb atlas, explaining what each wild herb and flower did, which berries were poisonous, and also had some facts about certain animals. This was some sort of encyclopedia, then? Despite his arduous training to become a hero, he had never been taught about survival. He had never seen anything like this, and it was completely hand-written and with drawn illustrations. His sister had done this?

“Ruth… You have a good future ahead of you.” He was content, knowing at least someone in the world cared about him enough.

“May the Goddess bless you!” All the knights shouted in formation, today was the day he was leaving. He had everything he could wish for inside the carriage that was waiting for him. He was standing beside his father, with a magic backpack, a royal cloak, a steel sword, and finally… the encyclopedia, which he left close to him.

“Today marks the day that the future Hero, Ark of Aetheria, will embark on his journey and defeat evil for good! All praise the future King!” His father shouts.

“All hail Ark! All hail Ark!” He listens to the people chant in unison, and with a heavy heart he takes his first steps. He notices Ruth in public, looking at the book on his hip happily. He smiles at her, making her avert her eyes.

As he enters the carriage, he can’t help but be uneasy. It was his duty to defeat evil, it was his duty to save everyone. But he didn’t feel ready, he wasn’t even a hundred years old yet! Just thinking about going on his first adventure outside the Kingdom made his stomach churn.

He takes a deep breath as the carriage starts, and thinks about the plan of action his father had defined.

First, he had to go to the Tree of Life to get the Sword of Light, the tree was in the center of the world, it wasn’t that far away from the Kingdom, but they had to pass through the Ssavah forest first, where there were many dangerous creatures. Then, he’d have to find the prophet who he would marry in the future, and finally, he would need to visit every kingdom to get rid of the corruption of the great evil, until he could destroy it once and for all on the Tower of Babel.

[cbsghostsmetasandtrevor]

CBS Ghosts - Pilot - Library Scene - Part 1

This scene is always interesting to me for many reasons, but one of them is the fact that the ghosts go from “hey maybe it’d be nice to have life around again” to “damn it we need to get rid of them” real fast.  Another is the key elements of the group’s dynamic that is visible throughout the series.  

Spoilers may appear.

I love that Sam’s so excited about the library because (as we learned pretty much right away) she’s a writer.  Those things usually go hand in hand.  I only wish we saw more of her reading/enjoying the library. 

I really wish that we got to see more of Sam in the library and turning it into her sanctuary.

LMAO - Jay is actually somewhat amazed here. He's walked into this house and is like "hot damn" this is amazing. He's being taken in by the house and can see how much Sam loves it.

Sam is totally amazed. I love that she did research because that's the writer in her, wanting to know more, plus, I think she fell in love with the house before she ever saw it. She was gone on it since she met the lawyer.

But Also I LOVE this description of her ancestors. "Cartoon Evil Slept on a bed of gold types". - it's so great.

Okay, I love this tidbit.  You can see that Isaac and Thor are looking at Hetty as if waiting for her to confirm that (because they have probably witnessed it), while Pete’s giving her a WTF look because he wouldn’t have witnessed it.

Also, I love the “cartoon Evil” thing since when we meet Elias, he literally feels like cartoon evil - he even twirls his mustache, evilly.

I love that they establish that Flower is bisexual early on, she brings it up and a lot, and I like to think she and Trevor bonded over their openness regarding sex.  Also, knowing what we know, Thor’s side-eye is interesting.  He mentions boat rules later on, and has a crush on Flower, so he probably finds a connection there, despite not ever talking about it, but a lot can be conveyed in just his look.

Hetty, meanwhile, is looking at her like “are you serious” because despite living with Flower for 50 years, has not been opened up yet.  

This is hilarious - Hetty, why are you offended?  Clearly, you know your home has been falling apart for ages.  Isaac’s side eye is hilarious.  Like “oh here we go”.

He's totally expecting to hear Hetty complain about Jay's accurate assessment.

Also, this is why you go SEE a home before getting it because pictures are deceiving.

Aw. it’s no wonder Pete gets along so well with Sam and Jay - he’s a lot like Sam!  Obviously, Jay likes that about Sam, so it makes sene that he’d like that about Pete. I feel like this is a sign that the friendship will blossom quickly.

Side note - I like their faces of curiosity, I can't figure out what Trevor's doing though. BUT Alberta has rejoined us - why, hello.

It’s so cute that they’re coming around to enjoying the possibility of the couple living there.  Although of these four (Thor, Hetty, Pete, Isaac) it seems evenly divided on rooting / not rooting for them. Thor has turned the tide, Pete liked them from the start but Hetty/Isaac are unsure.

I love that Isaac is the most freaked out in this scene.  Everyone gasps, but Isaac is freaked out the most.  This is interesting because WHY is he so freaked out? He's lived at the mansion for 250 years, and it's not like it's been empty. There's been parties and things, sure, it's not a hotel, but it seemed that it wasn't exactly just the family that stayed at the house since Trevor says in AF that he's surprised that Alberta didn't stay there the night that she died.

So, that seems to imply other options to have visitors/sleepovers.

Although thinking this through - I still don't get why Isaac is the only one that is so freaked out, wouldn't Thor/Sass have SOME idea of hotels and things and see the issues that Isaac is seeing? IDK. CONFUSED.

I love how dramatic Isaac's being right now. He grabs onto his jacket/coat. Sass is giving him a look like 'what are you so concerned about it'. Pete's just shaking his head. It's very, very dramatic.

LMAO. I love that this is Sass/Trevor running through the crowds while Hetty does whatever she's doing with the rolling and finishing with Hetty watching a couple about to have sex and calling them "libertines". Totally hilarious.

LMAO - Clutter is your problem Isaac? That's a bit extra.

I love that their imaginations kind of run wild.  There’s ALOT of people in this vision.  But I can’t see a place like the B&B being THAT busy.  

Also, side note, I love how they’re all running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

First Person Walked Through - THOR.

I do find Thor's issue with the clutter so weird. Why would he even care?

LMAO I love Hetty’s response here.  Pete’s like “My death was the worst” and she’s like “OMG man give it up” - this is even funnier when you put it with her response to Alberta “You had a heart attack - not murdered” and “not this again”.  

Also, I wonder - since Pete/Alberta are the only two to constantly bring up their deaths, if the older ghosts find that annoying?  Like are they bothered that Pete/Alberta had most specific/special deaths or just talking about their deaths in general?  Like they believe you have to let it go after a while, but Alberta’s been dead almost 95 years and Pete 40 years and yet, they always bring it up.

I may need to check, but I think Flower’s the only other one to mention her death more than once that might NOT get eye rolls from Hetty/Isaac, specifically, although others do it, too.  

I find it interesting that the YOUNGEST ghosts (bar Trevor) mention their deaths the most. Alberta because she wants to be murdered, and Pete because his is so obvious.

Flower mentions hers, but only as an introduction to various people.

I wonder if there’s a certain ghost age that you pass where you stop thinking/bringing it up if it’s irrelevant? It's very interesting and I talk about it later on, but I like it what it says.

Thanks for Reading :). Feel free to chat :)

[convxction]

It was night time as the festivities of celebrating Chrom’s birthday were starting to come to an end but everyone was enjoying themselves. A strange light appeared as if a door had been opened from Askr. Rinea had stepped out from it, holding a wrapped present that had high quality gloves made in Rigel that were good for winter. “…This should be the right portal door…I hope.” She quietly made her way to the ballroom area as if she knew the place but it was the strange dreams she kept having. Chrom as her big brother? It was a sweet thought. She took a peek into the ballroom and saw that the few people still there were distracted. Rinea went over to the table and placed her present near where the others present were left. “Another gift for your brother? That’s very sweet of you but shouldn’t you give it to him directly?” Rinea looked over to see it was a guard who had mistaken her for Princess Azalea. “Oh! Yes, it is but I don’t want to disturb him. Please be sure he gets it. Have a good night.” Rinea said as she did her best to remain calm even though she was a little bit confused at what he said. “Yes, your highness.” The guard said before Rinea did her best to make a graceful yet quick escape. When Chrom came back the guard told him about the gift ‘Princess Azalea’ had left him. However, when Chrom sees the ‘from’ part, the name would be Rinea.

Meanwhile, Rinea was trying to figure out why did that guard said that Chrom was her brother? In fact why were some of the guards who did see her treating her like she's a princess? Did she pick the wrong door?

"Where is the portal door?" Rinea said quietly as she touched the wall where the light should have been. "Azalea? What are you doing-...wait that dress....Rinea?!" Bercutio had been sneaking to Azalea's room like he usually did but he ended up finding Rinea instead. "L-Lord Berkut?...Wait...you're not him! Oh no...I did pick the wrong portal door!" Rinea said as she wanted to escape. "Bercutio? Is everything alright?" Azalea said as she came out of her room as she heard him. Azalea then took one look at Rinea and promptly fainted from shock but luckily Bercutio was there to catch her in time. "O-Oh dear! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to frighten her. Goodness she really does look similar to me except with darker blue hair." Rinea said as she realized that Azalea was the princess everyone mistaken her for.

The portal light suddenly reappeared and familiar hand pulled Rinea into the door. "Rinea! What were you thinking-" Berkut said before looking at a very shocked Bercutio holding an unconscious Azalea. "...This was the door we were told to avoid..." Berkut told Rinea who gave a sigh. "...I didn't mean to...they all looked the same. I just wanted to wish Lord Chrom a happy birthday." Rinea said feeling a bit embarrassed. "...We'll just find a version of Chrom that's in Askr..." Berkut said before looking back at his descendent? Reincarnation? He was not sure but at least Berkut was glad to see that the bloodline had carried on. "Sorry for the disturbance...You saw nothing." Berkut said before shutting the portal door leaving a very confused Bercutio (and Chrom lol) behind. This was an event that Bercutio was going to try to forget ever happened...for his and Azalea's sake.

//Happy Birthday Chrom. Wanted to do something funny for his birthday so here you go.

~*~

All is well and going as smooth as he hopes. Parties were not his thing but he would still find them enjoyable to a degree when most eyes are looking away from him after a while.

Chrom kept moving around the ballroom, thanking and greeting guests when he noticed a long blue haired girl leave the ballroom. "Azzy?" he raised an eyebrow. Was she feeling unwell? because it is unlike her to do so. If anything, she is the last one to leave the ballroom. Eyes quickly scanned for another person--he's not here as well. Ah ... well, makes sense now. They are newly married couple, for sure they want their time alone even in a party like this. Ahh..youth.

As he went around, one of the guard told him that his dearest sister had gifted him another gift but she left on a hurry. "Azalea? Gods, she didn't have t--huh ...from Ri-- (Rinea!?)" He quickly looked up at the guard, "Erm, don't speak about this to anyone else, understood?" and there he goes quickly to follow his Askr guest.

Though he was a bit late for Rinea was guided back with Berkut back to Askr. "Wait--!" his steps were halted when he saw his own sister laying between Bercutio's arms. "Azalea!?" he was reassured she was ok, just shocked to see Rinea. "Tell me about it ..." he had seen some...other versions of himself. Not to mention one he rather not mention to poor Azalea--his fallen version. She's probably cry her eyes out for that Chrom. "So, uh ... let's ...pretend this didn't happen, yes? It would be difficult to explain that world to Azalea," a world where her sister is ... her big sister is alive. She's not theirs but ...it is Emmeryn alright.

Chrom looks at the wall where the portal was open briefly, "Thank you ... Lady Rinea. I'll treasure your gift."

birthday ask || accepting || @devotedrigelianflower

[tempest-toss]

Freedom

As the beeping from the transporter grew in volume, Matthias knew he needed to go fast. He picked up Martin and successfully dropped him on the transporter, and in a bright flash he was sent away. Opting for a strategic route he grabbed the shoulders of the plague doctor man and began lugging him over slowly. Thankfully Usagi appeared back and helped lift the legs, and soon they were able to make it to the transporter.

As they set him down and he warped away, the large man came back, carrying a goth-looking teen. He set him down and watched him warp away. The man turned and gave a sharp whistle, and Tim-Tam came running up and jumped on the pad. He then turned to address Matthias.

"If you want to be saved, I expect you to follow." And with that he stepped on and disappeared. Matthias went to grab Usagi's arm, but he dodged.

"I can't leave." Usagi mumbled, his ears wilting in sadness. "This is my home, and I can't abandon everybody. I hope you understand, and that you will promise to come back?" He gave a hug as Regina began to awake.

"You...You FUCKING TRAITOR!" She screamed as she prepared to fire from her staff. Usagi shoved Matthias onto the transporter and vanished, just as the machine overloaded and exploded. Matthias had escaped. "You." Regina spoke coldly, as everyone finally regained consciousness. "I will enjoy breaking every bone in your body." She grinned cruelly as Usagi tried to not show his fear, as he knew that she was going to publically torture him in front of everyone.

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

As Matthias appeared outside of the Troupe he initially cheered, before realizing that he was in an unfamiliar area. In fact he was i an unfamiliar area surrounded by fourteen figures all in black; they were practically silhouettes, only having the whites of outlines, eyes, and large roman numerals on their chests. It felt otherworldly.

"Ah, Matthias, I'm glad you survived," The voice of the large could be man be heard as he approached the empty seat. "Now, my colleagues and I have some questions for you," He spoke as he pushed a button on his tie, his body slowly becoming cloaked as he began to resemble that of colleagues, with a large roman numeral IV on his chest. "Let us begin," he spoke in a modulated voice. Matthias had a feeling that he was in for a long interrogation

Meanwhile all the saved individuals reappeared at Site-230, where they were rushed to the infirmary for any injuries. Perhaps after a speedy recovery, they will be more apt to talk? But you can ask them yourself...won't you?

(Heya Mun Ozzie here, and thank you for enjoying (or enduring) this event! I had a lot of fun with it, being able to explore one of my GOIs and a slice of the characters and worldbuilding associated with it! I hope to do more things like this in the future! If you have any suggestions for tweaks I'm all ears! Once again, thank you for reading!)

FINAL RESULTS (for consistency)

Threat Level: Nonexistant Remaining Survivors: 1/16 Injuries: Light scratches, crushed rib Mental state: Confused and worried Key Items: Notebook with partial map sketch

[ratwhowrites]

Walk The Plank

@randowaffle, @burnt-pheonix

TW: Manipulation, Implied major character death

“Flynn- “ Dallas could barely get the word out as the cold metal tightened around his throat. He struggled to get a breath in as Flynn held onto him, her metal arm had the hero in a death grip, squeezing the life out of him. But he prayed to whatever gods were listening that she wouldn’t let go, as she dangled him above the pitch black water.

“Care for a swim, hero?” She chuckled. Dallas had giving up trying to pry her hand from his neck, instead saving his energy for the water that awaited him. He searched her face for some sort of recognition, hoping she would snap out of whatever spell Romero had her under, that her purple eyes would return to the same red as his. Flynn however, laughed at all of Dallas’s feeble attempts to bring her back. She enjoyed watching her brother beg for his life, after all, this was his fault.

“Come on Flynn… please don’t,” Dallas was racking his brain for a way to get through to her. He had an idea, though it was a long shot. “You- you wannabe Captain Hook.” He wheezed, taking up most of his remaining oxygen for that one sentence.

Flynn’s smile faltered, her eyes widened. The gears in her brain seemed to turn for a moment, pondering the familiar sounding nickname.

“What did you just call me?”

Dallas felt her grip loosen ever so slightly and took the opportunity to inhale as much as he could. He couldn’t help but smile. It actually worked!

“You don’t like that one? How about sweet tooth? That one ring a bell?” Dallas had regained a bit of his breath, thought his sentences came out with a slight wheeze. He remembered how annoyed Flynn would get when he used that nickname.

Flynn’s breathing meanwhile had grown heavier as memories started surfacing. She definitely recognized that nickname. The one her brother had given her…. Wait, her brother-

“Dallas?”

Flynn’s eyes were now their normal red, and Dallas nearly cried. His plan had worked. He let out a sigh of relief as she started to lower him back to the ground.

Panic and confusion set in as Flynn looked around, trying to figure out her surroundings, anything to remember what she was doing. Finally, her brain seemed to register the hand clamped around her twin’s throat, the ship they appeared to be standing on, and the dark water beneath them. The pieces clicked together and horror washed over her as she realized what she had almost done.

“What am I doing?”

Her voice came out as a whisper, the fear evident in her tone. She couldn’t recall what had led to this, in fact, she was having difficulty to recall much of anything. Why was she on a ship? Where was everyone else? Why did her brother look so afraid of her?

“Flynn, listen to me. Romero was controlling you! He- he tried to get you to kill me!” Flynn shook her head in disbelief, even more confused than before.

“What? No. No no he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.” She seemed to be convincing herself more than Dallas as she repeatedly mumbled that last phrase.

“Please you have to believe me! He’s lying to you!”

“No! Romero wouldn’t lie to me. He’s my friend!” Flynn felt ready to cry, everything was so confusing. It was overwhelming. She didn’t want to believe what he was saying. Romero wouldn’t… would he? Her doubt only doubled as Dallas insisted. Why would her friend make her kill someone? Especially her brother? It didn’t make sense to her. She just wanted to know what was happening. Who was telling the truth?

“Flynn is everything ok?”

The familiar voice make both twins freeze in place. Romero himself stood behind them, looking just as confused as Flynn was. Part of her felt relief. Maybe he could sort this all out but another part of her felt like she shouldn’t trust him, which was ridiculous. Why shouldn’t she trust her friend?

“Romero, thank god. Please tell me what’s going on!” Romero thought for a moment, taking note of her expression.

“You were doing a favor for me,” he said simply. Dallas took the opportunity to try again to remove her hand from his neck but found himself unsuccessful.

“B-but Dallas said you made me try to kill him.”

“That’s ridiculous! You really think I would do something like that?” She didn’t know. She wanted to believe him, but something didn’t feel right.

“I had asked you for a favor and Dallas I guess got in the way. I didn’t even know he was on the ship. You believe me right?” Romero sounded genuinely confused. He had to be telling the truth then. Flynn gave a half nod, ignoring that small part of her that doubted him.

“Yeah… yeah I believe you.”

Dallas shook head head, struggling once more. “No! He’s lying Flynn!! Let me go!” Romero smiled, putting Flynn at ease but causing Dallas’s heart to sink.

“You heard him Flynn. Let him go.”

As Flynn lowered her arm she heard a faint scream, and a splash.

[abyssal-ali]

Marinette "Valkyrie" Wayne

Masterlist Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Valkyrie's suit ao3 link (completed)

Pairing: Marijon, but the first bit's just family-oriented.

Rating: G

WC: 1.7k

A/N: I wrote this a couple years ago and decided to edit a bit for MariJon Week 2023/SuperMari May 2023. Fills prompts from day 1, 2, 4, and 7 for Marijon Week.

Marinette and Jon are 17-ish here and Damian is (I believe) a year older than Jon, making him 18.

The other Bats are in their early to mid-twenties and live at the Manor for plot convenience.

Also, when I wrote this a couple years ago I did not know a ton about Kon, so he's not part of this fic. I do love him, though; he wasn't excluded out of hate.

Summary: Marinette is adopted by Bruce Wayne after her parents died in a car crash. She figures out her new family are the Bats, but she also has a secret.

Meanwhile, Bruce is looking for Ladybug, who retired and disappeared into thin air.

Disclaimer: I do not know anything about the American/French fostering/adoption systems; we'll just pretend everything works out fast because it's Bruce Wayne. If there's anything in here that's confusing, drop a comment!

Please ignore any and all plot holes such as why a random American billionaire was ahead of her grandparents, Chinese side of the family, or even Jagged and Penny o adopt her. 🙂

Beta'd by the wonderful @sarcasticbambi. Enjoy!

1007 Mountain Drive was in a tizzy.

Why?

Well, Bruce “Serial Adopter” Wayne was bringing home yet another black-haired, blue-eyed child with a traumatic past.

Fostering with intent to adopt: Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Age: 16.75 years. Orphan; Tom Dupain & Sabine Cheng died in a car crash 15 months ago.

Marinette had been to a couple foster homes, but her foster parents claimed she kept sneaking out at odd times and acted very coldly to everyone, only warming up to animals. Marinette’s peers told stories upon stories of Marinette’s cruel actions toward them, specifically one Lila Rossi.

Her social worker, Genevieve Lemieux, dug a little and found some proof of Lila’s lies, but Marinette wouldn’t talk and wouldn’t explain her absences. Finally, Genevieve decided that the girl needed a new perspective, and called her college best friend’s brother– a policeman, if she remembered correctly.

“Oh, Genevieve Lemieux! Yes, I know someone who would love to foster her, I’m sure. Does she have blue eyes and/or black hair, by any chance?”

“As a matter of fact, she has both. Why?”

“I just wondered. I’ll talk to Bruce right away and get back to you.”

“Merci beaucoup, James.” (A/N: Jim Gordon)

“No problem, ‘Eve. Talk to you soon.”

“Au revoir.”

He called back a little later, saying the family would love to have Marinette come. Several of the other children were adopted, so they knew the process well. Bruce was currently in Paris doing business, actually. He could bring Marinette back with him if the paperwork went through quickly and smoothly.

Thus, Marinette landed in Gotham in the Waynes’ private jet. It was gray, drizzly, and gloomy, the antithesis of Paris.

She smiled inwardly.

Perfect.

~~~~~

Bruce Wayne eyed the dark-haired girl beside him. She appeared quiet and withdrawn when Genevieve Lemieux introduced them, didn’t startle or appear impressed or scheming at his name, though Mme. Lemieux was a little awed.

She appeared indifferent to the luxurious accommodations on the flight back to the States, plopping in her seat, fastening the safety belt, putting her earbuds in, and drifting off.

[She stopped the music whenever Bruce spoke so she could eavesdrop better. She also eyed him through her lashes, appraising his body language.]

All of her things fit in one large suitcase and a duffle bag. Her polished black nails were filed short and her hair was in a pixie cut with a crimson streak running through it. She was shorter, appeared fit and maybe even muscular, and walked with a distinctive tread. Faded lines were around her eyes and mouth, suggesting that she used to laugh and smile regularly. She didn’t seem cold like Mme. Lemieux had warned, though she did display some of every foster child’s apprehension on new people and situations.

Now she was dozing, almost curled into him, though the seats didn’t really allow that. He figured she wouldn’t like waking up like that, so he moved to the opposite seat and pulled out some documents that needed reviewing and signing.

When they landed, she headed straight for the Rolls, though several other cars were nearby.

Bruce frowned. How did she know which car to approach?

Alfred politely introduced himself as he loaded her baggage, then drove to Wayne Manor.

Inside, five people were waiting to meet the new arrival: Cass, Steph, Dick, Tim, and Damian.

Jason was who-knows-where and Babs was at her own house.Marinette nodded briefly at each introduction, then Alfred showed her to her room.

Everything was white, except for where bare wood showed through.

~~~~~

Marinette carefully and neatly unpacked her things, then pulled out her phone and took pictures so she could compare if anything was disturbed. She also set several quick safeguards in place (e.g. a strand of hair across the door) and portalled to outside her room. S

he walked noiselessly downstairs to Bruce’s study, where she found everyone gathered.

Well, Mr. Wayne had passed test #1. Onto #2.

“Will you tell her about the family business?” Dick asked. Mari paused just outside the door.

“Not yet, we don’t know her well enough. Her school friends say she is a bully, a liar, and a troublemaker. Previous foster families say she is cold and a sneak. Her social worker thinks there is some reason for the other’s statements, but she isn’t sure. For now, we act normally and say nothing suspicious. Please try and actually keep this a secret,” Bruce pleaded.

He suddenly sounded like an exhausted parent tired of corralling a pack of wild toddlers.

“She has a tread like this,” Bruce crossed the room in a demonstration, “so no giveaways if you hear her.”

Marinette tiptoed back down the hall, then walked to the study in her faked stride and knocked.

“Come in,” someone called.

Cass smiled at her, Damian glared [stared normally], Tim and Dick assessed her, and Steph continued texting someone.

“We have a few house rules I’d like to go over,” Bruce stated, and she nodded.

“No weapons, specifically at the dinner table; no alcohol, drugs, or smoking allowed if you’re underage; respect each other’s boundaries; if you’re going out, tell someone the general area and expected return time in case of a Rogue attack or kidnapping; tell Alfred ahead of time if someone is staying the night or for a meal; and take care of yourself.”

This last item seemed to be directed at Tim, who shrugged and slurped from a mug of coffee.

“Monday nights are alternating game nights or movie nights with the family. Sunday evening is family dinner.”

“Got it.”

“Do you have any allergies or sensitivities to anything?”

“No. I have a friend in New York. Do you think I could see her sometime?”

“Of course. In the fall, Gotham Academy–”

“I already graduated,” Marinette cut in. “I skipped Grade 3 and did 11 & 12 in one year.”

“Oh. Okay, then. Do you have an idea of what secondary school you’d like to attend?”

“I’m working on a course online. I’m good, thanks.”

Everyone stared at her. “Uh, Mme. Lemieux said you like animals. Damian has several you can meet later.”

“Thank you. Is there anything else?”

“No. Thank you for your time, Marinette. Dinner will be at six-fifteen. Cass can give you a tour of the manor later if you’d like.”

Marinette nodded at Cass. “Okay.”

After dinner, Cass gave Marinette a tour of the main rooms in the manor. They both preferred body language and signs to communicate over words.

She also met Titus, Alfred the Cat, Jerry the Turkey, and Batcow. They all liked her, and she was thrilled to meet all of them. She told Cass she used to want a hamster, but now she was thinking about a dog.

Cass told Marinette that she could personalize her room how she wanted, and Steph would love to take her shopping. Marinette said she’d think about that too.

~

Steph ended up spending the whole day at the mall with Marinette and Bruce’s credit cards.

Marinette thanked her and Bruce, then retreated to her room with her arms full of bags.

No one had seen the inside of her room since she arrived except Alfred once when he called her for breakfast. He said it was clean and orderly, and Bruce was satisfied with that.

When a social worker came to check up on Marinette, the family saw the setup for the first time in the month that she’d been there.

The walls stayed white, but everything else was different. The queen bed had a red and black poofy duvet, the sheets were white, and the throw pillows were black & grey and red & white. The curtains were black, the rug grey and white, the fluffy chair was white, and the pillow navy. The desk was white, the chair was red, the row of jars was red glass.

A gold Eiffel Tower lamp matched the strings of lights crisscrossing the ceiling. Two picture frames were on the nightstands. The black bookcase opposite the bed was full of various book genres.

The worker approved it and everyone left.

Marinette kept a close eye on the worker and the Waynes.

After the worker left, she turned to her foster family. “I know you’re hiding something, and I’ve almost figured out what it is. Would you like to simply tell me?”

Bruce crossed his arms and raised a brow.

“Suppose I call your bluff. What have you almost figured out, with what evidence?”

“Well, when I heard I was going to be fostered with intent for adoption, I hacked the orphanage’s database and found your name. When I looked you up, I discovered you adopt a black-haired, blue-eyed child every few years. I hacked into your family’s file, but to my surprise, it was very hard to access. It wasn't easy to crack like other files -- only people with something to hide would make their files so difficult to get at. But when I got in, there was really nothing to see. So I watched the video clips and noticed some trimming and cropping of some places in the Manor. In real life, there doesn’t appear to be anything there, either. A clock, a piano… nothing unusual.

“When I came to your office the first day, I overheard your warning to not let me know about the ‘family business’. And why is the first rule 'no weapons'?! So I hacked into your financial records, but apparently, everything is aboveboard there, too. You do spend a lot of money on the Justice League, though. Mr. Queen doesn’t spend nearly that much. I do have a question about that, though: why does Green Lantern #2 break so much stuff?”

The Wayne children burst into laughter at the question (Bruce blamed a lot of stuff on Hal Jordan.).

“He’s a clumsy, egotistical member with no sense of professionalism or appropriateness,” grumbled Bruce.

“A-ha! You're Batman! Only Batman dislikes GL#2 that much!”

“...”

“Oh come on, just admit it.” She strolled to the piano. “What's the tune Dick’s always humming?”

She played the first couple of bars.

“No-” everyone gasped.

Too late, the secret passage opened.

"Hah!” Marinette crowed. “I said I’d find out.”

~

Babs adopted the new hacker into the fold; Marinette became known as Delphi.

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

(Mari learned hacking from Max.)

[14-ds]

Plotting and Scheming

Here it is: the big moment in the "Mediaverse" series!! I was planning to release "One Job at a Time" next, but alas, I'm allergic to finishing that part. 😐 Anyways, with that being said, I was still planning for a double release of both those parts, but this is where the conflict of the series comes to light and I couldn't wait to show it off! Enjoy!

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

After the events of “Expectations”, Marina continued to gaze in awe at the Anarchy Sisters and ask them multiple questions. 

“Do you protect anyone in particular? Were you sent to spread peace and joy? What’s God like!?” Marina eagerly asked Panty and Stocking many angel questions, not caring if they were annoyed.

Panty growled at her. “Listen, we’re not trying to hear any bullshit you have to say to us!!”

Stocking chimed in. “Yeah! So stop being a nerdy bitch and go back to kissing your girlfriend or something!”

“...How cruel!” Marina stood there in shock as she turned to Pearl.

“...Pearlie?”

Pearl looked over to Marina. “Yeah, ‘Rina?”

“...Are you sure these are angels and not some awful hoodlums you saw on the street?”

Panty looked confused at Marina’s words. “What’s a hoodlum, again?”

“...And they’re not very bright…”

“I know. But they’re with us now! We’ll take the bus to Inkopolis and show them how better our world is then theirs!” Pearl bragged loudly just for everyone around her to hear.

“What!? Don’t think you can tow us around, smallfry! We’ll run this place with iron fists! We don’t give a shit about whose world this is!”, Panty yelled with Stocking glaring at Off the Hook.

Pearl laughed. “Too bad, bitches! Me and ‘Rina run things where we come from, and you’re our hoes until you get back to the craphole you came from!” Pearl marched up to Panty and glared at her with a smirk. “And a little side note; Don’t call Marina a bitch, BITCH!”

“Oh dear…” Marina sighed, knowing that this entire day will be insane, and the insanity will increase drastically from here. “Okay… Pearl, why don’t we show the ‘angels’ around?”

“...Okay. But no funny business from any of you, got it!?”, Said Pearl snapped at the Anarchy Sisters.

Panty and Stocking snickered at Pearl’s threats.

“You have our word~...”

“We’ll behave~...”

The sisters had their fingers crossed behind their backs while they spoke.

The group walks away from the portals… and when they were gone, two mysterious figures came out of the portal of Panty and Stocking’s retrospective universe. 

Two red-skinned demons appeared, both with yellow/green eyes, and wearing matching beige suits, beige short skirts with brown belts, black pumps, and red ties, one pale green spiky hair with two horns on her head, and the other with long sky blue hair tied in a ponytail with angular glasses, a singular horn on her head, and white socks going over the knee. 

“Oh, heavens! This world isn’t as foul and atrocious as we thought it would be! In fact, it looks quite pleasant, doesn’t it, Kneesocks?”, The green-haired demon said, looking at her new surroundings with her sister.

“Indeed, Scanty. However, this just might be a pathetic coverup for this world for how awful its inhabitants really are~!”, Kneesocks remarked, finding this universe quite pathetic still despite its clean appearance.

Scanty smiled mischievously. “Quite the assumption, sister… although, you might be correct!”

Kneesocks smiled the same way. “Just like I was with these universal sightings! Those horrendous angels have led us right to this place, and this is where we’ll assert our dominance on unfamiliar grounds, conquering this world, and every other one we come across!”

“Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll have to find perfect disguises in order to blend in with this world’s feeble-minded specimens.”  Scanty looked around again and smiled. “...And I know exactly how to do it..”

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

Meanwhile, Pearl and Marina were showing Panty and Stocking around Inkopolis, Pearl being more cocky as she went on, and Marina being more tame in giving a tour.

“This is our studio! Do you two have a studio? Of course you don’t! You’re not super famous like us.”, Pearl exclaimed. She then turned to the angels, who were not paying attention to a thing she said. “Hey! What are you doing besides not paying attention to me!”

Stocking munched on some pudding. “Way better things. And Panty’s trying to look for someone to have sex with, but I guess that’s better too.”

Marina watched Stocking eat the pudding. “My pudding…”

Pearl goes outside. “Yeah, and you know most of the guys here are 16 or under!”

“...Dammit!” Panty grumbles and goes back inside.

Suddenly, two inklings went up to the studio. One having a light green ink color, and the other with a light blue ink color.

“Excuse us!”, the green inkling cried. “We don’t mean to cause any trouble, but can we talk, please?”

Pearl walked up to the inklings, a cocky, but kind smile on her face. “Ah, fans of ours, aren’t ya?”

“Indeed!”, the blue inkling said. “However, we’d like to get a closer look at the angels, please.” 

The angels glared at the inklings. “You know, you two talk like those annoying red whores..”, Panty says while inspecting them carefully.

The two inklings smirked and said in unison; “Why, we don’t know what you mean~...”

“...Okay, then. Can you leave now?”, Stocking bluntly asked.

The inklings continued to smirk. “We suppose…” They walked away.

“Wow. That was weird as hell. Hope we don’t see them again!” Stocking picked up a cupcake and ate it.

Marina frowned again. “My cupcake..!”

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

Pearl continues to tow the Anarchy Sisters around the city, but she ran out of things to show. 

“So, I guess that's it… here's a sewer grate.” …Pearl was a little bit desperate to rub things into Panty and Stocking’s faces at this point.

Stocking laughed at Pearl. “Aww, is the midget running out of baby stuff to show us??”

“Ugh… Shut up! …. And stop stealing Marina’s food!”, Pearl screamed at Stocking. 

“Well, why should I? It’s not like anything else is interesting here.” Stocking said this while literally reaching into Marina’s pocket and grabbing a donut.

“My- … Why do I even bother…?”

Marina sadly stares at the sewer grate. “They’re angels! Why are they so rude? I bet literal demons would behave better than them-”

Suddenly. Marina saw something in the sewer grate. “Huh…?”

Marina looked closer, wondering what was there… all of a sudden, a huge stream of ink burst from it.

Pearl quickly turned over to the scene. “Marina!! Are you okay!?” She rushed to the Marina, but Panty and Stocking could care less about what was going on.

Marina stared at everything that just happened in disbelief. “I’m alright… but the sewers just exploded with ink!!”

Panty and Stocking watched every other sewer in Inkopolis Square do the same. “So, do all the sewers here act up like this?”, Panty asked. 

Off the Hook watched. “...NO!!”

After the ink violently came out of the sewers, it merged together to form a gigantic ink-based ghost monster, which wasted no time terrorizing the city. 

While that happened, the two inklings from earlier giggled happily at the sight.

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

After a good hour, most of Inkopolis Square was destroyed.

Marina ran around and screamed in fear. “AHHH!! The city’s gone into ruins! Do something!!”

Panty and Stocking were trying to attack it with their weaponized undergarmets(Panty’s panties form into a gun, and Stocking’s stockings form into katanas), but to no avail.

“You think we’re not trying!? This inkface is just hard to beat!”, Panty said as she continued to shoot at it. 

Pearl grumbled. “Okay.. then what’s sugartits doing there!? Why is she not doing anything anymore!?!?”

Stocking simply sat down in the studio. “I gave up 40 minutes ago.”

It seemed like all hope was lost… Until a group of inklings came to the scene, armed with water hoses. 

“Ready… Aim… FIRE!!”, an inkling in the troop cried out.

The inklings with water hoses fired directly at the ink ghost, shooting it until it eventually exploded.

Stocking smiled. “Hey, at least those squid freaks took care of the job for us.”

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

While the city was getting cleaned up, the two inklings walked up to the four, angry expressions on their faces.

“Oh, it’s those two again!”, Marina spotted them, but she wondered why they were upset.

Panty sighed in annoyance. “Great. What do they want, now?”

The green inkling yelled. “HOW DID THE GHOST GET DEFEATED!? This was supposed to be our chance to assert dominance over this world!”

The blue inkling agreed. “Yes! The ghost wasn’t supposed to be defeated by those cretins! How was your victory even possible!?”

The four looked at the inklings in shock.

Panty and Stocking eventually looked extremely pissed. Stocking sighed. “Dammit.. Don’t tell me it’s YOU TWO…”

The green inkling smiled. “You guessed correctly~...”

Pearl looked pissed beyond belief. “What!? Where exactly did y’all even come from!? Who are you!?”

The not-really inklings smiled and shapeshifted to their regular forms; The Daemon Sisters, Scanty and Kneesocks! “Why, we’re the soon-to-be rulers and overlords across the multiverse!”, Scanty said while she and Kneesocks posed dramatically.

“That’s right! In a matter of time every universe we come across will succumb to our power!”, Kneesocks said while she and Scanty posed again.

The demons started to talk in unison; “The makers of the underworld will guide us through our journey. We are high-class demon commanders!”

“Scanty!”  “And her sister, Kneesocks!”

Panty whispers to Pearl; “These bitches don’t like to shut up..”

Pearl whispered back; “I can tell. But they’re already more decent than you and your sister.”

Kneesocks split the two up and yelled at them. “What!? Are you not intimidated by our mere presence!? We are demons!”

Stocking scoffed. “Yeah… no.”

Scanty sighed. “Figures. You pathetic troglodytes are more putrid with every encounter…” She suddenly smiled after a minute. “...No matter. Very soon you’ll see what we’re REALLY worthy of!”

“What, you’re gonna put us to sleep with all that fancy talk?”, Pearl sarcastically remarked while Panty and Stocking laughed behind her. 

Marina looked at the Daemon Sisters with admiration. “And before you say anything else, I just HAVE to compliment you on how formal your speeches are. It’s so magnificent!” 

The demons smiled at Marina’s comment. “Well, at least somebody here respects our efforts~!”, Kneesocks said to Scanty.

Scanty laughed. “Indeed, sister..” She turns to Marina. “Thank you for that~!”

“You’re welcome!” 

“Rina, don’t make friends with the bad guys!”

“Sorry, sorry…”

Kneesocks brings out a monitor-type device, showing all the different dimensions of the multiverse. “You see, Scanty and I have recently discovered a vast variety of universes. All so diverse and unique in their own way~..”

Scanty walks in the view to explain more on her and Kneesocks’ plan. “Yes, and the two of us thought of the most amazing plan of controlling these lands with an army of ghosts and monsters, and soon we’ll be the most powerful beings in all of the multiverse!”

Marina gasped in shock and fear. “Oh, so that's what that monster was!? … I still can’t help but respect how carefully they thought this out…”

Panty growls at Marina. “Ugh, If you respect them so much why don’t you just join them!? Or better yet, MARRY THEM!?”

The demons laughed mockingly. “Well, there’s nothing you could possibly do to stop us anyway. In a matter of days this world, including the entire multiverse, will be ours!”, Scanty boasts.

Kneesocks opens a portal. “What happened today was a minor setback to our little plan, but we’ll be back! Until our paths cross again~...”

The Daemon Sisters enter the portal. “Toodle-oo~!!”

The portal closes, leaving Off the Hook and the Anarchy Sisters standing in a wrecked city.

“Well, guess that happened. What do you guys wanna do?”, Panty said, ignoring everything that just happened.

Marina looked at Panty in horror. “What!? Scanty and Kneesocks threatened to take over the entire multiverse, and you’ll just let it happen!?”

Panty scoffs. “Duh. The ‘multiverse’ doesn’t apply to us, does it? And I can't believe you bothered to memorize their names..”

Stocking yelled at Panty. “You dumb blonde bimbo, the multiverse applies to every universe including OURS! We’re all screwed if they manage to complete their stupid plan!”

…Panty realized what that meant. “Oh, shit! Ain’t no way those sluts will hold us all prisoner! They’re going DOWN!”

Marina smiled, thinking that this is the start of a great team. She pulls out her laptop and searches up different multiverse sightings. “I’m gonna search up different universes. I’ll try to track down the places the Daemon Sisters are heading for first so we can try to stop them beforehand!”

Pearl grinned. “Good call, ‘Rina.” She poses heroically. “But, this is a big job. We’re gonna find all the universes we can and grab all the help we can get!”

Panty excitedly screamed as she stood besides Pearl. “HELL YEAH! We’re not going down without a fight!”

Stocking looked at everyone else, except with a confident smile. “Alright. Where are we heading first?”

Marina found a universe on her laptop. “Hey! I found one!”

Everyone else crowded around the laptop to see what Marina found.

Pearl smirked. “Aw yeah. This is gonna be AWESOME.”

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

Alright, from here on out (Well until TOOTM Act 2 and One Job at a Time get released), get ready, because this is where things'll heat up! Either TOOTM 2 or OJAAT is up next because I've been meaning to finish both, but alas, I probably won't finish OJAAT, so expect at least TOOTM 2 to be released next.

[janeleclerc]

: ̗̀➛ my little bookworm; l. hamilton.

request here <3 enjoy!

─ warnings; none at all, fluff!

Anyone who met Y/N would definitely be able to assure everyone that she is so absorbed in the world of reading.

Any genre, any time, anywhere, from novels to leaflets, she’d enjoy and indulge in every single word written.

And, in fact, Y/N and Lewis had met in a library.

And now, whenever they want to spend some quality time together, they head out to the library. Lewis would carry around books for Y/N, ‘‘Just one more,” she’d say, but that sentence was never true.

And Lewis didn’t mind, either. He would carry around all the books in the library for her if it meant seeing her this happy and excited whenever she finds a book with an intriguing plot or by her favorite authors.

So when her birthday season arrived, the first thing Lewis thought was to build her a bookshelf.

He spent days up late at night and the weekend building it; the instructions had confused him and he was unable to handle it most of the time.

Meanwhile Y/N was spending her weekend confused on the couch all alone, wondering why Lewis kept canceling plans. Was he getting bored of her? Sick?

But at the end of the day he’d give her a call and tell her that he loves her, and that somehow made everything better.

On her birthday morning, she woke up to the sound of her phone ringing.

“Curse me for not putting it on silent,” she muttered, reaching for her phone. A smile appeared on her face when she saw Lewis’ name on the phone.

“Morning, love,” she said once she answered the call.

“Good morning, darling - happy birthday!” He laughs.

“Oh, it’s my birthday... I totally forgot... but thank you!” She retorted, giggling.

“Okay now I need you to be ready in twenty minutes; I’ll pass by and pick you up,” he explains. She agrees and gets out of bed, taking a quick shower and changing into more presentable clothes rather than her fluffy cartoon pajamas.

Just as she was brushing her hair, Lewis sent her a text, saying that he had arrived. She finished brushing it as fast as possible and ran to the door, to be met by a very smiley - and handsome - Lewis.

“You look stunning,” he smiled, engulfing her into a huge hug. She laughed and looked up at him.

“So are you,” she replied. He gave her a kiss and they made their way to his car, getting in.

“So, where are we going?” She asked.

“My place,”

She nodded in response. The drive was silent, but the two of them were happy to be in each other’s presences that they didn’t really mind the silence they were in.

Once they arrived at Lewis’ house, he got out and, being the gentleman he is, opened the door for Y/N and helped her out of the car. She smiled at his little gesture.

“Okay, so, I wanted to show you two things...” he trailed off. Y/N nodded, as if to tell him continue your sentence.

“Um, let me just- come with me to the study, yeah?” Y/N took his hand and walked with him towards the study. She was about to open the door before he pulled her hand away gently.

“Nope, I want it to be a surprise,” he said, putting his hands on her eyes to cover them.

“Okay...” She laughed. He slowly opened the door and walked her to the bookshelf, before slowly taking his hands off her eyes.

She took a few moments to adjust and comprehend, and when she did, she gasped happily, clapping her hands.

“Is this- is this for me?” She asked. He nodded and laughed as she squealed.

She went and admired the bookshelf; allowing her hands to trail down the corners. Once done, she looked back at him and jumped into his arms.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Lewis. This is lovely, thank you,” she repeated. He smiled and hugged her tightly, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“You deserve it, my love,” he whispered into her ear.

They stood like that for a bit, before he slowly let go and cleared his throat.

“Well, Y/N... I was wondering, I’ll just put this very simply, I was wondering if you wanted to move in with me? Obviously, you can say no, but I feel so safe and happy whenever I’m around you and waking up next to the same bed as you brings me so much joy, and I’d love for that to happen everyday,” he blurted out, looking at the floor.

For a few moments there was silence, and Lewis looked up at Y/N, only to be met by a kiss from her. A very passionate and loving one.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she smiled, kissing him again.

“So, is that a yes?”

“Absolutely,”

He kissed her. Again, and again, and again.

“I love you so much, Y/N,” he said when they pulled away. She brought her hand up to rest on his cheek and stroked it.

“I love you too, Lewis.”

hope you liked this one!! as always, please don’t be a ghost reader <333 thank you!

[hoe4hotchner]

Words will be words

Pairing: Luke Alvez x Penelope Garcia x Platonic!reader

Word count: 956

A/N: Look at me making non Hotch content. Not gonna lie, the ending doesn’t really have any closure, but the fic is a fluff piece soo.... enjoy :)

“Newbie! Shut up... Anyways, I will be saying the exact same thing Alvez was about to, but with a little more charm.” Garcia was quick to shoot Luke down as he opened his mouth.

You had been stuck with the two for weeks now, recovering from an injury from a previous case. You were not quite in the clear yet, and everyone had agreed that it would be better that you not take a risk, and stay back at Quantico with Garcia, and now Luke.

After going rogue, Luke had been put on probationary status, forced to stay back too. And although he was supposed to consult the team from afar, he acted more like a glorified personal assistant to the tech wiz.

You could help but shake your head with a smile on your lips, you had seen the signs way too many times before. Maybe not at the BAU, but definitely in school. High School or the Academy, it did not matter. The human psyche was still the same.

Maybe they could hide it from each other, maybe they were both oblivious to the other. One thing they couldn’t hide was the way that Luke smiled every time Garcia was around, every time he spoke to her on the phone. A smile he didn’t even use when he was talking about his most prized possession Roxy.

Garcia on the other hand, she was snarky in her remarks, on the brink of being hostile. That was her tell. Garcia was not good at responding to change, she hated it in fact, but the day Alvez had walked into the office, something in her had changed. You were not sure how many had picked up on it, but you surely had.

With a crutch in hand, you hobbled out of the conference room, slowly making your way to the kitchen in search of not only a cup of coffee but the brownies that you knew Garcia had brought into the building earlier that morning. One step at a time, it took you a while to get down there.

“Why did you leave me all alone with that... that... that she-devil?” Luke asked as he came up to you. He folded his arms over his chest, carefully leaning against the countertops.

“You know she doesn’t hate you as much as you think she does.” You said while pouring yourself a cup to your liking. Your eyes stayed locked on the beverage, however, feeling looks gaze locked on you.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You could tell that he was confused from his tone, the slightly judging strain to his voice pushed to the forefront of his words.

“You’re smart enough to figure that out yourself, Alvez.” You shifted your attention, giving him a single pat on his shoulder before hobbling back towards the conference room. 

Luke followed you, offering to carry the scalding hot mug filled to the brim with delicious coffee. You agreed, knowing that at some point you’d probably end up spilling it all over yourself.

“Why can’t you just tell me, since you already know. It’ll make it a lot easier on me.”

“I thought you already knew. Profilers don’t have it easy.” Garcia was not in the room as you entered, figuring that she had probably returned to her bat cave.

Caught the guy, heading home in an hour or so. Great work!

It was like a lightbulb appeared over your head as you read the text from Emily and meanwhile also spotted the two keycards of both agents laying on the table amongst files and papers.

“If you must know, let’s go to the cave of wonders.” Luke steadied you, making the trip faster and shorter. True enough, Garcia was in her office, closing down the last few tabs on the case as you entered.

“What’s the newbie doing in here?” She was quick to greet the two of you, spinning around in her chair.

“Listen to me! Because I’m only saying this once! You two need to figure this out. Penny, you don’t hate Luke, that’s very clear, maybe not to you guys, but it is to everyone else. And Luke, you’re not bothered at all by her comments, you think she’s feisty for it. It only makes you love her more. I’m sorry that I just profiled you guys, but you need to figure this out. Now.” You ordered, the pair of them not having noticed how you’d made your way further out of the room and leaving them before you closed the door and quickly scanned your keycard.

They were trapped for good now. You heard the banging of their fists against the door as you returned to the conference room, only to be disturbed by your phone going off.

“Yeah?” You smirked putting the call on speaker.

“If you don’t let us out right this instant, I will... I will... I will banish all cute and cuddly kitten goodness from your life so every cat you meet will hiss at you and try to scratch your couch to shreds.”

“Well, then I suggest that you start getting along, cause I’m not letting you out until you admit that you like each other.” You ended the call. Or at least until the rest of the team got back and the workday was over, but they didn’t have to know that.

As you started gathering the files and cleaning up your mess, you occasionally felt the vibrations of your phone buzzing in your back pocket, knowing fully well that it was Garcia or Luke trying to persuade you. But you did not give in. They needed to learn how to deal with their emotions, whether they liked it or not. 

[bcbdrums]

New Heights (Drakgo fic #150!!!)

A/N: This...is my 150th Drakgo fic, AND...today, publication day, is my birthday. (My 150th Kim Possible fic overall is A Knotty Situation for anyone curious, and it's hilarious; this new one is KP fic 153 overall.)

I honestly never expected to write for this fandom at all, let alone write so much. Thank you to those who have supported me from the beginning, both those still in the fandom and those who are enjoying other things now. I cherish you all.

An extremely special thanks to everyone who has ever drawn fan art for me. That's a special honor that I treasure deeply.

And now, on to the story... Evil date nights for Drakken and Shego are...unique. Hope you enjoy.

Read on:  FFn    AO3

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

New Heights

Despite the tight seal on the dome of the hover-car, Shego could feel the ominous chill of the air up higher in the atmosphere than she could recall having ever flown before in such a small craft. She couldn't help herself but to look down into the dark, the Earth below too distant to be seen, and layers of clouds so far they appeared as puddle-like lakes hovering somewhere above the planet's surface.

"Doc... Are you sure this is worth it?"

She hoped he couldn't hear the anxiety in her words, but, for how often Murphy's Law seemed to follow them around, she couldn't help but voice her caution. Especially when looking back up was just as frightening as looking down. It was a sea of inky blue emptiness in all directions, distant stars revealing themselves as pinpricks of light twinkling through the vast curtain. Perhaps, if the more familiar glow of civilization was visible below she would have felt more at ease. But Drakken had insisted on flying far out over some rural state, to a place with minimal light pollution.

"You won't be sorry, Shego. These cold plasma phenomena are like nothing you've ever seen. And if we're lucky, we'll see multiple types of transient luminous events."

Shego blinked across the seat at Drakken, the starlight reflecting in his eyes and his giddy grin.

"Come again?"

"There could be various sorts of transient luminous events. Of course, the stratosphere isn't necessarily the best place to view all varieties, but for these specific ones the conditions are perfect. Oh, I hope the dash cam is working... Did you charge the battery before we left?"

Shego blinked and shook her head, both in confusion and marveling at Drakken's perfect rattling off of the complicated words.

"Yeah... Yeah," she answered, still a bit stupefied as he continued to ramble about short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena in combinations of words she didn't realize he was capable of and didn't fully understand herself. Meanwhile he was using a remote control to adjust the angle of their camera, aiming it upwards in the sky. Below them in the lake-like clouds, a brief flash of lightning illuminating the irregular shapes proved that the world still in fact existed below them.

"...And of course, there is always the possibility of elves and ghosts, but they are less common."

Shego tuned back in as his science talk switched suddenly to the fanciful.

"What? You mean like...like...?"

"We might be able to see a troll as well. There really isn't a chance for pixies and gnomes, but from here we could definitely see—"

"Doc, you've totally lost me."

The excitement in Drakken's eyes didn't wane, and he merely lifted a finger in a gesture for patience as another distant flash below heralded a building storm. She wanted to question again the safety of flying above what would be a turbulent event, since that was apparently needed for whatever it was Drakken was insistent upon showing her in the upper atmosphere. But for all he was going on about, whether it be science or whimsy, none of it was making sense.

She was internally debating insisting they just leave, concerns about the dome failing, asphyxiation, and even lightning strikes (if it could reach that high), rattling her nerves. But before she could open her mouth to voice any of her objections, Drakken set his arm around her shoulders and her thoughts were arrested. Suddenly all she could see was the deep of his eyes staring down warmly into hers.

"The sprites are the most beautiful."

"Sprites?"

"I think it's a ridiculous name personally, along with the rest. But one must stay on theme, I suppose. It leaves out jets of course, they don't fit. But they are the most obvious of the TLE's after all."

Shego shook her head and moved nearer to him, her brow twisting in confusion and worry. She couldn't see below anymore, the vast blue emptiness that faded to black above overtaking her vision. It was unnerving, seeming to be suspended in nothingness, the hover-car a mere speck that somehow was still operational some 50,000 feet above the planet's surface.

Her stomach turned, and she desperately wished for what wasn't feeling at all like an evil date to be over, despite the smoldering of feelings Drakken's look had ignited in her chest. She needed further distraction.

"Tell me more about these...what are they? TLE's?"

"Which ones?"

"The uh... Whatever we're up here to see?"

Drakken held her shoulder more tightly, smiling happily.

"It's really quite simple, Shego. A large polarity change in the electric field after a lightning strike sends an abrupt negative charge into the stratosphere..."

He was going too fast, and she still couldn't keep up with his scientific chatter. Part of her wondered if he was making it all up, but the precision and rapidity with which he rattled off the complex and detailed explanation suggested otherwise.

"The imbalance from the top of the storm and the charge in the ionosphere are the ideal conditions for these TLE's," he said, as if in conclusion, but then he took another breath and continued.

Shego rested her head on his shoulder. Listening to him speak with such excitement and confidence was, she realized, gradually calming her nerves. And she couldn't help herself but to be pleased seeing him so happy. Amid their seemingly endless defeats and failures, it was rare to see him so thrilled and with absolutely nothing standing in the way of his joy. This wasn't a world domination plan that hinged upon tiny, variable details. It was just a date, which she had agreed to without hesitation, and he had promised her the show of a lifetime.

She tuned out the actual words, giving up trying to understand the science he was explaining while equally impressed that he knew so much. She fully believed of course that he was a genius; he couldn't invent and build all of the devices he did otherwise. His sudden frequent shifts into nonsense words and talk of ridiculous things like gnomes and pixies would always confuse her, but...as he talked animatedly about whatever it was he had determined was worth risking their lives for an evil date, she found herself smiling.

In truth, she loved hearing him talk. Not that she would ever let him know.

"...And the higher in altitude, the nitrogen will excite red. But it would show up blue and even perhaps purple if excited lower. Should we see any green, that of course is oxygen. And—"

"Are you sure this is safe?" she interrupted after a faint rumbling of thunder reached her ears from below.

"...It'll be worth it," Drakken said, his smile not faltering.

Shego turned her head and looked at him.

"Drakken."

Before another word could be spoken, a flash of lightning revealed Drakken's reason for bringing her up into the sky.

It was over in an instant, but it was impressed upon her mind like a photograph. A massive wash of translucent glowing red that overtook the sky like a dome but without borders—a three-dimensional presence that seemed real and non-existent all at once. Bright beads and tendrils fractured down and away from the dome like lightning, only far more delicate like the roots of a flower. At their tops they seemed attached to the dome by a cone, and at the very lowest tips of the wire-like structures that sizzled in the icy air was a faint purple glow.

Shego rose up and bumped her head on the hover-car's dome as she peered down in attempt to see the full extent of the thing, but it had vanished like a vapor, the star-studded indigo skies filling her vision once more. She had scarcely taken a breath when another of the red wonders flashed in the sky, further away but no less magnificent. And then another, and another. Each the same, and yet each unique as they came to life and then danced away before she could even fathom what they might be.

She sat down again, Drakken's arm ready to receive her, and laughter bubbled delightedly from his lips as he stared wide-eyed with boyish excitement at what had clearly been his reason for flying her up there.

"What are they?" she said, the words sounding alien as they seemed to come from some other source than her mouth.

"Sprites," Drakken said, holding her closer, the continuing flashes of red making his skin look purple when she glanced at him.

A lingering green mist appeared above the next otherworldly flash before vanishing in a seeming swirl, and Drakken let out a gasp of excitement.

"That one is a ghost! You know, they were only recently officially discovered—"

"Ghosts? Sprites? Who names these things?" Shego asked with a mild scoff, still watching in fascination as the show continued, the phenomena appearing and vanishing across the vastness of the ocean of the sky, seeming almost like animals bobbing up out of the seas to reveal a secret before hiding themselves away again.

"Hn... Scientists, I suppose," Drakken replied.

"They look more like jellyfish," Shego declared as another appeared and then blinked away, another tiny trail of purple and even blue faintly showing at the bottom of the tendrils of light with a boundless dome-like mist at the top.

"You know, Shego, you're right," Drakken said with a smile.

"Seriously, who thought sprites was a good name? They look exactly like...creepy jellyfish out of some nightmare. Jellyfish lightning."

"Ah, but it isn't lightning, Shego. It's more of a cool plasma phenomenon."

"Whatever," she said, moving nearer to him as a rumble of thunder followed a particularly bright red flash, topped again by a green ghost. She couldn't think of a better name for those, so kept her mouth closed on the matter.

They watched the display in silence for several minutes, the dancing of the strange red lights making it seem to Shego they had left the Earth for some place far more wonderful. And with Drakken's arm warming her against the invasive chill of the upper atmosphere, she found she didn't mind anymore having been brought up into the heavens. It was dangerous, risky, and beautiful—everything an evil date should be.

Drakken peered down over the side of their tiny craft through its protective dome as a rumbling of thunder lasted especially long that time, and then he smirked and hummed to himself in amusement.

"What?" Shego asked.

When he turned back toward her, his expression showed that his next words would cause her to either laugh or hit him, and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear whatever thought had entered his mind.

"You know, since we're renaming things..." he began, barely containing his mirth, "clouds are really just...fluffy water."

She stared at him as he held back his laughter, waiting for her response. Red flashed above them again and he glanced away to the skies.

"Shego, you're missing them! Shego...?"

She threw her arms around him and kissed him, as suddenly the only danger and beauty she was interested in was further opening her heart to the mad scientist who both calmed and fueled her flames.

He kissed her back, but after a moment broke away to look desperately into her eyes.

"But, Shego! The sprites!"

"Guess we'll just have to come back during the next storm," she said with a grin.

Drakken's smile returned as revelation reached his eyes, and it was but a moment before they melted into each other's arms and she gave herself up to the passion she too often held back as his lips caressed hers while around them, the lights still danced.

'Transient luminous...whatever,' her mind tried to fill in from Drakken's earlier intellectual talk, but all of it had fled in favor of memorizing the feel of his mouth upon hers and his fingers kneading her flesh. And as she glimpsed the red flashes turning his skin purple once again she couldn't help herself but to chuckle into the kiss.

That night, all she would remember was fluffy water, jellyfish lightning, and the love in his touch.

[mieohmy]

𝖢𝗈𝗆𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝟣𝟢𝟣 | 𝖫𝖾𝖾 𝖩𝖾𝗇𝗈

PAIRING: lee jeno x reader

GENRE: angst, fluff, humor, comfort, established relationship au, college au,  this rly is just a self indulgent fic kjasdfk

WC: 2.1k

NOTES: slight argument/fighting ?? , cursing

SUMMARY: jeno wants your attention, your comforting presence, your love- he simply wants you.

for the bday boy that i treasure sm! happy birthday to puppy jeno <333

ღ

The phone next to you lies untouched, and practically has been for days- or has it been a week already? I mean, it wasn’t your fault that upcoming finals had been taking you to the depths of hell, and you had no choice but to lock yourself at home to study for a week on end. 

Which brings you to day 7? 8? of being holed up in your room all day, memorizing a bazillion tiny printed words and trying to cram as much information as possible in that overworked brain of yours. Getting about 4-5 hours of sleep a day, you couldn’t remember anymore- or even care to remember. Not to mention the added stress that came along with being any normal college student. Wasn’t life just wonderful?

You feel bad for everyone that has tried to contact you over this stressful period in your life (since you completely turned your phone off to eliminate all distractions), but the urge to stop studying completely and just check up on the real world and all its happenings grows stronger. You breathe in -out, constantly chanting ‘self-control’ over and over again in your head. Then your eyes slowly open, and you slap yourself one last time as if to say ‘get it together' before diving back into the books.

Just two more days. Two more days and you can finish and not have to stress about finals until results come out. 

At this point, you were surviving off of coffee, tea, random stolen snacks that your boyfriend would bring over from his dorm. 

Damn, when’s the last time you had a proper meal? Monday?

And then you frown. What day even is it today? You glance at your calendar and- 

Goodness grief, it’s Sunday already. 

You almost have a midlife crisis over wasting basically a week doing nothing but sitting at your desk and looking at words, but then again at this point- you’re just over it and want to be done as soon as possible. 

But soon, a weird feeling arises after you recall today’s date- like you were forgetting something. You place a hand over your forehead. Was there something important today? 

And as if the universe read your mind, the doorbell rings.

A giant wave of confusion washes over you. Was someone supposed to come over today?

-and you just completely wiped it from your mind?

You’re still running through your memories as you walk to the door. No, it's not Chae since she has finals too...

Opening it, you’re not at all expecting who was behind it. 

“Jeno-?”

He blinks back at your wide eyes, expression turning concerned, and you rub your temples in exasperation and defeat. 

“Oh, did we have a date today or something? I’m so sorry- I totally forgot.”

His eyebrows furrow. “No, I was just supposed to come over to hang out with you....”

“It’s been so long since we last talked, baby. You haven’t responded to any of my texts. What’s going on?” He promptly adds, staring intently at you. 

You let out a sigh, and jeno notices your tense shoulders and dark under-eye circles. “I thought you knew. Finals are coming up so I’ve been stuck at home cramming for about a week now actually.” 

His frown deepens. “I did know. And still, y/n..” he says in a warning tone. 

You know what his voice implies, you’ve heard it plenty of times at this point, but right now you don’t have to energy to listen to his nagging. “ I know, I know. Just- come in, I guess.....”

To be completely honest, you wanted to send jeno back home- there was still a lot more information left to cover and you obviously weren’t in your best condition, but he was the one who actually remembered your ‘date’ and drove to your place, so you would feel even worse making him go all the way back to his dorm. 

Jeno easily follows you in, biting the inside of his cheek to hold back any comments while examining your place even though barely anything has changed since he last visited- mostly because there was nothing to change when you were in your room all day. 

You walk to the kitchen, getting your boyfriend some water while yawning. Meanwhile, your mind is drifting away, thinking about what topics are left that you have to go over later. “What are we even doing today?” 

Jeno plops on your couch, arms behind his head. “I don’t know. A movie?”

You hide your grimace, immediately thinking of how much time would be wasted watching one, or possibly even more if jeno was feeling it. In the one to two hours of a movie, you could be done with chapter two and three-

“Y/n??”

Your head snaps up. “Yes?”

“Are you gonna come over here or just stand there in the kitchen all day?” he teases.

You shake your head to clear the fog and join jeno on the couch. Scrolling through the options, you automatically snuggle up next to him, eyes blearily watching the moving tv screen. 

He decides on this one animated film, and you’re too drained to pay attention so you simply nod and let the movie begin. But even though you try your best to focus on the storyline and what’s currently going on, your mind keeps wandering off to other, more boring things- your studies, obviously. 

The number of chapters you covered, the slight of chapters you have left, how long you would have to stay up to finish going through your planned amount of information  -all the stressful thoughts swirling in your head, and it only exhausts you more. 

You let out a sigh, and jeno turns to you. “Are you okay? You’ve been sighing nonstop since we started the movie.” 

You clear your throat, biting back a yawn. “Oh- yeah, sorry. I won’t do it anymore.”

Your boyfriend stiffens but doesn’t say anything, attention returning to the flashing screen in front of him. 

You did try. You really did. But your eyelids keep drifting shut and your head keeps slowly lolling forward and snapping back up -it’s not until your forehead accidentally knocks against jeno’s chest that he finally speaks up again. 

“Y/n. You need to take a break and get some sleep. Now.” His tone is sharp and commanding. 

You snap your eyes back open, vision blurry. “No- it’s fine. I’m good, let’s keep watching.” 

The immediate switch in the air is scary, jeno swiftly reaching for the remote and pausing the movie to look at you dead straight in the eyes before setting it back down with a loud, clattering noise. “You need to rest. I can tell from how tired you look, and I know you’ve been studying for so long, so why is it that hard to just relax for a little?” 

You groan, distress breaking through. “I can’t, okay? You already understand how stressful school is and how important my upcoming tests are. I know you’re just trying to be kind and thoughtful but-“ 

“But what?” He cuts you off, the frustration he’s been hiding for a while finally revealing itself. “Taking a rest from burning your brain out isn’t going to kill you, y/n.”

Your hands at your side clench and unclench, a wave of emotions overcoming you. “I know that. But I can’t afford to have a break now.” Everything suddenly feels overwhelming, and your voice comes out strained and uncontrolled. 

“I’m almost there, jeno. It’s so close, and if I stop now, I’ll feel like a failure.”

He laughs a short and echoing bark. “How do you think I feel? I was trying to brush everything aside and act like it was all fine, but it’s certainly not when you’re like this.”

You falter. 

Jeno gets up, making direct eye contact with you even though his body is trembling and his voice is shaky. 

“I spent the past week just lying in bed and worrying about you- if you were eating okay and getting enough sleep. I was constantly texting you reminders to take care of yourself, only to find out from your friend that you turned your phone completely off.  Do you know how shitty of a person I was feeling? I didn’t want to be a distraction to you because I know how much you care about your grades, but it’s killing me, y/n. I want to be there for you, but instead, I end up feeling like the worst boyfriend in the world.” 

He shudders before continuing,

“And then I come here, brushing off all my worries since I was super excited to finally be with you after so long, and then I have to see you in such a bad condition. Barely taking care of yourself, barely even surviving on your own just so you can pass your exams that I know you’ll already do well on no matter what. As your boyfriend who wants to help and be here for you, do you know how much my heart hurts?”  

He finishes, but not before wiping away the frustrated tears that appeared in his angry rant.

It takes one beat -two beats, before you immediately spring up, rushing towards jeno and throwing your arms around him. 

He accepts it, burying his face into your shoulder and wrapping his arms tightly around your waist. 

The guilt courses through your body, and you understand. The consequences of your actions hit you, hard, and you know you deserve it all. Jeno just wants to know that you’re here. You’re here with him.

“I’m really sorry,” you murmur into his hair, “I’m really, really sorry, jeno.” 

You hate the fact that you can still feel the slight wetness of his tears soaking through your-technically his- shirt. You pull back, looking straight into his eyes to make sure he knows you’re being genuine.

“I promise to pay more attention to myself, and I promise I won’t ever let it happen again. I won’t shut you out anymore... and you can come over to take care of me whenever you want, okay?”

Jeno slowly nods, and you softly wipe away the corners of his red eyes of any wetness.

He pulls you closer to him again, inhaling your scent one more time, and you finally let yourself go. 

After about a minute of just enjoying each other’s warm embrace - one that you feel like you haven’t felt in so long- you allow yourself to smile and pull back just enough to place a kiss on his cheek. 

“Was my baby just lonely and missed me too much?” you sing in a soft voice. He lets out a disgruntled noise in response, shaking his head against your body. 

But you both know what the answer is.

“C’mon, let’s go to bed.” You tug his arm easily to your room, putting off your studies, at least for today.

“You’re really gonna take a break this time?” Jeno asks, eyeing you carefully. 

You grin. “Yes? Besides, I know you’re always down for cuddles.” 

You drag him to the bed, taking his arms and wrapping them around your body as exhaustion quickly fills you. 

You fight yourself to stay awake as long as you can to enjoy jeno’s presence, but he notices and hugs you even closer if possible, whispering softly, “Go to sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

And before you finally drift off, you sleepily murmur, “I love you, jeno. Like, a lot.” 

Even after you fall asleep in his embrace, he stares down at you, softly kissing your forehead.

I love you too. 

bonus bc i adore jeno too much :

“Jeno- for the last time, you’re not a bad boyfriend.”

“I know.... but-“

You shut him up with a quick kiss.

“You’re the sweetest.”

Another kiss.

“Funniest.”

Peck.

“Handsomest.” 

His ever so growing smile freezes. Jeno looks at you, a surprisingly solemn look on his face. 

You raise an eyebrow, confused. 

“......even more than Nam joo hyuk?”

Ah. He had to go for the favorite actor. 

You swallow, battling an intense internal war before begrudgingly nodding. “Okayyy...fine. You are.”  

He crosses his arms. “I’m what?”

You roll your eyes, whining. “I already said it!”

Jeno shakes his head firmly. “Say the whole thing.”

You take a deep breath in, internally apologizing to your beloved actor. “......you, lee -verymuchanannoyingbaby- jeno, are more handsome than Nam joo hyuk.” Your sentence is finished swiftly in one breath, words slurring together. It actually pains you to say that. But it’s good enough for your boyfriend. 

Jeno delights in the squeal you let out when he picks you up in his arms to spin you around. 

“Fuck yeah- take that, nam joo hyuk!”

ღ

a/n: anyways im going to go hide away and cry over jeno now ^^

[fific7]

Unexpected - Part 3

King Caspian x Reader

Summary: What happens if you push the respectful and well-behaved King Caspian a little too far? You’re about to find out.

A/N: The final chapter. This does not follow canon, it’s mainly a mix of fluff and angst with some lemon zest 🍋 Friends to Lovers AU.

Warnings: 18+ NSFW due to sexual content including debatable consent at first, loss of virginity and oral and unprotected* sex between consenting adults. Some drinking & swearing.

*Irl, please don’t go wild in the country without protection.

(My video edit)

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Ever since his hasty departure from your study, Caspian had not exactly avoided you but had taken to just popping his head round the door and wishing you a cheerful good day before disappearing again. You had smiled to yourself. It certainly did seem that you had some kind of an effect on the King. You weren’t absolutely sure what that was, but it appeared to be a positive one.

You were excitedly planning an outfit for that evening as a banquet was being held to celebrate Cornelius’ birthday. No-one had mentioned how old he actually was and you weren’t sure if that was because they didn’t know or if they were just being tactful. You’d bought him three new quills as his gift, which he’d accepted gratefully as he was always snapping the tips off his.

Later that afternoon, there was a brief knock and Caspian’s smiling face appeared round your door. “You are coming to the birthday banquet tonight, aren’t you, my lady?” You nodded, “I am, Caspian.” “Well… I’ll see you there,” he grinned, and then he was gone.

Smiling, you went back to mentally reviewing the dresses in your wardrobe. Tonight you’d make sure you looked your very best for Caspian.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Meanwhile Caspian walked off down the corridor, deep in thought. He was sure that she’d noticed that he was keeping a physical distance between them the past few days, but it was the only way he could think of to avoid making a complete fool of himself. Again. Like he had the last time. His face burned every time he thought about it. She’d known why he’d rushed off, he was sure of it.

He would have to dance with her tonight. It would look strange if he didn’t, and he felt his stomach tie itself into a knot. How on earth was he going to keep himself under control? He would just have to figure out a way… somehow.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Eventually, after several changes, you’d chosen a deep ruby red velvet dress with a sweetheart neckline, your hair was artfully pinned up and you had added a sparkling necklace and earrings.

The music played, the tables were laden with food and drink and Cornelius was thoroughly enjoying himself as the centre of attention. The courtiers whirled around the room in spirited waltzes and you watched as Caspian danced with girl after girl after girl. Everyone apart from you, in fact. You had a sick sinking feeling in your stomach - it looked like you’d got it all wrong, he obviously didn’t have any feelings for you at all. You blinked fiercely as you felt your eyes fill up. Well, your mother always said pride comes before a fall, and you supposed that you’d been prideful in thinking that he felt something special for you.

Taking a large drink of your wine, you considered leaving the banquet. What use was there in staying? Just to watch Caspian dancing with all the other women, while you - a sorrowful heap of jealousy - sat in the corner by yourself? No, that was not going to be you, you thought.

Standing, you smoothed your dress and started to move out from behind the table, only for Cornelius to lightly grip your wrist. “You’re surely not going already?” he questioned you. You nodded, “Yes, my lord. I.. I have a headache and should retire to my chamber, I think.” He did not let go of you, “Oh, my lady, can’t I persuade you to stay just a little longer? It is my birthday after all!” he smiled mischievously at you. Oh, he had to make you feel guilty, didn’t he? You sighed, “Very well, my lord, just for a very short time though.” He refilled your wine cup, “Have some more wine,” he encouraged you, “I’ve heard it’s very efficacious in treating headaches!”

Laughing, you sat down and took the goblet from him. “Indeed? I confess I haven’t heard that said of wine, my lord.” Nodding vigorously, he replied, “Oh, yes - I am sure I read that recently somewhere - in a medical book or suchlike.” Out of the corner of your eye, you saw a figure approaching you, one of the Kingsguard. Before you turned to look fully at him, you saw a look of annoyance flit over Cornelius’ face, before his usual small smile returned.

“May I have the pleasure of the next dance, my lady?” asked the handsome soldier, whose name you didn’t know. You nodded and stood, taking his outstretched hand and allowing him to lead you onto the dance floor. The orchestra finished playing the previous waltz, and prepared to play the next one.

Caspian’s dark eyes met yours as he straightened up from bowing to his partner. Something flashed in them and you looked away, up at your own partner. Wasn’t he happy to see you dancing with someone? Well, that was a shame, you thought - he can just have a taste of his own medicine! The music began and you and the soldier began to dance, thankfully neither of you treading on each other’s toes. You saw that Caspian was dancing with yet another lady. Hmmm, not so bothered then, you thought somewhat bitterly.

Throughout the dance, however, any time you looked towards Caspian his eyes were on you. Continuing to look away, you’d wait a few moments and look again. Yes - still looking. Now you were confused, if he didn’t care, why was he staring? Maybe it was just a ‘big brother’ kind of thing. The dance came to an end and you and your partner bowed to each other, and as you stood straight again you realised with a start that Caspian was standing slightly to the right of your soldier, gazing at you.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Caspian’s heart had jolted in his chest when he saw her take the floor with one of his Kingsguard. Jealousy raged through his veins. She was only supposed to dance with him! He continued staring over at them as the dance progressed, barely looking at his own new partner, and as soon as the dance finished he quickly bowed, mumbled a thank you and hurried over to her and the soldier.

The soldier bowed his head to his King and took himself off at speed. Caspian was still looking at her, and eventually she cleared her throat and said, “Good evening, your Majesty,” bowed her head slightly and also started to leave the dance floor. “No!” he exclaimed, and her eyes met his again, a confused look in them. “I mean… don’t go, I was about to ask you to dance.” She gave him a small smile, “And are you asking me, your Majesty?” Now it was his turn to look confused, “Why, yes… I am,” he replied and extended his hand towards her.

Taking it, she followed him to a more central area of the dance floor and as they reached it he swung around, pulling her close against him and drinking in her scent. He heard her give a small gasp and realised what he’d done - the waltz the orchestra was playing required a side by side promenade at arms’ length for a few steps before traditional waltzing then took over. Hastily, he released her and they performed their promenade steps, before he was able to take her into his arms once more.

“You look absolutely beautiful,” he breathed next to her ear, “I was overwhelmed when I saw you arrive.” She laughed, not meeting his eyes, “Really, your Majesty? I didn’t think you were even aware I was here.” “What?” he said, totally confused, “Of course I knew you were here!” She still wouldn’t meet his eyes as they moved around the dance floor. “Well, it’s just that you were so busy with all your dance partners I didn’t think that you were, your Majesty.”

Caspian felt like a thunderbolt had hit him. Of course! What a damn fool he was. He’d been so busy trying to distract himself from mooning over her, that it hadn’t dawned on him what it might look like to her - that he was totally ignoring her. He’d noticed that she’d gone back to calling him ‘your Majesty’. He desperately thought of how he could explain this without giving himself away. “Oh… no, no… I’m, I’m always aware of… of where you are,” he said then winced as he realised how lame that sounded. “I thought I would save the last dance for you,” he added, hoping this would redeem him somewhat.

She finally looked at him, a slightly reproachful look in her eyes but she didn’t speak. “I’m so sorry if it looked like I was ignoring you,” he said in a rush, “I just didn’t want to seem too eager.” She laughed but he could tell there wasn’t a lot of humour in it, “Don’t worry, your Majesty, that definitely wasn’t the impression you gave.”

Caspian was panicking. How could he be so stupid? Now she was upset with him, and he only wanted her more than ever - she looked stunning in her ruby red gown. He held her even closer to him and decided to stop talking, maybe he could just show her how he felt by holding her close. He saw her eyes widen and realised that had been a mistake too. There was no doubt that she’d felt his rampant erection, even through the heavy fabric of her dress.

He made a sudden decision and danced her rapidly across the floor back to the table, hastily sitting down and tugging her into the seat next to him. He pulled his tunic down as far as he could over the bulge in his lap and leant forward slightly, embarrassed and running his hands over his face. “Are you alright, my King?” she questioned him. He looked sidelong at her, “I think you know exactly what’s wrong with me.” Then in an even quieter voice, “The same as in the orchard that time.”

He saw a blush start to rise over her face. So she did remember it.

»»————————————-———-　⚜　———————————-————-««

Oh! you thought, your mind racing back to that encounter in the gathering dusk. You had thought about it frequently over the years with a mixture of excitement and embarrassment. You knew you’d been quite forward in your curiosity, and often wondered if Caspian ever thought about it too. And now it seemed that he had. With a frisson of jealousy, you’d also wondered what other sexual experiences he’d had since.

“I… we said we’d never talk about that, Caspian.” While dancing and when he’d pulled you closer to him, you’d felt that hard length of his against your stomach and knew exactly what it meant. But now here he was, bringing up the subject himself.

“We said we’d never speak of it to other people,” he corrected you, gazing into your eyes, “but maybe we need to discuss it further between ourselves. Come, let us leave the banquet for a while so we can speak in private.” He stood up and held out his hand so you also stood, taking it and following him as he led you out of the banqueting hall, aware of the many envious glances from the other women as you left with the King.

They could think what they liked, you thought. They will know you were childhood friends, although you’d made a point of never telling that to any of them. Castle gossip will have ensured that they all knew about it in any case.

Caspian led you upstairs to one of the empty salons and outside onto the large balconied terrace which was attached to it. He knew his castle well, you thought. Due to its position in one of the towers it wasn’t overlooked by any other window or balcony, and the size of the large terrace prevented anyone from seeing anything if they looked up from the grounds.

He came to a halt and turned towards you, his eyes blazing with something - you weren’t sure what - as he looked into yours, “I…I want,” he faltered, “I need…!”

You opened your mouth to ask him what he wanted and needed but before you could speak, he pushed you up against the terrace wall, you felt his mouth on yours and he was kissing you passionately. You realised he was also raising your dress and felt the fabric creep past your knee and then halfway up your leg.

Looking down you saw that Caspian had unlaced his breeches, just as you felt his fingers brush past your undergarments. Because unlike last time, it was he who had hold of his manhood and before you fully realised what he was doing, he’d slid his erection inside you and continued to push until he was fully sheathed. You were gasping and his dark brown eyes looked more like deepest black as he stared into yours, before he lowered his head onto your shoulder, groaning and whispering your name.

“Caspian!” you eventually managed to breathe, “what are you doing?!”

“What you wanted me to do that night in the orchard,” he said through gritted teeth, his voice rough.

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Caspian gripped her hips through the dress fabric and began to thrust up into her. She’d wanted him to do this to her those few years ago, right? She’d told him he was a coward because he’d pulled out. So now he was only taking what he could’ve had under the pear trees that evening, wasn’t he?

He heard her voice, through her gasps, “We were children, Caspian, who didn’t know any better. Now we do. What if you get me pregnant?” Caspian stopped thrusting, she needed to hear the truth.

“I don’t care! I’ve wanted you every second of every day since!” his voice broke, “Don’t you realise I’ve always been in love with you?!” He leaned his head back slightly and looked into her eyes, “Tell me you don’t want me to do this and I’ll stop.” She hesitated and he immediately began thrusting again, kissing her and pulling her closer to him. Eventually he felt her fists pummelling his chest, “Caspian! Please! I can’t get pregnant.”

He stopped with a heavy sigh, resting his forehead on hers for a moment before straightening up and pulling out of her. Taking his dick in his hand he turned away from her, frantically rubbing and squeezing his length before finishing quickly, bending over slightly and catching his seed in the palm of his other hand.

Turning back towards her, he found he was looking at empty space. She was gone.

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You ran as fast as your fancy dancing shoes would let you to your chamber. Throwing yourself headlong onto your bed and beginning to sob, you wondered how on earth you’d got yourself into this stupid situation. Because you teased him! your brain yelled back at you, it’s all your fault and you know it! Caspian is such a polite, shy, well-behaved boy and look what you made him do!

Eventually your tears stopped flowing and you wearily got up from the bed, struggling a little to unlace your dress at the back but eventually managing it. You’d had to learn how to do that as you didn’t have a lady’s maid, unlike at home. Having washed your face, taken down your hair and changed into your nightdress, you had just lain back down in bed and pulled the quilt over your head when you heard a single knock at your door.

You knew it was Caspian, that one knock had been a special signal between the two of you since you were children. Knowing in your heart that you shouldn’t answer it, you nevertheless got up and opened the door.

It looked as if Caspian had also been crying, his dark eyes were as wide as saucers. “I need to explain.”

You nodded and stood back, allowing him to come into your chamber.

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He locked the door behind him, he didn’t want any interruptions during the discussion he was about to have. She’d walked back to her bed and sat on the edge of it, looking down into her lap. He followed her over there, also perching on the bed next to her.

He drew in a deep breath then said in a low voice, “I’m truly sorry for what I did earlier.” He looked down, “You looked so beautiful but you danced with him, you were in his arms and I was so very jealous! I wanted you so much. But what I did was unforgivable.” He heard her exhale then she said, “I have to say, it’s not how I imagined losing my virginity, Caspian.” His head flew up, “But that… we… didn’t that happen when we…?” She shook her head, blushing, “No, not properly. You didn’t get far enough inside that time,” and looked up at him, “but you did this time.”

Now he felt himself blushing. “Oh! I always thought I lost my virginity to you that evening,” he said, “And you? That means you haven’t been with anyone else?” He held his breath and then she shook her head, her eyes downcast again. He felt an immense sense of relief, blowing out a big breath of air. There was a short silence and then he heard, “Caspian?” He looked over at her, “Yes?” “How many women have you been with since then?”

He leapt up off the bed, drawing himself up to his full height, “None!” he shouted, then as he saw her jump, lowered his voice, “I have been with no woman except you.” Suddenly he knelt in front of her, and he met her intent gaze, “I’ve never wanted anyone else apart from you.” He noticed her eyes welling up, and a few tears slid down her cheeks. He reached up and gently wiped them away, “Why are you crying, my darling?” he asked, “Doesn’t that please you?” She managed a feeble smile, “I’m crying because I am pleased to hear that, yes.”

Caspian’s brain hurt a little as he heard this; he wondered if he’d ever understand women. He decided the wisest course of action would be to remain silent and just smiled back at her, nodding as if he fully understood. She sniffled a little and then said more boldly, “Caspian, when you were… you know… earlier, you said you’d always been in love with me.”

His mind rapidly rewound to when he’d been trying to make love to her, had he said that?! He really didn’t recall - his mind had been on other things! - but as it was the truth in any case, he nodded. He took hold of her hand, “Yes, it’s the truth. I’ve loved you since I met you.” “But we were just children.” “It doesn’t matter. You’re my soulmate, I’ve always known that. It was truly awful when I had to flee the castle as I knew I wouldn’t see you - maybe ever again - but I had no choice, and I just had to try and put you out of my mind until Narnia was safe.”

He got up and sat next to her on the bed again. “It was really difficult. Just recently, everything was starting to return to normal and I was about to try and find you, when you arrived here as Cornelius’ assistant. It seemed fated that we should be together. But you kept on saying how I was your dear friend and.. and my heart broke. I was sure that’s all you felt for me - friendship.”

She shook her head, “No, Caspian. I don’t think I realised it until I came to the castle and saw you again, but I think I’ve always loved you too.”

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Caspian’s face had the hugest grin on it as you finished speaking. “Really? You love me?” You nodded, “Yes, I do.” Suddenly he was back down on one knee, “Then please - make me the happiest man in Narnia and marry me!” You must have looked like an idiot with your mouth forming a large O, but eventually you managed to say “Yes!” Then he had jumped up, pulling you off the bed and wrapping his arms around you, whirling you round while you squealed and he kissed you.

After the two of you had calmed down somewhat, he left to go back to his own chambers as even although you were now betrothed, it wouldn’t be seemly for him to spend the night with you, even if you just slept in the same bed. He promised that he would have a ring for you by the next day and while you’d assured him there was no rush, he’d insisted that he wanted a betrothal ring on your finger as soon as possible.

You lay awake most of the night, too excited to sleep. It seemed incredible but all of your most precious dreams had come true.

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The next morning, Cornelius had appeared in front of your desk as usual and throwing aside his usual decorous manner, had hugged you. “I am so pleased to hear your news!” he declared. “I’ve never seen Caspian so happy. He was bouncing around like an over-excited rabbit this morning,” he chuckled, taking your hand and squeezing it while you laughed at his description of Caspian’s reaction. “I know the two of you will be so happy together,” he continued, “Now! We must start planning the wedding!”

When Caspian came to your study later that afternoon, he led you out from behind your desk, went down on one knee and proposed to you once again. This time, he produced a small jewellery box from his tunic pocket and opened it, showing you a ring with a large pear-shaped diamond as the centrepiece. It was beautiful and as Caspian slipped it onto your finger, he whispered, “To always remind you of the pear trees in the orchard,” with a small mischievous grin at you.

“How did you get the ring so quickly?” you asked him, as you were amazed that he’d managed to find such a beautiful, perfect ring in the space of one morning. He’d winked at you, “I have my contacts, that’s all I’m going to say.” You never did find out for sure, but there was one diamond merchant in the town nearest to Cair Paravel who had similar gems and you thought it might be from there.

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One thing you did know for sure, the other ladies of the court’s eyes were out on stalks as they glimpsed your new ring when you joined them for dinner that evening. Every single one of them was praying you were going to tell them to whom you were now betrothed and eventually - when you had still said nothing and dinner was nearly over - one of them could keep quiet no longer.

“My lady… umm, I cannot help but notice your beautiful ring!” You dipped your head, “Why thank you, my lady,” you replied. She smirked at you, “But you are not willing to share the name of your betrothed with us?” You shook your head, a faux-regretful look on your face, “I cannot as yet, my lady. My betrothed has to be the one to announce it,” you went on, with a small shrug. Of course, this just meant that their curiosity ate them up even more.

But Caspian had advised you that he had to firstly tell the Grand Council, then your parents, the courtiers and the people of Narnia in that order - that was the accepted, traditional procedure and that was that. So you had to keep quiet, although in truth you were literally bursting to tell everyone!

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When the news was finally announced, everyone showered congratulations onto you and Caspian. Although you did get the feeling that the other ladies of the court gave their best wishes through gritted teeth and with fake smiles. You knew that they were secretly devastated as you’d won the prize they had been trying to win, and you felt slightly sorry for them as you knew you’d have felt the same if Caspian had asked one of them to marry him.

In the meantime, Cornelius - much to your surprise - had indeed become almost your sole wedding planner, and very good at it he was too! He’d already arranged just about everything. In fact the only thing you had left to worry about choosing was your dress.

Caspian was getting nervous about the actual ceremony; he was worried he was going to forget his vows when he tried to say them to you. You had just told him, “Make them up! As long as you mean them, it doesn’t matter what you actually say.” He’d laughed, pulling you into his arms and kissing you hungrily, but then the two of you had to spring apart as two female courtiers appeared round the corner without warning. You’d all nodded to each other; they pretended they hadn’t seen you and Caspian kissing, and you two pretended you hadn’t been caught.

Until you were married this was frowned on in public, in what you considered to be one of various out-dated court traditions. You’d be shaking up some things once you were Queen, you smiled to yourself.

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Caspian was super-excited on his wedding day. He was nervous, yes - but it was a good nervous. Apart from the fact that in a few moments he’d be joined together for all eternity to the woman of his dreams, tonight, their wedding night, they would finally - finally - be able to make love properly. He couldn’t wait.

Their first two attempts hadn’t exactly been stellar successes - and of course, they shouldn’t even have been trying the first time around! - but he just knew that it would be third time lucky. No guilty childish fumblings, no adult angry/jealous sex… it would be just the two of them, lying in amongst the crisp cotton sheets and deep quilts of their marital bed. No prying eyes, no interruptions, no rush - it would be just heavenly. He already felt a little thrill of arousal.

He heard the musicians begin to play the joyful wedding music and he turned to see his beautiful bride - in a gorgeous white dress and holding a bouquet of delicate white flowers - bathed in sunlight and standing in the entranceway. Would he ever feel as happy as this again, he wondered? He didn’t think he would.

She paused for a few seconds and then began to walk gracefully across the Great Hall towards him. Approaching him, through her veil she met his gaze and gave him a dazzling smile.

His smile in return was even brighter and totally blissful.

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@paracosmenthusiast @jessevans

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