#my room is a disaster storage wise LIKE I SAID the bit next to my dresser is just two boxes of childhood stuff stacked on top of each other

[foxmulderautism]

look at my wham! shrine boy

look at my wham! vinyl boy

[electricbluebutterflies]

Could you do an 'I didn't know I was pregnant prompt' where somehow Abby, who's a doctor and won't ever live it down, doesn't realize that she's pregnant until she's in labor. Possibly with it being conveniently when she's alone bar delinquents, and someone has to go track down Kane and inform him of what's going on.

Canon-divergent from early s3 ish. Also featuring Raven being awesome and Clarke trying not to have a breakdown, so hopefully I wrote those two darlings okay. Content warning for vague / non-graphic and questionably medically accurate descriptions of childbirth. PG13ish for that and also swear words. Also on ao3.

The thing about quiet is it doesn’t last. She should’ve knownbetter.

It’s been a year, maybe a little more than that. Time flowsdifferently here, but one of the kids – and Abby knows they are not that anymore,most of them are so much more capable than her, but in her mind they are stillso small – is pretty sure they saw a snowflake yesterday. So, bit more than ayear. And about a year since she broke down and let herself be reckless and…

All of this hits her in the worst way as she realizes whather body is doing. This pain is not cramps, but she can’t blame herself forgetting confused, it’s been a while since she’s had her normal cycle and-

Yeah. This is what she gets for ignoring her own body aswell as she does. Dammit.

The worst part is, Abby thinks as she paces across herworkspace because so help her she is not letting this nor anything else stopher, she justified everything. Her last implant had expired shortly after shewas widowed, and she’d passed on getting another one because she was on theedge of forty and had zero plans to ever let anyone else touch her and she didn’twant to waste resources like that, and she’d just… forgotten about that detaila year and a half later when she’d gone and taken a new lover anyways. With orwithout the implant, her cycles were always erratic and she stopped trying topredict that ages ago. Nausea got justified when she wasn’t the only person whoate bad meat (turns out mutant might’ve-descended-from-a-raccoon needs to be cookedlonger than that attempt was); a little weight gain because she iseating more, because that’s a possibility now. Said weight pooling in herabdomen is normal enough for a woman her age, right?

She justified everything, she was wrong, and now she is-

Fuck.

Okay, so right now pants are a mistake. They’re soakedthrough anyways, and somehow the idea of someone wandering in and seeing hernaked from the hips down is one of the less embarrassing details of this wholedisaster. Normal people have seven or eight months to process imminent parenthoodbefore it comes. She won’t even have that many hours. Supposedly births getquicker the more a person has had, and given her track record there…

Another wave of pain hits and she grabs the edge of the tablefor support. At least she’s having this crisis – she is trying to use everyword for it but what it is, and she will go through the guilt spiral later – inmedical. Ideal place for this nightmare. If she has to give birth on herown, as is looking more and more likely, at least she is doing so in a safeplace. That’s about the only thing going right here.

There is, after all, the small issue of her partner havingno damn clue about any of this.

Last she checked – and she tries not to hover, she is notthat kind of woman and their more recent trust in each other has eliminatedsome of her tendencies – Marcus is out on a hunting / scavenging daytrip. Whichmeans he may or may not be back before this is over. Either way, explaining howshe managed to be oblivious for close to nine months about something so significantis not going to be a good time and she is more than a little nervous about thatand-

Abby hears the door open behind her. Great. Now thenightmare is complete.

“Are you…” Raven, thank goodness, at least the intruder issomeone who occasionally has common sense. “Screw that, you’re not okay.”

“How willing are you to believe things right now?” Abbyasks, turning her head to look at her friend. Group bonding across generationsis rough, but she sees a different kind of potential in the younger woman thanmost people do. Like this one, if she doesn’t accidentally kill herself beforeshe turns thirty, has some serious untapped leadership potential. And moreimportantly right now, Raven is extremely well-connected and has a highertolerance for crazy than most people. So, again, ideal person.

“From you, pretty cooperative,” Raven shrugs. “What happenedslash who do I need to electrocute?”

“I somehow managed to ignore being pregnant and… it’scoming.” And saying it out loud sounds even more damning than realizing it herselfhalf an hour ago, dragging another person into this mess with her and puttingthat weight on someone who doesn’t need it. “Feel free to judge me.”

“Nah. Not sure what you need me to do but…”

“Get someone. Anyone. Nothing against you as a person but Ido not trust you to-“

Another contraction hits before Abby can sufficientlyexplain why she’d rather not have someone who interacts with technology betterthan people as her backup here. Great. If she factors in the number of timesthis has happened that she really did think were cramps, and how long it’s beensince closing her legs felt like a good idea… shit. Yeah no. There will be noexplaining this to her partner before it’s too late.

“What I’m hearing is radio your idiot and tell him to gethis ass back here as soon as humanly possible but do not tell him whybecause that’ll break him, grab the first person I can find who I’d trust tocatch something and send them in here to help you, and go through the storageroom and hope there’s still baby clothes in that one box I found some in lastmonth. Anything I’m missing?”

If Abby were more mobile, and/or felt less like her body wasabout to explode, she would hug Raven right now. “Yes. I… yes. Thank you.”

“And try to keep this on a need-to-know basis. Far as anyoneelse is concerned, you figured out you were incubating at a normal enough timebut you decided to keep quiet about it because you hate attention. That work?”

“I’m not sure that’s going to be believable when-“

“It’s believable if you’re a couple weeks before your duedate and you can pass that particular dramatic shitshow off as being more aboutthe timing.”

“I’m not sure if you’re an angel or an evil genius.”

“I’d like to think I’m both,” Raven laughs. “Now, if youthink you have enough time here for me to do that, I’m gonna go.”

Abby assesses herself quickly. Unless something somehow goeseven more wrong, she’s got at least half an hour here. “I’ll be alright.”

And again she is alone, she thinks as the door closes behindher. This is… not an absolute worst-case scenario, but pretty damn close. At best,she’s got a lot of explaining to do when it’s all over. At worst…

Describing this as an accident is a serious understatement. Therehas been no conversation about whether or not to have kids together. It neverseemed necessary. They’re older enough that the risk seemed so low, and therearen’t restrictions on that here, and she didn’t think…

She didn’t think. That’s what this all comes down to. A temporaryvacation from her normal instincts and look what that got her. No time tomentally prepare for a tiny vulnerable creature, no time to think about theimplications for her relationship, no time to even find out if her partnerwants this enough to stick around for it, no time to-

Getting closer. She is not attempting to measure herself butshe can feel the process. Timing-wise, she probably is a few weeks earlyhere, in that comfortable space where that won’t mean any problems for thelittle creature and a normal person’s biggest concern would be not being quitedone with their preparations. Whereas she has done no preparations, whatlittle of her fate isn’t in her own hands right now has been entrusted to atwenty-one-year-old who has even less of a baseline for this, and-

It’s all too much, and Abby starts crying. Most confusedemotional release she’s ever had, not sure if it’s stress or fear or pain oranticipation or probably all of those at once. Overload enough that the nextcontraction feels muted by comparison, overload enough to overlook how uncomfortablethis all is.

It’s just a little ironic that this started bent over atable and it may well end that way too, at the rate she’s going. That’ll be funny,in a couple months when any of this can be, maybe.

She hears the door open again and this time multiplefootsteps, this time she is too exhausted to even turn her head, this time-

“Mom? What the hell?”

Limited options, Abby reminds herself. Limited options ofpeople she would trust to be her backup here, and her own – possibly soon to beolder? – daughter is one of them.

“Clarke, I can-“

“Raven filled me in,” Clarke mutters, sounding so familiarlydisapproving. Abby’s always thought her daughter takes much more after her latehusband, but sometimes there are familiar flickers in there. “You basicallyneed me to catch it.”

“Basically, yes. There should be some towels in-“

“I know where things are. Learned my organization systemfrom you.”

“And I can grab stuff,” Raven adds. That would be the secondset of feet, the bright-red jacket Abby can see in her peripheral vision. “Iwould rather not see the nightmare fuel here but I can hold things or whatever.”

“Any luck with-“

Abby swears she can somehow hear Raven roll her eyes. “Wrongperson picked up, but we tried. The group at least knows something is goingdown here and hopefully I yelled enough to-“

The next pain is strong enough to blur Abby’s vision. “Nextone is it.” She’s amazed she can even talk clearly right now, but her presenceis not going away just because she’s in a crisis. She’s gotten through worse. Rarelybeen on this end of it, rarely felt so helpless, but she will not let anythingstop her. “Be ready.”

Around her, the girls attempt as much prep as they can. Abbydoes not know what they’re doing, does not think about it. There is only this. Thereis her, and the little creature that is about to exit her body, and her olderchild who is surprisingly calm about all of this, and another member of theirfamily who is at least trying to do the same, and a black hole where herpartner should be and-

She screams.

She lets it be a blur. She does not want to remember thesefew moments.

She knows one of the girls is hovering under her with alarge towel in hand, and the other one is yelling, and she doesn’t know whichis which and she doesn’t care. She knows that this is at least a familiar pain,and the first part is the worst, and the little creature – now officially hersecond child, she will let herself process that later – is slick andcooperative and how the child of two such stubborn people is so easy to dealwith in its first moments she does not know but-

“I have a little sister,” Clarke says somewhere in thebackground.

Abby wants to collapse. Wants to sleep for a very long time.She focuses on her body, on all the things she knows. There is still pain, waitingfor the afterbirth to come out. She suspects she’s torn but not as badly as itcould’ve been, and her breasts ache and at some point soon that too will beuseful, and-

She fades out. Exhaustion is a wonderful thing. She knowsher body will do what it needs to, and she trusts the girls enough, and… shecan’t do this anymore.

When she wakes up, she’s somehow been moved to the cot –which means someone else has seen her questionable condition, great, just whatshe doesn’t need – and she’s in a clean shirt and someone has placed cold clothbetween her legs to help the hurting and-

“You really didn’t know?”

She’s not awake enough for this shit.

Abby turns her head and yep, there is her partner (but howmuch longer can she call him that, she wonders) in a chair someone must’vebrought in, looking at her like he does not know where to start but he has alot of questions. It’s been a while since she’s had to interpret that look, andshe is concerned.

“I didn’t know,” she repeats. “You’ve known me since we werechildren, you know I can justify anything, I thought-“

“Alright.” And now for the scary-calm. That particularversion has evolved over the past year and a half or so, as Marcus has learned howto be more of a person, but she still knows it too well. He’s harder to readthis way, and more dangerous to those around him. “When I found out… I thought…”

“Do you really think I would’ve hidden this from you if I’dknown?”

“I had to ask.”

“I wouldn’t… I just went through hell,” she hisses. “Involuntarily.Again. And I wouldn’t have had to if I’d paid more attention to myself but youknow I don’t-“

“I believe you.”

She’s not sure she believes him right now, but she isstill too exhausted to move so that fight can wait a day or two. “Where is…” Shedoesn’t know the right word. My daughter? Ours? Which of those will hold longer?

“Raven’s looking after her. You needed to rest, and… I canlook after you here, Raven can keep the baby in her workshop except when sheneeds to feed.”

Abby rolls her eyes. Yeah, keep a newborn in the mostdangerous place in the settlement, great idea. On the other hand, Raven’sspace is at least warm. “And you’re…”

“Still processing,” Marcus finishes. “Someone tried to radious but we were a few miles out, and when we got back I didn’t have time tothink before someone shoved what looked like a bundle of towels in my arms and…”

“It is yours. If that was going to be your next question.”

“It wasn’t. But good to know.”

“I just… I ignored everything, and I…”

He reaches out for her hand, and even that feels like toomuch physical contact right now but it’s a nice gesture anyways. “I’m notblaming you.”

“Well that’s new,” she mutters. He’s been decent for a year,she should have more faith, but… “Are you going to stay?”

And now for the look of stunned horror, the wide eyes and haltedbreaths and for a moment she’s broken him. “Am I… how is that a question?!”

“You are aware how many bad choices I’ve made here…”

“You’ve always been a little impulsive,” he counters. “And stubborn.And usually right. And I don’t know why you think this kind of innocent mistakewould push me away.”

“It’s a screaming liability of a mistake?”

“It’s ours. And I want… if you want…”

“Yeah. You’ve never done this before. You do not realize thehell you’ve just volunteered for.”

“I’m with you. How bad could it be.”

He leans down and kisses her forehead, and the scratch ofhis beard is way too much, and… yeah. They’ll be okay.

[selenecrawford]

Selene Crawford: The Lady, the stapler and the Snake

Thank you for the comments and likes. Im taking my time making this story but Im happy is going well. As always I hope you like it ^^

Warnings: mild cursing.

“Selene this is the fourth stapler lost. We can't buy anymore. Will you take care of this issue?” said Hideoyoshi in a somber tone.

It's been now almost four months since Selene joined the firm. Due to her performance her status changed, as a permanent one, including a new title as executive assistant. She practically, run the office on her own with the full trust of Nobunaga and Hideoyoshi. Selene was happy with her progress and promotion. She managed to settle herself and get a good apartment near her job which let her walk without problems. She enjoyed early mornings walks or taking the bus. The car was a bit old, with certain repairs needed to be done. If her luck will keep at that level she will managed to get on her goal and start saving to go college.

Once Hideoyoshi went back to his office, Selene took her tablet and wireless headset and walk to the kitchen. It was time to set the table for breakfast and prepare a bit of Miso soup with some tofu. If her instincts didn't fail her two hangovers will be appearing soon adding to the grumpiness of the office. Multitasking was as easy as breathing for her. Calls came in while she prepare the miso, the agenda was full until the next so it was just a matter of playing chess between re-schedules, court appointments and other activities. The agendas were  now organized on a stand on the wall representing all the members of the firm plus the mysterious sixth one. Selene tried to ask who that belong to but no one offered an explanation. Not even Mitsurani who shared a brotherly love with her. As far, as Selene was concerned it was forbidden and yet Nobunaga almost bit her head off the day she suggested put it away on storage.

The miso was done and the smell soon drift away, from the kitchen. Setting the plates on the table, little by little the men started drifting to the table. The first ones to appear were Nobunaga and Mitsurani. The second like a robot and with a report on his table was reading while Selene keep taking things away in order to prevent him from falling. Nobunaga, took a cup of coffee and went to get his oatmeal cookies. Only two this time since Hideoyoshi was watching his sugar intake. Still Selene managed from time to time slide some Kopentiko to his office while Hideoyoshi was away in order to keep her boss happy. Yeah, she needed to make alliances since Hideoyoshi was Mother of all of them including her. Her modesty and virtue were saved with him. While, Masamune keep asking her out all the time and she evading giving an answer. At the moment, he only smiled and make jokes but from time to time they bump into each other and the sparks were flying everywhere. He was direct and sincere, Selene appreciated that. But she also understood how unstable he was. Sometimes, he was hanging with a different woman every week. His limit had been 3 weeks. Besides bumping into at the hallway from time to time Masamune also tried to feed her. She always had to take a break for lunch or he will be upset. He even recruit the rest of the men in his quest to make her gain a couple of pounds since he thought she was not eating properly or enough. She didn't mind the pampering, it was the first time in her life this many people care for her well being. At the same time a weird feeling of caution started to grow in her. Selene didn't want to admit that she wanted to be with someone. It was too soon, she said for herself. The wound was still open. And yet, she sometimes will hug herself desperate to feel something that will make feel warm and at peace.

The click on the door let her know the missing two were about to enter. Masamune, arrived with a set of sunglasses while Mitsuhide was squinting his eyes and holding his neck with his right arm. The plates with hot miso soups were already on the table with 2 aspirins and some cold compresses.

“Gentlemen enjoy the breakfast I will be going to deliver the agendas to your offices.” with this Selene took the exit and went to give the agendas an update with all the activities they needed to work out.

“So, what's new with you two?” said Nobunaga breaking the ice.

“Well, my date was a complete disaster. Spent the rest of the night watching movies and fell asleep at the sofa.” said Masamune gulping the pills down then taking a sip of the hot miso soup. “Damn the Lass improves every time she makes it.”

“Well, my investigation is going well, I just need some information from the docks, but they won't let inside their circle.” said Mitsuhide in a nonchalant way. What he didn't tell is that after giving the rounds he always goes to check on Selene. The woman is pretty but she also is sharp, perhaps too much for a simple archivist. He knows a fellow comrade when he sees it and that woman really is more than meets the eye.

With a smug smile the snake decided to poke the tiger and see what bites.

“Well, I don't know you guys but I think I might ask Selene out. The girl seems decent, even adorable with that scar on her nose.” Mitsuhide laid the bait and waited.

“And do what? She is not your type.” Masamune didn't wait long to bark a response.

Mitsurani uncharacteristically from him responded without taking his eyes from his tablet. “She likes to go out during the week. Weekends are too stressful for her. Also there is a new martial arts movie you should take her there but again make sure its a time where there is not many people or too crowded.”

The table seemed to stop in time. Nobunaga, Masamune and Mitsuhide looked dumbfounded at Mitsurani without giving credit to what they heard.

“Wait, how do you know that?” asked Masamune.

“We hang out sometimes, she is cool and a very intelligent woman. We even went to the museum last week and sometimes go for some ice cream.” responded Mitsurani. After that he stood up and with a polite goodbye he left still not taking his eyes from the tablet.

“Well I'll be dammed.” said Nobunaga with a chuckle. “I never thought the day we will be defeated by Mitsurani of all people.” crossing his arms he looked at Masamune's and Mitsuhide's reaction. As always Masamune was an open book. But Mitsuhide just gave a smug half smile and kept slurping the soup until it finished it.

Mitsuhide took his leave to get a change of clothes at his office. The doll was quicker than he thought. Years of experience taught him that sometimes even the most pure thing could be corrupted. And he thought Selene was not the exception. She was in that world, the question was how bloody her hands were.

Meanwhile Masamune kept silent while Nobunaga took his coffee calmly . The Devil looked at the Dragon and saw many emotions on his face. He knew Masamune, he might be loud but sometimes the man might keep to himself. And it was on those times that it was wise to keep an eye on him.

“Oi, what's wrong boss?” Masamune couldn't stay quiet it was not his style at all.

“Nothing, I just wonder when are you going to stop wasting your time. You might fool everyone but not me. You like her don't you?” said Nobunaga with a smirk.

“Well everyone seemed to had taken a turn to get her.” Masamune regretted saying the moment he let it out of mouth.

“That's bullshit and you know that. It might be a short time but that woman is not weak, useless or stupid. Plus, she might like you. Not your mask, but who you really are Date. Stop playing around. Who knows she might be the one?” said Nobunaga taking his leave before Masamune could respond.

Masamune sighed feeling exhausted. Everyone felt entitled to tell him what to do. Yeah, he will change and just like that she will fall at his feet, right. Everyone had might seen different sides of her. But what he feels every time he sees those emerald eyes is a deep pain and sadness.  He knows that look all too well. During the passed months she had been eating his food and that had given him some hope aside from leaving her notes and food nothing else changed. Not even the intentional bump had work.  She needs time to heal. Closing his eyes for a moment he felt the faint fragrance of lavender and knew she was near. For a moment he let himself believe she was hugging him. Until the vibration of the cellphone took him out of his fantasy.

“Date.” sounding harsher than usual.

“It's me Kojuro. We have something you might want to see down at the station. Can you come right away?”

“Sure, give me 30 minutes?” said Masamune turning into his detective persona.

Masamune stood up and cleaned the kitchen. On his way out, he let Selene know where he was going.

Selene smiled hiding her worry when Masamune left. When the men started talking about their night it was her cue to leave and also her opportunity to check Mitsuhide's offices. She had a suspicions that the resident snake was the culprit but she needed proof. She took a look around at the office and found one of the latest staplers behind some books. The back of her hair went up and she knew that, he was already in the room.

“Well I guess the place now have a little infestation.” taking a seat behind his desk Mitsuhide gave Selene a smug smile.

Selene hold her right arm and tried not to shudder at Mitsuhide's attitude. Meanwhile something stirred inside her. Something she thought was dead but given the circumstances it was still inside buried and fighting to get out once again. Not trusting herself , she could only take a a notepad and scribble some words before throwing them to Mitsuhide and leave the office in a hurry. Mitsuhide frown at her reaction, that was not what he as expecting. Taking the notepad he look at the note and raising one brow in amusement he took the note and tucked it on his wallet.

“So the plot thickens uh?” a sly smile appeared while Mitsuhide started working on his case.

Taking her purse Selene looked for her phone and went to roof of the building. Making sure she was completely alone she dialed the number and waited for the answer.

“Hi it's me, tell me everything you know about Mitsuhide Akechi. Please.”

@datemasamunemaiwaifu @colivara @masa-little-kitten @elievalentine @epicdragonlady @yeshasays @unstoppablelinda @mikamiw @ikesenhell

[flavourlessfiction]

Ice Melts When Heated ~ Chapter 6

Relationships: Jason Todd/Tim Drake

Rating: Mature

Tags: Alternate Universe - Skating, figure skating, Rivals, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies is a slight overstatement tho, Banter, Time Skips, Rating May Change

Ao3: x

It felt like they’d been talking for days, Jason bringing out three notebooks as well as paperwork for the actual rink, telling him they were all important. It turned out Jason was a level of obsessive compulsive that Tim had honestly never seen in him before. It didn’t seem like something he’d picked up off of Bruce or Talia either, as he’d looked through a few of them. It seemed like he documented everything he did training wise, setting out meal plans around competitions, ideas for snacks to take whilst flying, with comments about how he hated plane food. Tim liked making lists but this was a whole other level. Jason would probably kill him for eating Froot Loops for dinner sometimes not to mention his coffee consumption.

He’d always taken Jason as the sort that would wing it but then again, he might have been more like that when he was younger, his injury had taken quite a bit of time to recover from and when he’d been injured. “Where are you going to stay, your parents support you right? Which means they probably aren’t thrilled about the cost of this.”

Tim glanced up from one of the books, looking across the table. “They weren’t in love with the sudden plane tickets or the fact that I hired a car but they’re happy I’ve come across, they just wished I waited a little longer. I can get a hotel room for a little bit and then start looking for an apartment if it becomes a permanent move.”

“A hotel room? For fifty-one nights, at least? That’s going to cost thousands of dollars.”

Tim couldn’t help but laugh, handing the notebook back over to Jason. “You’re already counting down the sleeps until Worlds? Is it your version of Christmas?” The other man shrugged, offering no real response to the question. It was no secret Jason was competitive, every competition was another goal in a not too distant future. He’d listened to him complain about how he hated off season to Dick a time or two before. “As for the hotel unless you have a better idea, where else would I go?”

“My place is a shoebox but it’s got a second bedroom, which is currently just being used as storage.”

Staying at Jason’s would make things cheaper, would mean his parents couldn’t breathe down his neck about the costs of the move quite so much. But it meant living with Jason, who he’d tried to hook up with when he’d needed someone to comfort him. Experimenting whether he was capable of coaching him was one thing, living with him was a whole other story. “But that means you won’t have storage.” A lame excuse at best, if there was a way to reduce costs any sensible person wouldn’t care about the fact that they had less storage.

He could see a few muscles twitch, Tim unable to read if it was an annoyed reaction or an amused one. “Just say no if you’re uncomfortable with the offer.”

“I’m not- I haven’t booked anything in yet, so at least for tonight I’m not going to say no.”

“Tonight’s actually not good for me…” The way each word was exaggerated made it all too obvious that he was making a joke, but Tim played along with a frown. If Jason wanted to poke fun then he was more than willing to let him. He was doing him a favour regardless of how much he was going to make Tim pay for it. “I’m kidding, you will have to sleep on the sofa unless we can find an air mattress at Migros.”

“Migros?”

“It’s a supermarket, but we can go there and if it fails you’ll get to curl up on my sofa until you can order a bed online or whatever.”

Tim nodded slowly, opening his mouth to make a smart comment but closing it almost instantly, he was in no place to judge when it came to apathy about things that weren’t related to skating. It was how he’d been able to let certain comments slide off his back. “Well I guess if I stay at yours it also makes training easier, because we would end up leaving at the same time often enough.”

“What times are you used to doing training with proper coaching though.”

He looked down, it wasn’t something Jason was going to like, his training schedule seemed so strict that Tim’s assortment of times was going to make a mockery of the sport. “The truth is going to make you mad.”

“He didn’t do anything?”

“No, it was more a ‘when I can fit you in’ kind of thing lately, because he saw me more than anyone else other than the demon child. So sometimes it would be at 6am and then the next day he’d have like twenty minutes spare at 9pm so we’d squeeze some in there. It used to be better that’s just how it has been lately, but well you’d know because well you kind of helped drop the bomb that he had a kid with Talia.”

“I didn’t drop any bombs, I just implied the secret he already knew about could leak at any moment. Like he fucked with Talia’s career too, I feel like people haven’t really put the timeline together with that. Everyone he touches, aside from Dick, turns against him.” Jason said, Tim rubbing his hands together under the table. Talking about Bruce didn’t feel right, he was mad, how could he not be? But it could easily turn into bad mouthing for the sake of it, not ever actually getting to a better place themselves. Which meant Bruce would be right about him. “I will say, I feel like the primary focus is getting your head put together for the free program, you generally win the short and then the free is where you aren’t as composed. Your short program’s worst score for this season was a 101.75 at Four Continents, right? Which is higher than my best for the year.”

“Have you not cracked 100 points in the short this year?”

“I have, barely though, my triple axel as a singular jump has been really bad this year. In combination, it’s great but there’s issues with it in the short program.”

“It’s weird that you know what my lowest short program score is, I tend to focus on potential scores so I know what I need to do when everyone is at their best.” He couldn’t fathom how Jason had all those scores in his head, it wasn’t easy to remember every single one of his own scores because in truth he didn’t always agree with his scores, some days he felt like he skated better than what the judges gave him and other days he would say he did worse. It balanced out over time but it all depended on the judges and the competitions.

Jason snorted, seemingly amused by the turn in conversation. “I’m offended that you aren’t following my scores as closely as I am yours. You make a mockery of our rivalry Timothy.” It wasn’t the first-time Jason had referred to them as rivals, it was less aggressive than it used to be, but it wasn’t one that was about competing for the attention of a coach, even if he couldn’t seem to get the edge to hold a lead at the end of a competition they’d pushed each other to be better skaters despite living on separate continents.

“Not everyone can be the Rain Man of scores.”

“That’s not fair! I just have it all written down at home, I only know the most recent one because I was there.”

Tim couldn’t help making a face, he looked up the records and watched recent skates of competitors but scores was so specific, so debatable anyway that it seemed pointless. “Why? I’ve got binders of score sheets but I only have people that I was competing against.”

“Because the brain works in strange ways and it’s become a vice.”

“A vice? You drink and you definitely used to smoke how is being obsessive compulsive about scores training and diet a vice, wouldn’t it make you more stressed?”

“It’s complicated.” That smile, it made it seem like he was joking or poking fun rather than it actually being too complicated for him to explain.

“I can’t tell if this is revenge for my avoiding your questions at Arkham.”

“It’s not, I don’t understand how I got the itch for it but it keeps me focused and when winning gives you more than anything else can why wouldn’t you keep doing it, I guess it’s superstitious, like how footballers will go to an exact place for breakfast before a home game or they won’t have sex on game day or putting on the -”

Tim threw his hands up, an act of surrender. “I get it, don’t give me fifty analogies.” He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. This was probably bound to be a mistake, but at worst it would be a few weeks and they could decide it was a failed experiment that taught the figure skating world a lesson. First being don’t coach/be coached by your biggest competition, and second being don’t burn bridges back at your original rink.

If they screwed this up there was little to no chance that Bruce would take him back, although he wasn’t the first person he’d run to at this point anyway.

---

It took a week to find some sort of a groove and two weeks for the figure skating world to realise exactly where he was. In truth, he had overestimated the abilities of how die-hard fans managed to spread gossip like wildfire but two weeks still wasn’t all that much time. The call from Dick after a week had been an awkward one, the other just trying to figure out if he was ever coming back and then to give him a brotherly lecture about how this could end in disaster.

So far it had been fine though, they definitely didn’t agree on everything but there was a better balance of power. He wasn’t afraid to fight back with Jason. So far it hadn’t been yelling, more heated discussions under their breaths about how one or the other had no idea what they were talking about.

Jason wanted to hear him out each time though. A welcome change that made making adjustments make far more sense than they ever had with Bruce.

Living together had proven to be the hard part, he hadn’t been wrong about the apartment being tiny, which meant they were in each other’s space all too often but it had been the rearranging of items that had been the real challenge. The boxes hadn’t been a major issue, getting the mattress around everything had been. He wouldn’t say either of them got heated about it, but both of them at one point or another in having to move the desk and bookcase that sat in the living space said ‘fuck it’ and just laid on the mattress in the middle of the room.

Tim had even fallen asleep at one point, surely for no longer than ten minutes to find his body outlined with random books. Had it not been for Jason’s laughter as he took several pictures he wouldn’t have woken up. They both weren’t used to living with someone on a full time basis and in Tim’s mind at least it was working for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d lived with someone for more than a month at a time that wasn’t a nanny or a butler when his parents decided he just needed someone that could cook and clean. Ironically it felt like he’d had less freedom than when he was in high school because there was always someone there to check up on him.

He wasn’t going to lie it felt nice to have someone around, a year ago every time Jason spoke to him he still felt agitated and now he was actively enjoying Jason’s company. Regardless of whether they kept up the coaching arrangement, Tim had already been compelled to make the move more permanent, which meant spending his free time looking at apartments that he could actually move all of his own stuff into. “If we get a bigger place can we get a cat?” Jason uttered, the man hovering over his shoulder as he had twenty tabs open of different apartments or townhouses.

“We… that’s presumptuous.” He said, tilting his head back to look up at the other, for as much shit as Jason liked to talk about his bad eating habits he sure did have a fascination with yogurt pouches.

“You’re strictly looking at two or three bedroom places and you already said you don’t want to live alone, did I assume wrong?” He hadn’t, for as vaguely as they discussed things he wasn’t about to press Jason into moving unless he showed interest. After all, they’d barely been living together and in another two weeks they could be read to kill each other.

Why Jason felt that he could only have a cat if he moved somewhere bigger was beyond him. “Selina might give you one… she’d give me one, the past two times one of her cats has given birth she’s offered.”

“And you said no, that’s outrageous.”

Tim shrugged, there’d always been a reason as to why not get one. “My parents didn’t want me having a pet, claimed that because there are periods of the year no one would be at home it was cruel.

There seemed to be a small hum behind him, Tim focusing back on his computer in front of him. A place that appeared to be the right fit would come along soon enough, one that he wouldn’t have to worry about whether someone else was going to get it before they’d have the chance to move in. “That’s basically why I don’t have one now. I jokingly asked Talia if she’d take care of it when I was away if she wasn’t at competition with me.”

“Let me guess she threatened to drown it?”

“Not quite, just gave me this weird lecture like she is my parent.” Tim’s lips pressed into a line as he tried to hold back any laughter. He’d already witnessed that a few times, the dynamic of between Jason and his coach far more interesting than he’d thought. He had always assumed Talia and Ra’s were slave drivers who had their skaters doing eight hours of on ice training a day and then extra off ice work. Turned out that Jason was making himself do more hours on ice than needed and Talia was constantly chiding him, telling him he’d end up injured if he pushed himself too far.

Some probably would take it as her manipulating him but it seemed to work, made him take breaks when Jason had been going at it for too long. “Don’t worry once she stops being angry about you ‘wasting’ my time you’ll end up being the favourite child.”

“She has a son. Granted most people hate the brat but he is blood for her.”

A hand rested on his shoulder, patting it gently. He barely had to infer as to who he was talking about and Jason knew, whether it be Damian or Bruce. The names were able to fall out of his daily vocabulary. “She doesn’t like the things he does or says, which in all honesty he’s worse now than he used to be. Just you wait, she’ll warm up, I’ll lose my place as favourite in her eyes and then she’ll nag you about every single person you could possibly be interested in dating.”

“If one more person asks me about Conner I’ll scream.” He joked, pushing the hand away. Visibly cringing at the photos on his computer. Some people really didn’t know how to take pictures that made their houses look more flattering. “He has a thing for blondes, caught him and Cassie Sandsmark hooking up on the back of the bus between trips of a show. It made me realise dumb teenage shit happens regardless of whether you’re in the fishbowl of high school or not.”

“Oh, dumb teenage shit will happen if you’re not a teenager.”

“Obviously, I mean I feel like most of those that I came through Juniors with have always been pretty serious. Except for maybe Cassie and Steph.” Even the two of them were still pretty serious, he remembered watching Jason and the kids his age coming up into seniors and whilst they were all serious about skating they were all pretty goofy people off the ice.

There was that hand patting his shoulder again, this time it was certainly to make fun, the pats getting harder with each second. “It’s okay, I’ll bring out the inner four-year-old in you so you can experience a childhood.”

“You’re literally eating yogurt pouches.” Tim chuckled, pushing the hand away again, only for both of Jason’s arms to wrap around his head, squeezing as though he was trying to pop it.

“I wasn’t trying to say I was better, damn baby bird not everything is a competition.” Enough things were competitions, the smaller man slumping down in the chair to escape the other’s grasp, only for Jason to drop him the moment he started to lose grip, the momentum making Tim slide to the floor.

All he could hear was obnoxious laughter as Jason tried pushing the chair in. He truly did know how to be childlike at times. “Baby bird… haven’t heard that one in a while.” He said, finding it hard to not laugh at how this must have looked, it was stupid enough being the victim of this.

“What are you talking about I call you it all the time?” The chair stopped moving, but that was because he’d managed to make Tim wriggle back until he was under the desk completely. “Now it’s my turn to look at places.”

There was nowhere for him to move but thankfully Jason sat on the chair trapping him further by putting his legs under the desk. Couldn’t he just have sat sideways? In all fairness, he could just fight his way out. “Gross, some of these places are all tile flooring, do you know how cold it gets?”

“Yeah but they’re big.” He protested, resting his forehead against Jason’s knee.

And he thought how they were just moments ago looked strange. “That’s worse, it would be so hard to keep the place warm during winter. It snows here.”

“It snowed yesterday, you’re basically saying water is wet.” He retorted, flicking at Jason’s shins, he’d be able to annoy him to the point of being let out from under here in just a few minutes, he had to believe his patience was stronger than Jason’s. “I’m just looking for ideas anyway, it’s not like any of these are going to be available in a few months’ time. Gotta know what I want first though. Apparently, all you care about is a place with no tiles outside of the bathroom and enough room for a cat.”

“The cat should have its’ own room, which it will never sleep in because it thinks it’s a person and it wants to sleep with one of us.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

“Cats are weird, I don’t have any other explanation for it.” Jason flinched, almost kneeing him in the nose when Tim pinched his Achilles, the trapped man laughing softly to himself. “Stop it.” He whined, a hand swatting under the table as Tim pinched again.

“Stop it…” Tim mimicked, just happy to be getting some sort of a reaction out of Jason, it meant he’d either get out from under sooner or Jason would fight him which would make way for the opportunity for escape anyway.

“Unless you’re going to do something more entertaining for the both of us just sit pretty under there until my turn is over.”

Tim could feel the blush spreading across his face, thankful now that Jason couldn’t see him. “Don’t you get plenty of that from Roy?” He mocked, resting his back against the wall, using his feet to push Jason’s seat back until it teetered.

“Roy’s not as pretty Timbers. Don’t tell him I told you that because I don’t want to take a hockey puck to the hea-” That did the trick, Jason toppling backwards, too distracted by talking to realise just how far Tim had managed to angle the chair back. “I am taking back my offer to let you blow me.” Jason didn’t move as Tim crawled out from under the desk, the two of them smiling at each other as Tim stopped to stand.

“I think that might be a good thing, I don’t feel like fulfilling a porn trope for you.”

“But it’s the only reason I wanted to become your coach. Also, Roy and I haven’t ever done anything so you don’t need to get jealous.”

“I know, because if you could hook up with any guy it would be Dick Grayson.”

“How could you not? Especially Dick when he first switched to ice dance and was learning how to do all those lifts.”

“So, you hooked up with Dick?”

Laughter followed, Jason shaking his head as he started to get up, somersaulting backwards only for his feet and knees to hit the sofa. “Nope, he treats me the same way he treats you, as soon as he mentors someone he wouldn’t dare.”

Tim laughed, helping Jason up, resisting all temptation to let go of his hand and drop him again. “I don’t think I had the same fascination with Dick but for the longest time he treated me like a kid brother and when he didn’t anymore I less saw him as this unattainable entity that I was chasing and more like a stretched-out kid who had too much candy a lot of the time.”

“Well he adores you. I don’t think he would have let me yell at Bruce if it wasn’t for you.” He wouldn’t deny that, there was no use in doing so, Dick told him how much he loved him, it might have been in a familial aspect as well as a place of mutual admiration but it was a relationship that he knew deep down he couldn’t ruin even if he actively attempted to.

“He’s obsessed with trying to get me to do lifts with him, but I’m not into getting dropped by him.”

“You’re smaller than both Barbara and Kory so why the fear of being dropped?”

Tim rolled his eyes, leaning against the desk. “Because you’ve got to lift yourself in part and also you’ve got to put 100% faith in them, not dropping you and we’ve all seen compilation videos of bad falls… you’re featured in a lot of them.”

There’s a small noise that comes from Jason, Tim unable to tell if it was amusement or annoyance. “So that’s how Bruce teaches kids these days… or you’re a sadist that enjoys watching people get hurt.”

“Neither, I wanted to learn what not to do if that makes sense, because I like my knees, ankles and just my body in general.” There’s a nod, definitely understanding, although even explaining it made him sound like a sadist regardless. “Although I guess it’s ironic saying I like my knees when I’m jumping quads.”

---

The Move Of The Cycle, Tim Drake Defects to Al Ghul’s Rink But Who is His Coach?

Vicki Vale

After the explosive video highlighting how there has been trouble in paradise for some time between Bruce Wayne’s team and current national champion Tim Drake. It didn’t take long for him to be spotted in Geneva, Switzerland. It was one of several places that was thrown around in gossip amongst fans  online, many arguing that Ra’s Al Ghul had been attempting to solicit Drake for years, although many pointed out that Drake had repeatedly rebuked suggestions and would likely join the Kents, keeping to a less foreign environment and with people that he is knowingly comfortable with.

Well the mystery was solved by a few fans who were skaters at the Swiss rink that posted images of Drake on fan accounts, corroborated by an instagram story from rival Jason Todd of Drake asleep at the rink with the location tagged.

The immediate assumption was that Ra’s Al Ghul was Drake’s coach for the remainder of the season, however, after a very brief conversation which resulted in this reporter being hung up on, Al Ghul denied that Drake had requested his coaching services. Thus attention turned to his daughter, Talia Al Ghul, coach of Todd and former coach and mother of Damian Wayne, who said; “That whilst Timothy has been a welcome and exciting presence, he has taken a more unconventional route for this Worlds competition.” She’d gone on to say that whilst she was willing to provide a support role she wasn’t his coach.

This leaves us with many questions, regarding whether Drake has a coach or not, considering how he’d handled his loss at Four Continents I’d suspect that he has some sort of team behind him, however, there might be no official coach. One all too entertaining theory that came from twitter user @tjdfreaks, was that despite no one being entirely sure of the legality whilst being direct competition for each other, Jason Todd was his coach, as they have been seen together on ice and going to and leaving the rink most days.

I suspect said theory is little more than just a theory but it was too juicy to share and their thread will be linked below.

https://twitter.com/tjdfreaks/status/1094150268957089792

---

The ice is different, everyday it feels like something else, too hard, too soft, just not right for what he wants. In the morning he can’t land jumps sensibly and then come afternoon it feels bad for spinning regardless of whether it was freshly cut or not. It was early March already and he couldn’t get comfortable with what was supposed to be his home ice and in a month he was going to have to figure out how to skate on ice that possibly hadn’t even been laid early enough for it to have set right.

Everything was just different.

He had more freedom with his practices and time sure, and the scheduling had worked so well right from the start but that didn’t mean he was comfortable, Bruce might have screwed it all up but it was something he’d begun to get used to, just as he’d gotten used to sitting in the car and finally letting out how frustrated and upset he was. Now, Jason was painstakingly making him show every single feeling, making him let it out in the moment even though really it just made him want to tell the other to fuck off. Something that Jason also actively encouraged. Talia seemed to at least be entertained, he couldn’t quite tell whether she actually was, but after he told Jason to ‘go have another grade 3’, she had a more obvious reaction. He wasn’t sure if it was because she found it funny but she said that it wasn’t half as bad as the things Jason had said to her over the years, or in the past week, a sign that she was perhaps warming up to him, despite his being another distraction for Jason.

Ra’s on the other hand, still looked perpetually seething with the situation, the fact that he was training at his rink but not under his coaching. So close to being in his grasp, another success to his legacy only for it to be snatched away by Jason, who’d been snatched away by his own daughter, constantly so close to the top skaters of this generation but always just missing out. There were moments Tim could see Ra’s watching him and Jason, glaring at the two of them, a look darkening whenever they seemed to be screwing around too much for his liking. He was sure there was at least one occasion that he’d gone to yell at them when their working on footwork had turned into Jason trying to lift him whilst Tim did everything he could to flee. They ended up having a low speed crash into the barriers when neither one of them were paying all that much attention.

He stopped at the barrier to take a drink, wiping sweat off of his face with the towel. Nothing felt right, so heavy, edgework that he could do in his sleep feeling unclean and sloppy. “You look like you’re fighting with every little element at all times in a runthrough.” He should have known from the sound of blades scraping to a stop that it was Jason, they were the only two who had their stuff over here and aside from the initial excitement, most seemed to have gotten used to his presence enough to not let it distract from their own training.

“I’m not fighting, I just am not-”

“Comfortable? You’ve been saying that for weeks, are you sure it’s not your body and mind being completely in sync?” It wasn’t direct, but he could pick up on what Jason was saying, that this was him putting blame on one thing because he needed it to be something other than him, for it to be something completely out of his control. “What are you scared of, other than crashing into the barrier again?”

There were plenty of things to be scared of, injury, embarrassment, people thinking they were right about him, Bruce and Damian being right. “It happening again, and then every time I go out to do this program like a curse, I can’t just come off like a cocky asshole like you can.” He’d never phrase it like that to Bruce, even though in his days as a pairs skater that was exactly how he’d seemed. Jason only laughed though, looking more understanding about the matter than he really had to. “I know Bruce is wrong about me, I know I’m capable of doing things I haven’t done yet, I don’t need a pep talk about that, I just need to think and figure out how to make this work, for every element to work on it’s own and then also work-”

“You’re overthinking, which yeah it makes sense because you’re, you, but you’re focusing on the wrong things. Every little detail doesn’t have to be perfect, this isn’t nationals so no one is going to get perfect scores, it’s better that it works together than you get a perfect Grade of Execution and full levels for your technical components.”

That certainly sounded like something that would stereotypically would be a mind game from a teenage girl who thought she was living in a movie. “I’m not worried about it being perfect, I do want all positive marks and all level 4s, but one thing that’s wrong affects everything else.”

“And you have a little under month to get it all right, but you need to want to win, rather than want to make sure people aren’t right about you.”

“Yeah, a month that’s not a long time.” He groaned, pushing away from the boards, glancing behind himself as he glided backwards. “Your pep talk sucked and was super ineffective by the way.”

[masterlistcrawford]

Selene Crawford: The Lady, the stapler and The Snake

Warnings: mild cursing.

“Selene this is the fourth stapler lost. We can’t buy anymore. Will you take care of this issue?” said Hideoyoshi in a somber tone.

It’s been now almost four months since Selene joined the firm. Due to her performance her status changed, as a permanent one, including a new title as executive assistant. She practically, run the office on her own with the full trust of Nobunaga and Hideoyoshi. Selene was happy with her progress and promotion. She managed to settle herself and get a good apartment near her job which let her walk without problems. She enjoyed early mornings walks or taking the bus. The car was a bit old, with certain repairs needed to be done. If her luck will keep at that level she will managed to get on her goal and start saving to go college.  

Once Hideoyoshi went back to his office, Selene took her tablet and wireless headset and walk to the kitchen. It was time to set the table for breakfast and prepare a bit of Miso soup with some tofu. If her instincts didn’t fail her two hangovers will be appearing soon adding to the grumpiness of the office. Multitasking was as easy as breathing for her. Calls came in while she prepare the miso, the agenda was full until the next so it was just a matter of playing chess between re-schedules, court appointments and other activities. The agendas were  now organized on a stand on the wall representing all the members of the firm plus the mysterious sixth one. Selene tried to ask who that belong to but no one offered an explanation. Not even Mitsurani who shared a brotherly love with her. As far, as Selene was concerned it was forbidden and yet Nobunaga almost bit her head off the day she suggested put it away on storage.  

The miso was done and the smell soon drift away, from the kitchen. Setting the plates on the table, little by little the men started drifting to the table. The first ones to appear were Nobunaga and Mitsurani. The second like a robot and with a report on his table was reading while Selene keep taking things away in order to prevent him from falling. Nobunaga, took a cup of coffee and went to get his oatmeal cookies. Only two this time since Hideoyoshi was watching his sugar intake. Still Selene managed from time to time slide some Kopentiko to his office while Hideoyoshi was away in order to keep her boss happy. Yeah, she needed to make alliances since Hideoyoshi was Mother of all of them including her. Her modesty and virtue were saved with him. While, Masamune keep asking her out all the time and she evading giving an answer. At the moment, he only smiled and make jokes but from time to time they bump into each other and the sparks were flying everywhere. He was direct and sincere, Selene appreciated that. But she also understood how unstable he was. Sometimes, he was hanging with a different woman every week. His limit had been 3 weeks. Besides bumping into at the hallway from time to time Masamune also tried to feed her. She always had to take a break for lunch or he will be upset. He even recruit the rest of the men in his quest to make her gain a couple of pounds since he thought she was not eating properly or enough. She didn’t mind the pampering, it was the first time in her life this many people care for her well being. At the same time a weird feeling of caution started to grow in her. Selene didn’t want to admit that she wanted to be with someone. It was too soon, she said for herself. The wound was still open. And yet, she sometimes will hug herself desperate to feel something that will make feel warm and at peace.

The click on the door let her know the missing two were about to enter. Masamune, arrived with a set of sunglasses while Mitsuhide was squinting his eyes and holding his neck with his right arm. The plates with hot miso soups were already on the table with 2 aspirins and some cold compresses.

“Gentlemen enjoy the breakfast I will be going to deliver the agendas to your offices.” with this Selene took the exit and went to give the agendas an update with all the activities they needed to work out.

“So, what’s new with you two?” said Nobunaga breaking the ice.

“Well, my date was a complete disaster. Spent the rest of the night watching movies and fell asleep at the sofa.” said Masamune gulping the pills down then taking a sip of the hot miso soup. “Damn the Lass improves every time she makes it.”

“Well, my investigation is going well, I just need some information from the docks, but they won’t let inside their circle.” said Mitsuhide in a nonchalant way. What he didn’t tell is that after giving the rounds he always goes to check on Selene. The woman is pretty but she also is sharp, perhaps too much for a simple archivist. He knows a fellow comrade when he sees it and that woman really is more than meets the eye.  

With a smug smile the snake decided to poke the tiger and see what bites.

“Well, I don’t know you guys but I think I might ask Selene out. The girl seems decent, even adorable with that scar on her nose.” Mitsuhide laid the bait and waited.

“And do what? She is not your type.” Masamune didn’t wait long to bark a response.

Mitsurani uncharacteristically from him responded without taking his eyes from his tablet. “She likes to go out during the week. Weekends are too stressful for her. Also there is a new martial arts movie you should take her there but again make sure its a time where there is not many people or too crowded.”  

The table seemed to stop in time. Nobunaga, Masamune and Mitsuhide looked dumbfounded at Mitsurani without giving credit to what they heard.  

“Wait, how do you know that?” asked Masamune.

“We hang out sometimes, she is cool and a very intelligent woman. We even went to the museum last week and sometimes go for some ice cream.” responded Mitsurani. After that he stood up and with a polite goodbye he left still not taking his eyes from the tablet.

“Well I’ll be dammed.” said Nobunaga with a chuckle. “I never thought the day we will be defeated by Mitsurani of all people.” crossing his arms he looked at Masamune’s and Mitsuhide’s reaction. As always Masamune was an open book. But Mitsuhide just gave a smug half smile and kept slurping the soup until it finished it.

Mitsuhide took his leave to get a change of clothes at his office. The doll was quicker than he thought. Years of experience taught him that sometimes even the most pure thing could be corrupted. And he thought Selene was not the exception. She was in that world, the question was how bloody her hands were.  

Meanwhile Masamune kept silent while Nobunaga took his coffee calmly . The Devil looked at the Dragon and saw many emotions on his face. He knew Masamune, he might be loud but sometimes the man might keep to himself. And it was on those times that it was wise to keep an eye on him.  

“Oi, what’s wrong boss?” Masamune couldn’t stay quiet it was not his style at all.

“Nothing, I just wonder when are you going to stop wasting your time. You might fool everyone but not me. You like her don’t you?” said Nobunaga with a smirk.  

“Well everyone seemed to had taken a turn to get her.” Masamune regretted saying the moment he let it out of mouth.  

“That’s bullshit and you know that. It might be a short time but that woman is not weak, useless or stupid. Plus, she might like you. Not your mask, but who you really are Date. Stop playing around. Who knows she might be the one?” said Nobunaga taking his leave before Masamune could respond.

Masamune sighed feeling exhausted. Everyone felt entitled to tell him what to do. Yeah, he will change and just like that she will fall at his feet, right. Everyone had might seen different sides of her. But what he feels every time he sees those emerald eyes is a deep pain and sadness.  He knows that look all too well. During the passed months she had been eating his food and that had given him some hope aside from leaving her notes and food nothing else changed. Not even the intentional bump had work.  She needs time to heal. Closing his eyes for a moment he felt the faint fragrance of lavender and knew she was near. For a moment he let himself believe she was hugging him. Until the vibration of the cellphone took him out of his fantasy.

“Date.” sounding harsher than usual.  

“It’s me Kojuro. We have something you might want to see down at the station. Can you come right away?”  

“Sure, give me 30 minutes?” said Masamune turning into his detective persona.

Masamune stood up and cleaned the kitchen. On his way out, he let Selene know where he was going.  

Selene smiled hiding her worry when Masamune left. When the men started talking about their night it was her cue to leave and also her opportunity to check Mitsuhide’s offices. She had a suspicions that the resident snake was the culprit but she needed proof. She took a look around at the office and found one of the latest staplers behind some books. The back of her hair went up and she knew that, he was already in the room.  

“Well I guess the place now have a little infestation.” taking a seat behind his desk Mitsuhide gave Selene a smug smile.  

Selene hold her right arm and tried not to shudder at Mitsuhide’s attitude. Meanwhile something stirred inside her. Something she thought was dead but given the circumstances it was still inside buried and fighting to get out once again. Not trusting herself , she could only take a a notepad and scribble some words before throwing them to Mitsuhide and leave the office in a hurry. Mitsuhide frown at her reaction, that was not what he as expecting. Taking the notepad he look at the note and raising one brow in amusement he took the note and tucked it on his wallet.  

“So the plot thickens uh?” a sly smile appeared while Mitsuhide started working on his case.  

Taking her purse Selene looked for her phone and went to roof of the building. Making sure she was completely alone she dialed the number and waited for the answer.

“Hi it’s me, tell me everything you know about Mitsuhide Akechi. Please.”