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hollyhomburg · 5 years ago

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Of Fire and Love Pt. 4

(Dragon! Yoongi x Reader) (Ft. Baby! Jungkook and Baby Dragon! Hoseok, Fairy! Jimin x Dragon! Namjoon)

W/c: 20.0k

Tags: Genderfluid! Jimin, changing pronouns, Questioning! Hoseok, non-sexual talk about dicks and pussys, knotting, mentions of overstimulation, Touch of breeding kink, Mentions of infertility, War, bullying, mild angst, Heaps of domestic fluff, Koo and Hobi grow up, violence/blood gore warning, time leaps,

A/N: you guys are gonna be mad at me for the end of this but keep in mind the length of this chapter, and the fact that I will not be able to update for a little while. At the beginning of this part Hoseok and Jungkook are 8 and 10, and but the end of it they are 13 and 15.

Series Masterlist

- The second after a very naked fairy pops in an out of view is nearly unbearable in its awkwardness. Namjoon splutters for something to say and you try to take a sip of tea but end up choking on it. A moment later Jimin returns wearing a floor-length cloak of ebony silk beautifully embroidered. It matches the black lace intricacy of the dragon-fly wings that stick out of his back. They’re folded down towards the floor, iridescent and fluttering.

- He apologizes, much to Namjoon’s bright red-faced embarrassment, And Namjoon mentions that it’s just not in his nature to wear clothes much- gets in the way of flying and all. It’s a flimsy excuse- one that all of you are happy to leave unpunished.

- The fairy is pretty, his blonde hair curling over his forhead delicatly. He smiles and cups your cheeks when Namjoon introduces you and Yoongi stifles a smile to see you retreat at the sudden touch- it seems this level of physical contact is normal for Jimin. “Oh, you’re a pretty thing aren’t you- like a ranunculus or a tiger lily!”

- “Uhm,” you say, blushing as red as the flowers he calls you, “thank you?”

- “Do you spend much time in the fairy realms these days Jimin?” Yoongi asks after the fairy has fluttered over to pepper a kiss to his forehead, which Yoongi groans about. It shouldn’t surprise you- but somehow it does.

- Jimin cracks a feral smile- showing his sharper than seems human teeth, “You know I’d never resist the chance to terrorize my brothers and sisters Yoongi.” Jimin slaps him over the shoulder- your mate gives a little yelp looking scathed. ��What was that for!?” “For not visiting sooner you bastard-”

- “Uhm, darling?” Namjoon asks, hand over his face, the same second Hoseok pipes up, “why did you call him a bastard!?” “Yeah what’s a bastard!?” Jungkook joins in. Yoongi runs a hand over his face, trying not to laugh, then reaches across the table to squeeze your hand.

- Although it takes the majority of the morning, once Jimin gets over his embarrassment (and once he apologizes for cursing in front of your boys) your two boys are absolutely enthralled with the fairy. Expressing interest in seeing Jimin fly. He buzzes happily and lifts off the floor- the action as natural as breathing. He touches down after a moment. Jungkook lifts one of them up and giggles at you through the mottled surface, completely ignoring Jimin’s “Aish little bug- these are delicate!”

- Jimin and Namjoon lean in close, Namjoon running a wide hand through Jimin’s blonde hair, and they tell all of you that flying is actually how they met. “You almost knocked me out of the sky!” Jimin cries. But he looks at Namjoon with something like terribly fond love instead of indignance like his tone might suggest.

- They’re something of a match made in heaven, the dragon whose hoarded object is plants, and the fairy that makes the plants sing with a twitch of his finger. You notice instantly- how all of the roses turn in Jimin’s direction when he walks, the flowers on the patio perking up.

- Jungkook is especially curious about Jimin and asks him countless questions about his kind and others. Hoseok too- his eyes lighting up when Jimin effortlessly hovers up and off the floor. As someone who wants to learn how to fly but can only glide for a few feet- picks his brain too.

- You can see the jealousy in Jungkook’s face- that boy has always wanted to fly- ever since he was little. And now that he sees someone human looking like him who has wings. You feel as though Jimin may have opened up a whole new vein of curiosity in your son. All of a sudden he’s asking you how many other types of things can fly. The world isn’t only birds and dragons anymore: now Jungkook’s world includes; birds, dragons, and Jimin.

- To answer his question- Jimin takes Jungkook to see their library on magical species. It’s the most complete in the city or so Jimin boasts. “Is he far along in his schooling?” he asks you, eyeing the way that the 7-year-old is pulling out some tombs’ from the shelves, only to cause a mini avalanche- Hoseok giggling as he clears Jungkook’s face from the debris. Dust coating both of them.

- “When he says ‘he can’t wait to read them’ he just means he can't wait to have me read them to him” that tempts a laugh from Jimin’s mouth. “Very well then, I better show you a few that you’d both enjoy” He even sends Jungkook and you off with a little parcel of them for his own collection. Impervious to your thanks that only make the fairy shy.

- Jimin and Namjoon are the best hosts, ready to take your sons down to the sea cliffs the moment they beg- though really- Jimin has hardly even had breakfast. the narrow steps lad to a beach with soft sands. Where Hobi can ripple and curl through the water- Jungkook and you walking along the beach collecting shells, Hobi piercing the top of the waves with a splash His claws digging into the sand as he happily trots after you- only to be tempted back into the water by the sight of a fish.

- He actually does manage to catch one at one point. A shiny thing with dark scales. He lets out a happy little roar, summoning the rest of you too him, Namjoon and Yoongi trot down the beach, neither of them wearing shoes, Jimin flutters over quick. “That’s a good one!” Namjoon says appreciatively, trotting to the edge of the waves and taking it from Hoseok’s little mouth, holding it up to show the others. “We can definitely cook this for dinner,”

-“Good job my little hunter” Hoseok nibbles affectionately at Yoongi’s hand as it passes over his we head- and it makes you a little stupidly proud, Yoongi too- has his chest a little puffed up. Hoseok does a quick circle, snapping his wings free of water before he bounds back off in the direction of the waves.

- Unfortunately, his enjoyment is only temporary- because as soon as he gets tired with fishing and really starts to dry off his feathers curl from all the salt. Some sand sticking here or there much to his discomfort. Even when he shifts back he’s fidgety, says he can still feel the sand in weird places.

- That night, after your bellies are full of Hoseok’s fish (he caught two more- you’re both so proud) you curl up at the edge of their large fireplace. Hobi sits in your lap your brush in your hand. Combing him through like always. Letting out little grumbly whines when you have to switch out the water once it fogs up with the salt He fidgets, his claws scratching through his feathers to try and get some of the sand out.

- A few feet away Yoongi, Namjoon, and Jimin play some sort of betting game, jimin in a pair of thin trousers and a long billowing silk shirt in the style of ages passed. Your son perched on Namjoon’s lap next to him. They’d invited you to play- but whatever game it was it seemed complicated enough for you to bow out without much of a fight. You were far too content to see them all a little riled up, punch drunk and sleepy- a little irate when the others played a card, their banter years in the making and kind of fun to listen to from an outsider's point of view.

- Mostly though- you just appreciate the sight of your mate; sitting with his legs propped up, his shirt unbuttoned nearly down to his navel. He catches you watching sometimes, leveling you with a heavy look that just won’t abate, his dark eyes flickering in the light of the fire.

- “I’m telling you that move won’t pay off” Namjoon’s deep but gravely voice croons. Next to him, Jimin uses his hand of cards to hide his smile. But Jungkook just eggs him on- only to be laid bare a few minutes later much to your mate’s groan. Jimin throws his head back to laugh, as he collects the pot in the middle (they don’t gamble with real money- but still- he looks like a dragon circling a new treasure)

- More than once that evening, you catch Jimin looking at your two sons with a hint of sadness. His gaze flickering down to Hoseok asleep in your lap. Especially when you stand and move to sit at the table, Hoseok shifting- finally more comfortable. You pout down at Hoseok and say fondly, pushing at his shoulders playfully. “You need to stop growing, pretty soon you’re going to reach my waist and that’s just not okay- you need to stay small forever.”

- You sit next to Yoongi, your mate leaning back in his chair to put an arm around you- a comforting hand on the back of your neck. Namjoon’s gaze hovers of Hobi, sitting in your lap before you catch him looking, and his gaze somehow feeling chastise, flutters away.

- “Uncle Minnie’s winning so I wanna be on his team” When Jungkook sits in Jimin’s lap he goes ramrod straight- hands hovering and eyes wide, Jungkook oblivious to his surprise. Unsure how to hold the youngster. Eventually loosely holding him around the waist to keep Jungkook from sliding off.

- Namjoon see’s his mate hold the youngster's hand, Jimin’s own so large in comparison. The two of them sharing a pained look, all you know is that one-moment Jimin seems fine- and then the next he’s trying not to cry, looking heartbroken but happy to have Jungkook in his lap.

- Jungkook is nearly asleep when you take him from Jimin, his hands hovering on your son’s small waist like they don’t want to let go. As you bid each other goodnight you could swear you saw longing and jealousy in his eyes, Namjoon’s too, but also something so sad- so wanting. From the top of the stairs, Hoseok asleep in Yoongi’s arms and Jungkook in yours you see Namjoon wraps his arms around Jimin's shoulders, the shorter fairy turns his face into Namjoon’s to hide his suspiciously glassy eyes.

- Later you’ll ask Yoongi about it, curled up close in your bedroom upstairs, his long fingers stroking delicate lines down your sternum, your hands connecting the dots on his many freckles while you talk the way that lovers do. Words pressed thin between the blanket of sky and wakefulness. Yoongi’s voice a low hush, like music on the salty wind meant just for you.

- You think you could like it here by the ocean if you decided to stay.

- “Hoseok and Jungkook just remind them of what they can’t have,” Yoongi informs you that Namjoon and Jimin have wanted kids for the last century (you splutter at that- because you hadn’t realized that they were quite so old- Jimin especially had more of an air of a youthful sprite than someone older than Yoongi).

- And despite the fact that all fairies’ can bear children, Namjoon and Jimin had failed to have any children of their own, and have all but given up on it. “That’s why you didn’t want to visit- not at first.” Yoongi hums in affirmation, and you feel it in the cheek that you rest on his chest. His arm encircles your back and his hands rub over your spine soothingly.

- You’d notice- how could you not- how Jimin seemed as much a woman as he was a man. Though you’d heard Namjoon refer to Jimin as “he” enough to be content with using those pronouns, there where other moments, moments when Jimin’s hair seems a little longer, his lips a little redder and plusher, the curve of his jaw softer.

- The fairy seems just as comfortable in a pair of tight flying pants as she is in one of her many long and semi-translucent robes, that Jimin seems to prefer on the days that they don’t have to fly.

- He pops up one morning wearing a full-on dress- gauzy and white- and Jimin’s chest- definitely ampler than it was the day before. You’re a little perplexed over the change, trying not to let your surprise show until Yoongi leans over to whisper in your ear. “It’s just the magic- she must be feeling more like a girl today.”

- Neither of your sons mentions anything weird about Jimin- though Hoseok does look at him a little wide-eyed. A question hovering on his tongue, probably the same one that you want to ask- but are too shy too (it’s not even really any of your business to ask in the first place- but your kids are a curious bunch- and you know they’ll probably ask at one point)

- Namjoon and Jimin give you a tour of the outside gardens (namjoon- cryptically- says that the greenhouse is best appreciated at night). Hoseok and Jungkook climbing up on one of the rock walls, balancing precariously until yoongi tells them to come down, Hoseok reaching for Jimin to help him, ending up in his arms, he’s a little heftier than Jungkook- but Jimin easily holds his weight as he transfers him from the high wall to the ground.

- Yoongi does the same with Jungkook, though the younger quite literally just- jumps off the wall into his arms instead of waiting to be carefully transferred like Hoseok- not an ounce of fear or hesitation in his little body.

-“Your hair is pretty,” he says, hands coming up to touch at Jimin's longer curls Jimin looks surprised, but his red button mouth is nothing but kind as he smiles and thanks your son.

- He finally asks later- once night has fallen and they can finally show you the greenhouse. The room seems to have some sort of magic expanding it beyond its physical bounds because while it’s normal-sized on the outside- on the inside trees grow dense and thicker than seem possible. A mess of pots and plants blocking out the slate floor more often than not With moss growing up between the cracks or pushed up by the roots of trees that seem too tall for the greenhouse.

- You’d stumble and almost trip over a vine and Yoongi catches you around the waist. “Are any of these poisonous?” you asked, and Namjoon rubs a hand down the back of his neck suddenly looking a little worried. “Maybe like- stay away from anything that looks too vibrantly colored? Wait! Jungkook! That definitely not edible even though it smells like chocolate!”

- At night- the flowers are particularly gorgeous. night-blooming cereus flowers that glow brilliantly in the darkness. Pink Flowers that look like little jellyfish and seem to flutter on their own hang in great swathes from the high ceilings. Bright blue lilies hanging, large enough for Jungkook to stick his head inside of them.

- Each of them let out a little tinkle of stars, little bright specks of light that glow brilliantly- like little stars. It’s only pollen Namjoon explains when it falls onto Jungkook’s face and makes his dark hair glitter like the night sky.

- Your sons have a good time after that- scooping up the pollen from the floor and shoving it in each other's faces, even Yoongi joins in, rubbing it all up and down Hobi’s face- much to the shrieking giggles that echo off the high glass walls. “Oh no you don’t! Hobi! Hobi” you chide when he giggles, running forwards to press his hand to your dark pants, leaving Hoseok sized glowing handprints on the fabric.

- Later you and Yoongi get a chance to slip away. Sitting in one of the large isles on one of the stone benches. Yoongi tucking a large flower behind your ear, kissing the little stars of pollen that has gathered on your face. “We haven’t talked about when we’re leaving yet- how long do you want to stay?” he can tell (he always can) when you’re getting a little overwhelmed. And you are- but maybe you’d want to leave more if things weren’t so new- so bright and fantastic. Getting to be apart of this world that you’d never known existed.

- The world that you’d grown up in starts to feel terribly small, Even more so than it had before. You and everyone you’d ever known had only ever thought that there where dragons and humans. Maybe an odd sorcerer or witch and wizard in the world. But this- this world of glowing flowers, of scales and magic, boys with fairy wings- was a lot to take in. And you were still struggling to piece together what this meant for you, and your little family.

- You’d been deep in conversation with Namjoon minutes ago, about which of his plants in his greenhouse could be used to cure various ailments. He’d given you a few- and put out other samples for you to dry. Showing you plants with uses you’d never dreamed of. This one to stop clotting- these small berries to stop pregnancy and it’s roots to help one take. A brightly glowing fern to heal a burn, and another to heal a magical burn. so many different plants you’d never even heard of.

- Suddenly- you’d been consumed with the realization that you’d kind of stopped being a healer after Jungkook had come into your care. Still- you’d kept most of your skills up to date, tried to make sure you didn’t forget what you’d learned.

- And yet- you kind of missed it. You missed how you’d used to help the people in your old little town. Regardless of the fact that they’d never properly thanked you for it. And though you felt a deep satisfaction over being a parent with Yoongi- and wouldn’t trade that for the world- you missed it still. Missed how you’d been able to look at the human body as a problem with something to fix.

- You’d love to find a way to continue to use your gifts healing- helping others- but you don’t exactly have that many opportunities too- given where you live in the mountains. And your children- which are getting easier to take care of now that they’re getting a little older- but still- they require a great deal of your time. You let the melancholy in your heart slide away as Yoongi thumbs across your jaw, bringing you back to him, sitting in Namjoon and Jimin's greenhouse.

- “I think- it will be okay to stay for a little while longer? I think the boys enjoy Namjoon and Jimin- and I like them too even if Jimin is a little” Yoongi suck’s his lower lip into his mouth- deciding that whatever had made you look so sad- if you’re not ready to tell him yet- then he’ll let it go.

- “He’s very different- I know, but I’m glad you like Namjoon and Jimin” “They’re your family Yoongi- of course, I like them” Yoongi leans close, pressing a kiss to each of your knuckles. “But you’re my family too.”

- Despite your initial misgivings about Jimin (really it’s only shyness you swear) you do end up spending a fair bit of time with him that night. Especially when you start quiz Namjoon about the ways he propagates some of his plants. And he says, “Actually- Jimin knows more about the specific uses- he’s the real grower here after all.”

- You walk with Jimin in the gardens- you children winding this way and that around you- Yoongi and Namjoon trying to wrangle them. Namjoon reluctantly letting them pick whatever flowers they want. Even heaving Jungkook up onto his shoulders at one point so that he can reach a tall bloom, a dimply smile brighter in the half-light of all the glowing flowers.

- When Jungkook has Retrieved his prize he scampers off of Namjoons shoulders dashing away through the underbrush calling, “thanks uncle Namjoon!” making Namjoon choke. Yoongi gives him a withering look, deadpan “you’ve been forcefully adopted.”

- Behind you- Jimin waves his hand and more pop up, every plant in the greenhouse standing to attention blooms popping open for your children to pick. Yoongi sends him a thankful glance.

- The longer you walk- the quieter Hoseok gets. You know it’s just him getting sleepy. And as always, when he gets a little more tired he hangs closer to you, holding your hand as you walk side by side with Jimin. He almost trips on Jimin's long silvery grey robes. Sometimes when he gets so tired- he accidentally shifts- and you can tell from the way his little feet are dragging that he’s close to that now.

- More than once in your conversation Hoseok looks up- words almost leaving his mouth before he falls silent. Near the end of the tour of the garden, Jimin catches him- touching him gently on the shoulder. “I can tell you have a question for me little sprout- go on- you can ask.”

- Hoseok must be feeling a little shy because it takes a moment for him to respond. “Are you a boy- or are you a girl?” it’s just childlike curiosity. But you almost want to stop him. Tell Jimin he doesn’t have to answer. But before you can- Jimin leans down to Hoseok’s level.

- “To tell you the truth, being a girl or a boy doesn’t matter much in our part of the world. What matters is that you’re good to the people who need you and kind to the people that don’t when you meet, do you think you’re kind Seokie?”

- It’s kind of riveting, seeing the way your son tilts his head at the fairy, thinking softly to himself- the flowers around you almost seem to lean in to listen closely. you too, want to see how he responds. “Well, I always try not to step on flowers when I see them?” he says, eyes flickering to the flower behind Jimin's ear and the many around him.

- Both of you bark out a laugh, the plants seem to shiver in delight at his words in time with the shaking of Jimin's shoulders. Jimin urges Hoseok on with a hand at his back, “then you must be incredibly kind- go- find your brother. I think its time for both of you to get to bed.” Hoseok’s curls bounce as he runs down the aisle, calling Jungkook’s name. Jungkook does not call back- instead, his voice echoes sing-song- “flower! flower flower flower~” some sort of song he’s made up for himself on the other side of the greenhouse.

- Jimin straightens, and for the first time- the two of you find yourselves alone together. “Sorry- I didn’t mean to overstep” Jimin looks a little shy. A little worried at being chastised. You're quick to reassure him- “No it’s fine- please, it was bound to happen. There are so many new things here- even for me, I’m not sure I know how to navigate them, it’s better that he learns now.”

- Jimin laughs, “Is that why you’ve been tiptoeing around me?” you blush, Jimin’s words kind of stinging your chest because- he’s right- you have been a little shyer around him. But that comes more from a fear of being rude than anything else, overstepping some line only because you don't know it’s there.

- “It’s okay- I know this must be a lot for you- I’m a lot.” “No-no- that’s not it at all! Please don’t think that Jimin” your grab his hands in yours and under his skin- you can almost feel something humming- something that feels an offal lot like magic. He looks down at you sucking on his lip.

- “We’re pretty similar- you and I- aren’t we? Neither of us likes it when someone else is uncomfortable at our expense,” Jimin’s voice is soft like honey, almost shy and he fails to meet the gaze whey you try and catch it. “Maybe” you agree, picking up your pace from where you’d stopped, ducking under a wide leaf that crosses the path.

- “I’ve known Yoongi for so long- Namjoon and I have always wondered who Yoongi would choose as a mate- what kind of person they’d be- he’s so hard to get to know. But I’m glad he found you. You’re very well matched.”

- He means your shy nature probably, but it’s a compliment. “He’s my mate,” you say softly. You happen upon a wider stretch of stones, the little clearing that you where you came in before. On one side you can see your family- all of their heads pressed close over a flower- a massive red bloom- little fish swirling around in the pool collected in its stamen.

- Jimin nudges your shoulder- his smile turning devilish, “Probably can’t say you’re mad about that- what is it about dragons that’s so big-“ you choke on your spit, suddenly looking at him wide-eyed, Jimin gives you a few hearty thumps on the back waiting for you to get your breath- cringing internally.

- “I’m sorry I’m so crass, talking about sex is normal in my culture” You swallow thickly, “that seems a little…understandable considering?”

- “Considering what?” “Well…” you gesture to all of him, Jimin grins showing his sharper than seem safe teeth. The fairy leans in, his charming face swallowed with mirth- you feel his words as if they where whispered in your head, it must be the magic you tell yourself. Jimin laughs at your flustered expression.

- “Are you asking me which one I’ve got? a pussy or a cock?” you try to ignore the blush that sparks on your cheeks when you nod, their pale wings fluttering behind him in the inviting spring breeze, “god you’re fun to tease” you slap Jimin's arm good-naturedly and they lean into the touch, eyes disappearing when they smile.

- Namjoon must sense his mate, because he turns and gives Jimin a happy little smile, his eyes disappearing, dimples flashing. In his hair, Namjoon’s horns turn a little pink. The look in Jimin’s eyes as he gazes at his mate is almost feral, “I can have whichever one I want.”

- The six of you retire to your separate rooms, not before Jimin pulls you close- “just so you know- all of the rooms in this house have a soundproofing spell attached to them” Yoongi hears- so does Namjoon- and he has the good nature to cuff his mate over the back of the head and drag him away with a panicked ‘good night’ before he can be any more suggestive.

- That night you do end up taking advantage of the supposed soundproofing spell. Once you tell Yoongi he can’t seem to keep his hands off of you, nearly ripping your dress in an effort to get it off of you. You’d fooled around last night but Yoongi doesn’t often get the chance to knot you given on account of how vocal that makes you and how long it takes to go down

- You do have to admit- you tend to go at it like rabbits whenever you have the chance, as privacy is hard to come by with your children around you nearly always. Especially in your mountain home when you all sleep in the same space.

- You end the night with your legs thrown over Yoongi’s thighs, sitting sideways in his lap. You’re back against the bed. Yoongi’s knot tugging at your entrance, unable to keep your breathing steady with how he’s stretching you. You always forget how overwhelming it feels to have him so close, so fully and completely inside of you so that barely any thoughts remain. Yoongi props himself up on an elbow so he can watch you and run his fingers gently up and down your sternum.

- He leans in close and kisses you through your breathlessness, his tongue tracing along every inch of your mouth, drinking down your gasps, the way you say his name again and again- your walls quivering around him. A nearly feral growl building in his chest, leaning in to lick at the over-stimulated tears that start to bud as you let out little sobs at the pleasure still rippling through you with every pulse and lash of thick heat.

- His hands smoothing up and down your quivering thighs, jerking when he decides to tease you further and slide his hand slowly up and down your core. Stopping when you start to jerk, only to start up again when you calm down a little. A satisfying feeling filling him at how wrecked he can make you- at how well he can please his mate.

- His knot deflating isn’t an instantaneous process, but once it gets a little smaller he lazily grinds his hips closer. Letting it tug and rub against your walls in a slow push and pull making you gasp louder. Usually, you’d be biting the pillow to keep your noises down, but now you don’t have too.

- His words are almost a growl. “More?” you grab at him- pulling him back in for another kiss. You drop your face to his throat as he starts up again. It’s wet and messy and slick- and you’re going to have to apologize to the servants tomorrow for the ruined bed sheets but- you can’t help it.

- He’s insatiable, hands hungry over your stomach, he always gets a little laconic when he’s like this- a little closer to his more dragon headspace, hands possessive when he clutches over your stomach. Probably intent on fucking you full until it’s a little tighter than usual, a little swollen, the drive to breed you full a primal instinct.

- He kisses you again- a loud- feral growl rippling out as you kiss him back, messy and sloppy but he loves it. Needless to say- you’re glad that Jimin told you about the sound canceling charm by the end of the night. Even if your legs feel like jelly until noon the next day.

- You hand the sheets over when their housekeeper comes by to your room. trying to hide your blush. She’s understanding, mutters to you “you should see mistress Jimin’s sheets” Yoongi can’t help but laugh behind you.

- You’re happy to stay mostly at the manor house where it’s quieter. Content to spend a few days relaxing with your sons, joined mostly by Yoongi and Jimin and by Namjoon in the afternoons after his council duties have finished. But you are curious to see more of the city, if not for your own curiosity then for your children's.

- Hoseok is anxious about the possibility of school- and so are you. It will be good to see it before he actually attends. You decide to take a day trip into the city to see the school and one of the markets.

- The school is on the edge of the city on account of how much space it requires for flying lessons, rolling hills surrounded by high walls made of a sandy-colored stone. Namjoon arranges with the headmaster for the four of you to see a tour.

- The students are of every kind, color, and age group. clad in the school's simple uniform: a white robe with sleeves that only go to the elbow, and grey pants. the school's emblem, a firey leaf emblazoned over each of their chests. It will be a few more months until Hoseok needs them so you decide to forgo purchasing them yet, he’s still growing so much, they probably wouldn’t fit him by the time he starts.

- “This place is still the same,” Yoongi says as you watch a flying lesson between a small feathered dragon and a larger less birdlike instructor. Hoseok watches curious, you too- had never known there where dragons with beaks. “You went here?” you ask, and Yoongi nods, “it was more a military school back then.” The wind shifts, casting your scent in the direction of the students. At the smell of a human on the air, all of them turn and look in your direction- regardless of how their instructors shout at them to stay concentrated.

- “Can we go to the market now?” Hoseok asks, smelling you discomfort and looking up at you with a panicked glance. “Please?”

- The canals that run through the city are populated with sea serpents and small boats from the few traders that are allowed in. Wide mountains shroud the city from any attack by land. its walkways are crowded with dragons, most of them walking in human form but here and there, thick legs and wings scramble over the cobblestones.

- You see more than a few children as well, smaller dragons mostly preferring to be in their shifted forms who send Hoseok curious looks. Bumping him in the chest with their snouts and cocking their heads at him- like an invitation to play, only to hiss and scramble back to their parents when Jungkook comes near.

- You’re careful to hold his hand to keep him from running off, even when he pouts looking close to tears at being hissed at. “It’s okay Kookie! I’ll play with you when we get back to uncle Joonie’s house” Hoseok looks up at you for approval and you smile down at him, running your fingers through his hair in thanks.

- There are a few humans that live in the city- usually apart of one dragon’s hoard or even in rare cases, mated to a dragon-like you are to Yoongi. But they’re few and far between. You see a few of them, men and women who walk dripping in pearls or diamonds and carefully kept close by whatever dragon they’ve sworn themselves too.

- “Keeping humans against their will isn’t allowed don’t worry” Yoongi notes when you look at one young human who actually has a collar of sapphires around their delicate throat. The humans themselves smile and greet you and Jungkook, eyes lighting up to see another human, and the other dragons- just stare.

- Yoongi takes you to the market and the three of you ogle over the wears and fine silk clothes burnished to look like gold, thin gauzes that shimmer one color in the light- only to turn opaque when you bring it into the shadow. Your sons make a game out of bringing you fabric scraps that you might like- while a salesman talks to Yoongi about tailoring prices and ready-made gowns that would fit you. Yoongi grumbles and internally bemoans the loss of the quiet in his mountain den. Yoongi is defiantly not a city person.

- You do need new clothes though- and the staff here is far better made than the rough mountain clothing you’ve come to favor over the last few years- it’s nice to get a few more things- pretty things. Yoongi lightens up substantially when you try on a soft blue dress patterned with crises crosses of dark blue embroidery, a thick soft skirt, a shirt that hangs on your frame well- in a way that makes Yoongi want to growl and hide you from any prying eyes.

- It makes him happy too- to see the way you twirl and appreciate the fine fabric. Yoongi has always been a provider, and if the simple blue dress that you choose makes you smile- then that’s a price he will gladly pay. He smiles when you look up at him, “are you sure?” his hand on your waist reassuring, “you’re forgetting I get to see you in these- they’re basically a present for myself.”

- It’s at the market that a salesman who has bright golden scales dotting his face eyes Jungkook the same way that any dragon would eye a piece of his hoard. And Yoongi’s attention is immediately diverted from you. He feels the prickle at the back of his neck before he turns, he’s is careful to step close when the stranger talks to his sons even as Jungkook- always overly friendly, introduces Hoseok as his brother.

- Yoongi feels his heart warms at that, but keeps a steely gaze with the other dragon until he shrinks away from Yoongi’s intimidating gaze, disappearing back into the crowd. Yoongi can’t wait to leave the dragon city after that.

- Summer is edging into fall- and by winter- Hoseok will attend daily classes. Yoongi agrees to part with some of his hoard of jewels to buy some sort of residence, there’s no way that you’d ever let Hoseok live in the city alone, or even stay in the dorms at the school.

- But because of that, you’ll need to linger longer than you’ve planned. Your cave is almost a weeks flight away from the dragon city- and when it comes to procuring a residence, its easier to do a short tour here and there and try to find something while you're close to the city rather than try to make the trip back to your secluded cave in the mountains.

- Yoongi assures you that it’s not uncommon for the dragons that live in the countryside to send their children to school only during the winter session so Hoseok won’t feel too out of his element or like an outsider. And honestly- you’ll be glad to get out of the mountains during the worst part of the winter, escaping to the more mild countryside where it rarely even snows- nothing compared to the deluge that you’ve grown used to.

- Namjoon and Jimin understand entirely and are only too happy to have you linger. Both of them have grown a little attached to your boys, and your boys attached to them in kind. Many an afternoon will Namjoon come back from the council only to immediately be happened upon by Jungkook- hurling himself into Namjoon’s arms and Hobi- nibbling at his robes and tugging him away to the Ocean.

- And Of course on the days when you have a new possible residence to tour- Hoseok and Jungkook are eager to explore their new possible home. Giving you their rating on how much they like it or don’t. “I don’t like the rooms in this one- they’re too stuffy” “But come on Hobi that one has a stream! You can’t say you don’t like the idea of that?”

- The first few homes you tour are either too close to the city- or too far away, or on the other side of the city from namjoon and Jimin- and you can tell Yoongi likes the idea of seeing his friends more often. But eventually, you find it, a manor house that is actually more of a castle in an old section of forest. It’s in-between one of the first small towns in the countryside and the city. Barely an hour’s flight from the city and a half hour’s flight from Namjoon and Jimin’s home by the sea.

- Here the ginkgo trees are thick and yellow- a forest of gold spotted with weeping red maples that grow taller and thicker than any you’ve seen. Citrine and carmine leaves dotting the forest floor, impossibly bright. It’s the fifth home you’d seen, and the only thing you’d really disliked about the last place is how close you were to your neighbors.

- You know the second you see it it’s the one- it’s roof tiled in blue-green slate- windows tall and narrow with shutters to keep out the snow and wind. It’s so large- it’s nearly a small castle but that wasn’t a surprise; houses here needed to be larger on account of there more often than not- large and scaly residents. you hadn’t been surprised to find out that most residences here are built to be that large because of how much larger dragons tend to be.

- It’s old too, the single spire caved in a little and decrepit, vacant for about a year. once a secluded private residence of some wealthy merchant who lived in the city abandoned after a storm had damaged the spire. Dust hangs thick over every surface, but the furniture comes with it. Including a generous four-poster bed and balcony on the second floor that you and Yoongi claim as your room. Happy that you can finally close the door and have privacy between the two of you- something you’d lacked in your other home.

- there’s a small library as well, that Jungkook wants to tear through the second he sees it. Yoongi shows you the cavern below as well, accessed through the slightly hidden stairwell and an iron door with a formidable lock. its ceilings aren’t rough to warn- but High vaulted, it’s green-tiled floor slippery. It’s a hoard chamber, which yoongi tells you is the staple in many a dragon home. it’s the only room in the house that must have been cleared when its previous owner left. typical.

- But it might impress you a little bit your world view shifting a little. Of course- you’d seen Yoongi’s hoard- knew the size of it- had let him show you it long ago- back when your love was new and blooming, his face blushing and shy when you’d complimented it. But this was putting it in perspective- this room could fit barely a tenth of the treasure hidden in your mountain home.

- There is also a wide dance hall next to the kitchen, a balcony ringing it, skylights glittering above, one cracked in but easily fixable. It’s large- but barely large enough for Yoongi to shift in as long as he’s careful. it turns into a second bedroom of sorts, only used when Yoongi feels like he needs to sleep in his dragon form (it takes a fair amount of energy for him to stay in his human form all the time- and it’s much more restful).

- Hoseok and Jungkook have separate rooms on the other side of the manor, though you know that they don’t prefer to sleep separated from each other, you went into Jungkook’s room one morning and found it piled with pillows and blankets too- and both of your sons piled in the Centre of it. Forgoing the bed entirely.

- You sleep in your bed often, but still some nights, Hoseok will come trotting into your room in dragon form around bedtime, unable yet to sleep in his human form the way Yoongi does. Jungkook following sleepily behind holding the pillows from their beds in his hands.

- And regardless of the fact that it’s after their bedtime, the four of you will together every single couch cushion and throw pillow in the house, making a game over who can get the most the quickest. You pile it into the dance hall so that Yoongi can shift- and you sleep like dragons do, all soft and heaped together, surrounded by Yoongi and his warmth.

- It’s those mornings that Yoongi wakes feeling the most fulfilled, the happiest he’s ever felt. All of you safe here between his clawed arms. Your hands reaching up to sleepily scratch his scaled cheek. His head close to your resting form. Resisting the urge to lick out and groom you and Jungkook the way that Hoseok barely tolerates (dragon slobber is still gross- even if it is affectionate in its nature)

- It’s the safest place for your little family to live, in this part of the world where dragons are common and mixed settlements dot the old woods, and Yoongi tells you that werewolves aren’t that uncommon in this part of the country.

- “Werewolves???” You ask scathed, because honestly- the things your mate doesn’t tell you exists in the world- it astounds you sometimes. “They’re harmless really- unless you’re small and like- a dear or something?” “Do they ever attack or are they violent?” you’re worried, “no-no- they’re more like the ‘lets farm this land and live with the land’ type of people.”

- The rough dragon folk in the nearby town are different and smaller than their jewel-toned and massive counterparts that inhabit the city and other niches of the world. No- the dragons that live around your home are scaled in every shade of green, some more yellow. Their scales changing with the color of the season and the color of the leaves- not true chameleons- but they might as well be. In their human form, most of them have claws instead of hands. Most of them live in houses like your own, or underground hovels, or tree houses that dot the largest of trees they don't seem picky.

- Your neighbors, dragon and otherwise, aren’t all that perplexed or hostile towards your family like you’d initially been worried about. Mostly just curious and a little bit afraid or they pretend like you’re not there. You meet the werewolf pack that lives on the other side of the woods from you- easily your closest neighbors. They’re a rough folk, but the matriarch is kind to you- saying if anything ever happens to just howl and she’ll hear.

- You don’t know if you’ll ever need to do that- but it’s the thought that counts you suppose.

- You decide to spend a month there before Hoseok starts school (something he is definitely not excited about) to really adjust and get the place cleaned up a bit. With the extra month added to your time, you’ll spend a total of 4 months there, avoiding the worst of the winter at your mountain home. The manor house has more than a few repairs, the leaky south corner of the roof that Yoongi repairs- but not without nearly breaking one of his fingers with a hammer.

- You spend the evening letting him pout and act like a big baby, and he’d never admitted it or do it around the others- or even Hoseok and Jungkook who have finally gotten to the age where any affection between you two is decidedly gross, but it’s nice when he gives you a little pout and you tease, “Want me to kiss it better?” no matter if your children groan and hiss saying “don’t be gross mom”

- He waits until later to pin you against the low table in the kitchen, both of your sons already put to bed. “I’ve got something else that hurts” you raise your eyebrows before you pull him close by the collar of his shirt, pressing your lips to his slow, deepening after a moment, “better?” you ask when you pull away breathless. “Nearly- might need you to try again.”

- There are more than a few empty corners in your house, a quiet secluded room where you and Yoongi retreat to, giggling like school children, the wide fireplace in the sitting room with the comfortable Fur rug that feels soft against your bare skin, your bedroom with its balcony, the butcher block table in the kitchen than Yoongi pins you to, getting to his knees to pleasure you like you’re his last meal, anything will do.

- You might ask a favor of Jimin- and have him come to your home to put a few of those noise-canceling spells on your place- just for good measure. Though your sons are busy often enough exploring the woods it’s still nice to not be worried about being overheard. They know not to go too far, and it’s safe here, for both of them.

- As the month continues before Hoseok goes to school there are many repairs that need to be made on your house, little things here and there- Yoongi makes the trip to gather a portion of his hoard to fill the cavern below the house- nothing compared to his hall of jewels back home but still- it’s something. But there is also the matter of the tower and its spire- which leaks into the kitchen area. You have half a mind to turn it into something of a study for you- if you ever had time to work on it when it came to the upkeep of the house.

- You keep it as clean as you can but it’s so large Jungkook and Hoseok help but they’re more interested in playing “knights and dragons” than in cleaning no matter how Yoongi might growl at them. He helps too- does as much as you if not more with how he’s constantly flying here and there, to pick up Hoseok’s books, and his new school uniform, and food for all of you.

- Eventually, the cleaning and upkeep needed to get the house in working order are too much for you. You and Yoongi talk and eventually you agree to hire one of your neighbors, a young werewolf girl (who should be in school) to stop by a few days a week and clean the house. The aforementioned werewolves aren’t nearly as hostile or as concerning as your worst anxieties have made them out to be you’re extraordinarily glad to have the help as Hoseok finally starts school.

- You lament the ease of which you used to clean your old tiny cabin. Though the amenities here are far more comfortable- trust the dragons to figure out an efficient system for Heating water. they also have really nice pillows, but you have a feeling that might be a nesting thing.

-The aforementioned werewolves aren’t nearly as hostile or as concerning as your worst anxieties have made them out to be you’re extraordinarily glad to have the help as Hoseok finally starts school.

- Hoseok’s first day of school looks something like this- the new white robes bunched at his arms and his legs, the new pouch over his side where you’d packed his lunch, the red sigil of the school standing smart over his heart. You’d gotten him ready for school, combing his hair and making sure he had enough lunch.

- He’d been unwilling to part The black scarf that you’d gotten him to match Jungkook’s red one. You fuss with it, turning to Yoongi “You sure his teachers won’t have a problem with it?” yoongi shakes his head. “They were stricter when I was there, the worst they’ll do is make him put it with his things.”

- Hoseok looks worried and anxious and like he might be sick. He holds on tight around your waist when the four of you fly to the dragon city. You’re not the only ones who look like they’re making the trip- other families are traveling to the city at this early hour too. children tagging along on their parent's backs, or flying behind them, their small bodies dipping and jumping with the force of each flap.

- Jungkook is so sleepy but excited as you wave with him and watch Hoseok go through the gates hand in hand with Yoongi- whose only going in to make sure Hoseok gets to the right room. You and Jungkook waiting out front as Yoongi goes in and gets him situated. A few dragons give you weird looks- but most of them are too sleepy to be curious.

- You basically have to hold Jungkook back from wanting to follow. And the farther away he gets, the more Jungkook’s smile falls until he’s unusually quiet. “You okay Koo?” you ask, and he nods, his curls bobbing, hand rubbing at his eye. “I’m hungry- can we get some breakfast before we fly back?” Jungkook is unusually quiet the whole morning and by midday, you're starting to get worried.

- He gets better the second you return to pick Hoseok back up from school his face lighting up when you spot a redhead in the schoolyard, both of them running forward to collide with him, holding closely around his waist, and tucking his face close under his shoulder. Hoseok too- scent marks rapidly along Jungkook’s shoulder. Obviously having missed him too.

- He looks much less anxious than he did before, even waving goodbye to one girl with bright blue wings and a boy whose tongue flicks out, split down the middle. Hoseok crashes into your legs scent marking you before he can even speak. Jungkook behind him still hanging on. Unwilling to let him go again now that he’s back. “Did you have a good first day of school? I want to hear all about it Hobi!”

- “It wasn’t as bad as I thought- but I missed you guys the whole day” Jungkook looks almost pouty, “good” later that night you treat both of them to sweet rolls (you may have shown up a little early to go to a food market before picking Hoseok up from school- for a special treat) you and Yoongi overhear them playing in front of the fire. “I was lonely the whole day Hobi- You’re going to find better friends and leave me” “Of course I won’t Kookie- you’re my family”

- It’s a good thing that every 6th-day Hoseok has a day off from school- It’s your savior actually- on those days that Hoseok and Jungkook can explore the surrounding area of your new home as much as they want to. It lets Jungkook get his zoomies out, his need for adventure contained into one day as Hoseok is often too tired for much when he gets home from school.

- He does have enough energy usually to show Jungkook what he learned. gathering in the field in front of your house, you and yoongi watching from the stone steps. He’s learned how to glide better recently- the way his wing sits into the wind different than before. It has Yoongi smiling showing his gums excitedly- apparently, Hoseok is only a few weeks away from learning true flight.

- The day he does finally fly- the four of you meet up with Jimin and Namjoon- who have heard the good news from Hoseok’s teacher. Their gift is opulent, you try to refuse- tell them its too much, but Namjoon just touches your arm “please- it’s the uncle's job to spoil their nephews.”

- They take the four of you out for a well-known sweets house on the fancier side of the city. The kind that the fancy lords and ladies take their children too for mid-morning tea. You borrow one of Jimin’s fancier dresses for the occasion a gauzy thing that's a little too risque for your tastes- but is in style.

- Jimin has to fight with you to get you to wear it “I swear if you don’t start acting as pretty as you are I’m going to take it for myself” you'd jolted, looking at her face through the mirror, “can you really do that?” you know Jimin is powerful, can use magic in a way that only sorcerers can, but even that seems a little excessive. She puts her hands on her hips, “are you sure you want to find out the answer to that question?”

- But in the end, you’re glad you did. Yoongi can’t take his eyes off of you the whole night. You get more than a few stares at the establishment- though more due to the nature of your mixed party. It’s not often they serve a fairy, a well-known war hero, and two humans. but they never let their shock show- especially in front of a councilman.

- The staff is nice enough- They bring Jimin a Stool so that his wings won’t get crushed against the back of the chair, his dress low and backless. You’d tried to convince your boys to both go without their mismatching scarves- but they’d been insistent, even if the edge of Jungkook’s is getting a little ragged with age.

- Both of them gorge themselves on sweets and savory cakes the whole evening. Jungkook is almost unmovable by the end of the evening, both their cheeks sticky- how the hell Hoseok got syrup in his hair- you have no idea. if being messy was a field you could be accomplished in- your sons would already be experts.

- but as the school year continues, and Jungkook gets used to Hoseok being gone all day he becomes forlorn. Following Yoongi around or following you around and helping as he can with you trying to get the house together. You and Yoongi are still trying to get the tower in working order. Jimin is coming by later- to help install some windows and the glass pains already sit out in front of your house.

- Without his companion- Jungkook just doesn’t know what to do with him. Sitting and pouting no matter what you try to do. “I want to go to dragon school too” “there is a school in town you could go to if you wanted to” “No! I want to go to Hobi’s school!”

- “Jungkook” Yoongi cautions and it’s not like he exactly rules them with an iron fist but you do have one rule: listen to your mother. And Jungkook isn’t doing a good job of that right now. He ends up huffing and walking away- disappearing to who knows where.

- Later he comes back and apologizes to you for raising his voice. And it’s quite well thought out an apology for an 8-year-old you do have to admit. He brings you a clutch of dandelions he must have picked from somewhere nearby. Later you catch Yoongi congratulating him and you think maybe he’d had a talk with him.

- Dandelions- it reminds both you and Yoongi of the first time you ever saw each other- or at least- the first time you met face to face. Jungkook- a baby, sat in a wildflower field with you- so many years ago now. You keep the dandelions by your bedside the same vase stuffed through with red feathers from Hoseok’s molting. He likes to keep them to give them to you- the longer ones that are almost the length of your forearm.

- Yoongi putting one behind his ear to make you laugh. Though he still leaves to raid every now and then- he spends as much time as he can at home. Sometimes- he gets called upon by Namjoon- and leaves with Hoseok in the morning only to return with your son later in the day. Honestly- Yoongi would tell the council to fuck off if it wasn’t Namjoon asking. But wherever he goes- he sees dandelions and thinks of home.

- You don’t mind much- even if you, like Jungkook- get lonely. You repair your house with some sort of zeal- painting the room’s different colors, fixing things here and there. It’s been a while since you really had a place to make your own. You flourish a little excitedly setting your house in order.

- But then Yoongi comes upon your old medical things in the belly of the spire one morning, turning over the few old medical texts and the herbs that Namjoon had set you up with. Here there are a few dried herbs, from namjoon’s garden and from the woods- well-known ones that even he recognizes.

- he hovers on that disconcerting feeling again, the same one he’d had in Namjoon’s greenhouse more than two months ago. but before he can ask- you slide away again asking him something else- and he can’t bring it in himself to bring it up. And before anything can really get better or get worse- Hoseok’s school year-ends. And so does the extraordinarily mild winter. And the four of you head back to your mountain home and whatever unhappiness you feel seems to dissipate once you have both of them to look after all the time again.

- It’s probably fate that he’s in town that morning, it’s only been two weeks since you got back into town for the next winter session. Hoseok is a little more interested in it this time around, growing less shy as a 12-year-old. A little excited to see the few friends he made last year- and get reacquainted with his flying teacher. Jungkook, by comparison, is even more twitchy and restless this year. Now 9 years old (neither of you can quite believe it).

- It’s a small errand- but he’s honestly just picking up some bread for dinner from the baker when he hears the shout. And sees the crowd of people hovering around a young werewolf behind a wagon, His arm to the side, bent at a weird angle, the bone popped through the skin.

- The mother spots Yoongi- and internally he cringes. He knows you’d created something of a buzz when you moved into the manor house- and the people here know he was a commander at one point and used to serve the people. Her hand is clawed and furry when she places it on his arm “can you take him to the city? We don’t have a healer here-”

- “No, but my mate used to be a healer- she can help him, come with me” everyone knows who you are- that you’re his human. Though there are a few mutterings about that. Yoongi ignores them and so does the mother- desperate to help her pup who hasn’t stopped howling in pain the whole time. his cries echoing loudly probably making the hair of every wolf in a mile radius stand up on end.

- Two of the wolves’ older brothers heave the little one up between the two of them- and he howls out in pain the ears on top of his head flicking in pain when they move his arm. The mother and what feels like half the town follows Yoongi down the trail- a half-mile from your home.

- you’re just clearing out some of the old books in the library Hoseok and Jungkook helping you. All of you are covered in dust- a silk blue handkerchief tied over your mouth. “Uhm- mom?” Jungkook tugs at your sleeve, looking out the winds to where you can see the crowd of people, worried for a moment before you see Yoongi at the front.

- The three of you rush to meet them out ion the front steps. Yoongi hops up the steps two at a time he puts a hand on your arm. “There was an accident in town- I thought you might be able too-“ the wolf boy behind you lets out a howl and you turn- the change is almost instant, your attention diverted from Yoongi to the patient that needs your care.

- The way that Yoongi see’s your brain starts moving, working as you come close, tugging up the covering over your mouth and behind your ears to keep back your hair. The mother launches into what happened- and also bursts into tears. “This way- the dining room table should be wide enough.” The rest of the town seems to hover outside as you and the family head inside. Hoseok shifts and curls up around Jungkook in the hallways outside, Yoongi trying to field some of the questions of the town as best he can without losing control of his temper.

- “How long was she a healer- can she really be trusted?” Yoongi lets out a growl at that one- “she healed Hobi’s wing!” Jungkook pipes up. Hoseok gives a little flutter- flapping them to show that they’re alright. One of the younger shifted wolf pups comes close, so much smaller than Hoseok- the dragon back-peddling wildly. Jungkook curious- upset that the wolf pup isn’t as curious about him as he is about the dragon.

- The town has dispersed within the hour, and Yoongi manages to keep Jungkook and Hoseok away from the kitchen for long enough. A muted scream punctuated by some sobbing. You must have managed to crack his arm back then. When they finally leave it's with the youth still held by his older brother. This time in a piggyback. His arm back into place and braced with two of the wooden spoons from your kitchen. The mother thanking you profusely, again and again, clutching your hands.

- When they finally leave you to hover by the door watching them go winding the silk scarf over your hands, again and again, your hair spilling out unbound. “darling?” Yoongi asks. You turn to him, lower lip quivering before you lean forward, taking his face in either of your hands pressing kiss after kiss to his cheeks to his brow, peppering his face with countless kisses, Yoongi can’t help but smile.

- “How do you always know what I need? What I want? I didn’t want to say but-” yoongi understands, understood the second he saw the injured pup. the thing that you’d been sad over was this. “I know honey- I’m sorry it took me so long to realize what you were missing.”

-“You mean-“ you break off, looking down as Yoongi cups your cheeks, “you don’t mind?” he presses his forehead against yours, making sure you look at him, see every inch of his eyes and the truth held there, “Darling listen to me: I promise I won’t ever mind something that makes you happy.”

- He smiles and pulls you against him around your waist, tugging on the loose ends of your hair. Your kisses taste of smiles and of a giddy kind of joy he hasn’t seen in you in a long time. Who knew all you needed were a few broken bones to make you happier.

- You forgot how much you loved this- helping people.

- You’re happy- how could you not be? Especially when more and more of the town start coming to you with injuries of their own accord, not willing to make the flight into the city- or in other cases unable too. It’s the exact opposite of how it was in your old village.

- you make it clear that you won’t take their payment for your services (Yoongi takes care of you so well you want for very little). But they’re insistent and always come back the next day or later. bringing the freshest of food or a bushel of fresh peaches in thanks. The orchards around here are plentiful- even in the winter- there are always sweet things here and there.

- When you go into town, fewer people stare, fewer people shoot you uncomfortable looks, and more greet you by name. Older dragons with holes in their wings coming out of their houses to see if you have any more of that ache relieving cream- a little dragon girl holding up her finger to you saying “I got a booboo” you giggle- her mother ushering her away and apologizing for taking up your ‘invaluable’ time.

- But really you don’t- it’s been a while since Jungkook was that small- you miss it. The other children, both dragon and wolf alike run up to you when you’re in town- usually- they’d retreat if Jungkook was there. But now they call his name too- asking if he’d like to play in the square while you tend to your errands.

- There are a few here still, that lock your doors when you come into town. that hold their children close when you and Jungkook walk by. Yoongi assures you that anti-human sentiment isn’t strong enough here as it is the closer you get to the south. But still- the wounds of war linger in every lingering look.

- Suddenly the stakes have changed, now- It’s harder to leave, not that you don’t still want to go back to your mountain home. But with a new town to take care of- people depending on you to be there for them. It’s hard to constrain your stay to only the time when Hobi has school.

- And Yoongi might dislike the countryside a little more than he does the mountains, but at the end of the day- if it keeps a smile on your face- then it’s nothing he won’t absolutely inflict upon himself- with gusto- as many months out of the year as long as it keeps you happy.

- You decide to split the year. You spend the milder- and less balmy fall and winter months at your manor house, and the spring and summer months in the mountains. Jungkook is glad to spend a little more time in the village where things are a little more entertaining and interesting to explore- even if that does mean surrendering his favorite person half of the time.

- You get to see namjoon and Jimin more often too- something your son’s love. they love spending sleepovers at Namjoon and Jimin's house- after evenings where it’s gotten too late to fly home. it’s sweet- the first time namjoon hovers near you awkwardly. both of your sons have already done the peculiar forehead touch- symbolic of dragon familial ties.

- One moment you’re just talking and the next, namjoon ducks quickly to press his forehead against your shoulder, chickening out at the last moment. “You’re so awkward joonie” Jimin chides, both him and yoongi laughing at Namjoon’s bright red horns. but you don’t mind at all- you’re glad that Namjoon and Jimin see you as a family- and feel comfortable enough to accept you into their little cadre.

- Hoseok suffers through more schooling with Jungkook in mind, the younger always picking his brain whenever he comes home. And really he doesn’t mind it much. He likes the city even, likes the little freedom that he has when his teacher cuts him some slack during lunch and he can go get a sweet pork bun from the stall outside his school, eat it on the parapet looking over the training grounds.

- The other dragons there have always been a little wary of him- he always smells a little bit too much like a human. But there isn’t much opportunity for free time and making friends with the other students, he isn’t good at it- too quiet and shy to make any close friends.

- It hurts him a little- that he dosent fit in, something about him that just isn’t dragon enough for his classmates. But Hoseok has people he wants to be with at home- who understand him- where he doesn’t feel strange and like he’s caught in the middle.

- besides, all of the dragons here his own age never seem to like Jungkook much when they meet him when Jungkook finds Hoseok in the crowd hissing at him and growling. Hoseok has decided long ago- that anyone who dislikes Jungkook on the basis that he’s human isn’t someone Hoseok wants to be friends with.

- It gets worse when they approach the more historical part of their schooling. their teacher announces they’ll have a history lesson on the human dragon war. And Hoseok wants to sink so far down in his seat when his teacher starts talking about the humans. The humans that live on the other side of the wall- bloodthirsty and hungry for food. Who doesn’t know enough about their land to take care of it- who depletes the soil and then search for more land to ruin- selfishly destroying the earth.

- He wants to stand up to defend you and Jungkook- you’re definitely not selfish, definitely not untrustworthy like his teacher is saying. He tries to speak up at one point- face as red as his hair, but one of the older students in his section- turns around and growls at him. Later- he volunteers the information that his grandfather died in the last war, and Hoseok understands- he must not like the fact that Hoseok smells like a human. Has obviously been scent marking one in the last 24 hours.

- The discomfort- the feeling like he’s an outsider- creeps up on him, Hoseok feels uncomfortable and unwelcome and like he wants to leave but can’t bring himself too.

- A little bit of a Reprieve comes from he next section they cover, a list of important generals during the war- Yoongi’s name at the very top of the page in the textbook, a small blurb on his accomplishments. his teacher reads it off “There are very few of the Tahsuya breed left in the world as a result of the war- known for their dark scales and their massive size, this kind of dragon is the reason why dragon kind was able to win against old king henry and his army of enchanted warriors.”

- Hoseok sees the picture on the page, the wings that seem to blackout the sky, human warriors with all-black eyes raising their shields against the fire- running screaming. He raises his hand, then takes it back. The teacher catches it though- and Hoseok will not remain unscathed.

- “I thought you would know all about the war Hoseok, seeing as General Min is your guardian” every single student in the room turns to start at Hoseok- and all he wants to do is sink into the floor. Suddenly everyone’s asking him questions- “is he really that big?” “Is it true he ate the last king?”

- “Why do you always smell like a human if your father killed so many of them?” Hoseok is overwhelmed. Wants to turn away and run, because he doesn’t know- doesn’t understand where all of this hatred comes from. A few of his classmates are sniffing the air in disgust.

- Hoseok himself is soul bonded to a human and they’re nothing like everyone is saying- when he thinks about anyone eating you and Jungkook it just makes him feel like he wants to hide and hold you close forever- not joy like one of his classmates is saying- how good it must have felt to defeat the armies. To kill.

- Hoseok feels like he’s going to be sick- the only thing he manages to say, “he’s not my fathe-“ but he can’t even manage to say that- because it’s not really true. He might not call you and Yoongi mom and dad yet- but- you’ve looked after him for 7 years at this point. You have protected him and held him through his nightmares, took care of him after his first parents died. And though He never wants to forget his mama omega and alpha dad, but…

- But You and Yoongi- if anything like that happened to either of you- Hoseok doesn’t know what he would do. It would feel the same as losing his first parents. Only he wouldn’t have you both to hold him through it- to make sure his pains were eased, that he was cared for when he needed it the most. His classmates don’t know what they’re talking about, they don’t understand.

- He doesn't want to forget his parents, but he’d already made the mistake of not appreciating what he had before it was gone. (If you were able to hear his thoughts- you’d tell him to cut himself a break- he was only six after all)

- When Hoseok was younger- his mother and his older sister would groom him, their tongue dragging through his feathers. And now you do the same- albeit in a different way, any night that Hoseok asks- you’ll smile and pat your lap and brush him through, no matter how big he gets- no matter that he’s not a fledgling anymore.

- Whenever he craves comfort you give it to him. It feels the same when it thinks of his mother, and when he thinks of you- it’s the same. Hoseok shoots up, his chair falling back, stumbling as he rushes out of the room- only stopping to take his scarf from the hook. Furious tears budding at his eyes as he runs despite the fact that he can hear his teacher shouting after him.

- It’s uncle Namjoon that finds him- having been called to the school for some reason or another- he’d probably found out from one of his teachers that Hoseok had been AWOL. It’s not every day that someone on the dragon council takes a special interest in a student. (Namjoon may have gone to the teacher personally and asked to be updated at the beginning of the school year- but really- it’s only the concern of an uncle and not of the council that drives him to do this).

- Namjoon finds him sitting on one of the towers, the door opening behind him. “I figured you would have found the tallest place,” he says as he comes over to sit by Hoseok, his blue councilman’s robes rustling in the wind. Hoseok keeps his scarf tight and up around his nose, the sent of his family slowly soothing him and his panic.

- “Did Yoongi really do all of the things in my teacher said he did? Is that why everyone knows his name?” he asks, has to struggle not to call him dad. “He did, but you have to understand Hobi- the king back then was the one who killed his whole family.” That kind of grief- Hoseok understands. And he thinks now- if anyone hurt Jungkook he would more than rip them limb from limb, he would burn them to dust.

- Namjoon ends up taking him home early that day, Jimin joining them- the tiny fairy buzzing by Hoseok who only tries to keep up, needing to pause to rest halfway through the flight and have Namjoon carry him the rest of the way. Yoongi is surprised when both of them turn up but not for long, all he has to see is Hoseok’s bloodshot eyes before he’s dropping it.

- Before he knows it- you’re there pulling him in for a hug. Hoseok has grown so much, he’s nearly as tall as you now Doesn't have to get up on his tippy toes to press his forehead to your neck and scent mark you. “oh Seokie” you say, as he starts to cry again. Yoongi behind him with a hand on his shoulder. He and Namjoon make eye contact- Namjoon shaking his head, Jimin looking small next to him- equally as concerned.

- And it’s good to have them both over for dinner. Eating dinner and Making Hoseok laugh with a round of games. His aching heart soothed by good food, bread from town, meat that you cook over the fire and eat all together with chopsticks. Jungkook knocking into his elbow telling Hoseok animatedly about the new forms his master had shown him.

- later the four of you wait up late into the night, enjoying a glass of sweet wine together, you’re concerned by what Namjoon tells you- and it’s not like you hadn’t suspected it would one day have this effect on Hobi. Yoongi told you long ago the role he’d had in the war. But it seemed like it bothered Hoseok in some way. You hadn’t missed tonight how he’s seemed attached to your hip, scooting closer to Jungkook at the dinner table.

- “I think it just scared him, hearing about how many people died- though he said something about his classmates” you shake your head, leaning your cheek on your hand, knees brought up close to your chest. Across from you, Namjoon sits with Jimin’s feet in his lap. You recline against Yoongi’s chest your front warmed by the fire but your back warmed by him. Playing with his long fingers absentmindedly. “We should ask him tomorrow,” Yoongi hums, looking concerned.

- Jimin and Namjoon leave soon after that, you tease jimin about how dangerous ‘sleepy flying’ can be. “Uhm, actually- can I talk to you for a moment yoon?” Namjoon asks, Yoongi touches your shoulder and tells you to go to bed, he’ll be there in a moment. Jimin is standing out in the middle of the field, and from the open door, Namjoon and Yoongi watch them. Jimin’s face turned up to the moon, eyes closed like they’re a flower in the sunlight recharging their energy. And Yoongi knows that by tomorrow morning, a ring of toadstools will ring the spot where Jimin now stands.

- “Spit it out” The younger dragon looks nervous and anxious, “in the last few weeks- we’ve gotten reports of discontent in the human realms” “is it another famine again?” “No- quite the opposite- but apparently they’ve had a few good years, and the current king is wonder if he should strike while the iron his hot.” Yoongi stiffens, thinking about the possibility of another war.

- Long ago- when they used to fight side by side before Yoongi would often level Namjoon with one question, “odds?” he’d ask. And Namjoon would answer what he thought the likelihood of them surviving the next hours would be.

- “The council dosent want to believe it, but I put the odds of war at 50/50,″ “How long?” that’s all Yoongi wants to know- how long until he has to take you, Jungkook, and Hoseok and run with you to the farthest edge of the world- because he won’t have his family caught up in another war- he won’t lose them. No matter how the council will try and talk him into commanding their armies again.

- “Probably a few years until we know- but the snow isn’t falling as hard as usual in the mountains, the passes are staying open for longer, we expect an increase in attacks at the very least.” More hunters getting through the mountains means more calls from the council for- and less time with his family.

- That night, when Yoongi crawls into bed next to you- you curl into his warmth seeking his familiar form out in your sleep and settling your body more fully against him. He makes a noise in the back of his throat but You don’t respond- you must really be asleep. That night- Yoongi holds you and doesn’t sleep a wink.

- After the incident, Namjoon stops by and watches Hoseok more and more- keeping an eye on the goings-on at the school. And all the rest of his classmates will stand- their backs straight as rapiers while Namjoon patrols the lines. Nodding officially to his teacher, shooting Hoseok a look that has him giggling and being scolded by the teacher's assistant.

- Namjoon’s check-ins might have something to do with Yoongi asking the older dragon to keep an eye on Hoseok when he’s in the city after the incident. And Namjoon takes his role as uncle very seriously. Jimin even more so- always making sure that Namjoon comes with extra lunch- some sweet fruit or fancy fish from the ocean for Hoseok. A little spare baggy left to bring home for you and Jungkook.

- “What about da-Yoongi” Hoseok catches himself at the last moment one afternoon- talking with Namjoon. Namjoon’s smile is a little abashed, “Jimin has some very choice words for him- apparently something about accidentally burning a hole through his favorite robe again.”

- Jimin and Namjoon are always glad to have you come for a visit, day trips close to the city so you can pick up Hoseok, he and Yoongi coming back to Namjoon and Jimin's house instead of your own for dinner. You and Jimin take day trips into the city when Yoongi is called in on some council business with Namjoon, Jungkook tagging along when he wants too.

- They’re always upset to see you go when you have to return to the mountains in the summer months (if you didn’t- Yoongi thinks he might actually go insane) But you become friends, a little closer than that even. You know they view Jungkook and Hoseok as their own children- or something as close to that as they’ll ever be able to have.

- It’s shortly after the summer solstice the next year when Jungkook finally managed to articulate the words that have been bothering him- for longer than he’d been willing to admit. You’re sat at the lip of the cave together reading. Yoongi and Hoseok dive-bombing each other and play flying- trying to keep their skills honed in preparation for the looming school year.

- Hoseok has grown bigger in the last year or so and hit his second growth spurt. His head now coming up to your stomach (which he abuses, constantly nudging into your stomach for more food- you swear- with the amount they eat between the three of them- you and Yoongi have the work cut out for yourselves.)

- He’s finally mastered flying- maybe not all of the more complicated maneuvers, and he can’t yet fly for more than 45 minutes before his stamina runs out- but he’s getting there. Every day he pushes himself farther gets a little stronger. This next year- it’s likely that he won't need Yoongi to fly him too and from the dragon school anymore. (Though he still will- just a safe distance above- he just wants to keep an eye on his son)

- Jungkook looks melancholic and conflicted, now almost 11 years old and sitting next to you- fingering one of the books that Jimin had given him on their last trip. One about an adventurer that had crossed the ocean and discovered a whole new species of sea serpent- he’s read it probably about a dozen times since you came back to the mountain for spring and summer. “I can’t help but feel like- like Hobi is leaving me behind,”

- “He’s not Kookie- he could never leave you, you’re his best friend- and I know you read all of his school books to help him study for his tests.” “Yeah but still- he gets to go to school to learn how to be a dragon, what am I learning? who am I learning to be?” your boy has always been sensitive and emotional and you realize now more than ever, how much he’s grown. “You know we’re just- trying to make sure he’s getting exposed to everything he would have with his other family. And they’re the pressure from the council”

- “I remember,” Jungkook looks thoughtful, sucking on his lower lip, wanting to ask but being unable too- because- because he knows how Yoongi has been about this in the past. He remembers how his father had snarled at the council- my child will never learn how to fight.

- But what if that’s exactly what Jungkook wants? “I want to learn how to be a swordsman, like in the books-“ your gaze slides a little, you raise your eyebrow and he can tell just by your look that you’re not going for it- it’s the same one you’d given him countless times- each time he and Hoseok had tried to convince you to let them camp out with the wolves on the full moon- or assured you that really- riding the giant forest spirits wasn’t nearly as dangerous as dad said it could be. - Jungkook is indignant, however- “if Hoseok gets to learn how to fight- then I should too! He might not always be there.” you put your hand on Jungkook’s shoulder. Despite how much you shudder to think of either of your sons need to know how to fight you understand. And you have to admit; even you might feel more comfortable if Jungkook did at least learn the basics.

- “No” the finality of Yoongi’s words rings in the chamber when you ask. You’re glad that Hoseok and Jungkook are off lounging in the afternoon sun outside so that they don’t have to see the way their father instantly starts shooting smoke from his nose. “I won’t allow him that- you know what this means to me. It’s too dangerous- and why would he need to? We’re safe!” I made the world safe.

- Yoongi has had a lot of time to think about the war, about how after his parents had died- he’d pursued it for the sake of revenge- or so he’d thought. but now he thinks that maybe he’d known that one day he would want the world to be safe for a particular reason. And now he has that reason: his family- which would always be torn between these two worlds and any war that might come.

- He’s pacing, unable to stop his hands from shaking- memories of carnage and war coming to the forefront of his mind- what’s more- the memories of the night where Yoongi had burned down Jungkook’s village. The men rushing forward with their swords- only to die by fire- his fire, and then the idea of that position being reversed Jungkook fighting others- getting hurt. Makes Yoongi’s hands shake.

- “do you really think it’s such a bad idea, or are you just worried that he’ll turn into what you took him from?” Yoongi flinches, it’s not usual that you surprise him- or that your arguments get so heated. But you don’t talk about the beginning of you- what brought Jungkook into your care very often- and you know how guilty Yoongi feels. How much it weighs on his shoulders like a lead weight. But you’re right- he is afraid. The words aren’t meant to be cruel even if they do sting.

- He remembers raising Jungkook- both of you do- how instantaneously he’d become a protector, of your old chickens in the coop, of Hoseok when he’d come to stay. He’s always been making play swords out of sticks and asking Yoongi to please read that one night story again- the one where a knight defeats the scary mountain troll- that’s always been Jungkook’s favorite.

- You touch Yoongi’s cheeks, “when do you think we should tell him?” you’d always left this up to him. Deciding when exactly to tell Jungkook where he came from. Luckily that’s not a question he asks very frequently but it’s only a matter of time until he asks again. And each time it gets harder to dodge and avoid giving him a real answer.

- Both of you are scared- so scared- for both Hoseok and Jungkook. How will Jungkook react when he finds out that Yoongi is the one that killed his family? What will happen to Hoseok when he finds out that his best friend came from a family of dragon hunters? The same kind that killed Hoseok’s parents?

- The wounds of his loss are still there but healing with your love and support. He no longer wakes up so many nights from nightmares. And even if he does Yoongi is there for him, all of you are. More than once you’ve woken to Hoseok curled up around you. And though while he’s never called you ‘mom’ before, you know he loves you and cares about you as much as Jungkook does.

- Even if he suddenly decided he didn’t want much to do with you- probably a poor replacement for the mother he lost (if Yoongi ever heard you say these words out loud he would probably growl at you for thinking so), you’d accept it- and love him still.

- Not that that kind of thing has ever been in Hoseok’s nature. He’s turned into quite the little sunshine the last few years. Bolder, and curious about the world in the same way Jungkook is, always ready to laugh and be silly to amuse the younger. When he wakes in the morning he follows Yoongi’s lead, bringing a cloth up and over his curling golden horns, burnishing them to polish- the same way you might expect someone to learn how to shave from watching their father.

- He even has a few feathers that have started to appear on his human form- a mark of his growing age. They poke out of his hair- long and leggy. He never fails to slap Jungkook’s hand away when they younger reach over to try and play with them. “Koo that feels weird-“ “Sorry they’re just so soft.” He never gets too angry- even when Jungkook absentmindedly starts playing with them again a few moments later.

- One day- you catch them fiddling with one of the many feathers that Hoseok loses (it’s natural- he looses a few every time he shifts) and both of them had come to you- happy- Jungkook showing you the Tiny feather they’d managed to fasten to his hair on the back of his neck. The bright red feather sticking out harshly among the black. The 11-year-old had been so so happy- even if getting it out had been hell later.

- You don’t think their bond could be damaged by anything- but still- you’re worried what kind of friction it could cause- if the information wasn’t revealed at the right moment.

- “This year? Maybe next year? Who knows- when he’s ready” you roll your eyes a little at this- and Yoongi knows- can hear your words before you say them “that’s such a nebulous thing to say- try again love.”

- “Can we talk about the learning to fight thing another time?” Yoongi says against the palm of your hand, tugging you in close. Peppering kisses across your palm. The scent of disquiet clings to you- makes him anxious- makes him want it off of you. And maybe it’s stupid to ignore this problem. When it could very easily rear its ugly head.

- Maybe Yoongi is just scared of losing you- scared of losing this. He finds himself a little too choked up when he pulls you to lie against him your back against his chest. Your fingers hooking around the back of his neck to run your fingers through his hair while you look up at him. And his hand is free to run up and down your stomach and sides. Simple and lovely in the light of golden hour, the birds chirping, the muted laughter and shouts of your sons outside. Absolutely peaceful were it not for the rolling worry in both of your heads.

- When you return back to the countryside for the next season, Yoongi surprises Jungkook with his first sword. It was easy to get it made during one of the many trips Yoongi had taken with you into the city- mostly to meet with Hoseok’s teachers. Jungkook dropped off at Jimin’s library yet again- his uncle happy to see him and watch him for the day after so many months apart.

- Jungkook’s eyes are wide his smile incandescent when Yoongi hands him the thin hand and a half blade. it’s no larger than Yoongi’s forearm, but still- Jungkook’s narrow arms struggle to hold it up. “This is a practice blade, I’ll get you a sharp one after you learn the basics.”

-When it comes down to it- Yoongi is of little help when it comes to teaching Jungkook how to fight- it’s not that he can’t it’s just that he’s only ever fought in his full-bodied scaled form. And Jungkook while- he can’t shift, Though he’s no longer quite as put out as he once had been. finally, come to terms with the fact that- yes- his wings are never going to come in. Now to soothe that hurt- he just learns as much as he can about magical creatures.

- It never fails to amaze you how easily he talks to the other people in town, the werewolves, and the rough dragon folk- grown almost fond over him in the past few years you’ve been popping in and out of their lives. one day when you’re tidying up- you come across a little booklet- little notes scrawled here and there about dragons and other magical creatures things Jungkook wants to remember.

- It's in the town that Yoongi finds him a teacher- an old werewolf by the name of Jagged claw (werewolf customs- Yoongi rolls his eyes at the strange name) one of the last students who ever attended the military school in the city before it was closed to outsiders and turned into the flight school. He’s old and hobbles about on a roughly worn staff, teaches Jungkook and two other dragon hatchlings the way of the sword four mornings out of five.

- There is also a condition to Jungkook’s schooling, for every lesson he attends with his instructor; he’s going to have to spend a day with you- learning the healing arts instead. It seems a fair trade- both of you decide. Though he already knows a fair amount. Jungkook looks a little frustrated but you hold up your hand to stop his words, Your expression is uncompromising. “If you’re going to learn how to hurt others- and only when you need it- then you need to learn how to heal them too.”

- Every morning you and Yoongi see both of them off Hoseok shifting and taking off to fly most of the way with Yoongi- and you and Jungkook left to walk through the woods in the direction of the wolf’s cabin. An apple and some other yummy treat wrapped in his scarf for lunch. His sword strapped to his narrow waist.

- on your walk through the forest, you’ll take the time to quiz him on the medicinal plants there. “That one is- nic- octos- ugh!” he’s frustrated, glaring down the blue-purple bloom like it will surrender all of its secrets easily.

- “It begins with an A” you remind him as he investigates the flowers their leaves too. “Aconitum!” he shouts when he gets it, turning to look for your approval. You side-eye him for his early success- but he’s only half what there, “uses?” you prod, “fever reducer-”

- “But-“ you tilt your head expectantly. “Basically everything is a fever reducer- and this one can be dangerous so- only use it as a last resort” “you’ve got it-“ you finally give in, ruffling his curly hair affectionately- taking care to step over a gnarled root. Jungkook almost trips- too busy looking around for other plants in the underbrush.

- But before long- the swordmasters cabin comes into view. The old wolf standing on his porch looking about ready to smack Jungkook for being late. His other students are already running forms in the cleared fighting circle out front. You smile at him in greeting as Jungkook rushes to take his place, bowing and apologizing. You ask if his joints are holding up and he nods sagely.

- When you return home Yoongi is already waiting for you. Both of you ready for a little privacy, maybe you’ll be interrupted by someone in the town needing your help. But if it’s a calm day- you’ll make each other lunch knocking elbows. and maybe you’ll sit out in the grass with it later, Yoongi’s head in your lap.

- Maybe you’ll decide to split a sweet orange from the orchard a few miles over, Yoongi will peel it and give you most of it while he only takes a piece. And your kisses will be sweet and sticky and even sweeter still when he asks if you’ll sing for him.

- Maybe you’ll fall asleep and be woken in the afternoon by Hoseok touching down softly next to you- shifting and collapsing into the grass on the blanket you and Yoongi have set out. “God today was exhausting- they had us running stamina tests all afternoon” “how long did you fly for?”

- “3 hours and 45 minutes-“ his grin is already proud. “The longest in the class.” Yoongi’s grin is happy too, as you congratulate him and pull him close, Hoseok scent marking along either of your shoulders- he’s always a little more cuddly than usual when he gets home. You’ve asked him before and he says he doesn’t like not smelling like you guys.

- Hoseok offers to make the short walk to pick up Kookie and a few minutes later- both of your sons come through the woods, laughing and slapping each other on the back. A new bandage on his arm- “I promise he didn’t mean it- I was the one who fell during practice, it wasn’t master’s fault.”

- “Really you need to be more careful,” you say, angrily bandaging his arm later while Hoseok and Yoongi recline in front of the fire playing a game of cards. “I’m going to get more than one scar you know, and besides I already have one on my face so what does it matter?”

-You freeze; Yoongi goes ramrod straight- the fire in the hearth spluttering before it roars back to life. And you exchange a glance. It’s barely quick enough for either of them to catch. And you launch into an explanation of why he should care enough to be careful because it will quite literally give his mother a heart attack if he comes back with another cut like this.

- You and Yoongi think you’ve been quick enough to conceal your surprise. Both of you thinking about the scar on Jungkook’s cheek- the one he’d gotten the night Yoongi had attacked his Family. The night that had cascaded and affected both of your lives forever. But Without that night and without that bloodshed none of the joy and love you have would exist.

- But Jungkook doesn’t know that. Not yet away. That next day, Jungkook touches the mark trying to remember when he got it but he can’t, doesn’t know where the scar that marks his face came from.

- Hoseok finds him pouring over his reflection in the mirror. “Something bothering you Koo?” Jungkook fingers the scar again, Maybe he should ask you- he didn’t know if memories could disappear out of the blue- but he’s only 12, Maybe you know.

- He remembers how he got the scar on his palm; from sliding down Yoongi’s wings and missing the pillow pile in your winter home, and the one on his elbow- accidentally tripping over Hoseok’s tail the one time at uncle Namjoon’s house. But the mark on his face bothers him for some reason- lingers in the back of his mind.

-“It’s Nothing,” he says, but at this point, he’s sure it’s something. Hoseok can feel the lie when it leaves Jungkook’s mouth- but like most things with the soul bond, he just leaves it. He’ll find out sooner or later what’s bothering him when Jungkook inevitably gets fed up with keeping secrets, if he’s not ready then he’s not ready.

- Over the last few years- they’ve developed a delicate balance, their souls might be intertwined together closely but there is a place where Hoseok begins and Jungkook ends. An understood barrier that needs to exist or else they’d both probably fight a lot more than they do.

- After all- Jungkook isn’t the only one who doesn’t always tell Hoseok what’s going on in his head. Hoseok has more than a few things that he just…doesn’t feel like he can voice out loud yet. Part of him is afraid, what if he’s misinterpreted this feeling? what if it’s temporary? he tells himself to wait it out- to wait until he’s sure (even though he knows he already is).

- Sometimes Hoseok thinks about uncle Jimin- who is often more than not aunt Jimin. How when he’s feeling like more of a she- her hair gets a little longer, cute and shoulder length, her hips more curvy than usual. About how Namjoon loves Jimin- no matter what skin they want to inhabit that day.

- Hoseok wonders what he would look like with hair like that, if he’d look pretty. “I’ve been thinking about growing out my hair- what do you think?” he asks, keeping his eyes on the mirror- not meeting Jungkook’s gaze. “I think it would be fine? why wouldn’t it be? My hair gets long some time too the trouble will be when mom tries to convince you to cut it short?” he says, confused like he’s wondering why Hoseok is asking- why Hoseok doesn’t know this.

- Anything that Hoseok does Jungkook will be on board with and will support 100%. Hoseok knows this- because the same is true in reverse. “It’s nothing- forget I said anything.” Both of them look in the mirror- seeing something missing, but not knowing quite what.

- Hoseok resolves to ask Jimin a few more pointed questions the next time they visit, maybe corner them on the beach or in the greenhouse. Trying to ignore the weird stinging rotten feeling in his chest when he looks in the mirror and sees himself.

- Jungkook forgets about it too wrapped up in his training forms. Trying to recognize the new ones because he knows master jagged fang will quiz him. But the confusion- the wanting curiosity- lingers in the back of his mind. A feeling like he’s missing something.

- Jungkook easily becomes proficient in the blade, soon overcoming most of his classmates. And there is something about the way that the blade feels in his hands that feels- almost too purposeful.

- Fate is a hard thing to avoid. Being a warrior was in Jungkook’s blood from the day he was born, and he might not have been raised to hate as much as his ancestors, but his natural inclinations and the warrior's instincts are still there.

- Both of your sons get older- growing bolder and more interested in the outside world. On the days when Hoseok isn’t going into the city for classes, they take the world by storm. Hoseok isn’t old enough to fly with Jungkook on his back like you and Jungkook do on Yoongi’s but he’s getting there. Now the size of a horse when he shifts, his face eye level with your own. His claws scratching the stone floor in your house when he decides to muscle his way through the door.

- They already give you both a run for your money and a short run on your nerves by the amount of mischief they get up to in their free time. Yoongi assures you that it's normal for a dragon of Hoseok’s age to want to test their bounds- push outside the nest and explore. And wherever Hoseok goes Jungkook follows.

- Even after all this time- they’re still each other’s favorite person. Whatever friends Hoseok might make eventually in school- don’t matter when it comes to Jungkook, No one comes even close.

- Jungkook and Hoseok manage to get into trouble more than a few times on their adventures. Exploring the woods, the edge of the mountains, the city less because Namjoon keeps a very close eye on them both. They bring back things for you- Hoseok especially likes too. Yoongi almost wants to cry the first time Hoseok brings back a large shiny rock- the first piece of what will one day be Hoseok’s hoard.

- Hoseok puts it on the shelf in his bedroom, Jungkook sitting on the floor looking at him, “Wanna go try to find something else Hobi?” Hoseok feels a certain fire in his chest, one that he hasn’t known before- something greedy and wanting. “Yes please.”

- Most of the trouble they get into comes in the name of Hoseok and Jungkook finding things for their hoard, they try to steal a silver egg from a cockatrice and Jungkook gets pecked on his arms so deeply that it needs stitches. “What did you learn?” you ask, already having given them a stern talking too when they’d turned up on your doorstep Hoseok clutching at Jungkook’s arm crying like he’s the one whose been hurt.

- You sit in front of the fire that night, stitching him up- Jungkook is a little trouper, barely cries at all, Hobi lies across his lap in dragon form, little tears dripping out, licking at Jungkook’s wound making little distressed noises- you don’t begrudge him for his sensitivity- you know he can feel it too when Jungkook gets hurt. “That we should be more careful around things we haven’t seen before.”

- They try to take a pearl comb from a batch of selkies who have taken up residence in a nearby lake and you make them go and return it. Both of them hiding behind you a little as you hover by the edge of the lake. “Sorry about this,” you say, as one of them rises out of the water, their faces sunken, skin green and oily, hair flowing like algae, black stones where their eyes should be. Their voices send a shiver down your spine- “it’s okay- happens all the time!” and you shiver as they sink back into the water.

- “What did you both learn this time” “unless they’re bad people you shouldn’t steal” “not quite, try again” “stealing is wrong?” “but isn’t that what dad does?” you wince internally- maybe you should have a more concise talk about this with Yoongi later.

- Time passes, and Yoongi finds himself waking up happy every morning, cuddled with his family. Or sometimes just with you, his nose pressed to the nape of your neck, heart thrumming with happiness at being close to his mate. he thinks that if he had this- every day for the rest of his existence he’d be fine- be more than fine.

- As both boys get older and turn from children into gangly teens, Hoseok starts to learn how to breathe fire, though he’s still only capable of blowing smoke and sparks on the best of days. He won’t for a few more years- that doesn’t stop him from trying and bugging Yoongi to show him how he breathes fire, “please just show me one more time dad I promise, I think I can get it this time” no matter how many times Yoongi assures him that he shouldn’t rush fire breathing.

- It’s a few months after their last trip to the dragon city when the council- Namjoon specifically calls him on something. Though it’s sooner than he would have expected given the last call it’s not really that big of a deal. Just a report of a nearby dragon den that had gone into early hibernation and tempted concern. But Yoongi just finds them all sleepy and cuddled over each other, the alpha lifting his head at Yoongi’s appearance at the caved entrance, sleepily asking what council business he’d been called on and why it couldn’t wait until spring.

- Yoongi might only be gone for a day, but it’s enough for them to find you.

- The hunters find the hidden manor house only a few hours after Yoongi leaves. This close to the dragon city they’re looking for an unguarded hoard and find it in your home. Because a hoard guarded by two humans and an unmatured dragon shouldn’t be too much of an obstacle. What they’re doing so far into dragon lands- how they’ve managed to come so far undetected- you don’t know.

- A dozen of them that surprise you. it’s a lazy easy day, Jungkook already home from practice. Eager to go out after lunch and explore with Hoseok since he didn’t have school today either. They complain about the chores you make them do before they go out- but since you have your housekeeper in today you're intent on more maintenance. and that includes cleaning the floors which means all the furniture needs to move off the rugs.

- It’s then that you hear a knock on the door- your housekeeper running to get it while you and your sons follow, both of them internally glad at a visitor- if it’s someone from the town looking for your healing abilities that means they’ll be free for the rest of the day!

- Imagine your surprise when your housekeeper answers the door only to receive a sword deep in her gut, falling backward, the light leaving her eyes before she hits the floor.

- They’re after Yoongi’s hoard (hidden in the cavernous basement) but they’re aiming for Hoseok first as they spill into your entranceway to eliminate the greatest threat, and Jungkook lunges in front of him- stupid. The smaller boy easily muscled to the side by one of them, 3 more waiting at his back to storm into the room and more behind them. Jungkook clutches at his side, blood on his hands and pain in his face- and no- Hoseok will not stand for that- not his Jungkook. The second pain radiates down the soulbond Hoseok shifts.

- You lunge for him before Hoseok can, You’re feral when he aims his knife in their direction. “not my sons you ugly bastard-” you cut your hand and it gets in his eyes as you wrestle the knife away from him, he doubles over after connecting your knee to his groin.

- Hoseok rears up and attacks. His fear gone- only action, bearing his teeth and using them. Head striking out like a snake- only blind rage in his heart and head- all at the sight of Jungkook- bleeding for him. No one hurts his family like that- one of them tries to run, and Hoseok peruses them.

- Jungkook shakes it off- it’s not a bad wound- he’s honestly gotten worse in practice. his sword is by the entryway, laid their carelessly after his lesson (how many times had you reminded him that his weapons belong in his room- asked him to pick them up along with his shoes- you’d never imagined you’d be glad for his carelessness).

- Though his practice blade is dull- master long fang has taught him well enough that he can use it to get a sharper sword away from his opponent, the new weapon is absurdly heavy in his arms, and it sends vibrations that rattle to his core when Jungkook brings it up to block a strike.

- The adrenaline thudding in his veins as he faces the hunters down erases the soreness from his earlier sparring session. The second the sword is in his hands, a chilling calm set over him, and he falls right back into what's been thought through countless hours of practice. keep your shoulders down, elbows tense, step with commitment- he can almost hear his master scolding him for a poorly parried lunge. Around him Hoseok bobs and weaves, using his wings as much as his claws and neck.

- Jungkook vaults over his back to defend against his side from another attacker. They move like they’re talking- like the countless hours they’ve spent exploring together, like the way they hold each other at night, one part of the same soul, predicting the other's movements- you too,

- Though the dagger in your handshakes you hold your own. It helps that these men don’t seem like trained soldiers- more thuggish than that. Their axes are no match for Jungkook’s quick movements. their movements slow and brutish. No match for Hoseok’s bite.

- Jungkook has the first kill- more dumb luck than anything else. He feels the man die by his hands, He sees the blood hot and smelly, soaking into the little lines of his fingertips, And immediately decides he doesn’t want to be a warrior after all of this- not if it’s like this. Jungkook would lose it- start crying and sobbing if it weren’t for Hoseok at his side, the brush of his feathers- the way the wind hugs him and buffers Jungkook when he moves. Hoseok is the only soothing thing he can hold onto.

- Hoseok manages to mortally wound one and send another through the window with a swipe of his tail and it scares the rest off. They might have thought they could handle you and Jungkook- but Hoseok is a force to be reckoned with- all of those lessons paid off. Now Hoseok knows how to handle his larger scaly body- how to make himself lethal and feral.

- You are just pausing; chest heaving in fear, just as the other two retreats and run out of the house, deciding that the hoard must not be worth losing their lives. Hoseok and Jungkook are shaking with adrenaline, your hair bloody and free of its braid.

- Hoseok shifts back to human form reeling from the bloodshed. His mouth as red as his hair. You wipe it away with your sleeve crying as you touch his head, Jungkook’s too, needing to make sure both of your children are safe. To touch them and make sure they’re there. Jungkook is the only one injured a little cut on his side that isn’t bleeding too much. “I’m fine mom- I’m fine-”

- You verify they’re okay before you go to your housekeeper- touching her neck to feel her pulse- only to find out she’s already gone. You move her to the side so you can close the door and lock it with the deadbolt. Dead men litter your entryway, some of their chests still rising unevenly with death rattle breath. It has been a long time since you’ve been around dying men and it doesn’t feel any better knowing they deserve it- that you were fighting for your life.

-And in the Centre of them, Hoseok holds Jungkook close, sends you a pained glance, crying, touching Jungkook’s side, blood all over both of them. they’re 13 and 15 now but at that moment- they look like the same scared little kids you raised.

- You go to them, clutching them close, Jungkook is crying, Hoseok looks too shaken- like he can’t breathe around the adrenaline- but you can still hear distantly the other men in the woods running and starting to regroup. So you need to push them away urging them in the direction of the basement, “Head to the hoard- they won’t be able to get through the door-” they hesitate, “just go- your father will be back soon and he’ll-“

- Jungkook will remember the next moment for the rest of his life;

- Hoseok doesn’t see- the exact moment it happens, head turned away just slightly- but Jungkook does. Jungkook sees every moment of it.

- He’ll remember The way you’d paused, made a choking noise- only to look down at your stomach. Jungkook remembers when Yoongi had bought you that dress- the one with the little blue flowers on it, that day in the dragon city. Now turning blood red, the stain seeping outwards too fast from your belly.

- You stumble trying to keep your feet under you, the dagger in your hand clanging to the floor. Revealing the man behind you- his sword shining with your blood.

-“Mom!” Hoseok shrieks, as you crumple to the floor.

I know times are tough on all of us, but if you like reading my stories please donate to my Kofi to help support my work!

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all-might-can-smash-me · 4 years ago

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Motherly Instincts, Human Emotions, or Just a Quirk?

Aizawa Shouta/Eraserhead x Reader

Summary: A feeling is haunting you and it seems to just get even more complicated as the number one hero Endeavor is now out of his hospitalization and the world is at an unease. Is it just your motherly instincts that you feel towards your beloved class 1-A? Is it just a normal occurrence of emotion within any person? Or is it your quirk now picking up something new that you can’t quite see yet?

What I listened to while writing: Detroit:Become Human soundtrack, especially Kara’s Theme.

We are finally here! The fifth season of our beloved My Hero Academia/Boku no Hero Academia has finally arrived! And with that also comes some writings! I’ve been swamped with my new busy schedule that comes along with being in cosmetology school, don't ever under estimate those students because we sure go through a lot each day! Please enjoy this short, on the whim writing for a humble celebration.

Masterlist / request info in master list

A chill had risen up your arms as your typed away at your computer, the hurried and petrified voice of the news caster raging out even if your tv was brought down to a hushed volume.

“Number one hero Endeavor is is currently defeating a villain. Much damage has been caused to the area. No fatalities as of right now....” Though whatever they had left to speak out to all of Japan or even the whole world did not matter as your chair had clattered upon the ground as you reached for your house coat. the bright light of the hall blinding your eyes as wisps of hair that had fallen from your hair tie floated amongst the wind you created with your nervous steps down the stairs. Shoto had fallen to the ground and your colleague was already there hovering over the teen, the rest of the class either crowding their fellow classmate or staring in shock to the news blaring from the tv.

That day the world changed and not even the world’s most naïve person could ever deny such a thing.

“Here is your jacket, Shoto...” You spoke out softly as you stood in front of the boy, hands reaching to straighten out the collar, the young man only silently standing before you expressionless as usual. Though you could have sworn you felt a tremor. Whether it was you or him, that could be debatable. “Just remember the time we set, ok? If you feel uncomfortable don’t be afraid to just excuse yourself so Mr.Aizawa and I can bring you straight back to the dorms, they will understand that if you have too.” assuring you hoped your words would sound to the boy, but that forever blank expression only looked back to you.

“Ok...” he softly spoke out, you nodding your head as you stepped out from his path.

“Ok” felt like the only appropriate response as you watched him step up to the house, disappearing behind the very daunting front door.

You didn’t want to come off as one of those crazy conspiracist types who always had a foul theory about a hero, villain, and their families, but with your quirk helping you feel the atmosphere or vibe of people, places, or things, you couldn't help but silently be one. Shoto always carried something awful, something that made your heart become heavy despite his neutral expressions. It always perturbed you to no end. It wasn’t like you have never felt this before either. With your previous job being interviewing and helping rehabilitate “troubled” children and mentally stricken heroes and now being the counselor of UA, it was something that always came. What bothered you though was that it was coming from the son of the nation’s number one hero, a family that would seem normal to all of Japan and the entire world because, well, it was a family of a hero. A had on your shoulder made you snap out of your racing thoughts, now looking over your shoulder and to Aizawa.

“Are you ok?” He questioned, almost a bit awkwardly. You didn’t blame him, your reaction to the atmosphere around was probably strange and maybe even frightening. “I know your quirk can...”

“I’m just worried...” You spoke out with a sigh as rested a hand over his before moving away from his touch to lean against the hood of the car, hands now sitting in your lap as you twiddled your thumbs. “And I’ve been picking up something weird, but who knows, maybe its just that this house probably too damn old and spooky” you tried to joke with a meek laugh, though he only stared with a knowingly look, yet did not press any further. You had to be thankful for that, he sure knew when to back off sometimes, maybe not when it came to his own homeroom students, but for you? He did and you didn’t really care to know his reason for why like whether or not he thought you were too weak to handle it or some other seemingly offensive reason. “Shit!” You exclaimed as a fowl hiss came from the side walk in front of you. There a scared cat arched and puffed it’s body out, though Aizawa paid no mind with a lazy look as he calmly approached the cat, slowly reaching out a hand to let the feral beast sniff, quickly gaining his trust. You couldn't help but let out a giggle as the man scooped up the cat in his arms, now leaning against the car next to you where his hands loved up upon the cat’s dirty fur, his black hair falling to hide the sides of his face. Sometimes you would sit there and imagine what he would look like with that mane of his trimmed and tidied during the sleepless nights you shared playing card games, doing paperwork together, or doing a quick patrol around the dorm to check upon the beloved students of class 1-A.

“Huh, you sure your quirk isn’t taming wild cats?” You teased as you reached a hand to give the old cat a scratch under his chin. The little chuckle that rumbled through rumbled through you before he began to speak.

“I wish, creating a cat sanctuary of street cats seems like the life best suited for me..” He spoke out lowly with the purrs of the cat. You knew he was joking however which brought a small lift to the corners of your lips.

It didn’t take him much thought to know that something was still bothering you as the cat jumped from him arms to land back to the ground with what seemed to be a small meow of thanks as it ran off into the night only leaving behind the pesky cat hairs on his all black costume, but he didn’t mind at all.

“Look at you, covered in cat hair...” Your voice came out in a whisper which you weren't aiming to do as you reached a hand to try to dust away the short hairs in vain, though his rough hands wrapped around yours in order to stop you, a knowing look upon his face. That look made you sigh as you retracted your hands from his.

That damn man. He knew when to not press about things like he did to others, but when it got to a certain point in his eyes, he always intervened. You were foolish enough to think you would be able to suppress and hide it enough in order to trick those fatigued eyes of his. Not this time, the feelings that plagued your heart and continued to poke at you were too strong and too bothersome.

“Shoto always carried things such as sadness, anger, determination, trauma, just a lot more than I could swallow sometimes.” You began to explain, now looking up to the house watching the shadows dance across one of the windows lit up by the soft light within. “And this whole area is filled with so many bad things...but right now it kind of confuses me” You said as your eyebrows scrunched at the new shift. “Change is happening, which is normal to see in a person once they go through the proper treatment or therapy, but judging by how bad it was before, it is going to take a lot...” You said with a sigh, lowering your gaze from the house, trying your best to shut off the swarm of emotions before you and to end your reading, now looking to Aizawa. “It just saddens me, Shoto seems so aloof, but that boy has went through so much, I guess I’m just worried from him, scared for him..” You explained.

“Doesn’t make since why he would come back?” He asked softly, you only staring back up to him to roll that thought within your head before nodding your head. Aizawa only nodded his head back, his arm now reaching to wrap an arm around your dropping shoulders, you now leaning your head against his shoulder. The embrace was comforting and you appreciated his understanding, but you still had such an anxious feeling in your gut.

“I know this world preaches forgiveness and for us to fix the wrongs we commit in our life, but even for me who helps those people forgive and seek forgiveness, its still hard to do it myself sometimes. It also goes to show that even a family like this can hold all these...foul things” You explained further as you looked p to the moths and bugs that swarmed the streetlight up above and soon past their mindless flight and to the dull stars above. The tears pulled at the brim of your eyes, your chin beginning to strain with the sensation that came with crying. “These kids are like my babies...” you soon shakily spoke out, fighting back the horrendous expression you knew would come too with your tears as you looked to Aizawa “And right now I can’t fight off this feeling in my gut ever since the Endeavor incident..” Your trembled whisper almost seemed fearful.

A door slamming made Aizawa’s head snap to the source of the sound where the both of you sat in the silence, bodies tense as you waited. Finally with a deep sigh his body relaxed as he looked back to you, a hand reaching to brush away those tears that could move him to tears if he was off guard, though sometimes that wouldn’t even work and that would definitely not go past you.

Your hands reach to cup the lower, stubbled half of his face upon seeing that familiar wetness gently pool in his eyes, but it was not enough to fall upon his cheeks and betray his wishes of not wanting to cry. You guessed you were not alone with these feelings

“I know...” He spoke out quietly with a sad smile. “We just have to prepare them as best as we can. Shoto, Izuku, Eri, Shinsou, all the others” Aizawa continued on as he was no fully turned to you, hands holding your upper arms, one of them moving away to reach for a piece of hair that was caught onto your sweater to pluck it off and let it float gently down into the darkness of the night.

“But they are just kids...”

“I know, but they chose this path, besides, they have already accomplished and achieved so much. Who knows, maybe whatever is coming will be another thing these students will once again defeat and make us adults look stupid again” Aizawa was trying to joke, trying to lift that melancholy looked that wrinkled your face, but it was no use. With a sigh he stood up straight, those warm hands of his sliding away as he opened the passenger door for you, those eyes seeming to look even more exhausted if that were even possible. “Come on, lets get the car started, its almost time to bring Shoto home.”

Motherly instincts, human emotions, a quirks power....was it simply not a good mix or was it simply something big was coming? How those thoughts came in typhoons within your mind as you sat in silence in there car.

How you will never be able to figure that one out....

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imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl · 4 years ago

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The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 16 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 3 K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

<- Previous part (15)

Next part (17) ->

{Stranger Things Masterlist}

The Loss Of A Friend

You've never been to a funeral. Well, you did, but you were a kid and you didn't know the family friend who was being buried that day. In your child's mind, you didn't get why everyone was wearing black, in uncomfortable silence, crying all day long. You remember clearly that a blue bug got your attention, making your eyes follow its every move, making you smile despite the sad atmosphere.

It couldn't be more different today.

As the coffin is lowered into the ground, where Jason will forever rest now, you hold Billy's hand, the soft fabric of your black dress tickling your tights. You barely feel it though, all your sensations resumed to the weight in your chest, crushing, squeezing your ribs, smashing your heart.

You suddenly remember the day Monica introduced you to Jason. It was the Saturday before you started working at the pool, in the parking lot of Starcourt Mall. He had his little brother on one arm, and the girl walking beside him, tugging on the hem his shirt.

“So that's the new girl.” He said, a smile spreading across his lips as he reached out his hand for you to shyly shake. “I'm Jason, born to bear the weight of being Monica's cousin, but also the coolest guy you'll find in Hawkins.”

That, of course, started a small war of cheesy pick-up lines, insults, and sarcastic comments. You laughed, feeling easily welcomed by Monica's cousin.

Now, what gets your attention is how his young siblings cry, yell, calling out Jason as is he was just sleeping inside the wooden box and would wake up, smile, and start chasing them around again. He won't. Jason is only a memory now.

“I think we should go,” Billy says in a low voice, letting go of your hand to rub your arms softly.

Nodding, you let him guide you to his Camaro, driving you away from the sea of people dressed in black. You've known Jason for such a little time compared to everyone else here, who saw him grow up, studied with him, lived near him for many years. Your pain is just a speck of dust compared to theirs.

When you get home, the sun is setting. You decide to call Diane, just to make sure she's alright, but you don't tell what happened. It would make her come here immediately, and the last thing you need is someone else you care about being in danger. You have to lie, despite hating yourself for it, telling her that your voice is funny because you had to yell a lot with the kids at the pool. But it's better this way. There are more than enough people here you need to worry about.

“Come here,” Billy calls when you finally head to the bedroom. He sits in the bed, back against the headrest and you're quick to crawl into the bed and into his arms. “How are you feeling?”

“I don't know. Sad doesn't really explain it.” Putting your legs over his, you hide your face on his neck, breathing in your favorite cologne, the only one he uses since the day you told him that. “I can't believe I buried Jason. Jason. My crazy-ass friend.” Your voice cracks and you hold back a sob. “I'll never hear those stupid jokes again.”

“I'm so sorry, princess.” There's a pain in his voice too. Billy has been around Jason a bit, mostly with you. But you know he's actually sad because of how broken you are. You can see it in his eyes, that he wish he could take your pain away, and that he's desperate because he doesn't know what to do.

But there's nothing Billy or anyone else could do. You can't fight death. You can't hit it with a baseball bat full of nails until it gives your friend back. The only thing you can do is avenge him. Get whatever took him and destroy it.

“I wanna kill those Demothings.” The anger in your voice is tangible, and you clench your hands into fists. “I swear to God, Billy, I'll kill one of them myself.”

“Anger won't help. We need to be smart about it. We need a strategy.” Billy is often angry with things. Mostly with things that hurt you, but this time, you get why he's taking another path, trying to calm you down instead of putting more wood in the fire. “The meeting is set for tomorrow. We'll find a battle plan to kill those damn things.” His hand comes to lay on your thigh, fingers softly caressing your skin. “But for now you need to rest, ok? I'll cook something you like and then we'll cuddle watching some nice movie. How does that sound?”

“What if I cry through the movie?” You ask because more tears start rolling down, it doesn't matter how many times you try to get rid of them.

“Then I'll hold you tight.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Billy is kind enough to try and get you into some small talk. Nothing too complicated, nothing related to the Demothings or Jason. You're thankful for that. He even manages to get a few laughs from you, although they're always followed by a reality check when the events of the last two days hit you again, and the smile is gone.

A couple of hours later you're watching Jaws, your head on Billy's chest as you try to follow the events of the movie. But it seems way too fast for you, or it's just your mind that's refusing to process anything that's happening.

You just keep thinking about death. About how Jason's whole life was cut short. How all of his plans for the future were erased.

“Billy, can I ask you something?” Keeping your voice low, you speak up for the first time since you came to the living room after having dinner.

“Of course, princess. What is it?”

Biting your lip, you consider if you should really bring that up. It's selfish to talk about your future when someone else won't have one. But this whole situation made you want to make plans because it's a privilege to still be here. It's a blessing to still have time. “What you said to Joyce about... Marriage. Did you really mean that or–” Pushing yourself up from where you were laying on top of him, you take a deep breath. “–or were you just trying to get out of the conversation. Because it's ok if–”

“Haven't I made it clear that I want to be with you for the rest of my life?” He moves to sit up as well, pulling you close until you're placed in between his legs, a hand caressing your cheek. “Because if I hadn't, I'll make it clear now. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I don't know how it happened, and it did get me by surprise, but the day you walked in the Hawkins Community Pool, I knew something changed in me. I knew I had to get to know you, and I did thought it would pass, that I'd get tired of you as I got of the other girls, but I didn't.” Billy holds you closer to him, your foreheads touching. “You hit me like–”

“Bang.” You finish for him, the memory of the day he was unbelievably honest with you coming back. The day he admitted to you, and somehow to himself too, that he liked you. It was also the day he punched David, and the day he kissed your cheek, making your stomach burn like it has been set on fire.

“Like bang.” He breathes out, warm lips coming in touch with yours. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull him as close as you can, the need to feel that he's here, with you, clouding the sound of the TV. Billy moves to lay back down again, and when you move to follow his change of posture, your knee slips and connects to his ribs. “Ouch!” He breathes out, cutting off the kiss.

“Oh, shit. I'm so sorry.” Covering your mouth, you bring the free hand to rub his side. “Sorry, baby.”

Taking a deep breath, he grabs your arm and pulls you down, making you collide on his chest, giggling. “Sorry. I shouldn't be joking around with you now.”

Squinting your eyes at him, you try to get up, but his strong arms come around your body, keeping you from moving. “I hate you, Hargrove.” The fake sentence is soon overcome by a giggle. “I'll kick you right this time, I'm warning you.”

“Oh, I'm shaking like a leaf.”

“Don't test me, Hargrove. Keep in mind we sleep on the same bed and I know all of your habits, baby.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Mhmm.” Mumbling, you manage to stand up, moving back into a sitting position. You know he actually let you go, but there's no reason to acknowledge that. Taking a deep breath, the sudden happiness is stained again, as the memories crawl back. It seems like Billy notices because his smile softens. “I love living with you, you know that, right?”

“I love waking up next to you every morning.”

You can't help the smile that comes to your lips as you bend over again, kissing his lips.

On the next day, Billy calls Anthony to ask him to give you a few days off work. Obviously, you have to urge your hothead boyfriend not to curse the manager and risk losing his job. You feel fine to go to the pool, or you think you do, but the truth is you wouldn't be paying much attention anyway. And much to your dismay, Billy gets a total of zero days off. No discussion, what makes him hang up the phone so hard you thought he broke the poor thing.

Since you don't want to be alone, and Billy would absolutely never allow you to be alone in the house when you're friend just died, he drives you to Joyce's place, where the party will gather to make plans.

Saying it's hard to be away from Billy on the day after you buried Jason is a misunderstanding. Seeing him drive away from Joyce's porch makes you feel like he's taking your heart with him. He didn't seem pleased either, but there was no other choice. You wouldn't make him miss the day, since you know Anthony is a terrible human being, just looking for the right excuse to get rid of the lifeguards.

“Honey, come inside,” Joyce calls a hand on your shoulder. “Can I get you something to eat? We had pizza last night and I have a slice in the fridge.”

“No, thank you, Joyce.” Politely, you decline her offer. “Is there any bed I can crash in?”

“Sure. Come.” Walking through Jonathan and Will, you wave at them, muttering a good morning and trying not to cry at their sad faces. They know Jason was a close friend, and, like everyone else, they don't know what to do or say. “This is Will's and Jonathan's room. Just pick a bed.” Nodding, you choose the one on the left and lie down. “Do you need to talk?”

“There's nothing to say.” Putting your head on a pillow, you stare at the ceiling. You feel comfortable around Joyce, she has this mother thing about her. “I just want this to end. Before anyone else gets... Eaten.” The word makes you shiver as it brings the image of his body back. “I wish I wasn't the one to find him. To... See him that way. I don't think I'll ever forget that.”

“Honey, I'm so sorry.” She comes to sit on the edge of the bed. “When... When they found Will's body, it hurt. I knew in my heart it wasn't him, but the very idea of losing my baby was horrible. So I have an idea of how you feel. Losing someone is a pain that doesn't go away. You'll get used to it, but it remains. All we can do is learn to deal with it and honor them by carrying their memories.”

You're crying through her speech, and you can't help but sit up and hug her, crying on her shoulder. “We have to be careful because I can't lose anyone else.” You're not sure if she can even understand what you're saying, but since she nods, you think she did.

“Don't worry, honey. We'll all be alright.” She pulls away, rubbing both your arms. “The kids will be here soon, but feel free to stay here or join us, ok? Do whatever makes you comfortable.”

“Thanks.” Offering her a small, sad smile, you watch as she leaves.

You hear when they get here, the chattering starts, and you can understand a few words here and there. They talk about you, and about Billy and about the funeral. But soon enough it falls into the major problem. And that's when you tune out, staring at the ceiling, trying not to make yourself too comfortable in someone else's bed.

The only thing you want now is Billy. You want to go back to the time where there was no Demogorgon, Demowhatever lurking around. At least to you. It's weird to know what really happened in Billy's car accident, how he was almost the host for the Mind Flayer. You're happy it didn't happen, that he's here now. You need to thank Max for that, actually. If it wasn't for her and the others, your Billy wouldn't be here. He could be dead, and you'd never meet him. He'd never shoot glances at you, or drive you home, buy you tacos or punch David's face. Or kiss you, hold you, love you. The thought of a life without Billy in it is absurd. Now, more than ever, after you lost someone so dear, you have this need to be with him. Just to make sure he's here.

Breathing out and closing your eyes, your hand comes to hold the necklace. It makes you feel closer to Billy, and there is a silent promise here, one you hold close to your heart, together with the earring.

Eyes open, you get up of the bed. You don't care if you got days off, you have to see him. Even if it's just for a hug. Leaving the bedroom, you make your way to the living room, which is crowded.

“We wait until it's late at night to make sure the Demodogs are out, sneak inside the tunnels, and spill insane amounts of gasoline all over it. Get the hell out, wait until it's morning, and set the whole thing on fire.” Dustin says, hands in the air and a smile on his face.

He's kidding, right? He can't be suggesting that as if it's the greatest idea of the world. “Are you completely insane?” You ask, making your presence known. Arms crossed, your eyes scan through the party. “You can't possibly think this is a good idea.”

“I agree with (Y/N), this is insane,” Joyce adds, her face making it clear she thinks this idea sucks. “I won't let you do that.”

“But–”

“The point is to kill them without getting ourselves killed. And every single idea you come up with has a hundred different ways to get us killed.” Steve says, both his hand on his hips as he paces around the room. “Who thinks this idea sucks raise your hand.” He's the first to do it, and Joyce, you, and Jonathan do the same.

“Count Billy in.” You say, raising the other hand as well.

“And Hopper,” Joyce states, giving you an approving stare.

“It's six against seven. We're doing it.” Dustin exclaims.

“No.” You basically shout, not caring one bit if you sound bossy. All eyes lay on you as you struggle to keep it together. “We're not doing it and that's final.”

“I–”

“I just lost a friend and I will not let you do something that might just end up in another funeral.” There are tears threatening to fall again, but you hold them back. “So come up with something else.”

The silence is deafening. You know you're breaking down again, even though the tears aren't rolling down. Yet.

“Please. There's gotta be something else.” Lowering your voice and looking down at your feet, you beg. You can't even think about someone else dying. You couldn't bear it.

“I saw this thing at school. Like a robot with remote control.” Lucas starts. “If we could build a bunch of them and attach a hose, we could guide it inside the tunnels and spread the gasoline.”

“Yeah, but there are seven holes. Which means a lot of ground we'd have to cover.” Eleven adds as you make your way to the group, sitting on the couch beside Joyce.

“Let's blow up six of them.” You burst out, crossing your legs. “A hell of a explosion that would take those things days to dig it back. Then there will be only one way in and out. Find a hell of a long hose or just connect a bunch of them and a million gallons of gas. The robots will spread it then we'll just need a match.”

“That's good. It could work.” Nancy says. “But we'll need to chip in to buy all these things.

“Hopper can get some for free I'm sure.”

“We start right now.” Mike stands up and the others follow. “Let's get started.”

The rest of the day is hectic. Lists are made, one of the kids teachers come over to help with what they called a summer project. For fun. And the materials started arriving. You don't really know what to do, so you help Joyce make lunch, keeping up with her small talk. Joyce is easy to be around, and you like to hear her stories about Will and Jonathan. You even manage to show a few smiles every now and then. After everyone is fed, you finally sit on the porch, trying to help as much as you can. The kids are genius, literally building remote control robots from random pieces and the instructions from books. It's amazing. Since you can't really be of much help in this aspect, you join Nancy, separating stuff or doing anything they tell you too.

When the sun is setting, some of them had to go home to gather their stuff. They'll crash here and take the robot construction through the night. By the moment you hear the faint noise of Billy's car, it's just Joyce's kids, Steve and Dustin. Leaving the small pieces of metal you were shaping into tiny little circles, you stand up abruptly.

“Where are you going? These circles aren't going to make themselves.” Dustin complains, raising his hands in the air.

“Billy is back.” There's no need for further explanation, so you tiptoe among the stuff, careful not to step on anything.

“It could be anyone.”

“Dustin, is there any other car in Hawkins that sounds like that?” As you speak, the noise gets louder and Billy's car comes to your sight.

“She knows her boyfriend's car.” Steve jokes as you walk to the yard, smiling when Billy stops the car and comes out.

“Miss me, princess?”

“Obviously.” It's a feeling of pure relief to see him. It feels like it's been so much longer than just some hours, but you feel that you'll have this insane need to be around him for a while. Just to enjoy the fact that you're still alive. You can't help but wonder for long the idea of death will hover over you... Probably forever.

“You ok?” He asks, his hand on your hair as you have your head on his chest.

“I will be.” Remembering the audience, you pull away, standing on your toes to kiss him. “Dustin had a terrible idea but I made him change his mind about it.”

“How did you do that?”

“I yelled.” With no intention of further explanation, you turn at the guys. “I'll be back tomorrow morning, alright? Have fun doing crazy science.” Waving at them, you get into the car.

You would like to stay at Joyce's, keep helping as much as you can, but you feel like you need silence and peace. The kid's laughter and jokes make you feel better, but you know that you also need to let the sadness creep over for a while. Keeping it hidden, disguised, makes no good. So as you dry and brush your hair, waiting for Billy to finish his shower, you cry.

For Monica, for Jason's younger siblings, his mother, his father, uncle, and aunt. For every friend he made since he was born. And for yourself too. Jason was one of the people that you imagined you'd be around for the rest of your life.

You're dragged away from your thoughts by the phone's ring. Rushing to answer it, you find it's Joyce, kindly asking if you can pick Mike up and drive him to her place, and of course, you comply.

“Billy.” You call when you hear him coming out of the bathroom. “Joyce needs us to pick up Mike. Nancy can't stop what she's doing there.”

“Sure. Let's go.”

Being out at night makes you anxious, but you try not to let it show. Eyes on the road, you bounce your leg nervously, tugging on the seat belt. Billy notices, and a hand comes to rest on your thigh.

“We'll be fine. Relax.”

“I'm trying.” Stretching your arm, you touch his neck. “I'm sorry if I can't stop thinking about Jason and what happened.”

“(Y/N), you just lost a friend. My responsibility as your boyfriend is to hold and love you through this process. Don't apologize.”

“I don't want this to be your responsibility, Billy.” When he turns his head to look at you, you run your fingers through his jaw.

He takes a deep breath, pulling over by Mike's house. You were about to get out, but since he doesn't move, neither do you. Billy looks like he's thinking, furrowed eyebrows and distant eyes. “Billy? Come back to Earth.” You decide to ask, taking off the belt and turning your body towards his.

“To have and to hold. For better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.” He squints his eyes through the words, trying to remember them. It takes a while for you to understand what he means, and when you do, your heart starts drumming in your ears. “To love and cherish till death do us part.”

“Billy...”

“It means I'll stand by your side. Not because I feel like it's my responsibility, but because I love you. And I'm more than happy to take the responsibility of being your–”

“Couldn't you save that up for, I don't know, someday when I'm dressed in white?” The words come out fast, and you're blushing hard, your cheeks burning. “No. You had to do this now. Drive me insane now in your Camaro.” You roll your eyes dramatically when his lips break into a smile, that smug, cocky smile he has when he knows he got to you somehow.

“Be my wife, (Y/N).”

“No.” It's an utter absurd how hard you have to fight not to say the exact opposite. You want to just burst out the word, here and now, because you're so damn sure you want Billy for the rest of your life. “No, baby. We'll graduate, save up money and you'll make a decent proposal.” You hope he can't notice your hands shaking as you step out of the car, almost stumbling on the sidewalk. His words burn through your mind, sending shivers down your spine. “I won't say I'll marry you in the middle of the sidewalk, in the middle of the night, in front of Mike's house.”

“Did I just make you nervous?” Billy's arms come to encircle your waist, his deep voice, and breath on your hair making you sigh.

“Shut up, Hargrove.” With the sweet sound of his laughter on your ear, you knock on the front door, trying to push him away before someone comes to answer. “Let go.”

“Are you using my cologne again?” As soon as he asks, you feel his nose softly rubbing your neck, what makes you giggle and try to push him away again, uselessly. “You are.”

It wasn't your intention to let him find out, but he always does. “Well, it was–”

The door is suddenly open, a yellowish light hitting your eyes as you try to stand up straighter. The woman standing there gives a step back as if she just saw a ghost. Her eyes fly from Billy and back at you, then all the way back to Billy. It hits you suddenly as you realize she's Mrs. Wheeler, the woman Billy was going to meet on the day the Mind Flayer almost got him. They haven't met or spoken since that day, and you weren't expecting her to look so... Perplexed. You try to read her expression, to understand what the look in her eyes means.

“Hello, Mrs. Wheeler.” You manage to say because Billy clearly won't even try to be polite. You feel his muscles tensing up, as he gets immediately uncomfortable under the woman's stare since she doesn't seem to even try to hide. “Sorry to disturb you. We're here for Mike.”

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @dreamin-of-dacre @funeral-7 @uncookspaget @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @halloweenbitch2764 @redlovett @multific @shinydixon @nikkixostan @clockworkballerina @nope-thanks

#imagine billy hargrove #billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove x y/n #billy hargrove imagine #billy stranger things #stranger things imagine #imagine stranger things #stranger things fanfiction

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gilbirda · 4 years ago

Text

About couples of 3 and other wishes

Hikaru and Kaoru loved her so much, and at the same time. They were afraid of rejection, that's true, but they were more afraid of being alone in their little world once again. Even so, they risked it and asked Haruhi out. "Would you go out with us? Both. At the same time."

Sequel >> Read in AO3||Read in FF.net .

Haruhi has never been a complicated girl, she preferred simple things. She enjoyed hunting sales at the supermarket and living her commoner’s life at peace.

Well, as peaceful as it can be having the Ouran Host Club as her best friends. Yes, she loved them and thought of them as her friends although they bother her more than she would like to. She treasured her time with them and today was no exception, not even when she had to cosplay as a greek goddess (obviously without the customers finding out her gender) and had to play scenes of mythology with the host, getting fangirl screams in the process.

She loved her normal and simple life, her normal days at school with the boys.

What she didn’t know was how her relationship with them had changed. She was so dense that she still hadn’t realized the way that even Kyoya looked at her from time to time when he wasn’t writing down new additions to her debt on his notebook. Even Kyoya! Slowly, the petite girl has wrapped the most influential men in the country, and probably the world, around her finger. And that without counting guys like Kasanoda that weren’t on the Host club.

But, let’s not talk about that. This is about two lovers in particular, the Hitachiin twins. They both loved her but couldn’t agree with who should get the girl, even if she would want them that is. They loved her, at the same time, and often fought because of that; but always hiding it from the other so as not to get in any troubles as the last time.

Haruhi would never love them both, they knew that. It was impossible to… have a couple with three people, it wouldn’t work. On one hand, there was the moral part: society would not agree and they will be pointed at everyday; it would destroy Haruhi’s dream to be a successful lawyer, they couldn’t do that to her. On the other hand, it was themselves: Hikaru is very jealous and he couldn’t even share his brother with other people (which are their friends), although he has been controlling it; otherwise, Kaoru, used to give up everything to his brother, to lie for him, and knew that Haruhi hated it. They knew it was difficult and would never work out.

That is if she chose them, of course, and if Haruhi would have a relationship with two people at the same time.

It was reckless, they knew, but they were so madly in love that every day it seemed a better idea, the best one. It wasn’t about choosing between their brother or the love of their life anymore, about breaking a life-long friendship or losing her forever. They already do everything together, and always found a way to do so. Why not take it further?

First, they did a few tests, just to be sure.

They took her to their house to introduce her to their parents, sitting together at the table and acting as normal as they could with her, trying if they could really do everything together; but Haruhi was the natural host and it went smoothly as usual.

Then, they went further and invited her to sleep in their house. They didn’t try anything perverted, and of course they didn’t tell Tamaki about it (but probably Kyoya knew everything), so it was just the three of them alone. They did not want to bug the King of the Host Club nor make fun of anyone nor take good pictures for Kyoya to sell to the best bidder; just them as the best friends they were. Haruhi, as oblivious as always, just went along and laughed with them. She wasn’t disturbed by the fact of sharing a room. Maybe she doesn’t consider us as men, said Kaoru when they thought about their possibilities. They wanted to change that.

And then, at last, one day in their break at the host club when they didn’t have any customers, they chatted with her as usual, as normal as possible, until they asked what they wanted to know.

“Say, Haruhi,” said simultaneously, “would you go out with a host?” It’s not that they wanted to encourage her to go out with any of them, they just wanted to know if she saw them as possible… partners? in the future. She thought a few seconds that were important while Hikaru and Kaoru were thankful that the other hosts were busy and weren’t listening. “Well, I won’t deny that I’ve thought about that sometime,” she put a serious face, but they knew her and saw the small spark in her big, brown eyes, “but I can’t think about that stuff right now. I need to study to keep my scholarship”

Translation: yes, she has thought about them in that kind of situation out of the Host Club stuff. And that means they had hope.

And for that, they chose to risk it. Haruhi has been always very understanding and mature in her decisions; is what they thought when the option of losing her friendship was obvious when they’ll tell her their idea:

They wanted a relationship with her. They both, at the same time.

***

She didn’t know why she was still here, on top of a ski slope lost somewhere in a mountain whose name she couldn’t pronounce but sounded like a type of cheese.

With a serious face, she tried to remember how she got there in the first place. She was peacefully making her father’s dinner at home, when people in black clothes broke into her house, put her in a bag and pushed her inside a car that sped down the street. Nobody spoke to her and she stood very still, as she was used to, knowing it just has to be one of her host friends. What a sense of humor, she thought bitterly when they finally got her out of the car (a limousine?) and shove her inside a… plane?

Okay, this was more than enough.

Freed from her bag, she took in her surroundings as her eyes grew used to the brightness as the flight attendants gave instructions in english. Great, she was in a private jet in her ugly “house clothes”, in a very bad mood, with the ones and only twins.

“What the heck am I doing here?” she growled knitting her eyebrows and crossing her arms.

“We are taking you out this weekend!” said Hikaru. “What do you think?” asked Kaoru.

“And you need a private jet for ‘going out’?” she raised an eyebrow, incredulous.

The trip ended up being a ski trip to a very high mountain (with a lot of dangerous cliffs, by the way) in a country which name they didn’t want to tell her because “she’d want to turn around when she knew”. They were positive that she wasn’t used to traveling by private jets to the other part of the world and she would throw a fit.

Commoners.

So, she was about to do something that’d hurt, a lot, because she already could see her becoming a giant snowball rolling down the hill.

“What are you doing, Haruhi?” asked Kaoru, jumping above her head in his snowboard. They both went to a higher place, for experts. “Come on! It’ll be fun!” said Hikaru flashing just by her at top speed.

She eyed them with a little sweatdrop falling in the back of her head. She looked down again, where the silhouettes of the twins swirled gracefully, and for a second she thought it couldn’t be half bad. She thought that maybe she wouldn’t die.

She let go, knowing it was a very bad idea the moment she felt the wind hit the uncovered skin of her face. Yep, now she was positive she wouldn’t make it alive. She closed her eyes expecting the snow in her mouth, and maybe other parts of her body as well, and the bruises that will come; but nothing happened at all, just the feeling of the unmerciful wind slowly dying away and other people’s voices around.

She carefully opened her hazel eyes finding she was perfectly fine and alive at the end of the hill, people looking astonished and the twins laughing their heads off in the background. Of her, probably.

She snorted, feeling her face hot, and took off her skis before approaching her friends while avoiding the curious stares. She looked daggers at them when she got there and threw the skis at them.

“You should have seen your face!”

“You even closed your eyes!”

“It’s not even funny”, she said, trying not to turn away and leave. “I could have died.”

“But, why did you close your eyes? Is even more dangerous!”

“I don’t know how did you dodge those people so fast with your eyes closed”

She glared at them, crossing her arms.

“Beginner's luck”, they simply said and shrugged. Haruhi sighed again and slowly her face relaxed. She couldn’t be angry with them for much longer, they were her friends. Her best friends.

“I think skiing is over for today”, she said, taking off her helmet. While untying her gloves, she noticed that the twins were strangely silent. Lifting her head, she looked at the weird glint in their eyes, but she was interrupted before she could ask. “What..?”

“If you don’t wanna ski…”, started Hikaru smiling, taking off his stuff and throwing it around. Strangely enough, someone appeared out of nowhere and took them elsewhere.

“...then….”, said Kaoru with a smile as big as his brother’s.

“Let’s go sightseeing!”, they shouted.

Oh, mother... , thought the girl, already feeling tired for the things she was going to be forced to do.

***

She was literally tired. She couldn’t feel her feet, her head was pounding like crazy and she was going to faint sometime soon. Her bag, which wasn’t really her bag but some clothes the twins have lent her, was filled with more presents for her father than she ever has got him before, and souvenirs from that place (which name she had finally learned and fought with the twins because of that) that she couldn’t close it properly.

She just wanted to get a shower and sleep. Nothing else mattered. And because of that she didn’t realize she was being guided to a hotel room, filled with luxuries that she didn’t look at, but just one room. For them.

She neither saw when the twins put two beds together to make a queen sized one and hers was right next to it or that the clothes she found in her suitcase weren’t her oversized t-shirt and old pjs’ pants.

Neither she saw the anxious faces of the twins. It is true that they were acting strange all the way through the town, but they always got to distract her in time until she forgot about it.

As she took her shower, Hikaru looked at his brother Kaoru, who nodded. Now was the time. They would bet everything they had and risk their relationship with Haruhi tonight. They were scared, very scared, but they knew they had to do it; and knowing Haruhi it’d end well one way or another. She always took things with a calm face. She always did the right thing.

They had to believe it.

They waited until she finished and when they saw her in the pajamas they chose for her, towelling her hair, they rose from their seats and sighed. It’s now or never, they thought.

“Haruhi”, said Kaoru softly. She looked at them with fatigue in her eyes.

“Sit down, please”, said Hikaru pointing at a chair close to the beds. They sat in front of her.

“Did something happen?”, she asked, getting worried and trying to put the tiredness aside for them. She frowned slightly thinking about what they could want.

“Relax, it isn’t something bad”, Kaoru took a mouthful of air and sighed. “Haruhi,” he could mutter with a serious face, “you are very important to us, not just for being the only one who can tell us apart, but also for being our very first true friend.”

“You make our days brighter and when we can’t see you we feel like something’s missing. We don’t know exactly when the way we see you changed, but before we could realize it we needed you, even more than we needed each other.” Hikaru continued.

“When we found out how we felt about you we knew it wasn’t going to end well.”

“We love you, Haruhi.”

She widened her eyes, surprised, but kept silent and let them continue.

“If one of us went for it, the other would suffer.”

“We were so scared, Haruhi”, confessed Kaoru and she believed it. Believed all of it. Naked emotion all over their faces; expressions like theirs could not tell lies.

“That’s why we… we thought about this.” This was the important part.

“Haruhi,” Kaoru breathed deeply and looked at his brother. He nodded. “Would you go out with us?”, they said, fixing their eyes to the big hazel of the frozen girl in front of them. “Both of us”, completed Kaoru. “At the same time”, finished Hikaru closing his eyes and waiting for rejection.

But nothing happened.

Startled, he opened his eyes only to find Haruhi in the same place, frozen like a statue and speechless. What could she be thinking? Would she hate them for proposing such a crazy idea? She was very logical, following rules all the time. She knew what was right and what wasn’t.

But there was no reaction at all. That was a bad signal, right? He turned to Kaoru, distressed, who probably wore the same face as him, and then looked to Haruhi when they heard her chair. She rose in silence, murmured something like she was going to sleep and went under the covers of her bed without saying another word.

Astonished, and a bit hurt for her lack of reaction, the twins stared at the floor knowing the obvious answer. No. A big, fat no in bold letters.

Hikaru closed his eyes trying to contain the tears that fought to be free and got up slowly with his hands fisted; then he went to his side of the bed in equal silence. Kaoru sighed and turned off the lights, going to the bed and allowing the weight of the moment to get to him. Then realized he wouldn’t get any sleep that night.

He sighed again, but this time it came choked in a strangled sob that he could hide in time in the darkness and quietness of the night. He heard another sob, but this one came from his brother.

He looked at his side and there he was, curled up in a ball and hiding his face on the pillow to muffle his crying. Because he was crying, he knew. He was his brother and knew what the other was feeling. He rolled to him and carefully hugged him, feeling his pain and trying to soothe it. They had failed and probably now Haruhi wouldn’t want anything to do with them, would treat them differently.

On the other bed, Haruhi was lying with her back turned to them, eyes wide open, but that was something they couldn’t know. Her heart beating fast and her brain repeating what had just happened again and again. Slowly processing what they had proposed, her thick head realizing why they had brought her here in the first place or why they were acting so weird today…

They were nervous.

She focused on the matter at hand. A couple of three people? They really got to share everything or adapt everything to fit them all and enjoy it together.

She thought about it some more; for example, the way they looked at her, the way they treated her or how they behaved that day. The twins loved her and most likely they knew that it wasn’t an easy thing, neither for her nor them.

She wasn’t blind, she knew how illegal this could be. It was not well regarded by society; they would be glared at, pointed at, and they’d try to hurt them or break them up. The boys were heirs of such a big company, this could bring their ruin. And there was their parents, of course. What would Ranka say about this? She was so scared.

But then she thought that to hell with those who cared what other people do with their lives, who they love. Because yes, she loved them. She was afraid and probably was going to be the hardest thing in her life but she wanted to at least try. It had been so long since she stopped seeing them as just friends, but she didn’t know what to do with these new feelings inside, so she tried to ignore them. Today had been an eye opener, though.

She turned and looked at the silhouettes of her friends in the bed at her side. Were they sleeping? If that was the case then she could tell them tomorrow… Wait, what was that? Sounded like a… sob?

She stood in her bed, putting away the blankets, and listened carefully to confirm that it was sob indeed. She silently got up and approached the twin’s bed just to face the most… heartwarming? thing in the world. Could be. She smiled, amusement barely drowning the sadness and orry - the twins, her best friends and who she was willing to try this couple of three, were crying in the arms of the other. They looked like children, and she realized that was what they were beyond the jokes, smirks and everyday pranks. They were completely different people when those were gone, now there was just their bare hearts and pure feelings.

She walked closer to their bed and gently caressed their faces, watching with newfound eyes under the moonlight that leaked from the window, and receiving their watery eyes with a content smile. The boys stared at her with hope shining brightly in their eyes and she nodded still smiling.

Full of happiness, the twins jumped to her and hugged her like they used to, so the girl could be shared and everyone had their part. Remaining tears ran down their cheeks while they smiled with joy.

“Haruhi...”, whispered Kaoru full of emotion.

“Yes, here I am”, she said and they knew she meant something more than just physically.

“Come here”, and Hikaru dragged her between them onto the double bed, Kaoru pulling the blanket over her as well, keeping her warm and comfy.

Her smile grew bigger when she felt their arms around her, Hikaru’s head in her chest and Kaoru’s somewhere between her shoulder and hair. She lifted a hand to caress Hikaru’s soft hair while closing her eyes to sleep peacefully at last.

“Haruhi,” whispered Hikaru a bit too softly for him. His face was so red that Haruhi internally laughed, amused by the sight. “Can I…. Can I kiss you?”

She froze not knowing what to say, but nodded a few seconds later. Carefully, he approached her lips and gently touched them with his feeling like this was what he has been waiting for all his life. It was sweet and warm, and everything he needed.

Kaoru watched in silence. He wasn’t going to hide the jealousy he felt of his brother; knowing this was Haruhi’s first kiss (with a man) and there weren't two of those for the twins.

With a “devilish brothers” trademark smile, he came up with an idea to have something “new” of Haruhi for both brothers. While waiting for them to finish he sniffed Haruhi’s scent in her neck, enjoying the warmth.

“Ah…”, he heard them sigh and admired their blushed happy cheeks. He then thought that maybe this was a bad idea and he should forfeit and leave them be, as he intended in the beginning; but smiled instead knowing that they would break up if he did because they knew how much he cared for both.

“Kaoru…”, Haruhi said, watching him and suspecting his thoughts. She lifted a hand to his hair and pulled to reach his mouth more easily, wanting to give equal attention to both brothers.

She felt again his soft warmth, so similar to Hika’s… but kinda different. It wasn’t better or worse, just different. And she so loved it. Haruhi happily kissed the boy and let him feel her love and acceptance of this relationship; but then something wet distracted her and a slight bite in her lower lip made her blush wildly. She opened her eyes and rolled them when she saw the devilish glint in the golden eyes of her now boyfriend. She smiled, letting him in nonetheless.

A new world of sensations disclosed before her, making her think “oh, so that’s why everyone's so obsessed with this”. It was even warmer and hot than before with Hikaru; more rash and demanding, but soft and tingly and nice. She loved it too.

When they finally got apart she was flying far away from there, floating like a feather. Hikaru demanded her attention and trapped her swollen lips with his own, taking advantage of her absent state of mind from Kaoru’s kiss. Without asking permission, he ventured in with his tongue and attacked her mouth mercilessly, but kindly, not wanting to take this somewhere uncomfortable for both and making sure that she could end it if she desired. She could always end this if she wanted.

Haruhi had to admit that this was way different from Kaoru. More enthusiastic, rash, fast and intense; making her realise that Hikaru had been wanting this from way long back. While Kaoru was more relaxed and controlled, Hikaru wanted her all and devoured her whole with his lips. And as she surrendered her body to the boy, she felt her mind abandon her right there and then. She couldn’t make even a coherent thought at the moment.

Her head was spinning out of control when they finally got apart and she could not feel the bites and kisses all around her neck and shoulders. So many caresses, so much love, that it was choking her. And it was doubled tonight.

Again one of the brothers captured her lips (Kaoru, she imagined by the slight calmness in the movement against them) while the other was kissing the sensitive skin of her throat. For a brief moment, she wondered if that’ll leave marks. But, well she will worry about that tomorrow.

***

The next morning, Haruhi woke up to sun rays hitting her right in the eyes. She frowned and opened them feeling really hot, too much, and couldn’t even move.

When she saw the sleeping faces of the twins, one on her chest and the other next to her head, she remembered everything that happened the previous night. She blushed and was about to scream, but stopped just in time to not wake the brothers. She sighed.

She watched them sleep for a while without worrying about the hour. Their faces were so relaxed and calm, a bit red by the heat, and a cute smile on their lips. It was such a contrast with the tears from last night when they thought that she despised them for asking if she was interested in them. They looked like scared kids, but that’s exactly what they essentially were: children. In so many ways. Especially in emotion management.

She felt someone stirr in his sleep and wake up. Kaoru, she knew instantly because he was always the first one to do it. She rolled her head and kissed his cheek softly to greet him. His eyes were bright and showed so much happiness that her heart skipped a beat.

“Good morning”, he whispered before kissing her in a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Good morning”, she smiled. “Shall we wake him up?”, Haruhi looked down to the redhead on her chest. Kaoru nodded.

Haruhi gently grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged, but no reaction came from the boy. She pulled with a bit more strength but still nothing. She sighed. Haruhi knew that Hika was a heavy sleeper, but this? She glanced at Kaoru expecting further instructions, but she found him pointing at his own lips, which were arched in a smile, his eyes shining with mischief. She rolled her eyes but still bowed down to press her lips softly on the other twin’s ones. (Not) Surprisingly, the boy was awake and trapped her there not wanting to let go, a very Chesire-like smile on his face.

Haruhi glared briefly at him but let it slide. She was just too happy to fake annoyance that long.

And then, because neither of them really wanted to get up, they stayed in bed for a while sharing hugs, kisses and cuddling nonstop, enjoying each other’s presence and new found love. Not even the heat seemed to bother them.

“Room service!”, said a voice through the door after a few knocks. Before they could move to get up, a maid opened said door and entered the room pushing a cart with covered food on it. “I brought lunch as you ordere-”

Her voice faded when she looked up from her carefully placed plates and cups and finally saw the twins and Haruhi all cuddly in bed, really close (closer than anyone else in the room would be comfortable with), with the red-faced girl in the middle.

“Eh…”, the embarrassed maid managed to say. “I’ll… I’ll leave you alone now… Yes, I’m going.” And then she literally ran away, closing the room’s door behind. Haruhi, Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other before exploding in laughter at the absurd situation. Kaoru mentally made a note to give the maid a generous tip before they left this afternoon.

“I guess it’s time to eat, right?”, said Haruhi when her breathing slowed down.

They helped her down the bed and put her between them, as usual, before pulling the cart closer. Without warning Kaoru grabbed Haruhi in for a tight hug, which Hikaru joined, making a successful Haruhi sandwich. They laughed again softly, just being silly and happy, letting the joy of finally being together flow through their bodies.

But there was still an important question: What would they say to the rest of the Host Club?

Well, we’ll leave that for another moment.

BACK TO THE ARCHIVE

#ouran high school host club #ohshc #hitachiin brothers #hikaru hitachiin #hitachiin twins #hikaru x haruhi #hikaru x kaoru #kaoru x haruhi #kaoru hitachiin #haruhi fujioka #hikaharukao #ot3 #polyamory #polyamourus pride #ouran fanfiction #gil writes #fanfic #fanfiction #writeblr

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sunflower-sometimes · 5 years ago

Text

Bad news:

Angst

Fluff

Smut

~~~

“Have a good day Bug?” He whispered in her ear making y/n relax into his touch and fully give herself to him.

“It was alright. Was long but it’s better now.” She replied. She worried her bottom lip as the nerves in her tummy thickened. “I actually need to tell you something really important.”

‘Y/n you can’t ruin his mood. He’s so happy right now and you’re just gonna ruin it. It’s your body that couldn’t help it. You did this.’

Y/n pulled her oversized sweater over her thighs and began to mess with the loose string. It was a thing she did when nerves picked at her skin.

“Sure, what’s wrong babe?” He asked. His tone lowering and giving her his full attention.

“Before I say it I need you to know that it’s not your fault. It was me and the doctors told me there could be complications because my body is already too weak to hold-“ She sniffled, unable to hold it in when she saw the remorse pass over his features. He looked down at her stomach. She wasn’t due to be showing for another two weeks but he still looked.

“We lost him.” He whispered putting his hand on the sweater covering her belly. Harry didn’t know if it was a boy but he’d always wanted a boy. He’d pictured himself with a son so many times that when y/n told him that she might be pregnant he began talking to her stomach about footie practice and how spoiled he’d be. Y/n thought it was one of the cutest and beautifully perfect things she’d ever witnessed when he first did it.

But now that wouldn’t happen, at least with that child. Harry looked up at her to find her head down and her eyes closed. She opened her mouth to speak, and Harry figured it would have been something to make light of the situation and to help them get through this together but instead she just started crying and babbling about how sorry she was.

“I shouldn’t have put you through this. I knew there was a good chance of us losing a baby but I was selfish and gave you hope that we could start a family and I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry Harry.” She sobbed, bringing her hands up to wipe her eyes.

“Bug you can’t do this to yourself.” He wrapped his arms around her, placing a kiss at her temple. “We both knew going in that your egg count was low and that with the way your body is there would be a chance of losing the baby. I had a hand in trying. You cannot beat yourself up about this. I won’t let you.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the doctor and ask how soon we can try again then we’ll go from there. Come with me upstairs and let me run you a bath. It’ll make you feel better.”

“I can’t lose another one H. I just can’t.” She said hoarsely.

“Then we’ll wait a little bit, maybe look into adopting. I’m sure there are kids there that would love to have you as a mum. Or if you wanna just take a break and not think of babies right now we can do that. I don’t want you to feel pressured into giving me something you don’t want.” He said, taking a deep breath and looking down at her frazzled state.

Y/n looks up at him smiling slightly, “Can we go take that bath? We can talk all about babies later when I’m not as drained.”

“Course love.” He leans down to kiss her forehead. “C’mon, I’ll start running it while you strip down.”

Y/n follows Harry to the bathroom upstairs that’s connected to their room and begins pulling her sweater over her head. Looking into the mirror in the bathroom, she eyes her stomach while Harry turns the water on behind her. She smiled slightly at her stomach and presses her thumb gently over her belly button.

“I love you baby. I hope I meet you some day.” She says to herself. She quickly spins around to look at her husband whom was very much idoling her from his spot next to the tub. He just smiled at her before rising to his feet to discard his clothing.

After Harry checked that the water was warm enough he climbed in and spread his legs to indicate that he wanted her between them. Y/n happily complied and sank down in the water, pressing her back to his front.

She heard him sigh from from behind her and she finally felt better. She felt his arms snake around her waist and pull her into him. He placed tiny kisses on her shoulders and began to suck a bruise into her neck.

She felt her insides tingle from his words. He only praised her like this when she was upset. He did other things during their normal days, but when y/n needed cheering up he pulled out the sappiest things he could possibly think of and say them in a hushed tone.

“Harry,” she whined. “Please don’t mess with me. Not right now. Need you.” She begged. She wanted to feel close to the person she loved the most.

“Don’t wanna fuck you till we see a doctor tomorrow and ask about what we can do, but I will make you feel good.” He whispered. His hands unraveled from around her and began to manipulate her legs. He pulled one up and put in on the side of the tub and then look the other on and pulled in as far into her body as it would go spreading her wide. “What’d you want me to do bug? Want me to play with you? Touch you all over? Play with your little clit?”

Y/n nodded. She wanted all of that. She needed it. “Please Haz. Want you. Please.” She felt so small in moments like these, when he had complete control over her, but she’s also never felt safer.

Harry quickly got a hand over her, rubbing through her folds and swirling her clit with two fingers. She moaned at the contact loving the feeling of him right at her core. He gathered her wetness and began mixing it in with the water he was using to lubricate her cunt.

When she started to arch her back in the pleasure of it all was when she felt his lips right at her ear. “Like when I play with your cunt like this princess? God your so pliant and willing to do anything in moments like these. Do anything to get off. Know you hate only being penetrated with my fingers. Love having my hand right on you clit. Love when I’m swirling your excitement all over you tiny pussy.” She felt her thighs shaking from his words. She was so close to finally releasing that she wanted to scream. “Cmon baby I wanna feel you cunt twitch when you come for me.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, releasing all over his hand and in the water. Her moans filled the room along with the echo of sloshing water. Harry simply hummed in her ear bringing his fingers to his mouth to clean them off.

She bit her lip, eyes heavy from exhaustion. “Cmon baby girl. Let’s get you to bed before you get pruny.” Harry said as he pulled the tab to drain the water.

When they finally settles into their bed cuddled up to each other is when he finally says it. “I’ll always love you. Even if you think that you arent good enough I’ll always want you. I’d never leave you or think you were weird or broken. I promised to love and cherish you forever and I’ll make sure I do my job well.”

As they drifted off all y/n could think of was the amount of love she had for one person that continued to surprise her every single day.

I’m sorry if this was depressing. Here’s Harry being a dork :)

#harrystyles #harry #daddyharry #smut #angst #fluff #harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry styles smut #harry styles angst #daddy harry #styles #harry styles imagine #im actually writing oh my god #writing

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asterekmess · 4 years ago

Text

S3A - E7

So, I’m starting this episode right after finishing the last one, and I’m still kinda riled up from that bullshit. Let’s get to pissing me off and breaking my heart then. Blood/gore mention warnings for this episode.

Exercise your eyes! Read More!

Let’s just jump right in:

Starting right off with forcing myself into putting the tag in. Scott literally just listened to his mother say that giving this woman something to lessen the pain of her injuries could complicate things and make it harder to treat her. This is like an important medical thing. While yes, it’s really upsetting that she would need to keep being in pain, she needs to be able to identify and explain what exactly she’s feeling to the doctor who is going to be arrive really soon (though I have no idea why the nurses aren’t able to get these people set up. That’s what they did with me? I didn’t see a doctor for like an hour, but they didn’t make me sit in the fucking waiting room before dealing with the blood.) Her pain level will have a direct effect on how quickly she’s seen. This moment is meant to show Scott being soft-hearted, but with the doctor only ten minutes away, he could literally be making this woman’s life a whole lot worse by taking away her pain right now. There is a reason why after I was given pain killers for my surgery I wasn’t allowed to be near any heavy objects. Her pain is keeping her from irritating her wound. She could fuck herself up if she stops responding to the signals her body is trying to send her. This is not the right way to make Scott look kind. He looks like an idiot who doesn’t even listen to his nurse mom.

WHo the FUCK would keep driving with a bunch of bugs in the car? She’s not even on the interstate! PULL OVER IDIOT.

I’m actually agreeing with Scott on this one. I have no idea how medically accurate what melissa just did was, but it look pretty damn cool.

WHat the hell is this conversation? First off, Ethan, you made VERY clear in the last episode that you want to bite Danny even after he said no. Even if that was the possession talking, it was based on what YOU wanted. Danny’s not safe with you. Second, what is this bullshit about knowing Lydia is the important one? Important to Stiles and ALlison maybe. Scott literally never talks to Lydia. THIRD how exactly did you guys come up with that idea when you went after them on the FIRST DAY? You sniff him on them? cus’ if so your noses are damaged.

what...what is with this ghost car shit? She was in the middle of the city, more than ten minutes away from the hospital and behind the traffic caused by the ten car pileup. How did the car drive itself ALL THE WAY here?

Ethan. you’re an alpha. you have night vision. You shouldn’t need to ask what the fucking MOTH in the middle of the driver’s seat is.

HI NOAH! I’ll be honest. I missed you. You’re a really good actor and you just make me feel all safe. WHich is weird bc I hate father figures and I hate cops. Linden Ashby is just too good, I guess.

It’s so frustrating watching Deucalion walk around with humans pretending to be blind. Because he is. He is Pretending to be blind. He’s already proved like a dozen times that he can see just fine when he turns on the Alpha eyes. Which doesn’t make SENSE because Deaton said his iris’ were permanently damaged. He doesn’t have two different sets of eyes! And it sucks, bc they put in these little things that it would’ve been awesome to see if they included an actual blind person properly. The casual use of the cane, taking someone’s elbow and the trust that implies, and even this. Having (that looks like ethan’s coat) Ethan explain what’s in front of Deucalion, describing the scene to him.

DEREK YOUR SECURITY SYSTEM SUCKS. HOW DID THEY DO THAT WITHOUT YOU WAKING UP? WITHOUT CORA NOTICING?

Also, Cora, you look amazing, can you please be my friend and can I hug you? I love your shirt.

I HATE THIS BITCH. Fuck you Julia.

uhh....why is an English teacher filling in for a chemistry/geometry teacher? That’s not how substitutes work. Making a joke out of it doesn’t make it make any more sense. SHe shouldn’t be doing that, especially if Harris has been missing for a while.

So your office can keep werewolves out, but not darach? Okay, let me go full conspiracy theorist here. we only know Deaton saw the moths because we see it. He just tells Scott that he’s going to be taken. This is a story that Scott is telling, so he couldn’t know that deaton saw the moths unless deaton told him. Julia is currently teaching a class. Are you seriously saying she doesn’t need to be involved at all in order to do these kidnappings? She can just put them on a timer and let the autmoatic spellwork do the job for her? OR Is deaton lying about being taken, and this is just a test he came up with to force Scott’s “True Alpha”ness to the surface? JUlia clearly had other plans for her sacrifice. I don’t think Deaton was a ‘distraction’ to keep Scott from finding the actual sacrifice. I think it was Deaton using the situation to his advantage.

why does deaton have a canine acupressure chart on his wall? I’ve never seen a vet’s office have that. Does he do alternative medicine for dogs??

BOYD. ISAAC. MY BOYS. I can’t tell you how much I love this. It’s so sneaky and annoying and so pack-ish I just love it so much.

BOYD YOU ARE A GENIUS BOY AND I LOVE YOU.

I swear, like ninety percent of what the ‘adults’ in this show say is ‘go back to school.’ ‘shouldn’t you be in school’ yadda yadda. Like, they want so badly to write the teens as though they never have to go to class, so they just make them constantly skip and ignore that these are fucking teenagers who would never be able to get out of school that easily, and they handwave it with someone occasionally going ‘hmm, weird that they aren’t in school’ and then just ignoring it? Truancy is like a THING that you can get in major trouble for. At least Boyd and Isaac called in sick. You know how you could have avoided all this class bullshit? PUT THE FUCKING SEASON DURING THE SUMMERTIME DUMBASSES.

It just hurts seeing Stiles beg for Scott not to make him tell his dad, and then turn right around and admit that it’s not okay for him to let other people suffer just because it scares him that he might lose his only parent. Like, he walks into that sacrifice with eyes wide fucking open and it hurts.

I’m not talking about these dumb sex scenes anymore. I’m so tired of them.

OKay, can we talk about the fire alarm thing though? It sounds like a jokey kind of thing with Aiden teasing Lydia about wanting to leave during the fire alarm but... Remember how Lydia was haunted by Peter’s burnt corpse? How she can hear the cries of the dead, and how she went wandering into the crumbling remains of the Hale house? There’s every chance that Lydia remembers the fire through Peter’s eyes. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was forever freaked by fire alarms.

Man, Cora and Lydia, together? The sass involved? If I didn’t ship Allydia so hard, I’d totally ship Cora and Lydia.

ONce again, I wanna point out that AIDEN IS A MURDERER. Literally all it would take is someone Explaining to Lydia that he is serial killer and she’d never touch him again.

Cora and Stiles together? I’m loving it. I just, wanna point out that when Scott showed up Cora couldn’t have given less of a shit. But here....Cora doesn’t remotely question Stiles’ authority here. She immediately goes along with it and when he tells her to let go of Cora she does. Even though she has no real reason to. When she asks about the spirit board, it’s a legit question and she doesn’t argue or make fun.

PLus there’s the whole ‘Well do you know any spirits” which straight up just confirms for me that ghosts and shit are real in this universe. I trust the Hales as lore sources and Cora’s matter-of-fact tone is good enough for me.

jesus christ i wanna get deucalion and Peter in a room together and watch them just...monologue random facts and trivia at each other endlessly. “Lacrosse was originally played by Native Americans.” “Do you know what a metronome is?” Guys. come on.

Exasperated Stiles is literally my favorite Stiles. “We’re trying to save lives here for the love of god” “YOU”RE SOMETHING, OKay? JUST put out your Hand” It’s so fucking good.

Someone EXPLAIN TO ME how Scott learned to do fucking gymnastics. WHEN DID HE LEARN THIS? I hate this bullshit “I’m a werewolf, so I can do anything” shit. Especially since it’s LITERALLY just Scott they let do it. Everyone else has to actually do the work to learn it.

So...how exactly does Deucalion know where Deaton is? This literally just supports my theory that Deaton set the whole thing up.

ALSO, since I already have the tag I feel no shame in pointing out that Scott didn’t even HESITATE when he learned Derek was going to die. He immediately asked about Deaton. Yeah yeah, Deaton is a father figure to him, but if that’s an acceptable excuse for Scott to use now, then it should count as an acceptable one when it’s STILES” FATHER BEING THREATENED (but I digress, we’re not there yet.)

How did I never notice that Lydia’s Left handed?

andd.....how did Lydia know that? How did Scott know that? What did Deucalion say that even remotely hints at Danny? Scott doesn’t know about Danny’s paper...what?

Fuck yeah, vengeful Boyd. I dig it.

uh....why couldn’t allison just stand next to Scott in the closet. you know, like she did while he was getting in? Also, why was Allison hiding with him anyway? It’s HER HOUSE and HER BEDROOM.

um....okay, i know that we all like the sterek fics where they have to hide in the closet and one of them pops a boner...but I’mma be real, it’s a lot more uncomfortable when I know she broke up with Scott and they’ve been in there for like ten seconds. Plus there’s the whole knowing that she DEFINITELY has enough room to move away and so does he. *shrug*

Side note: Allison where the fuck do you get these clothes? THey’re both awesome and...kinda weird? Did you buy that dress in france?

okay, i’ll admit it, i do actually kinda like the camera angle through the map, with the blacklight lighting up the symbols (though the symbols flash on and off a little too fast). It’s kinda cool.

uh, how would taking the picture help? You don’t have the blacklight over it? None of the markings are visible anymore

why does Chris keep walking in and out? AND WHY DIDN”T ALLISON DO THAT THE FIRST TIME?

Stiles in plaid and Converse? Yes. Yes. please. That’s so my aesthetic I’m so fucking jealous. He looks COMFY.

This whole interaction is just so fucking weird XD

But like, why would Stiles know to go through Danny’s stuff instead of just asking him why he might’ve been targeted??

HOW WOULD THEY KNOW TO CUT THE POWER? THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Why does the ALpha pack keep showing up with way more information than they should have? It’s so annoying! It’s one thing if Morrell is feeding them information, but she wouldn’t have KNOWN about this! This was a good plan and there’s NO REASON the Alphas should’ve known what Boyd, Isaac, and Derek were doing! What the fuck?

....god i love Derek’s red eyes.

....god i hate that I know where this is going.

....god i wish he’d just let them tear her apart.

I know that it’s meant to be setting up the cora/stiles thing, but I love that she doesn’t hesitate to touch him, and that when she stops him it’s with a very quiet “stop.” She’s really gentle with him, which is just fucking nice. Werewolves taking care to be gentle with Stiles is like...nice.

Since when did Scott know about the plan with Boyd and Isaac? Since when did Stiles know? Is Boyd seriously texting Cora while Derek and Kali are fighting, or did he text her as soon as the power was cut?

is this the first time we see a werewolf bounce off the mountain ash? I mean, I think so, but we also see Peter in S1 try to get past some. There’s no glowing when he comes into contact with the shield. It’s the same with Isaac and Erica in s2. I mean...I guess they’re just trying to upgrade the ash stuff? I gotta say though, I kinda prefered when there were no special effects. It seemed cooler when literally the only thing making it work was belief and having this totally invisible barrier that Peter couldn’t cross. It was cool.

....i think i’m procrastinating seeing the end of this fight. I’m gonna fucking cry.

Why...why does Isaac turn and yell ‘wait’ to Boyd when he was the one running forward to Julia? I am confusion.

Dude, if Alphas could break through mountain ash barriers then Talia Hale WOULDN”T HAVE DIED. THE HALE PACK WOULDn’T HAVE DIED.

I wanna point out here, that this fight between Derek and Kali makes sense for once. Him losing makes sense. We know that the Alphas are much older than they look, or at least Kali, Deucalion and Ennis were. Aiden and Ethan don’t show up in that flashback. ANyway, Kali’s probably in her thirties or forties. SHe’s much older than Derek and she’s been fighting for a lot longer, not to mention fighting to kill.

Seriously, someone get my boy a quarterstaff to knock her feet away.

I really really don’t understand this stuff. Why is it whenever people (I mean Derek, because it’s literally always Derek) get forced to use their werewolf claws/teeth (because again I cannot believe this is happening more than once) he for some reason can’t just...shift back? Retract his claws and fangs? Derek has amazing control, he should totally have been able to do it. With the venom it made sense, he was paralyzed. But now??

What exactly was the fucking point of having Scott break the mountain ash barrier, just to have the sheriff show up and shoot Deaton down? That was literally useless.

also, Noah is an amazing shot. Hot damn.

ALSO. LIterally all this info about true alphas is being whispered to Scott when he’s all alone? How the fuck am i supposed to trust that deaton even ever said that shit to Scott? He could totally be lying about it.

WHAT KIND OF TOTAL BULLSHIT BACKWARDS ASS PLOTLINE IS THIS? After half the season being about Deucalion attacking Derek and trying to get him into the pack, suddenly “Deucalion isn’t after Derek, he’s after you” WHAT? THat’s the STUPIDEST LAZIEST SHIT I’VE EVER SEEN.

and to end my rant BOYD SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? PETER STUCK HIS ENTIRE HAND THROUGH DEREK”S CHEST IN SEASON 1 WHIL IN HIS ALPHA FORM AND THREW HIM INTO A WALL AND DEREK SURVIVED JUST FINE. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE???

Final Thoughts: No. No, no, no no, no, and no. The ‘plotline’ of this episode is literally like fifteen things that have nothing to do with each other.

Admittedly, there were a few nice moments. Cora, Lydia, and Stiles was an awesome trio. Boyd, Isaac, and Derek was an awesome trio. The sheriff? Amazing. Melissa? A fucking hero. Danny, a genius saint.

All in all, I’m going to tear this episode to shreds in order to rewrite it. Get fucked, Davis.

#personal #anti-scott mccall #TeenWolf-Rewatch

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drummergirl231-2 · 4 years ago

Note

If HDL's father ever did come back to his family's lives, do you imagine how awkward and complicated it would be? There would be the issues from Della having to adjust since she may not even have romantic feelings for him anymore (given how it's been 11-12 years) to the triplets having a worse time adjusting to his presence than Della's especially since Donald already served as their dad for years (And it is gonna be weird seeing Donald and HDL's father being father figures together).

Aw shoot dang I’ve got a whole AU like you don’t even know. XD It sprouted off this speculative post I made about HDL’s father possibly being a F.O.W.L. agent that the Buzzards sent in to spy on Scrooge by getting close to Della, but then he wanted out because he fell in love with Della for real. In this scenario, the Buzzards kidnap him and freeze him in whatever Rockerduck is currently frozen in after they realize his loyalties shifted.

I don’t think it’ll go like this in the show, but in my AU, the family eventually finds him frozen in whatever-it-is. Della screams when they stumble across him in a F.O.W.L. base. As far as she knew, the guy just totally abandoned her for absolutely no reason, and it never made sense to her. But as betrayed as she felt for his leaving, she needed answers, and she wasn’t going to get them just leaving him there, so she unfroze him and she, Scrooge, and Donald (who was fighting the urge to punch him in the gut every step of the way) get him out of there.

Can you imagine the horror on his side of things? He was a newlywed. He was happy. He was going to tell F.O.W.L. he was done being their spy. Next thing he knows, he’s waking up from being frozen in something and Della’s there but she’s walking on a prosthesis and he immediately knows he’s been gone for at least several months and Della went through quite the ordeal without him (but like, he has no flippin’ idea...).

Eventually in some heart-wrenching scene or scenes he finds out he was gone for about or nearly twelve years, and not only that, but he and Della had had triplet boys. He had wanted to quit F.O.W.L. to devote himself to his new family (Della, Donald, and Scrooge) and eventually, any children he and Della would have. He and Della had talked about raising a big family together but now he finds out he missed everything.

And his wife of only a few short months doesn’t even want him to touch her. He’s a good guy and all. He respects Della and the last thing he wants is to make her feel guilty for how she feels or pressure her into anything. But it’d still be difficult for him when to him it feels like he and Della were living in newlywed bliss only a day or two ago. And even though he’s being totally respectful with Della, she still feels guilty, imagining what he must be going through.

She tells herself it’s all his fault anyway and she doesn’t owe him anything, but after they fly him to Mervana and interrogate him in front of the harp, and she hears the whole story, and the harp confirms it all and Della knows he really does love her with all his heart... she can’t help but feel guilty for keeping him at arm’s length. And he feels guilty that she feels guilty. It breaks his heart even more, but he tells her it’s okay and she can take as much time as she needs to process all this.

Scrooge orders him to sleep in the spare room of Donald’s houseboat until he can get a lawyer’s opinion on whether or not the marriage is still valid. After all, they were both pretty much presumed dead for over a decade. Old Victorian Scrooge basically tells him he’s not allowed to sleep under the same roof as his baby girl without being sure they’re legally married. Extreme as it sounds, he knows he needs to re-earn everyone’s favor and trust, and he accepts it. But that night when Donald goes downstairs in his houseboat to use the bathroom, he can hear him crying from the spare room.

Della thanks Scrooge for buying her some time. He tells her he means it - he wants to make sure their marriage is still valid before letting them sleep in the same room. But more than that, he really does want to give Della some time to process everything, guilt-free.

“And what if the lawyer says my marriage is still valid?” she asks. “What then?”

“Then... I suppose the two of you will need to make a decision.”

But Scrooge can see the worry on her face. She doesn’t want a divorce. Would that be fair? Sure, the guy began courting her under false pretenses, but she knows after the interrogation with the Harp of Mervana he didn’t marry her under false pretenses. He really does love her. But would it be fair to him to keep him tied to her when she didn’t want him to touch her? She wished they could start all over... just fall in love all over again. But would she ever be able to do that? And what about the boys? What would be best for them?

“Ye don’t hafte make any decisions tonight, lass,” Scrooge would interrupt her thoughts. He’d ask her if she feels safe, and if she feels like the boys are safe. After making sure all of Della’s immediate concerns are dealt with, he’d tell her to get some rest.

As for the boys... I can imagine a scene with Huey where he screams “I don’t care that he’s my father! Uncle Donald’s my dad!” and he runs upstairs crying. And it’d be an absolute knife in the father’s heart but at the same time, the gratitude he already felt toward Donald would increase. He wouldn’t resent Donald or blame him. He’d be so glad his boys had a dad in their lives.

Still, it would kill him a little inside knowing he didn’t get to be that dad, and that one of his own sons was rejecting him.

I think Dewey, being such a mama’s boy, would have some trouble accepting him, too. He pursued Della under false pretenses, and never told her about F.O.W.L. before he disappeared. She believed for the longest time he abandoned her. As far as Dewey was concerned, he didn’t deserve a perfect woman like Della Duck.

It would take Huey and Dewey a little time to come around.

And Louie? His loyalty is to his mom and uncle, first. But gahhh he can’t help but pity this dude. Louie’s such a sensitive little guy. He’d pick up on the all the guilt and sorrow and awkwardness and more sorrow between his mother and father and it would bug him, to the point where he starts wondering if his scheming powers might come in handy here, and he tries to reset them up.

A lawyer does conclude the marriage is still legal since they didn’t divorce and neither of them died. And even without Louie’s help, Della’s hubby has every intention of trying to start over with her. He just wants to make sure he gives her plenty of time, and doesn’t pressure her into anything.

When they get the news they are still married, they sit down and talk. He is honest with her. He tells her he doesn’t want to divorce her. The vows he made to her (only a few months ago for him) are ones he intends to keep. But he understands, given their bizarre circumstances, if she doesn’t feel the same way. All he asks is that she doesn’t make any decisions quickly, but he will honor whatever she decides. And he asks that, no matter what she decides with regards to them, she lets him stay in their sons’ lives, since now that he knows about them, he can’t just leave them. He intends to get a job and cover their expenses (a decision that wins him points with Scrooge when Scrooge hears about it). Della agrees to his terms. She tells him she doesn’t want a divorce either, but she just doesn’t know how things can return to the way they were.

The fact she doesn’t want a divorce gives him a sliver of hope, but for the time being, he’s just friendly. He suggests they have a game night, just them, the boys, and Donald. He continues to hang out with Della in no-pressure sort of environments, like video game tournaments with her and the kids, family dinners, stuff like that. And he tries to avoid calling her cutesy things and talking to her like they’re married because he doesn’t want her to feel like he’s forcing her into a romantic relationship, but one day he accidentally slips up and says, “Morning, gorgeous,” at breakfast, and before he could kick himself under the table, she smiled and blushed and said, “Hey handsome,” back, and the teasing “OOOOOOOOH,” from the kids sounded like an angel’s choir to him.

It takes time, but Della does fall in love with him all over again, and one day he gets down on one knee and asks her to stay married to him, and she accepts. They even hold a simple vow renewal ceremony in the backyard (simple, but well-organized and beautiful, with Daisy’s help).

And because I’m DG and I can’t help myself, OF COURSE THEY HAVE ANOTHER BABY AND GET A CHANCE TO RAISE A FAMILY TOGETHER FROM THE BEGINNING AND THAT BABY WILL BE “TWIN COUSINS” WITH DONALD AND DAISY’S BABY. SO SAITH ME.

WELP that turned into a pointless fanfic considering I don’t think that’s how it’ll go down in the show!

Frank described the family as “complete,” now. And that’s pretty much true. They’re a bunch of pieces of families that came together to make a whole one. They’ve got the brothers (HDL), the sister (Webby), the mommy (Della), the daddy (Donald), the grandma (Mrs. B.), the grandpa (Scrooge), plus whatever the heck Launchpad is (the crazy cousin or family friend who’s always over?). It’d be weird finding a spot for the father. Maybe he really is gone forever. But then again, if there’s a spot for Daisy in the family, maybe there’s still a spot for him, too. Hopefully we’ll find out!

#ducktales hdl's father #ducktales au #ducktales fanfic #ducktales speculation #ducktales della

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justanoutlawfic · 5 years ago

Text

Coming Home: Chapt. 3

Summary: Emma is forced to stay in Storybrooke longer than expected and runs into some familiar faces...along with one she just can't recognize.

Also on AO3/FF

Emma has only ever had three good father figures in her life. At least that she can remember. It’s more than a lot of foster kids might have had, she realizes, but in one way or another, they’ve let her down.

There was the first dad she ever really had. The father that fostered her for three years. She can’t remember much about him except that he smiled a lot and they’d get bear claws every Saturday morning. At least towards the end of her stay with the Smiths, which was where she got her old last name. She changed it not long after she left the Nolans and found herself living on the street. An older boy told her a different way of looking at “The Ugly Duckling”. The duck became the swan, because she believed in herself. Emma supposed she could believe in herself too.

There was Bill, when she was around 12 or 13, the years all start to blend together. He took her to a father/daughter dance at her middle school. He and Katie were going to take her on her very first vacation: a camping trip. Her foster brothers, their biological sons, were going to come along. Then Lily had to go and ruin all of that. The way Bill looked at her and said that she had put “his children” at risk. She realized he was never going to love her the same way he did Max and Zach. He hadn’t even fought for her when she ran away.

The last was David. She had been with him less than the Smiths, but longer than Bill and Katie. For seven months, she had a home. David had promised her that he was going to be her forever father. After Jerry Smith, it was a promise she treasured. And then after David, it was a promise she never really believed again. She didn’t understand how he could go from playing with her, teaching her how to make cookies and checking for monsters in her closet…to just letting her slip away.

Emma dealt with Henry at the beach. The kid was messed up, there was no doubt in her mind about that. He resented Regina and Emma felt for him, but she also knew that was his mom. They needed to work out whatever issues they had. Henry kept trying to insist his life sucked but Emma struggled with feeling for him. He had a mom that had called the police the minute he went missing. A mom that genuinely seemed to miss him. Regina and Henry were going through a rough patch, but they were going to be okay.

It broke her heart to watch him forlornly walk into the house, but she knew just as she had 10 years ago, that it was for the best. Regina looked at her skeptically and Emma couldn’t blame her there. This was the second time her kid had run off in 24 hours and Emma had been the one to show up with him. She said her goodbyes and climbed into her bug, fully intending on heading out of Storybrooke and back to her life in Boston.

Until her bug stalled in the middle of Main Street. Which, like her former foster mother, hadn’t changed a bit.

Billy, the mechanic, came fairly quick once Emma got the number from the waitress at the diner. His news, however, wasn’t as bright.

“I’m a bit backed up,” he said. “I’m not going to be able to get to this for a while.”

Emma groaned. “You have got to be kidding me. I’m trying to get out of town. I’m not even from around here, what am I supposed to do now?”

Billy gestured behind him to the inn. “There’s a bed and breakfast? You could stay there.”

Emma shut her eyes, tipping her head backwards. She supposed she didn’t have much of a choice. “How backed up are you?” She asked.

“A week.”

“Of course. And you’re the only mechanic in town?”

“This is Storybrooke.”

“Right.”

Emma turned around and headed towards the bed and breakfast. She hadn’t ever had a reason to stay there during her first go around in Storybrooke. She did happen to know the owners. If they remembered her, was going to be another question.

Emma walked inside and up to the front desk. No one was around, at least not at first. Suddenly, she could hear arguing coming down the stairs. Yup, that was familiar. She remembered once asking Mary Margaret and David why Ruby fought so often with her grandmother, but they never had an answer.

“I should have gotten out of this town when I had a chance!” Ruby yelled.

“I’m sorry my hip replacement ruined your travel plans,” Granny called back. She saw Emma and her entire demeanor changed. “A guest. My, we don’t get many of those.”

Emma arched an eyebrow. “You don’t?”

“No.” She scurried behind the desk. “It’s just you?”

“Yes. I’m looking to stay about a week.”

“Sounds perfect. Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there’s an upgrade for the square, but I can waive it.”

Emma couldn’t help but smile as Granny frantically busied herself behind the desk, looking for her ledger and a pen. It was clear she didn’t recognize her yet. “The square is fine.”

“You look familiar,” Ruby piped up. “But I haven’t seen you in a while.” She looked a bit closer. “You’re not…you’re not the kid that Mary Margaret and David fostered way back when, are you?”

Emma cringed at the mention of Mary Margaret and David. “I am.”

“Wow. I can’t believe it’s you.” Ruby looked her up and down. “You’re…you’re so grown up!”

“Yeah that’s what happens when you get forced out of town.” Emma turned away from Ruby and back to Granny who had the book open once again.

“What was your last name again, sweetie?”

“It’s changed, actually. Swan. Emma Swan.”

An unfamiliar accented voice spoke up from behind them. “Emma.” She turned her head and found a shorter man with shoulder length brown hair, dressed in a fancy suit. A cane was clutched in his hand. For the life of her, Emma could not place his face. “What a lovely name.”

“Thanks,” she replied, not knowing what else to say. Emma was one of the most popular baby names out there, not like it was something more unique. Yet, the man just kept smiling at her. It was starting to creep her out.

Granny reached out past her holding a wad of cash. “It’s all here,” she said firmly, though Emma could tell her usual demeaner was cracking.

“Yes, of course it is, dear.” He accepted the money and placed it into his jacket pocket. Then, he turned to face Emma. “Enjoy your stay…Emma.”

He slowly walked out of the inn, making sure to look at each and every one of them as he did. The door shut behind him with a ring of the bell above it. Emma finally got the nerve to speak to Ruby again.

“Who was that?”

“Mr. Gold.” Ruby shuddered a little, watching behind the curtain as he walked away. “He owns this place.”

“You mean the inn?”

“No,” Granny looked deeply afraid. “The town.”

Emma tilted her head and more memories began to flood back. She vaguely remembered a Mr. Gold working with her former foster parents towards the end of her stay in Storybrooke. He was an attorney, they told her and would be helping them adopt her. That obviously hadn’t happened.

She shook it off, not wanting to keep thinking about the past. “Can I get the key to my room, please?” She asked. “It’s been a long day.”

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

Emma woke up the following morning, slightly forgetting where she was. For a minute she expected to be back in her Boston apartment with the calligraphy painted front door. Instead, she had a lumpy mattress under back and a scratchy blanket over her body. She climbed out of bed and walked to the window, not caring that she was just in a white tank top and her underwear. On the streets below her, the town was aflutter with people heading to work and school. She cracked her neck, trying to get the pressure of the awful night from out of her.

Before she could text her boss to let him know she’d be out of commission for the week, there was a knock at the door. Heading over, she opened it hesitantly to find Regina Mills on the other side holding a basket of apples. This town was too strange for her liking. Had it been that way when she was little?

“Did you know that the honey crisp tree is one of the most vigorous apple trees?”

Emma tilted her head. It was too early and she hadn’t had any coffee or cocoa to deal with this agricultural lesson.

“It can survive temperatures as low as 40 below and keep growing,” Regina prattled on. She gave Emma a soft, yet firm smile. Emma suddenly realized she wasn’t here to give her gardening tips. No, this was a threat. “It can weather any storm. I’ve had one I’ve tended to since I was a little girl. And to this day, I have yet to taste anything more delicious than the fruit it offers.” She plucked an apple off the top and offered it to Emma, who slowly took it.

“Thanks,” she said, giving Regina a weird look.

Regina extended the basket to her. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy them on your drive home.”

“Actually, I’m going to stay awhile.” Regina blinked several times in under two seconds. “My car broke down and you only have one mechanic. He said it’s going to take a week.”

“Oh.” Regina loosened only slightly. “With all due respect, Miss Swan, I do think it’d be best if you stayed away from Henry during this time.”

“With all due respect, Madam Mayor, your son’s the one that sought me out. I have no intentions of further complicating your lives. I just want my bug fixed so I can leave and get back to my life.”

Regina didn’t look so convinced, but she nodded nonetheless.

“I do have him in therapy, you know.” Emma raised an eyebrow. “Henry. The situation is under control. I know what’s best for my son.”

Emma hadn’t planned on questioning Regina’s authority, but she could tell the woman was clearly afraid she was. ��You’re his mom,” is all she said in response.

“Yes. I am.”

Regina walked away, taking the rest of her apples with her. Emma sighed and took a bite of the one she left behind. At least she got a free breakfast.

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

Emma didn’t know what else to do with her morning, so after grabbing a cup of coffee from Granny’s she decided to take a walk.

The town really was the same. None of the shops had been updated in the past 23 years. The people all looked the same for the most part too. It was like they all drank some version of spiked water or had great deals with plastic surgeons.

Or Henry’s theory about them all being cursed by Regina is true.

Emma rolled her eyes. There was something weird about the town, but magic wasn’t it. Fairytales, wishes on shooting stars, she stopped believing on all of that ages ago. Henry was still a kid, it was cute that he thought that his school teacher was Snow White. Maybe less cute that he viewed his mom as the Evil Queen but what pre-teen didn’t at times?

As Emma rounded the corner to go off Main Street, she found herself walking to the house where she had spent most of her time in Storybrooke when she first lived there. The big blue house with the wraparound porch. There had once been a yellow and white bike, that David helped her learn to ride. Mary Margaret’s garden was long gone. Her old foster mom’s station wagon and David’s truck weren’t in the driveway, instead replaced by two Volvos. She had seen Mary Margaret’s car at the school, so was there a chance that they no longer lived there?

“I had a feeling I might find you here.”

His voice was soothing, like warm water. She didn’t want to turn around and see his face. She tried to block out the memories, just as she had over the years. Yet, the most prominent one floated up. The two of them sitting in front of the TV, wearing matching jerseys and yelling at it at the top of their lungs. She had tried her best to learn everything about football and had probably failed. She mostly liked the snacks that David made before the games and the way she could curl up against his chest, most likely falling asleep. It had been the first way they could truly bond after she came to live with them.

“What, you’re stalking me now?”

“We were afraid last night that you left, that we missed our chance. Then word got around town that you checked into the inn last night. We had some hope.”

“My car broke down, just waiting for it to be fixed.” She suddenly had a weird feeling. “Did you mess with it?”

“No, no. I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t put you in danger. All of that, was just one big coincidence.”

For some reason, Emma believed him. She slowly turned around, forcing herself to look at the man she had once called “Daddy”. Like everyone else in the stupid town, he looked exactly the same. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a bit of fuzz around the cheeks. It used to scratch her when he gave her a kiss, but she never complained. He even still dressed the same, just like Mary Margaret. David wore a blue flannel shirt and some jeans. His badge stuck out over the pocket of his pants, showing off that he still held the same career.

David’s eyes glistened at the sight of her and she almost had to look away again. “Mary Margaret was right, you’re all grown up now. I don’t get how that’s possible.”

“It’s been 23 years.”

“I just…I didn’t think that much time had passed. In my mind, you’re still 5 years old and we’re going out for ice cream after school.”

Emma didn’t smile at the memory. “I told your wife what I’m going to tell you. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Mary Margaret and I aren’t together anymore.”

That’s one thing that changed.

She remembered looking through David and Mary Margaret’s photo albums, more specifically their wedding one. Mary Margaret always looked like a princess to her. She even wore a tiara. In those seven months she spent with them, David and Mary Margaret had probably been the healthiest relationship she had seen until Bill and Katie. They laughed together, they kissed and went on the occasional date night. The two were always saying “I love you”. To Emma at that age, it was like being fostered by a fairytale couple. The way they looked at each other as if they were the only two in the room. It made her feel safe somehow.

Now it was like all of that was taken away, on top of their happy family.

“Well that’s…too bad.” She wanted to ask why. She didn’t get how two people that in love didn’t work out, but she didn’t want to feel even more involved in their lives. “It still doesn’t change what I said.”

“Stay in Storybrooke, Emma.”

“I’m here for the week until my car gets fixed.”

“Stay longer than that.”

“Why do you even care?” Emma threw her hands in the air. “You two gave me away and then couldn’t even be bothered to say goodbye or explain why to me.”

“It was a complicated situation. We wanted to but social services…”

“No, that’s bullshit. You two were just two more people in my life that let me down.”

David let out a disgruntled sigh. “If that were true, then why would we be here fighting for you Emma? Why would I be trying to get you to hear us out when you clearly hate us? For God’s sake, I was your father…”

“I don’t know! Maybe you have some weird guilt! Maybe you think it’ll get Mary Margaret to talk to you! What I do know is, you’re not my dad, David.” She fixed him with a look. “You made sure of that.”

“Emma, we lo….”

Emma stormed away, not letting him get another word out. She didn’t want to hear it.

She didn’t want to hear that they loved her. Because what did it matter? They had just let her go in the end.

#coming home verse #daddy charming #charming family #mama snow #ouat au #emma swan #david nolan #david charming #snow white #mary margaret blanchard #ouat #once upon a time

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mst3kproject · 6 years ago

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521: Santa Claus

Ever since they included a Christmas episode in the first Netflix season, I have been slowly coming to terms with the fact that this blog will not live long enough for me to do all the Christmas movies on Christmas. Might as well get on with it. This one goes out to @casualcollectorlightme.

It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is setting off on his annual trip to take gifts to the children of the world. He’s anticipating trouble: a demon named Pitch has been ordered to stop him. If nobody gets any presents, then the children of Mexico won’t see any point in being good, and will turn to evil en masse! Can Santa, with his friends Merlin the wizard and Vulcan the smith, thwart Pitch’s wicked plot and save Christmas?

My favourite thing about this movie is its weird portrayal of Santa, and for once I actually can explain why it fascinates me. If you’ve ever seen the movie Mothra, you probably had a good laugh at the bit set in the foreign land of Rolisica, which shows us what Japanese people in the 60’s thought Americans were like (if you haven’t seen it then for heaven’s sake do so – it’s funny as hell). Santa Claus is kind of a whole movie about that, because when it was made in 1959, Santa wasn’t really a thing in Mexico. The film was an attempt to import him, and so we get to see our beloved Christmas traditions through the eyes of a people who aren’t very familiar with them.

We begin with a tour of Santa’s workshop, which is not actually at the North Pole, but floating in space somewhere above it. In American Christmas movies the toy factory would be staffed by elves, but this one goes for another short, energetic option: children from around the world, in the form of a parade of offensive stereotypes embodied by tone-deaf six-year-olds. This is very strange, not only because they all seem to be singing in the snow rather than working, but because we find ourselves unavoidably wondering who these kids are. Where are their parents, and how did they end up in Santa’s custody? Are they orphans he took in, or is this some kind of mass kidnapping operation? Do they get an education? What happens to them when they grow up?

When you give it a moment’s thought, however, this setup actually makes more sense than elves. What the hell are elves, after all? Where do they come from and why do they work for Santa? Nobody ever asks that, because it’s just part of the mythology (and when movies do try to offer answers they’re almost always weird and disappointing). You might as well ask why the Easter Bunny is a rabbit. That’s just how it works. If you haven’t grown up hearing about it, though, the idea that orphaned children get raised by Santa, helping to bring joy to the rest of the world… that's messed-up, but it works.

The same applies to Santa’s collection of magical surveillance equipment, which looks like something out of a Salvador Dali sugar high. American Christmas films, like the classic Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer or even Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, rarely go into how Santa sees you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake. Again, he just does. Because Santa was something new to the Mexican film-makers, though, they felt like they had to explain it. Their attempt tried for whimsy but took a wrong turn and ended up smack in the middle of fucking creepy.

It’s creepy in several ways, too. I mean, the giant lips that speak in the voices of children’s wishes are an awful image, but there’s also the fact that Santa is spying on you directly. He’s watching your dreams. He’s listening to your whispered conversations. He’s reading your fanfiction. The Three Naughty Boys discuss how they don’t believe in any of this and Santa speaks to them, informing him that he knows very well what they’re planning! Santa is Big Brother, always watching – and this is true of the ordinary concept of Santa Claus, too! We sometimes make jokes about this but it seems harmless to us because we never delve into the details the way this movie does.

This thread of explaining things we don’t normally think need explanation runs through other areas of the movie as well. Why does nobody ever wake up and see Santa Claus? Why don’t our dogs bark at him? Because he’s got a sleeping powder and a magic flower that can make him invisible. If that were as far as it went, then it wouldn’t be too strange. I can see similar things appearing in something like a The Santa Clause sequel… except that there, they would probably have been made by the elves. Since Santa Claus does not have mechanically (or dentally) gifted elves, it needs to provide another origin. Hence the inclusion of Merlin the Magician and Vulcan the Smith, which seems like a weird juxtaposition of mythology to us, but as far as the Mexicans know they’re all ‘American’ so they’re close enough.

Santa Claus also feels obliged to confront the awkward question of class differences. Santa is supposed to be an egalitarian figure: he doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor, only if you’ve behaved yourself. Poor kids should therefore get just as many presents as rich kids, which is manifestly not true in the real world. Most American movies just pretend everybody is middle-class and ignore the issue completely. Santa Claus tries to do something with it and the results are once again, weird.

There is, for example, the never-named Rich Boy who is tired of toys and just wants to know his parents love him. Santa makes his wish come true by drugging Madre and Padre into heading home from their Christmas Eve out, and the question of whether he got any other gifts is never brought up. The nearest thing the movie has to a main human character, however, is adorable little Lupita, whose father is out of work. She wants a doll for Christmas and frankly any doll will do – she struggles with the idea of stealing a rag doll from a craft market, but puts it back, and Santa rewards her by bringing her a doll her parents could never afford.

And that’s nice, but what message does it send to all the well-behaved children in the real world whose parents can’t afford to buy them anything fancy? That they weren’t good enough? That they didn’t write a nice enough letter or say a nice enough prayer? That Santa just doesn’t give a shit? There’s a reason most Christmas movies don’t touch on this.

The specific doll Santa brings to Lupita also kind of bugs me… it’s just not a good present for a child like her. Lupita is around five or six years old. She needs a doll she can cuddle, play with, and carry around with her, like the one from the market. The one she gets is as big as she is and wearing a fancy dress. That’s not a toy, that’s a piece of décor. It’s the doll that sits in the rocking chair in your grandmother’s living room and which you swear you can see move out of the corner of your eye. It’s not huggable, if she takes it anywhere it’ll get dirty or broken, and there’s a cynical part of me that thinks her parents probably sold it the next day so that they could buy food or pay the rent on their hovel or something.

Then there’s Santa’s adversary. American Christmas movies pit Santa against bad weather, other supernatural entities like Jack Frost, and ordinary grouches like Phineas Prune. In this movie, the villain is the devil. This does, I guess, make a certain amount of sense, since Santa is dedicated to rewarding well-behaved children while Satan wants to collect the souls of the wicked, but we’re just not used to this meeting of religious and secular imagery. Christmas is a Christian feast pinned to the ass of a much older Pagan solstice festival and it has never managed to really do away with this duality. Most people keep the Christian and folk sides of Christmas pretty separate, but here we see them collide head-on.

Finally there’s the stuff that’s just plain terrifying. Like the creepy laughing reindeer. Or the rather complicated explanation of why Santa must make it home before sunrise. When the sun comes up, the mechanical reindeer will turn to dust, leaving Santa unable to return to his palace in outer space. What will happen then? Why, he’ll starve to death, because Santa and his helpers subsist on sweets made from clouds and stardust, and cannot digest normal food! Wait, the toy-making children, too? What does happen to them when they grow up? Can they return to Earth and start eating burgers like the rest of us, or do they remain children in Santa’s bondage forever? I told you this movie was weird.

Santa Claus is not as enjoyable in its own train-wrecky right as its Martian-Conquering cousin, but it is my favourite of the MST3K Christmas episodes. The movie itself is cheerful and the host sketches are a positive delight. I particularly love everybody’s joy at the terrible Secret Santa presents, and their all-inclusive seasonal song that distilled tumblr to its essence decades before tumblr ever existed. The very best part, however, is the awesome Christmas mods they did for the bots. I love the snowglobe in Tom Servo’s head, and here I am once again helpless to articulate why it’s so damn funny.

#mst3k #reviews #santa claus #holiday reviews #(sort of)#50s #just fuckin weird

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rosetowersfanfic · 6 years ago

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Wonder Boy

Just something that spiralled from me picturing Donald’s and Storkules’ first meeting being similar to Hercules and Meg’s.

Storkules rushed through the forest towards the sounds of battle. Ithaquack often had fights break out between the various - and generally pretty violent - immortals and creatures.

Depending on what was going on and why they were fighting, Storkules was either going to break up the fight or join in. It was usually both.

The demi-god smiled to himself. There was nothing that got the blood pumping like a glorious battle, except perhaps regaling to others the events of the battle in the most dramatic way possible.

Storkules came to a halt at a shallow river to quite a sight. The fight he’d heard only had two combatants, both of whom were closely matched; this was surprising since one was a full sized centaur and the other was a small, clearly angry duck.

Said duck, however, was also very good at channeling that anger into skilled combat, allowing him to keep up with the centaur’s brute strength. Water was splashed about, droplets catching the sunlight as the pair were focused only on each other; Storkules watched, unnoticed.

He was unable to take his eyes off the small duck’s movements, entranced by the quick and aggressive maneuvers as though he were watching a dance.

“Back off, ya big palooka!” The duck snapped, dodging the centaur’s grasp and kicking him in the left foreleg.

The centaur wobbled slightly and grunted, but righted himself easily and put on a cruel smile.

“Aw, c’mon,” he went for the duck again, this time managing to grab him and hold him tightly in his fist. “Just one little kiss. I gotcha outta that ravine, didn’t I?”

He held the duck up to his face with a leer. Storkules finally snapped out of his stupor and ran up to them.

“Excuse me, sir!” Storkules called out, hands on his hips in a heroic stance.

“Perhaps you should put the young gentleman down.”

The centaur glared at the demi-god; the duck rolled his eyes.

“Aw phooey. Look Wonder Boy, I’ve got this so scram.”

Storkules blinked, taken back. “Uh, sorry but are you not a duck in distress.”

The duck, who was trying to push himself out of the centaur’s grasp, quacked at him irritably.

“I’m a duck! I’m in distress! I’m fine, have a nice day!”

Storkules drew his sword. “W-well clearly you’re too close to the situation to fully grasp the danger you’re in and-” Storkules was interrupted by the centaur’s fist slamming into him, sending him somersaulting a few feet backwards and into the water.

The centaur approached him with a chuckle.

“Had enough pretty boy.”

Storkules sat upright and tried to process the situation, and suddenly realised he’d dropped his sword.

“Gah! My sword! C’mon, c’mon, a hero’s only as good as his sword!” He held his weapon in triumph for a few seconds before realising he’d grabbed a fish.

The centaur laughed hard and loud at the mistake, making him idle for a few crucial seconds.

The duck face palmed. “Use your head, ya dummy!”

Storkules grinned. “Not a bad idea…”

Storkules rushed forwards, headfirst into the centaur’s gut, shoving him backwards and making him lose his grip on the duck. Said duck splashed inelegantly into the water with a squawk.

He spluttered and thrashed around until Storkules picked him up.

“Ah, sorry,” Storkules set him on a low branch that reached out over the river.

“That was dumb.”

The duck glared at him. “Yeah!”

They were both startled by grunting and saw the centaur getting back on his feet.

“Ah, one moment.” Storkules ran back to the centaur, already drawing back his fist. By the time the centaur had gotten to his hooves and turned to the demi-god, he only got a quick look before he saw stars as Storkules’ fist hit his face, easily launching him into the sky.

“Yes, a new personal record! Did you see that-” he turned back to the branch and realised the duck and hopped off and gotten back to shore; he was now in the process of trying to wring out his hat.

Storkules was struck dumb by him again, haloed by the sunlight reflecting off the water and casting a sparkling, golden glow on his wet feathers.

“Uh,” Storkules cleared his throat as he struggled with his words. “Are you alright, Mister-”

“Duck. Donald Duck,” he replied curtly, now focused on wringing out the hem of his shirt. “You can call me Donald.”

He then turned to face Storkules, hands on his hips in a challenging pose. “So, Wonder Boy, ya got a name to go with the muscles?”

Storkules blinked and stammered awkwardly, caught off guard by Donald’s boldness.

“W-well- it’s- uh- I’m-”

Donald rolled his eyes. “Yeesh, and people call me inarticulate.”

“S-storkules! My name is Storkules.”

Donald raised a brow. “Wait, Storkules? The demi-god? Son of Zeus? Legendary hero?”

Storkules nodded. Donald took a good look at him, from top to bottom.

“Huh, I always pictured you as a redhead. Well, I guess we found the right place. This is Ithaquack, right?”

Storkules nodded again.

Donald huffed and started to walk off. “Welp, better find my sister and uncle. Who knows what kinda trouble they’ve gotten themselves into.”

Storkules scrambled after him. “Perhaps I should accompany you! I know this island like the back of my hand, and I could never forgive myself if I allowed some other foul being to attack you!”

Donald rolled his eyes. “Yeah, okay. They’ll have probably started a fight by the time we find them, so I guess some more help couldn’t hurt.”

Storkules grinned. “Excellent! Say, how did you find Ithaquack? Most mortals don’t even know of it.”

“My uncle isn’t most mortals. We flew here in my sister’s plane and hit a storm. We had to bail out and got separated. I got stuck in a ravine cause I was tied up in my parachute,” he grimaced.

Storkkules frowned. “That explains how you got involved with, well…”

Donald rolled his eyes. “The pinhead with hooves? He got me out and wanted a reward. Guess he’s just one of those immortals who thinks “no” means “yes” and “eat rocks” means “take me, I’m yours”.” Donald punctuated the last statement by getting up in Storkules’ face and batting his eyelashes.

“Probably just as well Uncle Scrooge wasn’t there, all you did was punch that creep to the other end of the island. Last time some demon flirted with Della he threw salt at it.”

Storkules nodded along with him. Okay, more names. He had a sister named Della and an uncle called-

“Wait, Scrooge, as in THE Scrooge McDuck!”

Donald sighed. “You’ve heard of him?”

“From my uncle, Lord Hades. McDuck has managed to dodge death so many times we’re not even sure if he’s mortal anymore. I mean, others have had a good run, many far older than your uncle. But they generally live quieter lives or try harder to avoid danger.”

Storkules found a large boulder to climb onto and struck a pose.

“He is a legend in the Underworld! He’s fought with the most dangerous creatures imaginable, gone to places no mortal can even conceive, you must feel so blessed to have him as an uncle- hey! Where are you going!”

“To find him before he finally gets himself sent to the Underworld. You coming?” Storkules ran to catch him up.

“My apologies, Donald. I understand your worries, Ithaquack has many dangers and it would be best to find your family soon.” He went quiet as a worrying thought came to mind.

“So, your uncle doesn’t approve of you dating?”

Donald rubbed the back of his head. “Well, it’s mainly when some creep bugs us that he gets involved. Mortal or not, he usually jumps to our rescue,” he rolled his eyes. “Despite the fact that we’re adults now, but what can ya do?”

Storkules mulled over Donald’s answer for a moment. “So, what if you were to consent to a relationship with… uh, I dunno, an angel, a gorgon, a demi-god… purely hypothetical of course!”

Donald raised a brow at Storkules, who was now sweating profusely, and shrugged.

“Well, my sister had that fling with a dryad (can’t remember her name actually), but I’ve only been in relationships with mortals.”

Storkules deflated. “O-oh, uh, but would you ever consider a non-mortal?”

“Eh, to be honest, you guys are kinda complicated. Weird old traditions, crazy families. Not to mention you’re gonna outlive me,” he shrugged again. “It was why Della and the dryad didn’t work out. No offence, but dating a god can get really weird.”

Storkules nodded. “I suppose I can understand. My existence is rather complicated; family dinners with Aunt Hera are still incredibly awkward.”

Donald chuckled nervously. “Uh yeah, I guess it would be. To be fair I kinda get why people want to date you guys.” They stopped at a long log blocking their path, which Donald calmly hopped onto. “The fancy gifts, the cool stuff you can show us, plus your basically gonna be hot forever,” he continued, turning to gesture at Storkules on the last point.

The two stared at each other for a moment as they both processed what Donald just said.

Donald’s face suddenly turned red.

“Gah! I-I mean in general and uh-” Donald lost his footing and fell to the other side of the log with a thud.

“Are you alright?” Storkules asked, looking over the log.

Donald stared up with an expression of resignation. “It’s fine, I only hurt my dignity. Don’t worry, I’m pretty used to it.”

All of the sudden they heard shouting.

“Curse me kilts!”

“Bring it on, ugly!”

Donald stood up and dusted himself off.

“That was my family!” He ran in the direction of the voices.

“It sounds like they’re on the beach!” Storkules ran after Donald with a grin.

A potential relationship with a handsome duck with warrior blood and an opportunity to impress said duck’s family by helping them fight an attacker. This was definitely better than beating his personal record.

#ducktales #storkulesxdonald #storkules #donald duck #scrooge mcduck #della duck

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thebibliomancer · 6 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #200: The Child is Father To...?

October, 1980

I kept dreading getting to this moment.

As the numbers ticked higher, I thought ‘well 200 is still a ways off’ but I knew it was coming.

Its not just that issue #200 is bad. Everybody knows its bad. Its the fact that everyone knows its bad.

As far as this series is about anything its about exposing how bonkers the Avengers comic could be for people less familiar with it.

But issue #200 is so infamous that I think a lot of people know about it, by reputation at least.

But I’ve been pitching pennies into the void so long, whats another 2 cents? This is just a speed bump on the way to more interesting things anyway.

She-Hulk will be joining the team soon. Tigra’s first stint on the team before that. There’s the fall of Yellowjacket and the albatross that Hank Pym will be wearing around his neck forever upcoming too. Moondragon returns to finally pay off the point of the Korvac Saga.

There’s a lot upcoming to get excited about.

So lets get through this... dear lord, its a double sized issue.

Right in the cover we can see the cracks underlying the story. Not just on the big 200, looking all weathered and damaged. Odd choice for a celebratory anniversary issue.

Also odd choice to have Iron Man and Hawkeye in a combat ready pose when the rest of the Avengers (except Vision. Always except Vision) are smiling and posing around the big cracked, damaged, rotten 200 like a publicity still.

Beast is even hanging out of it. Seductively.

Not right now, Beast. Read the room.

The point I’m trying to make is that there is a dissonance with this cover mood. Why are Iron Man and Hawkeye ready for action when everyone else is in a party mood?

The mood is just as confused in the book itself because it is a confused mess, designed out of committee, compromise, and with a stunning disregard for character. But I’ll get to that.

Also, perfect symmetry wasn’t really attainable here what with Thor and Captain America having significantly different profiles, but I’m annoyed that Yellowjacket wasn’t placed next to Vision so he’d mirror Wasp. You ruin everything, Yellowjacket.

Bit of a trivia: this cover was used as one of the covers for the Essential Avengers volumes. They cut out the big 200 to make it more general which honestly makes the cover look bland. Avengers posing around a big void for no reason.

Now lets get on with it.

“For generations the symbolic root values of the American people have been embodied in the phrase: ‘Mom, apple pie and the girl next door.’ Wars have been fought for these ideals; presidents have been elected over them. Obviously motherhood means a great deal to most Americans. So why, then, do these five heroes, these Avengers, seem upset that one of their own -- is about to give birth? Why is there excitement tinged with a subtle, subconscious shadow -- of fear?”

I think they would seem upset because Carol seems afraid and upset by the situation, became nine months pregnant in a matter of days, and has insisted that there is no possible father.

The real question is why there’s excitement at all? Finally showing some upset and fear is reading the mood but nothing explains this weird mood dissonance where the Avengers react to a mysterious accelerated pregnancy with ‘omg baby!!’

And the last issue ended with Dr. Donald Notthor Blake shouting in panic that Carol had gone into labor and its like nothing he’s ever seen. A good reason for the Avengers to be anxious and yet not really followed up on.

Unless. Oh god. Dr. Donald Notthor Blake really doesn’t have any obstetric experience and has no idea how to deliver a baby.

Thankfully, Jocasta is assisting him. She has cold hands and the precision of a computer so obviously she has excellent bedside manner.

Also, that first part of the narration sounds fake. I’m pretty sure the symbolic root values of the American people are ‘fuck you I don’t like taxes’ and ‘fuck you I want to own people.’

You think other countries don’t like motherhood and pie and geographically adjacent girls? Newsflash, a lot of people like those things. America is not special.

And why is this narration even playing over a scene where a woman is giving birth after being impregnated against her will or knowledge? Shooter, Perez, Layton and Micheline, what part of that sounds like the ideal of motherhood??

We are still on page one.

ALSO. Why does the medical examination laboratory have a big window the Avengers can look through to see their teammate giving birth?

And why are the Avengers pacing outside the door like anxious fathers-to-be?

Hawkeye even snarks about it when Captain America expresses worry.

This comic does not know what its mood should be. Will be a recurring complaint.

Captain America: “Sorry, Hawkeye, but I can’t help being a little nervous. I never thought I’d see the day a child would be born in Avengers Mansion.”

Iron Man: “I hate to put a damper on things, Cap, but it hasn’t been born yet -- and we’ve no assurance that it will even be a ‘child.’”

Mood dissonance. Cap: ‘omg baby!’ Iron Man: ‘More likely an alien’

Inside the medical room, Jocasta detects weirdness with her cybernetic senses. Maybe Ultron gave her an ultrasound when he built her.

Either way, despite my fully deserved mocking before, the real weird thing that made Dr. Donald Notthor Blake panic is that the birth is seemingly occurring without any trauma at all. No trauma and no pain? That ain’t right, per Dr. Donald Blake.

Second round of mocking aside, here’s a weird thing. Carol isn’t pushing at all. The whateveritis baby is just coming out all on its own.

But the baby boy is born and the peanut gallering Avengers all rush into the room to coo over him.

And while they gush about how tiny and cute the baby is and how he’ll be a quarterback when he grows up (???), Captain America asks Dr. Donald Blake to examine him thoroughly. Him the baby. Because Cap is finally realizing that something here isn’t natural. Like the fact that he was born after a three day gestation. For example.

Meanwhile, Jocasta has a weird epiphany about why Humans Are Special TM. A weird, almost Rose Quartzian epiphany.

Jocasta: “Look at them, Vision. Even under these bizarre circumstances, birth seems so... so natural to them. How incredible it must be to be born, to be small, to grow. Even with all their frailties, their weaknesses, I can’t help feeling that in this universe, humans are something very, very special.”

Vision: “It is life that is special, Jocasta -- in whatever form it takes.”

Do... do you think only humans give birth and grow up, Jocasta? Where do you think baby Inhumans, Skrulls, and Atlanteans come from? The Kree are supposedly test tube grown for maximum perfectness but they can still get pregnant. Bug on Star-Lord’s proto-Guardians of the Galaxy team was actually in jail for impregnating a Kree. Consensually. But the Kree have this weird thing about genetic purity. But also this weird thing about not evolving anymore. So maybe they should try crossbreeding with other alien races and see if that does anything for them.

I am getting off track.

Jocasta, you’re dumb. Humans Are Special posts tend to annoy me but this is the stupidest one yet, Jocasta. I still like you but stop.

Wasp realizes that Carol Danvers isn’t around also talking about how great the baby is and goes looking for her after being told that Wonder Man is taking her up to her room to rest.

And no surprise from Wasp who has been on the ‘baby yay!’ train the whole time but she is incredibly insensitive to Carol.

Wasp: “I just wanted to congratulate the proud parent. It’s really a beautiful baby, Carol. You’re so lucky to --”

Carol: “‘Lucky?!’ Wasp, think about what you just said! I’ve been used! That isn’t my baby! I don’t even know who the father is! So if you want to help me, please... just leave me alone.”

Sometimes this comic shows flashes of what may be self-awareness and I wonder if it knows how awful it is. But since Carol later apologizes for snapping at Wasp, no. No it does not.

Its red herring self-awareness. The worst kind.

Also, flashes of modern day Carol. That is the face of a woman who wishes there was something at hand to throw. Like a building.

Meanwhile, in the garden or courtyard of the mansion, Vision and Scarlet Witch do some relationship discussion.

Vision: “You seem calm, my wife, at ease with yourself.”

Scarlet Witch: “That’s because I am, darling. Ever since I reconciled my conflicting emotions concerning parenthood, I’ve not only felt more peaceful, but stronger as well.”

Vision: “Then you feel no regrets that we have produced no offspring?”

Scarlet Witch: “None that matter. A child’s a thing of fragile beauty, something that must be nurtured and protected. Like this rose... and the love we feel for each other. Which is, I’ve realized, the most important thing in my world.”

Vision: “And, my love, in mine.”

Aw. That’s nice.

Also nice is that the rose Scarlet Witch picks during this garden speech is a yellow matching Vision’s cape.

Even in the midst of this thisness, I like that we get a good character moment between Vision and Scarlet Witch. The good ol’ best ol’ Seeing Red ship.

Looking forward five years to the Vision and Scarlet Witch miniseries, these two actually do get to have kids. Granted, it happens after the two ragequit the Avengers because the government is suspicious of Vision after he tried to take over the world under the influence of an alien supercomputer. And magic is involved. And it gets undone by having the children be secretly parts of Mephisto but then it turns out that the kids are retroactively real kinda and are the Young Avengers Billy Kaplan and Speed.

Comics are complicated.

My point being. I like that when they didn’t have Avengers work to worry about, these two somehow immediately found a way to have the children they wanted. And I like that they had an mature, adult conversation about their expectations of their relationship before then.

Scarlet Witch and Vision are so good and a large part of me really hopes they get their own movie in the MCU that’s just. Weird stuff they deal with while trying to sort out their relationship.

Moving on.

During this conversation, Jocasta has been creepin’ like a creep from a second floor window.

Wasp spots her and asks if anything is wrong and Jocasta tells her that there’s just so much about human emotions that she doesn’t understand despite being based on Jan’s personality.

And Jan “Can’t Read The Mood” Van Dyne says something insightful.

Wasp: “Don’t worry, lady, you’re not alone. There’s still a lot about human emotions that we humans don’t understand.”

Also, I think this is the first interaction that Wasp and Jocasta have had.

I know things are probably awkward between them. But Vision and Wonder Man hashed their shit out to function socially around each other. I want more Jocasta and Wasp interaction.

I want more interaction between Jocasta and Scarlet Witch.

So far, Jocasta has mainly been about the dudes, minus an abortive attempt to make friends with Ms Marvel. She’s been trying to make friends or more with Vision a lot. And I get the logic behind that. If anyone gets where she’s at its him but also he’s too wrapped up in him to get where she’s at. But here’s the thing. It just comes across as another Vision-Wanda-Other Woman love triangle.

Give Jocasta girl friends. Or a girlfriend. But definitely girl friends.

Also, Wasp got another new outfit and this one isn’t terrible. I think she got it a couple issues ago but I was preoccupied. Good job, Wasp. You remembered that pants should have both legs.

Meanwhile, Beast and Hawkeye play pool in the rec room.

This is another very good character moment.

Hawkeye has won two games, making two malteds that Beast owes him. Hawkeye is very good at pool because you just pick up on these tricks when you’re a carny. Obviously.

He suggests a third game, double or nothing. And loser gets to shoot first.

But first, Beast pulls out a calculator. A TI-59, in fact. And does a little trigonometry.

And while Hawkeye is protesting that pool isn’t something you learn in math class, its a game of skill and instincts, Beast takes a single shot and sinks every ball.

Because, yup, this whole time Beast was hustling the hustler.

In fairness, you have to be pretty good at pool in the x-mansion. Cyclops is just super good at it and is probably a real sore winner.

Beast tries to get Hawkeye to play again, this time for a year’s salary but Hawkeye says “I only need to get burnt once to know a fire is hot!”

Anyway, I’m glad that some of this issue’s bloated page count went towards this nice little moment.

But with no forthcoming pool game, Beast decides to check in on the main plot with the vidcom intercom.

Apparently in the last hour, the baby has grown to the size and maturity of a two year old child.

So the accelerated growth is accelerating. He was aging three months a day and now he aged two years in an hour. Maybe he’ll age to skeleton bones like he drank out of the wrong grail and this story will end.

Anyway, the creepy Satan child stares right into the camera and thus our souls and demands someone change his diaper.

Uncanny.

Of course, its kind of a thing that most comic artists just don’t know how to draw babies without making them seem like cursed gremlins. So maybe this isn’t supposed to be exactly as creepy as it is.

Its just hard to tell because of the tone thing. This is a weird, unnatural baby. But also 'ZOMGBABY!!!’ So who knows.

And then an interlude. To build up the subplot which is needed to add some action scenes.

Completely normal civilian Raoul Kramer gets off the subway train, monologue complaining about how day in and day out everything is the same ol’ same ol’ same.

But when he leaves the station he finds everything has gone all old timey horse and buggy. Oh god, everything is so same ol’ it went back in time to be different same ol’!

What a perplexment.

But back in the mansion, Wonder Man goes to Ms Marvel’s room to see how she’s holding up.

And apparently she’s feeling well enough to get back in her bathing suit costume.

I guess it makes sense. Its the clothes she uses to punch people and maybe throw buildings at friends. So now that the ordeal is over she can get back to where she left off and love feeling strong and not have to think about cursed child at all.

Of course, people just keep trying to harsh her mood. By insisting that she interact with the baby she wants nothing to do with.

Wonder Man: “So how about coming down to take a look at your son? He’s really an extraordinary little --”

Ms Marvel: “No! He’s not my son! I don’t want to have anything to do with that... that thing!”

Wonder Man: “Come on, Carol, my eyes may look strange, but they see perfectly well. And right now they can see that you’re frightened -- just plain old run-of-the-mill scared. And you’ve every right to be. We don’t know what’s happened to you any more than you do, but ignoring it won’t help anything. Though maybe facing up to it will. What do you say?”

Amazing how a story where a woman is impregnated against her will also has the men in her life insisting they know what’s best for her more than she does. Its really the full package.

Meanwhile, more tone whiplash. After a scene where Ms Marvel calls the baby a thing and insists she wants nothing to do with him, we get a scene of Beast carrying an armful of sports equipment to the impromptu nursery.

I don’t know why Beast is going all sports dad on this mystery baby. I know he played football in school but he’s just behaving very oddly.

Unfortunately for Beast’s dream of having a superbowl winning son-by-proxy, as a now five-year-old with a smart mouth Marcus (because he names himself here) is not really interested in the sportsball. Rather, he’d like a laser torch and some electronic components.

As fast as his physical development, his intellectual capacity has developed far more. And he promises to answer the questions the Avengers have about that once he gets the materials he asked for.

But Cap insists on some answers now and Marcus agrees. He won’t have the manual dexterity necessary for another twenty minutes anyway.

Marcus: “What would you like to know?”

Captain America: “For starters, where did you come from?”

Marcus: “My mother.”

Captain America: “Yes, we know that, but... that is, how were you conceived?”

Marcus: “Uhhhm... by my father?”

Captain America: “Well, of course, blast it! But who is your father?”

Marcus: “I am.”

I wanted to joke that, like Vision, Cap doesn’t know where babies come from. But look at this completely unhelpful brat. He’s definitely being willfully contrarian. And I don’t want any good things to happen to him but from his point of view, things would have gone a lot better had he been a lot more forthcoming.

Iron Man, whose child interaction credentials are suspect, suggests that they just give Marcus whatever he wants and then maybe he’ll behave better.

Cap doesn’t like it but he agrees.

Sending Marcus to his room probably wouldn’t work. He doesn’t have a room. And sending him to bed without dessert? Also probably wouldn’t work. We haven’t seen him eat and he’s growing so fast as to seemingly preclude any nutritional needs. On the other hand, if he’s never tasted anything, the taste of chocolate might kill him. I read that in a book.

Time for another interlude! West of Queens where Ms. Marjorie Hansley checks the mail in hopes that she won a big publishing company sweepstakes grand prize all-expense-paid trip around the world.

We don’t learn whether or not she won the sweepstakes (which I consider rude) but the universe provides in another way and gives her a no-expense-paid no-refusal trip to Jurassic Park.

Or some prehistoric dinosaur time.

Where she is likely to get eaten by an alligator.

Ms. Marjorie Hansley is dead, basically.

But also it seems that time is warped and space is bendable.

I bet this is Marcus’ fault. You don’t backsass Living Legend Captain America and not break time.

But also: he’s aging at an accelerated rate. And time is screwing up elsewhere? He’s borrowed so much time from the time bank that the bank has gone bust and there’s no bailout package for the fourth dimension!

Probably not actually. But imagine if that was the plot.

Back at the mansion, again. Wonder Man and Yellowjacket have a talk.

Wonder Man: “I guess Ms. Marvel isn’t going to show. Tell me, Hank, you’re an old married man -- how did you ever come to understand women?”

Yellowjacket: “I didn’t.”

Wonder Man: “What? But, you and Jan -- !”

Yellowjacket: “Simon, I love Jan, and I accept her for what she is, but to be honest, the day someone comes out with a book on what really makes women tick -- I’ll be the first in line with my checkbook!”

There’s just so much I could say to this exchange. Much of it very harsh towards Hank and about upcoming events. I guess this is in-character for him though. He has never put much effort into understanding his girlfriend and then wife Jan and he passes that ignorance off as women just being fundamentally inexplicable.

You’re not a good scientist, Hank. Let’s leave it at that.

And Wonder Man. Ffs, Simon. Is it really, really, so difficult to understand why a woman might not want to come meet her rape baby?

Again. Not out of character from a man stuck in the past like Simon Williams can be. But this isn’t as fun a character moment as the pool sharking.

At least they’re saying women instead of females.

Meanwhile again, there are a lot of meanwhiles in this comic. A lot of jumping around. But Dr. Donald Notthor Blake observes a now twelve-year-old Marcus sciencing up some gadget or doohickey and marvels that this 12 year old has the intellectual capacity of Einstein now.

And he also wonders that maybe this situation does not require the talents of Dr. Donald Notthor Blake but instead those of the Mighty Verymuchthor Thor.

To put it another way, I think the good doctor Blake is imagining hitting a child with a hammer.

Another meanwhile, where Cap, Beast and Hawkeye are having a tea party.

And where Hawkeye has just suggested putting Marcus in a cage.

Now that everybody isn’t going ‘squee babyyy!1!’ because he is no longer a cute infant, the backlash the other way towards violence and imprisonment is something to behold.

Iron Man comes into the... parlor? Tea room? to let Cap know they’ve been getting some prank calls on the public line. Just some nonsense about a delicatessen being robbed by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Probably some snotty teenagers having a fun.

Meanwhile again and elsewhere, Jocasta comes to talk to Vision. Who is currently engrossed in studying a subtle energy aura around Marcus that grows as the child does. And it seems that the energy is emanating from within the weirdo and might account for his unnatural growth rate.

Jocasta offers to help with his investigation but just then Scarlet Witch returns with Yellowjacket’s latest readings on Marcus’ physiology. Just what Vision needed.

And now that Scarlet Witch is here, Vision turns to her and starts telling her about his fascinating theory about Marcus.

Feeling like quite the third wheel, Jocasta just leaves, unnoticed.

“Sensing in her husband’s well-modulated tones an excitement that would escape most others, the Scarlet Witch listens intently... so much that neither she nor the Vision even notice when Jocasta turns and, softly, leaves the room. And that, thinks the metalloid would-be Avenger, is the harshest hurt of all...”

Dammit. If she leaves the team because of this bullshit, I’m going to be nettled.

BUT ALSO: lets mock Yellowjacket.

Do you see how Scarlet Witch takes the time to understand Vision, able to sense in him moods that most others don’t? Because she loves him and took the effort to connect with him?

Maybe if you had done the emotional labor, Yellowjacket, women wouldn’t be a big impenetrable mystery to you.

But of course not. That emotional labor flows one way. Get dunked on Yellowjacket specifically and the culture that shaped him more generally.

Elsewherewhen AGAIN, but specifically half the mansion away, Ms Marvel decides that she will, after all, go see the baby she didn’t want.

And also she apologizes for snapping at Jan.

Boooooo! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not My Carol!

But she also waited too long. Without proper parental role models, Marcus has grown into a teenage dirtbag, baby.

Now that he’s not a baby I can say: What a punchable face. Someone should punch that face and never stop punching that face forever.

Also the narration specifically states that seeing Marcus fills Ms Marvel with “an odd sense of calm... along with an unexplainable, and undeniable, attraction.”

HEY. That’s gross, comic. I don’t care about the eventual bullshit handwavey explanation for this nonsense. That. Is. Gross.

And I mean, look at that face. Its a face that only a mother could punch. Because she’s closest.

... And Marcus is wearing his child clothes as a loincloth. Did... did nobody get him grownup clothes? Several Avengers live in this mansion. Raid someone’s closet!

Marcus also continues to be an inscrutable ass and refuses to explain anything until his science project is completed. Like how he already knew Carol’s name.

The weirdness of the situation is sufficient that even Wasp is noticing that the situation is freaky.

But before he can refuse to explain anything any further, there’s a huge explosion and Marcus complains “Not so soon! Not so soon!”

Because outside there’s a dinosaur and several UFOs attacking Avengers Mansion.

... Y’know, usually I’d be excited to see dinosaurs and UFOs living together mass hysteria but in this comic its just time wasting to fill out a page count and throw some action scenes into the mess.

I can’t even enjoy Dinosaurs and Mars Attacking the Avengers.

Of course, the Avengers rush out to go fight the dinosaur. Iron Man even punches a T. Rex in the face. But as said, I can’t enjoy this.

Okay. So there’s one bit of the pointless action that I like. While Vision phases through the ceiling to join the dinosaur punching action, Scarlet Witch runs into a medieval knight who decides that she’s obviously a sorceress and so he’s honor-bound to run her through. As ya do.

Not even stopping to think 'this is bonkers' she uses her probability-altering powers to make the knight’s own lance wrap around his face and throw him off his horse.

Which you may recognize as having a probability of ‘exactly zero that would never happen in any circumstance just admit that her power is magic, comic’ but I don’t even care because I love it when Scarlet Witch gets to Do A Thing.

It takes six pages but the knight manages to get up from that asswhupping and accosts Scarlet Witch with a sword.

He doesn’t even get a chance to get his ass kicked by Wanda again because Jocasta comes out of nowhere and uses her ever-useful eyebeams circumcise his sword.

He tries to stab her with the remaining stump while yelling he won’t be bested by women but the blade just shatters on her invincible metal bust.

Sir Cecil of Clampett then immediately surrenders and sinks to the floor muttering about how he’ll never throw porridge at the queen again if they let him live but they’re not even paying attention to him anymore.

If this is to become another bullshit love triangle, I love that Jocasta is still being a civil, great person coming to Wanda’s aid like that while conceding that Wanda can take care of herself.

I just want there to be super-heroine Avengers who are best friends. MEET MY EXTREMELY LOW BAR DEMANDS, COMIC.

But I skipped over a lot of action scene to get to the part I liked. Lets summarize. Iron Man punches a dinosaur again.

... And then some Native Americans attack Beast, Hawkeye, and Captain America.

I’m uncomfortable with this. And Cap beating them up. And with the usually delightful Beast making jokes while beating them up.

Pro-tip: you should probably never have a man dressed as an American flag punching Native Americans.

Hawkeye is smart enough not to get involved in this. Or paranoid enough. Because he’s sure that Marcus is behind this and runs off to deal with him.

In the... science room? Marcus refuses to leave before he finishes his machine, even as the roof is crumbling around them.

Wonder Man, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp fly off to investigate, Wonder Man cheerfully disobeying orders that he stay and protect Marcus.

Ms Marvel also decides to shove Dr. Donald Blake into a reinforced broom closet for his safety. Which gives Dr. Donald Blake the privacy to turn into Thor so he can fly off and join the pointless action scenes.

It becomes clear that in addition to padding out the story and adding some, any action at all, the point of these time distortion fight scenes was to split the party so that events can unfold without too many people around.

I also take some comfort in knowing that even in this comic, Wonder Man’s intrinsic Wonder Manliness shines through as he Leeroy Jenkinses into the fight and immediately gets blasted by future cannons that he didn’t notice because he was recklessly charging into things.

And then as he considers the benefits of cowardice, he gets attacked by a giant snake. Because Wonder Man.

He gets to throw the snake at a pterodactyl that was bothering Iron Man because the fundamental truth about Wonder Man is one of contrast. Bone-headed failures making more apparent when he manages to do a good job.

Thor shows up and does what Thor does best, invalidate the presence of most of the rest of the Avengers by just being so much stronger than they are.

He creates a giant tornado that sucks up the dinosaurs and UFOs and such.

Thor is the Avengers’ win button.

He also notes that there’s something weirdly familiar about Marcus.

Meanwhile, inside the mansion, Jarvis finds himself accosted by the actual fucking D’Artagnan of the Musketeers. Hahaha what.

Who threatens to stab Jarvis in the tongue if he doesn’t tell him where Rochefort is.

Yellowjacket summons a cloud of ants to distract the musketeer and then Jarvis punches him in his face.

Take that, beloved literary figure.

Meanwhile there are so, so many meanwhiles. But in the nursery lab random location, Marcus tries to convince Ms Marvel to leave while he activates the machine.

But she is struck by a strange compulsion to stay at this side no matter what.

So he makes her smell his fingers or maybe uses pink energy to zap her face and that knocks her unconscious and cover Scarlet O’Haraing in his arms.

Which is the part Hawkeye managed to come in just in time to see.

Assuming that Marcus was attacking Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye fires an exploding arrow at the machine built. Exploding it.

Marcus cries a single tear and then puts Ms. Marvel down safe and comfortable in a pile of assorted rubble and pointy shrapnel.

Hawkeye: “Okay, curly-top, put the lady down, gently!”

Marcus: “Yes. I shall... since that had been my intention all along. FOr I knew that the energies from my machine might prove dangerous to humans, and so had planned to take Ms. Marvel to a place of safety. you see, it had been my wish that no harm should befall anyone. But now, bowman, you’d be well advised to try and kill me! For if you don’t, then by the seven levels of limbo, I shall kill you!”

A smirking Hawkeye replies that sounds fair.

But then the a lightning bolt hits between them and Thor and Iron Man enter the scene.

Thor reiterates that Marcus looks familiar and demands he know the source of this deja vu. But Marcus says he’ll tell them nothing unless they kill him.

Ms. Marvel wakes up off-screen and tells Marcus to cut his shit out.

Ms. Marvel: “I don’t understand you -- but I do know you, somehow. And I sense that you’d no more take a life gratuitously than an Avenger would.”

Marcus: “Well, y-you’re wrong! So you’d best tell your comrades to defend themselves, b-because I’ll destroy anyone who gets in my way! I will!”

Ms. Marvel: “In that case, Marcus -- you can start with me.”

And then she stands between him and Iron Man, Thor, and Hawkeye.

Marcus confesses that he wasn’t going to hurt anyone. He just wanted to goad them into killing him, honest!

Because he couldn’t bear to go back to living like he has been since his father abandoned him. His father... IMMORTUS!

DUN DUN DUN!

Ms. Marvel has some concerns. Like how she’s never met Immortus and definitely never did the nasty with him.

And now the rest of this comic is going to be backstory and exposition. Just pages of Marcus explaining things, while crying a single tear.

So once upon a no-time, Immortus ruled Limbo. Not the Illyana one. Or the fun party game. But the place of no-time that we visited during the Celestial Madonna story. You’d think you’d remember that. I certainly typed enough words words words about it.

Anyway, Immortus grew lonely living in Limbo all by himself (later retconned so that he lived with a bunch of Space Phantoms but they’re all boring) so he decided he’d go cruising for some booty.

So he cruised through Earth’s time-stream and eventually found a woman, the sole survivor of a sinking ship, pulled her from the cold waters, and took her back to Limbo with him.

Marcus: “Once back in Limbo, through a combination of gratitude and the subtle manipulations of my father’s ingenious machines, the woman fell in love with him. My father then created within Limbo a pocket of change -- a bubble where time flowed naturally. It was there that I was created.”

... So to reiterate, Immortus caused a woman to fall in love with him with the aid of “subtle manipulations of... ingenious machines.”

Mind control, basically.

So if Marcus had a dad and a mom and neither of them were Carol then how did Marcus come out of her?

There’s a very... explanation for that though.

Immortus raised Marcus in a yes-time bubble so that he could grow and develop.

But there was a limit to how long a mortal could spend in Limbo before being just rubber-banded back to Earth. Which is what happened to Nameless Mrs Immortus.

And then Immortus went to help on the Wild West Adventure which led to Kang dying trying to kill Thor which led to Immortus dying because Kang is his younger self so he never existed.

Which raises unanswered questions now that we know about Marcus.

If Kang died before becoming Immortus which caused Immortus to fade away, why is Marcus even still around?

Is it because he was in a no-time zone like Limbo, unaffected by changes to the time-stream? If that’s the case, couldn’t Immortus have avoided disappearing in a puff of logic by staying home?

Its possible that after all that time alone and all the regret for his past self’s actions, he wanted to die. But that’s a rude as hell thing to pull on a son.

So Marcus was left alone and even more alone than his father had ever been. As a child of Limbo, if Marcus tried to visit Earth, it would create an irreparable disruption of the local time-stream.

But then he had an idea. Marcus got a wonderful awful idea.

If time disruption was a result of being born into Limbo, what if he were born onto Earth?

And by accelerating his birth and aging processes he could negate the time flux distortion before it became irreversible. Because it would be slowed down or confused by him being a baby.

Time would be like ‘whaaaaaat a baby?’ and get really distracted and out of character.

But it would take an exceptionally strong woman to survive gestating a nine month pregnancy in only a couple days so he searched through time and eventually decided on Ms. Marvel for her powerful combination of Kree and Human strengths.

Also, I think he just has a thing for strong blondes that should kick his ass.

A different version of Marcus, Kang’s son instead of Immortus’ but still named Marcus and still looking the same genetics are weird, later developed a crush on Carol. Her reaction to which was split between ‘wut?’ and ‘get rekt!’

But this Marcus decides to time-kidnap Carol while she was traveling to visit Scarlet Witch in New Jersey. Just takes her right out of the Quinjet and brought her to Limbo.

And thus began the wooing process. Because Marcus wanted to win her hand on his own merits and not through some skeezy mind control technology.

Marcus: “To aid my purpose, I brought others in from Earth’s time continuum. I had Shakespeare write you a sonnet, and Beethoven performed an original prelude in your honor, while Marie Antoinette herself clothed you in the finest of satins and silks. Finally, after relative weeks of such efforts -- and admittedly, with a subtle boost from Immortus’ machines -- you became mine.”

You started off with such noble? intentions of kidnapping a woman and convincing her to love you and then you ended up using mind control anyway. You can’t say he didn’t come by it honestly. Its even the same word choice of ‘subtle.’ Subtle manipulations... subtle boost. He learned it from you, dad. He learned it from watching you.

Anyway, after using a machine to convince Carol that she loved him, he used technology and magical limbo powers to implant his ‘essence’ in her “causing a condition that resembled pregnancy.”

Y’know. In the sense of having a baby growing inside her womb. That’s the resemblance.

Also, also. The process of implanting essence looks a lot like rated-g sex. And now we know what Carol’s orgasm face looks like. Thanks a lot, comics. Thanks a lot.

Anyway, having implanted his ‘essence’ inside of her he wiped her memory and sent her back to Earth a second after she had been taken.

I... don’t know why it was necessary that she have her memory wiped. You’d think that to prevent a lot of anxiety and fear, you’d want her to know that her boyfriend would be popping out of her in a couple days.

The memory wipe and the mention that he totally used machines to make her love him make this one sketchy story. Which, do note, he’s saying right in front of Thor, Iron Man, and Hawkeye.

Who are all nodding and going ‘yeah that sounds like your classic love story right there. Like Beauty and the Beast.’ Because they are fools.

Marcus: “Once ‘reborn,’ I knew that as my artificially accelerated growth progressed, the Limbo effect would become stronger. But I had hoped to build a machine to negate the effect before I reached full maturity -- and the effect became permanent. Then, I could have lived among you, using my knowledge of time and history to better the human race. but when my machine was destroyed, I knew there was no time to build another before the Limbo effect became fixed. Therefore, since I cannot and will not cause the destruction of a world just to realize a dream, my options became either to return to Limbo, living in solemn, solitary hell unto infinity... or else goad you Avengers into killing me, and thus sparing me. Now, I have no options...”

This again raises the specter of why didn’t he just let Carol keep her memories. She could have gone up to Iron Man, Yellowjacket, or Beast and said ‘hey time is going to start breaking, I need you to build a machine. No time to explain, I met a guy and I’m going to give birth to him soon. I SAID NO TIME TO EXPLAIN BUILD FOR ME, WRENCH FOOLS.’

Getting a head start on the machine would have erased some of the race against time aspect.

When Hawkeye asks why he didn’t just tell them any of this, Marcus claims that they never would have trusted the son of one of the Avengers’ oldest enemies.

But Immortus has been more a weird, helpful weirdo than an enemy when you factor in that his first appearance was retconned out of existence by Enchantress. They’ve only ever known him as the guy that helps them fight Kang. Who, in fairness, is one of their oldest enemies.

But Carol decided or perhaps ‘decided’ that Marcus won’t be alone.

Ms Marvel: “I mean that while I still don’t know what I felt for you in Limbo, some of that feeling still lingers. And that, combined with the fact that by some bizarre logic, you are my ‘child’ -- makes me feel closer to you than I’ve felt to anyone in a long, long time. And I think that just might be a relationship worth giving a chance. So I’m returning to Limbo with you.”

Which might be a sweet sentiment minus the fact that the lingering sentiment she feels was mind control and the pseudo-incestual vibe to this whole relationship and MINUS THE FACT THAT EARTH PEOPLE CAN ONLY BE ON LIMBO FOR A LIMITED TIME BEFORE BEING YANKED BACK TO EARTH AS PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED.

So, no. Nothing about this is a sweet sentiment. Its just layers of horrible.

Iron Man questions if Carol is really sure about what she’s doing and she tells him “not entirely” but she gonna do it anyway. Which at the very least is very Carol Danvers. She tells him to say goodbye to the others.

And then Thor hammerwhirls Marcus and Carol to Limbo. Because he can do that. Remember? He can open space-time rifts by spinning Mjolnir fast enough?

Once Marcus is hammerwhirled off of Earth all of the various time weirderies throughout the mansion vanish, leaving the Avengers who were fighting them perplexed.

And back in the nursery/lab/whatever Hawkeye laments that maybe if he hadn’t destroyed Marcus’ machine none of this would have happened.

Hawkeye: “I can’t help it, Shell-head. I just feel rotten. If I hadn’t destroyed Marcus’ machine --”

Iron Man: “-- Maybe things would have happened the same way, Hawkeye. There’s no way of knowing. We’ve just got to believe that everything worked out for the best.”

Hawkeye: “Yeah, I guess you’re right. That’s all we can do. Believe... and hope that Ms. Marvel lives happily ever after.”

Spoiler: She does not.

So, uh. Yeah. That was Avengers #200.

What does one even say about something like that?

How does something with so many otherwise decent writers turn out like this?

Jim Shooter, George Perez, Bob Layton, and David Michelinie are all credited with writing the plot.

But it seems nobody remembers whose idea this was.

The usual Avengers writer at that time was David Michelinie and he attributes the poor quality of the issue to last minute rewrites and being written by a committee.

David Michelinie: “It’s true that that story originally had a different ending, one suggested by Bob Layton. I believe it involved an alien race (the Kree?) which had reached the limits of its evolutionary possibilities. By generating an alien/human hybrid (impregnating Carol with an alien seed), a new evolutionary path could be created and the dead end could have been circumvented. However, after that storyline had been set up and Avengers #200 plotted, a story came out in another title which almost exactly duplicated the story we had scheduled for Avengers #200. So a last minute alternative was hammered together (hence the plot credit for four different people on that issue) and was hastily drawn and scripted to meet extremely tight deadlines. I don’t remember why we sent Carol Danvers off with Marcus, and out of the Avengers, but I assume it was something that was put together in that marathon plot session.”

The comic that duplicated the original proposed #200 probably would have been What If? #20: What If the Avengers had Fought the Kree-Skrull War Without Rick Jones? Wherein the Supreme Intelligence fuses with Rick Jones’ corpse to become a new being.

In the sense of creating a Kree/Human hybrid, I guess it was stepping on #200′s toes. Although Carol is already a Kree/Human hybrid anyway so. Whatever.

Artist George Perez says in his book:

George Perez: “I don’t remember if it was Dave or Jim who did the Carol Danvers pregnancy story. I believe by the time it was printed it was by four different writers or something. That was probably not the most shining hour for the character, but I liked the idea that they had the story that I really love, which was kind of a precursor to what I would end up doing in Crisis [on Infinite Earths], stuff where you could draw anything happening from various time zones. Like issue 200 of the Avengers, I got to draw a dinosaur attacking Avengers Mansion, with a biplane flying [by]. All this great stuff I eventually got to do with Crisis on Infinite Earths, I got to do with the Avengers.”

As for Jim Shooter, he weirdly both disavows any knowledge of how this happened and also takes full credit.

Jim Shooter: “I found my copy of Avengers #200. I read it. I agree with the consensus, it’s heinous. But, I don’t remember much about how it got that way.

I am credited not only as Editor in Chief but as one of the co-plotters. However, I didn’t see anything in the book that jogged my memory. No bits that I remember suggesting. No corrections of the sort I might have made to a plot passed before me.

But I did see many things I would have changed if I’d seen the plot. For instance, leaving aside the Ms. Marvel mess for the nonce: Iron Man thinks it’s okay for the weird, mysterious child to be given a “laser torch” and electronic equipment so he can build a machine. What?! As the massive machine is being assembled, no one bothers to question what it is or does. What?! Trouble ensues. No kidding, really? Good grief.

At that time, I didn’t approve plots. Editors did. I can think of no reason that plot would have been passed before me. I don’t remember participating in a plotting session. David Michelinie lived far away and seldom came to the office. He and Bob Layton plotted books together mostly over the phone, then Dave wrote them up and presented them to the editor. I don’t know to what extent George Perez was involved. George often added bits and scenes, or made small changes to stories he was drawing, so possibly that is why he was given a plot credit. Usually writers didn’t mind George’s modifications because they were generally pretty good.

Generally, the first time I saw a book was when the finished pages were given to me to sign off on before they were sent to Chemical Color, the separators. There were exceptions, of course, books with which I was more involved. I don’t think this was one of them. But, possibly I made some suggestions that garnered me a ‘co-plotter’ credit, and if so, what was I thinking?

And, I guess I signed off on this book.

I regret it.

But, in those days, in any case, the buck stopped at my desk. I take full responsibility. I screwed up. My judgement failed, or maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention. Sorry. Avengers #200 is a travesty.”

I’m not here to unravel this mystery or cast blame. Although I blame everyone, really.

Shooter is right that the buck stopped at him and he said yeah sure buck go on ahead. Good on him for taking that blame.

Was Avengers #200 the worst story in Avengers history?

I don’t know. I can’t rightly say. I’ve only covered 200 out of... somewhere over 500.

Its not the worst written Avengers story. That would probably be the Crossing crossover. So convoluted and impenetrable, nobody is quite sure what order the issues should be read in.

It might not even be the most offensive. Avengers #33 tried to say that racism is made up by communists.

Its definitely a contender.

Made worse that nobody involved seemed to realize what message they were putting out, which judging by some comments I’ve seen was just unblinkingly accepted by children who read this back in the day.

But here’s the thing. Four different people had enough input to get a co-plotter credit and not one of them went ‘maybe we shouldn’t.’

You can blame the writing by committee for the uneven quality and weird tonal whiplash but you can’t blame it for the central problem where Ms Marvel is raped and impregnated against her will and against her very clearly stated desire not to have children.

That was the foundation of this entire thing.

Even before the story was changed, it was going to be about Carol being impregnated mysteriously. The only thing that was changed was the set dressing. Instead of the Supreme Intelligence and the Kree, it was changed to Immortus’ son.

Because this was a milestone celebration and the important thing here was that a long-time Avengers enemy be behind it.

(Its not even a good milestone celebration. Whose story is this really? Its not really Carol’s. Things happen to her and then she gets a sendoff that would make Doctor Who say ‘whoa, too far.’ It doesn’t celebrate her as a hero. It doesn’t celebrate any of the other Avengers and their history. This is a story about Marcus? And who the fuck is Marcus? The previously unmentioned story of a barely recurring Avengers frenemy. Avengers 100 had EVERY AVENGER. They were badly utilized but thats how you do a milestone.)

There’s no reason to believe that the setup pre-rewrites was going to be any different. Ms Marvel suddenly coming down with a bad case of three-day pregnancy while being alarmed and terrified by what was happening.

There are stories that are bad because of rewrites. And then there are stories that would have been bad from the very conception.

And this would have been one of them.

Pun unintended.

No matter how well-written Avengers #200 was. It would always have been the story where Carol Danvers was written out.

Maybe she wouldn’t have headed off into Limbo at the end because of lingering mind-control affection for her rapist/son but I feel it likely she still would have left the team. Probably gone into space to raise her Kreeman baby.

Heinous and travesty are right.

Could this story have been salvaged?

Like I said, the core concept was Ms Marvel getting mysteriously pregnant. They moved the tombstones but didn’t move the bodies. You’d have to get entirely away from that to find something worth telling.

You could do something with the time weirdery that lets the Avengers punch dinosaurs and maybe relive some old enemies. That could be a way to do a milestone issue. Harkening back without literally just reprinting old panels. Right, AVENGERS 150??

You could have done the pregnancy thing is Carol was an active and willing participant and didn’t have her mind wiped but it still would have felt gross. Because you had her loudly announce her opinion that punching people was more important than motherhood to her.

Do you see, various people who worked on this book, that by having her say that and then immediately become pregnant that it kind of feels vindictive? Punishing her for the words you put in her mouth? And that anything that comes after that will be tainted by that?

Also, mysterious pregnancy plots are usually bad. The only one I can think of that wasn’t was the Spider-Woman plot and the only mystery was that she wouldn’t tell people that she just got a sperm donor so she could make them think that Carol was the father somehow. And its still not great that someone’s thought was ‘what surprising twist can I do with this female character after a time skip? PREGNANCY!’

So was Avengers #200 salvageable? God no. Some of the interpersonal interaction bits were okay. But the actual plot itself was bad, bad, bad. I couldn’t even enjoy the time weirdery because it was disembodied from the plot and was time wasting action scenes and to split the party.

Iron Man punched a T. Rex. TWICE.

I should be gushing about that. I should never stop gushing about it. But it does nothing for me.

Carol Danvers will return... In Avengers Annual #10, angry as hell.

Follow @essential-avengers. Because I will cover Avengers Annual #10 wherein Carol Danvers is angry as hell.

#Avengers #Ms Marvel #Marcus Immortus #the Vision #Scarlet Witch #essential avengers #Wonder Man #Captain America #Iron Man #Thor #Beast #Hawkeye #the Wasp #Yellowjacket #Jocasta #Jarvis #Essential marvel liveblogging #And now its finally behind me

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carousels-on-fire · 6 years ago

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Long post under the cut about going to PA to see my brother!!!

(I promise the entire thing is not as negative as the first few paragraphs, I needed to vent!) So first things first! My brother is awesome, he and his wife are so forward thinking compared to my parents and it was just nice to be around. UNFORTUNATELY, the ship delivering me to that utopia of openness was my car driving me and my mother 14hrs, while playing car tag with my father. My parents are not, in any way, shape, or form, good people. They’re nasty, malicious, passive aggressive, aggressive aggressive, gaslighting, snippy, and just mean people all around. But they like to think they’re put upon nice people, and only THEY see the world as it really is. Its exhausting. They make me a worse person being around them. My mother spent the entire time calling my father every horrible word in the book, and finding every reason to be angry with him, even when there wasn’t a reason. And kept remarking about how he was probably throwing a temper tantrum in his car. The irony that I had to listen to her complaining instead. And she had the GPS on her phone too even though mine was open when I was driving and kept trying to tell me different directions. Basically being a control freak. And when I wasn’t driving she was tail gating people, flipping them off, speeding up and then slamming on the breaks to avoid running into people. I basically told her if she fucked my car up she got to pay for it. She’s a miserable person and I can’t wait to never have to speak to her again. My father spent the entire time being irate about everything, screaming at me about “helping out” with the dogs and just being a miserable asshole. And then turning a complete 180 and acting like everything was fine when my brother was around. He basically caused the poor dogs to fall down the stairs at my brother’s house twice just being a pushy impatient asshole. The dogs are old, the stairs are really steep. But...I can’t do anything about it that would help the dogs or help the situation at all. I’m powerless. Getting the dogs taken away would do more harm to the dogs. But they’re so mean to them. My brother even commented on it. BUT, BUT, in a beautiful moment my brother called my mom the fuck OUT for being a loud crazy bitch outside his house. He told her not to make a scene because his neighbor likes to sit outside on his porch and she was glaring daggers at him the whole night. It was nice to see her put in her place. Also my niece was not nearly as nerve-wracking to be around as I thought. After a couple minutes it was pretty easy to figure out how to interact with her. She’s two and only knows a few words so its not complicated yet, she’s not asking real questions. She’s cute but I don’t think I could be around her more than a couple hours, just because she does require constant attention. My brother got some photos of all of us with her and managed to get a great one of me pretending to bite her leg like a child eating demon. Kids seem to like me for some reason. I see a lot of my brother in her, and based on what I remember of the stories of him as a child, and how she’s being raised, she’s going to be a terror. Of the mischief and mayhem variety. I do always feel slightly out of place around people who are really normal and have their shit together. But then my brother will do something really bizarre and its like ‘yep, there’s that family resemblance.’ To give some background info, my bro is a wedding photographer, he lives at the gym when he can, dresses really nice, he’s basically someone who would never ever need to be on Queer Eye. But he’ll do stuff like record himself driving and making monkey noises and getting really into character, its so funny. Or he’ll do shit, like we’ll reach for something in the center console of the car at the same time, and he’ll make sure to rub his arm against mine and be like “YEP let me make this as awkward as possible” with this ridiculous face. OR he’ll say something so off the wall in conversation that you almost don’t catch it, and then you laugh for like 5 minutes. I really hate that my friends don’t get to see my brother at his weirdness peak. I hate that I didn’t get a selfie of us, because we’re really as different as you could possibly be appearance-wise. Philly itself was kind of underwhelming overall. But, the 1hr and a half drive there kind of wore me out prior to actually walking around downtown. I think if it were like Savannah where I could take a bus into downtown, or in a place where I was used to walking long distances everyday it would have been fine. And I really only saw a little bit of the city because it took so long to get into the city and I had to leave before dark. So I’ll reserve judgement until then. The shops I did see and the variety of stuff was amazing. The oddity and punk stores were incredible. But it does worry me moving to a big city, that I’ll have to deal with traffic like that the entire time. Savannah traffic when I lived far from downtown wasn’t terrible. But Savannah is still a small city compared to Philly. I finally got to see the Mutter museum which I wanted to forever! Some of the skull exhibits made me so sad because some of them were from such young people. There was a wall of skulls with ages, nationalities, and sometimes a story. And it would be such tragic deaths. There were a lot of 25 and 26yr old suicides and that hit close to home. There were so subtly different. I loved trying to see the people in each face. The teenager skulls were so small. The children smaller still. The worst were the ones from women who died young in childbirth. I wish I got to see more of the fetal deformity exhibits at the Mutter Museum but we were running short on time. There was a Civil War exhibit about Black soldiers that was fascinating. Including a huge reproduction of a poster calling able bodied men of color to fight. My brother looked at it and said to me “How many of them do you think could even read this to know what they were getting into?” Its something to think about. But the sad part was the poster was about men of color getting their dignity and personhood reclaimed in that war. Its bitter to think they still haven’t completely gotten that, even after so much time. I could have spent days in that museum, it probably took me longer because I had to stop and read every single placard and try to picture what each thing was or was used for, or what it looked like alive. There were a couple comic book stores that I got to check out, one with extremely helpful staff, one with not very helpful staff. I was on the hunt for that Hawkeye and Bucky comic that I saw panels of on here, and actually ended up finding it at Barnes and Noble. I did, while my brother and parents were busy at a wedding, get to see an old friend from college so that was cool. Its nice to just see people who aren’t my co-workers and get to do normal people stuff like go to lunch and socialize. Another thing I wish I’d gotten to try more of in Philly was food! I didn’t have much money to spend. The one cafe I went to had terrible, godawful pastries. Like...they tasted like someone forgot to add sugar to them at all. And they were stale/old tasting. I’m usually not one to complain about food that much, but this is an exception. BUT the one cafe thing my brother took me to was amazing. It was an italian place with coffee and pastries, but also actual food and wine. I asked the barman for ‘wine sweet enough to put in a hummingbird feeder’ and he did not disappoint. And the stuff is only like $8/bottle. The drink menu was intimidating though. It looked like it was in another language entirely. It probably, mostly was. The only really big downside to the trip was I caught a stomach-bug tuesday night and was out of commission wednesday and a lot of Thursday. Even though I was upright, it was like ‘at what cost?’. Even today I’m not 100% back to myself. But luckily my brother was super understanding/supportive. I felt so bad because my niece got sick too. She seemed to bounce back pretty quick though. My brother is also awesome because he and his wife got me a copy of that John Olliver book Marlon Bundo about Mike Pence’s pet rabbit being gay and getting married to another boy rabbit. They bought one for me and one for my niece. They’re pretty great people. I’m so glad at least part of my family is sane and I don’t have to throw out the whole damned thing, you know?

#trip diary

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summerrrluvvv · 4 years ago

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Chapter 9: part 2

Kyrel:

“Alright Henny and coke got you” I said to this Man at the bar. As I went to go make the drink, I seen Zion standing at the bar looking at md, she gave me a small smile. “Hey!” She yelled over the music. I just looked at her and walked off to finish making the drink. She already left me 10 missed calls and 4 voice mails and a lot of text messages. I mean I forgive her, and I want her no doubt, but I slick felt some type of way like she used me. I brought the man his Henny and coke. It was two other bartenders so I could slip away for a little minute just to see what she has to say. I signaled her to follow me out back. When we got outside, I lit me a blunt and leaned up against the wall. “What’s up?” I asked her. I was looking at her and She was looking good. “Look, Kyrel I don’t want you to be mad at me okay, I just, I’m scared that when I go back to Atlanta I will miss you and I haven’t been this attached since my first heart break, and I apologize for how I said things last night, I care for you it’s just I’m not ready to give my all this felt much better and safe when I thought we both knew this was a fling” She said. I shook my head at her. “But it’s not, when I met you, I wanted you, and I was dead set on making you mine, okay”. She just looked at me, “Ky, look I understand that. Most men be all over me and want me and pine for me, niggas even stalk me, but nobody has ever flipped the script on me where I cared about how I made them feel. I feel really bad, I feel really scared and I feel butterflies when I’m with you and I think maybe yes I’m falling for you, and I’m hard to get, so that’s just a weird feeling, I haven’t felt in forever”. I shrugged my shoulders, “So what Z, you want us to be together or what? Cause of this is just a game you can save all the bullshit” I stressed to her. The back door flew open, it was my homie Maurice, he was emptying the trash and probably coming to smoke a cigarette. “What’s up boss” He said to me dapping me up. “Oh, hell nah” Zion said. Maurice clenched his jaw. “You know this bitch?” He said. I looked him crazy cause why was he calling her out her name like that. “Nah homie I need you to watch your mouth” I said. He smirked. “Oh, this you playa?” He said laughing. I looked at Zion. “You know Maurice?” I asked her. She looked pissed. “Yea I know this nigga” I looked between them trying to figure out what was going on between my homie and the girl I might make my girl. “Remember the shorty I told you about that’s her” Maurice told me. He came in mad talking about a girl he fucked and how she left him hanging after dinner he was dogging her out. I felt like killing somebody. Because here she was in my face pleading with me when she fucked my homie not even a full day went by. “You fucked my homie?” I asked her. She looked at me confused. “What?” She asked. “Come on baby tell my dawg how I bussed in them guts earlier” Maurice said smirking. I looked at her. “Is it true?” I asked. She sucked her teeth in and shook her head. “If you believe anything out this slimey ass grimey ass nigga mouth then nigga we done” She said to me. “So how you know him?” I asked. She rolled her eyes. “He asked me out and I went out with him but then I realized he was a clown and for the record I only went out with him to try to get my mind off of you, you wasn’t calling me back so I thought I should just continue doing me, and yes doing me is meeting a nigga to make me feel good for the night then dip but he wasn’t worth none of my time, it only was a 45minute meet up before this nigga told me he wanted to fuck me and drive around in my car with his bum ass” She snapped. I shook my head not only was she trying to play me she went out with my home boy and maybe fucked him. “So, you lying to me? Why are you even here Zion if you needed a nigga to make you feel good?” I asked. She slightly laughed. “For the record, I would never sleep with this motherfucker and I have fucked worst niggas but the whole time I realized, I wanted the way you made me feel so after wards I came over here to see you to fix shit with you, but fuck this. If you want to believe him cool but at least I tried”. I had a lot of pride in me. She looked at me. I looked away. She sucked her teeth at me. “Whatever” She said, I watched her shake her head and go back inside to leave. I wanted to go after her. I tossed the blunt to follow her inside, by the time I got in there she had left. “Damn it”. I said. Maurice was right me, “Man fuck that hoe ass bitch”. I grabbed him and dragged him into the bathroom. “Why you lie about fucking her?” I asked. Maurice just smirked. I grabbed his shirt and pinned him to the wall. “Man, cause I don’t know, you believed it, plus that bitch embarrassed me and had me banned from the lounge!” I threw him into a staw. “Stop calling her out her name!” I yelled before walking off. My dumb ass had to do some dumb shit. If Maurice did not come outside shit would have been back good between but I had to let my pride take over.

Samar:

I woke up with a headache, from smoking all that damn weed and drinking all that liquor. I looked at my phone to see missed calls from Diamond. “Damn It” I said to myself. I rolled over and got out of bed and looked for my clothes. I forgot I had to meet Diamond for brunch so we can talk about our relationship. I listened to my voicemail from her. “Samar where the hell are you, we have reservations at the Potato bar 12:30, its 11:20!” She stressed. I sighed and looked at the clock it was 11:45 I needed to get to Diamond. My phone started ringing again, I seen it was Diamond. “Yo baby girl I’m sorry Tye and I got lit last night and passed out with her friends” I lied. I heard Tye softly groaning. I looked over and seen her turnover. “Samar hurry up and get here” Diamond said. “I got you” I said hanging up. “Where you are going?” Tye asked. “To Brunch with Di” I said looking for my shit so I can leave. “Why are you going out with her after we just fucked Samar, you not even taking a shower with yo nasty ass!” She snapped. I sighed “Yo don’t start this bugging shit, you been spazzing lately, you know how I feel about Diamond” I said annoyed as fuck. She threw a pillow at me. “Your full of shit Samar why would you go out with that bitch after she fucked somebody while yall was together?” She started getting up and putting on her clothes.Diamond had gone on tour with Brent Fiayaz and ended up fucking him on tour, she apparently got pregnant but then got an abortion and lied about to me. “Yo why you bring that’s shit up?” I asked. She knew how I felt about that situation. She rolled her eyes. “Samar what the hell are we doing?” She asked. I shrugged “Whatchu mean? I told you what it was” she put her hand on her hip and what the fuck is it? You get your relationship right with that bitch then fuck me when its convenient for you Samar, what are we like fuck buddies now? From best friends to fuck buddies. Let me know Samar because I need to just move on”. I shook my head, “Nah I’m not about to let you fuck another nigga Tye”, She opened her door and stood there with her arms crossed “Samar I don’t want to do this anymore” She said. “Do what Tye?” I sighed. “This, you trying to tell me who I can fuck and who I can date like a side chick. Samar I’m sorry for fucking this shit up, we should have never complicated things, I need space from you” She said. I smirked at her cause she just talking. “Ima come over later I promise” I said trying to grab her cheeks and kiss her. She pushed my hands out her face. “Damn you really mad?” I said laughing, I cannot Tye serious she always gone be there like we besties she aint going nowhere this just a little baby ass issue, she will get over it. She mugged the fuck out of me. “Samar get your shit and get the fuck out and don’t come back over here later, I said what the fuck I said. You not my nigga and you don’t want to be, so let’s just stop this shit where it’s at we fucked twice that’s it yeah we have feelings that you don’t really take into consideration and loving you without you knowing was better than this” I shook my head at her, “Aight Tye Whatever” I looked at her holding my stuff. “What? You can go” She told me. I walked out her room and she slammed the door on me. I went downstairs and let myself out, this girl was tripping.

Isaac:

“Here you go” Daryl the sprint guy said to me handing me my phone. I felt relieved to know my shit was fixed. Melody was on my mind heavy, so I dialed her number. It rang a few times before she answered. “Hello?” She said. “Hey, can I see you and we talk?” I asked. She breathed into the phone. “Yeah”. Okay, give me like 25minutes aight” I said before I hung up the phone. Trey and Freddie had met up with me in the food court. “Aye new phone who dis nigga” Trey said laughing. Freddie had a little baddie with him. I looked at Freddie and he smirked. “Keyshawn this is my bro Isaac, Isaac this my little shorty Keyshawn” He introduced us. I smiled at her and shook her hand. My homies been pulling baddies left and right. “Well, I need the whip again today” I said. Trey smirked. “Mel?” He asked. I shrugged, “Man don’t worry about it” I told him. “My home girl Neesha having a little kick back so yall can just ride with me” Keyshawn said. Freddie nodded and threw me the keys. “Be safe dawg”. I nodded. I left the mall and went to the parking deck. I got in the rental and put her GPS in. Bryson Tiller “Been That Way” started playing “I wanna know how we became so distant girl, the way we fell in love it was almost instant, I’m trying to find a way around it, girl tell me how you feel about it, you still love me that’s the way it sounded, Thank God I would have never found this”. I drove to her Airbnb just listening to the lyrics. “Baby it’s been that way, Baby it’s been that way. Baby I still feel the same, something I got to maintain listen to me when I say baby its always, its always been that way”. I guess my phone knew I was in my feelings cause Miguel “Sure Thing” played next and I was 5 minutes from her place, “Even when the sky comes falling, even when the sun don’t shine. I got faith in you and I so put your pretty little hand in mine. Even when we down to the wire baby, even when its do or die. We can do it baby simple and plain cause this love is Sure Thing, you can bet that never got to sweat that” I sang along. I texted Mel and let her know I was pulling up. It was like 5:15 pm.

She waited for me at the door. She had on boy shorts and an oversize crop top with her hair in two buns. When I walked in, she looked at me awkwardly. Music was playing throughout the house. I see Tye was rolling up weed on the kitchen bar stool. “What’s up Tye?” I said greeting her. She smiled and waved “Hey Isaac”. “Aye you got another blunt?” I asked her. She nodded; I passed her $10 she shook her head. “You good”. I nodded. “You clutch with it, you know I always fucks with you” I told Tye, she just laughed. Melody led me to the back yard. It was a big ass pool with a waterfall out there and a little bar area. We had to walk down some stairs to get to the yard, so we just sat on the steps. I grabbed my lighter out my fanny pack I had across my body. I lit the blunt and started smoking to ease my nerves. Melody started playing with her hands, then she stood up and started talking. “I went on a date last night” She said. I could feel the jealousy in me rising. “A date, with that nigga?” I asked. She slowly nodded. “I wanted to be honest with you”. I was mad not going to lie. “So, what he hit?” I asked. I looked at her and she looked at me, I was looking into her eyes to see if she would lie or not. She shook her head. “No”. I could tell she was telling the truth, but she seemed uneasy. “You ain’t do nothing?” I asked. She sighed and laid her head in her hands. “We kissed that’s it” She said. I was picturing her and this nigga, shit making my skin crawl, I felt sick as fuck. “So why we are talking then Melody?” I asked. Why she ain’t with this nigga then. “Because I can’t get you out of my head or my heart, it felt okay at the moment but then I had to stop because shit could have gone far and I would have been disgusted in myself cause you know that ain’t me Isaac, I feel like my body is yours okay, like I only want you to kiss me and you to touch me not anybody else it doesn’t feel right”. I wanted to be mad at her for kissing this nigga and going on the date but honestly after the other night she probably thought I was done with her. “Why you even go on the date?”. I asked her. She shrugged “I figured we was for real done, so I thought maybe I could get my mind off you but that’s it” I watched her looking stressed. I just palmed my face. “What’s up with you and that thotty you left the Pajama Party with? Tye saw you with?” She said. I sighed because I forgot all about Shorty, even her name. “Aight look I was drunk as hell and mad about you and Ole boy so yes I took her home, did we fuck yeah almost she just gave me head and she barely did that, you was blowing my shit up and she left.” I admitted. “So, when you get mad at me you try to fuck other hoes, that’s what we are doing?” She asked mad. I shook my head irritated. “Mel, right now we still sorting shit out, yes I got mad at you and dude, and yes I thought if you left with him you was fucking him and I wanted to just get mind off you and this nigga, and I felt crazy about it after you left and I broke my phone, but I’m here right now letting you know that I do want to be with you and I don’t want no other man to have you, Shit makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about this man kissing you, touching you” I said feeling all this emotion I try to avoid showing. She just looked at me and started crying a little. “Come here bruh” I said. She got up and looked at me I brought her closer to me so she could sit in my lap facing me. “You going to see this nigga again?” I asked her, looking her straight in the eyes. She shook her head. “No, it’s not fair to him for me to be in love with somebody else and lead him on, But I do need to let him know” She told me. Man fuck that nigga she can leave homie hanging. “Man, aight”. We just looked at each other before she brought her lips to mine and we were making out. My hands trailed down to her ass and softly grabbed it. “Mmm” She moaned into the kiss. I broke the kiss before things got to intense. “Go break things off with homeboy” I told her she slowly nodded. “Okay fine”. She got up off my lap and we both got up from the bench. “I want us to get to know each other again, and I want to take you out and get to know you and date you the proper way” I said. She smiled and nodded her head. “Alright”.

Anthony:

“Hey Ri-Ri it’s Ant again, I’m calling you from my homie phone cause I know you blocked me but I just want to say I’m sorry mami, It wasn’t would it looked like. Nina is my ex we were just catching up” I said over the voicemail I left for Ariana. I knew she was pissed and probably thought I was playing her, but I was not, I really went to go meet up with Nina because I needed to clear my head. I was scared about what I am feeling for Ariana and I had not felt that way since Nina and I broke up. I wanted to see if I had finally moved on from her and I did. I called Ariana again, she finally picked up “Hello, who is this?” She asked sounding sleepy. “It’s Anthony, I wanted to know If I could see you so we can talk” I asked. She groaned annoyed “There’s nothing to talk about Anthony I saw you out with another girl” She said. “Look I can explain, can we please meet up?” I asked. She sighed “Fine, I will meet you at the beach” She said. We hung up, and I got up and prepared myself to meet Ari at the beach. I got in my car and headed over. When I got there, I seen Ariana leaning on The Rental Jeep going through her phone. She had her hair in a scarf and some basket balls shorts and over size tee shirt with slides on. I got out my car and went over to her. She looked at me mad as hell. “So say what the fuck you got to say, because I don’t have the time for any more bullshit” She said. “Well first of all why was you drunk at the restaurant?” I asked her curious. She shrugged, “Because for your information I met up with Marlon, he was apologizing for how he acted and that was it then I stayed to drink by myself if you really needed to know” I smirked at her irritated she got me out here trying to apologize when she was meeting up with that nigga. “So you tripping on me but you was with Marlon?” I asked. She put crossed her arms getting upset. “Nigga, I didn’t hear from you all damn day and yes I went to hear what he needed to say I was on a date like you were avoiding my calls, you know what I’m leaving” She said, I quickly grabbed her arm. She snatched her arm away from me. “Don’t touch me” She snapped. I put my hands up in defense. “I’m sorry Ari, I just don’t like how he did you” I said. She sucked her teeth at me. “Excuse me? You did me the same way fucked me then disappeared to a new bitch or is that your girlfriend or wife?” She asked. I shook my head. “No, Nina is my ex okay. I was getting cold feet about us and I wanted to make sure I was fully over her before I pursued anything with you because before you came we had been broken up for like atleast 2 months, and we had been together for a year. She was the first girl I ever loved, and I was torn over her when I found out she had got with another man when she was with me, and I wanted to make sure it was nothing there that was it” I said to her. She started laughing. “So let me get this straight, you ignored me all damn day to see if you still loved another bitch nigga just save all the bullshit, this shit is over between us. I won’t be played off no goofy shit okay?” She stated. She unlocked her car doors. “Ari it’s not like that, I just wanted to give myself to you fully without having feelings maybe for Nina, that was it” I told her hoping she would understand. She shook her head. “Just leave me the hell alone Anthony” She said before getting her car and leaving. “Fuck!” I stressed. I pulled out my phone thinking if she will not believe me maybe she will believe Nina, I told her how I felt about Ariana that day at the restaurant. “Hey Nina, can you do me a favor?”.

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project-ml · 7 years ago

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Project: Tarot 2017 - In the Hand of Fate

In The Hand of Fate

Project: Tarot 2017 Masterpost (tbp)

Author: @pateatsaburger

Beta’d By: @the-bored-bookworm, @misfireezreal

Summary: The miraculous cure isn’t perfect and everyone suffers after effects of being akumatised, and on Halloween, the heroes suffer the effects of their own miraculous.

Tags: Halloween, cat and bug appearance changes, akuma abilities, classroom antics

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“Player One wins!” announced the pre-recorded digital voice. The pixelated robot form of NAD03 stood triumphant over the crumpled mass of MX-01.

“Come on, dude!” Nino threw his controller on the floor, “When did you get so good at this?”

Adrien gave a cool smirk and folded his hands behind his head. “Ha, if you think I’m good, Nino, you should go a round with Marinette. She’s unstoppable at this game. Right, Marinette?”

The girl in question was sitting at a nearby table filled with home-baked snacks her parents had brought up to her room. The mountain of tasty food served as a believable hiding spot to ogle Adrien from. It was all she could do. The simple fact that Adrien Agreste was in her room was sending her brain into overdrive. A sharp bump to her side snapped her out of staring at the dreamy boy. “Huh, what? I mean, yeah! I’m… super good at that… hehe...”

Awkward silence followed for what felt like hours.

“Round Two!” announced the video game and the boys returned to the fight.

“What was that, girl?” Alya whispered, “He was paying you a compliment!”

Marinette gripped her hair, “I know, I just freaked out! I wasn’t prepared for today! You’re the one who suggested having this video game tournament in my house!” She pressed her face to the table and groaned. This was going terribly. Alya was always the level headed one. She worked so hard to give Marinette dozens of chances to be alone with Adrien, all of which Marinette screwed up. “How do I talk to him without making it weird?”

Alya patted the girl’s head, “Hey, you’ll get there. You just need to take baby-steps.” She thought about it, “How about… you ask him for his number.”

“His number? But I already have that. I got it from you.”

“Adrien doesn’t know that,” Alya winked and got up. “Okay, Adrien, you’ve done enough damage. It’s my turn to kick Nino’s butt.”

“Dude, not cool!”

“Have at it,” Adrien handed her the controller.

Marinette’s heart stopped as she realized her crush was coming her way. Her body spasmed as it couldn’t decide whether it wanted to run or stay. In the end, her indecisiveness was her downfall.

“Thanks for inviting us, Marinette. I’m having a great time.” His face was radiant like the sun. She felt like she would melt under the warmth. “...Marinette?”

She blinked as she realized she was staring again, “Ah! That’s great! You’re having a great time so that’s great! You’re great! Everything’s great! Great! Yay!”

Her gaze drifted past him, towards Alya who mouthed, ‘Baby-steps.’

Marinette took a deep breath, steeled herself, and looked straight at the cookie tray for bravery. In the center of the sweets stood the serpent-like body of a jade dragon. Her mom had left it there, telling Marinette it was a good luck charm. The woman had then shot a knowing smile at Adrien which he thankfully didn’t see. Marinette was so embarrassed by what her mom was insinuating that she practically shoved the woman out of the room, making sure to quickly thank her and ask her to please not come back. Now, she hoped that little green dragon did have some magic. Marinette knew luck was real, but she was only lucky as Ladybug. How could a normal girl do this?

“Um, Adrien, I was wondering. M-m-maybe, next time, I don’t have to invite everyone through Alya.” Her eyes followed the dragon to the silver tray, she followed the silver tray to his arm, she followed his arm to his face. He was patiently listening with that same glowing smile full of understanding and happiness, “Maybe… I could invite you if I… had…” she gulped, “Nino’s number!”

His eyebrow arched up, “Nino’s number?”

Marinette forced a smile and gritted her teeth as her subconscious started kicking her repeatedly, “Yeah, you know, to make getting a hold of him a bit smoother.”

“Sure...” he returned the smile, one more believable than hers, and pulled out his phone.

“Dudes, check it out!” Nino slammed what looked like a brick onto the table. Alya stood behind him giving Marinette a wordless apology. “I found these under the cabinet. I think they’re like sparrow cards or something.”

“They’re called Tarot cards, Nino,” Alya corrected while grabbing his shoulders, “Now stop trying to avoid losing to a girl and get back to the game.”

Adrien shuffled through the cards, their designs were intricate and mysterious. Each held a single word along with the miniature paintings. Marinette could tell they were old. The edges were frayed and bent, but the imagery was still vibrant. She vaguely remembered her dad rifling through this deck many years ago, “I think these belong to my dad… What are they doing in my room?”

“You can use them to predict the future, right?” Nino asked, “Let’s totally do that!”

Adrien nodded, “Yeah, that sounds like fun.”

Relief washed over Marinette. Now she had more time to work up the courage to ask Adrien. She gave Alya a desperate look.

Alya sighed, “Fine.”

A quick online search was all Alya needed in order to figure out how to do a supposedly proper card reading. As proper as a Google search could find. Although, she admitted, the ceremony was much more complicated than she originally thought. Snacks were pushed to the table edges and everybody watched as she placed several cards face down to form an odd shape. “The Hand of Fate,” Alya called it, “Constantly moving, taking us along for the ride. Who we doing?”

“Ladies first,” Adrien motioned towards Marinette.

Marinette giggled. All the excitement in the air felt silly. At the same time, though, she was… nervous. She wondered what the cards had in store.

Alya flipped the one closest to Marinette. On it was a tall dark obelisk in a dry desert. Its silhouette framed sharply by the burning ball of fire behind it. “The Tower,” Alya read off the guide on her phone, “It could mean a sudden change… good or bad.”

“Ooooohhh...” Nino fanned his fingers trying to be scary.

Alya cleared her throat and the boy stopped. She then followed the direction the tower pointed until she hit a second card. Pictured there was a man and woman, both wore absolutely nothing. An angel smile down upon them. “Uh oh, The Lovers,” Alya playfully sang, “Looks like we got a sudden change to love.” This launched a round of snickers that left Marinette blushing.

Marinette could feel all three pairs of eyes on her. The only ones she cared about were the green ones next to her. This was too much. “Alya, quit it!” Still, a part of her wanted these cards to actually hold some kind of power.

“Hey, it’s not me,” Alya shrugged, “This is fate. And fate has one more card to play.” Her finger traced the direction of the angel’s gaze to a card standing alone in the corner. She flipped it and all the teasing ended.

“Whoa… dark,” she heard Nino mutter.

Marinette peaked. Her heart stopped.

On a white horse rode a knight. The medieval armor, heavy and thick. The only opening was the lifted visor resting on the man’s forehead. At least, she assumed it was a man. Hard to tell when they have a skull for a face. The unsettling ghoulish creature led the steed across its name: Death.

Alya fumbled with her phone, “R-r-relax, guys, it’s not literal,” she scanned the screen for an answer. “Oh! It can mean: from known to unknown. That’s… vague?”

The world was spinning in Marinette’s head. Does this mean her love for Adrien was doomed to fail? Was there nothing she could do? Was there even a point in trying?! She didn’t want to think about this. She needed air. She pushed the table away so she could run to the balcony. But then she heard something wobble. In the corner of her eye, she spied a flash of jade fall to the floor followed by a crash.

Blinding light spilled from the stone dragon’s remains, quickly engulfing the room.

“Whoa! What’s happening?!” cried Nino.

00000000

“Not much, what’s happening with you?” Marinette flirted back. She leaned her head on Adrien’s shoulder, enjoying the comfort of his arm draped around her. She wished she could stay like this forever, but the walk from school to her house was so short.

“If that’s the case, I was thinking maybe we do something today. Just the two of us,” he sweetly suggested.

Marinette stopped and clasped Adrien’s hands in hers, “Really? You’re open? No photoshoots, fencing, or networking dinners?”

“I set aside today a month ahead of time,” he puffed out his chest with pride, causing her to laugh at his ridiculous pose. Ideas raced through her imagination, they hadn’t been on a date in weeks. Now they had a whole day to themselves and she wanted to do everything!

A terrified scream pierced the air. Several identical white-skinned, red-skirted jesters fled down the streets in fear. Far in the distance sauntered another, only this one wasn’t scared. She was confident and angry.

“Oh no...” whispered Marinette before she was pulled into an alley. “Adrien—” Before she could beg him to stay, his lips pressed against hers. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his presence a little while longer.

He took her hands and wrapped her fingers around something small. “Plagg, claws out.” In a blast of green, Cat Noir stood before her.

“Let me come with you. I can help,” she blurted out.

Both of them hesitated, surprised at her words. Cat Noir recovered first and cupped her cheek, “I’ll be back. I promise, princess,” he said with bittersweet longing. He leaped up the walls and disappeared.

He would come back. He always did, but never for long. It was hard enough being in love with a fashion model. A fashion model who doubled as a superhero, though? It was a miracle they ever saw each other. She opened the velvet case he had left. There rested two diamond-studded earrings. Happy tears brimmed. She had mentioned so long ago how she always wanted real jewelry but her family couldn’t afford them. He must’ve been paying attention. She removed her cheap plastic pair and put on the gift. She stepped out of the alley and looked at her reflection in a shop window.

Beautiful.

She really did look like a princess.

She would trade them in a second for her prince.

00000000

“This is temporary,” Master Fu told Wayzz like he did with every new prisoner.

The little green kwami said nothing to the man, choosing instead to return to meditating in his record player. The man stroked his short, gray beard. The habit brought small comfort during these troubling times. In his long life, he never expected to be responsible for the suffering of so many. A wall of monitors stood before him. They showed similar sterile cells. Sealed off from the outside world, each was home to one poor soul. And he had put them there.

When Hawkmoth first surfaced, Fu had easily found the perfect wielder for the Cat Noir ring. However, he had no such luck with the Ladybug Miraculous. With no way of purifying the Akumas and undoing the damage they inflict, Cat Noir could only break what held the dark butterflies, destroy the insects and free the victims from Hawkmoth’s control. While this seemed to work at first, it became apparent that those infected were at greater risk of re-akumatization. They had to be protected, watched, and contained. Fu was forced to turn to the Mayor. The politician came off as naive but he truly cared about the people of Paris. Once he saw the destructive power the Akumas held, he granted Fu full use of La Sante high security prison.

“That cat boy’s bringing another one for you, Master Fu,” informed the chubby policeman at the door.

“Thank you, Roger.”

He watched another monitor as the hero walked the latest de-akumatized victim, a handcuffed girl with long black hair, down the cold corridor. This one was probably another of Adrien’s classmates. Hawkmoth had taken a liking to them. It seemed like they kept getting younger. After Cat Noir locked the cell door, Fu turned off the monitor. He could never watch the first day. The child’s pain and fear was too great.

“Temporary...” he muttered. In his palm rolled two red and black polkadotted jewels. The power to end that pain and fear locked within. Out of reach without a wielder.

00000000

When an Akuma attacks, the streets shut down until the police give the all clear. In other words, no customers. Instead of staring at the empty bakery, Marinette’s mother tried to pass the time by commenting on her new jewelry, “That boy is too good to you, Marinette.”

“Why don’t we invite him over for dinner as thanks,” her father offered.

Marinette put on a smile, “I’ll ask.” She absently rubbed the earrings while leaning over the counter. Her parents bustled about, making sure all the breads they probably wouldn’t sell today would stay good until tomorrow. That is, if anyone came tomorrow. This area of Paris had become the hub of the most Akuma appearances, which drove all the shoppers away. Each time, her parents would shrug and say it was an off day, but from their frantic pace and long looks at the deserted sidewalks Marinette could tell that that was a lie. She had even overheard them whispering about the possibility of moving. Clearly, they couldn’t afford to invite Adrien over for dinner and they were just being nice. “He might need to clear his schedule. It… fills up pretty fast.” She didn’t want to give her parents any false hope, what with Adrien having to save the world and stuff.

Running out the door to rescue the day.

Leaving her behind.

‘Let me come with you. I can help.’

What had she been thinking? She had always simply smiled and wished him luck. The very idea of fighting at his side was ridiculous. She had no powers; never threw a single punch in her life. She must be going crazy. Still, in that moment, there had been... something.

Her thumb brushed a bit too hard against one of the prickly edges of the gemstone on her ear and she pulled away with a hiss.

“Honey, you alright?” her dad asked.

“I’m okay, don’t worry,” Marinette assured while hiding her cut behind her back.

Her mother saw it, “Careful, real diamonds can leave a mark.”

She needed air.

“Call if you need me,” she said as she climbed the stairs to her room, ready for the refreshing breeze on her balcony. Her head had barely poked through the trapdoor when she stopped. A feast of desserts stood in her room on a table she recognized as the one they used for cake displays downstairs. Stale crumbs littered the floor. She heard the droning buzz of her television alongside the menu theme of Ultimate Mecha Strike III.

“Hello?” Marinette whipped around, wondering if she had accidentally walked in on a surprise party. Nobody answered. Then she saw something she never thought she would ever see again.

She bolted up the last few steps and ran to it. The bookbag was the same shade of blue as she remembered. She flipped the thing over and found the impossible words stitched into the side: ‘Property of Alya Cesaire.’ Maybe she really was going crazy. There was no way Alya’s bag could be here. Marinette had brought it to her friend when she first visited her cell and yet there it was, an exact replica. Or maybe not so exact… Hanging off one of the straps was an odd little decoration. It kinda resembled a ladybug.

Before she could investigate further, her ears picked up another sound over the TV. A single note, endlessly echoing. It was faint, ominous, ethereal, almost otherworldly. And it came from under a pile of cards on the floor. Marinette carefully pushed the mess aside and found a jade dragon broken into three pieces. Curiously, each piece stood atop a Tarot card. The music ebbed and flowed from the chunks of stone which seemed to be somehow glowing.

Magic. The source of Akumas!

Marinette scrambled back. This was it! She was next! She was going to wake up in a cell like Alya, locked away by her own boyfriend, never to see the outside world again!! She curled into a ball and waited for the end. The note continued. Slowly, she opened her eyes. Nothing had changed. The stones continued their song, ignoring her fear. Alya’s account of how she was akumatized came back to her. Anger. Anger was what triggered the magic. Good thing she was more scared and confused than that.

She ran to her trapdoor and rushed down the stairs. Just as she was about shut the door, she took one last look at the magical dragon. She knew she should run. She was taught to always run and let the police handle it. Let Cat Noir handle it. But that… feeling was back. That urge to do something.

‘I can help.’

Panic still icing her veins, the girl climbed back into her room and examined the dragon. The magic didn’t attack or try to akumatize her. It simply rang. This didn’t make sense. Master Fu had warned all of Paris to stay away from magic. It was dangerous. Wait… Master Fu! He would know what this was. Maybe it was good magic, like what Cat Noir used.

Using Alya’s bag, she carefully scooped up the statue, cards and all.

00000000

La Sante was a prison first constructed in 1867 to house 500. Over the years, that number increased to over 2,000. With its new variant of occupants, the fortress was again redesigned under Master Fu’s direction to both keep Akuma victims in and everything else out.

Especially butterflies.

Windows were cemented over. Air ducts were netted. Every point of entry and exit had two sets of reinforced doors. Mayor Bourgeois had even suggested Fu cast an ancient spell of shielding over the entire complex. Fu had to remind him that he was a wise old man, not a wise old wizard.

The precautions had worked. Nobody who had been housed in La Sante had been re-akumatized… yet.

It had been nearly a year. Black butterfly after black butterfly had fluttered through shadows and hidden in corners, searching, prodding for a weakness. Most of the magic insects were found within a day and immediately destroyed by either Cat Noir or the Paris Police Force. But this one… this one had been smart. It had avoided all the cameras, memorized the guard routes, and found the one place Fu forgot.

Underground.

La Sante was originally built on the former Coal Market of Paris. The initial architect had refurbished the drains once used to carry the rocky sludge away of the city. They still let out into the same sewage line from 150 years ago. It flapped its wings hard to stay just above the gurgling water, twisting with the rusted pipes. With no way of knowing which turns to take, the insect chose at random until it saw light at the end of the tunnel. Its tiny legs pulled its body out of the drain and scaled the metal. It sat on the sink edge and saw its target: a young girl with long black hair.

She was crying into her hands, “Rose, I’m sorry. I am so sorry.” She held something tightly against her chest.

The butterfly flew towards it.

00000000

Fu stared at the black screen, his dark reflection showed tired eyes surrounded by constantly growing bags. He had waited long enough. He needed to resume his watch of the newest prisoner, no matter how much sorrow it brought. He reached for the on switch.

“Master Fu,” a voice called on the intercom.

Fu swiveled from the cell monitors to the live feed of the front guard station. Roger was looking back at him with a girl standing behind him. This one normally came to see Alya if Fu’s memory was correct. Fu sighed and pressed the red answer button, “She can schedule a visit with Alya for tomorrow.”

“Actually, sir, she wants to—”

The girl jumped in front of Roger, “Master Fu, you need to see this! I think it’s magic!” She quickly held up what looked like a backpack. Fu groaned. Another well-meaning child who thought they had found the key to breaking the Akuma curse. It was best to thank them for their time and send them on their way. He pressed the red button again, ready to do as such, when he saw something else that was red. Hanging from the backpack strap. A little circle with… polkadots.

“...Roger, bring her here and call Cat Noir.”

00000000

“And I thought, ‘that can’t be Alya’s bag. I gave it to her months ago.’ But it totally is! See it even has her name that I stitched in for her,” Marinette explained, her excitement levels were going ballistic. The Master Fu, the Great Guardian, Cat Noir’s boss was listening to her. Sort of. He kept staring at the weird ladybug keychain.

“Princess?”

Marinette jumped at the sudden presence of her boyfriend. Officer Roger shut the door behind him and assumed his position at Fu’s side.

“What are you doing here?”

Marinette took a deep breath, “I told you, I can help.”

“Help? This isn’t a game, Marinette! You could seriously get hurt!” Marinette hated when he talked down to her like this. He was right. She wasn’t a superhero. But that didn’t mean him not believing in her didn’t sting. His gloved claws gently took her shoulders, “Come on, I’ll take you home.”

She slapped them away, “No!” That feeling came back. That urge. That need. “I’m not going to stand around anymore and do nothing while you fight! Doing the right thing will get me hurt? Fine, then let me get hurt!”

She covered her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say all that. The words that had spilled out felt like they came from someone else entirely but they were the truth. She didn’t want to be protected like a fragile doll. Cat Noir’s shock held for a short time and she worried he would still force her to leave. Finally, he calmed down and looked away. Marinette couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but, the fact remained, she was still here.

“Marinette,” she turned back to Master Fu, who was observing her with an odd smirk, “Did you find anything else?”

She unzipped the bag and reached in. Using the Tarot cards as a makeshift plate, she placed the glowing stone dragon on the table between them. Its heavenly tone filled the room. Roger instinctively reached for his weapon, but Fu waved for him to stop.

“I haven’t seen one of these charms in decades,” Fu whispered. “Old magic. The magic of wishes.” He pointed to the three Tarot cards beneath the pieces, “Combined with these and you get a rather peculiar result.”

Marinette gasped, “So it is magic? Can we use it to fight the Akumas?”

Cat Noir’s ears perked.

Roger waited with bated breath.

“Even better,” Fu picked up the dragon head, its Tarot card lifting up with the head as if the two were attached, “If we put this back together, we may find Ladybug.”

“Who?” asked Marinette.

The next few moments were a blur. Marinette saw Roger tear the dragon head out of Fu’s hands, throw the old man out of his chair and grab the rest of the statue. In a flourish of red, the heavyset grown man shrunk to the same jester from earlier that afternoon. Belting out a laugh, the Akuma dashed out of the room, Cat Noir hot on her tail.

Marinette was the only one standing. Her mind barely registered what had just happened. She didn’t even hear the sudden jailbreak alarms blaring. It was Fu’s coughing that roused her. She pulled the man back to his feet, “Master Fu, are you alright?”

“Do not worry about me. I’m far more spry than I look,” he said, gritting against the back pain.

She lowered him into the chair while searching for a way to ease him, “I’ll get you some ice.”

He gripped her arm tightly, “Wait,” he gazed at her knowingly, “Do you recall the first time we met?” “...Huh?” she stopped, derailed by his sudden question.

“About a year ago, I was having a hard time crossing the street. A car was about to run me over. And you pulled me to safety.”

Marinette blinked at his strange claim until… yes… it was the morning before she met Adrien for the first time. She was almost late for class and she had spilled all her… “You ate my macarons!” she shouted in realization.

He gave a throaty chuckle, “Only a selfless, pure heart can wield the Ladybug Miraculous and purify the Akumas. I thought for sure it would be you. And from the way you handle Cat Noir, I believe Ladybug may still be in there.”

Marinette tried to comprehend what he was saying, but she was failing, “What are you talking about? I’m who?”

He pulled out a pair of earrings. Marinette looked back at Alya’s bag. The keychain had the same design as the pair in his hand. “That charm and the Tarot cards attached to it are keeping you from being chosen.” He pushed the remaining deck of Tarot cards to her. “You must change them before the Akuma gives them to Hawkmoth.”

She tugged on her hair. Why did magic have to be complicated? “So, what you’re saying is, if I switch up the cards on that dragon, I’ll become a superhero?”

“Not exactly,” his attention drifted to the monitors of the prisoners panicking in their cells. “It’s wish magic. The wish will end and the world will change back to the way it was. Which could mean anything. They could be free. You could have Alya back.”

Marinette was overjoyed. It could be real. Paris wouldn’t have to live in terror. She could be a superhero like Adrien! Saving lives! Protecting the city!

Not being able to help her parents run the bakery...

Having to bail on her friends...

No time for Adrien...

“What if I was the one who made the wish?” her voice cracked, “The only good thing in my life is Adrien. What if that’s what I wished for? What if, in the world the way it was, we’re not together and the only chance we had was through these cards?” The horrific idea of losing that overprotective, loving dork made her body quake. “Maybe it would be better to stay here where fate let us be together,” she whimpered.

There was no answer, just the alarm down the hall. She truly felt alone.

“Let me tell you a secret about fate. It’s a choice.” She looked at Master Fu. There was care and understanding in his eyes. He handed her the Tarot deck. With a little strain, he dragged a small trash can over and placed it before her. “The cards do not decide where your life goes... you do, Marinette.”

She looked between the cards and the trash. The choices were clear. She held the deck over the can opening. All she needed to do was let go.

That feeling was back, sparked by his words. The same feeling that had driven her to think about joining Cat Noir on the rooftops, chasing Akumas. Her grip on the deck tightened. If she, a normal girl, had already changed the world once, then maybe it was okay if she lost Adrien.

After all… what could possibly stop her from getting him back?

Maybe it was adrenaline or maybe she really had gone crazy. But, right there, in that room, Marinette didn’t want to be Adrien’s princess.

She wanted to fight.

00000000

Buildings whizzed by as the police cruiser raced down the street. The actual Officer Roger was behind the wheel. Marinette had found him locked in the Akuma’s old cell. After freeing him, Fu ordered the policeman to provide Cat Noir with backup and to take Marinette with him. The man was apprehensive about bringing a citizen, a kid no less, into the combat zone, but Fu assured him Marinette would be necessary.

The girl herself was in the passenger seat going through the Tarot cards. She needed to find the right ones to break the spell. A combination that was the magical equivalent to a reset button. The constant potholes and sharp turns made it difficult. First one to stand out to her was ‘The World’ card. They needed to change the world. That fit, right?

“Got ‘em! All cars, converge on the bridge!” Roger shouted on his radio. He hit the sirens.

Through the windshield, Marinette caught glimpses of the Akuma and Cat Noir on the roofs above.

The engine revved and Marinette was thrust back into her seat as Roger sped past the superpowered beings. With a yank to the steering wheel, the cruiser spun around, tires squealing and the vehicle stopped at the entrance to the Pont des Arts bridge. Seconds later, a dozen more police cars parked around them, blocking entry.

“Stay close, little lady,” instructed Roger as they got out.

Without anymore buildings to use, the Akuma landed on the street before them. Policemen made a line, armed with riot shields and batons. Cat Noir landed behind her, staff at the ready. She was surrounded.

“Give it up, Akuma,” Cat Noir said, “You’re going back in the cage.”

The creature growled at them, “You’re not gonna stop me from getting there.” She swung her arm, “Get out of my way!” Out of her hand arced a bright pink ray. Marinette ducked behind the car while the officers hid behind their shields.

Cat Noir flipped over the ray and charged full sprint at her. His staff twirled so fast, Marinette could barely see it. However, he wasn’t swift enough to catch the Akuma. She sidestepped the attack at the last moment and pushed Cat Noir back with a powerful kick.

“Now!” Roger shouted over his megaphone.

The officers rushed the Akuma, shields first, like a stampede of wildebeests. The red jester simply hopped into the air and floated beyond their reach on some unseen magical wind. With a smirk, she flew towards the bridge.

“This is a No-Fly Zone!” Cat Noir snarked, planting a two-legged kick into the Akuma’s back.

Marinette’s face went pale as the creature tumbled out of the sky, heading right for her! She dove out of way. The Akuma hit the cobblestone road hard and rolled several times. During the fall, something slid from the creature to Marinette: a simple pink notebook. Marinette stepped back, the magic aura surrounding the book made it look like it was bubbling with darkness. Marinette didn’t know what to do. Should she find a new hiding spot? She was the closest. Should she attack?

“I need to see her...” she heard the Akuma sprawled on the ground snivel. She sounded dizzy and… sad. “I need to tell her...”

Something flittered down and landed on the pink notebook. It was a Tarot card, fallen from Marinette’s hand. Specifically, the card showing a clownishly dressed man oblivious to the fact that he was about to walk off a cliff; under him were the words ‘The Fool.’ Marinette certainly sensed she was being foolish as she picked up the notebook. Nothing came from the touch. The magic didn’t infect her. Emboldened, she walked towards the Akuma.

“Princess! Get away from that thing!”

Marinette shot a glare at the boy and he quickly shut his mouth.

She knelt next to the recovering Akuma. The jester started at the girl’s sudden closeness. “They won’t fight you if you take me with you,” Marinette said, trying to calm her own frightened heart. The Akuma examined Marinette with uncertainty. She took notice of the distance the police and Cat Noir were keeping. Then, a shining pink outline of a butterfly appeared on the Akuma’s face like a mask. Marinette didn’t know what that meant but managed to keep her disarming smile going. The creature shook away the mask with some effort as if she was resisting something. Marinette held out the notebook to her, “Let’s go see her, together.”

00000000

“We are gonna have a serious talk about you and putting yourself in danger!” Cat Noir shouted from across the river. He wasn’t allowed to come any closer or even try to follow as Marinette and the Akuma walked away.

The Akuma said nothing, making sure her hostage was always between her and any policemen that showed up on their route. Marinette was barely holding herself together. The jester’s pinkish-red hand was heavy on her shoulder. She had chosen to travel with an Akuma, the most dangerous creature in Paris. A monster driven by blind fury that brandished untold magical powers only dreamt about in fairytales. This is what being a hero is about, isn’t it? Putting yourself at risk for the sake of others without a second thought? Oh God! It was official, she had gone both completely crazy and certifiably insane!

“There.” The Akuma guided Marinette towards the giant building on the corner.

Doctors, nurses and patients parted for the duo as they made their way to the hospital receptionist. “Rose,” the Akuma demanded, “Rose Lavillant.” Marinette couldn’t tell if the Akuma was using her as a shield or a place to hide. From the creature’s tone, Marinette could’ve sworn she was… ashamed?

On the bed the doctor brought them to slept a girl with blonde hair cut in a pixie style. She was petite, probably a full head shorter than Marinette. She recognized her as one of her classmates who she had never really spoken to before. The number of machines connected to Rose was concerning. Whatever was wrong with her, it was serious.

The Akuma at last moved from behind Marinette, leaving her in the doorway. There was hesitation in her steps, like a guilty child approaching a parent for punishment. She placed the pink notebook on the bed, “I brought it back, Rose. I know you said I could keep it but...” Her voice hitched, “I’m sorry I… I’m sorry I put you here.” Never did Marinette imagine she would live to see an Akuma cry.

This wasn’t a monster. This was a poor girl who had lost a friend, just like her.

Marinette entered the room only for the butterfly mask to reappear. With it came a renewed wave of anger blasting from the Akuma. She gnashed her teeth and her tears were replaced by boiling rage. “I’ll fix you!” she growled, pulling out the jade dragon pieces, “Even if it means the entire world!”

Waves of magical energy erupted like gusts of wind from the dragon. Anything light enough was thrown around the tiny room, including the Tarot deck. “No!” Marinette fruitlessly grabbed at the cards, only nabbing one.

The rest collected in the Akuma’s waiting palm, “I’ll make a new world for you, Hawkmoth.” The pink butterfly mask shone brightly as she tore off The Tower card and replaced it with The World card. “One where you can wake her up.”

Marinette struggled to move forward against the magic, her only card bent in her grip. It was as if she was walking against a hurricane. “Wait!” her shout was barely audible over the storm, “I don’t know who Hawkmoth is, but he’s done nothing but ruin Paris! He doesn’t care about Rose like you do! You have to stop!!” Doubt seeped into the Akuma’s eyes and Marinette thought she might have reached her. The butterfly mask dazzled more intensely than ever before. Any sign of emotion was lost and the Akuma resembled a zombie. It seemed Hawkmoth wasn’t giving anymore chances and decided to take full control. There was no way Marinette could beat this. What could she possibly do? Then she saw the card she held...

The Akuma slipped The Fool under the next dragon piece, “A world where people would have to be fools to defy you!”

“A world where you control who lives and who dies?” Marinette called, showing off the Death card with a smug look.

The Akuma flicked her wrist and a small pink ray zapped the Death card out of Marinette’s fingers. The winds carried it to the Akuma. Victory in front of her, she grabbed the card and screamed in pain! Her arms flailed as she dropped the Tarot card. She took another look and found a sharp pair of diamond-studded earrings pinned into the card.

“Careful, real diamonds can leave a mark,” Marinette mocked, from the doorway. In her hands were the dragon pieces. In her gut reaction to the injury, the Akuma had accidentally knocked the pieces across the room to Marinette. Now Marinette stood in the center of the chaotic winds! She held a new card to the third dragon piece and it stuck like a magnet. The Akuma roared and pointed her arm at Marinette.

The normal girl of Paris smiled at the powering up pink ray as she pressed the dragon together. Blinding white light filled the room yet Marinette could still see what the last card said…

Strength.

00000000

The jade statue landed safely in Marinette’s hands, inches from the hard floor.

“Whoa, close one. Nice catch, dude,” commented Nino.

Alya started restacking the Tarot cards, “Okay, guys, how about we stop here before we almost accidentally break some other priceless Chinese artifact.”

“Aww, I wanted a turn,” Nino groaned.

Marinette felt as if she was a stranger watching her friends playfully jab at each other like nothing had happened. Here they all were, happy as can be. Did they all forget? The dragon in her grip could offer no answers. The cracks that had shattered its body from before were long gone without a trace of magical light. The room remained as cluttered with party snacks and games as before. She caught her reflection in the her vanity mirror. On her ears were not the diamond studs but her unmistakable Miraculous. She began to wonder if it was all just a dream. The memories certainly felt real. She could recall when Alya was taken away, how she never became friends with Nino, her first date with Adrien…

“Marinette?”

Her mind still in a haze, she slowly turned to Adrien who was waiting by the open trapdoor. Alya and Nino were already on their way down for the next big activity.

“You coming?” he asked.

Her body instinctively went into freak out mode as it realized she was alone with the boy. Yet that nervousness was overpowered by a desire to know, “Adrien… d-d-do you remember?”

“Remember?” She clung to a sliver of hope that he could affirm that it was all real. That in some other Paris far away, he was Cat Noir and they were together. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, “Oh! Nino’s number, right. Thanks for reminding me.” He pulled out his phone.

She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Of course… why should she expect there to be an easy answer? Maybe it was real, maybe it was wishful thinking given life by too much sugar. She prayed Cat Noir never learned the two of them were going out in her fantasy world. He would undoubtedly use it as more flirting material.

“Oh wait,” Adrien gave her a sheepish smile, “I just realized I don’t have your number, Marinette.”

A shiver ran up her spine. Whether or not the other Paris was a daydream, she could make it her reality. The only thing in her way was herself. She just needed to take that first baby-step.

No wishes.

No cards.

No fate.

She placed the dragon on the table.

“No problem, I’ll give you mine and you can send me yours.”

END

#Miraculous Ladybug #Project: Tarot 2017 #marinette #chat noir #adrien #master fu #alya #nino #reflekta #sabine #tom #officer roger #themlgroup

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