#no but seriously that dude actually prepared and made the target

[farsight-the-char]

ngl my trust in the "Average American" is somewhat restored.

Some of you do hit your targets actually.

[xesiarah]

𓏵 Yan!Mafia Boss x Reader

Side notes: started ts when I was taking a shit + I wrote this to cure my wattpad loving younger self leave me alone teehee

Summary: You got sick and your hot obsessive macho bomshakalaka mafia boss husband decided to make it everyone's problem 😈

—

—

You've never thought you'd be paying for your sins this early.

It's as if every single enemy you've had in life is suddenly granted a free reign to beat the shit out of you.

You're currently bedridden, at this point, basically anticipating death to arrive, to take you out of your misery and drag you to the depths of hell where you'd honestly feel way better in.

Well, would you look at that. Your husband enters the room with a commanding presence, almost making the sickness dissipate from your body. Almost. He gracefully kneels to check your temperature with his hand. His gaze carries a blend of innocent concern you'd think he didn't slaughter individuals for a living. "Are you absolutely certain you're feeling alright? If you need anything else-" you cut him off, looking at him dead in the eyes, literally and figuratively. "I need ibuprofen and a will to fucking live."

Actually, you were never one to fall ill easily; in fact, you're 100% positive you're as healthy as a horse. But on rare occasions, the severity would escalate to the extent that you would be confined to bed for over a week, or even worse, to the point of hospitalization.

Nothing truly scares you; it's just that ever since you started dating Damon, everything began to feel like your mom's most delicate china dishes, one wrong move and this dude's patience will snap just like that. And he's never one to fuck around with. — Especially when it comes to the one he treasures the most.

So, when you did fall sick, Damon is in need of someone to take his anger out on, and naturally, he targets his own men.

Those incompetent little shits. He has always made sure to have his men watch over you, whether it be in public or when you desire a sense of privacy. He ensures they stay out of your sight. A week ago, he granted you permission to go out, under the condition that you were accompanied by at least three proficient bodyguards, strong buff men somehow turned into your little ladies-in-waiting. — Later on, when he found out that the cause of your illness was just fuckass rain, he was furious. And all because the 3 dimwits in charge failed to bring an umbrella, like, has not one of them thought about waltzing into the nearest store to buy one!? Stupid buttfucks. Seriously, you'd assume that with the amount of money he pays them, they would come together hand in hand.. and with the power of friendship! Manifest an umbrella in order to shield you from the rain.

At present, the three men who looked after you are trapped in the confines of his office. The tension is so thick, it's like leather or rope, which Damon himself could use to strangle these wastes of air. "Why do you fuckers think I hired you?" He's menacingly seated at his desk positioned in the center of the spacious room. The men were paralyzed by fear, just like your forgotten cup of soda left in the freezer - completely frozen. "Answer me," he calmly stated, and by "calmly" I mean he's pointing a gun at them and didn't shoot immediately. That's quite peaceful, don't you think?

"Or none of you will survive out here," he added, his tone dripping with hostility. As if he even had the intention of letting that happen in the first place. The moment your temperature spiked was the precise moment these three idiots were declared deceased. "N-none of us thought it was gonna rain-" The taller of the three spoke, making the unfortunate decision to try to reason with the devil's incarnate, — lil bro didn't even have time to regret it because his brains were blown out almost immediately. "You think being prepared isn't part of the job!?" Damon could feel himself age ten fucking years. How stupid can you be!?

"Leave." He gestures with his hand. With a heavy heart, both survivors were relieved to finally leave. But, they weren't able to even take a few more steps out the door when two gunshots struck them in the head. Their dead bodies fall to the floor in a loud thud. "Assholes." He muttered, messaging his temples and turning to his second-in-command, holding the gun. "You have been so kind in granting them a lengthy existence, boss," he remarked with a smile. Without even sparing the dude a glance, Damon mumbled, "I need y/n."

Of course, he does. You're literally the only one who could reduce this life-threatening man into a lovesick puppy.

[13uswntimagines]

Your Ass Is Out of This World (Kelley x Reader)

Request: alex or kelley or sonnett x reader where they've been dating for a few years R is an astronaut for NASA and she gets to go to space

Author’s Note: Special thanks to @literaryhedgehog​ cause without her, none of this would have happened. 

Kelley wasn’t quite sure how she had ended up standing next to a dive bar sipping a lukewarm beer on a Friday night. In her defense, Ali and Ashlyn had convinced her it would be fun and had promised to pay for the Uber rides both ways. It had been fun for a while, dancing with them to some old 70s songs on the light-up dance floor, but half an hour ago they had disappeared off into a hallway somewhere, and she had no intention of third-wheeling (she knew she should have convinced Alex to join them). But she also wasn’t going to leave without them, because she wasn’t convinced either of them were sober enough to take any kind of transportation safely (someone needed to be there to make sure they didn’t puke in someone’s car).

So here she was, standing by the bar waiting for her friends’ sexcapades to be over, nursing her drink. The clink of a glass settling in front of her caught her attention. She blinked at the bartender. “I didn’t order another one,” 

The man’s lips ticked up and he shrugged. “Lady on the end paid for it. Said you looked sad,” 

Kelley looked up, following the man’s eyes towards a woman standing a few seats down the bar from her. She was also standing alone but was dressed as though for a different event altogether. Kelley had embraced the 70s theme of the bar slightly, wearing a jumpsuit and a scarf around her head, but this woman had just thrown a white NASA shirt--like the one Kelley got for her little cousin at Target-- over a pair of black jeans. As she bobbed her head to the music she met Kelley’s eyes and smiled. 

Kelley took that as her invitation to approach. Kelley’s eyes traced her form, lingering on the white material. She didn’t know those came in adult sizes...

“You must be a star, I can't stop orbiting around you” Kelley smiled charmingly as she approached you, setting her beer on the bar beside you and settling in the seat to the left of yours. 

“I do believe I was the one to buy you the drink…” you said, your lips twitching as you tried to keep a serious expression. “Shouldn’t I be the one throwing pickup lines here?”

“You bought me the drink, so I get to be the one to woo you. I’m Kelley, are you from Mars? 'cuz I wanna explore you with curiosity.” Kelley said, wiggling her eyebrows at you, enjoying the light blush coloring your cheeks. 

“Oh my god,” you groaned, “that was terrible. I mean really good but absolutely awful.”

“At least I got you to smile, but you still haven’t told me your name.” Kelley laughed, taking a sip of her beer. She was prepared to lay on the horrible pick up lines for your entertainment. 

“I’m Y/n,” you said, putting down your drink and holding out your hand, “pleasure.”

“They call me the milky way...Pleasure You Can't Measure,” Kelley smiled, shaking your hand as you laughed and pulling you a little closer “Why look at the moon, if I can’t touch it? Why look at your lips, if I can't kiss them,” she said, winking so you knew she was completely joking. 

“How do you know so many of these?” You said, shaking your head in awe. “ All I know off the top of my head is ‘do you work for NASA? Because you’re out of this world!’”

“Ah, a magician never reveals her secrets,” Kelley whispered conspiratoryly, bringing her hand up to cover her lips. “but my team and I have definitely had flirt offs for bonding nights,” 

“Your team?” 

“Yeah, I play soccer for the US and Washington,” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a huge accomplishment. 

Your eyes widened and you nearly spat out your drink. “Didn’t they, like, just win a World Cup?” 

“Yeah, No biggie,” Kelley said, side-eyeing you as she took another sip. 

“No biggie?  I’m surprised you don’t have a swarm of paparazzi shadowing you, that’s incredible! Weren’t the USWNT like the most successful US team in soccer?’

“Hm, there’s not enough drama for them, but we don’t mind. How about you? What do you do beautiful?” Kelley hummed. 

“Oh. I work for NASA,” you said, gesturing at the shirt. “I can’t wait to bring some of those lines back to work.”

“What??” 

****

“So do they at least give you a good choice of flavors? So you don’t get bored and stuff?” Emily asked from across the table, licking her dripping I cream cone. 

When your girlfriend decided to introduce you to the team after their match against Colombia, you were quite surprised she had chosen an ice cream shop as a venue. But with how food motivated the youngins seemed, you realized how appropriate it was. 

“I mean,” you said, your spoon suspended in the air as you blinked at Emily, “ice cream isn’t the only thing we will eat. I’m going to be on the station for like 8 months. Ice cream is not a balanced diet.”

“But it’s the only one they sell in the stores. You don’t have to lie cause the veggie lovers are here,” The defender said, leaning across the table, as though it would prevent the rest of the table from hearing her. 

“Babe, you literally love most veggies too,” Lindsey rolled her eyes, using her thumb to wipe a spot of chocolate ice cream from Emily’s nose. 

“Actually, I heard they’re a pretty good selection of dehydrated fruits and veggies and MRE’s and Tortillas and stuff. Plus I get to take a few things from home…” You mumbled, leaning back. 

She couldn’t be serious right? There was no way she thought you were supposed to sustain yourself on horrible freeze-dried dairy products for that long. Not to mention, freeze-dried ‘astronaut’ products for the most part weren’t actually possible to bring to space, with how crumbly they are. You were more likely to eat actual ice cream on the space station (less chance for an errant crumb being inhaled or destroying an important piece of equipment) than that gift shop garbage. 

“Oh yeah, MRE sounds way more likely than just eating the stuff they literally label as being for astronauts…” Emily said, rolling her eyes. “What does that even stand for? ‘Must reject Emily?”

You opened your mouth to answer, eyebrows furrowed, only for Kelley to nudge you softly. 

“It’s not worth the fight babe, trust me. Not the brightest lighthouse if you know what I mean,” Your girlfriend made a swirling motion with her finger next to her temple. 

You leaned in closer so your lips were nearly touching her ear. “She’s not serious right?” 

“I never joke about ice cream,” Emily answered seriously. 

You blinked at her, looking to your girlfriend who just shrugged and raised her eyebrows. 

“I’m, I’m not sure if they have a flavor rotation system for ice cream flavors. We haven’t been… briefed on that yet,” you nodded seriously. 

…...

“Can you hear me?” Kelley said, tapping her fingers impatiently as your face appeared in the video call. 

“He- -utiful,” You smiled through the glitchy computer screen. Your waving was broken up like a bad claymation. You leaned in to make out the fuzzy figures standing behind your girlfriend, assuming she was at camp or something. 

Normal long distance sucked, but literally being off-planet really made things difficult. It wasn’t like Kelley could just text you when she missed you, or randomly call you when she missed you at 3 am. Sure, she could email and you made a tremendous effort to schedule calls once a month, but it was still incredibly difficult (and slightly weird that a NASA tech dude had to monitor each call to make sure the connection stayed up). And sometimes even the best video-calling technology had issues. Like today (when a giant satellite or piece of space trash would block the signal). 

“Are you hav- -un at -amp?” You asked, grabbing your floating water pouch pushing out a sip sized water drop. 

“Yeah, it’s great,” Kelley said, watching you munch on your water. When you first got on the station you sent her pictures of artwork you made out of different drops of colored water- specifically making a giant water ‘soccer ball’ for her. Then you tried to boop it around and ended up losing control, amusing all your crewmates who watched you trying not to run into too many walls. “We’re looking forward to playing against Brazil on Friday, should be brutal.” 

“We’re set to be ov- Florida on -day, so I’ll try and tune into the ga-. Catch a nice - view,” You nodded, wiggling your eyebrows (which looked more like you having a seizure due to how badly you were pixelated). 

While Kelley wasn’t entirely sure what you were saying, she went ahead and nodded. “Let me know what you think!”

“Wh- color -it are you w-ing? Y- look -uper s-xy in the -ue,” you said, floating up in a ‘draw me like one of your french girls’ pose. 

“You’re favorite one,” Kelley said, winking at you. 

“-es!!” You cheered “-ake p-ture -or -“ the screen flickered dangerously for a second. Before a wobbly picture returned. 

“Babe you’re breaking up, I can’t tell what you’re saying. Y/n. Are you there? UGh. I love you! We’ll talk soon.”

“-ove y- -oo” 

Kelley blew a slow kiss to her camera before she heard a deep voice saying “Sorry ma’am. The connection was lost. Y’all still have five minutes on your scheduled call- Want me to try calling again? See if the signal improves?”

“Yeah,” Kelley shifted, rubbing the bridge of her nose as typing sounds echoed through the speaker. How she was going to make it through four more months of this she had no idea. 

“What if like the ship was attacked by aliens or something,” Sonnett whispered from her left, staring at the blank screen with real trepidation. 

“Not possible ma’am,” she heard him laugh. “But I doubt I would have the right level of security clearance to know.”

“great.”

Kelley grabbed a pen and marked a day off the calendar hanging on her wall. So much for ‘phone call with Y/n.’ She sighed. Just a few months to go. 

****

Gravity fucking sucked. It was disorienting and heavy and made you sick to your stomach. Space station alums always talked about re-entry and how bad that was, but you thought sitting in a NASA hospital bed while your equilibrium readjusted was way worse than your fireball craft plummeting into the ocean. 

“This fucking sucks,” You groaned, again throwing your hand over to pull out the IV. You hated how hard it was to move (and how you actually had to hold up a cup of water to get a drink but that was beside the point). 

“Whoa babe, I know you’re a little out of it right now, but that has to stay in. Just try and relax for a little while,” Kelley said, grabbing your hand and kissing the back of your knuckles. 

You frowned at her through heavy-lidded eyes. “Don’t wanna be here. Wanna be home with you.” 

“I know, but you gotta stay here until the re-entry symptoms have worn off a little more,” She said again. She knew that you weren’t going to be 100% when you stepped out of the spacecraft, but she hadn’t expected you to be so out of it. You were sick to your stomach and entirely unable to walk without assistance. 

The doctors assured her that you would be fine (residual effects from not being in gravity for so long and the impact of the landing or whatever), but it was still difficult to watch. It didn’t help that you were a horrendous patient. 

“Just watch the game. The US is even in Blue,” Kelley tried to coax. Even she was beginning to grow restless. But you couldn’t leave until you could keep down solid foods. 

“I don’t want to watch. You’re not in it,” You said, grabbing the remote from her and turning the television off. Then you tried to set the remote in the air, but instead of hovering like it should have done, it dropped to the ground. 

“Alright, commander Y/l/n. It’s dinner time,” one of the NASA hospital nurses said, bringing in a tray for you. Kelley thanked them as they left since you were too dazed to think of it.  

“God this food sucks, I hate jello ” you grumbled, lifting the spoon in front of your face (fully expecting it to float so you could take your bite) and dropping it as you want to open the pudding packet instead. “I just want a big juicy cheeseburger. With bacon and onions and-“ You trailed off, your mouth watering at the thought. You hadn’t had proper food in 8 months, and it had been your major cravings food. 

“A side of diabetes” she scoffed, picking up the discarded remote and spoon, “And are you going to keep dropping things everywhere?” She asked, carefully filling a spoon with chocolate pudding and guiding it to your mouth. 

“Fuck Newton. Things are supposed to float,” 

****

You loved the soft skin behind Kelley’s ear. It was so smooth, and it always smelt like a mix of her perfume, shampoo, and something inherently Kelley. It was a bonus that your exploration of the area always sent a shiver down her spine. You ran your nose along the skin there, nibbling on her ear before moving down her neck. Leaving little kisses along your path. Kelley sighed, sleepily scratching your scalp and tilting her head to the side to encourage you to continue. 

“You,” Kelley said. “ I like you.”

“Hm, I’m glad. It would be kinda scary if you were doing this with someone you didn’t like,” you mumbled against her skin, unwilling to part with it for even a moment. Kelley giggled at the tickling sensation. How you still had so much energy after you had thoroughly worn her out getting… reacquainted she would never know.

 “But what do you like most. Tell me, babe,” You said, moving your lips a little lower, towards where her shoulder and neck met. 

“I love… your ass. It’s out of this world.” She said sleepily, reaching around to grab her favorite asset of yours. 

“Well, it has been,” You laughed, pulling away reluctantly so you could look her in the eyes. 

“Shut up you goof,” She rolled her eyes, grabbing a pillow and whacking you lightly. You fell over dramatically, pulling her so she was on top of you. 

“Hm, I’m your goof,” 

“Yeah. You are. And babe?” She smiled down at you, leaning down to press a kiss to your lips. 

“Hmm?” You hummed against her lips. She leaned back to look you in the eyes, one forearm across your chest and her other hand beside your head supporting her. 

“No more space travel for a while?” 

 “Pinky promise,” You said, wiggling your hand so your littlest finger connected with hers. 

“Good. I can’t believe I was dating someone from TEXAS for a while.” Kelley pretended to shudder. “Jus think, one of your coworkers might have been a Houston dash supporter!”

[skelswritingcorner]

Savanaclaw + Autistic!MC

The actual content of this is directly copied and pasted from the Wattpad post; the author’s note and content warnings are paraphrased but still keep the general message.

A/N: This involves some stuff like having an autistic sibling, and some other things that weren’t mentioned in the first part.

Content Warnings: Menstruation, injury that happens in the canonical story.

Leona Kingscholar (this dude’s so hard to write ;-;)

The first time he met her was when she stepped on his tail. He was surprised at how much she apologised and insisting on checking his tail for any bruises or broken bones. Who does this herbivore think she is? He often thinks to himself, denying his appreciation of her concern because of his pride.

Unlike the women of the Afterglow Savanna, Leona noticed that MC was rather timid in comparison. Is this normal for herbivores? He felt like something was wrong, but it was simply an afterthought that nagged at him sometimes at night.

Sometimes, after taking a nap, he occasionally sees her nearby minding her own business. When asked, she replied that she found his silence calming. He found this strange but okay. Eventually, sometimes he’d notice a strange change in scent on her end but was too prideful to bring it up.

Before the Magift tournament, he noticed how she was somewhat irritated in general. When he asked her about it, she told him about her brother who often wouldn’t shut up about sports if given the chance. “I’m not even a sporty person,” she grumbled, “please don’t take it personally. I just can’t stand my brother since he’s super loud and an ass.” Well, Leona can’t relate to her struggle exactly but they both mutually hate their older brothers, that’s adequate enough for him.

During his overblot, MC again shows no fear (y’all sense the pattern here). This time it’s his tail and ears that she wants to pet. Ruggie and Jack panic, but it’s simply deja vu for Heartslabyul.

After getting knocked out by Grim during the exhibition match, Jack noticed the changed smell, but accompanied by the smell of blood and told the nurses along with Leona and Ruggie. After being brought to the infirmary, the nurses deduced that she started her period. He grumbled that she should’ve told them and proceeded to prepare for the official game to begin.

When Cheka came to visit them, his loudness scared MC half to death so Leona had to tell Cheka to stop shouting. Did Leona ever find out MC’s autistic? He found out through Ace. Did he change much, if at all? Definitely not, why does that matter anyways to him?

Ruggie Bucchi (also hard to write as well) He paid for his mischief and tomfoolery with an irritated lassie (this is the most powerful sentence I’ve ever written tbh). He stole Riddle and Cater’s magic pens and proceeded to be chased first by an enraged girl acting on sheer impulse and revenge followed by two other first years and a demon cat.

Okay, now this dude’s pretty laid back so he’s going to be tolerant, but after she chases him to an inch of his life he’s going to be terrified. He’s going to be confused when MC doesn’t get his jokes or her fury at the pranks he pulls at first, but when explained by Deuce that she usually doesn’t understand jokes (he gon get smacked) unless she herself makes them and tells him don’t pull these pranks again (everyone’s traumatized, -1000/10 won’t want to experience again). When Ruggie told her that she’s terrifying, she simply replied with, “You say that but my mom’s scarier.”

Poor dude’s gonna think her mom’s this super tall buff woman that can knock someone out with little to no effort but he’s thinking completely wrong. When he asks her how she is terrifying she replies with, “Well...mom fought the school board where I’m from because my brother was bullied heavily in middle school. He’s so traumatized that he won’t go near the campus. I hated that school anyways, too loud for my liking.”

He likely doesn’t realise the hormonal changes until Leona mentions it. “I thought she was quite docile,” he says, “maybe she’s just having an off day.” Ruggie usually doesn’t take anything seriously, but this was getting into weird territory and can’t take it lightly.

When Leona overblotted, Ruggie and Jack were terrified at the fact that she seemingly didn’t register that, y’know, this is a dangerous situation and you really shouldn’t be petting his ears. “She did something similar when Riddle overblotted,” Deuce tells them, “it’s just deja vu for us.” And then she kicked him in the balls and scurried off...nobody expected that.

After the fight, Ruggie and Jack noticed that she was slightly fatigued (they didn’t smell the blood yet). When Crowley told her to sit on the sidelines she just shrugged, telling him that she’s been getting some cramps anyways and is likely in no shape to play anyways.

Grim chucks disc at MC, Jack notices the smell of blood, brings her to infirmary and finds out she started her period right after the overblot fight, yadda yadda (it’s 5 AM and I only got three hours of sleep please bear with me).

Eventually, he finds out after asking Deuce that she’s autistic. Nothing really changes, he just makes sure to watch his mouth and try not to pull pranks on her (he’s permanently traumatized y’all).

Jack Howl (he’s a very good boy...a tsundere one but still) He first met MC when she and the Heartslabyul boys (excluding Trey because…y’know) were scoping out who was most likely to be the next victim of the strange injuries. She insisted on doing it herself (bad idea when your period starts soon and there’s a bunch of humanoid students who can smell the pheromones).

She ended up getting hit on by some of the upperclassmen, she didn’t say she was uncomfortable due to self advocacy issues. Luckily Jack is a very good boy with a sense of justice so he drove them off and made sure she was okay.

After thanking him and explaining what was happening, he told MC that he didn’t need any protection. He muttered that he likely wouldn’t be targeted under his breath under the assumption it was too quiet for her to hear. He was oh so wrong.

She asked if she heard him correctly, that he would likely not be targeted. He realised at this point that he shouldn’t have underestimated her. He gave in and whispered into her ear that he had an idea of who was behind it, but couldn’t tell her yet. He wasn’t expecting to get ear scritches and a reminder to be safe just in case. Did he like it? He didn’t like to admit it, but he did. Did he expect it? Definitely not.

When he turned into his beast form before Leona overblotted, he didn’t realise that MC’s pupils widened. She wanted to pet him and squish his toe beans, okay? He was too angry at Leona to notice though.

When Leona did overblot, he panicked when she casually approached him and started petting his ears. He was trying his best not to lunge forward to grab her and take her somewhere far away, but she kicked Leona in the groin before scurrying off far enough to not be attacked. After the fight, he noticed that she smelled like she was bleeding but didn’t bring it up.

Skipping to the exhibition match after Grim knocked her unconscious with the disc, Jack rushed to her side to check for any injuries. Luckily she didn’t get too severe of brain damage, but the smell of blood and pheromones was overly strong, especially near her pelvis. He told this to the nurses before they brought her to the infirmary, and also told this to Leona and Ruggie.

After being told by Ace and Deuce that MC’s autistic, he’s gonna try his best to research it (dude’s intelligent, I admire that). He’s also going to research menstruation so he’ll be better prepared the next time it happens.

[jasmine-the-fox]

I’m not obsessed!

So I got this idea from rejections that would be horrible for when Mari reveals her feelings to Adrien written by @lenoreofraven and i’m going to write this one first and then do another one I saw in them and then write my own...

Mari never thought Lila would go this far with her lies... But this was over the top, she had gotten to school early for once after finishing another commission for Jagged and sent it to him, when she walked in... The class stared at her like she grew a second head, she ignored it and went to the back... Where she was sent to alone after Lila once again got the class to agree on the seating change without telling her.

Everything was going well until Adrien asked to wait after school, said he needed to talk to her, she didn’t really mind at all... But she didn’t think this would happen.

“I’m really sorry but I can’t return your feelings since there not healthy” he said “Lila told us about how you have my agenda written down, how you know everything I do... And I just think you should get help! I actually called your parents and offered to pay for what you might need!” he claimed as she looked at him like he was stupid.

So this is what happened? Lila made them think she was crazy for Adrien? Did her class not know her at all? Guess they didn’t... Adrien said that he could return her crazy feelings right? Oh well “Okay then” she said as he looked at her with a smile of hope “Then I guess were not friends anymore, i’ll unfriend you when I get home. Have a nice day Adrien” and with that she left him there in shock.

She walked into the bakery to find her parents looking furious... It was obvious it was about what Adrien called them for “I’m going to my room” she said and headed up, she went to the kitchen first to get herself something to eat and then headed up to her trapdoor and went in to find Kagami there “I heard what happened... To think they would forget you told the class you were dating me” she snapped as Mari sighed and went to her girlfriends side.

The two went up to her bed with the goods she brought, they talked about everything that had happened because of Lila, the possibility of a restraining order from the Agreste about something that they had no proof of happening, Tomoe Tsurugi came over moments later to speak to the Dupain-Cheng family “I wish to invite your daughter to come with me and my daughter to Japan” she explained, Tomoe went further with how long they would be there, where they would stay... In the end Mari’s parents agreed, Marinette was going to Japan in two weeks for the summer.

Now they had to take care of Lila...

The next day, Mari came to school with Kagami holding her hand, Kagami was dropped off at the bakery to have breakfast and then they walked the corner street to school together which Nino saw them holding hands and looking like he does with Alya, they walked in and went to Kagami’s locker first, Aurore, Mireille and Marc greeted the couple and headed to class, then they went to Mari’s locker where Alya was waiting by Mari’s locker for some reason “Why do you need to be so crazy!? Be grateful Adrien didn’t tell his dad on you!” she yelled and then left the room.

Kagami wanted to charge at her but Marinette stopped her “Just two more weeks. Two more weeks and then we won’t see them for the whole summer” she said making Kagami sigh and nod as they went to Bustier’s class “I’ll see you at lunch” Kagami said after kissing Mari... Without knowing that Rose and Juleka saw them “Sure babe. Here, bakery or your place?” Mari asked as Kagami rolled her eyes “I don’t care since I know your going to make something for us to enjoy” she replied making Mari giggle as they kissed one more time and then Mari went to her seat in the back.

“Oh Marinette! I can’t believe you stalked Adrien to school today! I really thought you would stop this by now!” Lila exclaimed as Mari raised a brow, Adrien looked horrified, Alya looked pissed, Nino, Rose and Juleka looked like Lila was saying a load of BS and the class was shocked “That’s not true dude” Nino said making them all turn to him “I mean, I walked to school to see her holding hands with Kagami when they walked in, after that Adrien arrived” he explained as Lila hid her anger at being revealed as a liar.

“Well then... Why did I see her going into Adrien’s locker before going to class?” Lila asked making this time the class glare at Mari “That can’t be right... Juleka and I saw her kissing Kagami by the classroom” Rose revealed... And the class watched as Mari turned beet red at those words “Sorry! You actually surprised us... But yeah, not only that but they were talking about where to eat for lunch today... So Lila is lying” Juleka explained as everyone turned to look at Marinette and then to Lila in a back and forth.

They were all confused, did Lila lie? But Mari was obsessed with Adrien “I seriously am shocked that you guys forget that I told you all that Kagami and I were dating... Then again it was three days before Lila came back” Mari spoke making there eyes widen as Adrien looked confused, she was right! They remembered the picnic Mari prepared for them with Kagami to reveal they were dating... Adrien hadn’t gone because of piano lessons, so he never knew about the two girls dating... But now he knew the truth... Mari wasn’t obsessed with him.

Lila had lied to them...

With that, the class blew up on Lila, yelling demands on why she lied to them all this time, what else did she lie about, demands to Max and Alya to look her name up on google... Look at that! Her name links you to the Ladyblog! Guess it should be called the Lilablog since that’s all Alya posts about! Lila Rossi took over the blog with her lies! Now Alya’s blog and dream job was in dust! Thanks a lot Lila! The class was yelling even when miss Bustier walked in and tried to have Marinette stop them... Only to find her doing her homework, Caline had to get the principal to stop them and get answers.

The words “Lila lied to us!” was all that was said before saying every single lie she told them... All up to Alya saying “Yesterday Lila claimed Mari was obsessed with Adrien!” which made Damocles look at them in shock, he took Lila to his office with Adrien... Ignoring the fact that Mari was spoken in a major number of lies and demanded answers while calling both of there parents... Only to find a second phone in Lila’s purse ringing, this made the principal understand that Lila gave them a fake number and was the one answering his calls from the start.

After a while both parents arrived, there was major yelling between the mother and daughter before miss Rossi took her daughter out of school and sent back to Italy to live with her father while she tried to fix Lila’s lies, still none of them thought about Marinette having been a target of Lila’s at all and the day went on, not even Nino, Rose or Juleka went to see Mari to say sorry for not believing her, in the end at lunch she went to the Tsurugi house to have lunch... Believing the class might look for her in the cafeteria or at the bakery.

In the end they never did, they all forgot that they believed Lila about Mari, bullied Mari because she bullied Lila... And they didn’t think about saying sorry and try to fix things with her, so when she came back, it was to find the old seating for the class, Caline tried to have Mari sit next to Alya like before but “No, I preferred the old seating arrangement with me alone in the back where I was ignored and believed to deserve to have my things destroyed and attacked because I was believed to be bullying Lila” she said making them look at her in shock.

She didn’t want to go back to the old days? But she’s there everyday Ladybug. There friends. So now that Lila was gone... Everything is fine right? Caline tried to push Mari to be the better person “Your all friends remember?” she asked as Mari glared at there teacher “Last I remembered, I wasn’t friends with any of them since last year when they announced that they weren’t going to be my friend since I was a bully” she snapped as she went to the back as Nathaniel sat next to Ivan, everyone was so quiet that Caline decided to begin the lesson, no one spoke and just looked like they were focused on the lesson like Mari and Chloe were when really they were shocked at there actions towards Mari.

For the next two weeks, none of them spoke to her, they didn’t try to contact her which unknown to them she had changed her number, they didn’t try to visit the bakery when Mari was either at the hotel with Chloe talking about date plans for Mari and Kagami or at the Tsurugi house making lists of what Mari had to bring with her... They simply did nothing, they thought Mari would come to them at some point to talk to them, but she never did, at the end of the second week, Alya made a group chat with the class to have them meet at the bakery to talk to Mari, Alya believed that Mari was giving them the silent treatment (she really wasn’t) and how Mari had to stop acting like a child.

Without knowing that morning they were heading to the bakery, Mari was at the airport saying bye to her parents and Chloe, by the time they got to the bakery, the couple had just opened the bakery “Hi! Were here to invite Mari to the park to have fun” Alya explained, of course it was a lie, the real plan was to surround her and confront her about her way of treating them being mean and selfish “Sorry Alya, but Marinette left for the whole summer” Sabine said as she then turned to a customer.

Alya was shocked and walked out of the bakery, by the time they were talking in the park about trying something else, Mari was sleeping with Kagami on there plane flight, since Mari’s phone couldn’t take a call from Paris, she left her phone at home, so when the class tried to call and text her, they were shocked to find a stranger answering them and saying they got the number a week ago... Explaining to them that Mari was being so mean to them that she changed her number... Not knowing that the day after they disowned there friendship to Mari... The designer had changed her phone and number.

For the rest of the summer, the class got to work on planning a way to get back at Mari for her way of treating them and then a plan to confront her for being so mean to them... Not knowing that Mari had transferred to Mendeleiev’s class to be with Kagami, and then had worked on papers with the Tsurugi lawyer to sue her class (minus Chloe) her teacher Caline and the principal for the way they treated her and to get the justice she deserved, of course Kagami had documented everything Mari went through since before they were dating and she handed it to her lawyer who with it claimed it would destroy them and make them loose so much.

By the time summer ended, the school board was investigating Damocles and Caline for there actions, the Tsurugi lawyer was ordered by Tomoe to target them first, then Lila’s mother called her daughter to yell at her about how Lila was being sued for bullying Marinette, when school started both Caline and Damocles were fired, Damocles was fired for embezzlement of money that was meant to help the school and using it for his The Owl costume, he was fired and investigated to find out how much money he owed the school, Caline was fired for lying to them, turns out she had her teacher’s permit destroyed after doing the same thing she did to Marinette and her classmates to another class in another school... Where the student who was like Mari committed suicide, Caline was sued and lost money for her actions but because Damocles didn’t search her further he never knew who he really hired.

Lila made her mother loose so much money that she was in heavy debt, Lila was forced to get a job to pay her mother and father back (he ended up helping to pay the fine Lila had to pay) Lila had lost everything and was being forced to get medical help for her lying, then it was the class, there parents all got letters about there kids being sued by Mari with a list of damaged items they destroyed (including prices of each item) clothes and pastries they forced Mari to make and refused to pay (more money listed with each item) and for Alya and Alix a list of injuries (including pictures) that they caused Mari at some point.

Gabriel was informed in the letter that Adrien had believed Lila that Marinette was obsessed with him in a romantic way... When she was dating Kagami, and instead of asking Mari about it, he instead called her parents about the lie and promised to pay for any center she was going to be placed in including treatment and then told Mari in a rejection about the lie, Gabriel grounded Adrien and warned him that one more wrong move and he would pull Adrien out of public school, still the class (minus Adrien and Chloe) were sued and some (Alya, Alix, Kim, Nino, Rose, Juleka, Mylène and Sabrina) were in heavy debt for things they destroyed, baked goods or clothes they demanded from Mari.

Meanwhile, Mari was happy to be with Kagami in class, she was having fun and was making friends with the class, when her old class saw her with her new class... They were lost, they had lost there everyday Ladybug due to there actions, but they still had a plan to do... But as they were about to do it, Kagami brought up the restraining order that was on the papers they received, Mari was surprised but she knew Kagami wanted to protect her... Since they were going to get married and all.

It happened in Japan, Kagami had taken her to a temple to pray and she made her demand, of course Mari joked about how “Kagami never hesitates” making them laugh, but Mari accepted so they went to the restaurant with Tomoe to give her the good news so they could celebrate together, after that the couple went around Japan to do some shopping and all Mari could think about was the wedding she would have with Kagami... They had much to plan but that could wait, they had to think about college right now since this was going to be there last year of high school.

Needless to say... Mari proved them wrong about her being obsessed on Adrien.

[sarahjtv]

BNHA Chapter 321 Spoiler Analysis: Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Good god almighty it’s been 2 weeks already!  A lot of MHA stuff was released today: the Shonen Jump Cover, the 7th Anniversary cover page, Volume 31 Cover, and of course, Chapter 321!  My hand’s getting better, but I’m liking these shorter analysis's so let’s go:

First we got the Volume 31 Cover and it’s really good!  It’s basically All Might passing down the power of OFA to Deku.  You can see their various clothes in the mist like their UA uniforms, their Hero costumes, and even Deku’s middle school uniform (which took me a while to see).  It’s a really beautiful Volume cover, but god it’s weird to see All Might not smile in his buff form.  Like it’s so odd.  

Next is the Shonen Jump cover page featuring Deku in his Stealth Suit with Rody Soul and his bird, Pino, looking from the sidelines.  Deku looks so freaking badass in this suit!  I really hope he wears it for a while in the film.  I’m gonna guess he’s gonna wear it at the film’s climax, but we don’t know yet.  Hell, we barely know what WHM’s about AND THE MOVIE COMES OUT NEXT WEEK!  God, I want to see this movie why can't I live in Japan and speak Japanese 😭

The last color page we get is this awesome double page spread of all the 1-A kids + Aizawa building this massive All Might Mecha!  They’re all wearing green suits, goggles, and various pieces of tech on them.  Really, it’s just a super cool spread that looks like it’s colored the same way as the 5th anniversary one was.  I think you need to see it yourself to know what everyone’s doing because there’s a lot going on.

Now onto the chapter!  Endeavor has made it to the scene, but he’s still trusting the kids to bring Deku back as he should.  They can definitely handle themselves.  I do feel bad for Kirishima though.  He wants to say things to Deku (as everyone does), but his Quirk can’t do much to stop Deku so long as Deku’s fighting long range and in the air.  I’d like to see my rock son in action again.

So, SHOTO’S FREAKING PISSED!!!  I don’t think I’ve seen him this mad at Izuku since the Sports Fest.  He’s being logical here by thinking how AFO could be planning to target UA now since Deku isn’t there to protect it and that Deku should have a choice to come back to UA and fight along his friends.  Shoto REALLY wants Deku to come to his senses.  Probably more than most of the class.  This is what happens when your best friend goes rouge and doesn’t think the rest of you are strong enough to catch up to him.  I was honestly hoping Shoto’s and Deku’s conversation would go further than this, but this is still really good.  Maybe we’ll get more later 👀

A lot of this chapter is mainly the rest of 1-A teaming up to catch Deku with all their Quirks.  Even Mineta is out here spitting facts for once.  Like, ok Grape boy go off. 

Then the kids pull off this insane plan that’s kind of hard to explain, but I’ll do my best:

Shoto created a more refined ice ramp like what he did back in the All Might VS. AFO fight except it actually looks like a ramp this time and covers a good block of the city.

There are some rails put down to ready the kids for launch and I bet Momo created that b/c who else?

Shoto stands behind Bakugo who is preparing to get launched in the air with this 0.1% Solubility Acidman created my Mina.  I honestly thought this Acidman was created to help the kids slide easier on Shoto’s ice at first, but I finally understood what it actually was after going through the leaks a few more times.  

The more physically stronger kids push Shoto and Bakugo to slide on the ice and Shoto blasts both of them on through the ramp using his Flashfreeze Heatwave like a speeding rocket!

Shoto pushes Bakugo up in the air with the propulsion of his Super Move and Bakugo goes flying.  Ochako uses her Zero Gravity on the Acidman for reasons we’ll see later.  Also, Shoto sounds insulted by Deku’s “Won’t be able to keep up” when CLEARLY THEY CAN!

Bakugo uses his new explosions to use Explosive Speed Turbo Cluster to increase his speed to what looks like mach speed levels!  Seriously, this dude is like a sonic jet at this point and his new explosions look sooooo cool!

Finally, it’s revealed that Iida was covered in Mina’s Acidman and Bakugo uses his Explosions + Ochako’s Zero Gravity to FREAKING LAUNCH IIDA TOWARDS DEKU BECAUSE HE’S THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN WITHSTAND THIS SPEED!!!

Iida manages to catch up with Deku and grabs his hand I WAS A FOOL FOR THINKING IT WOULD BE BAKUGO OF COURSE IIDA MAKES SENSE HE WAS ONE OF DEKU’S FIRST REAL FRIENDS😭💙💚

I told you guys that plan was insane!  But it did work!  They grabbed Deku!  Now all they need to do is bring him back.  

Throughout this team-up, there are some interesting things that happen here:

Ochako establishes how all of them want to fight alongside Deku.  They don’t want to push him away or need to be protected by Deku.  They just want to be by his side again.  

Shoto looks extra pissed and determined in one panel to the point where his left eye is set aflame.  That rarely happens outside of him being in battle unless Shoto’s feeling some strong sense of emotion like he did when Endeavor fought High-End.  I guess this counts as him battling, but you get my point.  

Bakugo calls Iida “Class Prez” instead of something like “Glasses” for once!  Maybe he’s slowly gaining more respect for the rest of his friends.  Not 100% close to real names yet, but he’s getting there.

Bakugo thinks how there are things he needs to say to Deku!  He’s letting Iida do his part first, but looks like that conversation is going to happen soon.  Man, I’m REALLY hoping we get Deku Vs. Kacchan soon!  Bakugo needs to apologize to Deku or at least have a good heart-to-heart with him, but we know how these two work.  Their going to fight their feeling out and it’s going to be amazing.  I can feel a Part 3 in my bones.  Please, Horikoshi!

Now we hear the rest of what the 2nd OFA Holder said a few chapters ago.  It was addressing Bakugo, but more like Class A as a whole.  The thing that can bolster Deku are the people who share the same will and the people who run beside him at the same pace.  Isn’t that 1-A for ya?

So, Iida finally grabs Deku’s hand (hey, IidaDekus, how ya feeling?), his glasses are broken and his suit is breaking from the power of the speed he was going at, and he says the words that Deku said to back in the Stain Arc: “Giving help when it’s not asked for is the essence of being a hero”.  AND BOTH DEKU AND IIDA ARE CRYING IN THE AIR WHILE ALL THIS IS HAPPENING MY HEART I’M SOBBING 😭

Really, this whole thing is a big callback to the Stain Arc and how Deku let Kirishima grab Bakugo’s hand back at the Kamino Rescue because Kirishima was the only one who could do it.  Now it’s Iida’s turn to grab Deku’s hand who, btw, even refers to Deku as a “lost child” 😭💔.  AND THE CHAPTER IS EVEN CALLED “FROM CLASS A TO OFA” WHY HORIKOSHI WHY???

Honestly fantastic chapter all around!  We’ve seem to have reached the climax of Deku Vs. Class 1-A, so now comes the resolution.  The SFX on the last panel of Deku says “Fall” so maybe he’s run out of fuel and his finally passing out from exhaustion.  But, I don’t know guys...  Deku Vs. Kacchan still NEEDS to happen.  I don’t know about now, but definitely soon.  Also we still don’t know what the 2nd Holder’s Quirk is yet.  I want to say that they’re going to finally bring Deku home next chapter, but I’m not certain.  So, we’ll just have to wait and see.

ME THIS ENTIRE FREAKING ARC AND PROBABLY TILL THE END OF THE SERIES:

[twobitmulder]

When did Storm Shadow Become a Villain?

There is a scene in GI Joe Resolute where Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are having their obligatory Ninja Battle and (Spoilers I Guess) Storm Shadow reveals that he orchestrated his uncle, The Hard Master’s, death and that he fully meant to kill Snake Eyes as well, out of jealousy and because his uncle would not teach him the final secret to killing a man in seven steps, fearing that young Storm Shadow was too volatile and violent. Towards the end of the battle Storm Shadows wrist bands come off, revealing his Arashikage tattoo on one arm and a Cobra Sigil on the other.

This version of Storm Shadow (Voiced by “every Beagle Boy on Ducktales” Eric Bauza) stands out amongst his post-2000 incarnations as an unrepentant psychopath, but still falls in line with the prominent view of Storm Shadow as a villain--one of the main villains with a special hatred for his GI Joe counterpart.

This is the version I grew up with. GI Joe vs Cobra through Sigma 6 were the prominent Joe adaptations when I was the target demographic and all throughout Storm Shadow was a bad guy to varying degrees. 

I knew in the classic Hama stuff he eventually defected, but I was not prepared for just how much he’s a heroic character from the start. There’s no big sword dual with Snake Eyes, no Anakin and Obi Wan style “friend turned bitter enemy” dynamic. It’s made clear from jump that Tommy is undercover in Cobra and remains an honorable man in search of justice. He leaves Cobra quickly and is branded as a Joe in all his figures until 2000--when they started packing their characters in two-packs with one Joe and one Cobra. In all appearances, Storm Shadow is more a Joe than a Cobra. So what led to the the modern view of Storm Shadow as a bad guy, who, even when he gets his redemption, still has a mean streak and a cruel manner? How did a character in a toy driven franchise who had more toys as a hero than a villain end up as one of the franchise’s most consistent villains?

*(For simplicity’s sake, this is only going to cover film and television portrayals of the character).

*Spoilers for pretty much every GI Joe adaptation to follow.

The first portrayal of Storm Shadow as Cobra Commander’s loyal and competent hatchet man (one of the few) is not too much older than Hama’s original Marvel version. The Sunbow version of Storm Shadow (voiced by “guy you’ve heard in everything” Keone Young) remained a loyal cobra agent--with none of the Hama version’s depth. 

He had what you might call “standard cartoon Ninja honor” where he clearly had some kind of code of ethics, but was primarily an arrogant killer (as much as he could be in a cartoon) who fought primarily with Spirit and Quick Kick (voiced by wonderfully talented “guy you’ve seen in everything” Francois Chau) as Snake Eyes was largely shunted to the side in the cartoon. The echoes of Sunbow Storm Shadow can be seen in pretty much every non-comic adaptation that followed.

Skipping right over the Dic continuation of the Sunbow cartoon because Storm Shadow actually is a Joe in that, as he was in the comics and figures of the time (and because I haven’t seen it) we come to the 2000′s era.

The Spy Troops and Valor vs. Venom DTV movies had a Storm Shadow (voiced by “guy who got his blood ripped out by Magneto in X2: X-Men United” Ty Olsson) who was essentially his Sunbow self with one major change. He actually had a history with Snake Eyes, and a bitter rivalry. The details are not gone into in either film (you get a little more in the figure file cards and mini-comics of the era) but Storm Shadow accuses Snake Eyes of betraying the Arashikage. The implication being that either Storm Shadow blames Snake Eyes for some crime or another or that there was a schism in clan. 

The File cards of the time movie go from acknowledging Storm Shadow’s time as a Joe, and claiming he’s working with Cobra again for unknown reasons, to establishing their own canon that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were once best friends and “Sword Brothers” before Storm Shadow fell to the dark side and joined Cobra. Though Storm Shadow’s file card does end with the ominous implication that he’s got his own agenda in working with Cobra (just like his Hama incarnation) the DTV films imply that he’s a Cobra loyalist in addition to his feud with Snake Eyes.

Spy Troops and Valor vs. Venom lead in a semi-canonical way to GI Joe Sigma 6 where Storm Shadow (voiced by “guy whose only other role I recognize is pulling double duty as Zeke Stane and Living Laser in the Iron Man 3 videogame” Tom Wayland) more or less continues the previous two iterations’ version of Storm Shadow. He once again accuses Snake Eyes of some great betrayal that broke their friendship. The GI Joe website at the time includes the detail that Storm Shadow was infiltrating Cobra when he was brainwashed into becoming a loyal Cobra agent. It’s another concession, like his 2001 file card, to Hama’s heroic double agent, while still portraying him in line with Sunbow’s villainous henchman. 

GI Joe Resolute comes next, where we see a departure from any pretense of Storm Shadow being a good guy. Resolute, in many ways, comes off as a gritty direct continuation of the Sunbow series, and it takes Sunbow’s villainous Storm Shadow and strips him of even the token bits of honor and humanity he had. It also, as near as I can tell, begins the trend of Storm Shadow outright resenting Snake Eyes, rather than being his one time friend.

As an irrelevant aside, I have my problems with Resolute but I do love everyone’s character designs and Eric Bauza does a fantastic job as one fourth of the cast. His Sean Connery impression for Destro is particularly inspired.

This brings us to the big ones. GI Joe: RIse of Cobra and GI Joe: Retaliation where Storm Shadow is brought to the big screen by Lee Byung-Hun (who I don’t have a snarky/informative aside for because shamefully despite how prolific he is I’ve only seen him in these movies and The Magnificent 7 remake) and as a child by Brandon Soo Hoo (he’s also been in a lot of stuff, but I particularly liked his turn as Beast Boy in the animated New 52 DC movies).

Lee’s Storm Shadow in the first film falls in line with his portrayals up to this point, probably skewing most closely towards Sunbow. He has a code of ethics (he doesn’t kill women apparently) but he’s still a bad guy and he seems to quite like it. Lee brings a charm to the character that had not really existed up until that point. He also spends a lot of time maskless (and it’s hard to blame the production team for that one, he’s a very handsome dude) which was a shock for anyone who grew up with the 2001 era storm shadow where the thought of him without a mask was so insane that it was relegated to a mail in figure (As a kid I seriously thought he had some Mandalorian style code of not removing it)

His origin in this version takes bits of Hama and bits of Resolute (or Resolute took from this, Resolute came out first but this might have been in development). It is, as far as I can tell, the first version to have Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes train together as children and it portrays Storm Shadow, even as a child, as an arrogant and jealous person.

Now, at least in my opinion, it’s fairly obvious that the first movie fully intended Storm Shadow to be a baddie, full stop. There’s a little wiggle room given that we never see him stab The Hard Master in the flashback (the Hard Master in this version is Storm Shadow’s father rather than his uncle) but the way he taunts Snake Eyes about it during their final confrontation makes a pretty compelling case for his having committed patricide.

The sequel would bring back elements of the Hama backstory. Zartan killed The Hard Master and Storm Shadow had to infiltrate Cobra to discover that. Given Cobra Commander and Storm Shadow are of roughly the same age (Storm Shadow being a bit older I think) and this event occurred when they were both children it’s unclear on who’s orders Zartan did this but we do know it was done to turn the already volatile young man into the perfect angry ninja assassin (given this canon is pretty much over we’ll probably never know for sure, but my guess based on the IDW movie universe comics is that Zartan either did it at the behest of the Red Ninja Clan or just to have a tiny assassin of his own, probably the former since they seem to regard each other as unpleasant colleagues who sometimes work together).

What I particularly like about this version is that, because the first movie portrayed him as this charmingly sadistic Bond Villain henchman, even after he switches sides in the sequel he’s still kind of a belligerent dick. It’s a fun piece of characterization that even once he’s cleared his name, avenged his father, and made his peace with his family, it doesn’t change the fundamental fact that he’s not a very nice person.

This is something that would persist into the next (and for the moment last, but more on that later) onscreen version of Storm Shadow.

GI Joe Renegades (the best GI Joe Cartoon, fight me) saw Storm Shadow (voiced by “holy crap this guy originated the role of Saw Gerrera in Clone Wars” Andrew Kishino) as the leader of the Arashikage Clan (explicitly a crime syndicate, harkening back to implications in Hama’s version) who operates independent of Cobra except very briefly and only to fulfill his own ends (again bringing him closer to Hama’s version than any of his predecessors). Falling in line with the implications of the movie and Resolute, he and Snake Eyes were uneasy classmates more than friends and trained together as teenagers. An attempt to kill Snake Eyes went awry and resulted in the death of the Hard Master (who again, seemed to favor Snake Eyes over his own nephew). Storm Shadow believes Snake Eyes to have killed The Hard Master(somehow failing to connect the dots given his own murder plan failed the same night Snake Eyes allegedly murdered his uncle--or hell he’s probably just in denial until the truth slaps him in the face). 

Also, irrelevant aside number 2, in contrast with Resolute I really don’t like this character design. Renegades had pretty good character design all around, neatly bringing together various versions in a way that felt coherent but I don’t like the little tufts of hair sticking out of the mask or the way it kinda hangs in front of his mouth. Is he hiding his face or not? It seems like he’s not so much wearing a mask as a bandana and an oversized turtleneck.

This version neatly ties together the “Snake Eyes betrayed us” of the early 2000′s, the “arrogant unfavorite” of the mid 2000s and the “out for justice assassin” of Hama’s run. He is, again, an arrogant prick from the start, but his genuine shame and resolve to abandon his quest for vengeance and his extremely short partnership with Cobra make his eventual redemption (or the start of what you assume would have been a longer redemption arc had the series continued) more believable than the live action movies--if a mite less fun.

And that’s where it ends, at least until the much delayed Snake Eyes live action movie is finally released, where Storm Shadow is set to be played by “guy from the best episode of American Gods Season 2″ Andrew Koji. I quite like the look of the cast of this movie, and I’m excited to see what Koji brings to the role. Will Storm Shadow be arrogant, murderous, honorable, charming, brooding, misunderstood, cruel, vengeful...some impossible combination of all of the above? We’ll have to wait and see.

*Including the various alternate comic book versions probably would have painted a more complete picture, but I’ve only read Hama’s run and the IDW reboot (where Storm Shadow is kind of a non-entity), besides this was more about tracing Storm Shadow through the adaptations I watched as a kid.

*None of the adaptations seem to go with Hama’s original detail that Storm Shadow and Jinx were from Northern California. On the one hand I see why you transplant them to Japan with the rest of their family (it’s a globetrotting element and makes the cast more cosmopolitan) but I always liked the idea of that they were children of immigrants.

*Adaptations have been touch and go about casting Japanese actors in the role but I was impressed to find out that Sunbow cast Japanese Americans as both Storm Shadow and Jinx, making them probably the most faithful casting in relation to their original backstories.

*Apologies for my complete inability to get screenshots of roughly the same size or resolution.

[jumukus]

A3! Event: Trump the Phantom Thief Episode 8 Translation

Play time! A heads up on the characters' names:

Muku: King Yuki: Q Kazunari: Ace Juza: Jack Banri: Fox Sakyo: Club

Saionji: Muku-kun, how are you doing? Are you getting seasick?

Muku: I'm doing alright, thank you. Oh, and the room is so beautiful.

Saionji: I am glad it is to your liking. We purposely built the suite rooms in a place where you can't feel the ship's motion.

I am planning to take every possible measure for the theater venue as well, though do not hesitate to let me know if you are unsatisfied with anything.

Muku: I will. Thank you.

Kazunari: Dude, not only the suite rooms are superbs, but to think we also get a whole staff to ourselves…! We can even get the beverages here as many times we like!

Yuki: True. The service is just so good it surprised me.

Sakyo: Don't get too engrossed in these service or you'll be havin' a hard time once we return to Mankai Company.

Izumi: You have a point…

Banri: I don't wanna go back.

Juza: ...I'm thirsty.

Muku: Wanna get some beverages in our rooms?

Juza: No, it's fine. Our rooms are far from here.

Azami: There's a lot of vending machines there. I think they have your favorite strawberry milk.

Juza: I'll go get it.

Muku: …

Izumi: (Today is finally our opening show. I knew it. They all seem pretty nervous because we're going to perform in a different venue.)

Juza: …

Izumi: (Juza-kun looks stiff.)

Kazunari: OK, guys! We've gotta form a circle in times like this!

Banri: Be more specific. What d'you mean by "in times like this"?

Yuki: Bet you already thought of what kind of circle you wanna do.

Kazunari: Righty right! Since our play is about phantom thieves, we all should strike a phantom thief pose!

Sakyo: The heck is that?

Kazunari: No complaining! Just follow me!

Yuki: Fine. Fine.

Juza: ...Muku, do the chant.

Muku: First things first, I'm sorry for causing you guys troubles when I was at a loss of what to do.

I don't want to give up on all the things I want to do. I've decided to do everything I can in all of them.

I'll run through until the end. Follow me, guys!

Juza: Yeah!

Kazunari: Okie!

Banri: Yea.

Q: "It's as musty as always."

Ace: "Clean it up."

Q: "How about you do it?"

Ace: "No way. Geez. This place used to be clean, wonder what happened to it."

Q: "That's because we had a clean-freak before."

Ace: "Okay. Leader, you do the cleaning."

King: "I think it's pretty clean, though."

Q: "Seriously?"

Ace: "Should've known a messy room owner like Leader would say something like that."

Q: "Anyway. Since this is the first time we gathered here after a year, that means you've already set our next target, right? Let's cut to the chase already."

King: "Our next target will be "Mermaid's Tears", a 12-carat diamond."

"It's going to be sold during an auction held at the Royal Star cruise. It's one of the event's highlights and expected to sell for 6 billion."

Ace: "Woo-hoo."

Q: "Heh. Interesting."

King: "Royal Star is currently hiring staff. Q."

Q: "Got it. That means I have to sneak in as one of their staff members, right?"

King: "Ace, get close to the ship's captain and collect information."

Ace: "Roger."

Izumi: (I expect no less from Summer Troupe. They have great teamwork. I can totally feel it.)

(Not to mention Muku-kun's King is able to unite them as a leader.)

Q: "I'm in charge of the rooms in Block A… Laundry and… Ugh. What a hassle."

"This isn't my job in the first place, after all. If that person were here--."

Crew Member: "Are you new here? You seem lost."

Q: "Yes. I don't think I can get out of this place if I lose the map."

Crew Member: "You can ask anyone if there's anything you don't understand."

Q: "Thank you."

"?"

Crew Member: "What's wrong?"

Q: "I think I saw someone over there--."

Crew Member: "But there's only a garbage can over there. Is it a ghost or something?"

Q: "Hey. Stop. I don't like it."

"Hm? A letter?"

"Could this be--I have to report to King."

King: "I'll take the Mermaid's Tears--Jack."

Ace: "Can't believe he's aiming for the same thing."

Q: "Him and King sure are compatible in a strange way."

Ace: "Even though their personalities are the exact opposite of each other."

Q: "What are we going to do now?"

Ace: "Guess we're gonna have a change of pla--."

King: "We'll continue the operation."

Q: "Come again!?"

Ace: "So you mean we're gonna compete with Jack?"

King: "I will not send out this notice. Let's call it a direct confrontation between Trump and Jack."

Q: "Whaaaat!?"

Jack: "Weird. The cops aren't on the move."

"Hm? Where's my noti--."

"It's been a while. How about a reunion? At The Mermaid's Tears' chamber. Trump."

"King, huh… It's just so like him to do something like this. Fine. Let's have a showdown."

Fox: "Here. I got what you wanted, the Royal Star's blueprint."

King: "It is indeed the blueprint."

Fox: "I got you some addition as well. This one is a lil bit pricey."

King: "Figured as much."

Fox: "What are you going to do with this information, though?"

King: "It's prohibited to poke your nose into your client's private life."

Fox: "Oops. My bad. I was curious since you rarely asked for something like this. Oh, yeah. Your master said he wanted to see you."

King: "Club? I wonder why. I'll try contacting him."

Club: "I'm comin' in."

Fox: "Speak of the devil."

King: "Long time no see."

Club: "Perfect timing. Are you free now?"

***

Club: "I'm goin' to retire soon. Take whatever you need."

King: "Retire? Are you serious?"

Club: "My body is startin' to fall apart. It's an age thing. Tell this to Ja--Oh, right. I heard you two broke up."

King: "You made it sound like we're dating. Please don't do that. He just decided to quit my group on his own."

Club: "Y'all never change. Here I thought you'd keep workin' together. That's what you call youth, I guess."

King: "To be honest with you, I'd also never thought he would betray me."

Club: "Looking at that guy, I think he's in his rebellious phase rather than betrayal."

King: "Rebellious phase?"

Club: "He's got some strong sense of rivalry, y'know? Add that with the fact that he's never won against you."

"He must be jealous of you. You're a genius, while he can only do things in a crude way."

King: "Really? I like his way of doing things, though."

Club: "That's exactly why you're hated. Oh, well. You better make up before I die."

King: "Please tell that to him too. You're going to meet him after this anyway, right?"

Club: "You're right. Guess I'm also gonna tell him directly. Both of you are my most excellent apprentices, after all."

King: "Please take this as my present for your retirement. This one is 40 years old."

Club: "You sure are well prepared."

King: "I was actually planning to use it for the celebration party, though."

"--Oh, right. If you're going to retire, please give me that. You know, the 'Venus Ring'."

Club: "I refuse."

***

Fox: "Welcome. Man, I guess we've got a lot of 'speak of the devil' moment today."

Jack: "What are you saying?"

Fox: "Nope. Forget it. Anyway, this is your requested uniform and safe."

Jack: "Thanks."

Fox: "Oh, yea. Your master said he wanted to see you. Why don't you give him a call?"

***

Jack: "Long time no see."

Club: "Hey. Is it just me or did you lose some weight?"

Jack: "What do you want to talk about?"

Club: "I'm gonna retire soon. Take whatever you need."

Jack: "Whatever you need, huh. By the way, the 'Venus Ring'..."

Club: "Y'all really have the same taste. I ain't gonna give it out. I sent it to the right place."

Jack: "By y'all… Do you mean King?"

Club: "You should just go back and regroup with him."

Jack: "I'll never go back until I win against him."

Club: "What a pig-headed kid. So? You see any chance to accomplish that?"

Jack: "I have a feeling we're finally going to settle this soon."

Club: "Heh. You seem confident."

Jack: "Because I've made arrangements ahead of time."

Club: "That's so you. You still look as gloomy as ever, though. Why don't you go soaking up the sun in some warm places in the south once in a while?"

Jack: "No--But you have a point. Maybe I'll do that once this is over."

Club: "Do that. And make up with King."

Jack: "...It depends on him."

Guard A: "Wait there."

Guard B: "This place is restricted to authorized personnel."

***

Q: "'Mermaid's Tears' has been carried away."

King: "Got it. Looks like they put it at the expected place."

Q: "How about the security? Can you unlock it?"

King: "I've already made preparation for that. We just need to see how things will turn out."

Ace: "Hey, wait a sec. Please, King."

King: "Find out the schedule for the guards' lookout."

Q: "Ugh. What a pain. Why do I have to do this…"

***

Q: "The guard will change at 1 P.M. The key will only be handed over when a substitute comes."

King: "So we need that key and the password that the captain has to unlock the door."

Q: "Ace, gain some time for us."

Ace: "Roger. Leave it to me."

Q: "Don't screw up."

***

Ace: "Hey, good work."

Guard A: "You're here sooner than I thought."

Ace: "Boss said my shift would start 30 minutes earlier since I'm always late, you see. Today I got here on time, though."

"Oh. Don't tell me you're gonna get scolded if you end your shift early? Wanna have some chat for thirty minutes then? Man, being a guard sure is easy."

"I actually want to increase my shift more, you know. But I don't reall--."

Guard A: "No, it's fine. I'll end my shift now. Bye."

Ace: "Oh. Okay, then. Bye."

***

Ace: "Mission complete. It's your turn now, King."

King: "Let's see, now. This is unexpectedy such a hassle~."

Ace: "I'm glad you seem to be having fun but please hurry up."

***

Q: "It's almost been thirty minutes."

King: "Just a little bit more…"

Q: "The guard is coming."

King: "I'm counting on you, Ace."

***

Ace: "Hey.."

Guard B: "Hm?"

Ace: "Ouch ouch ouch…"

Guard B: "What's wrong?"

Ace: "Oh, are you the substitute? Thank God. I'm starting to panic since my stomach is killing me. Good bye!"

Guard B: "Hey, wait, the key--."

Ace: "Key? Oh, right. I've gotta hand it ove--ouch ouch ouch."

Guard B: "Hey, you okay?"

Ace: "Wait a minute. Just until I calm down. Ouch ouch ouch…"

Guard B: "F-For now, just go to the toilet first."

Ace: "Don't think that's possible. I feel like it's gonna come out once I move."

Guard B: "Whaaat!?"

Ace: "Do you have some medicine or anything?"

Guard B: "No, sorry…"

Ace: "Can you bring me one from the infirmary? I'm on the edge here."

Guard B: "O-Okay! Wait a little bit!"

Ace: "King, you better open it now."

***

King: "...Weird. We may not make it."

Ace: "Come again!?"

King: "Oh, I got it. This one."

"...Nice. It opens!"

"Q, carry it out. Let's retreat."

Q: "Got it."

***

Guard B: "Hey, I have the medicine!"

Ace: "Very thanks, man. Here, your key! I'll leave the rest to you."

Guard B: "Yeah. Hope you recover soon."

King: "...This is weird. Jack didn't come in the end."

Q: "Maybe he realized it's impossible to go against phantom thieves."

King: "No. That guy…"

Police: "Freeze! We're police!"

King: "--."

Q: "!?"

Ace: "Since when!?"

King: "We're being set up. Q, throw the 'Mermaid's Tears' to the sea."

Q: "Huh!? Do you hear yourself now!?"

King: "Do it now. We'll escape the moment the police look away."

Ace: "You're lying, right!?"

King: "Quick."

Q: "You're the one who told me to do it, alright!"

Police: "H-Hey! The jewel! Pick it up, quick!"

King: "Let's go!"

Police: "Wait!"

Q: "What do we do now!? All of our hardship went to waste!"

Ace: "Our 6 billion…"

King: "That was a fake jewel Jack had prepared."

Q: "What?"

King: "Jack had stolen 'Mermaid's Tears' in advance and replaced it with a fake one."

"He was the one who snitched on us."

***

Narration: "The day before…"

Guard A: "Hey, what's wrong?"

Jack: "No, it's just�� the engine…"

Guard A: "Hold on, hold on. If there's any trouble, you better do something about it or else it'll get worse later on. If we're liable for the damages…"

Jack: "There's smoke coming out!"

Guard A: "Say what!?"

Jack: "Stay away from the car!"

Guard B: "Whoa!"

Guard A: "C-Call the fire station! Wait, we gotta get the safe first!"

Guard B: "Hey, is it okay?"

Jack: "Yeah. The smoke disappeared. I found no issues with the machine too."

Guard A: "That means the safe is alright, yeah? God. Give me a break. We almost carry it away ahead of time."

***

Q: "So that's why Jack didn't show up…"

Ace: "He really got us! I already thought it was weird for the police to appear at times like that!"

Q: "Ugh. Even if the police didn't appear, Jack still won since he already got the 'Mermaid's Tears' before us."

King: "I wonder about that."

***

King: "He hasn't made any changes in his base. Well, isn't he a little careless…"

"Even his security system is so weak."

"Hm? A card?"

"'Out of respect of Master's retirement, I will hand over the victory.'"

"Don't be satisfied with second place. You could have taken measures if you know there's a chance it'll get stolen. Oh, well. I'll accept your kind offer…"

***

Jack: "..."

"He really came…"

King: "Hey."

Jack: "--ugh. Why are you still here, King?"

King: "It's been a long time, I want to renew our friendship. I even brought alcohol with me."

Jack: "This is why you're hated."

King: "But you don't hate me, do you?"

Jack: "How did you find out?"

King: "I got some information about you from Fox. It helped me understand your strategy to some extent."

Jack: "In that case, why did you fall into the trap?"

King: "Because, otherwise, you won't move forward as planned. I'll be troubled if you're on your guard."

"I could narrow down your base thanks to the location device I planned on the alcohol I gave to Club. The rest is my intuition."

Jack: "I can never bring myself to like you in the end."

King: "Now, now. Let's have a toast for the 'Mermaid's Tears'. Q and Ace are waiting."

Izumi: (This is the only scene where Jack and King talk face to face. Even so, you can tell how close they are just by watching this scene alone.)

(Maybe because they are cousins, they can create a unique relationship between rivals who understand each other the most.)

***

Muku: Thank you so much!

Juza: Thank you.

Sakyo: Thank you.

Yuki: Thank you.

Kazunari: Thankies thankies~!

Banri: Thank you.

***

Sakyo: The audience's reaction on our first show is great.

Juza: King was so cool.

Muku: Jack was even cooler! The fact that he's active behind the scenes is just so Juchan!

Juza: I can also feel the gap between King, a sharp person with a gentle look, and you, Muku.

Muku: I-Is that so? Ehehe. But your Jack…

Azami: They're going to be like that forever at this rate.

Yuki: When are you going to stop?

Banri: But well, it was good overall. Right?

Kazunari: Totally! Their chemistry was just perfect on the stage, even the audience was pleased!

Izumi: Let's keep this energy until the closing show!

Muku: Yes!

< Episode 7 | Masterlist | Episode 9 >

[triplethreatsonic]

Triple Threat Drabble: The Stranger

Here it is, the drabble I said I’d share with you guys! I’ve done a sort of hybrid thing with this where there are one or two images integrated into the text that are basically like comic panels. (think Diary of a Wimpy Kid but hopefully more classy.) So make sure you pay attention to them as you read! 

Also, this is a work in progress. So please don’t judge it too harshly :) 

Hope you guys enjoy this! 

___

Sonic was not a slow eater. He hadn't been one as a child, and at age seventeen he certainly wasn't one now. The hedgehog rarely spent more than a few minutes to inhale his food during lunch period. Today was no different— after making quick work of the cafeteria's lasagna, Sonic had pushed his plate aside and was now settled with his left leg comfortably draped on top of his right, one hand fiddling with his shoelace. 

Across the table from him sat his friend, Knuckles the Echidna. Knuckles, who was one of the slowest eaters Sonic had ever seen, still had half his meal on his tray and was gradually picking away at a small bunch of grapes. "Probably." His eyes stayed on his hands as he smiled. "I don't think it'll be too bad, though; I'm looking forward to the history paper."

Sonic smirked. "I bet you are. I wonder what you'll write about this time. Maybe"—he cocked an eyebrow—"the ancient echidnas?"

"How'd you guess?" Knuckles smile widened as he dropped the now-empty grape stem onto his tray. Then he sighed, stretching his shoulders back. "I doubt the library has any new books on the topic, though. Seriously, they need an upgrade."

“Man, you're telling me. The other day, I—!" Sonic's thought was suddenly cut short.  If you had asked him what he'd just been talking about, he probably couldn't have told you. 

"No way..."

Something, or rather someone, had caught his attention— someone on the opposite side of the cafeteria, who had just sat down at a faraway table perpendicular to Sonic's position. 

It was a male hedgehog— that much was obvious. Looking at him, Sonic could make out his dark jeans, white t-shirt, and thin red-and-black striped flannel with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. The stranger sat, seemingly in silence, listening to a white female bat sitting across from him. 

None of this was what made Sonic stare, however; it was his quills.

Their coloring wasn't necessarily unnatural for a hedgehog, but it was certainly unusual. They were black, the top of each quill traced by a long red stripe. Sonic had never seen anything like them. 

Except that he had-- several times. He'd seen them in his dream. 

"Hey, Sonic! You ok?"

Knuckles words yanked Sonic out of his trance and back into the buzzing world of the lunch room. "Wha—? Oh, sorry man. Heh, guess I kinda zoned out for a second."

"What��were you staring at?" Knuckles turned in his seat to scan the room behind him. 

"Nothing!" The word flew out of Sonic's mouth much quicker than he would have liked. He quickly brushed it off with a shrug. "I just remembered something I gotta do before lunch is over. I'd better run—see you later, alright?"

Knuckles looked like he didn't quite believe him. "What do you gotta do?"

Sonic’s face smiled as his brain racked for an answer. "Uh, homework. Never ends, am I right?"

Now it was Knuckles turn to smirk. "Heh, right." He picked up his mini milk carton and took a swig. "Well, good luck. I'll see you in fifth."

"Later, Knux!" Sonic grinned and picked up his tray from the table, keeping his movements casual as he made his way to the garbage cans. Behind his calm exterior, however, Sonic's mind was racing. It was a coincidence. It was a weird coincidence. But that's all it could be, right? Just a really weird, off-putting coincidence that meant nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. 

So why was he so antsy all of a sudden? 

Frankly, Sonic didn't even know why he had left Knuckles in such a hurry with that dumb fib about homework. What was he hoping to do? Was he planning to talk to the Weird-Coincidence Guy? 

Well… it wasn't the worst idea. 

Sonic's eyes flicked upwards from his tray; the black-and-red hedgehog was easy to pick out now that he knew he was there. Sonic's hands moved automatically, scraping his plates as he kept his eyes fixed on the stranger. The white bat across from him finished her sentence, waved, and then left, walking out through the cafeteria's main double doors. The black hedgehog watched her leave, a soda can held tightly in his hands. He barely moved at all.  

Sonic dropped his plate unceremoniously into the designated bin. Now that the idea had entered his mind, he couldn’t shake it: he had to talk to him. As nonchalantly as he could, Sonic began weaving around chairs, backpacks and tables, gradually making his way to the strange hedgehog. 

He was practically on top of him now. Sonic stopped walking, the black hedgehog a mere four feet ahead of him. He was facing away, hands still holding that soda can. Without so much as a second thought, Sonic smiled and said the first, most natural thing that came to his mind: “Hey!” 

What happened next was the last thing Sonic had expected. The black hedgehog turned at his voice, saw him, and froze. His face paled and his eyes went wide. Something like an electric shock seemed to go through him, and the can in his hands crunched.  

Brrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiing! The five-minute bell shouted rudely across the cafeteria, startling them both, and they were drowned in a wave of standing students. The black hedgehog was instantly blocked from view as three hundred teenagers, Human and Animal, began gathering their things and preparing to leave for classes. 

“H-hey, wait a sec!” Sonic tried to see past the masses of knees and elbows, but quickly found that to be useless. He wasn’t one to give up easily, however; in seconds, Sonic had jumped onto the nearest table and was craning his neck to see over the sea of heads. Where could that guy have gone so quickly? Suddenly—there! Sonic barely caught sight of striped flannel as its wearer ducked around the corner of an adjacent hallway.

"Hey, dude, wait up!" Sonic was down in a flash. After shoving his way through the crowd he sprinted into the hall just as his target ran left down another. He called after him. "Yo, black hedgehog!" It became a game of cat and mouse as they chased each other down seemingly countless hallways and past endless classrooms. Sonic was fast on the track—the fastest in the state, in fact— but somehow this guy kept eluding him with all his constant turns. 

Sonic finally whipped right around the ten-billionth corner only to come to an abrupt halt— the hallway ended just twenty feet in front of him. Sonic looked over his shoulder, then back at the dead end. He was positive this was the direction the hedgehog had dodged... so where did he go? 

"Hello? Uh, you down here, man?" Sonic slowly walked forward as his question echoed in the empty hall. "I just wanna talk for a second."

Silence. 

Then out of nowhere a blur of movement slammed into Sonic's chest, smashing him against a line of lockers. Sonic's breath was knocked out of him, and it took him a second to realize what had happened: standing there, with his forearm crushing Sonic’s ribs, was the black hedgehog. His eyes were mere inches away from his own. They were a bight crimson— to Sonic's astonishment, the color he expected them to be— with a ferocious, wild expression in them. There was also the depth of something that Sonic couldn’t quite name. 

"Why are you following me?” he demanded. 

Sonic’s hands flew up like a man held at gunpoint. "Woah, dude! Chill! I'm … I'm sorry!” It was still difficult to breathe. "I'm just… I just wanna… wanna talk!"

They stood there locked in place for a moment, both hedgehogs panting. A minute passed, and gradually something seemed to shift in the black hedgehog's eyes. He glanced downward at the arm that pinned Sonic, then back up at the hedgehog's face. Then he backed a few paces, his hands lowering to his sides. 

Sonic pushed himself off the lockers and rubbed his chest. "Wow, you hit hard! You play football or something?" He gave the guy a smile. "Sorry. I probably really weirded you out back there—I said hi, but then the bell rang and you ran off and—"

"And you chased me." The hedgehog's voice was deeper than Sonic's when he spoke, with a sharp edge to it. The guy looked close to graduating— frankly, with his stern face, he barely looked like he belonged in high school at all. His arms moved to cross in front of his chest. "What do you want?" 

"Uh..." Sonics brain suddenly froze. In that moment he realized that beyond his first hello, he hadn't actually thought of what he wanted to say to this guy. "I… I'm not sure. I just wanted to say hi, I guess." 

"Why?"

"Well, um... aw, shoot, this sounds really stupid now." Sonic's smile turned sheepish. "I wanted to talk 'cause… you look kinda familiar?" 

Other than a slight eyebrow raise, the black hedgehog didn’t move. His voice dripped with contempt. "Where on earth would I have met you before?" 

"Heh, funny you should ask." Sonic shoved his thumbs in his pockets. "Uh, how long've you been at the school?"

"Three weeks." 

Sonic did a double take. “Wait— really? Like, it's your first semester? But… you look like a senior." 

"And?" 

"Oh, I dunno... I guess thats just kinda rare, you know? New seniors? I'm a junior, myself." Sonic smiled, but the black hedgehog didn't flinch. He cleared his throat. "Well, anyway… You really do look super familiar to me. It's kinda freaky, actually."

The dark hedgehog's eyes narrowed. "And why would you say that?"

Sonic wasn't sure what reaction he'd been waiting for— maybe a good laugh, if anything— but it certainly wasn't what the black hedgehog was doing now. His shoulders hitched, fingers digging into his forearms. Even more surprising was his face; it had that same haunted look Sonic had glimpsed before— back in the cafeteria, right when the stranger had first seen him. 

And then all at once it was gone, replaced by the earlier scowl. "That's ridiculous.” 

Sonic’s hand dropped down from where it had been resting behind his head. “Um… yeah. Yeah, it is.”

They stood there in a heavy silence. The black hedgehog drummed his fingers against his arm. “Is that all?”  

Sonic stared back at him. “… Yes.” 

The other hedgehog looked at Sonic a moment longer, annoyed expression unchanging. Then with a ‘hmph’, he turned away abruptly, walking back towards the hallway through which they had come. 

Sonic watched him leave. He felt the urge to say something, but nothing came to mind. Well, that was weird. What had he been expecting though, really? The whole reason for him talking to the guy was weird to begin with. It was funny; though Sonic was usually very confident around strangers, this whole conversation— which he himself had initiated— had made even him uncomfortable. 

Sonic began to turn the in the opposite direction to head to his own class— only find himself staring at the dead-end hallway again. Whoops. There was only one other way to go. 

The black hedgehog’s ear perked as footsteps echoed behind him, and he turned his head sharply. Sonic’s hands shot back up in the air again upon being caught. “Sorry, ignore me—my class is this way too.” 

The stranger glared at Sonic a moment, then turned back and kept walking. Sonic waited a second, allowing for some space, then continued on behind. 

There was almost no other sound as the two of them made their way down the hall. Sonic slipped his thumbs back into his pockets, trying not to look at the stranger. Eventually, he let his eyes drift to the back of the hedgehog’s head. What was up with the guy, anyway? He sure was a tough nut to crack— tougher than even Knuckles had been when they’d first met, and that was saying something. This guy refused to be warmed up in any way, shape, or form. Sonic had nothing to work with here, and it left him at a loss. 

Eventually Sonic couldn’t stand the silence anymore. “Hey,” he ventured, “sorry I got on your nerves back there."

If the other hedgehog heard him, he gave no sign of it.

A few more seconds passed. Sonic took a breath. "I probably shouldn’t have bothered you. It was kinda silly to say anything at all, to be honest. I probably wouldn’t’ve, either, if I’d only had the dream once. It's just weird, you know? ‘Cause I don’t even know you, but this guy that looks exactly like you is in the dream every single time, along with that other hedgehog—”  

“I don’t care!” 

Instantly, the black hedgehog was in Sonic’s face. Teeth bared, fangs showing, a threatening finger nearly stabbed Sonic in the eye. “I’m going to say this once, Blue Hedgehog. I don’t care about your dreams. I don’t care if I was in it, or that white hedgehog, or you, or anybody! And I’m tired of hearing about it.” 

They stood there a moment, with Sonic for once in his life standing perfectly still. The black hedgehog’s finger lowered as he growled. “Are we clear?” 

With the finger out of his face, Sonic slowly straightened. Ok, talking more was definitely not going to take any tension out of the air. He opened his mouth to give a simple reply. 

Then something clicked. “Wait... How did you know the hedgehog was white?”

The scowl on the stranger’s face faded slightly, the air seeming to still. “What?” he breathed. 

“The other hedgehog,” said Sonic, "I never mentioned what color his fur was.” Now he leaned forward, studying the stranger. He met his eyes. "How did you know it was white?”

The stranger gave no response. The blood had slowly drained from his face, leaving it ghostly pale as his mouth hung open wordlessly. 

Then suddenly his face clenched, and a hand jerked out to slap Sonic away. “Enough!” 

He dashed off. It took Sonic a second to recover from the unexpected shove. “Wha- Hey, dude, wait!" He sprinted around the corner ahead. "Where are you going—?!"

The black hedgehog was gone. 

Sonic stood staring blankly down the empty hallway.  What the heck? Thoughts swirled around his brain—half of them were questions, and the other half were answers that didn’t make sense. He leaned his left arm against the rough brick wall next to him. 

Had “white” simply been a guess? A stab in the dark? Was that the color everybody thought of when they pictured the average hedgehog? 

Or did he know, too?

Another blaring brrrring! from the bell startled Sonic out of his thoughts. “Aw, shoot.” He was late for chemistry. He took off at a sprint. 

A few minutes later, Sonic would come rushing through his classroom door. He wouldn’t remember that he needed to grab his textbook from his locker until he was already inside. No excuse would be given when when his teacher scolded him, declaring solemnly that being the school’s track star did not justify him arriving late to class. Later, when everyone was paired up for experiments, Tails would ask him where he’d been; cutting it close was normal for Sonic, but arriving seven minutes after the bell was not. Sonic would hesitate a moment. Then he’d give his best friend a smile, ruffling the fur on his head. “It’s not really important,” he’d say, “no worries. Let’s just get these reactions done.” 

Hours later, in dark of his bedroom, Sonic would still be thinking about that black hedgehog. 

[koshicoast]

Randomly thought of but MHA except Bakugou’s hatred for Deku isnt because he’s quirkless. Bakugou doesn’t hate or is prejudice towards quirkless people, he hates weak people

AU where Bakugou is still somewhat the same as in canon but his feelings and thoughts come from a different mindset

Growing up his parents taught him that a quirk doesn’t make a person stronger, the person makes a quirk strong

This leads him to train in not only with his quirk but also in various areas that could potentially come up during hero work (lock picking, reading body language, shit like that) bc if he’s weak then so is his quirk

If you’re wondering how a child is learning all of this, this is Bakugou-fucking-Katsuki. If he wants something, he’s gonna get it even if it means he has to go through hell.

Luckily in this AU, his parents aren’t neglectful or shitty!! they indulged in his whims more of them than not!!

They’re both famous fashion designers and have a lot of connections when it comes to ‘high end society’ so if katsuki wants to learn how to dress to kill or something like that, they already have it set up for him!

The Bakugou’s teach their little victory all of their tricks and tips about how to theoretically make clothes that have extra space for weapons (they know his desire to be a hero and while they’re a little worried they’re just happy he’s being prepared for the long run.) They don’t actually make clothes for him to hide weapons, they verbally tell him how to do something and tips but they leave it up to him to complete the task to a proficient level

They also let their coworkers teach Bakugou stuff, anything their kid would find important or somewhat interesting (taking pictures is boring but learning how to take clear pictures of a loving target is interesting)

Many models, photographers and people who know the Bakugous have basically adopted Katsuki as their feral child since many of them are unable to have their own kids due to their work

Now, Bakugou has learned things about body language (how to read it), how to fake his confidence, sewing, stitching, how to dress for any situation, etc from his parents and their coworkers

However while those skills are important for him (he has a plan to be the best and he can’t be the best if he’s lacking in skills) he needs to know how to fight hand to hand without a quirk or how to pick locks or how to pickpocket (who knows, maybe he’ll have to steal something from a villain!!)

He doesn’t tell his parents what his specific plans are but he does tell him he’s gonna do training on his own

Now normal parents would be worried but for the sake of the AU let’s just say that katsuki’s parents work on the mentality that ‘their child is strong and even if he gets knocked down, he’ll be right back up. He’s a Bakugou.’

Bakugou’s never give up, it’s not in their blood to give up.

So, Bakugou, feral child, goes off on his own to experience a real fight with people who won’t care if they hurt him or to find someone to teach him how to pick a lock or pickpocket

Most of the adults he’s met are just amused by this kid so they too indulge him and his demands

Especially those who spar with him, Bakugou has made it clear that if he feels like they’re holding back he’ll make it so they can’t afford to anymore

(Yes this isn’t always a good thing but what matters is that he’s survived and somewhat friends with a bunch of shady people)

(They’ll tell you that they’re friends, Bakugou thinks that they’re worthy opponents)

Now this leads me to his relationship with deku

Originally he didn’t actually hate Deku when it’s announced that he’s quirkless, why would he? The nerd just has to get strong and it’ll be fine!

Deku isnt weak because he doesn’t have a quirk just like how Bakugou isn’t strong just because he has a quirk

That mentality lasts for 3 seconds

he starts to hate how the green boy lets that determine his future of being a hero or not

Deku being quirkless isn’t a problem. Deku allowing himself to be weak because he’s quirkless is a problem.

He just gets so frustrated with deku that he eventually just pulls away. He doesn’t want to hang out with someone who doesn’t work towards a goal, blood, sweat, tears and all that.

Deku wanting to be a hero is funny to Bakugou because deku is weak, the nerd let’s people step all over him especially Bakugou

To Bakugou, if deku just stood up for himself for once then he’d respect him

For obvious reasons, Midoriya does not know this and everyone including him assumes Bakugou just hates him because he’s quirkless

(The only exceptions is Bakugou’s parents because they have the same mindset and Inko because her and Mitski are best friends so she’s more than aware of their thought process)

For reasons, Bakugou’s ‘bullying’ is more like taunts and if he does use his quirk he never directly harms Midoriya (he just wants to push the kid to act not kill him) this also means he never tells deku to kill himself

Midoriya firmly believes Bakugou hates him and acts more or less the same as he does in canon

However he doesn’t see how the blonde will text inko to let her know when Midoriya is having a really bad day or how Bakugou wards off students who want to seriously harm him

Is this an excuse to write about Bakugou acting as a ‘reluctant older sibling who just wants the best for the younger but doesn’t know how to verbalize it so their actions come off as bullying or the likes’ and Midoriya being the ‘younger sibling who is terrified of their older sibling but still admires them greatly yet will never say that out loud because they’re convinced said older sibling hates them’? Maybe

Needless to say, this leads to an interesting conversation when the topic of quirkless people comes up during class

Bakugou scowls as he feels his classmates’ stares burn into his skull. He turns around with sneer, his palms popping. “What?” He manages to ask through gritted teeth. All without blowing up too.

His dad is gonna be so proud.

“W-well..” Shitty hair stammers, looking uncomfortable as he shifts in his chair. (The only reason why he doesn’t immediately get blown up is because Bakugou likes him. He’s man enough to admit he’s got a crush but like hell is he gonna do anything about. What he’s not gonna do though? Blow up said crush.)

“Y’know how you are!” Dunce Face blurts out, Tape Face elbowing his stomach harshly as Pinky hisses a not so quiet ‘not cool dude!’ . Now the others are exchanging shifty glances and from how reluctant they are to meet his eyes, he already has a good idea what this is about.

“Yeah yknow we’re just

“Yeah?” His eyes narrow with disdain as his ugly scowl softens into a calculating frown and he tilts his head just slightly. His arms crossed across his chest while he forces his body to relax. It takes just a few seconds but his aura changes from the ‘typical bad boy delinquent’ vibe he usually has going on and turns into something much more. It works wonders and he has a brief flashback from a conversation he had as a kid.

“You want to be intimadating? Don’t shout, don’t fire off your explosions, don’t give any reaction. Be cold, be caculating. Be dangerous little one. Being quiet is the most dangerous one can get.”

He has the electric blonde pinned under his look and faintly he can hear a ‘oh shit’ from a few seats away. He knows what he looks like, practiced the fuck out of this particular stare that a Russian model taught him all those years ago when he went on a fashion trip with his parents.

“I’ll teach you how to be scary little firecracker. Make us proud, you’re our little victory.”

Models, he muses privately as he watches the boy sweat bullets, are as dangerous as they are pretty. It takes a few moments of tense silence before someone eventually breaks and unsurprisingly it’s fucking half-n-half. He doesn’t have a real issue with daddy issues but he’s got a bone to pick with the tea kettle lover after the whole incident at the sports festival. The thought of fighting him is enough to get his blood going.

“They thought you’d hate quirkless people.” Hot Water fucker says, face void of any emotion and voice monotone. Ever since being friends with the nerd, IcyHot has gotten a lot better at speaking up when normally he’d just ignore everything. (Now if only shitty deku could pound some emotion that’d be great.)

Even though he’d expect it, he can’t help but laugh.“Why would I hate quirkless people?” He questions, raising a perfect brow. He drops his arms, an elbow perched up on Midoriya’s desk as his cheek rests on his open palm. He watches them falter, hesitation in their eyes. He decides to add fuel to fire, “One of my favorite people in this world is quirkless. She works for my parents as a secretary, I visit her every time I go.”

He doesn’t bother to listen to the responses, snapping his head and making direct eye contact with the nerd. “I hate people who have potential but let others tell them where they belong. It’s pathetic and sad. They should go get some fucking dignity, you think having a quirk is any better than not having one? It’s like having an arm, it’s the norm but if you don’t got it doesn’t mean you’re broken.” His words come out even despite the frustration building under his skin, he sees how Deku’s eyes widen in some kind of realization so he forces himself to pull his gaze away before landing onto Pony Tail. He doesn’t have an issue with her and actually likes her a lot better than the others but her confidence is so low it offends him, especially since he sees her as an opponent. Her eyes grow big and he can tell she’s nervous but before he can change his mind, his mouth opens. Oops.

The idiots practically brought this upon themselves. Reap what you sow dumbasses.

He just goes off and everyone is just stunned because they had this idea of him but that completely crumbled as soon as he started to reveal some of his thoughts and opinions

(Kirishima always kinda knew Bakugou was like this just bc I say so)

I know where this was going but now I do not lmao

Anyways he said his peace and it’s all quiet as people take in what he said and Ofc mineta decides to say something

“I don’t wanna hear that from a villain!” The diaper baby shrieks loudly, the grape fucker’s finger shaking as he points at him. Now usually, Bakugou has no problem with blasting the little pervert and calling it a day but he’s not quite done giving the literal talk down of a century just yet.

“Listen here you sex offender in training” He sneers and he takes great pleasure in seeing the other tremble in fear. “Wanna know why people shut the fuck up when I talk? Why people bother to take my advice? Why compared to me, you’re just a coward that no one besides the class’s resident sunshine trio will ever look at twice?” He asks, getting up slowly. No one stops him as he takes a step forward.

“Because I say actually fucking matters.” Step. “What I say is based off of experience and talent.” Step. “If you’re lucky then maybe the shit you spew will be worth something because it’s not worth anything here.” He finally makes it to his desk, towering over the other.

“You don’t like what I gotta say? Deal with it. I’ll continue to talk my shit to everyone and anyone because I can back it up. Can you? You fought any villains recently like teach over there? You go through some sudden growth and expand your moral compass like glasses? You fight and protect a little girl from the yakuza recently like Deku and Shitty hair? How bout deal with a shitty dad or shitty parenrs like IcyHot and Eyebags? What? Piss baby too scared now? Yeah, where were you when we were fighting for our lives? Were you there when Pikachu and Tape Face and Racoon Eyes fought against the villains in USJ?” He questions but everyone knows he’s not asking for an answer. “You there when birdbrain almost got kidnapped? You there when I got kidnapped? No? Then do everyone a fucking favor and shut the fuck up or I swear to whatever god you believe in, I’ll shove my fist down your throat and into your pathetic body and explode you so badly they’ll be scrapping off your guts for days.”

Needless to say, it was an interesting class

[rikalovesrice]

Douxie x Reader #5 - Favorite

Douxie was wiping down some freshly washed coffee mugs when you walked in. He raised a hand, about to call your name in greeting, when he noticed a boy follow you in. Some stocky lad with a chiseled face and hair slicked back with so much gel one couldn’t tell what color it was. The pair of you found seats in the corner of the café, setting book bags in the chairs and laptops on the table. Douxie watched you say something to the guy before you headed towards the counter. You saw Douxie and immediately smiled.

“Hi you,” you said, leaning on the counter, hands curled around your face.

“(Name),” Douxie replied, preparing your usual. “Who’s that over there?”

You glanced back at the chap, who had just taken a selfie and was now busying himself with posting it to social media. You turned back to Douxie with a sigh.

“Trevor Braxton,” you say. “He’s my partner for my final English project.” You groaned and put your face in your hands before sliding them down your cheeks. “Jeez, I really hope we work well together because this is the biggest project of the year and I kinda need to pass this class to graduate.” You peeked at Douxie and hushed your voice. “...I probably won’t be able to go hunting with you guys for a while.”

Douxie shrugged, smiling softly. “No worries.” They’d miss your company, but at least you’d be completely out of harm’s way for once. “And I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He slid your freshly made drink over to you in your favorite mug, the dark blue one depicting the silhouettes of rooftops and chimneys beneath stars and a crescent moon. “One hazelnut latte with almond milk. On me as always.”

You took the warm mug in your hands, wafting the steam with a content sigh. You smiled sweetly. “Thank you, Douxie.”

“Of course.”

“Well, we better get started. I’ll uh...Be over here!” You made your way back over to Trevor Braxton, who welcomed you back with a fist bump. Once you settled in, the two of you got to discussing your chosen topics. Towards the end of the night, when Benoit’s was shutting things down and Trevor had gone, you only exchanged a few words with Douxie before retiring home to do more homework.

And for the next three days, you and Douxie barely had a chance to talk. You were up to your eyeballs in schoolwork and studying for your finals and researching for your stupid project, hoping Trevor would pull his weight. Meanwhile Douxie was feeling your absence, bummed that all your time was consumed at the local library instead of Arcane Books. Archie and Zoe missed you, too. Douxie knew it would be like this at least for the next two weeks, until finals were over. His heart sunk at the thought.

So tonight, Douxie was overjoyed to see you stumble into Benoit’s with an armful of books. Trevor was right behind you, wearing a fitted t-shirt, gym shorts, and white socks with his black slides. You unloaded more books and your laptops onto the coffee table in the middle of the café. Douxie returned your soft, relieved smile when you hurried over to him.

“Douxieeee,” you whined, going to lean your forehead against his chest.

“There you are,” Douxie said. He brought you into a hug and didn’t overlook how exhausted you were.

“Ugh, I’m so sorry.” You pulled away, sighing heavily. “I’m so swamped. But thankfully my sister’s just as busy so she’s leaving me alone. And Trevor...” You glanced back at him. “He hasn’t been so bad. He’s pretty chill actually. Smart, too.”

“No worries. And...that’s good to hear. About your sister and about...Trevor.” 

Strange, though, that the smallest hint of it somehow didn’t feel good at all.

Throughout the shift Douxie would glance over at your table. You and Trevor would exchange a few words before burying yourselves back into your notes. Trevor had a book open in his lap and was studying it carefully. Wanting to check on you, and perhaps suggest taking a break, Douxie turned to make his way over to your table.

Only to see you laughing. Trevor Braxton was chuckling with you.

Normally Douxie loved it when you laughed. But right now, as endearing as it was, for some reason something felt...wrong. So wrong that it froze Douxie in place, leaving him staring, perplexed. Trevor said something else and you laughed again, this time a little harder. Trevor’s grin grew wider. The itching wrongness grew stronger. The whole thing wasn’t sitting right and urge to correct it, whatever that meant, churned throughout Douxie’s body. There was a passing thought, a fleeting feeling, that something was going to happen to you. Just as Douxie was about to move towards you, a customer called out.

“Uh Douglas, can I get another milkshake?”

Douxie whirled his head to the side, seeing a bunch of teenagers raising their empty glasses at him. He looked back at your table, where you and Trevor were now in casual conversation, before taking a deep breath, clearing his mind.

“Of course, right away.” Another quick glance back. Then he went back behind the counter, pouring milk and scooping ice cream into blenders. Douxie watched the ingredients spin rapidly, mixing and mushing together.

 A whirring vortex. 

Douxie heard you giggling.

Uneasy.

~

“I swear something’s not right,” Douxie said. “I just have a bad feeling about him.” 

“Ok so...You think he could be something?” Zoe said.

Douxie held his hand over his mouth, speaking low into his phone.

“If he is, (Name) might be in danger. He’s always around her.”

“Caaause of her project or whatever?”

“Yes!”

“So...Let me get this straight. You have a bad feeling about this guy who’s always around (Name).”

“Yes.” Exasperated, Douxie walked about aimlessly, wandering towards the cafe’s restrooms. 

There was a pause. Douxie frowned when Zoe chuckled.

“Um, Doux, are you sure you’re not just -”

“Zoe, I’m serious!” Douxie whispered harshly, holding his phone away from his face to glare at Zoe’s contact photo. “I don’t want to take any chances, especially if our friend might be in trouble.” Stopping near the men’s restroom, Douxie held his chin in thought. “He’s one of those obnoxiously handsome types. A vampire...? No, I’ve seen him in sunlight. So he can’t be an incubus either, thank God...” Now that was a thought that really made Douxie’s skin crawl and boil. “Oh! Or maybe he’s a -”

A bout of laughter came muffled through the restroom door. 

“Alright Star Trev, you got this!” a very dude-ish voice exclaimed. “Any moment now and you’ll have her right where you want her.”

Douxie near dropped his phone, his blood going cold. 

“Uh, Douxie?” Zoe said. “What -”

“Shhh!” Douxie clamped a hand over his phone and creeped closer to the restroom, carefully putting his ear just over the door. Trevor continued to chuckle to himself, an annoying, snot-nosed sound.

“Just a little longer,” Trevor said, voice getting lower. “And that heart’s gonna be yours. And it’ll be...delicious.” There’s was smack like the clapping of hands and another string of laughter. Douxie slowly backed away from the door, disgust and dread seizing him.

“A charmling,” he said, voice quivering. Charmlings. Simple creatures that resembled attractive humans, luring their victims in with their, well, charm, before literally ripping their hearts out to devour. All things considered, this was the most probable conclusion. So Douxie steeled himself, clenching a fist and glowering at the restroom door concealing an apparent monster that was targeting you.

“A charmling? Are you for real?” He forgot Zoe was still on the line. “I mean seriously, Douxie, are you sure you’re not just a little bit jea-”

“I’ll call you back.” Douxie hung up, shoving his phone into the pocket of his sweatshirt and turning tail to where you were. He had to let you know. One of his co-workers cocked an eyebrow at his rushing back into the dining room.

“Uh, Doux? You still have, like, fifteen minutes left of your break- “

“It’s fine!” Douxie quickly located you at your table, where you were studiously typing away on your laptop. Douxie walked briskly over. “(Name)!”

You looked up from your work and blushed, giving Douxie a smile for the pleasant interruption. Then you noticed how antsy he was.

“Douxie? What’s the matter?”

“It’s Trevor, (Name),” Douxie said quickly. “He’s- “

“What about me?”

Douxie whipped around. Speak of the devil, standing with his bulky arms crossed over the all-capitalized word ‘SPICY’ on his red t-shirt. Trevor’s narrowed eyes didn’t leave Douxie as he sat back down at the table, slipping what looked to be his phone into his pocket. The corner of Douxie’s mouth twitched when you looked at him with that kind, welcoming, precious look of yours but, oh, if only you knew...

“You were gone for a while,” you said. “Everything okay?”

“Wha?” Trevor noticed you and grinned. “Yeah, it’s all good. Just had to take care of something, you know?”

It only made Douxie’s eyes harden. Charmlings had to preen themselves periodically to maintain their striking human guise. Make sure claws and fangs and patches of non-human skin were well put away until it was time. That time wasn’t going to come, not if Douxie had an atom of anything to say about it.

“Uh, you got a problem, dude?” Trevor said, likely feeling the intensity of Douxie’s stare. You hadn’t noticed and just frowned at Trevor’s rude tone.

Douxie opened his mouth, stinging accusation on the tip of his tongue, but then he remembered where he was. It probably wasn’t the best idea to expose some good-looking guy as a flesh-ripping, heart-eating monster in front of the peacefully oblivious civilians of Arcadia chilling in the café. 

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Douxie forced a smile.

“Of course not,” he said. “I uh...Just wanted to tell you you’re our one-hundredth customer tonight! So you get, uh...a free beverage of your choice.” Douxie’s thoughts bitterly added, Free because I’m paying for it...

Trevor silently glowered at Douxie for a few seconds before breaking out into excited chortling, rubbing his hands together.

“Hoho, sweet! Gimme a large Jungle Juice smoothie. Extra spinach.”

Douxie’s gnashed his teeth behind his lips in an attempt to keep from scowling. “Right away.”

His eyes flickered over to you. You had one brow raised in question, clearly sensing something was amiss. Unable to say much else, Douxie sighed and left the table. Text. He was going to text you, he was going to text you... 

“Yeaaahh, ya boy’s gonna get us an A plus, (Name)!” Trevor’s voice was a distinct bark above the conversations buzzing around the dining room, grating on Douxie’s nerves. That fact that he’d said your name somehow made it worse.

 A lot worse.

Co-workers were a bit perturbed to see an unusually grouchy Douxie glaring dark daggers across the room while dumping an entire bag of spinach into a blender.

~

They were being pelted by globs of acidic monster saliva but that didn’t stop Douxie from answering his phone as soon as it rang.

“(Name)!” Douxie exclaimed, yelling above monstrous gurgling and loud blasts of magic.

“D-Douxie?” you voice came through. “Okay, I...I don’t get it. Trevor is dangerous and trying to eat my heart?” An explosion, courtesy of Archie. “Um, what was that? Are you fighting something right now?”

“Well, uh, yes, but that’s not important - GAAHH!” Douxie whirled out of the way of a mouthful of teeth, the creature instead taking a chunk out of the pavement. The new hole in the ground was steaming, melting away. The creature, a poisonous and slimy mubok, twisted its serpentine body of sludge back towards him, its white drooping eyes glaring.

“Hey! Why are you on the phone right now?!” Zoe barked, throwing handfuls of lightning at the mubok. 

“Just a second!” Douxie said. “Real quick, I have to tell (Name) about Trevor!”

The next blast of electric magic sent the mubok splatting against the alley wall. An exasperated Zoe faced Douxie with clenched fists.

“Are. You. Joking?!” 

“No, I’m not! This is important-”

Yeah, now realizing the time, you shouldn’t have called. Not wanting to jeopardize the hunt tonight, you hurried to put the call on hold. “Doux, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay? I think you need to concentrate.”

“What? No, wait, (Name)-”

“I know, I’ll be careful, alright?” You couldn’t help but laugh softly over Douxie being so worried about you. Sometimes it was overbearing, but even then the giddiness bubbling inside you was there. “Tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, okay, just whatever you do, don’t go anywhere alone with hi- OH FUZZBUCKETS!!!” Another explosion and what sounded like Archie yowling, and the call ended anyway.

You brought your phone away from your face and just stared at it, trying to process. To be honest, nothing surprised you much these days, what with finding out and knowing for a while now that wizards and trolls and whatever else existed. Heck, aliens were real at this point.

Now the guy who’s your partner for a project worth eighty percent of your grade might be trying to eat you.

~

As soon as Trevor excused himself from the table, Douxie made his way over to you, giving Trevor the side eye as they passed each other. The git was going towards the restroom.

Douxie pulled up a chair and sat next to you. After so long of being away from him, the warmth and comfort of Douxie’s closeness was almost overwhelming. Even panicked and suspicious, Douxie was so cute and amazing. But remembering the disturbing news, you shook away your reverie and set your books to the side.

“Okay so...about Trevor,” you began, leaning close and your tone hushed.

“Right,” Douxie said. He went on to explain what a charmling was. “Terrible things. I knew someone years ago who’d fallen victim to one. The poor guy was found with a gaping wound in his chest. His eyes were stolen, too, which was odd- “

“Umm, okay, thanks,” you muttered, shuddering. Douxie quickly backpedalled.

“Sorry!” He leaned his elbow on the table, bringing himself closer to you and darn it, you couldn’t help but blush. “We can take care of this tonight. Convince him to stay until closing and I’ll do him in.” Douxie cocked his head in confusion when you suddenly looked...sad. “What is it?”

“It’s just...Geez, it kinda sucks,” you said, shrugging. “I thought Trevor was a pretty cool guy. Surprisingly hilarious, too, and a solid partner. Are you sure he’s a charmling or whatever?” 

Normally you wouldn’t doubt Douxie on secret monster matters but the thought of your ditzy but harmless enough classmate being sent to limbo was quite the bummer. But on the other hand, yeah, you kind of needed your heart to stay alive so...

Hearing you vouch for Trevor even in the slightest was making Douxie’s stomach coil. Something in him was urging him to consider your words, that maybe he was jumping the gun here, but Douxie couldn’t bring himself to stop and think this time. Too....bothered.

Trevor’s smug face crossed Douxie’s mind.

No, make that too annoyed.

“Believe me, I heard him clearly in the bathroom that day,” Douxie said. He nudged your arm. “Come on, I know a monster when I see one. Been doing this for centuries after all.”

Your shoulders slouched with a sighing chuckle. “True. I’ll figure something out. He may be book smart but otherwise Trevor’s a bit on the...dense side.” 

“Works in our favor then.”

You noticed Trevor returning from the restroom and watched him closely. Trevor winked at you but his face soured at the sight of Douxie.

“What’re you doing here Mr. Emo Dude?”

“Hey, Trevor!” Okay, granted, you didn’t like the way Trevor talked to Douxie. Granted again, it made more sense now. Trevor could probably sense somehow that Douxie wasn’t normal himself.

Douxie met Trevor’s gaze evenly, drumming his fingers on the table and feigning pleasantries. You scolding the guy somehow made it easier. “I’m just talking with my friend. Haven’t been able to see her much these days, what with your project.”

Trevor snorted, plopping down into his chair. “Uh, alright man. We’re almost finished, though. I mean once we get our A plus I’ll be done with her, right (Name)?” Trevor lightly smacked your shoulder in what appeared to be jest, snickering at his own perceived hilarity. But you’d gone stiff and your heart began to race because with Trevor in a whole new context, that just didn’t sound good at all.

Then you felt Douxie’s familiar hand on your shoulder. He had his other hand behind his back balled into a fist.

“Good,” Douxie said shortly, still working a tight smile. “I’ll leave you two be then.” He gave your shoulder a squeeze before getting up, putting his chair back where he got it, and returning to work.

“Pfft, what a weirdo,” Trevor murmured. 

“Uh, hey so...” You racked your brain, trying to come up with something, anything. Trevor was holding his phone and an idea came involving his latest obsession. “Did you know that Benoit’s has a special deal with the Granny’s Baking House app?” 

~

Even though you’d been absent after hours for a while now, everyone still knew you as the girl who always stayed behind and waited for Douxie. Kind of odd that some dude was with you this time but whatever. As long as you didn’t make a mess.

You and Trevor had packed all your things away. Trevor was so engrossed in his phone that he didn’t notice you slip away, wringing your hands, and join Douxie near the counter. 

“Okay, I want you to go outside, but don’t go far,” Douxie said, securing his charm bracelet around his forearm. He didn’t want you in here once they got started. “He’ll try to follow you...” Magic flashed over the surface of his bracelet, symbols flickering. “But that’ll be the end of it.”

“Got it.” You went back over to the table and gathered your things. “Well, I’m going to head home. Thanks again, Trevor.”

He glanced up from his phone. “Want me to walk you?”

“Eh, no it’s okay! I’ll be fine. And I wouldn’t want you to miss your big boost.”

“Pfft, bro, it’s cool,” he said, shrugging. “It’s, like, super late and dark outside. I don’t anything to happen to you, you know?”

Trevor flashed his pearly whites in a smile and you swallowed, chills rippling down your spine. 

“...Right. Thanks.” 

Getting his stuff, Trevor followed you to the door. You made sure to go first, and as soon as you were completely outside, the door slammed shut behind you. You spun around, gaping as the door and windows were outlined with Douxie’s blue magic. The door locked on its own and the lights inside died, plunging the café in partial darkness.

“What the heck?” Trevor pushed and pulled on the door but to no avail. You took a step back when Trevor looked at you, gritting his teeth, and tried ramming the glass. Still nothing.

“You’re not going anywhere, Star Trev.” Douxie emerged from the shadows, magic pulsing in his hands. “And you’re not laying a finger on (Name).”

“Dude what are you talking abou- AAIIIEEEEE!!!” A high-pitch scream, and Trevor was throwing himself out of the way of a blast of blue. He scrambled away and back onto his feet. “Yo, dude, what’s going on?!”

“Oh, don’t play dumb!” Douxie said. “You can’t fool me, charmling!” Douxie crossed his arms over his face then released, ropes of magic flinging out and wrapping around Trevor. He fell back onto the floor, writhing and whimpering. Strange that he wasn’t putting up much a fight...

“Go on, then!” Douxie said, his magic poised for another attack. “Reveal your true self!”

“Uh..uh..M-my name’s Trevor, I-I’m eighteen and I like puppies and I a-actually cheated on my math exam and I think emo guys are r-really cool and- Dude please don’t hurt me!!!” Trevor kept squirming, now shaking with melodramatic sobbing.

Alright, so things were starting to not add up but Douxie didn’t relent. “Me hurt you? You’re the one who wants to eat (Name)’s heart!”

“Huh?! Y-yo, I ain’t a cannibal man!” Trevor wailed. “I-I mean I bit my brother once b-but that was a long time ago but I wasn’t tryin’ to eat him!!”

Okay this...wasn’t supposed to happen. Douxie lowered his bracelet arm just a little bit, his hostility wavering.

“Then what was all that talk about a delicious heart?” He couldn’t relax just yet. “Didn’t you stay behind today to get (Name) alone?”

“What? Bro, (Name) told me if I stayed here until midnight I would get extra brownie points for Granny’s Baking House!” His terror suspended for a moment, Trevor struggled and somehow managed to fish his phone out of his pocket, showing to the screen to Douxie. Sure enough, a cartoonish grandma in a fluffy apron and a pair of pink oven mitts was smiling warmly back at him, a window full of pastries on display behind her. The screen then flickered to a picture of the same grandma clad in armor, brandishing a pie at a three-headed dragon.

“Brownie...points?” 

Trevor rolled his eyes at the apparent amateur Douxie was. “Uh, yeah. If you get five hundred brownie points, Granny gives you a heart-shaped cake! It’s the strongest cake in the game, man! And it even comes with a real life recipe. All I need is, like, fifty more points!”

“Heart...shaped...cake...”

Oh, fuzzbuckets.

“Dude, why do you keep, like, repeating my words?” Trevor sighed, leaning his head back against the floor. “Yeah, but then (Name) was gonna walk home alone and like I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t go with her, ya know?” Then he reverted into a mocking tone. “Whatever, I bet this place wasn’t even going to give me that many brownies. Hardy-har-haaar!” And then he seemed to remember that he was still tied up. “U-uh, but for real, Emo Dude, I ain’t trying to steal your girl! L-like she’s cool but n-not really my type...”

Douxie felt his face go warm. “She’s not my girl, she’s my...” His smacked his hand against his forehead. “Ugh, blast it all...” How had it come to this?

With a wave of his hand, Douxie released Trevor from the binds. Trevor rose nervously to his feet. Douxie sagged his shoulders, feeling bad. 

And really, really stupid.

“Well...This was clearly a misunderstanding. My apologies, Trevor.” Douxie willed the lights to turn back on and the doors to unlock. You hurried inside, having watched the whole thing.

“What’s going on?” you asked, looking back and forth between the two. “Is...everything good?”

“Yo, are you, like, a magician?” Trevor asked, awestruck as Douxie punched in a spell on his bracelet. “How’d you do all of that-”

“Interminus nocti slumberso.” A blue mist blew out of Douxie’s hands and onto Trevor’s face, instantly knocking him out cold onto the couch. You were about to protest, but then it didn’t take you long to figure out what must’ve happened. So you stayed silent, somewhere between relief, wanting to laugh, and wanting to give Douxie a hug (though, you were always down for the latter).

He and you listened to Trevor’s snoring for several seconds before looking at each other. 

Looking at you standing beside him after so long, having nothing to do with schoolwork or Trevor, the void the last two weeks without you left was even more apparent.

 Douxie was so glad to see you. To just be with you.

“I...messed up,” was all he could say, his eyes downcast.

You breathed a chuckle through your nose. “It’s okay. I’m quite glad my heart is safe and not at risk of being eaten by a monster.” You gestured to Trevor. “And that this guy will probably think it was all a dream.”

Douxie groaned, sinking down into the nearest chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t know what came over me,” he murmured. “Ah, fuzzbuckets....”

“What do you mean?” 

“I just...I don’t know. I had such a bad feeling about him.” Douxie flicked a hand towards Trevor, who was now curled in a fetal position and murmuring something about pancakes. “And he was always around you so I figured you were in trouble somehow but...”

Your eyes widened and your heartbeat started to pick up. “Were you...upset? That he was always around me?”

Upset? Douxie stared back at you. He hadn’t known for the longest now what to call what he’d been feeling every time Trevor made you laugh. Every time you mentioned how smart and funny he was. Every time Douxie knew you were at the library with him. Every time he was right behind you coming into Benoit’s. All of a sudden for two weeks you’d been sparse in Douxie’s life, instead occupied with...someone else. Some other...

Douxie looked away, hiding his face. “I guess I was a little upset.” He sighed in frustration, running a hand through his hair. “I mean, I’ve missed you, (Name), and seeing you with Trevor all the time and hardly being able to talk you was just...I suppose I felt...”

“...Jealous?” The word slipped before you realized it. Now that you had, your face went scarlet and your body felt fuzzy because could Douxie really feel jealous over you? Did he long for your attention like you longed for his? But then the surprised and contemplating look on Douxie’s face had you scrambling to recover because that just couldn’t be the case and so not that sort of jealousy.

“Uh, I-I mean...maybe not jealous. Some people just give off a vibe, you know? You don’t always click with everyone. Trevor didn’t seem to really like you either and -”

“(Name).” Douxie was smiling at you. Then he got up and threw an arm around your shoulders, leaning his cheek on top of your head. “No...I think you’re right. I guess...I didn’t want him to steal you away from m...from us.” He looked down at you. “You didn’t find him too charming, did you?”

How could Douxie ask you that when he was holding you and grinning at you like that? If only you could tell Douxie that no one compared to him in your eyes. That no one shined brighter than your beloved wizard.

“Not in the slightest,” you said, your cheeks pink. “I missed you...you guys like crazy, too.” You leaned your head against Douxie’s shoulder. “No one’s stealing me. You guys are my...” What were you saying? Think, think, think. “My favorites!” You looked up and smiled awkwardly. “You guys are my absolute favorites. And you’re my favorite b- er...guy...friend! My favorite, best guy friend ever.”

Douxie stared down at you for several seconds before bursting into a fit of laughter muffled into his fist. It put you in a trance because you rarely saw Douxie laugh but it was one of the greatest things in the world. It was so lovely you forgot to feel embarrassed.

“Well that’s good to hear,” Douxie said. His eyes went all gentle, so your insides turned to goo. “You’re also my favorite, (Name).” Douxie took in your soft, kind eyes gazing up at him. Your slightly parted lips. Your rosy cheeks. Every time without fail, it sent warmth like a candle blooming in his chest. 

Precious.

~

“I passed everything!” you exclaimed as you burst through the doors of Arcane Books. You gave Douxie a walloping high-five and flopped across the counter, thoroughly done with school. “One more week and I’m graduating, can you believe it?”

“Congratulations,” Douxie said, ruffling you hair. He finished organizing a stack of books onto a shelf before joining you at a table. “How was Trevor today?”

You shrugged with a grin. “Himself. Going on about how eating too much spinach gives you ‘wicked dreams.’”

“We’ll let him have that one.” Douxie smiled. “It’s good to have you back, (Name).”

Douxie sitting across from you with a backdrop of bookshelves and gothic decorations. It filled your heart. 

“Glad I can be back.” You stretched out across the table before folding your arms under you and closing your eyes. Unable to see Douxie’s face. How truly happy he was. 

You were here with him. 

You were with each other.

Favorites.

[ilguna]

Metanoia - Chapter Fifteen (f.o)

Summary: you will be crowned victor of the 75th hunger games.

Word Count; 10.7k

Warnings; swearing, mention of murder and torture

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

uhhh long ass chapter jfc

–

You tap the end of the spoon against the table, “Maybe more gasoline?”

Beetee gives you a look, “I’ve engineered these perfectly--”

“I’m literally from District Two, I manufactured weapons. Just add a bit more gas, and see what happens, it can’t hurt, can it?”

Beetee readjusts the glasses on his face, “I suppose not.” he gets to work, and you scoop some of the carrots onto your spoon, trying not to make a face when you force them down your throat. They’ve gotten cold from how long you’ve been stalling, “You’ve made molotov arrows before?”

“Well…” you make a face, and he turns his eyes to you, “I wouldn’t say that. I’ve… experimented that’s for sure.”

Gale laughs, “What does that mean?”

“It means I’ve illegally made weapons and sometimes started bush fires because of it,” you laugh, “And I’ve never been caught, either.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be in here.” Beetee mutters.

You roll your eyes, “As if I would willingly do work now. Just telling you to add more gas was a bore.”

Beetee screws the top back onto the arrow, being careless with it to see if it’ll explode or whatever. Which means that you should definitely put some distance between you and the psychopath here, you’re not too fond of being inside of a molotov. No matter how small that arrow is, there will be a ton of fire.

“Give it a shot.” you motion at Gale, “Seriously.”

“It won’t set the studio on fire?”

“You’re talking to the two engineers, here. Go ahead before I do it myself.”

Gale picks up the crossbow, and then takes the arrow that Beetee is offering him. While he prepares everything, you swivel around to face Gale, while Beetee has to turn the entire wheelchair to see.

“I’ve been trying to make a trident for Finnick.” Beetee begins, the two of you watch Gale prepare, the people on the other end of the room have fire extinguishers ready to put the fire out as soon as the arrow is fired.

“Don’t make it look like an actual trident, keep the design as close as possible to the one he had inside of the arena.” you scoop up another spoonful of carrots, “And make it hollow in the middle, it’ll be easier to move around--and you can make it compatible that way too.”

“Ready?” Gale asks.

“We’ve been ready.” you eat the cold, slimy carrots.

Gale fires the arrow, and right when it hits the bullseye, it explodes into fire. The entire target, the wall behind it, mostly the floor and some get onto the ceiling too. The crew runs forward, putting out the fire before it can spread across the entire room.

You look at Beetee, “See? Not too shabby.”

“Know any ways to make them waterproof?”

“Wax, water rolls right off of it. Don’t lay it on too thick, and you’ll be just fine.” You set the empty tray onto the table, “

“They should have sent you down here sooner.” Gale says, coming back over, “Imagine how much faster all of this would have been made.”

“Beetee would have gotten fed up with me, if he isn’t already.” you say, stretching. 

“You’re not too bad to be around.” 

“You only like me because I make your weapon engineering much easier. I’m able to catch your mistakes before you even make them.” you tuck your legs in.

He ignores what you said, moving on to Gale, “How’s Katniss doing?”

Gale doesn’t give much of an answer, “Recovering.”

“Let me guess, she’s still mad at you?” you raise your eyebrows. For this, he tells you to shut up. You shrug, getting back to the sketch you were working on for your own personal weapon, “Hey, if you can’t see how out of line you were, then that’s your deal.”

“How was I out of line?”

You place the sketchbook on your knee, “Dude, you called her fiance weak for doing what he could to stay alive. Obviously you two are still pretty close after that, but I wouldn’t have made a comment like that.” you pause for a moment, looking at Gale, “Then again, you don’t know what it’s like to be under a microscope, you can run your mouth all you want, because you were nothing but a coal miner.”

Gale practically rolls his eyes, “I know what it’s like, Katniss had to start calling me her cousin.”

“Katniss was the one being watched, don’t flatter yourself.” you go back to what you were doing.

“She’s right.” Beetee chips in, “(Y/n), I mean.”

“Right.”

The sound of boots on cement makes you look up, expecting Gale to be the one walking away. He doesn’t normally like to take shit from you or Beetee. Coming down here is like a safe place, allowing him to vent and blow steam when he gets to test out the new fancy weapons.

Gale stands right where he was before, which means that it’s someone else. And since Beetee can’t walk, you turn around in the chair to see who it is.

It’s Finnick. His hands are in his pockets, with a gleeful smile on his face, “Good afternoon.”

Gale is just as suspicious as you are, “What are you up to?”

“What was I up to.” he corrects, coming to a stop behind your chair, “It’s a surprise.”

Beetee makes a face, and then wheels himself around so that he’s facing the table again. As he gets back to work, you resume critiquing Gale, and Finnick finds where he wants to be.

“Gale, don’t get me wrong, I can sorta see where you’re coming from, but you need to see it from our perspective too.” you drop your leg, “Let’s compare you to Peeta, since you were doing that already by saying you’d never say what you said.

“He had absolutely no clue what the fuck was going on. Peeta didn’t know that there was a plan to get him and Katniss out of the arena, he didn’t know that Coin was planning on using Katniss as a symbol. The only things he did know was what the Capitol fed him to get him on their side.

“And if you still can’t see eye to eye with it, imagine a gun pointed to Katniss’ head. If you so much as step out of line in a way that Snow doesn’t like, he’ll shoot her. It’s not his family, friend or girlfriend that he’s killing, it’s yours. And if you don’t cooperate after Katniss, he’s grabbing the next dearest thing to you.” you lean back in the chair, “And before you say shit, Snow literally did that to me twice. First was right after I won my games and he killed my entire family, and the second time was when we found Tanith dead in a chair. It’s a little different for Tanith, because she was already dead, but he still tried to use her against me.”

“Okay, but what were they threatening Peeta with?”

“His life, for starters.” Finnick says, “And likely his family too.”

Gale doesn’t say anything after that.

“How’s this design?” You offer the sketchbook for Beetee, and he takes it.

“We could probably start this now.” Beetee says, “Mind doing something for Finnick, too?”

“Sure.”

He hands it back, but Finnick takes it before you’re able to grab a hold of it. Sighing, you look up at Finnick, watching his face as he looks over the page, “These are swords.”

“Sai’s.” you correct.

Finnick gives you a look, “But it says right here--”

“--that it’s basically a sword, yes, I know. Normally they’re used to disarm someone--as I showed you before. But I want some that are actually sharp. Blunt force trauma is fun, but what’s even more fun is spilling someone’s guts in front of them.”

Finnick hands the book back, “Sword.”

“Sure.” you cross your legs, “What are you here for, other to annoy me?”

“Keeping an eye on you three for the next couple of hours.” Finnick pulls up a chair of his own, mirroring your stance.

“Sounds exciting.”

Everything falls back into rhythm. Beetee goes back to tinkering on arrows, having Gale use the decoys. And the times he’s not shooting arrows, he’s sitting in a chair talking to you guys. You cough up a couple of sketches for Beetee, hoping that it’ll be good enough.

You might be the one from District Two, but that doesn’t mean you actually put things together. The legal age to actually get into the warehouses is eighteen, and since you went into the games at sixteen and won, you never really had to work. You’ve sat on money for your entire life. The only people that worked were your parents, aunts and uncles and some of your cousins.

Those same cousins taught you how to put things together before your games--obviously. During family get togethers, you’d all disappear for a little while, which is when they’d take the chance. They always thought it was so cool to pass on forbidden knowledge, and have it all be a secret between you guys.

They had this secret stash of gadgets inside of a log, and they’d fuck around with it until it turned into something dangerous. Honestly, the first thing you learned from them was the molotov, and when you threw it on a rock, it exploded and the dead grass around it caught fire.

Cue you all scooping the gadgets into your shirts and taking off behind the houses to get as far as possible. Your older cousin had a backup spot not too far away, you dumped all the shit there and got back to the house in record time. Before the firefighters had even left their stations.

It’s a wonder why you weren’t caught, cause that wasn’t the first time that area specifically had been set on fire, and it wouldn’t be the last either. The firefighters definitely had an idea of why it would always set ablaze, but never pursued it. After a while, they started to monitor the place on extremely hot days, thinking that it was the sun that was starting the fires.

If only they had known that it was a bunch of teenagers doing that shit for fun.

After a while, Beetee gets tired of the arrows and starts over to the crew to begin making the sai’s. While they’re heating up the metal, he gets to making the hilt.

“I feel like we’re doing more work than we have to.” you look at Beetee.

“Do you want it to be fucked up, or do you want it to be done right the first time?” He raises his glasses above his eyes when he looks right back at you.

“The first time.” you sigh.

When you get back to work, Finnick moves in closer, curious as to how you’re designing his new weapon. Every now and then he’ll point out the practicalities, and weighing in on how he would rather it be built. 

“This doesn’t even look like a trident anymore.” you hold the journal away from your face, and turn it so it’s long-ways since the entire trident spans over both pages, “It’s basically the opposite.”

“But think of it this way.” Finnick reaches over, touching where the blades of the trident are, “Initial stab, right? But the rest of this does more damage.”

There’s a spear point at the top of the trident, which isn’t the problem. That’s pretty normal when it comes to the design. However, instead of wanting all the other blades facing up and towards it, he wants it downwards.

“And you can even make it compatible!” Finnick grins.

“At least we agree on one thing.” You pass the journal to him, “Go ahead and show Beetee, he’s the one in charge.”

Finnick goes over, and it’s basically halfway across the room, since Beetee is hovering over the crew’s work like a hawk. He wasn’t playing around when he said that he would like it to be perfect the first time around.

“Finnick’s into you.” Gale says.

“You say that like he’s not my soulmate.” you give Gale a look, “Also, I’m not into Finnick.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not a teenager and I don’t date people right after they broke up with their girlfriends.” you turn back to Finnick to see that he’s discussing the weapon with Beetee and a crew member.

“If there was no Annie, would you have dated him then?”

You squint, “No.”

Gale laughs, but doesn’t say anything because Finnick is heading your guys’ way again. He drops the journal in Beetee’s workspace on his way over, “Beetee will start it tonight.”

“Cool.” you get up, picking up the lunch tray, “Am I free to leave now?”

“Yes,” Finnick says, but he makes a point to stay in front of both you and Gale. 

“See ya later, Beetee!” you shout, “Send someone if you need my help.”

He waves, and then goes back to hovering.

Finnick starts up the staircase first, and Gale walks beside you, “Any progress on Peeta?”

Gale rolls his eyes, you can feel it, “Same as he was before. I saw him before coming here.”

“Katniss still saying no?” you look over.

Gale nods.

“That’s reasonable, I wouldn’t want to go near him either…” you trail off for a moment, and then laugh to yourself.

Finnick glances over his shoulder curiously, “What is it?”

You chuckle a bit, “Out of everyone, I’m definitely last on the list of people he wants to see.”

“Why’s that?”

Your smile is small as you look at your feet, rather than up at Finnick, “I nearly killed Peeta.”

“After the birds? I know--” Finnick says.

“No, after. After you had been pulled out of the arena, did I tell either of you that story?”

Gale says no, which is expected, but Finnick thinks about it before answerings, “We talked about emotion when you first got here, and how intense it was.”

“Well, after I left the lightning tree, my real goal was to go downhill and straight for the cornucopia. I thought that if the jungle were to burn, I would need to take my chances in the middle. On the way, I found a livid Peeta, and a strangely calm Johanna.” you smile, “Peeta started screaming at me instead, and Johanna urged me not to do anything.

“But then Peeta backed me into a rock, so when I got up, I punched him twice. Kicked him a couple of times while he was down, and then Johanna stepped in--” Finnick has slowed down now, he watches you, “--and naturally I knocked her out with a single right hook, since she’s… weak to say the least. She hit her head on a rock on the way down, and I thought I’d finish her off later.

“As for Peeta, it was just him and I.” the smile develops into a grin, “I was about to rip him apart--and I mean minutes from doing it. But then the peacekeepers came and I thought that it would be better to leave the situation as it was.”

“You’re… sadistic.” Gale says.

“I’ve heard it all before.” you say, looking at Finnick.

“At least you didn’t kill them.” Finnick says.

“Peeta knew that I was about to. Doesn’t matter if I did it or not.”

Gale laughs now, “You should go visit him to see what he says.”

“He’d probably get mad at me for not killing him when I had the chance. I’m surprised he didn’t strangle me in that hovercraft.”

“The tracker jacker venom fucked with his head, he probably barely recognized you.” Gale says.

At the top of the staircase, Finnick stops you, “We’ll see you later, Gale.”

“Sounds good to me. I’m going to see Boggs.”

You salute as a joke, getting an eye roll in return. Finnick purposely waits until Gale is gone, and then he moves out of your way, “You’re getting better.”

“At making people like me?” you ask, giving Finnick a look, “You know, a genius once told me that I’m not as dislikable as I think.”

Finnick raises his eyebrows, “A genius you say?”

“Maybe not a genius.” you laugh, and Finnick joins in, “So what were you up to?”

“You’ll see in a couple of hours.”

“Is that why we aren’t getting off on the floor we normally do?” you stare at your feet.

“We’re heading straight for the medical floor to Johanna.”

You stop on the stairs, and Finnick gets a couple of steps above you, “Did you not just hear my whole story?”

“The worst Johanna will do is run her mouth about the fact that you didn’t kill her when you had the chance. And if you don’t believe me, you can ask one of the nurses. We’ve heard her speech a couple of times now.”

“Then can I opt out and go to the dorm instead?” you start up the stairs again.

“You’re really going to leave me to talk to Johanna?”

Your eyebrows draw together, “You’re the one that wants to see her!”

“Come on, we see Johanna and then we go to the dorm right after, I promise.” Finnick says.

You hold out your pinky for Finnick, and with a slight chuckle, he pinky promises you. The two of you resume your journey up the stairs, and then he says, “Unless we talk for too long.”

You press your lips together, not giving him the satisfaction of a reaction. He laughs anyway.

When the two of you reach Johanna’s room, you hang by the door, not really wanting to go inside. You don’t like the look of the room, much less the idea of being back inside of it. Ever since you’ve been granted the freedom, you’ve made a point of not coming back to the hospital--or infirmary--floor, no matter the reason.

The other day, you cut your hand on a blade down in the workshop. The crew had wanted to call someone down to come and take care of you, and you barely stopped them in time. Over your dead body, would you be brought back here to sit and wallow in white for a couple of days.

Especially over something as childish as a cut. So, you found the first aid kit, cleaned out the wound and Beetee stitched it up for you. The crew was a little surprised how calm you were during the entire procedure but the only thing you had to say was ‘high pain tolerance’ after all your years of bullshit.

So being back here makes you nervous. As if someone will pop out from one of the walls and tie you down to a bed for absolutely no reason. You’re perfectly healthy, and the nurses and doctors knew this. Even after you had tests that came back negative for poison in your system, you were required to stay.

Finnick and Johanna’s conversation is surprisingly normal and boring. There was absolutely no reason for you to tag along, except for Finnick’s own request. The only reason why you’re here is to be nice.

As if Finnick’s read your mind, he looks at you, “(Y/n) been helping Beetee out in the workshop lately, designing weapons.”

Johanna’s eyes drag over to you, bored of it already, “She’s being helpful for once?”

You stare at her.

“She’s done quite a lot, Johanna.” Finnick says, looking back at her, “She’s the one that opened the conversation about rescuing you and the others from the Capitol.”

“For her own benefit.” Johanna laughs, “Because she can’t stand being alone. It’s why she’s kept you around so long, you know? Not because she likes you, but because she needs another soul to harvest. She’s like the fucking grim reaper.” she looks at you now, “A heartless murderer.”

You take a deep breath, and then a smile spreads over your face, “I should have killed you when I had the chance. At least then, there would be one less leech on the morphling supply.” you spit, “You deserve everything that Snow gave you, the waterboarding, the near-drowning. It’s a shame that he only kept you alive so you’d suffer and become nothing but another downer on everyone around you.”

Finnick’s head whips in your direction, clearly not expecting the outburst. You’ve been so good for so long, but there’s something about Johanna that just gets you steaming. 

“I should have stomped your head into that fucking rock in front of Peeta.” you seethe, “And then I should’ve beaten Peeta to death, because you two weren’t nearly worth sacrificing my life over.” you shake your head, “You’re nothing but another morphling addict. Another victor that couldn’t take the fucking heat. If I were you, I’d just kill myself from how embarrased I’d be.”

Johanna’s been smiling at you the entire time, like she wanted this sort of reaction, and so you finish it off, “It’s probably how Blight felt too.” 

Her smile drops, and her hand is reaching towards the needles in her arms before her feet have even hit the ground. You stand your ground, allowing Finnick to get her to stop because she does some real damage to her veins.

“(Y/n)--go!” Finnick’s angry, and he glares at you over his shoulder.

“My fucking pleasure.” you spit, leaving the doorway.

It was worth it. Every word that left your mouth was fucking worth it. Being nice to people is such a fucking chore, especially when it’s towards people who don’t deserve it.

You stand in the stairwell for a moment, thinking about where you’d want to go. But there’s really no place that’s safe if Finnick comes looking for you. The workshop and dorm are an obvious place, as well as the stream you stumbled upon. He’ll check with Boggs and Gale--and there’s no one else here that likes you.

You hate it here.

You thought you would be able to make this place feel like a real home and maybe even like it, but it’s not worth it. This whole place isn’t worth it to you.

Everything inside of you is a frenzy. 

You have to go home.

You start up the staircase, knowing that seeing Plutarch and finding a ride would be the place to start. He might not be happy about it, but there’s really no need for you here. You’re not doing anything besides designing personal weapons that Beetee likes and doesn’t like. 

Occasionally you’re genuinely helpful with dumb shit, but that’s the extent of it. Other than that, you’re miserable. The freedom you have isn’t actual freedom. 

You hop up the last couple of steps, and round the corner to the door to the control room. You practically throw it open, nearly letting it hit the wall, when your hand appears between the crack to stop it.

At your appearance, a few people look over. The only eyes who stick are Boggs, Gale, Haymitch and Plutarch.

“Where’s Finnick?” Gale asks.

“Not his owner,” you go down the steps, eyes on Plutarch, “I want a ride to District Two. Your next hovercraft is mine to take.”

Boggs stands up, crossing his arms, “What about the workshop?”

“Boring, Beetee has it under control.”

“And Finnick?” Haymitch asks, “I thought you were just liking it here--”

“I’m a liar.” 

Gale sighs, “Tell us what happened.”

“Johanna and I are going to end up killing each other the next time we come face to face.” your eyes land on Plutarch to see he has an eye on his watch, “So unless you feel like cleaning up a dead body, I’ll take one free ticket to District Two.”

“The next hovercraft is leaving in fifteen minutes.” Plutarch looks up now, “I’ll call in and let them know you’re going.”

“Does Finnick know you’re doing this?” Gale asks, “He’s going to be upset if we have to tell him--”

“It’s his fault for getting attached to me.” your face is serious, and then the smile spreads over your face, because of the irony of that statement. After what Johanna had said… “He’s your problem now, good luck.”

You go up the steps, heading right out the door you came in. You can’t take the staircase to the top, so you make your way to the elevator instead. You press the button, waiting patiently with a smile on your face.

The hovercrafts that they’re using to get the supplies to and from District Two are the slow type. District Thirteen is in no rush to get the crates there, so it won’t be a surprise to you if it takes more than just a couple of hours for you to get there. Or if it makes stops along the way.

The elevator arrives, you pull up the safety bar, and then step inside, pulling it back down. You punch the top floor button with your thumb, then you go to stare as the floors disappear beneath your feet.

At least back home you don’t have to act and lie for the happiness of others. Especially if your first and only stop is going to be your house in victor’s village. And if you need groceries, it looks like you’ll be hunting for food to eat. Or you might actually have to go into town and ransack the already destroyed buildings.

Most of the people that used to own the shops are probably dead, or they won’t be returning back home for a while. The entirety of victor’s village is going to be a graveyard--there might even still be rotting bodies inside of the houses. If the smell is too unbearable, you could always bury the corpses yourself.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

At the top, there’s someone waiting on the ramp. You don’t bother waiting for them to tell you to hurry it up, you start jogging immediately. The faster you get on, the faster you can take off.

“I’m ready.” you say when you get to the ramp.

“Good, take a seat and strap in.” the man follows you in.

--

The whole district is in ruins.

The last time you were here, everything seemed to be in near perfect condition, apart from the obvious looting that had taken place. The broken windows, and the wood splinters in the gravel could be easily looked over. But it’s much harder to see this place as it once was.

Most stores and houses that were made out of wood, and had been passed down from generation to generation have been burned to ashes or their cement flooring. There’s nothing left of them, not the furniture inside, and definitely not the foundation. If you didn’t know any better, you’d say that they were vacant lots.

If they couldn’t burn, then they were bombed. Chunks of cement and brick have now joined the mixture in the gravel. The roofs have long since caved in, and just one gust of wind makes the walls shudder. All it would take is one more bomb dropped in this area, and it all would come crashing down. 

The air around you is hardly breathable too. Before you had stepped off the hovercraft you were given a mask--not the same gas mask that you’d used during the tribute center invasion--and a pair of sunglasses that would help you see through the debris and smoke.

It’s almost like fog, but so much worse. It’s smoke from fires that can’t be put out, and it’s from the bombs that are from your own district. The loyalists and the rebels are still fighting over this place. Katniss’ visit here hadn’t done much good, in fact you’d say that it made it a lot worse.

As you wander through the streets towards victor’s village, you come up with a lousy plan that’ll likely get you killed. 

Coin had thought that sending Katniss here was a good idea, but it wasn’t by any means. Katniss got a bullet to her ribs, which bruised a ton of them, and put her right back into a hospital bed. They clearly didn’t think about what would happen if you mix people who don’t mind the games, with someone who’s leading a rebellion.

You’ve seen the speech, and as heartfelt as it was, it’s not what they want to hear. 

Here’s the way you saw it at first; this girl from the poorest part of District Twelve is kicking up a rebellion that’ll likely destroy the system that’s making District Two rich, and the favorite. District Two thinks that they’re going to get everything taken away from them. Their houses, nice clothes and furniture, the good paying jobs.

You would all much rather send in the two kids a year--mostly because your children are prepared ahead of time, and therefore the career districts have nothing to lose--than take the risk of getting everything taken away. The Capitol absolutely adores you guys, with all that you supply them. 

So, instead of having the girl that’s leading the rebellion try and convince the loyalists that they’re on the wrong side. You have someone who’s lived in the same luxury as them do it instead. How is Katniss supposed to understand how you all feel? She despised the games, while the rest of you adored it.

The outsider districts don’t understand the need for luxury and favoritism. They’ve lived on the hated side of the Capitol for a long time. The Capitol expects them to underperform in the games, so that’s why they don’t ever see the spotlight until they get a winner.

Anyway, you’re going to get to your house, change into something that says ‘living in luxury’ and then march your way to the justice building. There, you won’t ask for any sort of protection but an escort there instead. You won’t carry any weapons, you won’t pull on a bulletproof vest.

If they shoot you, then they’ll have made their choice very clear.

The gate entrance to the village is all sorts of broken. You barely push the metal door open, and the entire thing falls apart in your hands. You have to prop it up against the fence, being sure that it won’t fall over before you move on to go inside. Then, you waste no time with a quick jog through.

The fountain in the first part of the village is dry. The cement is no longer grey, it’s black from the amount of fire that must have washed through here. On the tiles that line the bottom, there’s melted coins. You’re tempted to reach in and pick one out when you realize just how bad of an idea that is.

You continue down the stone brick path after that, taking in note of every house that you pass. The doors are slightly ajar, most windows seem to be shattered, and a couple are burned down to the foundation. Most still stand though, Sorcha, Enobaria, Brutus, Tanith and Zavian’s seem to be in good condition.

As for Lyme, her house is completely gone. You have an idea that it might be because of the fact that she’s helping the rebels, and some of the loyalists must’ve gotten behind their lines to come and burn hers down specifically. As for the others, there must be a bigger story behind it.

As you come into the third part of the neighborhood, you cross your fingers as you hope it’s not like Lyme’s. You just want a moment inside of a clean house, to be able to go upstairs and find out that there’s running water. Then you’ll take a shower, get dressed in fancy clothing and put on makeup as if there isn’t hellfire around you.

It takes you a moment to find it, because all the houses in this section are still standing. And then you realize that your house is the only one that looks fresh. It hasn’t been touched by all the ash and smoke, it’s still as bright white as the day you received it. Perfect condition.

No windows are broken, the wood and cement show no signs of it being on fire at any point in time. The door is shut tight, a little stuck so you have to rattle the handle until it comes loose. You swing the door wide open, standing in the doorway as you wait to see a mess.

But it’s clean. Of course, the house has collected dust, but there’s no blood. There’s no broken vases, or stuffing all over the floor. It’s how you left it. 

You shut the door behind you, locking it for good measure. As you go inside, you can’t help but to look around and gape like you’re on a house tour. Nothing has been touched, which is the part that baffles you the most. Both the inside and outside are great.

For a moment, you’re not sure why you’re so surprised that nothing had happened--apart from the fact that the whole neighborhood is disgusting. And then you remember the last time you came home from the games. With the house torn apart with dead bodies frozen in time.

“He seriously fucked me up, didn’t he?” you ask, laughing to yourself. 

The house does smell pretty bad though, and the scent only gets stronger the more you head towards the kitchen. You have to plug your nose, strictly breathing in and out through your mouth, blinking away the tears that form in your eyes. It’s just so strong…

Going through the doorway, you take your time to look for anything that might be off. There is nothing, but you’re sure that it was coming from here specifically, and the second that you test the water with a breath of air through your nose, you gag. You go back to breathing through your mouth, even though you can taste the toxicity.

It’s not gas, that’s for sure. It’s something else…

The kitchen, the smell, the fact you haven’t been here--it’s the fridge. The food inside of the fridge and the cupboards are likely rotting. You can picture the mold in your mind already, and you shiver a little. Deciding that it’s better not to investigate further, you head straight upstairs instead.

On the way to your room, you can’t help but to pop open the doors and take a look inside. It’s just the paranoia now that’s making you do this. You don’t think you’ll find anyone in here, it’s just the thought of someone maybe hiding and waiting for you. A house like yours shouldn’t be in perfect condition, not after everything that’s happened.

And yet, there is nothing. Not even in your master bedroom, and not in the bathroom either. Despite this, you also lock your bedroom door, stripping on the way to the bathroom. And when you get inside of there, you lock that one too. For a second, the water in the shower runs cold, but then it turns warm.

While you let it heat up a little more, you take a look at yourself in the mirror for the first time in a couple of weeks. The mirrors that they have in District Thirteen are practically useless, they might as well not have them at all. You can barely see your face in them, and they’re permanently fogged over. At first, you thought that there was a protective film, until you realized that they were just shit quality.

Your fingers dance along the scars that cover you from head to toe. You turn your body to get a better angle, only to be disappointed when they continue. You force yourself to lean onto the counter, even though you’re so incredibly uncomfortable now, but curiosity is what’s fueling it all.

Then you’re able to see that the spider bite scars exist on your face too. They’re faint though, not too noticeable. What is noticeable, is the fact that there’s a scar that’s right beneath your eye. It’s so small that you can see it, even with you leaning over the counter.

You wipe the fog off the mirror, hopping onto the counter. You’re basically pressed against the mirror with how you’re seated as you desperately try to see what the fuck is beneath your eye. Wiping the mirror again, you take your chance to see.

C.S.

Your face twists as you back up, trying to think of who has those initials. Much less who would leave it on you like they’re marking their territory. You slide off the counter, rubbing beneath your eye, wishing that it’ll just go away, but it won’t.

Then it clicks, and you almost wish it hadn’t.

Coriolanus Snow.

You stare at yourself in the mirror, mouth hanging open as you watch the fog take over the mirror again, and your naked figure is covered up as a result.

He marked you. Snow fucking marked you like you’re his pet.

Your hand has swiped the vase off the counter before you’ve realized it. It isn’t until it’s shattered, when you’re jumping out of your skin. Even then, you’re still captivated by the amount of rage that’s running through your veins.

“Motherfucker!” you yell, digging your nail into the spot, gritting your teeth when it hurts. But it has to go. It has to be defaced. You won’t be seen as his. You don’t belong to Snow.

It’s a relief when your bare nail breaks skin. Though, more pain spikes in that one spot, and even in your eye a little bit. You lean on the counter, squeezing your eyes shut and giving yourself a moment to recover before you head into the shower.

You can’t fucking believe this.

--

You had always told yourself that you would be saving this dress for an occasion that you’d never be able to replicate. No weddings, funerals or parties. No victory tour, no get together, no reaping. You had to save it for something that would be groundbreaking, something that would change the game altogether.

At first, you didn’t want to pick it up for even this. Then you remembered that you have a chance of dying, and thought that was an event you’d never be able to replicate. Because you’d be dead.

And now that you’re walking to the justice buildings, holding the dress up so that it doesn’t get caught in the gravel and what lies inside of you, you’re beginning to see that you’ve got to make it count. Not the dress, but this entire encounter. If they don’t end up killing you, they’re definitely not going to let you come back again. Not peacefully, at least.

All you have to do is make them hesitate. Make them think for the rebel’s side for a second. That’s all you need. A moment of apprehension that they’ll never be able to take back. And since you’re pretty good at playing devil's advocate, this will be a walk in the park.

Seeing a sudden blast of dust and dirt heading your way, you make a home behind a building, aiming the umbrella you’re holding towards the corner that’s closest to you. It takes a moment before the dust storm comes through. The rocks pelt the plastic, and they attack your bare legs.

Since the umbrella is see-through, you’re able to tell when it dies down. You don’t wait to make sure that it’s over completely, because you never know when another gust will roll on in. At some point in time, you recognize the streets that the scouting group had brought you through, so you take that carefully.

You’re still fairly surprised that Paylor and Lyme hadn’t taken your statement of a survey group into consideration. And if they did, then that didn’t last as long as you thought it would. It’s literally only been two to three weeks since you were here last.

You guess that just means that they can’t spare the people as much as they could before. Which says a lot--that they’re losing the battle they swore that they’d be able to win. Coin said in one of her speeches that it wouldn’t be easy, and it would take a while. And here you are, thinking that you’ll be able to change their minds in a day.

“Watch this.” you smile to yourself.

You go around a corner, only to stop dead in your tracks. Standing right in front of you are some pretty armored people, holding a gun pointed straight at your chest. 

“State your name and business.”

“I see Lyme’s upgraded her shitty guards.” you give him a smile, “(Y/n) Rosecelli.”

He lowers the gun, “You’re supposed to be in District Thirteen.”

“It’s not as glamorous as it seems.” you say, continuing your way down the alley, “Quite boring. Is Lyme in the justice building?”

“Yes, I can bring--”

“I’ve got it.” you cut him off, leaving him behind you.

“I wouldn’t recommend going that way.”

“Whatever!” you shout, going right out.

The steps to the building are pretty wrecked, but there’s just enough stone for you to be able to go up them. You hike the dress up a little higher, stomping your heels when you step, as you try to get the gravel and glass off your shoes. The people standing outside the building seem confused at first.

“Excuse me.” you say, moving right past them as you head through the doors.

You take the stairs up, still having an iron grip on the dress. You won’t let it down until you’re standing in front of rebels. You swear on everything.

You pass a third set of guards on your way inside of the meeting room that they had used the first time. When the door pops open, you can see a familiar face on the hologram screen. Alma Coin.

Paylor and Lyme look over simultaneously to see who’s entered the room. 

“(Y/n)’s here.” Lyme says, standing up now.

“Good.” Coin says, “Won’t you join us?”

You make a face, stepping inside and shutting the door. You don’t head that far inside, sticking rather close to the door, but still in sight of the camera. 

“Finnick’s been looking everywhere for you.” Coin tells you calmly, “We just broke the news to him.”

“And?” you ask.

“He’s disappointed that he went through all that trouble to throw a party for you.”

So that’s what he was doing earlier. Throwing you a party, and for what? God, you can’t imagine the headache you would have had through the whole thing. Fake a smile, pretend to like it. The only parties you do like are the types that go on inside of the Capitol.

It’s all lavish there. The foods are delicious, the sweets and the sour foods. The drinks they have that you swear are going to make you dehydrated, but you drink anyway. The people there are always so friendly, even when they aren’t. They’re so stupid and naive that it makes it enjoyable to be around them.

Not to mention they worshipped you.

“Am I supposed to care?” you ask, crossing your arms, “Can’t be a very good party with your district. The entire thing is probably being attended by a total of ten people, and the food and drinks are twenty years old. I’m not missing out on anything, trust me.”

Coin bites her tongue, smiling, “Maybe it’s best that you’re back in District Two, then.”

“I’m done talking to you.” you give her a mock smile, turning to Lyme and Paylor, “I’m going to solve this whole loyalist problem for you in a second. Do you want to send a camera crew with me just in case it works?”

Lyme’s confused, “No offense, but what makes you think it’ll work? Especially with your mouth?”

“Cause I know you guys have been approaching it all wrong, and rather than having a second person fuck it up for you ingrates, I’ll do it myself. I may be selfish but I’m also open minded and have a way of words when I’m not being a complete bitch.” you look at Coin, “And if it does work, you don’t get to say you planned it at all. I’m not Katniss, and I won’t be easily manipulated.

“On top of that, you’ll also owe me a shiny, brand new apartment in the heart of the Capitol. Otherwise you can take that propaganda footage and shove it up that ass of yours.” you point to Lyme and Paylor, “Camera crew, now.”

You leave the room after that, and Paylor approves the camera crew, asking one of the people in the room with them to go ahead and gather the people. In the meantime, you take a look at yourself in the nearest bathroom. Your makeup and hair are still how you left it, and the dress isn’t that dirty either. 

When you get outside, there’s people already waiting to take you to the tunnels. And for their protection, they’re bringing volunteers with them. As for you, you’ll be out in the open just as you asked for.

“I live in luxury.” you tell yourself, raising your head a bit, “I belong in the Capitol. I am a loyalist. These rebels have no idea what they’re doing.”

You take the train tracks straight to the tunnel. The mountain has long since collapsed, which drew out most of the loyalists. And with Katniss’ speech after, a few surrendered. But there’s still plenty of people inside of there.

“I don’t know if we can follow you inside.” one of the girls tells you nervously, “It’s dark and unhealthy in there. If they begin firing, we’ll be the first to be brought down.”

“No, I will.” you say, “They’ll likely let you all live. If those cameras zoom well, keep as much of a distance as you can spare.”

The girl nods, “We trust you.”

You press your lips together, because it’s a first, “If I reach for my dress and turn my body like I’m going to run, you should take off immediately. I don’t plan on running, but I will if it gets too risky.”

“We’ll keep an eye out, I promise.”

Inside the tunnel, it’s even dirtier than you expected. Nonetheless, you all push through. The camera crew and the couple of armed people have masks over their face, but you work right through the dirt and smoke filled air. Even if you put a mask on now, you’ll have to take it off to talk anyway. There would be no point to it, you’re going to breathe in the air whether you like it or not.

“Stop!” A voice shouts, and you all come to a halt.

“Stay here.” you tell the crew.

Lights turn on, you cover your eyes for a moment as you blink through, trying to get adjusted to them. When you lower your hand, you can see that there’s several people ready to shoot you, and what looks like hundreds of people ready to back them up. The lights are coming from the train right in front of you.

“My name is (Y/n) Rosecelli, I’m here to speak to whoever is in charge, face to face.” you move forward, but stop a little bit after that, not wanting to push your limits.

Someone appears on the top of the train, an automatic rifle in his hands, “You shouldn’t be in here.”

You drop the dress down now, “No, I shouldn’t. This place is unfathomably filthy, and I can’t imagine how hard it is to breathe the air in here. What’s your name?”

“Jovian.”

“You know why I’m here, right?” you ask, crossing your arms, your eyes wandering over all the people waiting to see what happens.

“It’s pretty obvious, which is why I should let you know it’s not going to work, and you should leave while you can.” he tells you, “Or I’ll just make an example of you, just like how we did with Katniss.”

“Except Katniss is still alive in District Thirteen, you didn’t actually kill her.” you tell him, “Healthy as a horse, she was up on her feet the same day, ready to come right back here and give you guys a second chance.”

They won’t know you’re lying.

“We should’ve gone for her head.”

You ignore that, “There’s a big difference between Katniss and I, though. Katniss grew up in the poorest part of twelve, and I grew up in what was arguable once the richest parts of District Two. And then I won the games and got more money than I knew what to do with, and she didn’t have any time to get to realize her luxury.

“Because of this, she’ll never understand what you’ll have to sacrifice if you do take part in the fight. You’re putting everything up for a gamble. Your house, your clothes, furniture, a family. And you’d have to do it without knowing the outcome of a rebellion.”

Jovian nods slowly, “You get it.”

“Of course I do, I was once a Capitol pet too, and then Snow ended up killing my family, and then my friends on top of that.” you motion with your hand, “And I saw the type of people that we were supporting all this time. They’re nothing worth supporting, Jovian. I can promise you that.”

Jovian shakes his head, “What if you lose, huh? The district is already in deep shit because half of us are rebels, what if there’s a chance that the people who don’t fight with you, get rewarded?”

You snort, “You think he’s writing down names? You think he gives a shit if some of you were helping, and the others weren’t? All he’s going to see is that District Two had tried to help the rebels, and suddenly we’re all fucked. So why not give in? You know what will happen if there are no more hunger games, no more districts, no more districts versus the Capitol bullshit?

“You’d be able to live wherever you want--the Capitol, here, any of the other districts, places that were off limits, maybe even in some of the arenas that had gone untouched. You would work if you want to, and have a million kids without worrying about teaching them how to fight.

“There would be no more worries, Jovian. You’d still get to live the same, but it would be that much more freedom. And even if you wouldn’t want to live in any of those other places, you’d be able to visit them whenever you want. Take a vacation to the Capitol and come home to a sturdy house. And for anyone who hasn't found their soulmate because they exist in a different district, you’d have a greater chance of finding them.”

The silence that fills the tunnel is surprisingly calm, it isn’t as tense as you thought it would be. Jovian is obviously thinking all of this through.

“But we can’t win this without District Two. If we get those warehouses pumping out weapons, we’ll win this, guaranteed. It’ll be difficult, as all wars are, but we’ll win for once. We’ll get the justice we deserve, Snow will pay for all the shit he’s done.” you insist, “If you guys come with me now, there’s no hard feelings.

“There’s food, water, clothes, medicine. All you’d have to do is come with us now, and we’ll get you cleaned up, one at a time.”

Jovian looks down at you, “And you can promise us this?”

You look behind you, straight at one of the guards, “Get Paylor to confirm this.”

It takes a moment, but when her voice comes over the tunnel, echoing, saying all of what you said is true, you can’t help but to give a hopeful look to Jovian.

He takes in a deep breath, “Okay.”

“That’s just you, though.” you look to all the others, past the lights, “How about you guys? Are you willing to fight?”

“Will you be fighting with us?” someone yells to you.

This question you weren’t expecting, but you find yourself nodding before you can catch it, “Every step of the way.”

“Then sign me up.” A girl starts coming forward, behind her trails a couple of kids, they come in a line, all holding hands. She walks right past you guys.

It takes a moment before others start breaking off in groups. Jovian gives you a look, “These are my people.”

“They’re our people now.” You correct him, “And they’re going to be safe. Pack the hurt into the train and get this baby moving out here.”

You turn around, heading towards the camera, “Is it still running?”

“Yes.”

You look straight into the camera lense, “Twenty-three kids have died every year for the past seventy-four years. That’s one thousand, seven hundred and one kids that have died in the hunger games. Nearly two thousand of your kids have gone into an arena, scared and alone. 

“They wouldn’t know where their next meal would come from, they didn’t know if they would get sponsors or if they were worthy of them. They likely shivered and starved and were dehydrated down to their very last days. And while it was happening, all they could picture was their blue face in the night sky, signaling another fallen tribute.

“And you’re telling me, that now there’s a rebellion happening--one that will stop a cycle of heartless and meaningless murder--you’re not going to help? You’ll finally be able to have kids, and not worry about training them the moment that they’re born. No more staying up all night worrying that it’ll be your kid picked during the reaping.

“But we can’t get there if you don’t help.” You then lean a forward, “And Coriolanus, if you’re watching, I’d like to let you know that I found the scar you left on my face. You can mark me all you fucking want, but I haven’t done your bidding since I was sixteen. How’s this for calming down District Two?”

You stand up again, “For those of you who don’t know, my name is (Y/n) Rosecelli, I won the sixty-sixth hunger games when I was sixteen. I’m from District Two, and I have to admit that I have lived in luxury since the day I was born, and coming to terms with a rebellion that has ruined my whole lifestyle, isn’t easy.

“However, if I can see past all my greediness to realize that it’s unfair that I can live in luxury and others live in dirt, then you can too. There will be no more inequality, everyone will be able to live in a stable environment, and if you don’t want that, then you’re just as ill as Snow is.”

You turn to leave after that, hiking up the dress in the front so you don’t end up stepping on it and make a fool out of yourself in the process. It’s a couple of moments before the others are scrambling to follow.

“Are you really going to fight with us?” The girl asks.

“I said I would, didn’t I?”

She’s quiet for a moment, “You just don’t look like you’d been into that type of thing.”

You look at her, “Don’t be fooled by the dress and makeup. I’m a lot more than a pretty face.”

“We’ll have to get you fitted for clothing, then. You can’t march to the Capitol in a dress.”

You end the conversation, not saying anything else to her. What she said is obvious, you know that you’ll have to be dressed properly. Hell, you know what’s happening in the Capitol at the moment.

Nothing slips past you. You hear everything when it comes to secrets. You knew Johanna had been waterboarded because she failed some sort of swimming test, nearly took down a couple of people during her panic. And you knew that her and Blight were a little more than friends too.

Just like how you know that the Capitol is turning into a whole trap. Snow is planting these pods—as Beetee called them—that are near impossible to keep track of. Snow is pulling in the Capitol citizens closer, allowing him to plant more pods. Hundreds of them, every single day.

Which means that if you go out there with the other volunteers, there’s a good chance of a million things happening to you. You can’t even think of what the gamemakers would put into the streets of the Capitol. All you know is that it can’t be good. 

They might as well throw in every single project that they’ve ever created since they won’t be able to use it against you all in the future. And in that case, you might not want to be in the streets of the Capitol after all.

Right when you leave the train station, there’s a giant dumpster waiting for the people leaving the tunnel. They’re forced to give up their weapons so that they can pass into the team of medics that are waiting. As you get closer, you’re able to see that there’s no struggle. Most give up their weapons without a fight, but some are a little hesitant to do so.

You and the camera crew pass by it easily, none of you are holding a significant weapon, and if you are, you’re all rebels anyway. They’re not worried about you guys turning on them, it’s more like the newly rebels that are just coming out of the tunnel.

Past all the disarming, is the group of medics that wait for everyone who makes it past the tunnel. It takes a bit for you and the camera crew to get through the dense crowd that only gets bigger. Just before you break the last line of people, you can hear the train’s horn, warning everyone that it’s coming.

Then, you get through.

Waiting on the other side of the crowd is Lyme, with a particularly impressed look on her face. 

“Maybe we should have sent you in, initially.” Lyme says, “You did it effortlessly.”

“If any of you had bothered to tell me before sending Katniss in, I would have told you it was a bad idea.” You take a look behind you, “And by the way, this is a perfect example of what you should do when it comes to the Capitol citizens.”

“Want to be put in charge of that?” Lyme offers.

Your head whips towards her, “I will not play devil's advocate for them. That’s your fucking problem to sort.”

“It was just an offer.” Lyme says, but you’re already leaving towards the justice building again. Lyme’s quite taller than you, so it takes basically no effort when it comes to catching up with you, “While you were gone, Coin had someone flown in.”

You can’t help but let out a snort, “Oh, whoever should that be?”

After what you said to Coin, it’s no surprise to you. She would pull some bullshit like this to make you angry. It’s just her little form of payback.

“He’s waiting at your house.”

You look at her, “You had him escorted to my house?”

“He wouldn’t shut up about it. Gave him basic instructions to get to victor’s village, and then told him yours is the only one that hasn’t been touched.”

“Speaking of which, why is that?” you fix a curl that’s fallen into your face.

“Honestly, no clue.” Lyme says, “Good luck with Finnick.”

“Right.”

Lyme and the camera crew break off when you reach the justice building. From there, one single person brings you as far as they’re allowed to go into the town part of District Two, and then they head back to where they had been standing before you stumbled along.

You’re nearly home when your feet start to ache from the heels. And if it weren’t for the fact that the dirt is mixed in with glass, you might have taken the heels right off and walked barefoot the rest of the way. Before the rebellion, you definitely would have done that. Regardless of how people would feel about it.

Victor’s village still looks shitty, there’s not much to expect from it in the first place. It’s not like it’s going to have changed in the past hour or two. Although, you thought that you might find Finnick poking around in the abandoned, charcoal black houses.

Through the first arch and into the second reveals your perfect house. The door is shut--so it looks like Finnick knows his manners--and you don’t waste time going inside.

Swinging the door open, you make a point to slam it shut when you get inside. You don’t even move from the doorway before you’re tearing the heels off your feet, massaging them one at a time. Then, you head upstairs to your room.

If Finnick wants to speak, Finnick can come and find you. He invited himself to District Two, he was able to find your house, he’ll be able to find you.

Or rather, the other way around.

Finnick’s lounging on your bed when you walk in. In his hand he holds a book with your face on it. You can’t help but roll your eyes--that book was forced on you by Snow. He thought it was a good idea to draw in more attraction to you. And unfortunately it worked, and after that, you spent a couple more weeks than you were meant to, inside of the Capitol.

Of course, it ran short when everyone heard about your sour attitude, no matter what time of the day it was. People revoked their… reservations, and you were forced to go home.

“Welcome.” you say bitterly, opening the wardrobe doors and tossing your shoes inside, then you unzip the dress from the back with little to no problem.

“So the friendliness didn’t last long.” Finnick sounds amused, but when you turn to look over your shoulder, you can see that it’s not how he’s feeling. There’s a hint of a scowl on his face, maybe some touch of annoyance.

“Thank god.” you hang the dress up, then you close the wardrobe door and move onto the bathroom.

You tear off everything that you wouldn’t normally wear. The bracelets, earrings, rings. The only thing you leave is the necklace Tanith gave you, otherwise it’s all gone. And as soon as you get into the bathroom, it’s tossed into the jewelry drawer, which is absolute hellfire to sift through. 

Finnick follows you to the bathroom, and watches as you remove the makeup, unphased by the fact that you’re half naked again, “Did you actually mean any of it?”

You pause for a moment, “Mean what? What I said to Johanna? Every word, she fucking asked for it. Antagonizing me and all that, she should have seen it coming.”

“The apology.” Finnick clarifies.

“I meant that, yes.” there’s no hesitation.

“That’s all I wanted to know.” he turns and leaves the bathroom.

“So now what?” you call, “You’re going back to District Thirteen?”

Finnick laughs, “Dream on.”

You roll your eyes, “It was worth a shot.”

“Your house smells like shit, by the way.”

“It’s the kitchen, feel free to clean it out if it bothers you that much. I just figured that this house would be blown to bits the second Snow gets a chance because of what I said.”

“Speaking of which.” Finnick comes back, he’s got some clothes for you hanging over his arm, “The front lines?”

You scowl at him a little bit, “Did anyone ever tell you it’s rude to go through someone’s clothes? And yes, the front lines.”

Regardless, you pull on the shorts and shirt after tossing the makeup wipes away. You unpin your hair, letting it all fall into place unnaturally, which causes you to just pull it right back up into a ponytail anyway to keep it out of your face.

“I was hoping you wouldn’t say that.”

You side-eye him, “Let me guess, you’re coming along?”

Finnick smiles, “You know me better than I thought.”

“No, you just have a thing for following me around, so I figured. Just like how Lyme didn’t even have to say your name, and I knew you came.” you grin a little, “How was the party, by the way?”

“Surprisingly boring without you there.”

“You’re saying that I’m entertainment?” you ask.

“The best.” Finnick smiles.

[simsadventures]

Only Mine:Chapter 5: Can’t Seem to Let You Go

Summary: Bucky needs to take care of the men trying to rape you. But when his men won’t stop taunting him about you, he tries to forget all about you. But it doesn’t seem to work the way he’d like to. Warnings: violence (kind of explicit), murder, death, blood, fluff, mentions of sex (blowjob, but it’s really quick and nothing too explicit), swearing

Word Count: 3732

A/N: A lot of the chapter is written from “Bucky’s POV”, hope that’s ok. Just wanted to give you an insight into his life as well. And because he’s got some decisions to make.

What did everyone think of this chapter? Let me know, love you 3000 guys! xx

Series Masterlist __ Masterlist

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The car ride towards the mansion was silent and tense. He knew Steve would be in the cells, beating the crap out of the guys, and he smirked at the image. He couldn’t wait to get there and take care of the matter. He hated scumbags like that, running around forcing themselves on women, in the death of a night, two on one. Bucky knew he could be an ass towards women, but he would never push himself on them sexually, that was a huge no-go for him and his men. They might have been mobsters, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have any morals.

Bucky was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t recognise they were at home before Peter tapped his shoulder lightly. When he saw the murderous look on his boss’ face, he took a step back, and let Bucky get out of the car.

He couldn’t hear anything even when he started to descend the stairs, because he made sure the cells were sound-proof, precisely for situations like this one. He didn’t need his maids to hear the deathly yells and whines of some assholes.

When he finally entered the room, a gruesome sight welcomed him.

The two men from the city were tied to chairs, their heads hanging low, sobs leaving their bodies. Their faces were bloodied and bruised, their breaths shallow. His men had to take a number of them for them to look that way. But Bucky didn’t care. All that mattered to him was that they were still alive, waiting for him and his judgement.

Steve was standing beside the guy who tried to run away, while Brock was holding a collar of the other one. They both looked at their boss and nodded their heads before letting the guys go and stepping behind Bucky.

Bucky could see as the two lowlives sighed in what seemed to be a relief after countless minutes of being tortured. Bucky grinned wickedly, the most fun part was just starting, and they had no idea of that.

“Gentlemen, can you tell me why we’ve gathered here?” Bucky said nonchalantly, and both men in front of him swiftly raised their heads and dread set in their eyes. Neither of them was willing to talk, and it only spurred Bucky on.

“You’ve been naughty boys, I must tell you. You know, your fate would be much happier and easier if you took on someone who could defend themselves, you know? If you like, I don’t know, fought other two guys, or something, we wouldn’t have to be here. But no. You had to get out of your fucking way to find easy targets, women walking alone, rushing home at night, and you jumped at them and raped them. Does it seem fair to you? There is two of you, and you aren’t the smallest guys ever, and you deliberately chose women who you saw were no MMA fighters. Doesn’t seem fucking fair to me, what you think boys?”

Bucky turned around to face his men who all shook their heads, grunting their no, not fair at all and letting Bucky retake the floor.

“You know, I thought of what to do to you, and there was one particular thing that I thought was, you know, fair. You were raping women, so, how about we raped you?”

Their eyes went wide, and their skins got two shades lighter, blood rushing from their faces. They grunted and tried to free themselves, but there was no running away from their fates. Bucky strutted towards the table at the farthest side of the room and opened a cupboard, pulling something out. When he turned around, chuckles could be heard booming throughout the cell.

Bucky was holding two massive wooden sticks.

“Prepare to lose your virginity boys, this is gonna hurt,” Sam hollered from one of the corners and smirked. Bucky chuckled darkly and handed him one of the sticks, to which Sam’s eyes gleamed like child’s on Christmas Eve. The second was given to Steve, who only nodded with a grin plastered on his face, and Bucky brought a chair in front of the guys, to watch the whole thing comfortably.

“Let’s begin, shall we?”

—-

Beams of sunlight made it to the stairs leading towards the cells, on which many of the men were now walking upwards from the room. The deed was done, and they were all tired. Bucky made Peter and Luke, the other new guy, clean up all the blood and dispose of the bodies. He didn’t have the energy nor the need to take care of that as well.

Bucky was exhausted, but he still needed to make sure you were alright. He checked his phone and found out that it was already past 8 AM. He still wasn’t sure if you were asleep or not, and if you were, he definitely didn’t want to interrupt your so needed relax. He typed a quick message to you, asking you if you were alright and if you needed anything.

He made it to his room, which to a surprise of many wasn’t a dark, cold room, but was actually very welcoming, with the ivory walls and matching satin sheets on the massive mahogany bed. But before he could delve into the beautiful slumber, he needed a shower. There was blood on his hands, both literally and metaphorically, and he needed to wash it away. He didn’t feel remorse or anything like that, he was actually happy the world was rid of two assholes. He was more pissed than anything that a splatter of blood stained his shirt.

He made quick work of discarding his clothes into the washing machine, hoping the stains would come out. When the first splatter of hot water hit his body, his form and soul both relaxed at the same moment. He was actually glad the night was over. New York was a little safer, his men could have some good old-fashioned fun with torture, and their relationship with the police was better than ever.

And she is ok, a voice in his head whispered, and he let the water touch his hair. Yeah, and you were ok, and somehow, just the image of you not being ok made his insides clench involuntarily. He didn’t understand what was going on, but he didn’t necessarily like it. He pushed the image of you laying on the pavement, unconscious to the back of his mind and quickly finished in the shower.

He then checked his phone for a new message from you, but when he saw nothing was there, he told himself that you were genuinely ok and that he deserved at least a few hours of peaceful sleep.

It was little after 11 when he heard a soft buzzing next to his head. He was still drowsy, so he looked for the source of the small noise, and when he could feel his vibrating phone in his hand, he mindlessly picked up.

“Hey, Bucky,” your tired voice sounded from the speaker, and he was suddenly awake. Multiple possible scenarios ran through his head, all of them dark and evil.

“Are you ok? Where are you? Should I come for you? TALK TO ME, Y/N.” He raised his voice, and he could hear a sigh at the other end of the phone.

“I’m fine, calm down. I just woke up and wanted to let you know I was ok, but if I should call another time…”

Bucky listened to your sleepy voice, and he calmed his head down. You were fine. You were at home and in your bed, and nothing was trying to kill you, or anything like that. He heard a light knock on his door before he could see Sam’s head in the door. When he saw that Bucky was awake, he made it to one of the chairs in the middle of the room. Bucky didn’t pay him any attention and continued with his phone call.

“No, I’m glad you’re calling, I just woke up as well. So, how are you feeling?”

“Good, I’m good. Not really into the idea of ever leaving my apartment but other than that, I’m great.”

Bucky sighed and closed his eyes. “I know, doll, but you gotta get out of there someday.”

Sam raised an eyebrow but didn’t say a thing, just sat there and listened.

“Duh, I’m aware of that, it’s just the feeling of safety left my body when they ambushed me, and now I feel like they’ll be there every time I walk out of my door, waiting because they have unfinished business.”

“Don’t you worry about them, Y/N. They’ve been taken care of, and they won’t ever hurt anybody else, most definitely not you.”

Silence followed, and Bucky could almost hear the wheels in your mind, turning. “I shouldn’t be glad that you killed someone, but I just can’t help it. So thank you for taking care of me and of all the things, because you didn’t have to and you did it anyway. Thank you, Bucky.”

He smiled at your soft tone. “Anytime, doll, anytime.”

“Well, let’s hope you won’t have to do anything like that ever again, most definitely not for me.”

Bucky chuckled and imagined your face, all doe-like, with your eyes a little wider and your mouth agape, telling him not to kill people for her. “I’ll try my best, Y/N. Go back to sleep, you sound like you need a few more hours.”

“Aye aye, Captain. You do too, ok?”

“Ok, doll. Sleep tight.” Bucky said and hung up the phone, looking at snickering Sam.

“Oh, I’ll try my best, m’lady. Oh, oh, oh.” Sam mocked him, and Bucky threw a pillow his way. Sam couldn’t see it over his hysterical laughing, and so it hit him square in the head.

Bucky chuckled at his best friend and got out of bed.

“But seriously, dude, you sound so fucking whipped that it ain’t nice. Where’s the fuckboy I grew to love, huh?” Sam didn’t let the matter go.

Bucky growled in annoyance and continued to ignore him. He dressed in his usual attire: tight black jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jacket.

“You wanna settle down with the chick or what?”

Bucky turned around swiftly to face Sam, murderous look on his face. “I’m not fucking settling, ok? She was almost raped last night, so I just wanted to make sure she was ok.”

“Whatever, man. You know better than I do that it’s not just about yesterday. You’ve been thinking about her ever since you met her at the bar, we can see she’s all you think of. And that’s ok. But be a fucking man and do something about it, or go back to your old self. Don’t tell me you’re still the same guy while you’re in love with some pussy.”

“I’m not fucking in love. Jesus fucking Christ, Sam. What do you want me to do? Fuck some random slut so that you see I don’t give a shit about Y/N?”

Sam didn’t react to that and only shook his head at his friend’s behaviour. He always tried to be the spitting image of what his father couldn’t, and Sam was sick of it. Bucky’s whole existence was about not letting a woman rule over his life, and he was always determined to show everyone that no pussy could sway him.

But Sam saw that Bucky was into the new girl, the soft chuckles and his actual friendly side which he was showing her were betraying him. Sam just wanted Bucky to admit that there might be a possibility that not all of the women were that bad and that having one by his side wouldn’t be the end of the fucking world. He just feared he pissed off Bucky enough for him to do something stupid he would regret later.

“You came in to give me a lecture about my love life or was there something you actually needed?”

“Stark is coming. He said he’s got some new things for you, if you wanted, and he wanted to show you.”

Bucky nodded and ascended towards his office, where most of his meetings took place. Stark Industry was one of the biggest players on the gun market, and Bucky was one of his main customers. Over the years, they build a steady relationship, even friendship, to the point where they’d call each other from time to time, just to check on the other. Bucky was actually glad Tony was there, just to put his mind on a different course, not having to think about what Sam bugged him about.

—-

When the night came, and Tony left the mansion, Bucky thought of what to do with his night. He might have been in the club just a night ago, but he was there for business. He wasn’t there to take someone home, as he usually did.

Bucky knew you called him two times while he was at the meeting and he had to do everything in his power not to get up and call you just to make sure you were ok. But he told himself that he’s not gonna be somebody’s bitch and that he’s got better things to do than making sure one girl was ok.

He told Sam and Steve about his plan for the night, to which they only raised their eyebrows but said nothing. From the determined look on his face, they both knew they couldn’t sway him even if they wanted to.

They all silently sat in the car and let Peter drive them towards the Compound. Neither Sam nor Steve knew how to cut the tense atmosphere in the car, so they just sat there, staring blankly out of the windows. They really hoped Bucky wasn’t making a mistake by trying to prove to them something they really didn’t need him to.

When they got to the club, all eyes were on them. It wasn’t far from truth to say they were probably the most eligible bachelors in town, and all the women there knew it. Sure, some of them were obviously scared shitless so they wouldn’t even look their way, but most of them were running towards them, pantiless.

They all sat down at their usual places, watching as the bodies on the dance floor mingled and became one sweaty form. Bucky could see a few of the women watching him intently, waiting for a sign that they have been chosen to be the fun of the night, or a month for the luckiest of them.

One caught his eye. It wasn’t even that she was attractive to him, but her hair matched the colour of yours perfectly. He whispered something to Drax who got up and when towards the girl, gesturing that Bucky would like to talk to her. She giggled and almost run towards where Bucky was seated. He wanted to roll his eyes. You would never run toward him like that. He scolded himself internally because you weren’t supposed to be on his mind, not when he was trying to get another girl to bed.

He checked his phone to see if you called him again, or at least texted him, but after the few missed calls, there was radio silence from you.

The girl made her way towards Bucky and sat so close Bucky could smell her perfume. He didn’t particularly like it, but that didn’t matter. She would have to do for the night, he told himself and smiled at her.

She giggled stupidly and took a lock of her hair and started twirling it between her fingers, looking at Bucky through her obviously fake lashes. Bucky could swear he saw the glue stuck to her eyelid, but he didn’t want to make her feel too bad, so he just smiled politely.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Dennise. It’s so nice to meet you, Bucky, I’ve heard so much about you, you’re like a legend here, haha, and look at me, sitting in your booth, chatting with you like we’re old friends.”

Bucky had to stop himself from actually cringing. She was nothing like you, and it irritated him. He suddenly missed your personality, when you would tell him off as easily as if he was just another John. This girl was clinging to him already, and he didn’t even have to try. Whatever, Bucky! You’re here to show everyone you’re no whipped pussy. He told himself and ordered the girl a drink of his choice. Bucky knew you’d hate it, especially if he ordered you something you didn’t particularly like.

The girl, Dennise, was taking care of all the conversation. Even if she asked Bucky a question, she would never wait for him to answer and would keep on talking. Bucky was taking shot after shot, trying to get himself drunk enough so that he’d forget all about you, and would enjoy a night with a stupid girl, just like he always did.

But no matter how much alcohol did he take, he couldn’t get rid of your face in front of him. It was as if you were haunting him, always there, even when he blinked. Damn you and your Y/E/C eyes. He felt like you were staring right into his soul, and you weren’t even there. No girl had ever made think of her, not even when they stayed for a whole month.

But Bucky was nothing if not determined. He suddenly gripped Dennise’s hand and dragged her out of there, her girly giggles with her. He stopped before the car and turned to face her.

“I’d like to fuck, are you up for that?” He asked, and she eagerly nodded with what sounded like a forced moan of yes spilling out of her mouth.

“Good, get in the car, and we can have some fun together.” She obediently followed his orders.

The car ride was nowhere near as sexually fuelled as the one he took with you. Dennise was on his lap, kissing down his neck and grinding on his crotch, but no matter how much he tried, he just couldn’t get in the mood. He thought it would get better when they were finally at his apartment, but he was wrong.

Even in his bachelor pad, he couldn’t bring himself to actually enjoy what Dennise was doing. Bucky was sitting on a sofa, Dennise between his legs. He closed his eyes, trying to really get into it, and he could feel a warmth spreading from his lower belly when she gave him few kitten licks. He grunted when he took him into her mouth properly, and before he could stop himself, he moaned out your name. He forgot where he was, and his brain took him to the place where he actually wanted to be if he admitted it to himself or not.

Dennise giggled and whispered, probably thinking she was seducing him. “I can be whoever you want me to be, baby.” She winked at him and made her way back to his crotch, but his hand stopped her.

“Look, I bet you’re a really nice girl, but I’m not feeling like myself tonight. Maybe another time, ok?” She was staring at him blankly, not understanding what he was saying, both from the alcohol coursing through her veins and from the disappointment she was feeling.

“But, I could make you feel real good, Bucky, I promise, let me show you.” But Bucky was already on his feet, taking her by her elbow and leading her towards the door. “I mean it, Dennise, goodbye.”

Before she knew it, she was standing in front of a closed door, with Bucky’s bodyguards leading her away from the building, being so nice to actually drive her whenever she wished.

Sam and Steve watched the girl leave with confused looks on their faces. Steve knocked reluctantly, and when the door opened, they revealed dishevelled Bucky standing there. He motioned for them to come in and shut the door behind them.

“Don’t you dare tell me I’m whipped man, ‘cause I’m not. I just wasn’t feeling like it today.” Bucky mumbled and brought a glass of water to his lips.

“I was just joking this morning, man. You’re taking it all too seriously. So what, you like Y/N, what’s wrong with that? She seemed like a girl who could actually deal with you on a daily level and not going completely nuts from your bullshit.”

Bucky smiled at that a little because he had to admit you were the only girl who ever spoke up in his presence. You had an attitude, you were always yourself, and Bucky admired that.

“I just don’t want to make the same mistake my father did, you know? I mean, mum died because dad couldn’t protect her properly, and Julia almost took all of his money. Just because he was blinded by love. I don’t want any of that to happen to me. For fuck’s sake, I’m the most feared person on the East Side, and here I am, whining about a girl like some sappy teenager. What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Steve chuckled lightly and patted Bucky’s thigh. “Just give her a chance, pal, that’s all we’re saying. Nobody’s telling you to marry her tomorrow, but maybe stop being the mafia boss around her and show her that you can be your own person as well.”

Bucky thought for a second before he mumbled. “What if she doesn’t like that person, huh?” Steve dishevelled his hair even more. “Then she’s not worth it. We’re old enough to not be lonely all the time, and fucking different pussy every night, it gets old, man.”

Bucky looked at his friends thankfully, giving them a cracked smile, and feeling a little better about the whole thing. They were right. He couldn’t be scared till the rest of his life. And maybe you didn’t even like him that way. All he had to do was to find out and let you in, at least a little bit. Bucky smiled to himself before he remembered that you called him multiple times that day and that he ignored each one.

He groaned and threw his head back. Why did he always have to be such a jerk?

/ Next Chapter >

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[mostlycompetentwriter]

Precious (One-Shot)

M/F Pairing: Y/N x Choi San (Ateez)

Warnings: language, alcohol use, stripping? (lol is that a warning?)

Genre: Action AU; Spy AU

Word Count: 7K

Summary: Choi San is one of the best investigators in PD Kim Hongjoong’s agency, especially when it comes to the baddest mafia gangs. However, despite the inherent risk of his job, nothing could shock him more than the discovery that his wife might be cheating on him with another man!

A/N: This is actually based on a scene from the movie True Lies. Oh, and go hard San, like damn! 👇

San understood the inherent risk of chasing down mafia gangs who always tried their best to test his patience, especially when it involved saving their own ass. However, it made his job much easier when the ones he targeted would quickly betray their own men without any hesitation. For example, when San first brought the agency’s newest scumbag into the interrogation room, he sat him down underneath the low-hanging lamp with his hands tied behind the chair. And San fully expected to encounter another stubborn punk who insisted that he didn’t know anything about the drug cartel that San was investigating. Of course, that would be utter bullshit, but San was also pleasantly surprised to find a man who was balling his eyes out while begging San to spare his life.

“What if I don’t think you deserve to live?” San asked the man, toying with the knife that he held in his hand.

“Please!” the man cried. “I’ll tell you anything!”

“Yeah? Who do you work for?”

“Kim! From the downtown shipyard,” the man said, spilling his secrets as freely as the tears that were falling down his greasy mug.

“That so?” San asked, circling around the man who whimpered when he could no longer see him.

“I’m being cooperative, sir, just cut me some slack!”

San laughed. “What’s Kim doing these days?”

“I don’t know! He’s messing around with some gang downtown, but they aren’t expecting a new shipment until this weekend.”

“What kind of shipment?”

“Cocaine, marijuana, heroin...the usual shit!”

“Who’s he selling to?”

“It’s just a couple of local dealers. He wants them to buy strictly from his organization.”

“Really?” San asked, humming thoughtfully to himself. “What time?”

“Midnight on the East Dock! There’s a boat coming in with the product!”

San sighed because he was somewhat disappointed that the asshole was so compliant. It meant that he couldn’t play with him using his favorite set of knives. “I guess I’ll let the rest of my men deal with you.”

San immediately started for the door, smirking when he could hear the guy calling out to him: “What do you mean!? I told you everything!”

He closed the door quietly, turning to look at his partner Wooyoung who was waiting expectantly with a cheap cup of coffee in hand. “Well?”

“Check the tape,” San said. “He spilled everything.”

“Hell, yeah, dude,” Wooyoung cheered. “I can finally go home before fucking midnight.”

San’s shoulders dropped as he checked the time. “Damn, that means I’m late.”

“Late?”

“My wife was throwing me some kind of birthday party tonight,” San said, already dreading the idea of facing Y/N’s disappointment when he returned home.

“Hey, I’m sure Y/N will understand,” Wooyoung said. “This happens all the time, right?”

San glared at his friend because that comment certainly wasn’t helpful. “Because I have to stay at work all the time.”

“Dude, seriously? Everything’s fine,” Wooyoung continued. “Let’s go tell Hongjoong the good news and then you can go home and make love to your wife or whatever.”

San rolled his eyes, but quietly acquiesced, and he followed Wooyoung as he led them both into the main control room. He was already waiting for them by the time they arrived, and Kim Hongjoong, despite his smaller stature, was one of the most intimidating men that San had ever met. Not only was he in charge of their private detective agency, but he also regularly tracked down some of the most ruthless gang members with ruthless accuracy, leading investigations with a confidence that defined his character.

Hongjoong also spent most of his time at the agency when he wasn’t participating in field work, and San offered him a generous nod as Wooyoung collapsed into one of the leather chairs. “Well?” Hongjoong asked, looking at San with a stern expression.

“He told me everything,” San said, smirking at a video of Park Seonghwa who had just entered the interrogation room on the screen monitor. He could see their unfortunate suspect pleading with Seonghwa as he attempted to slide the chair into the farthest corner of the room.

“Good,” Hongjoong replied. “He didn’t seem very aggressive.”

“He cried like a little bitch,” Wooyoung said.

“Anyway,” San interrupted. “I’m going home, Hongjoong. My wife is waiting for me.”

“Ah, well give her my best,” Hongjoong said, but San couldn’t help but frown at the comment because it was Hongjoong’s fault that his wife thought he was an insurance agent since they were undercover. Of course, San was also responsible because he wanted to keep his wife safe from the mafia gangs that they dealt with on a regular basis.

In any case, San bowed respectfully, and left the two men behind as Wooyoung launched into another story about his most recent exploit involving a girl from a bar downtown.

The lights were off when San finally entered his house, humming to himself because he wasn’t sure if his wife had gone to sleep. After all, she had made the time for his dinner at 9:00 PM, and San was several hours overdue. He could only hope that she hadn’t put too much effort into preparations, but that sort of wishful thinking was quickly blown away when he walked into the kitchen.

“Hey, baby,” San said, hesitating because he noticed that his wife had her arms crossed over her chest, sitting at the table where the remnants of San’s surprise birthday party were waiting in the form of a delectable cake and several neatly wrapped presents. “I’m sorry.” He sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “It was a long day.”

“That’s what you always say,” Y/N replied, and San knew that he was in trouble.

“I’ll make it up to you,” he said, but the words rang hollow in his own ears because San knew that there would be more nights like this in the future.

“I’m tired, San,” she replied, lowering her gaze to the floor. “We can talk about this later.”

San nodded, and his eyes followed his wife’s form as she trudged up the stairs with an absence of her usual exuberance. He groaned when he sat down at the table in her place, feeling his heart break at the beautiful decorations complimenting the natural elegance of their dining room. He knew that this couldn’t continue, and San needed to do something to convince Y/N that he still cared about her, even if that meant ignoring some of his work-related responsibilities.

Subsequently, the next morning San called the office and asked Wooyoung to handle his morning meetings. His friend protested at first, but San drove a hard bargain when he offered him free lunch for the remainder of the week. Wooyoung was suddenly much more accepting, and San was feeling excited about the suprise that he had planned for his wife. As such, he drove to Y/N’s office to surprise her for an impromptu date to the best restaurant in the city.

As he rode the elevator to the corresponding floor, San checked the time on his watch, smiling when he realized that he would catch Y/N right before she usually left for lunch. He also studied his appearance in the reflecting panels of the elevator, nodding once in reassurance when he stepped out into the hallway, enduring the endless maze of office cubicles to find Y/N’s desk. “Don’t blow this San,” he said to himself before walking in her direction.

He was almost there when he heard one of the assistants mention his wife’s name. “Y/N, your mystery man is on the line!”

San paused, faltering in his steps when he heard Y/N’s voice answer the phone call. “Hello? Mike?”

“Mike?” He whispered to himself, shuffling closer to overhear the remainder of the conversation.

“Today?” Y/N questioned. “Of course, I can meet you for lunch.” San swallowed hard, trying not to jump to conclusions. “I’d love that!” Y/N giggled. “I’ll see you then.”

San quickly darted into one of the empty cubicles, holding his breath when Y/N passed him on the way out of the office. His shoulders instantly deflated, and he could feel a bitter rage churning inside his stomach. “What the hell?” he cursed, reaching for his phone to call Wooyoung because he was nothing short of pissed off and nobody was safe from his wrath.

San watched from a distance as Wooyoung pulled up to the sidewalk, rolling down the window to greet San as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. “Hey, man,” Wooyoung said. “Welcome to the club. The same thing happened to me with wife number two, remember? She was a real piece of work.”

“But this is Y/N,” San argued, still shaken from the phone call. “She wouldn’t do this to me.”

“Hard to argue with the evidence,” Wooyoung said, shrugging like he wasn’t at all concerned. “Look, divorces are common these days. I’ll even let you crash on my couch.”

“It’s not going to happen,” San insisted. “There has to be something else.”

“What did you expect, San?” Wooyoung asked him. “You’re never there anymore.”

The brutal truth hit San like a freight train, and he fumbled with his seat-belt while holding out his cellphone. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not giving up on our marriage,” San said. “I’m fixing this before it gets any worse.”

Wooyoung’s eyes widened. “San, I don’t like that look on your face.”

“Relax,” San hissed, holding up the phone to his ear. He was pleased when one of the agency’s interns answered from the other end. “I’m coming back to the agency. I need someone to help me tap some phone lines.” 

“What!” Wooyoung screeched, but San ignored him as he shot off a series of orders to the poor intern who probably had no idea why San was so angry.

“Do it now!” San growled, assaulting the end phone call button before glaring out the windshield.

“San, are you fucking insane?” Wooyoung gasped. “This is a blatant misappropriation of funds! If Hongjoong finds out...”

“He won’t,” San interrupted. “Besides, I’m not doing anything that could hurt the agency.”

“But you’re talking about spying on your wife!”

“It’s not spying.”

“What the hell is your definition of spying, San?”

“Look, I’m just trying to keep this under control,” San retorted. “I would think that my friend might support me.”

“I do support you, San, but this is taking things too far!”

“Just drive back to the agency,” San growled. “I’m tired of arguing.”

San was pleased when several interns greeted him at the main office of their agency’s building. “Mr. Choi, we have the phone wires tapped at the work location and home address that you gave us.”

“Good,” San said, ignoring the way that Wooyoung was trying to get his attention while they entered the recording room.

“San!” Wooyoung pouted, hurrying to match his friend’s pace. “This is insane!”

“Get me some tracking equipment,” San added, throwing the command to the intern who nodded.

“Tracking!” Wooyoung exclaimed. “You’re gonna follow her?”

“Also, make sure that Hongjoong doesn’t find out,” San said, and Wooyoung waved his hands wildly through the air.

“Earth to San! Doesn’t it seem suspicious when you can’t tell Hongjoong about this?”

“He’ll make a big deal out of nothing,” San replied, checking the monitors that were supposed to record his wife’s future phone conversations.

“Nothing? Does this qualify as anything less than treason!”

San turned to look at his frazzled friend, holding his hands behind his back. “I’ve got everything under control, okay? And I need you to bring the van to my house tonight. I can sneak out Y/N’s purse and we can stitch in the GPS.”

Wooyoung sighed. “Anything else, your majesty?”

“Less attitude would be nice,” San told him cheekily, leaving Wooyoung to fume quietly to himself. In the meantime, San had one of the interns help him load some equipment into his car, ignoring the curious looks that he received from the other agents. Because whenever they attempted to inquire about the equipment, San would lie and tell them that he was doing some reconnaissance work from home.

Which wasn’t that far from the truth.

Later that night, San made sure that he was home early, surprising Y/N when he walked inside to offer her a gentle kiss in greeting. “San!” Y/N exclaimed. “You’re home?”

“Is that a problem?” San questioned.

“N-no,” Y/N stuttered. “But I wasn’t expecting you until later.”

“Hmmm...” San grinned. “I’ll be upstairs in the shower. Unless you want to join me?”

Y/N gasped, and her cheeks filled with an adorable blush. “Dinner...”

“It’s alright,” San said. “We can always mess around later.”

Y/N managed a nod which was nothing short of endearing, and San was even more convinced that he needed to keep a closer eye on his wife.

Thereafter, once he finished helping Y/N clean their dishes, they both returned to the bedroom upstairs. San immediately fell across the bed, enjoying the way that his mattress felt against his back after so many long hours at work. He also studied Y/N from the corner of his eye, formulating his next plan of action.

“I thought that we could have lunch tomorrow,” San said, and Y/N paused in front of the mirror.

“Oh,” she said. “I wish I had known sooner, babe, I’ve already made plans with some of my friends.”

“Really?” San asked, keeping a close eye on Y/N when he reached over onto the nightstand to grab her purse. “That sounds like fun.”

“It’s been a while,” she responded, covering her face with a delicate mask that gave San the perfect opportunity to quietly retreat into the bathroom. He immediately found the window above the sink, opening it just enough to toss out Y/N’s purse to an awaiting Wooyoung who was completely drenched from the rain.

“Yeah, thanks,” Wooyoung retorted, and San paused until he was around the corner of the house before returning to the bedroom.

“I’ll be right back,” San said, but Y/N was still distracted by the mess that she had made of her face mask. San chuckled to himself, hustling down the stairs to fling open the front door.

Thankfully, the agency’s van was parked in the driveway, and San waited by the door for Wooyoung who shakily offered him the purse. “You know, there’s still an opportunity for us to give up on this ridiculous plan.”

However, San’s silencing glare spoke louder than words. “What?”

“I mean, the GPS is at the bottom!” Wooyoung replied, flinching when San slammed the door in his face. 

In the meantime, San had re-entered the house with Y/N’s purse tucked under his coat, bringing it upstairs and returning it to its previous place on the nightstand. “Are you tried?” he asked Y/N, laying back down on the bed as he watched her.

“Yeah,” she said. “Do you have to be up early?”

“Not really,” San said, holding his breath as Y/N finally joined him on the bed. He carefully turned over on his side, dragging Y/N closer with one arm wrapped around her delicate waist. “You know,” he hesitated, “I feel really bad about coming home late.”

Y/N stiffened against his embrace. “Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s okay,” San said. “I should work on that. You deserve better.”

Y/N gave no acknowledgment of his comment. Instead, she muttered something about feeling exhausted because of work, and San simply nodded his head in response. “I love you, Y/N.”

However, Y/N didn’t offer anything in return, and San could feel his heart sinking low inside his chest.

When San arrived to work the next morning, he decided to finally address the mounting pile of paperwork on his desk. It was mostly just an excuse to remain in the office because one of the interns, who he had assigned to watch over the phone lines, might come to him with developing information concerning Y/N. Thus, San was certain that he needed to remain on standby since he might receive an update at any moment.

Eventually, the work was starting to become tedious, and he glared at the clock when lunchtime rolled around, wondering if his wife was going on some kind of lunch date with her “mystery” man. But to San, he wasn’t much of a mystery, just some bastard who thought that he could try and seduce his wife. Which, of course, made him San’s rival, and there was nothing that he wanted more than to confront this man and beat the shit out of him.

His violent thoughts made San feel restless inside his office, and he decided to visit the interrogation office where the interns had been stationed. However, during his brief walk down the hallway, he thought about Y/N and her dismissive attitude towards him from the previous evening. Was his wife really no longer interested in him? Would San have enough guts to give her a divorce if she asked for it?

He shivered at the scenario, but the unexpected sight of Wooyoung talking with his interns provided a good distraction. “What’s going on?” San demanded when he walked into the room, and Wooyoung immediately hid something behind his back. 

“San!” Wooyoung exclaimed, refusing to meet his gaze.

“You’re holding something,” San said.

“No...”

San rolled his eyes, cornering Wooyoung against the wall before reaching behind him to snatch away the transcript that his interns had likely created for him. Ignoring Wooyoung’s complaints, San started reading over the words, frowning when he realized that it was a conversation between his wife and Mike. “They’re meeting for lunch,” San said. “I know this restaurant.”

“Oh?”

San turned to address his interns. “Anything else?”

“No, sir,” one of them responded, and San reached behind him for the collar of Wooyoung’s well-pressed shirt.

“You’re coming with me,” San said.

“Where?” Wooyoung asked, and San held up the transcript that his friend immediately objected. “That’s really taking this too far, San!”

“Are you on my side or not?”

Wooyoung hesitated, appearing entirely conflicted, so San made his decision for him. He snatched Wooyoung’s familiar car keys from one of the desks, and Wooyoung only had a brief moment of realization before he was rushing to catch-up to San on the way out the front door. Unfortunately, San was beyond reason, ignoring Wooyoung’s attempts at rational conversation by opening the driver’s side door. “Take us there,” San requested, tossing his keys into the air before making himself comfortable on the opposite side.

Wooyoung was grumbling when he switched on the ignition. “This is really low, San.”

“You’re supposed to be my friend and partner.”

“I am!” Wooyoung said, slowly guiding them out into traffic. “Which is why I’m the most qualified to give you relationship advice, and I think that spying on your wife is a hard pass.”

“Says the same guy who’s already been divorced twice!”

“Yeah, and that means I know when you’re doing something wrong,” Wooyoung said. “And that we're doing right now? Wrong!”

“Just drive,” San insisted, and Wooyoung must’ve realized that his friend was stoically determined to follow through with his plan because he started quietly driving the rest of the way to the restaurant. “Pull in at the front,” San instructed him.

Wooyoung turned off the ignition, sighing as he leaned back in his seat. “There’s Y/N’s car.”

“Turn on the audio,” San said. “You put the microphone in her purse, right?”

“I stitched it myself,” Wooyung confirmed, reaching down to twist the knob on the machine attached to the radio.

There was mostly static until two distinct voices filled the rest of the car. “Hey, I’m so glad to see you,” a male voice said, and San assumed that it belonged to this Mike character.

“Of course,” Y/N responded timidly. “What did you need?”

“It’s important,” Mile said. “I think they’re coming for me tonight.”

“Tonight?” Y/N gasped, and San and Wooyoung exchanged a quick look.

“You’ll be there for me, right?” Mike asked, and San wrinkled his nose at the disgusting tone. “I have something to ask you.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t tell you until it’s safer,” Mike said. “Come home with me, tonight. We can talk in a place where they can’t follow us.”

“Damn, this guy moves fast!” Wooyoung laughed, but he immediately stopped when he noticed San’s fierce expression. “Oh, shit, I mean, that sleazy scumbag! Who does he think he is?”

“Just shut up,” San said, leaning in closer to the radio because Y/N was talking again.

“I have work until 5,” Y/N said.

“I’ll pick you up outside the office,” Mike replied, and there was a sound that reminded San suspiciously of the noise that he associated with Y/N’s delicate kisses.

“I’m beating the shit out of this bastard,” San declared, and Wooyoung shivered at his dangerous tone.

“Are we following them later?”

“Absolutely,” San agreed, reaching over to grab the GPS tracker. “I’m putting an end to this bullshit!”

Wooyoung simply nodded because he knew that San was past the point of talking him back from over the edge.

However, San was usually the type who could control his temper. In fact, he couldn’t remember a time when he had experienced what some might call “blind rage,” but he came pretty close when he watched his wife get in a stranger’s car without any hesitation. Consequently, San was forced to take several deep breaths to clear the red clouding his vision, waiting until he was mostly clear-headed again to open his eyes. Thankfully, Wooyoung was already following Y/N and Mike, maintaining a safe distance so that they wouldn’t suspect anything.

“Keep on that car until they stop,” San instructed his friend, gripping tightly to the dash while they continued to follow Y/N and Mike through the relatively empty streets.

After twenty minutes of tense driving, they finally pulled into a modest apartment complex where Mike pulled in the driveway of one of the units. “He lives there?” Wooyoung asked, driving past their car.

“Turn back around at the end of the road,” San said while pulling out his cellphone. “I’m calling for back-up.”

“Back-up?!” Wooyoung repeated, but it was too late to change San’s mind and he was already ordering most of Hongjoon’s agents off the street to arrive at the complex.

“This is insane!” Wooyoung loudly whispered, stopping his car at the sidewalk near Mike’s apartment just in time to see Y/N walking inside with the other man.

San reached behind him for the gun that he kept on the backseat. “You aren’t shooting him, are you?” Wooyoung asked, but San’s response was nothing but a crooked smirk as he re-loaded the weapon.

Much to Wooyoung’s horror, the other agents were also fast to arrive on the scene, and San greeted Yunho and Mingi who had been dealing with a drug bust downtown. “What do we got?” Mingi asked when he recognized San.

“Some kind of undercover exchange,” San lied. “Clear out the back of the van for me.”

“Do we have any details?”

“Two people,” San explained. “One man and a woman. The dude is complete trash and you can leave him to me, but the woman is innocent, so just try and get her out safely.”

“Yes, sir,” Yunho said, teasing San with the directive. 

“Get your agents ready,” San replied because he wasn’t in any mood to joke around.

Graciously, Yunho and Mingi immediately complied, shouting orders into their walkie-talkies while several agents emerged from around the house, completely dressed from head to tie in their uniforms. Actually, the entire complex was surrounded by Hongjoong’s agents with their sleek black cars, and various cases of equipment and weapons ready for their disposal. “Are you ready?” San asked Wooyoung, covering his face with a mask to disguise his identity.

Wooyoung did the same with a grunt. “I’m sure Y/N will never forget this night.”

San ignored him, checking the safety on his gun, before he stationed himself next to the front door of the apartment. He gave a signal to the agent across from him who nodded once, taking a step back to kick down the door with force, and chaos quickly unraveled as the small apartment was filled with dozens of armed men shouting and aiming their guns in the direction of the two people situated rather scandalously on the couch. 

San recognized Y/N’s screams, eyes widening when he noticed that Mike had somehow made himself rather comfortable in close proximity to his wife. San grabbed the sleazy bastard who was still between his wife’s thighs, jerking him back by the collar of his shirt. “You piece of shit,” San grunted, tossing the man onto the ground to cuff his hands.

“What’s happening!” Mike cried, struggling against San’s grip. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yeah, right, asshole,” San muttered, forcing Mike to stand on his own two feet again before searching for Wooyoung. “Get Y/N.”

Wooyoung nodded, approaching Y/N carefully because her eyes were filled with fear and she was looking around at all the action unfolding. “Let’s go, Ma’am,” Wooyoung said with a wince, trying his best to disguise his regular voice because Y/N might recognize him.

“Who are you?” Y/N demanded, but Wooyoung didn’t try to explain, reaching for her arm.

Y/N shrieked and fought against Wooyoung’s hold, even as Wooyoung maintained his grip. “Oh, come on, Y/N, don’t be like this.”

“You asshole!” Y/N screamed, turning around to knee Wooyoung between the legs and the younger man immediately collapsed to the ground.

“Holy shit,” Wooyoung cried. “That fucking hurt!”

His loud curse attracted San’s attention, and he brought Mike to another agent with strict directions to throw him in the back of the van. Meanwhile, he ran after Y/N who was flailing her arms while tripping in her high heels. “Damn,” San gasped, fighting for air when he finally caught up to Y/N. 

“Who are you people?!” Y/N shrieked, kicking out her legs when San wrapped an arm around her upper torso. He certainly hadn’t expected his wife to fight them so much, especially when she leaned down to bite him. However, he only groaned in complaint and fought against the pain while he managed to drag Y/N back to another agent’s car. 

“Take her to the agency,” San instructed one of the other men. “In the interrogation room.”

“Yes, sir,” the agent said, and San waited until he was driving off before he confronted Wooyoung who was still hunched over on his knees. 

“Come on,” San said, tapping his foot against him.

“You try getting kicked in the dick,” Wooyoung spat, using San’s suspenders to help himself back up. “God, you stupid prick,” Wooyung howled, still feeling the effects of Y/N’s kick while he flipped off Mingi and Yunho who were laughing at his expense.

“Job well done, gentlemen,” Yunho said, flashing San a quick thumbs-up as he settled himself behind the wheel of the van.

“Ignore him,” San told a still seething Wooyoung before they drove off in the direction of Hongjoong’s agency.

The interrogation room was incredibly high-tech with an indestructible Plexiglas wall separating the room itself from the attached studio which was filled with expensive equipment. Wooyoung and San sat together in the studio, watching Y/N as she stormed around the room, screaming and yelling while demanding to be heard. “She’s something else,” Wooyoung remarked.

“Do we still have the voice changing microphone?” San asked.

“Of course,” Wooyoung said, reaching behind him for the appropriate instrument. “Let me get it ready.”

San nodded, thoughtfully considering Y/N who had passionately refused to sit down even after facing stern directions from one of the interns. She had always been passionate, refusing to give in to others, and it was a big part of the reason why San had fallen in love with her in the first place. It was also impossible to describe Y/N’s beauty because, even after such a long and chaotic evening, she still managed to look good in nothing but casual jeans and a simple blouse.

“Good evening, Mrs. Choi,” Wooyoung spoke into the mic, and his voice echoed inside the interrogation room. “We’d like to ask you some questions. It’s in your best interest to cooperate.”

However, Y/N appeared less than compliant, and she furiously slammed her hands against the glass. “Who are you! What do you want from me?”

“Calm down, Mrs. Choi,” Wooyoung said, flinching when San abruptly took the microphone from him.

“We found you with an incredibly dangerous man, Mrs. Choi,” San said. “Can you tell us how the two of you met?”

“Dangerous?” Y/N repeated, looking nothing short of confused. “Mike?”

“How do you know him?”

“We met when I was having lunch alone one day,” Y/N said. “He came up to me with a briefcase and said that he was being followed by some suspicious agents.”

“Why?”

“He works undercover,” Y/N explained. “His work seemed really important.”

“So important that you decided to help him?” San asked.

“Well,” Y/N hesitated. “He said he needed me.”

“Needed you in what way, Mrs. Choi?” Wooyoung took over, much to San’s displeasure.

Y/N narrowed her eyes. “What the hell are you insinuating?”

“Is it because your husband isn’t pleasing you anymore, Mrs. Choi?” Wooyoung asked, whining when San grabbed the microphone from him.

“Let me handle this,” San said, before turning his attention back to Y/N. “Why did you keep meeting him, even though you barely knew who he was?”

“I don’t know,” Y/N said, throwing out her hands desperately. “I guess it’s stupid, but I kinda liked that he was involved with something top secret. It seemed really special for me to be a part of it.”

“Special enough for you to cheat on your husband?” San practically spat into the microphone.

“Wait a minute! How do you know that I’m married?”

“We know everything, Mrs. Choi,” San said, quickly trying to make-up for his slip. “Did you sleep with him?”

“I hardly see how that’s any of our business!”

“Answer the question,” San insisted. “Your compliance with us could help your case.”

“My case?”

“Of course,” San said. “You were found with a wanted man. That makes you an accomplice.”

Wooyoung cleared his throat. “Isn’t that a little too much?”

San shook his head, determined to get to the bottom of things. “No, I didn’t,” Y/N finally said. “Satisfied?”

“Were you attracted to him?”

“No!” Y/N cried. “What do these questions have to do with anything?”

“I just have one more thing for you, Mrs. Choi,” San said, taking a deep breath as he braced himself for the answer. “Do you still love your husband?”

Y/N sighed, looking around the steel-gray walls of the room. “Yes,” she said. “I still love him.”

“Terrific!” Wooyoung whispered. “She still loves you! Everything's fine.”

However, San still had one more thing in mind. “You want some adventure in your life, Mrs. Choi,” San said carefully. “That’s good because we might have a solution to our problem concerning your association with Mike. Otherwise, we’ll have to turn you into the authorities.”

“Well!” Y/N exclaimed. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”

Wooyoung covered the microphone, looking at San with suspicious eyes. “What the hell are you planning?”

San smirked at Wooyoung. “If she wants some excitement, then I’m going to give it to her.”

Wooyoung rolled his eyes, but remained silent. “Mrs. Choi,” San said. “How do you feel about doing some undercover work for us?”

After ensuring that one of the agency’s interns could safely return Y/N home, Wooyoung and San drove quietly to the edge of town to deal with Mike. They pulled the van off the road next to a large overpass, dragging him out screaming and crying from the back. But despite his attempts to break free, San held him perilously at the edge of an enormous dam. “Please,” Mike cried. “Don’t kill me.”

San rolled his eyes, even though Mike probably couldn’t tell from behind his mask. “Did you really think you could get away with it?”

“What are you talking about?” Mike questioned. “You’ve got the wrong guy!”

“It’s all over,” Wooyoung said. “Your career as a spy is well-documented.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No, seriously, I’m just a car salesman,” Mike cried. “I’ve never done anything wrong!”

“Why did we find you with that young woman?” San asked. “We overheard you telling her all about your secret as a spy!”

“It’s only because I have to lie to get laid,” Mike said. “I made the whole thing up because I was trying to impress her!”

“A married woman?” San asked.

“I’m sorry,” Mike said, and there were actual tears streaming down his face. “I’m the biggest coward in the world!”

“Get the fuck out of here,” San grunted, jerking Mike’s hands free from his shirt.

“As soon as I’m not looking I know that you’re gonna shoot me!” Mike declared, walking backwards as he looked back and forth between San and Wooyoung.

San pushed him out of the way, reaching for the driver’s side door of the van. Meanwhile, Wooyoung turned around to confront the frazzled man. He reached for his gun, firing off a few rounds into the air while Mile immediately covered his head. “Fuck off, dude.’”

One Week Later

The hotel made for the perfect cover, and an ideal situation to carry out San’s plan for his wife, even if Wooyoung was less than enthusiastic. He was currently helping San arrange the room to his liking, moving one of the chairs into the shadows of the curtains. His partner also handed San a tape recorder, and San smiled at him gratefully. “Look,” Wooyoung said. “I had one of the interns record some shit. Just play the phrases whenever you need to talk to her.”

It was a good way to disguise his voice, and sitting in the corner would help keep his identity protected. “Did you arrange everything with her?” San asked.

“We had an agent call the house earlier with instructions,” Wooyoung said. “We told her that she was meeting a man who’d be expecting an exotic dancer. She’s supposed to tell you that the regular girl is sick.”

“What did you ask her to do?”

“We dropped off an envelope by her office,” Wooyoung explained. “Her job is to plant the bug on the nightstand without you noticing.”

San chuckled. “And who does she think I am exactly?”

“A very wealthy man,” Wooyoung said, reaching for his phone when it started ringing. He answered in quietly, stepping off to the side of the room while San finished arranging a bouquet of roses next to the little side table where he would be sitting for most of the night. Despite the fact that this whole night had been his idea, he was still nervous about how his wife would handle everything, and there was inherent risk of exposing his identity that he was trying to ignore.

“She’s on her way up,” Wooyoung announced.

“Then, you should go,” San said, ushering Wooyoung towards the door, even while his partner flipped off the light switches as he passed them.

“I’ll be in the lobby in case something goes horribly wrong,” Wooyoung said. “Since it might considering how insane this entire plan is!”

“Relax,” San said, giving him a friendly pat on the ass. “I have everything under control.”

Wooyoung still appeared doubtful, but he gave his friend the benefit of the doubt, and San made sure that the door was closed and unlocked before he settled himself on the chair that he placed in the corner of the room. He sat down with a nervous exhale, wondering if he should cross his legs or not, and he held the tape recorder behind him. There was no turning back from the plan, and San anxiously anticipated Y/N’s arrival, finally deciding to leave his legs spread out in front of him.

It was only a few minutes later that he heard the sound of the front door opening, waiting with a pounding heart as Y/N entered the room. San swallowed hard when Y/N approached, wearing one of the sexiest dresses that he had ever seen in his entire life. His eyes trailed down the skin of her exposed legs, moving back up again to pause on the tight fit around her breasts. He cleared his throat and reached behind him for the tape recorder. “What’s your name?” 

San jumped when he noticed that the recording's voice was much deeper than his, and it was also slightly accented.

“Y/N,” she whispered, and her tone certainly didn’t match the intimidating outfit that she wore. “The regular girl was sick, but she thought you would like me.”

“Let me determine that for myself.”

Y/N nodded, reaching behind her for the zipper, but San quickly rewound the tape. “No, do it slowly for me.”

She was hesitant, but San sat up straighter when she turned around to undo the zipper on the back of the dress, allowing it to fall onto the floor. San cleared his throat, taking in the sight of Y/N wearing a black set of lingerie, and the panties barely covered her ass when she made a complete circle to look at San again for directions. “Dance for me,” the recording instructed. “I want to see how sexy you are.”

Y/N paused while San reached out to turn on the radio, adjusting the volume for the heavy bass song that began to play throughout the room. San waited, taking in a deep breath when her hips started to move, and it was awkward at first, until she finally found the beat, dragging her hands over her gorgeous body. San watched as her hands traveled over her breasts, moving them down sensuously to tease the waistband of her underwear.

At this point, San’s heart was practically leaping into his throat, and the music sounded unbelievably loud inside his ears. Y/N was clearly distracted by her own dancing, closing her eyes as she continued to hypnotize San with the tantalizing way that she undulated her hips. San groaned at the display because he was uncomfortably hard in his black trousers, reaching down to adjust himself as he watched Y/N grind herself against the bed post.

She dropped lower to the ground, pushing her ass out in San’s direction, and every bit of blood in his body had moved south to fill his cock. It took everything that he had not to launch himself at his wife who was using the post as support to sway her body from side to side. San closed his eyes, leaning over to turn down the radio so that Y/N could hear the tape recorder again.

“Lie on the bed and close your eyes.”

Y/N stumbled in her heels at the unexpected order, but she still obeyed, gently lowering herself vertically across the hotel’s king-sized bed. In the meantime, San took a flower from the vase next to him, walking over to Y/N to drag the velvety petals against her smooth skin. He was unable to help himself when he joined her on the edge of the bed, leaning down to claim Y/N’s irresistible red-glossed lips.  

He moaned against her mouth, resisting the urge to climb his fingers along her beautiful skin that was practically glowing from the light penetrating through the curtains. It had been a long time since he had kissed his wife so passionately, and he was determined to make her feel good tonight. Of course, distracted by the moment’s pleasures, San failed to realize that Y/N had grabbed the alarm clock from the corner of the nightstand until she was hitting him over the head with the offending object. “Pervert!” she shouted, immediately rising from the bed. San grunted as he collapsed to the floor, feeling the dizzying effects of the hit that he had just taken courtesy of his wife’s powerful aim.

However, he quickly came to realize that Y/N was trying to put on her dress while limping haphazardly for the exit. “Y/N,” San shouted, and his wife paused. “It’s me!” He removed the mask and held up his hands, watching Y/N’s eyes grow wide with shock.

“San?” she gasped, and her entire body was suddenly shaking.

“Yes, it’s me,” San whispered, hoping to calm her down.

“H-How?” she asked, clutching the dress tightly to her chest.

“I’m not an insurance agent,” San said, carefully approaching his wife like she might flee at any moment. “I work for a private detective’s office downtown, but I had to lie because I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“What?” Y/N questioned, pulling at the strands of her hair as if she couldn’t process anything that he was saying. “None of this makes sense!”

“It was me that night with Mike or whoever,” San revealed. “I interrogated you in that room, and I had some of the agents organize this night for us!”

“San, you sound insane right now!” Y/N said.

“I know,” San agreed, trying to reach out for Y/N, but she quickly took another step back. “I’m so sorry for everything, baby. I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting hurt because of the stuff that I did at work, so I made up a cover to protect you!”

“You?” Y/N repeated, and San wasn’t sure if it was a question or just his wife’s attempt to make sense of everything. “Y-you're being honest? This was your idea?”

San nodded. “Look, I have a badge and everything,” he said, reaching into his pocket to extract his wallet, holding it out for Y/N who took it with narrowed eyes. “I’ve been working at the agency for years. That’s I’m always home so late because my cases sometimes are more difficult than others.”

Y/N had taken out his badge, studying it with an expression that he had never seen from his wife before. Finally, she dropped the wallet and badge onto the floor, inhaling once as she addressed him. “I can’t believe you’ve lied to me.”

“I’m sorry, baby,” San said, desperately trying to make amends. “I know it was wrong to keep this from you, but I thought it would help you.”

“Help me?” Y/N spat. “Really, San? Because I love thinking that my husband is an insurance agent who spends all night at his office, but it turns out that he’s secretly keeping another identity from me since he could actually die!”

“I’m hardly ever in danger,” San said, but he realized that Y/N wasn’t quite as accepting. 

“And what’s this dancing thing all about?” she asked. “You literally tricked me into coming here so you could watch me dry hump the bed?”

“That’s not it, Y/N,” San said. “I- I heard what you said in the interrogation room. You said that you wanted to do something special.”

“But not after my husband lied to me!” Y/N said, meeting San across the room to sharply push against his shoulders. “Is our marriage a cover too?”

“Of course not,” San said, shaking his head. “Y/N, I love you more than anything else in the world.”

“If you loved me, then we wouldn’t be in this situation,” Y/N said. “I feel humiliated!”

“I’m sorry,” San tried again. “This is all my fault, and you can hate me for the rest of your life, but I never wanted to hurt you. Because I’ve loved you long before I became an agent, and I just want you to know that I care about your happiness, even if sometimes seems like I’m the world’s biggest asshole.”

Y/N sniffled, studying San for several long moments. “I believe that you love me,” she finally said. “And I still love you too, but we’re gonna talk about this! Do you hear me?”

“Of course,” San agreed.

“Especially about this disaster,” she continued. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“Well,” San said, searching for the correct words. “You look really hot...”

“Shit! I’m still fucking mad at you!” Y/N said, but there was also a carnal energy in her eyes that had San hesitating. “I swear to God I’ll make you pay for this!”

“Is that a promise?” San asked, and Y/N didn’t hesitate to throw her weight against him in a furious kiss as they both landed on top of the luxury bed.

[lurkingleighbee]

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good Chapter 23 - Chapter 26

Chapter 23 

Apros calls up Lakinda with Thrawn tagging in 

Apros and Thrawn: A bit weird how three families are on this “emergency” thing amirite? 

Lakinda: Now that you mention it...

Thrawn lays out the obvious, with help from Apros

the whole thing is a scam. Sunrise is being mined and destroyed for nyix

and the Agbui likely incited a civil war 

Lakinda manages to put it together: “Three of the Great Forty Families are preparing to fight to the death,” with Apros pointing out that because “each of the three is allied to one of the Ruling Families,” a civil war would likely break out 

Lakinda realizes the seriousness of the situation and tells Thrawn and Apros that “if accomplishing the mission requires the destruction of my two ships, understand that we - and I - are expendable.” 

Haplif is just about to leave, convinced he has gotten everything wrapped up and tried in a bow when LAKPHRO!!!!!

*air horns gif*

and he is ready to fight

Lakphro lets on that he knows what is going on (and that he has been communicating with other Chiss about this) and Haplif just decides that he is gunna have to k i l l him

Lakphro is smart, gotta give him credit

Haplif thinks he can strangle Lakphro out, but he ends up killing himself when a dog grips onto his arm, biting down hard. Haplif tries to stun the dog and kills it, but the dog ends up clenching down (I think in a death grip) so hard that Haplif’s arm is torn apart and he succumbs to his injuries

The last thing he sees is Lakphro staring down at him as Shimkif escapes in the ship

Shimkif is coooooold  

Chapter 24

Lakynm is very distraught at the thought of firing on his own family

and that his family is allied with certain families while the Mitth family is allied with other families

Samakro offers him cold comfort

and that is: “I have never - never - seen anyone as utterly incompetent as politics as he is” and that “when Thrawn comes up with a plan, it’s strictly military. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Lakinda manages to get to Sunrise first, with the Erighal and Pommrio right behind her

and they managed to send in two haughty idiots

and the Erighal seem itchy for a fight

so Thrawn’s plan is to make the other families think that the Springhawk is under attack by enemies to focus their attention not on the mines but on helping other Chiss

Lakinda assumes command

when the two douche-canoes attempt to pull rank, Lakinda puts her foot down

one of them makes the point he is blood and she isn’t

okay, you inbred snob, Lakinda still outranks you. suck the suck 

Thrawn managed to figure out that by assigning certain fleet warriors to certain ships, (i.e. family members to family ships) they would know where to attack “with a maximum of ferocity and a minimum of actual damage.”

the Chiss warriors assigned to each gunboat (safely inside the Vigilant) are picked off one by one

if nothing else, good target practice

Chapter 25

Lakinda discovers a fatal flaw within Thrawn’s plan and sends him a message:

the Erighal and Pommrio will want to investigate the mines and will subsequently become outraged and look for someone to blame

Lakinda suggests taking down the Watith freighter into the fake mine

Her subordinates - whose name she cannot remember (and I feel like Zahn may have cut some names out, Lord knows there are enough already!) - hear the message and remove her from Command 

Thrawn gets the message

and needs to destroy the mine so no evidence is found 

and the Grayshrike pops into the battle!

This is such a whack-a-doodle process, but if I had to sum it down:

Thrawn has to explain to the two ladies - Thalias and Che’ri - that the battle is being recorded and will be analyzed by future analysts. Every move counts.

basically, Che’ri is being asked to see “something that isn’t going to happen” and make it happen

she is literally backseat driving!  

Chapter 26

So this ending is very abrupt and takes place weeks after Chapter 25

Lakphro is being question by Lakooni:

and he lies when asked if he knew where the jewelry ended up

he lies and says he doesn’t

and I am assuming the jewelry is still with Thrawn

Samakro may talk a little - s h i t - on Thrawn, but he ain’t no snitch

and the Families involved are not talking either

Samakro still doesn’t trust Thalias

assume that the story he sold he is being sat on because no one has spread it yet?

or maybe she did not tell anyone?

dude? 

You need to get laid too, dude 

Jixtus isn’t particularly upset with the outcome

which is like.... weird? not even a small temper tantrum? 

anyway he is confirmed to be a Grysk 

and he is hanging out with the purple robes navigators, the same ones that hung out with Snoke

Jixtus has a plan for Thrawn: “Defeat isn’t always necessary. Isolation and neutralization can be equally effective.”

and Qilori is assigned to learn “how exactly the Chiss navigate through the Chaos”

I am already thinking ahead to the little kids from Thrawn: Alliances

No one from the incident over Sunrise is talking about what actually happened

It is arranged in a way to make it look like Thrawn was attacked but the three families saved his life

if you want someone to keep a secret, trust the Chiss I guess

and everyone just buys this stupid premise? That Thrawn would ever let someone get the upper hand on him and these three families just happened to be nearby to help him?

pfffffffft... 

Lakinda is on the outs with the Xoldak family, to the point that family members are calling for her expulsion

and no one leaked her conversation with Thrawn?

Zistalmu offers to make Lakinda a Trial-born Irizi

and if she passes, her name would be Ziinda

I wanna know what the Irizi Family Trials would look like

Thurfian receives the call that the Patriarch has died

off-screen?!!?!?!?!

we didn’t get to see him again?!!?!?

I legit forgot his name too (its Thooraki)

Thurfian is made Patriarch outta nowhere

this would have been nice to know about, Zahn!

Thivik, a Senior Aide, drops by who lets him know that he’s going to be given access to two things:

(1) the true, ancient, and suppressed history of the Mitth

(2) and about the terrible Alien weapon is known as the Starflash  

Sooo... I immediately thought it was the Death Star

BUT - this takes place in 18 BBY and the Death Star was not fully functional until 0 BBY

If you look up a screenrant.com article on this very topic, they propose the theory that the Ancient Sith could have caused the Chaos in a power grab, to defend themselves against enemy fleets, or as a hiding place 

I wanna see Sith!!!! 

I wanna learn the answers to these mysteries!!

[fizzingwizard]

Alright, so, Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 12: Castle in the Sky Laputa!

I mean, I, Guardromon...

... Bicentennialmon?

well, any of the three works :P

Right off the bat, I’ll say this ep gets a ‘meh’ from me, BUT I did love its aesthetic. I’m a big fan of robot stories, especially the Asimov variety. Scrap heap robots are my absolute favs. And I did like the Ghibli vibe going on too. The episode was pretty, and the robot characters were cool... it just wasn’t very fun. At the very least, I was expecting team Taichi/Koushirou/Mimi to be a bit more fun than Yamato/Sora/Jou, but I guess this ain’t 1999 anymore ;)

^The most amusing bit was finding out Koushirou’s laptop can fold like this... which, okay, shouldn’t surprise me, it just looks frigging weird...

me: DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A KEYBOARD???

koushirou: hush old lady, your first laptop was grayscale only and had Windows 3.1 installed.

Actual content relevant to the episode below...!

We had a promising start when last week’s episode ended on a cliffhanger... or a cliffdropper, I guess, because Mimi’s not hanging onto anything. She’s fallen down and landed on Palmon. Digimon can sure take a beating.

Palmon reaches to see if she can hoist them back up, but...

... it’s too high! Oh well, no choice but to travel on foot. Good thing Mimi landed on Palmon!

Meanwhile, above, Taichi and Koushirou turn to his computer for help. Unfortunately they have some technical difficulties.

Koushirou: Noooo, not the swirling of doom!! My immortal nemesis...

Even Taichi understands that buffering spells death. He’s a 21st century kid, so he’s a little more savvy about computers than 99 Taichi, whose trusty recourse in these situations was "treat the machine like a Bop-It.”

Mimi discovers they are in a Digimon scrap heap. ;_; Good heavens. Apparently robot Digimon are unlike organic (??) Digimon same as robots are different from humans, so the way they die is not quite the same either.

Mimi feels sorry for these trashed creatures. She’s no cold-hearted corporate goon who looks at these guys and just sees dollars. She notices the heart!

She also just wiped that rusty Guardromon’s helmet with her bare hand...

Mimi: Where’s Sora-san when I need a towel!!

Andromon makes his 2020 debut! And he’s just as much the pawn of evil as ever!

Boxing Cactus Go-go-go!!

Togemon gets her prickly hiney owned, but the Guardromon suddenly reanimates and protects her instead. His big strategy is “drop something heavy on Andromon and run away.” It’s super effective.

Who wants to translate the digicode, because I’m not gonna. Ten bucks says it’s something like “target human child exterminate” yadda yadda

When Koushirou’s computer fails, we must rely on our physical skills. Their big plan is “climb down the bottomless pit after Mimi.” There are a few things wrong with this picture:

1) Even if they know how deep the hole is, IT’S STILL QUITE A FALL. Make one wrong move and you’ll be useless to Mimi T_T And these idiots make plenty of wrong moves.

2) If there were handholds like these, why couldn’t Palmon have just grabbed them with her vines and carried Mimi up? Instead she was like, “Nah, can’t reach the top, let’s walk in a random direction and hope things work out!”

3) The Guardromon is taking Mimi to an elevator. Meaning there is a working elevator, meaning there is a way down that would significantly decrease their chances of DYING on the way. Koushirou’s computer can’t figure that out? Also I was expecting some hijinks there... like, they finally make it down only for Mimi to say “Why didn’t you just take the elevator like I did? Boys are weird.”

In his defense, Koushirou’s method of descent is worlds better than Taichi’s.

Hate to say I told you so...

Guardromon takes Mimi to some suspicious water which she uses to nurse Palmon... with a towel

Guardromon presents Sheeta Mimi with a flower to convey that he likes killing pretty delicate things :) run Mimi

The Laputa vibe... it is vibing.

We cut away to Yamato/Sora/Jou for thirty seconds just to point how much Better they’re doing than Taichi’s group. They’ve even realized how that basket was, who needs to put in all that work when we can all fit comfortably on a log! Sora and Yamato flirt. Jou’s going to be sick.

Taichi and Koushirou encounter some broken Solarmon who are being controlled by Soundbirdmon, so I guess it’s official now that we can’t believe any Digimon is truly evil if Soundbirdmon is around. Koushirou goes to help Mimi while Taichi stays behind to fend off these gears. Uh, is it just me or does this team seem very quick to split up.

I like the way Guardrmon cradles Mimi so all we can see is her shocked expression.

Guardromon tries his tried and true method of shooting down something heavy to crush Andromon...

... but Andromon’s like “hah! Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!” and knocks it away. Not very effective...

Guardromon’s guarded his last mon... he starts to go... offline I guess...

In sweeps Kabuterimon to the rescue. In 99 Adventure, he’d have something witty to say, or at least a pun. 2020 Kabuterimon mostly likes to make weird noises. I understand why Agumon and Gabumon’s VA’s were calling him a “weirder uncle than ever” at Digifes...

Obligatory Best Boy cap

Hell Approacheth

Wow!!! Taichi finally got knocked off Greymon! He must have forgot to put on his suction cup shoes today!

So this entire episode, I was wondering what was to stop MetalGreymon from happening and stealing the show from Lillymon. I expected “Agumon just evolved recently and doesn’t have the juice to do it again so soon!” or some such. Nothing more than that. But, nah, we don’t even get that... MetalGreymon happens and he just... can’t... beat Andromon? For some reason? I’m going with “Because he’s Andromon.” Afterward, this very heavy structure falls down and MetalGreymon has lift it a la Atlas to keep Taichi from getting squished, so he can’t continue to beat on Andromon.

... Of course, Togemon gets stuck holding this thing up too... so there’s that...

The reason, of course, is so Guardromon can make one last action surge, grabbing Andromon’s leg, which works, randomly. At least for a moment.

Mimi spends most of this episode being Shocked.

Guardromon takes one final, grainy look at Mimi as he prepares for sweet death. The digicode says “Sheeta.” (kidding like I’d bother to translate it lol)

Andromon RUDELY stomps on his head. Like HELLO Andromon can you not see the dude is having a moment here? Show some respect!

Mimi sheds a Single Emo Tear

Which causes “Your sorrow made me evolve!” Lillymon. She immediately flies out to attack Andromon, leaving MetalGreymon alone holding the heavy metal structure, which promptly crushes him and our heroes. Game Over!

just kidding, the structure just vanishes I guess :/ It’s not very clear...

High kick attack!

It’s not very effective...

Lillymon does seem to have an ability that MetalGreymon doesn’t which cinches her victory over Andromon... her rain of petals interfere with his ability to lock on to a target. Too much organic matter everywhere I guess.

Lillymon covers Andromon in plants rendering him immobile...

... *cough*

Poor Mimi’s had a hard day of watching robots die.

Her affinity for marking graves returns as she leaves the flower Guardromon gave her on his corpse(?).

Taichi looks only sadly as Koushirou explains that Andromon and Guardromon were totes besties, until Soundbirdmon started mindcontrolling everyone. Gee that seems like something that could have been an interesting plot point had it been mentioned y’know earlier.

In sum... yeah, this ep just isn’t fun. There’s no friend moments, no getting to know each other, everything takes a backseat to this robot-protect-girl storyline. I really did like Guardromon, but the episode takes itself way too seriously in my opinion.

That aside... I was happy that Mimi’s episode didn’t involve stinky ugly Digimon falling in love and stalking her so she can passionately reject them. I can live without both of those things.

Mimi having the ability to project feelings onto supposedly nonfeeling things is a very Mimi-like character trait for her and one that I really truly love. It’ll definitely come in handy in the digital world where all is never how it seems. On the other hand, though, it’s not like it’s a trait we didn’t have already... it just belonged mainly to Hikari :P So... yeah.

Next week we’re going to get Garudamon, in a way that looks like it will pale compared to our first meeting with Garudamon in 99 Adventure, BUT that’s okay... because we’ve got plenty of time for the Big Important things to happen, both on a plot level and on a character development level. I am a little wtf??? about everyone getting not one but two evolutions within the same adventure - assuming the kids are going to go home at some point and finally put Tokyo out of its misery. I’d expected this show would be more like 02 with the kids jumping in and out, but tbh I’m not gonna be sad if they just stay in the digital world indefinitely. Also, it’s not like Taichi didn’t get both an evolution and a jogress the first time he came to the digital plane, so obviously things are just working differently in this show!

But as it’ll be a Sora episode, I just hope it’s an improvement on the last Sora episode. There’s plenty of potential following the mini tiff between her and Yamato last week, so i hope we see some follow up to that. Maybe a couple Sorato moments. We didn’t get anything for Taishiro this week :( But since it looks like probably next week the groups are still separated, perhaps the week after we’ll get MegaKabuterimon and see more interaction between Taichi and Koushirou then. *shrug* A girl can dream!

Anyway this ep gets 5.5/10 from me!