#no one’s reaching into their pocket for a zip tie

[flock-of-cassowaries]

Hannibal fanfiction writing quest got me learning more than I ever wanted to know about harvesting organs for transplant and field dressing a deer.

[harrywavycurly]

Loving a Killer: Tuesdays are for Dancing

Masterlist: Here

Pairing: Killer!Harry x wife!reader

Tag List: @umadirectioner

CW: Language, mentions of ways to harm someone, mentions of weapons, mentions of drugs (it’s a pain medication that Harry doesn’t know about), threats, and as always Harry and Mitch kill people for a living in this series.

A/N: I had to come up with a way to introduce y’all to Niall and this just seemed to fit? It’s dramatic but in a fun-ish way or at least in a fun way for this series.

Summary: Mitch gets a call while him and Harry are at work and it leads so some dramatic events that let us get introduced to your nosey cubical mate that is the one and only Niall Horan✨

“I say we use the zip ties on his ankles.” Harry suggests as he places a hand on his hip while running his free one through his hair as he stands in front of a fold out table littered with different objects he packed with him for this evening’s job. “Makes it easier to move him to the trunk if his ankles are tied together and the zip ties haven’t let us down before unlike the-”

“I get it okay? Rope only works in the movies but how was I supposed to know that?” Mitch says in an attempt to defend his choice of wanting to use rope on a man’s hands and feet a few jobs ago, but it ended up being a massive issue because the rope kept coming undone as they moved the body from the living room to the car and then to the woods to be disposed of.

“It could’ve worked if you knew how to properly tie a knot.” Harry states as he reaches for the bundle of zip ties while Mitch just rolls his eyes as he walks over to the man lying on his back in the middle of the basement.

“Let me guess-” Harry turns to look over his shoulder as Mitch bends down and grabs the knife from next to the man’s wrist, placing it in his open duffle bag near the table. “You know how to tie a perfect knot?” He questions making Harry just shrug as he looks back at the table so he can count out four zip ties, deciding it’s best to do the wrists as well just to be safe.

“I mean I’ve been known to be able to tie a decent knot or at least one someone can’t wiggle their way out of.” Mitch doesn’t miss the slight suggestive tone to Harry’s voice as he talks or the small smirk that tugs at his lips when he turns to hand him two zip ties so he can get started on tying the man’s wrists together while Harry works on his ankles.

“Really? She’s into being-” Before Harry can even shoot him a warning glare to watch what comes out of his mouth next, Mitch’s brows are pinching together as he moves the zip ties to one hand so he can reach into his back pocket of his jeans for his phone. “Uh hello?” Harry raises an eyebrow as he begins to zip tie the man’s ankles while keeping a watchful eye on his bestfriend who in all the years he’s been working with him can count on three fingers the times he’s ever answered the phone while on a job.

“Yes-yeah he’s with me.” Mitch gives Harry a quick glance making Harry get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “What? Uh-uhm okay yeah yeah we will uh-yeah be right there uh huh-bye.” Harry is already done with the man’s ankles and standing up by the time Mitch is hanging up and sliding his phone back into his jeans.

“What happened?” Mitch runs a hand over his face with his free hand before he looks at Harry who is packing his backpack up, preparing to leave the moment Mitch explains what the phone call was about because he can just tell whatever it was about isn’t good.

“That was Niall-”

“Niall? As in my wife’s coworker Niall?”

“Uh yeah so apparently she goes to-”

“To dance lessons on Tuesdays? Yeah because that’s the night we work late and she doesn’t like to be home alone at night that much. Now what the fuck happened? Why did he call you?”

“Well if you would just let me talk I would happily tell you.” Harry sends Mitch a glare as he shoves the last of his stuff into his backpack but Mitch just ignores him as he quickly finishes zip tying the man’s wrists together.

“Niall went with her tonight because he was bored and I guess something happened and he thinks her toe is broken? But she’s okay and-and Harry dude where are you going? I drove us here you asshole!” Mitch shouts as he scrambles to get to his feet and grab his duffle bag before Harry is at the top of the stairs that lead to the kitchen of the man’s house.

The thing is Mitch knows Harry well enough to know he will absolutely leave him here if he doesn’t make it to the car fast enough so Mitch skips every other step and barley makes it into the passenger seat before Harry is putting the car into reserve and heading towards where he already knows you’re at. Harry doesn’t bother looking at how fast he’s going or how quickly the lights change from yellow to red as he runs through them. The only thing running through his mind is getting to you as fast as he can because until his eyes land on you and he sees for himself just how badly you’re hurt or hopefully how not hurt you really are, he can’t focus on much else.

“Traffic laws are still in effect by the way and I’m pretty sure you’ve already broken three of them.” Mitch reminds his friend who he knows is just in a panicked and probably slightly angry state of mind over the fact you got hurt and he wasn’t there to stop it from happening or make you feel better the moment it happened.

“Yeah well coming from someone who just stabbed a man not even two hours ago I think traffic laws are the least of our worries.” Harry argues with a casual tone that makes Mitch just let out a chuckle as he shakes his head.

“You just always have to be right don’t you?” This gets a small smile out of Harry as he briefly looks over at Mitch with a shrug.

“So…Niall has your number?” Mitch lets out a sigh and rolls his eyes making Harry grin because he can see the tiniest hint of a smile wanting to form on his face, he knew the two of them hit it off when they met a few weeks ago at the festival but he hadn’t heard much else about it because well Mitch isn’t one to share details about his personal life unless Harry really pushes for them.

Mitch knows Harry is only asking about Niall as a way to distract himself so his mind won’t wonder off to the darkest corners and start imagining the worst possible scenarios the two of them could be headed towards even though the only injury either of them know you might have is a broken toe. So Mitch decides that he’ll be nice, he will let Harry in on some bits of information regarding the Irish brunette man he was forced to meet at an event he only agreed to go to because of the promise of cookies and the chance to indulge in carving into something for fun and not for work, Mitch has always enjoyed a good pumpkin carving contest. But he also isn’t going to give this information up easily, so he thinks of something Harry can do for him in exchange for it.

“I’ll tell you about it if you actually stop at the next red light.” Mitch offers causing Harry to let out a huff as he reluctantly lets off the gas just a bit, his way of silently agreeing to the terms his bestfriend gave him making Mitch loosen the death like grip he has on the passenger side door handle.

Niall is a ball of nerves as he looks at the door of the bar waiting for it to burst open and to see your husband walk through it, he chews on his bottom lip as he looks down at his phone and sees it’s been five minutes since he’s called Mitch so he knows that’s probably way too soon for Harry to arrive considering both of them were at work when he called. He wouldn’t feel so nervous if the last few times he saw Harry he was just a little more friendly because the thing Niall doesn’t understand is how someone who works with computers and is a certified tech nerd can be so terrifying but that’s exactly what Harry is to Niall, terrifying. He knows the moment Mitch and Harry walk through the door he is going to be getting some hard glares and probably a nasty comment or two so he’s just trying to prepare himself the best he can.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t a good color I just said it’s unusual that’s all.” Niall’s head shoots up at the sound of Mitch’s voice as his eyes land on the door just in time to see Mitch walk through it with Harry following close behind him.

Now Niall has seen Harry before, he’s met him three or four times in casual settings and once at an office party but he’s never seen him look quite like this. The sleeves of his all black button up are rolled up to his elbows letting him get an eyeful of the tattoos that decorate his forearms and hands, it’s tucked into well fitting black trousers that are held up with a thin black belt while his hair is pushed back and his usual glasses are gone making Niall assume he has contacts in. It’s as if his attire just adds another layer of his already intimidating personality making Niall swallow down his nerves as Harry’s eyes finally land on him.

“Where is she?” Niall feels his eyes go wide at how harsh and deep Harry’s voice is as he walks towards where he’s standing near the end of the bar. He opens his mouth to say something but it’s as if all of a sudden Niall doesn’t knows how to form actual words so he just kind of stands there opening and closing his mouth for a moment making Harry’s jaw clench as his eyes narrow in one of the harshest glares Niall has ever been on the receiving end of.

“She’s in my office.” Harry’s glare softens as he looks away from Niall and towards Jeff who is standing behind the bar cleaning some glasses.

“Thanks.” Harry calls over his shoulder as he rushes past Niall and towards the back office of the bar and that’s when Niall lets out a deep sigh as he turns to rest his hands on the top of the bar finally feeling like he can somewhat breathe now that Harry is out of the room.

“Don’t take it personally he’s like that with everyone.” Mitch explains as he comes up to stand next to Niall so he can place a reassuring hand on his back.

“Is he always so-so intense?” Mitch just shrugs as Niall turns his head to look at him with a raised brow. “Nice to see you again by the way. This isn’t exactly how I imagined it going but I’ll take what I can get.” Niall jokes or at least tries to as an attempt to lighten the mood and he thinks it’s worked when he hears a soft chuckle come from Mitch’s mouth.

“Harry just really loves his wife that’s all.” Mitch explains as he looks around Niall and signals Jeff who just gives him a nod and a smile before turning around to start making Mitch’s usual drink. Niall just rolls his eyes as he turns his body so he’s now facing Mitch with his elbow on the bar and his hands clasped together in front of him.

“Oh come on the man looked like he wanted to kill-”

“What the fuck did you give her?” Harry’s voice is loud and full of anger that’s directed towards the man standing in front of Mitch as he comes barreling out of Jeff’s office. Niall doesn’t have time to do anything before Harry has a fistful of his shirt and is shoving his back into the bar with one hand while his other hand slams down onto the top of the bar allowing him to lean over Niall as he speaks. “You have five seconds to tell me why my wife is in that office acting loopy and dazed out of her fucking mind.” Mitch doesn’t even flinch at how harsh Harry’s tone is as his grip on Niall’s shirt tightens, Mitch just places a hand on Harry’s shoulder which he instantly shrugs off making Mitch roll his eyes.

“Harry you’ve got to-”

“Tell me to calm down and I swear I’ll break his nose right now.” Harry threatens as he quickly turns to give Mitch a look that makes the long haired man let out a sigh as he runs a hand through his hair. “You now have three seconds.” He states as his attention goes back to Niall who is trying his hardest not to freak out at the fact he just heard Harry casually mention breaking his nose.

“She uhm said she-she was in pain so I gave her something to make her feel better that’s all.” Niall explains the best he can with how he’s bent over the bar.

“You don’t know me very well Niall but you should know that I hate to repeat myself.” Niall closes his eyes after Harry’s statement half expecting to feel a blow to his face giving him the broken nose he heard him mention just a moment before. “So just know I’m only going to ask you one more time.” Niall slowly opens his eyes as Harry’s grip on his shirt loosens but only slightly. “What did you give her?” Mitch looks at Niall over Harry’s shoulder and raises an eyebrow at him and that’s when Niall realizes he might’ve made a mistake.

“I gave her a pain pill I had saved over from my knee surgery that I just keep around for emergencies.” Harry quirks a brow at Niall’s admission as his eyes momentarily glance down to his knees and Mitch knows he’s storing that information for later just incase he needs to use it against the man he still has in his harsh grip. “I just wanted her to feel better I’m sorry.” He blurts out making Harry let out a scoff as he gives Niall a shove as he releases his hold on his shirt.

“Oh well she’s feeling wonderful Niall so wonderful she can’t tell even me what actually hurts or what happened.” Harry says with a dark chuckle as he runs a hand through his hair while he turns to take a step away from Niall. “All she knows is that she feels nice and floaty.” He says as he glares at Niall over his shoulder, Niall stands up and fixes his shirt with a sigh as he glances towards the office door he knows you’re currently behind.

“I’m sorry-” Niall’s apology is cut off by Harry just ignoring him as he heads back towards the office, Mitch just gives Niall a sympathetic look as he follows behind.

“I know he seems like a massive jackass and for the most part he is but maybe if you go back there,” Jeff’s voice causes Niall to spin around and face the bar as he places a shot of whiskey down in front of him, Niall follows Jeff’s head tilt in the direction of his office. “You’ll see him in a different light.” He finishes explaining as Niall reaches down for the shot glass.

“I’d rather not get my ass kicked but thanks.” Niall answers before downing the shot and handing the empty glass to Jeff who just laughs.

“He won’t even notice you’re in the room.”

“Trust me he’ll notice. He fucking hates me man. I practically drugged his wife.”

“If you’re in the same room as her then no. He won’t.” With that Jeff turns and heads towards the opposite end of the bar leaving Niall standing there with no other option really than to just suck it up and honestly he doesn’t want to seem like a horrible friend so he needs to at least go check and see how you’re doing.

Mitch turns to look at the door when he sees it open and he gives Niall a small smile as he leans against the doorframe a few feet from where Mitch is leaning against the wall closest to the door. Harry doesn’t pay him any attention as he kneels down in front of the small couch in Jeff’s office, right in front of where your left foot is propped up on a pillow.

“Baby can you tell me if this hurts?” Niall feels his mouth slightly drop open at the tone of Harry’s voice, it’s soft and gentle, not a trace of the anger Niall heard earlier and the way he’s looking at you is as if he thinks even too harsh of a glance could break you.

“Sweetheart.” Harry’s face breaks out into a playful smile as he looks over at you and sees your eyes are closed but he knows by the way you’re breathing that you’re not asleep, just acting like you are.

“You sound like my husband.” Mitch chuckles as you let out a sigh while still keeping your eyes closed while Harry just playfully rolls his eyes at you as he gently reaches over and puts his hand on top of your foot. “But you can’t actually be him because it’s Tuesday and Tuesdays are for dancing.” Harry just nods with a smile still on his face as he puts a little bit of pressure on your foot while looking at your face for any signs of discomfort.

“Oh is he not allowed to come to these dancing Tuesdays?” Harry asks as he moves his hand further down your foot, still applying pressure and seeing if you show any signs of pain. When you give him a small pout he immediately removes his hand from your foot and rests it on your ankle. “Did that hurt baby?” Harry questions with a furrowed brow as you slowly open your eyes.

“He works late Tuesdays and comes home when I’m asleep.” You mumble sadly making Harry return your pout as he stands up and places a hand on the back of the couch so he can lean down and place a kiss to your forehead. “You wanna know a secret?” Harry just lets out a soft chuckle as he nods his head while you try to sit up onto your elbows. “Sometimes I’m not asleep and I just act like I am.” You whisper making Harry smile at the little giggle you let out when you fall back onto the couch after telling him your secret.

“That’s so sneaky of you love.” He teases making you smile as you reach up and place a hand on his cheek. “I’m sure your husband hates Tuesdays and coming home so late he has to eat dinner all alone and can’t even get a goodnight kiss.” He explains as he places a kiss to the inside of your wrist before you pull your hand away from his face.

“You always get a goodnight kiss.” You argue making Harry laugh as he leans down to place a quick kiss to your lips in an attempt to get rid of your fake pout.

“Do I? Are you sure?” He asks as he pulls away making you roll your eyes and let out a huff as you cross your arms over your chest.

“Yes I’m sure because you wake me up and beg me for one because you’ll have bad dreams if you don’t get it.” Harry just nods as he quickly leans down and kisses your cheeks before standing up and turning to grab your purse and shoes off the floor.

“That’s right sweetheart your goodnight kisses keep the bad dreams away so if I have to beg for them then so be it.” You smile as you watch him gather your things into your purse and toss the bag over his shoulder before he turns back around so he facing you.

“Hi.” You mumble as you look up at him causing a dimpled grin to take over his face as he looks down at you.

“Hi baby.” He says as he holds out his hands for you to take to help you sit up. “Ready to go home?” You just nod your head and before you can even ask him for your shoes you feel one of his arms under your knees and another under your arms scooping you into his arms. Niall moves out of the way before Harry has to tell him to allowing room for the two of them to exit the office and when you see Niall you give him a big smile and a wave.

“Bye Niall! See you tomorrow!” Niall just laughs and waves back at you while Harry ignores the interaction as he heads for the door to the bar with the keys to your car in his hand.

Harry knows he’s going to have to smooth things over with Niall at some point but not tonight, not when he’s still not even sure what exactly happened or what exactly on your foot hurts. As much as he hates to say it, he can admit he understands why Niall did what he did because he saw his friend in pain and wanted to help so he did what he thought would make you feel better. He just hopes that Niall will keep his moment of anger between the two of them because he just made you a promise about threatening people and he knows you’ll be beyond upset with him if you find out he threatened your cubical mate. But he will find a time to worry about that later because right now all he wants to worry about is getting you home and then figuring out which movie you want to watch in bed while he makes you dinner and gets you situated before he has to unfortunately return to the man in the basement to finish his job for the evening but he decides that can at least wait until you’ve gone to sleep.

With Harry gone Mitch takes a moment and looks over at Niall who he can tell is struggling with understanding how that man was the same man who had him bent over a bar as he casually threatened to break his nose not even five minutes ago. It’s something everyone who meets Harry goes through because they all come to learn that there’s two sides to Harry and only one person gets the side that involves gentle touches and soft voices and that person is you. But Mitch knows that since Niall is your coworker he gets told stories about the softer side of Harry and even though the past few times he’s been around him while Harry hasn’t been the friendliest he wasn’t ever blatantly an asshole, so meeting the rougher side of him full force tonight was probably a bit much.

“It’s weird right?” Mitch asks breaking Niall out of his trance as he stares at the door you and Harry just went through. “Seeing him like that with her?”

“Is he a Gemini or something?” Niall asks with a more than serious expression on his face as he looks from the door to Mitch who just laughs and shakes his head as he reaches over and puts a hand on Niall’s shoulder. “Like with the two people in one body kinda thing?” He adds with a quirked brow making Mitch just give his shoulder a little squeeze.

“Nope he’s an Aquarius.”

[starysky1289]

Toxic!Stepsis!Vanessa X Reader. Sibling bonding.

TW: DubCon, Toxic relationship

Note: Toxic!Stepsis! is different than just normal stepsis. Just like toxic! Vanessa is different than normal Vanessa. It’s a different storyline, figured I clear it up

Your mother had forced you and your god awful Stepsister to hang out in the house when she was gone. You and Vanessa were grown adults, and your mother wanted to act like it was a sleepover. Ontop of that,Vanessa would always talk about being a cop and acted like she was the most important person in the building. You knew her father, your step father, only encouraged that from her, stupid Steve, getting with your mother. Vanessa entered the room you were in, sitting on the couch besides you.

“ so, what are we going to do for three hours while your mother is gone. “

“ I don’t know. I don’t want to do this. “

“ don’t act like a baby, Y/N. You wanna watch a movie or something. “

You groan, standing up and crossing your arms, glaring at her.

“ I don’t want to do. Anything with you. I’m going to my room. “

You stormed upstaires, laying belly down on the bed, and angrily scrolling through your phone. You could hear her following you up the stairs and she bashed into your room, you didn’t look up at her, you couldn’t care what she thought.

“ I don’t know where the fuck you get off acting like that to me, but your mother just wants us to bond. Now you can get your ass downstairs and we’ll watch a movie, or I’ll stay with you in here “

“ your not my mom! I hate when you talk like this! “

“ Well you’re acting like a fucking child! “

You burried your face in your pillow. You could hear Vanessa angrily mumbling to herself, before feeling her pull you by your hair, making you sit up. She held you by the chin, her Ivy green eyes staring at you, her hot breath against your face.

“ you know what we do to convicts who act up? “

You stayed silent as you stared up at her. She gripped your face harder and scoffed.

“ we bound them. And I think you’re acting just as bad as one. “

Your eyes widened slightly, and you tried to pull away from her grasp, her eyes staring down at yours.

“ I’ll tell My mother…she’ll kill you! “

“ yeah, and who’d she belive? Her stepdaughter, while she cherishes, and a well respected cop. Or her daughter who still lives in the house and acts like a child. “

Vanessa dropped your face, and walked out of the room, you desperately tried to chase after her to stop whatever she was doing, but she locked it from the outside, that bitch. It wasn’t much longer before she came back in, throwing you back on the bed, dropping her black canvas tote.

“ now..I’m not allowed to take my cuffs out of work..but..”

She reached into the tote, pulling out a package of large zipties. You looked up at her panicked, your heart racing.

“ I do carry zips incase I run into someone on the streets. Strip for me, or this’ll be a lot harder. “

You didn’t move, you couldn’t move, you were petrified. She rolled her eyes, and you slowly pulled your shirt off, tossing it off the bed.

“ god your taking forever…hurry it up or I’ll be worse. “

Vanessa growled, you unclasped your bra, and took your sweatpants off, hesitantly pulling at your panties. You couldn’t pull yourself together to take them off.

“ god. This’ll do. “

Vanessa took you by the wrists, tieing a Zip tie around each, before connecting them with one more, and connecting that to your metal bedframe. She then pulled something else from her bag, and you felt your garments come off you, Vanessa held a small pocket knife, tossing the cut off panties into the corner. Your eyes followed the blade as Vanessa stopped and played with it, dragging the dull side up and down her fingers, before stopping, starring at you.

“ you wanna feel it? “

“ I-i…”

She dragged the dull side of the blade up your thighs, something about the cold metal against your thighs made you twitch. You should be hating this, hating her, but the only thing you could think of right now is how she’d feel, how this pain made you feel.

“ v..Vanessa…”

“ you gonna listen now bitch? “

“ y-yes m-maam…”

She smirked, and sat between your legs, pressing her whole palm against your warm cunt, and pulling back to watch the juices stick off it. She held the palm up to your mouth, you looked up at her pleading for instructions.

“ taste yourself. “

You nodded, slowly dragging your tongue her palm, the taste of your own juices made you flush, how you almost tasted sweet.

Vanessa pulled her hand back, and dragged her middle and ring finger up and down your folds, before suddenly plunging in, bucking her fingers in and out. Moans flew out of your mouth, you hadn’t been touch liked this. Not even by your own hand. You yanked on the restraints, you hated how she was pleasing you, how you were under her.

“ V-Vanessa!! S-stop it please!! “

“ no..I think you’re having fun…I don’t wanna stop that~ “

Vanessa fingers quicker as she added her point finger in. She’d bend down and leave thick hickeys on your thighs, marking you, owning you.

“ I can’t stand we share a last name, but atleast you make a good fuck toy…”

The rude name made you blush, and throw your head back even farther. Vanessa made her fingers curl to hit that spot and put your over the moon. You couldn’t stand it, you had to cum, you couldn’t hold it any longer.

Your legs quivered from your heavy orgasim only a few moments later, as you began to tighten around her fingers. You closed your eyes and panted, only to be greeted by a hard slap against your pussy. Vanessa scowled at you, slapping you again.

“ you didn’t ask. You didn’t get permission to cum. So you know what bad fuck toys get? Punishment. “

She slapped her hand against your quivering cunt again, again, and again. You let out cries of ruined pleasure, tears streaming down your face.

“ I’m sorry! I’m sorry p-please stop! “

She pulled back, mumbling under her breath, before cutting the restraints off you. She stood up and fixed herself, heading towards the door before stopping.

“ your gonna go and get dressed, without panties. You’re gonna come downstairs and lay with me on that couch and watch something. And if fucking wanna touch you you’ll let me, understand? “

“ y….yes Vanessa…”

Vanessa stormed out, you weakly wobbled off the bed, throwing your clothes backs on. Your wrists where marked with the zip ties, you rubbed them gently as your made your way downstairs, sitting next to Vanessa, who pulled you into her as she started some random movie. You were hers, you couldn’t change it now. Your stepsisters whore.

[1d1195]

Protection - Extra I

Read the rest of it here: Protection

I thought you all might want to read a bit about this. This is in between their dip in the water and their trip to England that I previously skipped over. (between part 9 and 10)

Just cute stuff I think (@freedomfireflies said it was romantic 😍thank you for reading it ahead of time for me). A little angsty maybe if you read it the right way.

~4k words

“Are you alright?” She asked, it came out strong. It was important to her to say it fully, no teeth chattering. She wanted to make sure Harry was okay.

He laughed, loudly. He couldn’t help it; he nosed at her ear. “Oh, love. M’fine... s’long as you are.”

The water was freezing; it was December after all. It felt like ice on Harry’s skin, and more so like it was seeping right into his veins. It was no more than twenty seconds before he reached her. He grabbed her by the arm before she started sinking further to the bottom. With a hurt leg and her arms once more held together by a zip-tie, his supervisor was definitely planning on letting her painfully drown to death.

It made Harry sick to be associated with such a place.

Harry pulled his free arm toward the top of the sea. They crested over the surface. Harry gasped quietly, more worried about making sure she had air. Almost immediately, he cupped a hand over her mouth a bit to hide the sounds she made as she spluttered over the splash of the waves. He worried that his supervisor might come back to check that she really was gone. Harry waded the pair of them toward the bottom of the little cliff. So that if he did look down, the view would be obstructed. “Shh, shh, m’here, baby. I have you, honey; m’so sorry, kitten. But y’gotta stay quiet, love. I got you,” he promised treading hard for both of them to stay afloat. It was so fucking cold. “M’sorry,” he whispered softly. As her breath came back more evenly, he pressed his lips to her forehead. Her lips were turning bluer by the second. Just like when she was paling without enough blood. It made him nervous even though he knew it was because she was freezing. But what truly worried him most, was the look of shock on her face. Like Harry wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to find her and keep her safe.

After several seconds of silence, Harry didn’t have much choice but to risk it either way and started to swim awkwardly toward the sandy area nearby. He hauled her to shore, cradling her as best he could. They paused just at the shoreline Harry stretching his achy muscles from the stiffness of the cold. She didn’t even have a coat, the poor thing. Her jaw chattered almost violently—he could hear her teeth clacking together high heels down the hallway. Harry couldn’t feel his toes. “We gotta get warm,” he murmured, taking his pocket knife to the ties and releasing her poor, delicate wrists. Instantly, he was back on his cold feet. He scooped her up close. It was nearly second nature to hold her to his chest. He wished he could have stayed dry but what was his other option? Leave her in the water?

She looked tired, cold, and blue. “H-Harry,” she murmured, teeth clicking.

“I know, honey,” he cooed sadly; willing himself to be stronger because he had to be, he started back to his car.

“I-I hate h-him,” she reminded him sniffling a bit into his neck.

“I know. Me too, kitten.”

“How d-did you—?” There was a shake in her voice along with her teeth.

“I put a tracking device in y’scrunchie,” he admitted. He looked shy, embarrassed, his cheeks pinking at the admission. She wished she had the strength to reach up and touch them because she imagined his skin would warm her fingertips. “M’sorry, love...but I couldn’t...I don’t—"

The relief on her face was absolute. She looked at him as if he just told her that her mom was alive. “J-just p-put one in m-me,” she leaned toward him, pressing her face to his neck.

He smiled, grateful for the small reprieve of seriousness. The guilt he felt for tracking her like she was his property was abundant. But he was so grateful she was happy at the thought. “I thought ‘bout that too,” he confessed sheepishly.

“Are you alright?” She asked, it came out strong. It was important to her to say it fully, no teeth chattering. She wanted to make sure Harry was okay.

He laughed, loudly. He couldn’t help it; he nosed at her ear. “Oh, love. M’fine... s’long as you are.”

“I’m ok-kay.”

“Yeah?” 

She nodded, trying to nuzzle up to Harry. She wanted to shield herself from the cold sea breeze, but Harry was just as cold too. There was nothing but shivers passing through them like an electric current. Harry felt so much relief but was getting frustrated with the temperature of the air, the chill in the water, and just of course the day as a whole.

To conserve energy, they were silent. Eventually, they finally made it back to his car. Without running, it seemed like it took hours, not minutes, to get back. The poor thing looked so utterly exhausted. Harry reached below the wheel hub for his spare key—he probably could have left his whole key ring but he didn’t want to be without a phone, a car, nor his wallet in the event something worse happened. (Especially because he wanted to keep her precious handwritten notes preserved in his wallet safely. No way he was willing to risk losing those.)

He set her on her good leg, her body throbbing anyway as if it were the bad one because she was so numb with coldness; Harry kept her pressed to him. Her jaw was shaking so violently, Harry worried she would hurt her teeth. He bit his lip; now that his mind was clearer with less cold saltwater attacking him and taking over all rational thought and senses. “Honey,” he said softly, almost unsurely. Nervously. Like she was going to hate what he had to do to take care of her because he hated what he knew he had to do.

“Whatever you h-have to d-do, Mr. EMT.”

He sighed with more relief passing through him. He smirked at her, amazed she could still make jokes when her fingers looked like they were about to fall off from the chill. He coaxed her to sit on the ground—mindful of her aching leg. She frowned instantly, from the lack of contact—even if she and Harry were cold it was better to be held by him just because he made her insides feel warm.

But Harry was as speedy as he could be. He grabbed a couple blankets and the array of clothing he had in the boot originally packed for the gym. There were a few leftover sweatshirts from the change in season when he would wear sweatshirts home from the gym to keep the chill in the air from bothering him when he was all sweaty. Hurriedly, he laid one of his blankets in the backseat.

He turned back for her. She was wide-eyed. Waiting for directions, chattering, rubbing her hands up and down her arms trying to get the friction to warm her, to do something for her cold and achy skin.  “Love, I gotta take your clothes off.”

She looked devastated. Immediately she regretted her words that she would do whatever he asked. She shook her head at him, her eyes pleading with him. “N-no m’cold,” she chattered again.

“I know, beautiful. M’so sorry. But we have t’get warm. M’cold too, kitten. But—”

“P-please, no,” she begged anyway.

“Honey—”

“Can’t w-we—”

“M’gonna take my clothes off too, kitten, we need body heat,” he explained. Reminding her of the science may have helped the cold slip out of her foggy mind and appeal to the part of her brain that knew the science behind what he was saying.

It seemed to do the trick. “Oh, why d-didn’t you s-say so,” she smiled as flirtatiously as she could with blue lips and icicle-looking hair.

He rolled his eyes. “Keep it in y’pants, love.” But she couldn’t help it. Really couldn’t. Because naked Harry was all she thought about for the last week and half. Before the awful terrible stuff happened. He pulled his jacket off, hurried to the driver’s door and started the car blasting the heat. “S’gonna feel awful, love,” he warned. “M’so sorry,” he kissed her forehead hating how her skin felt colder than his own chilled lips.

Sighing, she nodded. “Okay,” she whispered, bravely giving him the go ahead. She sighed deeply as he helped her back to stand and he started with the thin shirt she had on from the hospital. “D-did you kn-now the wa-water is warmer in December than a m-month like M-May c-cause the h-heat cap-pacity for water st-stays long-ger from the s-summer? S-so this water is ac-actually w-warmer c-cause of August?” Harry didn’t know if she was genuinely trying to make conversation or if she was trying to distract herself. Either way, he was hopelessly in love with her beautiful brain.

“So, May would’ve been a worse time for this t’have happened t’us?” She nodded as he peeled the cold, wet clothes off her body as quickly as he could. “A Christmas miracle,” he murmured.

He did leave a sports bra and her underwear on, but it was of course not nearly enough for Christmas Eve in December. She whimpered as the breeze brushed over her. He carefully helped lay her down, so she was lying on her side closer towards the back of the seat. He then wrapped a sweatshirt around her cold feet, rubbing over top of them to add to the friction. He angled the vents from the front so she would feel the warmth hopefully. Harry stripped immediately and quickly as possible. His jeans were a challenge to peel off—stiff with the saltwater soaking every little fiber. He hurried to pull a blanket halfway around his side so he could slip into the space left for him beside her. He was grateful she already felt a smidge warmer as he pressed his body as close to hers as he could and shut them both inside his backseat with a slam of his door and click of the lock. “This is s-so unf-fair,” she whispered to herself.

Harry smiled and shook his head. “Promise I’ll let y’look s’much as y’want when we’re warm again,” he wrapped her closer. God it was so nice to hold her. Even if they were both freezing. Even if he wanted to explode with anger and murder all of DSS (except Niall).

They didn’t speak again for the duration of however long it was again, to conserve energy. Harry closed his eyes feeling relief crushing him as he held her to his body. Her icy skin was still like heaven to touch. For the first time in nearly a week, he felt like he could breathe again. Despite the direness of the situation, he was certain this was some form of heaven. He listened to her breathing against his neck, her quiet sniffle every few moments as he inhaled against the side of her head basking in the warmth he felt just from knowing she was safe in his arms.

Harry didn’t look at what time they got into the car but eventually the windows began to steam, and her shivers subsided. Her hair stopped dripping onto his skin and Harry could feel his toes again. “Do you have an eight-pack?” She murmured into his chest. Her nose was still cold, but her teeth weren’t chattering anymore. He felt her hands curled right below his navel.

He smirked lazily. “Behave, m’love,” he mumbled into her hair, enjoying the ease of the moment. She was warmer. She was safe. Harry wasn’t letting her out of his sight for a second for at least a month—maybe longer.

“Am I really that ugly you’re unaffected by me being naked?”

“M’not dignifying that with a response, kitten.”

She sighed. “You’re never gonna sleep with me, are you?”

“Honey, I thought y’were dead four days ago. Y’almost drowned within the last hour. Not t’mention y’were drugged a few months back, twisted an ankle, and nearly sliced y’hand open. Jus’ wanna hold y’right now,” he murmured. “Jus’ lemme do it.”

She didn’t say anything for a few beats. “When you say it like that it sounds like I’m cursed.”

He smiled. “M’gonna sleep with you. Promise.”

She was a little skeptical, mainly because she was cold and grumpy. “Are you gonna be weird about my leg?” She asked.

He nodded decidedly. “Very.”

She released another exasperated sigh and let the silence wash over them again. Harry squeezed her every few moments hoping for extra warmth from the friction. Also, because he was so happy she was okay; alive and real. He paid special attention to her breathing, listening for signs of irregularities. “Harry?” She asked so quietly, Harry worried that she was about to faint or something.

“Yes, m’love?” He hummed.

“Are we...still going to England?”

Harry felt the smile expand on his face so warmly it was hard to imagine he was cold right now. “Of course, kitten,” he hummed. “As soon as we pack.”

“Will your mom and sister like me?”

Harry felt his heart stutter against his ribs. He wondered if she felt it against her lips. “Yes, honey. Very much. Almost s’much as I do.”

“How much is that?”

He sighed. He thought about the notes he had in his wallet. Her little heart telling her she didn’t get kidnapped while brushing her teeth. How close she really was to predicting the future. Then of course the much more recent, horrible time she said sorry so profusely and admitted she adored him. “A lot, kitten. So much.”

She nodded, deciding there wasn’t much point in arguing. Harry found her despite everything, all the heartache and all the drama anyway. It was plenty—more than enough, really for her to believe him. “Okay, good,” she said. “I want out of here so bad.”

He chuckled, pressing his lips to her temple and giving her a squeeze. “Are y’warm?”

“I can feel my toes and fingers again,” she flexed them against his body for good measure.

He nodded gratefully. “How’s your leg?”

“It hurts a lot,” she had been focused on getting warm, but she was in so much pain between the cold numbing of her limbs, the hole in her thigh already seemed like nothing in comparison. But she couldn’t help but feel the sore ache of the ripped flesh coming back with a vengeance. “Saltwater and everything.”

He kissed her forehead. “We’ll go in jus’ a few more minutes. S’it unbearable?”

She shook her head. Harry was holding her. He was bare except for a pair of cold wet boxers. He was holding her. His lips were in her hair and his breath touched her scalp. Almost drowning, getting drugged, twisting an ankle, getting shot, and slicing her hand seemed like nothing. She would even consider doing it again if Harry could hold her like this forever. “No... not unbearable,” she decided.

He nodded sullenly. “I don’t have a plan,” he admitted. “I don’t want... them t’know you’re alive,” he murmured.

“Me either.”

More silence followed. It was comfortable though. What could they possibly say right now? Harry was just so grateful she was alive he didn’t care if they spoke for the rest of their lives.

She started giggling shortly thereafter. Almost uncontrollably. Her mind was thinking about how ridiculous all of this was. How bad it was. All that happened over the last couple weeks—the last few months with Harry. The laughter shook her against Harry making the friction warm themselves faster.

“Why are y’giggling? Y’need medical attention again. We need t’get into your apartment...we...” he sighed. “S’a mess, love. Such a mess.”

She pressed her cheek to his chest trying to stifle her laughter. “Yeah, it is...”

“How can y’be so calm ‘bout this?”

“I am basking in how nice it feels to know DSS is the worst.”

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Honey; s’not the time.”

“Y’know what will be really fun,” she said softly. “Telling our kids that you shot me.”

He winced trying not to picture it even though she said it so casually, as if it was an inside joke. But he liked the idea of their kids a lot. “Are y’delirious?”

She smiled into his skin with a little nod and shrug. “I have a plan. But we’re going to need some help.”

*

“Jesus Harry, I’m so fucking sorry,” Niall croaked the second he answered.

“Niall, stay calm; they can’t know. Especially if you’re around anyone else,” her voice was low, just in case anyone overheard his conversation. “Say so fucking sorry, Harry, again if you understand and can do this right this second or I’ll hang up and try again in a bit.”

There was a silent second as Niall theoretically composed himself. “So fucking sorry, Harry,” he repeated breathlessly.

She was taking charge again. Harry was hunched awkwardly on the inside of the seat while he worked on her leg with a kit he had from his EMT days. Most of the stuff was expired and there were a lot of materials missing, but it was better than nothing. He wrapped a dry sweatshirt around her torso, she wasn’t wearing pants while he tended to her thigh, but he had never loved her as much as he did right then. “Can you get in my apartment? Say yes this is real, if you can, or no I don’t believe it, if you can’t.”

“Yes, it’s real,” he said stiffly.

“A little more emotion, Niall. They won’t believe you. Tell Harry when the services are supposed to be.”

“Eleven in the morning. Saturday, the twenty-eighth.”

“Leave it to dad to ruin everyone’s holiday break so he can sell his suffering...” she grumbled. “We need two tickets to England at that time...can Harry text you on this line? Say yes, you’re allowed to come or no, you’re not.”

“No, you’re not allowed to come.”

She nodded, but by and large that was only a small hiccup. “Can you come to Harry’s house?” She asked. “Say I’ll send you the info or I can’t.”

“I’ll send you the info.”

“I adore you, Niall,” she smiled sweetly. “Aside from Harry you’re the only good part of DSS.”

“I’m so sorry, Harry,” he whispered off script; she wondered if the sorry really was meant for her or for Harry. In the end she suspected it was probably both.

“I know...we’ll see you later,” she promised. “I owe you a big hug.”

“Bye, Harry,” his voice cracked a bit. She smiled sweetly.

“Bye, Niall.”

*

Niall had her passport and the duffle bag that was packed in her apartment along with all of her belongings that she asked for—as well as a set of crutches to help support her injured leg. He shoved Harry out of the way when he opened the door, nearly throwing her heavy bag at him and heading over to her on the couch to cash in on the hug she owed him.

Harry rolled his eyes but completely understood Niall’s anxiety and excitement just knowing she was alive.

“How did you know you were going to make it out alive?” Niall finally asked after a thousand other questions.

She smiled at Niall. It was the first time Harry left her alone in a room for longer than a minute—even if he was just one room over and could still see her if he looked around the half wall. He was organizing his things in his own suitcase and simultaneously checking the paperwork Niall had done. He was focused intently on reading everything, making sure everything was in place. There was not a single centimeter of room for error.

“Well, to be fair, I didn’t know it was going to be this dire,” she shrugged.

Niall was looking at her like she was a ghost. Harry had her leg propped on the couch; a pillow stacked to keep it fluffed up. She swore it didn’t even hurt all that much, but they had spent the last few nights in crummy motels and after he helped her shower in his own regular-sized shower, a day before they departed the country, he wanted to make sure she was as comfortable as humanly possible.

At night, he wrapped her in his arms so tightly it was almost too hot when they woke up. But Harry couldn’t let her go—not even an inch. She didn’t protest either; the warmth was welcomed—especially after the frigid dip in the icy water. Plus, sleeping with Harry was all she wanted. Well...the most rated-G thing she wanted to do with Harry.

“I told them you’re leaving to visit home,” Niall said to Harry. “They don’t understand everything, but they won’t bother you.”

Harry nodded silently in response to triple checking again.

“Can you tell my professor I’m not dead...once I’m in England?” She asked.

Niall smiled. “Happy to.”

“Do you have a plan?” She asked.

“M’surprised y’don’t, love,” Harry muttered placing the passports and other paperwork into a folder for safekeeping through their travels.

“Oh, I do. I was just wondering if Niall did.”

Chuckling, Niall smiled. “M’all ears, darling.”

So, she explained her thoughts. Told him exactly what she thought would happen and how it should be handled in response. Apart from a few minor details, he agreed wholeheartedly. “You really like this guy?” He jerked his head in Harry’s direction with a smirk.

She nodded eagerly with a pretty smile. “Yeah...I know.”

Harry shook his head as he rolled his eyes at her. “You’re much too smart for him,” Niall reminded her.

She giggled and Harry sighed. “That I agree with,” Harry murmured.

“He saved my life, though...a lot,” she shrugged.

Niall smiled brightly. “Give Anne and Gemma a big hug from me, yeah?” Niall said, kissing the top of her head. “And don’t let him feel too guilty, y’know how he gets,” he whispered only for her as he pulled away from their embrace. “Harold, maybe don’t turn her into Swiss cheese? Enjoy the holiday?”

She giggled but worried Harry would have a breakdown if they kidded too much about it. Considering it was still so fresh. Especially since she knew Niall was right about how guilty Harry was probably feeling. The second Niall was gone she dropped her head back against the cushion. “I have no books to read while we’re there.”

“I’ll buy us some,” he promised and came back over to sit on his coffee table. He still looked exhausted—beautiful, but exhausted. It was only a little after eight in the evening.

“Can we go to bed?” She asked, yawning because she was exhausted too. She wanted nothing more than to snuggle close to Harry in a normal bed.

He smiled tiredly. “Yes, love, of course.” Harry helped her stand and held onto her to support her injured leg. “I wish you’d jus’ let me carry you,” he murmured the short walk to his bedroom. She ignored him and slipped between his soft sheets, and it felt like a cloud was holding her in comparison to the stiff motel mattresses. She moaned softly at the feeling. Harry chuckled.

“Comfy?”

She nodded. Harry slid in beside her and they were drenched in darkness. They were set to leave tomorrow and get away for a bit. A comfortable silence fell over them. It had been happening a lot since she woke up from her little medical nap. There was too much to think about. Too much to do and until they were safely away from DSS in another country. So the quietness was peaceful—after everything. They had said so much through words and actions over the last few days. There was still so much to discuss but it would have to wait. They were so very tired. Ached to the bone with injuries, chills, and bad dreams. She wanted to sleep for days. She wanted Harry to sleep for days. “Can I live here? On this mattress?” She asked.

Harry’s heart fluttered. “You can live here forever, Miss Wildflower,” he promised, making her heart melt. It was the first time she had ever felt so truly cared for since her mom died and it was overwhelming to say the least. His fingers danced along her arm making goosebumps appear on her skin, but not because she was cold. No, Harry made her so warm just by being there.

“Even with all my crazy flowers?” She whispered quietly.

“Especially with your beautiful flowers.”

--

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[heresthestorymorningglory]

Together Bound In Madness - Part 2

Summary: There’s a reason you were told not to walk alone at night….

A/N: This particular piece of work wasn’t meant to see the light of day and live its life in my WIP folder…it was supposed to….

Then I mentioned to @ken-dom that I might share and well…here we are…what can I say y'all? She’s mad encouraging and I love her dearly for it. Without her none of these would exist.

As always, this NSFW 18+ and has a few extra warnings attached; a kidnapping trigger warning being the biggest one, but others will follow.

The title comes from the Marianas Trench song The Killing Kind

Y'all should know by now I rarely post one shots…..so yeah, this will be multiple parts….I’m just not sure on the final tally yet. You can find previous parts here.

Enjoy my loves! <3 

He had had enough, if you weren't more careful, someone was going to….no he couldn't even consider such a thing. He wouldn't. 

He'd have to rectify this before you got yourself into trouble. 

And he had, it had been laughably easy. You walked home tonight, alone. If you hadn't had your earbuds in you would have likely heard him coming up behind you, but you were careless. 

And now, here you were with him, in his apartment. Safe. 

You stirred in his arms before he laid you on his bed gently. 

Your hands and feet were still bound, he frowned seeing the raw skin around your wrists. 

He sighed as you opened your eyes. Your eyes locked on his and you breathed hard through your nose. 

You screamed against the tape and he moved swiftly to sit next to you on the bed his gloved hand closing over your hands to keep yourself from cutting into your wrists further. 

You squeezed your eyes shut and his heart sank seeing the tears prick your eyes. Why were you so upset? 

He stroked a gloved thumb over your cheek, wiping away a tear and you flinched. 

The bump on your head was growing darker; god you were so fragile. 

He went down to the bathroom and found the first aid kit. 

When he came back he helped you sit up on the edge of the bed. 

Making his way to the kitchen, he wrapped a handful of ice cubes in a towel, twisting the top of the towel shut and knotting it. 

When he came back he knelt in front of you, touching the ice to your head. 

You closed your eyes with a flinch, fresh tears slipping down your cheeks. 

His free hand reached to tug gently at the tape covering your mouth. 

You gasped, crying harder, finally able to take a breath. 

“Please don't hurt me” you sobbed 

Your face was red and stained with tears, your eyes glassy. They were beautiful. 

He set the ice aside long enough to reach around behind you, he took a breath and his nose was filled with your scent, making his cock twitch in his jeans. He snaps the zip ties with his hands before bringing your arms around in front of you. 

Your wrists were cut and raw. Maybe that was part of the reason you were so upset. You were hurt. 

You sniffed, but didn't pull away as he cleaned your wounds. 

Once one wrist was clean and bandaged, he held out the towel with ice cubes. 

You hesitated before taking it from him slowly, your eyes fixed on him as you brought the ice to rest on the bump. 

You watched as he cleaned and bandaged your other wrist but sat in silence. 

He moved to reach into his pocket and produced a tattered strip of fabric bringing your hands back together. 

“No, no, no” you pleaded, shaking your head, fighting to pull your hands away. He held your hands tighter, wrapping the strip of fabric around both wrists, making an effort not to tie it too tightly. “P-please don't 

He kept his head down as he got to his feet, you were shivering. Of course you were shivering, you were wearing practically nothing. 

He shrugged off his jacket, draping it over your shoulders. 

You reached up with collapsed hands wiping away more tears. The smudge of dried blood on the front of his jacket caught your eye and you took a breath trying not to panic. 

“Thank you” you whispered and he simply nodded. 

He hadn’t said a word, it was incredibly unsettling and doing nothing for your already frayed nerves, but you were still breathing air…his blood stained jacket was enough to stop you from thinking about an escape plan, at least for now, it very obviously hadn’t been his blood and you weren’t too keen to add yours to it. 

Of course the quiet, hot neighbour would be a serial killer and of course you would be on his radar. Your sister always said you had a really good resting bitch face. You had probably given him a dirty look or something and we're about to pay the ultimate price for it. 

You sat on the edge of the bed, not speaking, your wrists aching, your ankles still throbbing painfully. 

Suddenly your stomach growling loudly cut through the thick silence. It was late, you hadn't eaten since before leaving for work, that was almost twelve hours ago. 

Again, he didn't speak, you watched as he collected a box of cereal, milk and appropriate dishes. 

He poured a bowl and added the milk before turning his attention to you. 

He knelt in front of you, snapping the zip tie and you winced, the skin rubbed raw similar to your wrists. 

Whether he noticed or not you weren't sure, but you watched as his thumb stroked gently over the angry red skin making you flinch, but the leather felt cool against your skin. 

He stood to his full height and offered you a hand to help you stand. You had noticed ages ago that he was always wearing gloves, now you were starting to understand why. 

You looked from his extended hand, up to his face. It was unreadable. He didn't smile, didn't speak, nothing. Just waited expectantly. 

You took it, letting him pull you to your feet. He lead you over to the table where the cereal sat waiting. 

He pulled the chair out and you sat before he pushed you closer to the table. 

Your heart slammed in your chest, wanting to ask if he would untie your hands, but too afraid to speak. 

You picked up the spoon with your hands still bound as he sat in the chair next to you. He reached over untying the strip of fabric. The look in his eyes saying everything his mouth didn't. 

‘I’m trusting you, don't make me regret it’ 

You had managed to keep yourself from shaking more as you ate. You hadn't realized how hungry you were until you had started to eat. 

The spoon clinked against the edge of the bowl as you set it down, looking up for the first time since you had sat down. 

“Can I have some more?” You asked, not recognizing your own voice as you did. 

He nodded, refilling the bowl and adding more milk. 

You smiled appreciatively and continued to eat. 

He stood and your heart jumped but you stayed seated. You could hear him walk through his apartment as you examined the jacket he had put on you earlier. It was white, that was a bold fashion choice you thought, but it was clean save for the blood smears you had hoped you'd imagined. You hadn't. 

It was the same jacket you had seen him wear almost every time you had run into him in the hallway. 

For the first time since waking up you glanced around your surroundings. His apartment was very clean and well kept for what you could only assume was a young single guy. 

Maybe that's because he's constantly cleaning up blood, the little voice in the back of your mind whispered. 

You pushed it away as you heard him coming back into the small dining area and finished the last of your cereal. 

You yawned, exhaustion settling in as you noted it was nearly 4am. 

You wanted to fight it, wanted to stay awake, but you were so drained. 

He came back to the table offering you what you realized were pajamas.

Again, he offered you a hand, you swallowed hard taking it this time a little faster than before. 

He led you to the bathroom and handed you the clothes he'd had in his hand. You took them and walked into the small room and closed the door. 

You leaned against the closed door letting out a shaky breath as tears streamed down your cheeks. You covered your mouth to muffle your sobs. 

You sniffed quietly, wiping the back of your hand under your nose as you walked over to the small sink. There was a face cloth and a hand towel sitting on the basin. On top of them were a small tube of toothpaste and a new toothbrush. 

You reached with shaky hands to turn on the water, catching your reflection in the mirror over the sink. 

Your mascara was smeared from crying, your hair falling out after having been worn pulled back all day. A dark bruise on your forehead was new, a reminder of the chaos that had been your evening. It hurt enough for you to accept that this was reality and not some nightmare. 

You shrugged the jacket off, hanging it on the back of the door before cleaning yourself up  and changing into the pajamas he had given you. 

You folded the clothes you'd worn that day, clutching them to your chest as you opened the door. 

He stood leaned against the wall waiting for you. 

You held out the jacket and he took it from you leading you back into the main room. He draped it over the back of one of the dining chairs and again gestured for you to sit on the bed. 

You sat, leaning against the headboard, too tired to hold your head up anymore.

[fanfics4all]

Dubcon

Request: Yes / No Kinktober day 6!

Requests are closed  <3 Have a nice day/night

Troy Otto x Fem!Reader 

Word count: 1037

Warnings: SMUT!

Y/N: Your Name 

Prompt(s): Dubcon

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(Not my photo, credit to whoever made it!)

“I want you to do something for me.” Troy said with a smirk. 

“P-Please, whatever it is, please just-” 

“Quiet!” He said with an edge to his voice. 

“Take those off, now.” He ordered. 

“I… I can’t!” I said and he scoffed. 

“Yes you can. You’ll do it now, or else this photo will be sent to your Father. Do you understand?” He asked and my eyes widened. If my Dad see me dress in lingerie he’ll kill me! 

“You can’t!” I hissed. 

“I can. This is yours, isn’t it?” He asked and turned the phone to me. There I was dressed in a red lacey one piece, posing in my mirror. I don’t know how he got it, considering I never sent it to anyone. I didn’t even have that picture anymore! 

“I’ll ask you again. Take your jeans off.” He said. I tried my hardest to take slow breaths as I stared at him. He was serious and there was no way I’d be able to take the phone from him. I gulped and nodded. I slowly undid my zipper and he smirked slightly. 

“That’s right.” He said under his breath. He flipped the phone back around and took a step back. After pulling my jeans off, along with my shoes I stood up, glaring at him. 

“Good, now unbutton your shift.” He said. 

“P-Please…” I mumbled, a pit forming in my stomach. He simply waved his hand with a ‘get to it’ motion and I grit my teeth. I slowly undid each button one by one. My white bra now revealed to him. Troy took multiple pictures and I couldn’t do anything about it. 

“Good girl, very good girl.” He said and stopped taking pictures. 

“Please don’t send those…” I begged and he smirked again. 

“I won’t as long as you do everything I tell you to, got it?” He said as he pocked his phone. 

“L-Like what?” I asked. He just smirked and grabbed me. He was larger and stronger than me so I couldn’t escape. He forced my hands together and pulled a zip tie from his pocket. He tied my hands tightly together behind me. He pulled me over to the bed and pushed me onto my stomach. He ripped off my bra and and I gasped in shock. He buried his face into my ass, licking my tight virgin asshole. He forced the tip of his tongue inside and I suddered with excitement. 

I felt myself starting to get turned on, but I also felt ashamed. Troy was practically a stranger, yet he was making me feel so good. He spread my legs wider and pulled my hips closer to him. He started to flick his tongue against my now wet pussy. I moaned in pleasure, but they were muffled by the pillows. Without realizing, I started grinding onto his face. He abruptly stopped and flipped me onto my back. 

“You like this don’t you? You’re such a slut, Y/N.” He said with a smirk. 

“D-Do I need to be restrained?” I asked and his smirk grew. Troy reached into his pocket and pulled out a pocket knife. 

“Promise me you’re gonna be a good girl.” He said and I nodded. He gripped my face and held the night close to my face. 

“Use your words.” He growled. 

“Yes…” I whispered. He cut the ties from my wrists and pulled me off the bed. He pushed me onto my knees and I looked up at him. He grabbed his hard member through his jeans. I gulped and he smiled. 

“You wanna suck this cock?” He asked. I bit my lip and nodded slowly. Troy stepped closer to me, his stare unwavering. 

“Take it out.” He ordered. I reached up to undo his pants. I pushed them down to his tighes, along with his boxers. His cock sprung free and I gulped at the size. I looked up at him and he gave me a nod. I slowly opened my mouth and put his dick inside. He moaned and grabbed my hair. He pushed me down and made me gag as he was too big. 

“You can take it. Open your fucking throat.” He said. I tried my best to do as he said and open my throat. He pushed inside more and I managed to take him without gagging. 

“Oh fuck!” He groaned. He ripped me off him and pulled me up by my hair. He pushed me onto the bed so I was on all fours. He spread my ass open and spit right on my asshole. My eyes widened and I tried to crawl away, but he gripped me tighter. 

“Don’t fucking move.” He growled as he slammed his cock inside. I howled in pain as he relentlessly stretched my hole. He fucked my ass hard, not caring about how I was feeling. Once the pain let up there was pleasure flooding my veins. I could hardly form a sound as I whimpered in ecstasy. 

“You like getting fucked don’t you, you little cum slut.” He growled in my ear. 

“Y-Yes! I-I like it!” I moaned and he gripped me tighter. I reached down and started to rub my drenched clit. My eyes widened as I felt how wet I was. I’ve never been so wet in my life! Troy started thrusting deeper and harder. 

“Oh fuck! I’m gonna fill your tight little ass up! I fucking own you now.” He moaned. He pushed so deep inside me and I felt him filling me up. I moaned loudly and came as I felt his cum filling me. My legs were shaking as he pulled out of me and I collapsed on the bed. Troy walked off to the bathroom and came back a few moments later with a warm towel. He wiped me down and smacked my ass. 

“You better keep that cum inside you baby.” He said as he finished cleaning me. I just nodded and let my eyes flutter close. Troy crawled into the bed next to me and pulled me into his arms. 

“You’re mine now, Y/N… All mine…” He whispered and kissed my head. I was so tired and quickly fell asleep.

Tag list: @les-bio-lie @tashy-bear @ashwarren32 @hollie-blogs-blog1 @schisbro87 @lover-of-books-and-tea @nerdygaloresposts @teenwolfbitches28 @genius2050 @drw0301bieber @lady-of-lies @ravenmoore14 @ravenempress101 @cillianchamp @rowanthomasknapp @rachelxwayne @ready-4-fanfiction

[neon-kazoo]

The Art of Being a Good Hostage

“This seems to be our favorite way of meeting,” Villain pointed out when he reached a less-than-amused Vigilante crouched in the group next to another vigilante with a substantial chest wound.

“I’d prefer if you just robbed a coffee shop next time,” she replied begrudgingly.

She stopped fretting over the man on the floor long enough to turn out her pockets and shake at her clothes dramatically. Immediately after she was finished, she turned away from Villain without a second thought.

Unfortunately, Villain was not done with her yet.

He dropped a large zip tie at her feet. She slowly looked down to where it had fallen, then back up to the villain, eyes filled with fire. This was going to be a fight.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she stated, as if to leave no room for argument.

“Put it on,” he rebutted, better accomplishing a tone of finality.

“I wouldn’t leave him.”

Vigilante looked back to the ground, and Villain was inclined to believe her. The vigilante had her convictions, and she stuck to them. Still, Villain had his.

“One hand, then. To his.” Villain nodded to the unconscious vigilante.

A compromise: and the best she would get.

Villain stayed long enough to watch Vigilante reluctantly follow the order and hear the click of the tightening restraint before moving further down the line. He pointedly ignored her defiant demeanor and unsavory hand gestures as he assessed the rest of the room.

He finished his count at fifteen fighters under his control. Most had substantial wounds, two were currently unconscious (but breathing; he checked) with Vigilante fairing the best off of all. That was to be expected with how she involved herself in these things, sidelines and damage control. From what Villain could tell, she mostly suffered a bleeding slash on her left leg, which she had already tended to, so he could probably trust she wouldn’t be running whether her hands were free or not.

Overall, not a bad hostage collection for Villain.

Vigilante had already taken care of most of the immediate first aid, tourniquets and makeshift splints scattered throughout the small crowd. Villain took the liberty of moving some of the injured around, grouping the most severe for closer supervision and restraining the less severe for security’s sake.

Speaking of Vigilante, she had not stopped aggressively staring daggers at his back since he had left her tied to her fellow vigilante. He pretended not to notice, but secretly he found it extremely amusing.

She was tenacious, he’d give her that.

The sound of a megaphone shouting outside the atrium signaled the arrival of the negotiation crew.

Showtime.

Villain scanned the group at his feet again, but he already had his relayer picked out. Who better than the queen of cooperation herself?

Villain strutted over to where Vigilante still sat awkwardly on her knees with a hand attached to her technical coworker. She didn’t look up from where she was studying his breathing, but it was obvious she sensed his approach from the scowl fixed on her face. He dropped a small multi tool in front of her.

“I trust I don’t need to threaten you?”

Vigilante just scoffed while clipping her restraint before rolling to her feet and rubbing passive-aggressively at her previously-tied wrist. This was not her first rodeo. She walked confidently towards the doors, albeit with a slight limp, slowing only to hear Villain call his instructions from behind her.

“Accept the phone. Keep it with you, but shut the door once you have it.”

She cracked open the door to retrieve the phone tossed on the ground there.

He didn’t really have much to worry about with her. In the field she was crafty, but once she had surrendered she stayed down. Being allowed around all kinds of operators to perform damage control required a certain level of trust, one that was extremely hard to build and extremely easy to break. She cared about saving lives, and did what she needed to make that possible.

Even if that meant being a mediator in a hostage situation on behalf of the man holding her hostage.

“They want to talk to you,” she called from near the blacked-out windows on the other side of the lobby.

“Not happening. I demand a delivery.”

“What kind?”

“They’ll know.”

Vigilante spoke hushed into the phone, but knowingly loud enough for the villain to listen in. She repeated what he told her with a little bit of theatrical fear, just as a little special touch.

“Tell them I’m willing to let Hero go,” he added. Hero was the only one who hadn’t woken up yet, undoubtedly afflicted by something serious. Villain shot his body a glance from where he stood stationed by the most severe. His pulse was still detectable, but not by much.

“A good will offering?” She questioned, covering the speaker, then teased, “So unlike you, especially so early in a negotiation.”

The criminal merely shrugged, not rising to the bait.

“Call it what you want.”

He caught the smile she tried to hide as she relayed the newest information to the negotiator on the call.

She trusted they would all be going home safe in the end.

[gremlin-girly]

Kinktober Day 26

Masks

Pairing: dark!Winter Soldier x f!reader

Tags/warnings: SMUT, DARK, non-con/cnc/dub con, masks, dark!Winter Soldier/ Dark!Bucky, rough sex, p-in-v (wrap it!!!), creampie, hair pulling, fingers in mouth, big dick (bc of course), crying, pleading, zip tied hands, spit, basement wife vibes at the end

Not beta'd and that's a warning. I try to tag everything but sometimes things get missed. I do not give permission for my work to be reposted, translated or copied. And as always, MDNI!

This fic has DARK elements as tagged above. Please read at your own risk - I do not control the content you consume but I have warned you.

Summary: When a stranger breaks in to your apartment, you get a whole lot more than you bargain for.

Word count: 1.4k

Banners by @/cafekitsune

A/N: This is my first time writing an official dark fic! I have tried my best at all the warnings but please read with caution (third warning's always the charm!) - Love, Grem x

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You were filling a glass of water when a sound startled you. You didn't turn immediately, thinking it was just the old pipes but when the unmistakable sound of a combat boot thudding against the wooden floor echoed through your apartment, you whipped around to see a large masked man in all black halfway through your window.

"Take what you want and please leave." You blurt hurriedly. There's no chance in hell you could take him on in a fight. You caught sight of glimmering metal on his right arm and briefly thought he was wearing armour but when your eyes followed his fingers, you were terrified to realise they were metal too. Without thinking, you hurl your glass at him not wasting a moment to linger on the smash of crystal as you make a blind, panicked dash to your room.

You slam the door shut and bolt it, throwing yourself towards your bed breathing heavily. Your heart is struggling to keep pace as you hear the thud of boots echoing through your apartment after you at an almost tauntingly slow pace, stopping outside your door.

There's no time to scream when the door crumples inward, splintering wood chips all over the floor and creaking on its hinges as the terrifying masked man stands in the threshold for mere seconds before he's on top of you. Dragging you by the ankle as you try to squirm away up your bed, he positions you beneath him as your bed groans under his added weight. Too scared to move, you watch yourself in the reflection of his goggles, small and terrified.

You go to scream but his thick metal fingers shove into your mouth making you choke around them instead. His fingers were ice cold against your tongue and you didn't want to think about whether the metallic flavour you tasted was just the metal of his fingers or someone else's blood.

His other, warmer, flesh hand was busy making quick work of your pjs; pushing the thin material of the top upwards to expose your breasts, which he squeezed roughly with a gloved hand and grazed a hardened nipple with his thumb. You wriggled, writhed and whimpered in protest to no avail, clawing at the metal arm to try and halt his efforts. Frustration, fear and arousal building with each passing moment.

When the warmth of his gloved hand begins to tug down your pyjama shorts and panties in one, you finally do something. You rear back your left arm, holding his metal wrist with your right as you breathe around his fingers, and punch his jaw with all of the force you can muster.

Which is apparently very little.

Your fist connects to his jaw with an audible crack but his face barely moves. Even though you can't see his face, it's almost like you can see him blink in shock. However, it's short lived when his metal hand removes itself from your mouth and grips both of your wrists hard; your bones crying in agony. He reaches for something in his back pocket and it takes you a few moments to realise it's a zip tie.

"'M sorry! 'M sorry!" You chant desperately as he starts to tie your wrists together tightly. You begin to sob uncontrollably and attempt to kick at him when he goes back to his previous task, removing what little clothing you had on. The masked intruder doesn't even flinch at your flailing legs, easily pushing them aside as your shorts and panties are tugged down your legs.

"Please don't." You sob quietly when he bares your cunt to the stale room air, slotted between your thighs with a tight grip on your hips. You hate how you're even just a little bit turned on by this; how he's manhandled you, how he began to pleasure you with an almost primal need. So you can't help but feel a little rush of arousal when his hands go to his pants and begins to unzip his fly. You suck in a breath when he tugs his cock free of his boxers. He's big. Bigger than you'd ever had, for sure. A new wave of terrified arousal washes over you; how would he fit?

Your question is soon answered when he nudges at your hole, gathering what little slick he can be bothered to before breaching you slowly. Your mouth falls open, allowing him to stuff his fingers back down your throat to silence your scream as he fills you inch by inch. Your pussy quivers with a burning ache and you smack your zip tied wrists at his metal arm but he's unperturbed, continuing his path until his cock bottoms out and his hips are flush against yours. The tip of his cock pokes at your cervix and you can feel the twitch of excitement in his cock, like he knows how deep he is. If you could see his face, you'd think he'd look a little smug.

All that stares back at you in the reflection of his goggles is you. You're stuck beneath him, tear stained face panting for breath around his fingers, your body betraying you as your cunt squeezes his cock, fighting back a whimper at the fullness he's provided.

It takes a full minute for the burning sensation to subside. The entire time you're enveloped in silence, waiting for your assailant to move or say something as your cunt adjusts to him. You sniff and whimper pathetically but after the minute adjustment period is up, he begins to move and on autopilot you wiggle your hips to get comfortable in preparation for whatever he's about to give you.

Slow, deep thrusts is how he starts, removing his fingers from your mouth and grasping your chin, smearing your own saliva over your lips. The tightness of his grip makes you wince and you're forced to keep your eyes open, too terrified to close them or look away in case you're punished again. Once it's clear you're watching him and have surrendered yourself, he begins to speed up his thrusts.

He moves his metal hand around your throat, anchoring you to the bed as his hips snap against yours, no less deep but much harder than before. Your eyes widen as you try to gulp for air, forced to watch yourself get that fucked-out flush across your cheeks in the reflection of his goggles, and forced to hear his animalistic grunts of pleasure through the mask.

You can feel an orgasm building and tears spill as you claw at his hand around your throat, your pussy clamping down like a vice around his cock, happily strangling him as you fight for breath.

"Please." You rasp out, clutching his metal forearm as your vision begins to blur, effectively anchoring yourself to him as you cum with a voiceless scream around his cock. Hot tears spill down your cheeks as your muscles relax, the hand around your neck loosens slightly to let you heave a half-choked sob and to let you hear the wet slapping of his balls against your cunt in place of the blood pumping in your ears.

His thrusts slow but don't stop. His metal hand moves from your neck to knot in your hair, pulling you roughly upward and forward so you can watch him drive his cock in and out of you. Your pussy flutters at the sight; his thick cock stretching you so well that you're almost fucked senseless and want to cum all over him again. The whimper of need you try to subdue doesn't go unnoticed and, with a growl, his gloved thumb is grazing over your swollen clit wringing another orgasm from you while your tits bounce in time with his thrusts.

After a few moments his thrusts speed up and he pulls out of you, covering your tits, tummy and quivering pussy with hot, white ropes of cum with a contented sigh. His hand doesn't leave your hair as he looks down at you, once again your teary face is visible in the black reflection of his goggles. He seems to regard you for a moment, from your pouty red face down to your puffy, abused folds and nods wordlessly, as if agreeing to something.

He releases your hair before finally speaking in a monotonous voice behind his mask. "Pack a bag. You're coming with me."

[majormeilani]

sorry it's a thousand years late lol. idk what happened 2 me

Title: Curtain Call (Part 2)

Summary: DJ Grooves has to tie up a few more loose ends before he can leave the studio one final time. Some harder to tie than most.

Word Count: 8k+ content warnings: heavy mentions of suicide ideation and depression, smoking

[Part One can Be Found Here]

DJ Grooves sat stunned at the sight of the other bird in his doorway. It was something he probably should have suspected would happen but for how long had the owl been standing there? Why was he just looming in his doorway like that? Normally a loud mouth like him would have wasted no time barging right in and yammering away at him about some arbitrary nonsense but instead he was standing there. Silent.

DJ Grooves tried to even his breathing once more, fighting back the urge to let his tears flow enough for the owl to see. 

Stick it out for just a little longer, Grooves. 

The penguin leaned forward and began to zip up the suitcase he had just finished packing, giving himself a moment to try and think of what to say to The Conductor. Even though he knew in his heart that Conductor didn't care about him or what his whereabouts might be, he had figured that he had to talk to him about it at some point. 

And from what DJ Grooves could tell by looking at the owl's body language, The Conductor wasn't too keen on the news of him leaving the studio.

The owl was staring hard at the floor, hands stuffed into his pockets and shoulders slack. He didn't even glimpse up at DJ Grooves when he detected the sound of the penguin zipping up the suitcase. His beak was grit together tightly and he looked rather on edge despite his attempts to remain still. DJ Grooves could almost feel the anger radiating off of him; it was a sense he'd picked up on over the years of sharing the studio with the other director.

DJ Grooves stood up from his place on the floor, continuing to stare at the owl. The penguin's brows furrowed and he gently ground his beak and brought his hands together at his front. Despite the couple of minutes of silence the two of them shared, DJ Grooves was at a complete loss of what to say to him. 

After all, this likely would be one of his last conversations with the owl. 

What is one to say to the one who hates you with a burning passion? For the last time?

How would he want him to remember him? 

Did he want him to remember him at all?

The Conductor had picked up on DJ Grooves' movement, his head feathers perking slightly at the sound but the rest of him remained rigid. The owl's posture sank further and DJ Grooves detected that the owl grit his beak with a rather audible click.

Without looking up, The Conductor broke the silence with a harsh, disappointed tone to his words:

"So… ahm… that really werenae a prank, was it…?"

The owl reached up towards his own head feathers to ruffle at them, his nervous habit making itself known. Conductor shifted his weight onto the other foot and dug at the carpet with the toe of his dress shoe. His gaze was rather avoidant, still not daring to look at the penguin but he did his equivalent of glaring daggers at the dark carpet beneath him.

DJ Grooves could still tell he was rather tense, despite how the owl tried to mask his emotions and his miserable attempt at sounding calm and reasonable. It wasn't like The Conductor was good at hiding his feelings in the first place. Right now with the way he was carrying himself, Grooves could tell this was a rather obvious display of disappointment.

DJ Grooves looked down to his coat where the inner pocket was and gently placed his hand over it. The letter. He'd nearly forgotten The Conductor had seen the letter. His heart drummed as he wondered if the owl had gotten a good enough look at what was written upon it. 

Might as well try to act normal, nonchalant about it. Maybe try his best to keep things neutral. He best try not rock the boat too much before he leaves the shore. Which is definitely easier said than done.

But might Conductor think of his behavior as strange if he didn't try to gloat a little? DJ Grooves had to remember he couldn't let anyone think that something was amiss. Especially not Conductor of all birds.

DJ Grooves realized that he'd been making this silence entirely too awkward by overthinking everything in the moment. He had to blurt something out quick before the owl could start picking up on what was really going on.

"Sorry, darling, I just didn't want to break the news so soon-- but it seems word got around to you after all," DJ Grooves paused for a fake chuckle, bringing the back of his hand to his beak.

The Conductor's head feathers twitched again when DJ Grooves finally spoke and the penguin detected a soft scoff from him.

"Ye think aye wouldnae put it tahgether that yer actors were'll loudly spoutin' offa 'bout a sudden holiday? And tha yew were nae leavin' the studio because of sum letter?" The Conductor spat back at Grooves. "I'm nae an eejit, Grooves. I saw yer letter on tha boardroom floor. What's this whole thin' all about, huh?"

The owl's tone made him sound a tinge emotionally hurt by presumably being left out of the big news of his rival. He was still refusing to look up at DJ Grooves' face as well, like this confrontation was one he did not want to have. 

DJ Grooves feigned a playful smirk on the outside at the owl's reaction to him but on the inside he almost felt pity for him. The Conductor really didn't have the faintest idea of what was really going on and DJ Grooves was going to make absolutely sure of that. He couldn't know the truth. No one could know the truth.

DJ Grooves' hand gripped the edge of his coat before he reached in and retrieved the letter once more.

"... You mean this letter, darlin'?" he asked, pinching it between his digits as he held it by his shoulder.

The mention of the letter got The Conductor to look up at him and DJ Grooves watched as the beak of his rival scrunched up at the sight of the white envelope in his hand. 

"Why do ye always ask questions like that? Ye already knew what I meant by tha’ lett’r. What the 'ell is it for?" The Conductor scoffed again, voice lowering in volume as if he didn’t really want to ask. 

Of course, the owl had likely heard rumors of it and likely read the address of the letter briefly, but over the years of DJ Grooves living and working with The Conductor he had come to know him to be the type to affirm things very stringently. Even if everything around Conductor was spelling it out for him, he always needed affirmation for his suspicions and sometimes even then Grooves couldn't always tell if the owl believed them.

To answer the rather obvious, DJ Grooves brought a soft prideful expression to his face and stood taller on his platforms.

"I would have thought you would have known by now. Conductor, darling, it's from a film honor committee," DJ Grooves stated firmly, feeling his own feathers puff a bit at his lie.

"I 'ave never heard o' sucha rubbish committee in me life," The Conductor barked back harshly.

The old owl was folding his arms again. 

"It's pro'ly nae even a real committee…"

DJ Grooves felt himself jump at the accusation. Though it was true the committee was a sham, he had to convince his rival to believe in it. He was not going to let The Conductor stand in his way. 

"Wha--! Why would a fake committee send me a letter, darling? That makes absolutely no sense!" DJ Grooves sputtered back, cringing as his own voice raised in pitch and cracked.

"Yer darn right et makes no sense," The Conductor said, standing taller, jabbing a thumb towards his own chest. 

"If it were real they would'ave honor’d me ages ago! Me! Ah've won far mor' times than ye ever have and I 'ave never been invited to nae peck neck 'film honors committee' me whole career!"

DJ Grooves felt his heart drop in his chest. The other director was correct; no film committee had ever specifically honored him in such a way. Sure, Conductor had the occasional TV interview for news or other programs but a film committee specifically honoring him? Was something rather unheard of. Conductor's strong skepticism of the committee's non-existence was now breaking DJ Grooves’ confidence in his own lie.

DJ Grooves was starting to lose track of his original purpose in this conversation and decided his best course of action was to double down and his stubborn heart even told him the same. The penguin even felt himself grow angry and his breathing sharpened as he huffed at the challenge his rival had placed before him. Sometimes The Conductor knew just what to say to really set him off. And with Grooves' current emotional state, it was a recipe for disaster.

"Darling, you're being ridiculous right now," DJ Grooves barked back now, posture stiffening.

"Frankly, I think you're just jealous of my accomplishments. You always have been, darling! I think you're just upset that I have something that you don't."

DJ Grooves moved closer to The Conductor, watching as the owl seemed to tense as he approached. He then wavered the letter at The Conductor's beak in a teasing gesture.

"That's it! You're simply jealous of me. Jealous that I was finally recognized for my talents and success and you haven't been. After winning first place how many times now, darling? Fourty?"

DJ Grooves felt his tone grow mean and an edge to it; one that seemed to cause The Conductor to reel back from in shock and he watched as The Conductor's beak clenched and he brought his hands up to wave away the letter that had brushed against his nose. DJ Grooves pressed further towards him, their beaks inches from each other now.

"Face it, darling. You're simply just jealous of me and you don't want to admit that," DJ Grooves nearly growled at his rival.

The Conductor's feathers raised as he looked up at the taller bird from what looked like an attempt at a heated glare. The owl looked like he wanted to pout almost with the fact that Grooves had called him out in such a way. The jealousy was written across his face.

"Oh, PECK OFF, with ye!" The Conductor shouted back and retaliated by shoving DJ Grooves back from him and threw his arms down by his sides. 

"I ain't got nae reason tah be jealous o' a cheatin' peck neck like ye! Yer-- Yer just some crook anyhow with how ye always need some'ne else tah make yer succeed."

The Conductor gestured widely about the room as he spoke then pointed his finger straight towards the penguin's heart.

"Ye cannae do nothing on yer own! Without those litt’l lasses yer movie wouldnae 'ave been worth squat! And look a' how ye treated them! Diabolical."

DJ Grooves listened to The Conductor's rather ironic verbal abuse that was aimed at him, though he wished he'd covered his ears and blocked the loud-mouthed director out. He grit his beak at the mention of the darlings, an obvious dig at DJ Grooves to hurt him but damn if it didn't crack a pain straight through his heart.

Till the very end this is how things were going to be between them. No heartfelt goodbyes. No congratulations. No amicable hand shakes.

Just the miserable way that they have always been with each other since the moment they walked up to the studio doors for the first time till the moment they found themselves standing here.

It all made DJ Grooves so sick. 

So sick of everything.

So sick of Him. 

So sick of The Conductor.

DJ Grooves found himself clenching his fists by his sides, the letter in his right hand wrinkling under the pressure. He lowered his head to look towards his shaking fists and his tone dropped significantly and he spoke like his throat hurt.

"I've had enough of you and your vile words, Conductor. You can never be happy for me. You always have to ruin everything, darling."

DJ Grooves stepped closer again, getting in Conductor's face once more. Though he were merely acting before, his feelings of inferiority were resurfacing now. Even if this whole award acknowledgement thing were fake, his feelings now were raw and real. Words he'd wanted to shout at The Conductor were making themselves known and he did nothing to stop them from flowing out.

"Nothing I ever say or do matters to you. Why do you care what I do, then? What does it matter to you what happens to me? Or where I go? Or how I live my life?"

DJ Grooves voice grew a shake to it and he gasped briefly trying to catch himself from sobbing. He punctuated his next words by prodding the wrinkled envelope towards his rival's chest.

"Why. Do. You. Care? Why are you even here if you don't fucking care so goddamn much, Conductor?"

The Conductor leaned back now from DJ Grooves as the penguin got in his face once more. He was breathing rather hard himself from attempting to manage his own anger and stress at Grooves' aggression towards him. The owl's expression was now unreadable to Grooves; a cocktail of confused, surprised, angry, guilty. The elder director's posture sank pitifully like his shoulders were weighing him down and his forearms were hung in front of his chest in what looked like a protective stance.

It seemed DJ Grooves had caught him in a stalemate of sorts as the usually vocal bird was uncharacteristically silent under DJ Grooves' gaze.

"Why do you care…?" DJ Grooves repeated in a slow rhythm once more, as if the old owl hadn't heard him and needed him to speak slowly. A fire of anger was burning in his throat as he rasped the words out.

DJ Grooves' breathing was uneasy now as he glowered down at The Conductor. He awaited the response his rival would have to his questions.

The answer came in the form of the wrinkle of Conductor's nose and the aversion of the owl's gaze downwards. 

"... Fine, yer want me tah be happy fer ye?" the owl said in a light, fake-happy voice.

Before DJ Grooves could react, he found that The Conductor had yanked his letter from his grasp and had it presented in front of him.

The Conductor seemed to give the envelope one more glimpse before the sound of tearing paper filled DJ Grooves' ears. 

His rival was now shredding the letter right in front of him. Tearing each piece in half as he went until all that was left of the envelope and letter was small shreds of paper within the old owl's hands.

The Conductor then looked Grooves straight in the eyes and thrust the makeshift confetti towards the penguin. As the shreds rained down around them and at their feet, The Conductor said in a sarcastic tone, grandiose gestures with his every mocking word:

"Then Ah'm so peckin' happy for you, DJ Grooves."

The owl then promptly turned and marched out of DJ Grooves' door, vaulting over the guardrail to the floor below as he left. The last sound that could be heard was the patter of his feet stomping down the hall.

DJ Grooves stood there with a wide expression on his face, pieces of his letter lying like snowflakes in his afro and perched on his shoulders. He felt something like ice grow in his chest that captivated his lungs and made him feel as if he couldn't breathe. His legs lost all their feeling beneath him and he collapsed onto his knees on the floor.

He sat frozen, still not quite understanding what had just happened. Or if what had happened was even real. All he found himself doing was staring at the small shreds of paper that littered the floor now, seeing broken pieces of his own handwriting upon them. Tears in his vision blurred the words into blue fuzzy blobs as they began to flood and drip from his eyes.

DJ Grooves felt like he couldn't move. Every muscle in his body felt stiff. He could only think now, if not barely. 

Had Conductor really just done that…?

He almost couldn't believe it. 

Things really were always this way between them. They never could get along. There was no reconciliation between them. It seemed there never was any room for it to begin with. Even after everything, this is how The Conductor chose to act.

So this was how it ends between them. DJ Grooves with tears in his eyes and The Conductor, the one responsible for those tears, not even turning back.

The Conductor was one of his many regrets. And now that regret couldn't even be bothered to shut the door on his way out.

The Conductor was one of those who was always doing something to hurt Grooves and dig his hands into what he loved most and tear it away from him. Like his parents. Like the audiences around him. Like the friends he’d lost. Like the darl--

The sudden feeling of DJ Grooves' cell phone buzzing in his pocket awoke him from his weeping daze, his posture stiffening in surprise.

DJ Grooves reached into his pocket to retrieve it, trying to read the name that illuminated the screen. The name was blurred but became clear upon him blinking his tears away to roll down his cheeks.

Amor. 

His club's bartender.

He'd forgotten that he'd said for them to call. He'd nearly forgotten about the rest of the world being in his room for the past few hours.

The call being a rather important one still didn't shake Grooves from his current paralysis. He felt the buzz of the phone in his hands and his thumb hovered over the bubble to answer it but he just listened to the sound of it as the penguin on the other end waited for him to pick up. DJ Grooves himself waited for the phone to stop ringing and watched the screen as the phone notified him with a small pop-up that read "Missed Call" and listed Amor's name and phone number.

DJ Grooves exhaled a deep, shaken, breath at his failure to answer the call but at this moment he couldn't bring himself to put on a chipper act. There was no way he could pretend that he was fine after everything that had happened. He was finally growing tired of his own act and it was becoming hard to fight on like this.

How had he managed to do this so many times before? How had he found the strength to carry on? This was exhausting now. It felt like melatonin was injected straight into his veins with how lethargic he now felt.

Still, he knew he had to press on. He had to see this through. There was no way he would find comfort and closure if he didn't.

DJ Grooves' legs finally cooperated with his mind as they brought him to a stand. He still stared at his phone screen, the same way he had done before in the boardroom and made his way over to his bed to sit upon it. The mattress edge sunk beneath his weight and he began to recall what he'd planned to say to Amor on the phone. 

As he sat, instead of paying mind to the words he wished to use for Amor, he began to notice how soft his bed was beneath him. He soon found himself lying back upon it now. The way the mattress felt was something he'd never really paid mind to before and subconsciously he shifted further into it. The bed cradled him perfectly as he lay upon it. He supposed it was a small comfort he found despite everything, though he recalled the bed being where he'd spent most of his sleepless nights and nightmares. The place he'd woken up numerous times before. The place where he'd cried. The place where he'd dreamed.

Before he could think anymore, DJ Grooves fell asleep.

--

DJ Grooves felt his body being shaken. The fog of sleep still clouded his judgement and he couldn't make out what was causing his body to shake. He squeezed his eyes shut at the discomfort of being jostled about and he turned his face towards the comforter of his bed as the light from around the room was now permeating his eyelids. The shaking was now identified to be done by a small pair of hands. 

Someone was trying to wake him up. He felt a tug on his arm, pulling it from his body.

There were two small pairs of hands now.

A soft high pitch voice called,

“.... --ooves..?”

DJ Grooves caught only the last part that was said but the call came again, this time more clear and closer to his face.

“... DJ Grooves?”

The Moon Penguin now was hearing more clearly than before and his eyes opened slowly to meet with the gaze of two aqua eyes.

The eyes of Hat Kid.

The child smiled once she got him to open his eyes and she let out a giggle. DJ Grooves felt the owner of the other small pair of hands leap off the bed and patter to his bed side.

The other one was Bow Kid who was stood with one hand behind her back but she looked rather nervous but smiled anyway despite her nerves. She waved with one hand at the half asleep penguin.

The penguin lifted his head as he blinked away the sleepiness from his eyes before his eyes grew wide and he sat up on his elbow. How long had he been asleep for?! Panic beat in his heart as he felt about for his cellphone on his bed and his sheets but he didn't feel his phone there. 

Where was his phone?

Through his blurred vision he noticed Hat Kid turned to glance towards Bow Kid before she placed something solid and rectangular onto the bed. Bow Kid also pulled her arm from behind her back and placed a pair of star-shaped sunglasses on top of the rectangle. 

DJ Grooves picked up the sunglasses and pushed his arm against the bed to sit up to put them on. The penguin groaned sleepily and rubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand to try and clear them of sleep before he perched the sunglasses in place on his beak. He blinked a few times, adjusting to the brightness of the world before subconsciously straightening his posture as he stretched, a habit he was mindful of.

“... Thank you, darlings,” DJ Grooves said, groggily, also picking up what he now knew to be his phone, which had been placed on the bed by Hat Kid.

Briefly he forgot his manners and where he would have normally greeted the girls joyously, he buried his beak in the screen of his phone as he checked his notifications. 

This action brought a simultaneous frown to both the alien girls’ faces, one that DJ Grooves did not outright see.

DJ Grooves noticed that he'd received fifteen missed calls and three voicemails from Amor and he gasped sharply at the time. It was already five o’clock in the evening! DJ Grooves shamefully pinched his brow and sighed in exasperation as he looked to the ceiling.

Then he felt a hand pat on his arm trying to get his attention before he looked down and now noticed the rather worried and almost sad expressions of the two girls. Once Hat Kid saw DJ Grooves look her way, she pushed her bangs up with her hand and lay her palm over her forehead. Then she made an ‘a-choo’ sound and gave him a quizzical look and shrug.

DJ Grooves gathered from her body language what she was trying to ask. 

She was asking him if he was sick.

This brought a frown to his face.

After all that he put these two through-- they still were concerned about his well-being.

He didn't deserve it.

DJ Grooves shook his head in response, both an answer to her question and at himself.

“No, Darlin’--” a sudden sigh paused DJ Grooves, “I'm alright, sorry, darlings. I have just had a crazy busy day today. But DJ Grooves is a’okay.”

The lie made him honestly feel sick to even say. Were there anything in his stomach, he would've felt like vomiting. Maybe he was sick. But not sick in the way the kids were assuming him to be.

Hat Kid smiled softly back once more and Bow Kid looked at him with a tilt to her head. He wasn't sure as to her reason for tilting her head at him before he realized-- he never actually broke the news to them.

DJ Grooves glimpsed towards both of their eyes before he perked up slightly. 

“Oh-! Don't tell me I've completely forgotten to tell you two!” DJ Grooves started in an excited tone, slapping his palms down suddenly against his thighs.

Hat Kid and Bow Kid both jolted slightly at his sudden enthusiasm, blinking up at him in synchrony.

“Did you darlings hear about my invite?”

Both shook their heads in response to his rather vague question.

“I was invited to my first ever ‘film honors committee’ interview! It'll be broadcasted live on television in a couple days! Isn't that exciting?” DJ Grooves gloated, loudly and proudly.

If DJ Grooves had teeth they'd surely have rotten from how syrupy sweet his tone was and how rotten these lies felt leaving his beak each and every time.

Bow Kid’s jaw dropped in surprise before she started clapping for him. Hat Kid also responded in chime with some clapping and cheered with a, “YAY!” and a little hop from foot to foot.

DJ Grooves faked an elated laugh and posed proudly with a hand to his heart before he stood from his bed and bowed graciously, as he typically did the few times he'd won an award.

After a moment of this tiny celebration, DJ Grooves reached his hands out to place gently onto their shoulders, one on Hat Kid's left shoulder, one on Bow Kid's right. The two alien girls stilled in their cheering as they watched DJ Grooves kneel to their height.

He looked them both in their eyes and felt like he didn't know what to say. This would likely be one of the last things they would ever hear from him. What could he say to them? How could he make things alright? 

DJ Grooves felt like his throat was closing and he wanted to collapse and weep once more but he held it in the best that he could. He had to. Even the darlings couldn't know.

He tightened his grip gently on both girls’ shoulders but only in a comforting tightness. Though he felt the tension from their gaze as they furthered listened for what else he had to say to them. Bow Kid even placed her hand on his and gave his hand a gentle pet, as if to tell him to continue.

DJ Grooves breathed a shaken sigh and looked down as he swallowed. Then he gave their shoulders a brief squeeze and looked at them through the top of his sunglasses. His words came slow and shaken but he forced himself to say them.

“... I-I want to thank you darlings for everything. With-- Without you two, I wouldn't be where I am today. And though things have been-- rough. I'm glad you're still here. Standing with me. Today.”

DJ Grooves choked up and his tears started coming, but he forced a smile.

“And no matter what happens--” DJ Grooves breathed sharply in pause, “Just know you-- you both mean a lot to m-me.” 

He loosened his grip and rubbed his thumb gently on their shoulders as if to comfort them.

Bow Kid’s big purple eyes glistened and she stepped from DJ Grooves’ grip and moved forward into his shoulder. One wrapped around his neck and the other under his arm in a hug and she held him tight.

Hat Kid watched Bow Kid go and she too had empathized with the energy of the current situation and also collided with DJ Grooves in a hug on his opposing arm. She looped one arm around Bow Kid as she did so, hugging both as tightly as she could.

DJ Grooves felt an immense wave of grief wash over him in this moment. Though he knew he had to say goodbye to the two of them somehow, doing so was harder than he ever expected it to be.

Though to them this was only a temporary goodbye, it was his goodbye to them forever. And they didn't even know.

DJ Grooves just sat with his arms wrapped around them and he loosened his legs to sit on his feet. Bow Kid had buried her head into his neck and Hat Kid had the side of her head pressed into his. Eventually both girls separated from him but he almost wished that the hug wasn't over, at least for their sake.

He knew he didn't deserve anything else from them.

As the two of them stood in front of him, he offered them both a smile. He noticed that Bow Kid’s face was wet with tears but Hat Kid didn't have tears on her face but he noticed one small one fall from her eye.

DJ Grooves laughed, brushing the back of his hand against Bow Kid's cheek, the girl reflexively shrinking away from the touch but allowing her tears to be dried. Hat Kid used the wrist of her own shirt sleeve to dry her face. Both girls giggled back at him with peeking smiles.

“Sorry, darlings. I didn't mean to make you cry…!” DJ Grooves rasped, before adding with a forceful nod, “I'm just. Very thankful.”

The trio smiled at one another and DJ Grooves stood up, clearing his throat and clapping his hands together once.

“Oh! Darlings-- I forgot to mention! I actually depart on my trip to the film honors committee’s headquarters tonight. So this will be the last night we see each other for a while,” DJ Grooves said to the two of them. “Don't try to miss me too much.”

The two of them giggled at his little joke, Hat Kid even rolling her eyes a little in amusement before she stepped towards him and grabbed his hand and gave it a shake

“I'll miss you,” Hat Kid said in her small voice.

“Miss you too…” added Bow Kid, her hands linked together behind her back as she did a small side-to-side sway.

DJ Grooves' smile faded again at their words. But he gave Hat Kid's hand a gentle pat before she squeezed his back and then let go.

“Well. See you darlings later. I still have to finish getting ready to go, Goodbye!”

“Bye-bye!” Hat Kid called back as she headed for his door.

Bow Kid waved at DJ Grooves with her fingers spread wide and trotted after Hat Kid out the door.

Once the two were gone, DJ Grooves breathed out one of the heaviest sighs he'd probably ever done in his life.

The deed was done. Now only one more loose end was to be tied. 

DJ Grooves looked towards his phone that lie where he'd left it upon his bed. He picked it up, the display illuminating as he held it right. 

Amor.

DJ Grooves sat on the edge of the bed, unlocking his phone and navigating to his voice mail. He opened the most recent voicemail.

“Hey, Grooves. It's Amor. Why aren't you answering? I'm waiting in the lobby now and it's been over three hours since I’ve heard from you. I'm starting to get worried here. Please call me back or hell, text me even.”

Had Amor really been waiting for him all that time? DJ Grooves cringed at himself for worrying Amor like that. He knocked himself in the forehead for being so foolish as to let himself fall asleep when he'd made contact with someone with the intent to meet them.

DJ Grooves selected the second most recent voicemail and hit play.

“Hey, Grooves. I don't know if you had your phone off or something but the studio doors are locked and I forgot my key. I'm waiting down at the lobby now but there's nobody here to let me in. Please call me back when you get this or come down to the lobby. Bye.”

Oh, right. Most of the Moon Penguins probably left shortly after DJ Grooves broke the news to them so no one was there to let them in. Even The Receptionist having fled at the news was rather unsurprising but also disappointing. Again DJ Grooves shook his head at himself for failing to meet Amor on time.

He selected the oldest voicemail in his saved messages and hit play.

“Hey, Grooves. Is everything okay? I just woke up a couple minutes ago and saw you left this message. I'll be there as soon as I can, I'm on my way. Goodbye.”

DJ Grooves felt what little of his already shattered heart break evermore after listening to these messages and seeing how many times Amor had called. How loyal the penguin had been to him despite everything.

He heaved a big sigh and threw his phone down towards the carpet before rubbing the stress out of his own features. One last time. One last time he would have to say goodbye. Then he could head off.

DJ Grooves stood up, walked to the suitcase he'd packed of random stuff and stood it onto its wheels. He took a quick glimpse into his mirror, briefly preening himself to ensure he looked more presentable. Then he took inventory of what he was going to take on his person on this final trip; his box of cigarettes and his lighter, his clothes on his back and-- the letter.

With a spared glance to its place on the floor of his room, shredded and scattered about, a frown creased his beak. He supposed that it would have to be left behind and collected by one of the custodian birds when they came to work in a couple days. DJ Grooves left the suitcase briefly and tended to the pile of letter fragments, sweeping most into his palm and meticulously pinching up the rest. For a moment he just squeezed the pieces in his palm as if he expected the gesture to form the pieces back together as one, which didn't work of course. Then he carried them to his desk trash bin and disposed of them, watching most of them drift down into it, a few fluttering behind it into the corner of the room.

He heaved another heavy sigh as he stared at the pieces, his brows knit. His gaze turned to his desktop and he grabbed his key ring from the mat upon it and he reached for the handle of the suitcase. Wheeling the suitcase towards the door, he spared one last glimpse around his entire room.

Amor was waiting but he was still lost in his thoughts again. Letting others down again was his favorite hobby it seemed.

But even still, DJ Grooves stared at the stars all about his room. The ones that would mirror the stars in the sky on his walk to his death. A brief bout of nostalgia came over him as he remembered when he first had them installed. He always loved the stars.

As he gazed at them, his hand reached towards their switch on the wall and he slowly dimmed them, the whole room becoming enveloped in darkness. He shut the door and locked it, not sparing the same nostalgic glances towards his dressing room as he made his way towards the elevator to use in ascending to the main studio floor, to meet Amor, who he hoped was still in the lobby.

--

As DJ Grooves walked down the empty studio halls, only the sound of the clatter of the suitcase's wheels followed right behind him. He passed by room after room, this time the reverse of his trek from before. 

Some rooms were dressing rooms, some held props and costumes, some were used for planning and some were used for breaks. All of them once held fond memories as part of what he once called home. Where he'd accomplished so much-- but also the place that brought him so much pain.

Movie posters from past movies hung about the walls. Bulletins posted by the Express Owls and Moon Penguins boasted about their daily lives at the studio and even small markings of graffiti scrabbled here and there, some by that mustachioed girl who spouted off something about ‘bad guys.’

DJ Grooves didn't stop to admire any of them one last time, just made note of their presence, and continued down the hall towards the storage rooms. 

He passed between the crates that filled the entire room. From ceiling to floor, in stacks that staggered in height, filled with all the wondrous props and equipment necessary to make four decades worth of movies. DJ Grooves had lost track of which crates were his and which belonged to The Conductor. They'd certainly had more than many fights about the organization of that mess of a room. The penguin heaved a sigh.

DJ Grooves finally reached the elevator and pressed the up button with his knuckle and the elevator doors breached open. He stepped in and pressed the button for the first floor and then leaned on the wall of the elevator.

As he ascended towards the first studio floor, he held the suitcase handle tightly with one hand and stared at the floor. The loud clatter of the elevator filled his ears and he closed his eyes as the rickety old elevator rattled him.

Once the elevator lurched to a stop, DJ Grooves stumbled a little at the sudden jolt the elevator made as it reached the top. He never got used to that. Yet it was the least of his worries now as he stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall and past empty studio sets.

DJ Grooves finally reached the front of the studio and stopped by the studio doors that lead into the lobby. He stilled his breathing the best that he could, both from his nerves still on high and from his lengthy trip back up to the lobby.

He still had his key ring gripped tightly in his palm, the keys pressing marks into his hand and he heaved a sigh as he pressed into the crossbar style handle of the door. His nerves caused him to peek through the lobby door as though he were a scared child, waking his parents in the middle of the night. After not seeing Amor in the lobby he gasped softly before pressing his body into the door as he scanned the room more for any signs of the penguin.

Then he noticed Amor was sat upon the bench in the lobby corner and DJ Grooves was overcome with a bout of relief. 

Amor had their arms crossed on their chest and gaze tilted down, their hat shadowing their eyes. They were silent as they sat there, not even responding to the sound of the locked door unlatching, despite the way it echoed about the empty lobby.

DJ Grooves' heart dropped a bit but he stepped out the door into the lobby and rolled the suitcase with him to his front. The door shut behind him louder than he expected it to and it made him jump and glance back at it. Then he turned back towards Amor and looked at them with knit brows.

The other Moon Penguin sat still in their place on that bench, unmoved. 

DJ Grooves looked at his keys that he still held in his hand and filtered through them to find a shining gold one with a key fob hung onto its ring that displayed the logo for his nightclub and the same emblem that proudly presented itself on the back of his jacket. He snapped the key free and it jangled gently in his hand.

Amor suddenly tilted their head up at the small sound of the key and their sunglassed eyes peered over at him.

“There you are, Grooves,” Amor said, pushing themself into a higher posture. “You kept me waiting so long; I figured you'd still come though. Never took you for being a punctual one, anyway,” Amor added with a small laugh and a smirk.

DJ Grooves was honestly slightly relieved at Amor’s patience and loyalty to him. His shoulders sagged in shame at how long he'd made the other wait for him but Amor, the ever patient and chill, still waited for him.

He really didn't deserve their loyalty to him.

Still, DJ Grooves put on one last fake smile to meet Amor's energy. 

“Thank you for waiting, darling. I'm so sorry-- everything that's happened has been so sudden and I've been preparing all day for it--” DJ Grooves said with the shake of his head as he tucked the rest of his keys into his pocket. “I just need your help with one last thing--”

“Whoa, whoa-- slow down there, Grooves. You still never really told me what's going on? I heard bits and bobs from the other Moon Penguins but I'm still at a loss here, friend,” Amor said as they leapt from the bench and stepped towards DJ Grooves.

The sound of the studio doors from The Conductor's side of the studio unlatching caught both penguins’ ears and then it shut again as briefly as it opened. DJ Grooves managed to catch a peek of some figure but couldn't make much out of what it was, though. Amor raised a brow at the door’s movement as well but turned their attention back to DJ Grooves. 

“Well…?” the purple feathered penguin drawled back up at their boss and close friend.

“Oh-- Oh! I-I’m sorry, darling. I was invited to a really, really important interview with a prestigious film honors committee and I snatched up the opportunity immediately-- and I need your help while I'm gone as I leave tonight.”

“With what? Exactly?” Amor said, tilting their head, eyes squinted. “... I don't have to star in any movies do I?” 

DJ Grooves found himself chuckling suddenly, startling himself from how melancholic he'd been the entire day. 

Amor. Ever humorous despite the circumstances.

“Oh, no, no, no, darling. Nothing like that. I just need your help with this--” DJ Grooves said, wavering his hand in front of his beak dismissively, reaching a hand out to grab one of Amor's. Then he turned their palm over and placed the enclosed key to the nightclub into their hand.

Amor stared at the key and then glimpsed back up at DJ Grooves' face, a confused look on their own.

“.... Your club key?” Amor said, still not quite understanding what DJ Grooves wanted of them.

“It's my master key to my nightclub, darling. I know it's a lot to ask darling but-- would you take care of my club in my absence?” DJ Grooves pleaded to Amor, cupping his hand over theirs. 

Amor was quiet for a second as they stared at the top of DJ Grooves' hand. Then after a moment Amor nodded their head and closed their hand around the key.

“... Alright. I suppose I can shift some things around to make this work. But you owe me big time,” Amor said with a smirk, lightly jabbing their enclosed fist against DJ Grooves' upper arm.

DJ Grooves smiled again and felt tears come to his eyes and he sadly chuckled in a thankful manner. Then he stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around the other penguin and hugged them tightly.

“Hey--! Hey, easy now, you big goofball-- no need to get sappy on me. You know it's nothing,” Amor said, patting DJ Grooves steadily on the back before giving him a firm brief squeeze in reciprocation.

“You're right, sorry,”

DJ Grooves separated from Amor and reached out to affectionately squeeze Amor's shoulder. 

“It just-- means more to me than you know,” DJ Grooves said.

Amor rolled their eyes but smiled back.

“Sappy again.”

The two laughed. Then DJ Grooves walked back to the suitcase that he left and grabbed its handle.

“Well. I'll see you around, darling.”

Amor waved and DJ Grooves mirrored them as they exited the studio’s lobby.

DJ Grooves’ nerves were still on high after this interaction and as soon as Amor was gone, he started breathing hard in slight panic. He'd pulled off the last thing he needed to in his plan, this time without a hitch. He bowed his head and placed it against the handle of his suitcase, trying to catch his breath.

Now was time to make it look like he just disappeared. He ran through his head his plan once more. 

It was time. 

It was time.

DJ Grooves stared out at the front lobby doors towards the desert outside. His heart was pounding in his chest as he stepped onto the front door mat, looking down at the Dead Bird Studio logo that was marked with countless grains of desert sand. The lobby doors swept open and he stared into the final hall he would cross to the outer doors.

His breath was shaky and he took slow steps towards the outer doors. He stared at his faded reflection in the glass door once he reached it, out into the parking lot. Despite how smeared the glass was with hand prints and other various smudges, DJ Grooves could see clearly in his own features how beaten that he looked. It shocked him how little anyone noticed how torn he was but he supposed it was because he was really good at hiding his pain as it were.

He pressed the door open. And out he walked towards his car.

The suitcase rolled erratically across the desert sand and straightened when DJ Grooves reached the paved section of ground. The parking lot was illuminated by the streetlights that glowed above and the warm orange of the setting sun. Once DJ Grooves reached his car he pressed the button on his car's remote and popped the truck open. He lifted the suitcase of nothing particularly special into it and stared at it before pushing the truck shut, resting his palms on its surface.

In the distance, he looked up to see Amor's own car pulling away and heaved a sigh as a gust of evening desert wind blew past him. He waved weakly with an open-closed hand gesture as he watched the other's headlights disappear into the distance as they turned onto a nearby highway.

DJ Grooves furrowed his brows and navigated to the driver side of his car, placing his hand on the handle. Then he remembered his burning desire for a cigarette and looked towards the pocket that held his final pack of them. He reached in and retrieved the pack and his lighter, holding one in each hand parallel to the other. Though he'd kicked the habit long ago that no longer mattered now, and thus he lit up a cigarette and leaned upon his car, which creaked slightly against his weight upon it.

He stared out at the clouded sky above as he inhaled the tobacco smoke into his lungs and created some clouds of his own as he breathed out. He coughed softly as he got used to the old burn but as he inhaled more he felt more at ease as the nicotine overtook his senses.

He was ready to do this once the cigarette burned out.

As he took drag after drag of his cigarette, he looked towards the studio one last time. He saw the figure of The Conductor by the front doors, locking them up for the night. 

The other bird director seemed to look around mindlessly into the expanse of the desert, but the distance made it hard for DJ Grooves to tell where he was looking. It really didn't matter if The Conductor saw him right now and he doubted that The Conductor would approach him after their conflict from earlier.

DJ Grooves huffed. He'd have to wait for the elder bird to head off before he could enact his plan. He took one final drag from his cigarette before tossing the corpse of it to the ground and stamping it out into the pavement.

The Conductor still stood there in the distance as if he were staring at DJ Grooves and though DJ Grooves wasn't sure if they met gaze, something told The Conductor to head for his train. The DJ director waited in his place as Conductor boarded his train and disappeared through its back door.

DJ Grooves felt himself smirk almost before shaking his head. Then he raised his car keys in front of his own beak between the tips of his digits and then. Dropped them onto the pavement. He swung his leg out to grab them beneath his platform shoe and kicked them under his car. The keys rattled as they slid under and DJ Grooves moved from his lean upon his car.

He never actually planned on leaving by car. His ending would be in a walk.

DJ Grooves looked out at the expanse of the desert beyond the parking lot. Then as the sun dipped into the sky for the night, DJ Grooves headed into it.

[bhaalsdeepbat]

SFW | AO3 | DC Comics Word Count: 2,502

An old tumblr prompt fill: entirety of Batfam on patrol and on comm, Steph wrangles/provokes/dares Jason into singing. He sings “Take me to Church” by Hozier.

 “Come on, Jaybird, let me hear that sweet music you make,” Steph’s teasing voice crackled over the comm. link. 

     Jason snorted at the tone, fist flying into the drug dealer’s face. His knuckles cracked against the bone of the man’s jaw. He could feel the bone fracture beneath the force, drawing a scream out of dealer. The man stumbled back before tripping on one of the unconscious men laying in a heap. He joined the pile, curling into a ball so he could hold his jaw.

     “A little busy over here, princess,” he grunted as he reached for his zip ties. He dropped to a crouch, yanking the man’s hands away from his face. Jason pinned them together behind the man’s back before tightening the tie around his wrists.

     “Please? It’s too quiet tonight, and we all know I’m a little tone deaf.” Jason laughed again as he began tying the hands of the unconscious men together, leaving the three in a pretty pile for whatever cop came to get them.

     “Don’t you dare sing, girl blunder.” Damian’s voice was a low growl over the comm. Jason rolled his eyes at the threat in the boy’s tone. The child wouldn’t do anything, but the bite to his tone was annoying as hell.

     “Shut up, brat,” Jason cut in as he began walking away from the scene. He hauled himself up onto a fire escape and began his quick ascent. Boots clanged against the metal, gloves scraping against rust. The ladder shook beneath him. There were easier ways to get up to the roof, but this was familiar. He’d been doing it since he was a kid, so there was a sense of safety in the action.

     “Both of you need to shut up,” Damian huffed in response. Jason could hear the crack of a fist against bone. He snorted, shaking his head at the groan that followed the noise. The kid could be annoying, but he was damn good at what he did.

     “Just because you said that, I’m gonna fulfill Goldilock’s request.” He hauled himself up onto the roof before immediately reaching for his box of cigarettes. “It’s break time for me, anyways.”

     He shook a cigarette into his hand. “Any requests?” He tilted his head back as he put the stick between his lips. He pocketed the box, and then pulled out a lighter.

     “Nothing,” Damian grumbled.

     “Serenade me, Red Hood. Make my young heart-” she was breathless on the end of the comm. He could hear her grunting before there was a loud smack that echoed in the background. “Flutter.” 

     “You’re something else,” Jason laughed, scrubbing a hand down his face before lifting his lighter. He cupped his hand around the flame, holding it up to the end of the cigarette. He waited until he saw trails of smoke slowly dance up ward.

     “I’m a whole lot of great, is what I am,” Steph responded, voice less strained. He smiled, happy to hear that she was getting the upper hand, if the fight wasn’t already over with how hard she hit the poor bastard. 

     Jason took a drag of the cigarette before plucking it out from between his lips. He exhaled slowly, eyes fluttering shut. He tilted his head back, letting the words come out out low and raspy.

     “My lover’s got humour      She’s the giggle at a funeral      Knows everybody’s disapproval      I should’ve worshipped her sooner.“

     He paused, taking another drag. He wasn’t shy, but knowing he had an audience that was paying close attention made him a little nervous. He used to sing for his mom, and then with Alfred when he was a kid, but now, it was rare. He took a deep breath, clearing his throat before continuing.

     “If the heavens ever did speak      She’s the last true mouthpiece      Every Sunday’s getting more bleak      A fresh poison each week.”

     Jason’s voice dropped lower, his vibrato nearly cracking. He was out of practice, and suddenly aware of it. He took a deep breath, flicking the ashes of his cigarette before taking another drag.

     “Don’t stop.” Damian’s voice was quiet, filled with soft intrigue. Jason’s lips stretched into a small smile.

     ”We were born sick" you heard them say it.“

     Jason paused when he heard the sound of a gunshot. His brows furrowed, body tensing. He was ready to put out his cigarette and bring back up. 

     “I’m okay, keep going. Sorry-” Dick, who had been unusually quiet all night, finally spoke up. Jason flexed his hand nervously. 

     “My church offers no absolutes      She tells me “Worship in the bedroom”      The only heaven I’ll be sent to      Is when I’m alone with you.”

     Jason crouched down, twisting the tip of the cigarette out on the roof when he decided he no longer wanted it. He began stripping the paper off the tobacco.      “I was born sick      But I love it      Command me to be well      Aaay. Amen. Amen. Amen.”

     His voice was strong, louder than it had been. He felt the words wash over him, and when he finished, he stood tall. He pocketed the paper of his cigarette, eyes narrowing behind the simple domino he’d been wearing that night. He tilted his head back, looking up at Gotham’s dirty night sky. 

     “That’s all you’re gettin’,” he grunted as he began walking away.

[paralyze-fic]

Paralyze.

Chapter 87

"(M/n)-kun," I turned around at the sound of my name being called, Izuku was standing there, Katsuki trailing behind him slightly, his expression more relaxed than usual, both wearing the sports uniform, "All Might agreed to supervise our training today."

They had literally approached me right as I reached my bedroom door, about to do the same as they did -which was change into my sports uniform-, and I nodded. "Alright, I'll meet you guys downstairs," Izuku nodded and turned around to leave, but Katsuki stayed there, hands in the pockets of his pants, "You wanna come in, love?"

Without saying a word, he nodded and we walked into my room together. Neither of us said a thing, but the silence wasn't awkward, it was reassuring in a way. I began taking my blazer off while Katsuki closed the door behind him, and soon I unbuttoned my shirt, pulling my tie undone, leaving everything on the backrest of my desk chair. That left me in my undershirt and uniform pants.

Katsuki sat on my bed, leaning back and holding himself up with his left hand, staring up at me in complete silence. I took a deep breath and reached my hand out to gently cup his face in my palm, he leaned on it and his eyes fluttered closed for a short moment.

"Stop making me worry like that, dumbass," he mumbled, lifting his free hand up to hold my wrist, and I showed him a small smile that disappeared immediately after, "You're stronger than everyone else, (M/n)... Believe me."

Slowly, he began standing up, letting go of my hand which slowly made its way down to my side, and he moved closer to me, standing face-to-face in the middle of my room. Without uttering another word or releasing a sound, he leaned up and placed a kiss on my cheek, lingering for a good couple of seconds.

Stepping back, Katsuki looked into my eyes as I felt my body covered in goosebumps at his kind and adorable gesture. I noticed his crimson eyes trail down to my arms and he smirked, letting out a short chuckle as he turned toward the door and walked out with a wave.

I watched him leave and close the door behind him, and an exhale of breath escaped me. I had no idea I was even holding my breath.

"Katsuki..." I whispered to myself and closed my eyes, covering my face with my hands and tilting my head forward, "Fucking-," My heart was beating incredibly fast and I could feel my face burning, but I tried to ignore it and focus on getting changed, ready to train with Katsuki and Izuku for a while.

///////

Before we started, All Might made it very clear to me that I wasn't gonna do much today since, according to Aizawa, I was still recovering from Kyushu and the Nomus, which to be fair, I was but it's not like I was a fragile, porcelain doll.

Still, I agreed to train what I could, and simply watch those two go at it like cats and dogs.

The training time I had was well spent either way. Izuku explained pretty well how he uses Air Force with One For All. So after trying it out a few times, maybe like four or five, I was able to get a good amount of energy bullets released without getting stuck or fucking it up.

Of course, all the while I was next to Izuku I could feel Katsuki's heavy stare on us, and as I glanced over, I saw him talking to All Might. The last time I made eye contact with his crimson eyes, I smiled and slightly waved at him, watching him hide his smile behind the collar of his zipped uniform. It got quite cold at night, and Katsuki wasn't moving around like Izuku so I figured he was probably feeling cold.

We continued a couple more times while Izuku rambled about how he got to the point of being able to control his quirk at twenty per cent power, when All Might called out for me, "Enough training for today, young (L/n)," I looked at him and saw him beckoning me to sit on Katsuki's spot as the blond stood up and began doing some stretching.

"Thanks for helping me, Izuku, hopefully, we can train more tomorrow," I smiled at him and gently shuffled his green curls, watching him as a subtle pink blush crept up his freckled face.

"A-always glad I can help out, (M/n)-kun," he mumbled with a grin, scratching the back of his neck.

"Let's get on with it, damn nerd!" Hearing the popping of explosions behind me, I let out a deep breath and took a step back.

"Duck," without thinking much, Izuku ducked right as I said, getting Katsuki off balance as the blond definitely expected to hit Izuku with his explosions. He looked at me with a glare but it held no weight, so I just smirked at him and began making my way over to All Might.

"Don't help the nerd, (M/n)!"

I sat down on the bench and crossed my arms over my chest, staying silent for a few seconds as I watched Izuku avoid Katsuki's attacks.

"Can you tell me about One for All, All Might?" I noticed him turn toward us out of the corner of my eye.

"Anything in specific you want to know?" I sighed and shrugged.

"Not really, I just... Wanna understand it a bit better," barely moving my head, I looked at All Might, "Could you?"

"Of course I can."

///////

"Well, we're done for today, boys, it's getting late and you have classes tomorrow," Katsuki and Izuku looked at All Might as he stood up, both of them gasping for air at their physical effort during the past hour and a half.

Izuku nodded without putting up a fight, but Katsuki wasn't exactly cooperative, probably because he wanted to win against Izuku as their powers and techniques were getting on equal footing, but he still growled an 'okay' and reached his hand out to me, as he had thrown his jacket in my direction whilst dodging and attack mid-air. It was cool to witness, especially when they were both careful not to get too close to All Might and me.

After our talk about Izuku's quirk, we ended up pointing out different aspects we noticed were different when it came to Katsuki and Izuku fighting. The time I got to spend with All Might was really nice since I never really got the chance to.

I guess the title of Symbol of Peace created an invisible barrier when it came to approaching him, even though he's like any normal old man now, the respect remained.

"You did well, Katsuki," I handed him his water bottle after he put on his jacket and began drinking it, chugging half of it in what felt like an instant.

"Maybe, but it wasn't enough... The cold is messing me up, gotta keep getting better, I have to be stronger," without saying a word, I dropped my arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer to my side as we walked toward the gym doors, leaning down to rest my head on top of his, the smell of his cinnamon shampoo mixed with the smell of ash his quirk caused, and the faint scent of burnt caramel.

"You can get stronger, just don't over it, love." He scoffed and looked up at me, a smirk growing on his face.

"I'm not like Deku, I know how to take care of my own body, dammit," I chuckled and we stepped outside, waiting for All Might and Izuku to come as well before continuing our way back to the dorm.

//////

The next day went by exactly the same, class passed in a blink, and we were back in the gym, with All Might supervising us. Only this time I got to try my new move for a lot longer, and I was able to fight Izuku one-on-one which... Was something I had never done, now that I think about it.

It was nice to know that my quirk was able to stop Izuku even while he used One for All, made me feel stronger as I watched him struggle to improvise anything that could distract me and tear my focus away from him. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to land a single energy shot at him since it required me to focus on it to accumulate enough energy in my fingers, so I just had to keep training it.

Fighting Izuku was fun and it got my adrenaline pumping, I had never been one to enjoy fighting until Katsuki showed up in my life and changed it. For the better.

"And... I win," I muttered with a grin, my hands spread open on my sides as Izuku struggled to break out of my Puppeteer move, only to grunt and groan in pain.

"I give, I give, (M/n)-kun!" He exclaimed and I let him go, feeling kinda bad about the pain I put him through. He fell to his hands and knees as soon as I did, "Your quirk is too strong..."

"Of course it is, he won the Sports Festival against me, without the training and fighting we had, Deku," Katsuki spoke quite harshly as he came up behind me, placing his hand on my shoulder, "I will find a way to beat you, (M/n)."

I smiled down at him, and softly tapped his nose, "Can't wait for it, Katsuki." I noticed Izuku standing up and releasing a sigh, doing some stretches with his legs and arms, "Sorry about the pain, Izuku, I tried to be gentle..."

"No, it's alright, (M/n)-kun, you did great," he smiled at me and I smiled back at him.

"Now it's you and me, nerd, come on!" As Katsuki began walking away from me, I got an idea.

This will probably end badly for me but... It was worth the try.

"Why don't you guys team up against me?" Katsuki's scowl disappeared as he turned to look at me and Izuku's expression changed from slightly intimidated to surprised.

"Are you sure about it, young (L/n)?" I glanced over at All Might who had taken a few steps towards us.

I just nodded, "My quirk is not strong against groups of people so... If can train enough to be able to hold my own, then I will consider my quirk strong," I showed the three of them a smile, "And there's no one better to help me than Katsuki and Izuku, All Might."

The blond man sighed and nodded a few times, "Don't overdo it, you two," he definitely meant both of them and not just Katsuki with that look in his eyes, "If I say stop, then you stop, understood?"

"Understood," Izuku and I responded in unison, Katsuki simply groaned in agreement and we watched as All Might backed away to stand at a safe distance from us.

"Let's think of a plan, Kacchan," he growled at Izuku, and I slowly backed away from them.

"The plan is you will do as I say and stay out of my way, Deku!" I shook my head as I stood far enough away so I wouldn't be able to hear them and think about my own strategy. How can I win? Or rather, how can I maximize my chances of success?

I've seen both of them fighting up close, I have memorized every attack pattern Katsuki uses, and Izuku and I have teamed up in the past, so I was pretty familiar with his quirk, power and attacks, that gave me somehow of an advantage. My first instinct is always to paralyze my opponent as quickly as possible, but now, my opponents are two, which will leave either Katsuki or Izuku free...

This will really be a worn-out battle, won't it? So I have to take them out before I reach my limits.

I released a heavy sigh and calmed myself. I can do this... I suggested it so I kind of have to-

"Are you ready, young (L/n)?" All Might's voice caught my attention so I looked up, Katsuki was standing with a hand on his hips, a bored expression on his face, while Izuku had an anxious look in his eyes mixed with excitement.

"Yes, sir," I stood in the middle of the gym and took a deep breath, noticing All Might backing up while Izuku and Katsuki stood on opposite sides of me.

"Ready?" I looked down and used my hair to cover my eyes, staring at Izuku's legs, the first thing he usually does is either; run or jump, and immobilising him first was my best bet, "Start," the loud sound of explosions could be heard the moment All Might gave us green light, at the same time my quirk activated and Izuku stumbled face first to the ground.

I moved away right as Katsuki used his quirk in my direction. The smoke created a cover for them, so that definitely gave them an advantage over me, but for now, I stored the energy on my legs.

Noticing the green sparkles in the smoke and the increasing sounds of popping, I enhanced my legs and ran forward, my hand closed in a fist and drawn back, they seemed to have been expecting me to approach them, but this was a faint. The smirk on their faces almost screamed 'we won' as I got close to them.

But I learned a lot thanks to them.

With my quirk activated and eyes focused on Katsuki's hands, his quirk didn't come out, and I took my chance to slide across the floor in between them, enhancing my hand and getting in position to use my new move.

My middle finger glowed light blue as I held it with my thumb, and flicked it in Izuku's direction, the energy bullet shooting out, he tried to avoid it, but it was too quick and my hit landed on his abdomen.

He grunted in pain and fell on his hands and knees, I would've worried about him but I had to focus on Katsuki as he was now released from the effect of my quirk.

Katsuki was expecting me to be unable to react to his explosions, as we were now mere inches apart after he had turned around but my legs were still enhanced, so I was able to quickly jump over them, landing on my feet on the other side and using my quirk on Katsuki, leaving him helpless as he was unable to move.

But now Izuku was starting to regain his cool and slowly standing up, a pained look on his face with sweat dripping down to his neck.

I kept my mind focused on keeping Katsuki paralyzed while glancing over at the greenette, and I stared at his legs again, stopping them and extending a hand forward. This move was similar to Puppeteer, just... Better planned. And like an actual puppeteer.

My hand began glowing as it did before, and Izuku got ready to avoid the bullet, probably anticipating that was what I was gonna do, but instead, I made a pulling motion, and he fell on his back with a loud thud.

There was a subtle stinging pain surging in my head, and I could feel my eyes twitching from the effort I was putting into keeping them both in place. Thankfully, All Might spoke.

"Can any of you move, young Bakugou?" The blond moved his head from side to side, denying it with a grunt, "Young Midoriya?"

"Not really... That bullet did a lot of damage... And I can't move my legs," I noticed him sweatdrop as he spoke and I looked over at All Might, who was looking at me with a smile.

"Well done, young (L/n), battles like this will be a walk in the park with more training," finally I was able to relax and release my quirk, both Katsuki and Izuku sighed and groaned, slowly getting used to moving their bodies again.

"Are you okay, Izuku? I didn't mean to hit you that hard..." He smiled sheepishly at me and scratched the back of his head.

"It's fine, I just didn't-" he stopped talking and realisation flashed in his eyes, "Wait, (M/n) I wanna try something," he extended his hand out and I felt Katsuki getting closer to me, leaning his head on my shoulder as he silently watched, "Use your quirk," Izuku began wiggling his fingers with a serious look on his face.

I was kinda confused by why he wanted me to do it, but I decided 'why not', and activated my quirk, making him grunt as his fingers stopped moving, looking like they were about to cramp up, and I released him.

"Okay, now enhance your hand, make it glow," I frowned but did as he requested, he watched attentively as my hand slowly began to glow, "Okay... Now it's just a theory but..." Izuku reached his hand out slowly, and touched the tips of my fingers with the back of his hand, releasing a high-pitched yelp as he did so, "Interesting."

"What is so interesting, nerd?" Katsuki mumbled, probably bored by the whole scene he just watched.

"It appears that (M/n)-kun's stored energy contains the paralyzing factor of his quirk," my eyebrows raised at Izuku's discovery.

"Bullshit," without doubting, Katsuki did the same as Izuku, just a lot faster and more determined to touch me. He immediately pulled away from me the moment he touched me, "Oh, you motherfucking son of a-!"

"Language, young Bakugou," All Might muttered in a tone that let me know he was too accustomed to correcting Katsuki's behaviour.

Feeling curious at their extreme reactions I looked down at my hand and reached over to touch the back of my free hand... Nothing. Interesting indeed.

///////

Already back in the dorm, we spent time with our classmates and ate dinner before heading to bed.

Only I remembered I still had homework left to do from what I missed of class on Monday. Aizawa was kind enough to let me give it in tomorrow, so I definitely had to finish it. That was the main reason why Katsuki ended up falling asleep on my bed all by himself.

Thankfully I was able to finish it as I was starting to get sleepy, and I was kinda thirsty so I quietly put everything back on my bag and reached over for my mini fridge... Only to see I had no more water or juice, there was only food inside it, and most of it was Katsuki's.

With a sigh, I resigned to the fact that I would have to go downstairs to the kitchen to drink some water, but I still did. I quietly walked out of my room and carefully yet quickly made my way through the hallway to the stairs, the elevator was way too fucking noisy to use at this time of night, it was past midnight after all.

I walked to the kitchen, turned the light on and poured myself a glass of water, which I drank immediately, and I picked a water bottle to take with me. I rinsed the glass, left it to dry and reached over to turn the light off as I began making my way back to my room.

I had barely walked past Izuku's door when I heard the loud noise of glass shattering, startling me. I stopped in my tracks and turned towards the closed door, hesitantly making my way toward it and raising my hand to gently knock a few times.

"Izuku? You alright?" I asked him loud enough so he would hear me, I leaned closer to try and hear anything weird or out of place. Someone from the LoV could be sneaking in for all I knew.

"(M/n)-kun?! Y-yeah, I'm okay...!" He sounded anxious and scared, which only put me on edge.

"Are you sure? Can I come in?" I didn't want to push Izuku's boundaries, so I asked first.

"I'm sure, a hundred per cent sure, don't worry!" Before I could say anything else, I heard faint noises coming from Yuga's room, high chances he woke up from the loud noise right next door to him, so I waited for a few seconds to see if he was gonna do something, but even then, there was silence.

Aside from the quiet sound of Izuku's haggard breathing. "Okay... I will leave you alone, but... Just know you can tell me anything, Izuku," I kinda hoped my words would work to reassure Izuku and make him feel safe enough to tell me what was going on.

"I-I know, (M/n)-kun..." He trailed on, hesitating as if he wanted to tell me something so I waited a few seconds just in case he decided to continue.

But nothing, so letting out a sigh, I began walking back to my room, feeling like  sleep left me for the day.

[ftwdb]

Don't Say Go.

Chapter 6.

Summary: Soulmates find each other through what is known as The Pull. A sense within a persons body that their soulmate is within reach that guides them to find them. You find yourself following this Pull, guided by vague dreams of a man you can't quite see, until you collapse in the wild and are found by Troy, your soulmate, who has been following the same feeling toward you for days.

Once connected soulmates are able to share emotions through their bond, as well as being able to sense where the other is. But how this force works is very much a mystery still, it can vary from soulmate to soulmate, and just sometimes a connection too deep can lead twist a bond from something beautiful to, well...

Warnings: Dark themes, sexual content, violence, non-graphic description/implications of SA, child abuse and domestic violence. References to addiction. Unhealthy love/obsession/relationships. Soulmate AU. Eventual smut.

You hadn’t left the house straight away. When you’d mentioned that one of you should destroy the brain so Derek wouldn’t come back Troy had looked at the body thoughtfully.

“He doesn’t deserve to rest.” he’d said quietly.

You’d watched as your soulmate doused his fingertips in the man’s blood and written the word ‘rapist’ across his chest. Your gut clenched as you felt those hands on you again, heard the sound of a belt buckle. Troy’s eyes snapped to you as if he knew what you were feeling.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he told you.

You shook your head. Maybe not this time. You’d tried to be safe, cautious. If you’d known the gun wasn't loaded maybe you’d tried to run, fought harder…

The sound of Troy’s boot coming down on Dereks mouth made you flinch. Teeth scattered across the floor like dice on a board game before Troy pulled a zip tie from his pocket. He tied Dereks hands and feet before taking a step back.

“He’s a big guy, he’ll take a while to turn. He can rot here for what he did to you.”

You felt yourself begin to tremble then. The adrenaline of the attack faded as you closed your eyes, your hands coming up to hug yourself tight. You felt Troy move closer, could feel his heat so close you knew if you just bent your head forward ever so slightly it would be resting on his chest.

Troy didn’t move to touch you, and you didn’t invite him to. Instead he quietly prompted you to follow him outside as he picked up your backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

The man who had been holding the gun wasn’t in danger of reanimating, not after the damage you had caused. Troy stayed close by you as you unsteadily made your way down the steps and back onto grass covered earth.

Perhaps it was the fresh air that did it, but your stomach clenched painfully and you curled over to empty the meagre contents of your stomach onto the ground.

Again Troy was careful not to touch you other than brushing your hair away from your face as you gasped and retched.

He was saying something, mumbling it over and over as you stood on shaking legs and wiped your mouth on the back of your sleeve.

“Huh?” You croaked.

“If I hadn’t… if i’d just kept away from you…”

You frowned, confused. Had you been right all along and Troy didn’t want anything to do with you?

Why had he followed you, saved you?

“So why not just let them kill me?” You spoke quietly into the dark.

Your chest twisted into something painful as Troy looked at you wide-eyed.

“Why would I do that?”

You hesitated, feeling so so tired of your soulmates conflicting behaviour.

“Well,” you started, “I’ve seen what happens to people who loose their soulmates. I suppose you just wanted to save yourself the pain, right?”

Troy blinked at you, looking at you as if you were insane.

“I didn’t-”

You held up a hand to stop him.

“Spare me. I’m a big girl, ok. I know not all soulmates are… are suitable for each other. You made it clear you didn’t want me. Did you expect me to just hang around with you so close, acting as if this thing in my heart wasn’t calling out for you every second you weren’t nearby!?”

Troy held up both hands as if fending off an attack.

“Whoa whoa. I just saved you-”

“And how did it feel? Before you found me, when he was… when they tried to…”

You couldn’t say the words but you knew they weren’t needed. You remembered the fire in your chest as Derek loomed over you. It hadn’t been fear, or panic. It had been pure fury… fury that hadn’t belonged to you. Troy’s actions had been entirely selfish, to save himself from the pain of a lost soulmate.

“I wanted them to suffer.” Troy said so calmly he might as well have been discussing the mild weather.

“Why?”

Troy ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the curled strands as he closed his eyes and sighed.

“I’ve never felt anything like this…” he began.

You laughed, a hollow sound that made his eyes snap to you.

“And you think I have? Do you have any idea what it’s like to need someone so much and have them turn away from you. I’ve already lost everything…”

Troy seemed to be having some sort of internal battle with himself if the look of pain across his face was anything to go by.

You knew the strength of the Pull, the bond it could form between two well matched soulmates. Your father had adored your mother, doted on her and protected her until the very end. If Troy’s dislike of you were not stronger than the Pull it would surely leave only fierce possession in place of that desire to protect. You refused to be worth little more to him than a toy he refused to share with others. It was why you’d had to leave, no matter how it pained you.

You held your hand out for your backpack as Troy stared at you, a look of resignation on his face.

“I wasn’t talking to you back in the medical tent.” He said.

Again you frowned.

“You said I shouldn’t have come here. Who else could you have been speaking to?”

Troy’s fingers clenched and unclenched at his sides and you could feel your heart pulsing in time with his movements.

“Myself. I was talking to myself.”

You were getting bored of his frustrating inability to explain himself properly. You let out an exasperated sigh and moved to snatch your bag away.

Troy stepped back, out of reach.

“So much for the hero who just saved my life,” You mocked.

“I’m not good at this,” Troy almost shouted, making you wince.

“No shit!” You snapped back, “Now give me my stuff so I can get out of here.”

Troy moved even further away and you gaped in disbelief at his childishness.

“No. I can’t let you go.”

You wanted to cry. What the hell did he want from you. Go? Stay? Troy began to pace from one side of you to the other.

“You don’t understand because you don’t know me… you don’t know the things i’ve done…”

You glanced back over your shoulder to the abandoned house.

“How can it be worse than what I just did,” you said emptily.

Troy shook his head.

“No. That wasn’t evil. That was justice. Beautiful-”

“That was revenge-”

“They were hurting you-”

“I’m still a murderer!”

Troy fell silent, dropping your bag to the ground as he took a slow, purposeful step toward you. You stood up straight, knowing he was no threat to you as your heart almost purred in your chest as he drew close enough that you could see the stars reflected in his eyes.

“So am I.”

One hand came up to press against his chest as you considered pushing him away until it suddenly felt like your body was engulfed in fire. Every nerve ending sung as electricity ran from your skull to the tips of your toes.

You gasped out loud, as did Troy as your eyes remained transfixed.

“I’ve done things to protect what I care about. When I saw that man on top of you, when I felt your fear-”

So you’d been right. The rage you had felt before hadn't been yours. It was Troy’s. You’d felt him just as he’d felt you.

“The things I wanted to do to make him pay...” Troy continued.

You were speechless. What was Troy trying to say exactly?

“But you didn’t,” you managed to whisper, ���you offered me the knife.”

Troy nodded once, solemnly.

“As much as I couldn’t stand to see him touch you, hurting you… I knew it wasn’t my place, unless you told me to.”

You could feel your heart racing like a hummingbird trapped in a cage. You could feel Troy’s too, beneath your palm, thundering strong and fast.

“If I’d asked you to do it-”

“I’d have cut him apart slowly. I'd have made the pain last as long as I could have. I’d…”

You waited, holding your breath. Shouldn’t confessions like this terrify you? Troy sounded like a madman, capable of terrible things.

But were they more terrible than the men who would rape a young woman alone and defenceless?

More terrible than a woman who reduced a man’s face to an unrecognisable mess and coldly slit the throat of another?

Troy didn’t need to tell you what else he would have done. You began to think you understood why he had been so distant, so hard to understand. It wasn’t you he hated.

“You’re not a bad person.” You said gently.

Troy’s eyes slid shut, his shoulders dropping as he let out a long breath.

“Please remember that.” He replied just as softly. “Don't ever forget it.”

You smiled then, smiled and reminded Troy of the sunshine he would see in his dreams of you.

“Does this mean…” he began cautiously.

You nodded, forcing your hand away from his chest was like ripping the skin from your hand, but you did it. Your meeting Troy had already been so messy, you wanted to get rested and cleaned up before anything else might happen between the two of you. Whatever that might be.

“Yeah. Let's go home.”

[justplainwhump]

Goodbye

Note to long time followers: this is a repost of a long previous chapter after I changed the pov in it; orginally I posted this piece from Tara's first person pov. But as I try to clean up this story, it makes more sense to have this new version on my blog.

[Tyler's story]

Content: (Attempted) abduction, betrayal, and lots of threats. BBU setting (nobody is a pet in this one though).

It couldn’t be real. It obviously was. But. It couldn’t. Tyler. Ty. Tara’s best friend, her flat mate, the one friend she’d shared everything with. He was with them.

With WRU. A handler. Worst kind of all. The times the two of them had drunk in the kitchen, and he’d mentioned work, that work has been enslaving people. Conditioning, torturing, maybe even - no she wouldn’t go down that road, he wouldn’t be that kind of handler. Right?

How could she know?

He’d been lying to her face, about his entire life, his whole identity, and she’d trusted him. She’d have given everything for him. For a WRU handler.

And in return, now he was taking everything from her.

“McKenzie. Tara.”

Her name. Her address. Given to a WRU ‘acquisition team’.

“Fuck you,” she whispered. “Go to hell, Tyler Parker.”

Ty’s colleague - Alex - clasped Ty’s shoulder, as if they were proud of him somehow. Fuck them. There was nothing in WRU one could ever be proud of.

“You did the right thing,” they said. “The company won’t forget.”

Tara spat at the ground in front of their feet.

Ty was doing his best not to look at her. When Alex reached into their jacket to pull out a bundle of zip ties, Tyler simply lifted his hand and took them.

“Oh no. Fuck no, Ty, you’re not doing this.”

Alex levelled their gun to her shoulder. “I’m not a murderer, Tara, but if I need to, I can make this hurt.”

“Alex,” Tyler said. His voice was flat. “Don’t.”

He stepped in, shielding her from the gun, when he bowed forward and grabbed her wrists.

Tara had never really thought about his strength. They’d shared all chores, equally. Tara was well trained, too. Always had considered them to be on eye level. But now, she realised that Tyler’s grip was like steel. That she never even stood a chance.

“Why?” she asked. “Why?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, and she yelped as he pulled the tie tight.

Alex clicked their tongue and lowered the gun. With a side glance at Ty, they grabbed a towel from the wall and wiped out the writing on the fridge.

I have a contact. Talk tonight. Sorry. Ty.

Tara frowned. What had that been about, anyway? She’d never know, she realized.

Never. Because they were going to end her life.

“Ty…” Tara whispered. “Ty, you’ll make me into a… a pet?”

“Not himself,” Alex said. They’d unlocked the kitchen door and stepped half onto the corridor, where the buzzer to the front door was installed. “But someone will. You don’t mess with WRU.”

They pressed the button, and heavy footsteps sounded from the corridor.

Tyler’s hands ran over Tara. She flinched, but he went on, cold and unimpressed. He reached into her pockets, and pulled out her belongings. Wallet. Press ID. Phone.

“She’s clean.”

He tossed her things onto the kitchen table, where Alex skimmed through them.

“Fuck you,” she repeated. “Fuck WRU.”

Ty grabbed the front of her sweatshirt and pulled her up to her feet, still keeping her pressed against the wall.

She spat at him. “You won’t get through with this. You-”

A weight dropped into Tara’s pocket. Almost like… her phone. But it wasn’t. Her phone was on the table, in Alex’ hands. It was his. She stared at him blankly.

“Sorry,” Tyler said. “Alex is right. You can’t go against the company.”

A knock rapped against their apartment door, and Alex stepped into the corridor to get it.

“Ty,” Tara hissed. “Ty, you can’t -”

His hand reached to the draining rack next to the sink. He pulled out our paring knife. “Shhh,” he hissed and Tara froze, as he leaned in and stuffed it into her pocket. Fuck.

He held her gaze while a chef’s knife vanished under his own shirt.

“Target’s secured in the kitchen with Handler Parker.” Alex directed two people in black uniforms into the room, man and woman. The metal clips of WRU logos shone on their jackets. There were guns on their belts, and batons that made Tara shiver.

“Tyler,” one of them greeted, after assessing the room. “Your home address or what? Your girlfriend making trouble?”

His voice was casual enough to let it be a real possibility. Someone bringing in their partner to turn them into a pet. Tara felt nauseous.

“Flat mate,” Alex said. “Not girlfriend. Lesbian. Journalist troublemaker.”

The man grinned at her. “Well, we can still make her someone’s little girlfriend. She’s cute. I call dips.”

Tara’s bound hands flinched into the direction of the knife in her pocket, but Ty was faster. He grabbed her shoulder, got her into a choke hold. “Let’s bring her in first. No dips on her. She’s not Romantic material.”

Tara kicked back at Ty’s shin. Missed on purpose.

She was a soccer player, if there was anything she could’ve done in a fight, it was kick legs. But Ty had a plan. She didn’t know what it was, she didn’t know if she wanted to be part of it, but she sure as hell knew that she did not want to end up where these guys wanted to take her.

“Drug her,” Alex said, stowing away their gun. “Can’t have her make a fuss.”

“In the car,” Tyler said and yanked her forward. His voice sounded calm, but Tara’s back was pressed close enough to his chest to feel his heart race. “Let’s get her out of the apartment first.”

The other woman checked the room and nodded. “Fine. Anything we need to take? Which bedroom?”

“Computer. Storage mediums. Whatever looks like her recent work. No mess. And pack a bag, bring that, too. Make it look like she left on her own.” Alex raised an eyebrow at Ty, passing on the second question.

“First room on the left,” Ty said. “Bags are under the bed. She takes prescription drugs, they’re in the washroom cabinet, pack those as well.”

“Fuck you,” Tara mumbled, powerless under his choke hold.

They were right, probably. They could trick people. Especially with Tyler on their side, with her best friend covering up her abduction. Everyone trusted him. Just like she had.

“Anything else we should know?”

“010974,” he said. “Code to her hard drive encryption, last time I checked. Her mother’s birthday.”

Tara let out a choked sob. “I… I’ll never forgive you.”

“I know,” he replied.

It was not her mother’s birthday. It was Diane’s. His mother’s. And it was not her hard drive password, either. That one was a twelve digit randomly generated string. Tyler had set it up for her. He knew. He was lying. But why?

“I’ll pack the things,” the woman said, pressing a button on her radio. “Turner, get in here. Smith, start the van. You leave with the target. We’ll follow up later.”

Alex was looking at her, softly shaking their head. “Tyler is with us, Tara. He’s made a decision. You won’t change that.”

A push into her back, and Tara stumbled forward. “Outside,” Ty commanded. “Say goodbye.”

Another person in a black uniform pushed past them, as Tyler lead Tara through the corridor, the man in front of them, Alex in the rear.

Tara kept her bound hands in front of the pocket with the knife, stumbling toward the open door, Tyler’s arm still around her.

She could see a black van parked in the street. No other person but the driver, waiting behind the wheel. The uniformed creep jogged forward to slide open the van’s door.

Outside, Ty had said. Say goodbye.

They stepped over the doorstep.

“Goodbye,” Tara mumbled.

Tyler drew the knife.

Tara ran.

[aelloposchrysopterus]

Ballroom Dancing and Other Monsters

Bang hates fancy parties. She hates formal etiquette. She really hates anything where she can’t solve her problems with knives, ideally in someone else’s body. But she was going to suffer through — the horrors — prom because Violetta and Zeetha wanted to go, and she wasn’t going to be a lousy friend. (She also didn’t want Gil to go alone, which would have happened, since Agatha refused to go, Tarvek was going with Violetta, Xerxesphina was Colette’s date, and Zeetha had her mysterious boyfriend, and Klaus had told his son that he was going, whether he wanted to or not.)

Bang, above all, hates formal dresses. She’d called Tarvek to find an outfit for her. He’d thought she was going to try to kill him, but when it became clear that she’d kill him if he didn’t get her a dress, he made sure to find a very pretty one for her. It was a lovely cream with crimson beadwork on the bodice, spaghetti straps, an A-line full skirt, and a deep V-neck. She did have to admit that she felt pretty in it, even if it did make her vulnerable.

“Eep,” she yelped as Zeetha zipped it up.

“Thought you were invulnerable to pain,” Zeetha remarked.

“I’m not invulnerable to having all the air squeezed out of my chest!” Bang almost reached for a knife but stopped herself. Zeetha is a friend. She means well.

“Okay, Zeetha, try to murder me now,” Violetta laughed. She was in a deep purple off-the-shoulder dress with a tiered tulle skirt. Another Tarvek selection.

Zeetha obliged, yanking Violetta’s zipper up. She was wearing a golden mermaid dress that glistened in the light, with heels and bracelets the same hue of green as her hair. Tarvek hadn’t had any hand in her outfit; she’d picked it out herself. (He had almost been insulted that she hadn’t consulted him.)

“Are we ready to party?” Zeetha asked, rolling the r in a flamboyant manner. “Come on, the limo’s waiting outside!”

“The… limo?” Was not expecting this. Bang awkwardly laughed.

Zeetha rolled her eyes. “We’re picking up the boys in style, gals!” She grabbed Bang and Zeetha by the arms and yanked them outside, plopping them in the limo. “First stop, Tarvek!”

Tarvek was waiting for them when they got to his house. He hurriedly jumped into the limo — Bang could tell that he was worried about his father and his sister trying to stop him. His father was controlling to an extreme and his sister was… ill. She knew his home life wasn’t great, which was why she felt a twinge of guilt each time she stabbed him.

“Hey, Tarvek, if you need somewhere to stay tonight, my place is yours,” she said.

He jumped up in his seat. “Thanks! I don’t think I’ll need it, but thanks anyhow!” He was wearing a purple suit that matched Violetta’s dress exactly, with a purple and blue tie and a blue pocket square. The blue was Wulfenbach blue. Don’t say a thing. Let him pine on his own. He idly adjusted his cufflinks.

“So, Zeetha, who’s getting picked up next?” Violetta asked, fiddling with her amethyst necklace.

Zeetha smiled. “Gil, of course.”

“If he’s in anything other than green, blue, and purple, it’ll be a miracle,” Tarvek muttered.

“Oh, Tarvek!” Zeetha giggled. “Don’t worry. I made sure he got a suit. It’s black, with a cream shirt and a red tie and pocket square. It matches Bang perfectly!”

Tarvek breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Zeetha. A weight has truly been lifted off my shoulder.”

Bang suddenly realized that the beads on her dress were the same shade of red as Tarvek’s hair.

At Wulfenbach’s, Gil leapt out of the house in the suit Zeetha had bought for him, bounding into the car like an excitable puppy. He flopped down next to Bang, who noted that his new shoes were scuffed up already. Tarvek saw the exact same thing and tossed some black shoe polish towards Gil.

“You’ll need to open the window while applying that,” Tarvek said.

“You had this on you?” Gil asked, incredulous.

Tarvek shrugged. “A well groomed man is always prepared… your cuffs are sewn together, aren’t they?”

“It’s better that than Gil losing a cufflink again!” Zeetha retorted. “Remember when he did that in front of Queen Albia? The Baron was embarrassed for years.”

“Hey,” Gil rolled his eyes. “I’m not the one who showed up in traditional Skifandrian attire to the wedding of one of Albia’s daughters and nearly gave her a heart attack.”

The siblings looked like they were about to punch each other for a second, but the situation defused itself. Good, that’s one more time I won’t have to patch up Gil’s outfit tonight. Zeetha slouched back in her seat as Gil rested his right leg on his left.

“Who’s next?” Violetta eagerly asked.

Zeetha tensed. “I hate to do this,” she said, “but please keep this under wraps. He’s a Jager.”

“What?” Gil turned to his sister. “Dad’s going to kill you! And how did you let the prom committee to give a guest pass to a Jager?”

She twiddled her thumbs. “I pulled some strings, and Dad doesn’t need to know about it. For what it’s worth, Mom approved. He’s a nice guy, not any fangier than I am, just, y’know, immortal. I met him at the MMA gym.” She sighed. “His name’s Axel Higgs.”

The car was silent.

“Zeetha has a boyfriend! Good job, girl!” Violetta yelled.

The mysterious Axel Higgs was picked up outside a defense contractor’s office headquarters. His suit was a distinguished ecru, with a pale golden shirt and a green tie and pocket square. He carried himself with an air of dignity and refinement. A man of many hats.

Nobody said anything when he entered the limo. He smiled at them. No fangs. He sat next to Zeetha, who silently wrapped an arm around him.

“Should we, uh, do introductions?” Bang asked.

Zeetha grinned a fangy smile. “Yeah, sure! Do you want to start?”

“Okay,” Bang said. “I’m Bang Dupree. It’s short for Bangladesh. I met Zeetha last year, I think, at a karate tournament. Our match was a draw because the refs stopped us before one of us killed the other.”

“Gil Wulfenbach, short for Gilgamesh. I’m Zeetha’s long-lost twin brother. Our parents are divorced, so I’m stuck living with our dad, who’s some high-up in the defense industry.”

“Violetta Mondarev. I met Zeetha in our film class. We were watching The Princess Bride and we bonded over the inaccuracies in the fight scenes and the poisoning scene.”

“Tarvek Sturmvoraus, Violetta’s cousin. I’m not really all that close with Zeetha — I’m a friend of Gil’s and I’m close with my cousin, so I run into her a lot, but we’ve never really hung out.” Gil blushed at “friend”.

“Axel Higgs, Zeetha’s boyfriend and Jager. I wish I could tell you more about me, but that’s unfortunately classified information.”

Violetta and Tarvek were waltzing respectably well. He’s an excellent dancer — of course he is — and she’d learned from him. She was holding her skirt up just right, and when she twirled, it was glorious. Tarvek’s pince-nez gave them the general impression of being a relic from the Victorian era.

Colette and Xerxesphina were dancing quite well, too. They were enjoying the quick tempo of the Viennese waltz, taking advantage of it to twirl about the dance floor in a modified grapevine step. This was neatly avoiding the question of who was really in the lead.

Zeetha and Higgs were in such a close embrace that it was a surprise they were able to move at all, but moving they were. Their technique was subpar, particularly when compared to Tarvek’s meticulous footwork, but they were in tune with each other in a way that almost no other couple was.

Gil and Bang, on the other hand, were miserably failing at dancing. It wasn’t just the waltz. The saraband had been such a disaster that Tarvek had broken etiquette to whisk Bang off to dance with her while Violetta attempted to instill the basics in Gil. It didn’t help matters that Gil seemed to have two left feet.

“I hate this,” she whispered.

“I know,” he hissed back. “Could you at least try a bit harder?”

“Why should I keep trying when you’re the one who’s blundering the moves?”

Gil looked like he was ten seconds away from being arrested for attempted murder. “How about you think of this as a monster you want to kill?”

“Already trying,” she said. And it’s not working.

Later, they were all taking a break from dancing. Colette and Xerxesphina had gone off to “brush up their makeup”. More like “brush up on making out”. Tarvek was fixing his tie knot — his Eldredge had become asymmetrical, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. Gil and Higgs were enjoying discussing Jager history.

This meant that Bang, Violetta, and Zeetha were sitting at a table, drinking Arnold Palmers and munching on cake, chatting a little bit as they pleased to. Zeetha was a bit pissed that her brother was monopolizing her boyfriend (“especially since he’s got his own boyfriend here, too”), while Violetta was complaining about how sore her feet were (“with him, it’s always aesthetic over function, and it’s not like he’s ever tried dancing in these shoes”). Bang was just fiddling with her straw, listening to her friends.

She was also the first one to notice the monster when it came crashing through the ceiling.

“Guys. Look.” She gently shoved Violetta and Zeetha. “Is that just me, or is that something we can fight?”

“Oh yeah,” Zeetha’s eyes glazed over as their classmates began screaming. “Let’s go fight this thing.” She snatched one of Violetta’s shoes and snapped the heel off. “It’s improvised weapons time!”

Violetta took her other shoe and snapped its heel off, while Bang took an entire table leg. Zeetha passed the other heel to Violetta to grab an entire chair. Violetta complemented her heels by taking a hair pin out of a nearby dancer’s coiffure.

The Fighting Girls Tea and Cake Society started running after the monster, ready to take it down.

Maybe formal dances aren’t all so bad.

Read on AO3.

[little-corritrice]

| The Mafia | ~ Part 5 ~

Genre: Mafia Au, Fanfiction

Pairing: N/A

Rating: Fluff

Warnings: N/A

Synopsis ~ y/n was just living her life, but when she ran into troubles of her past, she found herself being auctioned off to a mafia named Ateez. Within her time, she soon finds another whom she knows...

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

I understood that because I wouldn't want to be left alone anyway. "All of us will be watching over you, and one of us will be by your side the entire time." Yeosang pitched in, nodding at everyone in confirmation. A chorus of agreement went around the room, and I smiled lightly. "You have to wear a black dress though, because that's our color." San said, making me chuckle. "I understand." I said, getting up. "Well, let's all get ready, so we can leave." Hongjoong said, clapping his hands together. I started going upstairs, but decided to go raid the kitchen for a snack. As I made it there, I went straight to the pantry, opening the door to a paradise of snacks. I gawked at the sight of all the snacks and treats, zoning out of reality. However, I was soon brought back to it as I rushed forward, grabbing everything I could fit in my pockets and arms. I ran out the kitchen, stopping at the door to make sure the coast was clear. When I saw nobody, I dashed for the stairs, running all the way up until I bumped into someone turning the corner. I yelped out, grabbing ahold of my snacks to not drop anything.

However, a bag of chips fell, but I kicked it up with my foot, catching it in my arms. San stood there impressed, chuckling a little bit. "What do we have here?" He teased, crossing his arms. "Um, nothing." I smiled brightly. "I won't tell if you can forgive Wooyoung." He said, and I nodded. "Forgiven and forgotten, bye now!" I smiled, running off to my room. "I'm serious, y/n!" San chuckled, shaking his head at my childish antics. I got into my room, noticing something on my bed. I went over to it, seeing a matte black dress, along with a pair of heels. I gently set all the snacks down beside it, looking at the note; 'A pretty dress for a pretty gal.' I laughed out, holding the dress up to my body. I went to the bathroom, putting on a deep red lipstick, mascara, and perfume that was on the counter. I went back to the dress, slipping it on. However, I couldn't reach the zipper, and groaned out. "Need help?" Wooyoung asked, making me turn around. "Yes please." I said, turning back around. I moved my hair out of the way, feeling him zip the dress up. "You dropped this at the waterfall." He said, handing me my butterfly necklace.

I gently grabbed it, smiling slightly. I held it up, turning my head a little. "Can you?" I asked, and he smiled. "Of course." He whispered, taking it and placing it on my neck, clasping the clasp. I turned around, staring at him. "You look beautiful." He said, and I chucked. "Thank you. You clean up well yourself, if you could tie a bow." I joked, and he chuckled, shaking his head. "You caught me." He said as I fixed his bow, and the collar of his jacket. "y/n, I'm sorry for being a dick to you. You didn't ask for any of this." He said, and I smiled. "Forgive and forget, right?" I said, and he smiled. "Though, you do that again, and I won't hesitate to beat the shit out of you." I smiled, patting his chest. "Yes, ma'am." He said, and I smiled. "Let's get going, yeah?" He asked, holding his arm out. I nodded, linking my arm with his. We walked downstairs to where everyone was gathered by the front door. "Ready?" Hongjoong asked, and we both nodded.

~ ~ ~

Pulling up to the party, I could already smell the alcohol and drugs from inside the car. "Oh, god." I said, shaking my head in disgust. "Hey, it'll be okay." San said comfortingly from in front of me, patting my knee. "Yeah. One of us will be sticking by your side while the rest of us watch over you." Hongjoong comforted, and I nodded. "Ready?" Wooyoung asked from my side and I nodded. Everyone piled out, and Wooyoung held his hand out for me, and I gently took it, stepping out of the car. I heard a bunch of gasps and murmurs, but I hid my anxiety, keeping my head up. "Just keep it high." Wooyoung whispered to me, squeezing my hand. I smiled, nodding my head.

As we entered, it was quite fancy. There were servers with trays of champagne walking around, and tables of snacks and food to the sides. Wooyoung pulled me with him to the center. As we passed a crowd of people, I noticed a familiar face and froze. Wooyoung stopped, looking back at me. "What is it?" He asked, following my line of sight. "M-my father." I whispered. As if on que, my father looked at me, shocked at first, but then smirking while whispering to another person beside him. "Let's go." Wooyoung pulled me along, but I was focusing on the fact that a bunch of people were now walking in our direction, and ultimately surrounding us.

~ ~ ~

y/n's dress and shoes

[cynicalone94]

"You Weren't Supposed To Get Hurt"

Read on AO3 here.

Jay is standing in interrogation watching Kevin and Adam go at a suspect when his phone goes off.

He looks down to see a text from on of his CIs.

‘Need help. Can you meet me?’

He sighs and looks over at his boss.

“Hey Voight, I got a CI asking for help. You cool if I take off for an hour or so to make sure he’s okay?”

“What’s his name?” Voight asks without looking away from the window.

“Trevor Langston.”

“Alright.” Voight says with a nod. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will.” he says with a nod, already texting Trevor back.

‘Yeah. Where?’

He rolls his truck into the parking lot and cuts the engine, jumping out of the cab.

“Trevor.” he calls out. “I’m here. What’s going on?”

“I’m in a bit of trouble.” the kid says, moving toward him with hands shoved deep into his pocket. “I uh, I kind of fell off the wagon.”

“Gambling?” Jay asks. “Trevor.”

“I know.” the kid says. “I know but my girl got pregnant and I was stressed so I… I messed up, man.”

“Alright.” Jay says. “We’ll get you some extra meetings. How deep you in?”

“Seventy grand.”

“What?” Jay explodes. “Are you kidding me? What have you been gambling on?”

“Sports. Poker. Stock market trends.” Trevor says, looking down. “A little bit of everything. I spiraled, man.”

“So you call me before you get in that deep.” Jay groans. “I can’t just pull seventy grand out of my ass.”

“I don’t need money.” Trevor says, shaking his head. “I took care of it. See I met this guy and he paid off everything, like a loan consolidation or something. And he says he’ll write it off as long as I do him a couple of favors.”

“Favors?” Jay asks, eyes going wide. “Trevor that is never a good situation to get yourself in.”

“No, no it’s good.” Trevor says. “See he just wants to talk to you.”

A chill runs down his spine.

“Trevor. What did you do?”

“He just wants to talk.” Trevor insists.

Not for seventy grand he doesn’t.

Jay reaches for his weapon but it’s too late. Four guys come out from behind a pair of cars holding automatic weapons.

“Don’t even think about it, Detective.” one of the men shouts and Jay’s hand comes back up.

“Jay don’t be crazy.” Trevor says. “He wants to talk.”

“The automatic weapons don’t seem like he wants to talk.” Jay says.

“Don’t be so suspicious, Detective.”

He looks up to see an old face that he’d never wanted to see again.

“Vince.” he says with a scowl. “Since when do you have seventy grand lying around?”

“I made some new friends in prison.” Vince says. “I guess I should thank you for that.”

“Yeah.” Jay scoffs. “That why you wanted to chat? So you could thank me?”

“That’s right.” Vince says with a grin. “I spent seventy grand so I could thank you for arresting me.”

“Well then you’re welcome.” Jay says. “We good? Cause I need to get back to work.”

“What kind of a thank you would this be?” Vince says. “We’re taking a ride.”

“I ain’t going anywhere with you.” Jay says, shaking his head.

“I didn’t hear myself giving you a choice.” Vince says, waving one of his men forward.

Trevor steps forward.

“Hey man.” he says, looking between the two of them. “This uh, this wasn’t the deal.”

“Sure it was.” Vince says. “I paid your debts and you got me face time with an old pal. Your part of this deal is done.”

“I don’t know.” Trevor says. “This doesn’t sound like…”

“Save it.” Jay snaps. “Your bit here is done. Find a meeting and I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

Trevor nods shakily, stepping back.

“Okay.” he says. “Yeah okay.”

Vince’s guy takes hold of his arm, pulling his gun from the holster and passing it to Vince as he tows Jay past him.

They stop by the back door of a black SUV. The man jerks Jay’s hands behind his back, sliding a zip tie over his wrists and tightening it down.

And then he’s shoved into the backseat and the door slammed behind him.

Voight is in his office, trying to figure out where they should go next when Trudy calls up.

“Voight I got someone down here, insisting he needs to talk to you.” she says.

“Busy right now.” he tells her. “Who is it?”

“Trevor Langston.”

“I’ll be right down.”

He jogs down the stairs. Why is the CI that Jay had left to meet showing up at the precinct looking for him? And where is Jay?

The squirrely, slightly strung out young man standing at the desk looks up as he comes down the stairs.

“You Sergeant Voight?” he asks.

“I am. What are you doing here, Trevor?” he asks.

“I messed up.” the kid says. “I started gambling again. And I shoulda asked for help but I was scared and then I found this guy and I thought he was the answer, thought I’d figured it out how to get myself out. He paid off my debts and all he wanted was to talk to Jay.”

“So you called Jay down.” Voight says. “Trevor I need a name.”

“He lied to me.” Trevor says. “He said he just wanted to talk but he was lying. They made Jay go with them, took his gun. I messed up.”

“Trevor.” Voight snaps. “I need a name.”

“Vince Meroni.”

That’s not good.

“Why don’t you come upstairs, Trevor.” he says. “I need to know everything you can tell me.”

Vince shoves him to his knees on the lowest level of the parking garage.

“Got a weird way of showing your gratitude.” Jay says, trying to blink the blood out of his eye.

“I trusted you, Ryan.” Vince says. “Thought we were bros.”

“That game you were running at Brady was sick, man.” Jay scowls.

“Yo those girls wanted to do that shit. Why shouldn’t I make some money off it?” Vince protests.

“Tonya took advantage of other girls who needed help and you helped her do it.” Jay shouts back.

“You lied to me.” Vince shouts, getting up in his face. “Everything you said to me was a lie.”

“I was doing my goddamn job.” Jay tells him, catching a hard punch to the face in return.

“Hey, Vinny.” a man calls behind them.

Jay glances over to see one of Vince’s partners handing him a baseball bat.

Vince takes the bat, turning back to Jay with a smirk on his face.

“He’s right.” he says. “A liar like yourself deserves a lot more than fists.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Jay scowls back.

Vince just grins back at him, swinging the bat into his stomach.

A foot to the ribs rolls Jay onto his back and he groans, bound wrists digging into his back.

Vince crouches next to him, looking over his injuries with a laugh.

“Damn Ryan.” he says. “You sure can take a beating.”

“Frrr mmmm.” Jay responds, words muffled by the tape pressed over his mouth.

“And still kicking.” Vince says. “Still spitting mad and ready to kick my ass.”

“How many ribs do you think I’ve broken?” Vince asks, pressing his hands over Jay’s chest.

Jay groans into the gag and kicks out but his legs have been bound together, the chain attached to them secured to the ground.

“I’ve learned a lot about you since I got out of prison.” Vince says with a laugh. “Army Ranger, huh? But you aren’t gonna get any hits on me chained down like this.”

Jay shakes his head, struggling to sit up.

Vince pushes him back down, pressing extra hard on a particularly tender spot on his ribs as he does so.

A door explodes in behind them and shouts of Police and Chicago PD fill the air.

Vince straightens up, reaching for the bat.

“Don’t even think about it Meroni.” Voight shouts, pointing his weapon at the man.

Vince drives his booted foot into Jay’s ribs one final time before Adam is taking him to the ground, twisting his hands up behind his back.

Jay groans, rolling onto his stomach and bringing his knees up to his chest the best he can.

A hand falls heavily on his shoulder and he tries to twist away.

“Jay it’s me.” Voight says. “It’s just me kid.”

The tape is ripped away from his mouth and he takes a deep, gasping breath.

“Voight?”

“You’re okay, kid.” his boss says. “Just lie still, paramedics are on the way.”

“Trevor?”

“He’s okay.” Voight promises. “Came to me after what happened. Told me everything he could and then just sat in my office repeating that you weren’t supposed to get hurt.”

Jay huffs a laugh, groaning when his ribs scream in protest.

“He’s a good kid.” he says when he can breathe again. “He’s an idiot but he’s a good kid.”

“You think he believed him?” Voight asks.

“Yeah.” Jay says. “He really did.”

“Alright.” Voight says. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks.” Jay breathes.

“We’ll get you taken care of too.” Voight promises. “Just breathe easy.”

Jay nods.