#no point in worrying because it’s not like I’m gonna be able to outrun that thing if it comes after me

[endercoil]

This is kind of related to the last post I reblogged but honestly it’s funny to me how so many people are like. “Go to therapy” now and act like that solves so many problems

Yes therapy can help but I’ve been to multiple therapists who did not help. Even if they tried to, CBT did frankly fuck all for the issues (and it’s even weirder when one tried to get me to use CBT methods to… stop having ADHD symptoms…?)

Like, I have a phobia of the dark, and talking to a therapist barely helped it. The method used was to tell me the fear I felt was only perceived, but the funny thing is, it’s kind of Hard To Tell It’s Only Perceived. That’s kind of the reason it was a phobia for me

What DID help was prozac and a “welp fuck it we ball” mentality.

Like, I’m not saying therapy is bad, but I AM saying that therapy is expensive and sometimes that money can be better used than to talk to a guy who isn’t helpful. I don’t know.

Disclaimers I feel obligated to add:

- since I mentioned medication this also applies to psychiatrists some of them are god awful. I feel like that’s just a trend in medicine that a ton of professionals are god awful.

- I’m not saying CBT is inherently bad or useless. Recognizing thought patterns and changing them is helpful! I’ve just encountered it being used in ways where it wasn’t helpful which is… not great. Especially when it has a price tag attached.

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 140 Rundown

Spy X Family: Right where we left off in the ‘if you fake married people love each other then kiss’ debacle and for some reason as popular as this trope is, the kiss almost never goes through like I guess it’s to get around the weird implications of having a developing relationship’s first PDI be manufactured but it’s still always kinda weird that it’s just a drama spike that fizzles 90% of the time. Luckily Yuri’s way too fucked up with his sister complex to actually let it happen and Yor’s way too shitfaced to not just beat the shit out of him when he tries to stop her from boning Loid right then and there but we’re not in Chainsaw Man yet so we’re not gonna have two characters fuck in front of each other in a weird twisted triangle of misdirected emotions. It’s kinda funny how Yuri’s so fucked on the incest angle and jealous of Loid that Loid’s also jealous of the seamless trust and dependence Yuri and Yor have for each other since he’s never been able to trust a single person in his life. Furthermore the next morning Loid mulls over suspicions that Yor may have a tenuous connection with the government too since Yuri’s a stormtrooper and though he thinks it’s unlikely his professionalism forces him to not rule it out. Anya hears him thinking and desperately wants to tell him to trust Yor but she can’t think of a casual way to do it without blowing her secret so she has to back down which breaks my heart a bit though she does manage to give them a cryptic message of encouragement. Still Loid bugs Yor to try and figure her out and turns out Yor’s just having an existential crisis about not being all that great with domestic skills and her fucking toxic coworkers aren’t helping so Loid does what every sane person would do… dress up like a stormtrooper and threaten your wife with jailtime unless she tries to use a familial connection to nepotize her way out of the situation, you know, the normal reaction. Turns out Yor’s fists are stronger than any nepotism so there’s no issue and when Loid comes back to hear how genuine Yor’s worries were he destroys the bug and tells her regardless of what the social construct of an ideal wife should do, she’s doing great with the things she’s good at and Anya loves her and their family is stronger because of her. Anya comes home and IMMEDIATELY realizes they’ve made up despite the only fight going on in their minds and everybody has cake, good ending.  

Inuyasha: We’re finally back in canon territory but honestly this is the stretch of canon that feels the most like filler, we’ve finally hit the Hakudoshi arc, the point in the series where the author went ‘well we can’t kill Naraku yet but having him just dip out of the story for long stretches of time isn’t quite working so I’ll make a secondary villain for them to chase around for a while’. And it’s not like it’s all bad it’s just very obviously trying to buy for time after the Band of Seven arc which was in-universe just buying for time. But yeah Kagura and Baby are still going around murdering monks until they come across the one dude that sealed a giant fire demon horse whose rider is supposed to be able to conquer the world and he is like the strongest monk around… prolly shoulda started with him if we’re being honest then he wouldn’t know people are coming to kill him. Though it is kinda nice this monk actually has a bit of fight in him and is able to block some of Kagura’s attacks and split the Baby in half, like I’m just so used to anyone outside the main cast being absolutely useless at this point it’s like watching DBZ and seeing Tien cockblock Semi-Perfect Cell it’s refreshing. Though without the monk the demon horse is free and can literally outrun Inuyasha’s Wind Scar so we’re kinda fucked there and also both halves of the Baby are still alive and apparently this was all part of his plan somehow so cool I guess.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Now that Sensui’s gangster personality has a tommygun to Yusuke’s head, Koenma shows up to take out his pacifier which apparently creates a demon shield several times stronger than the existing demon shield that will also seal Sensui away and Koenma since he feels responsible for Sensui decides to be sealed away too. It’s basically a once in a millennium ‘get out of demon invasion free’ card and apparently it’s supposed to be used for the actual Armageddon but Koenma figures if Sensui destroys everything here there’s no point and they have a better chance of figuring something else out when Armageddon comes than pretending like Sensui’s plan isn’t a problem, you’d think the shield would last regardless but I guess it’s more of a patch than something that reinforces the whole thing. Yusuke stops him, having used the Spirit Wave to heal while they were talking because the Spirit Wave is so ill-defined it might as well do anything why not. He’s motivated part by wanting to save the lifeline for when they really need it and part by fucking pettiness and wanting to finish what he started so he lives out the American Dream and punches his boss in the fucking face. Meanwhile he punches Sensui’s mafia boss ass in the fucking stomach and is like ‘just cause you’re cruel doesn’t mean you’re strong’ which makes sense like this personality is the most likely to get in cheap shots or be cutthroat but that doesn’t mean it’s the most well-equipped for actual fighting, kind of the opposite actually since he’s only there to do the dirty work against things Sensui knows he can beat. This forces the real Sensui out who does the whole Shonen Final Boss stomp all over Yusuke. It’s kinda funny the way they portray Sensui Prime as ‘pure’ because he foisted all of his crimes and even personal expression onto his other personalities because he can’t cope with life being complicated but still condones all the evil shit they do, like it’s supposed to be a ‘pure is not good’ trope but it kinda just comes off as dumb hypocritical nonsense like he’s still enabling everything and even doing it with his own hands he’s just dissociating REALLY hard while doing it. Feel like the psychiatric angle to this is well-meaning and not the worst but still feel like if this was done today it would need a little tweaking.

Jujutsu Kaisen: Junpei Yoshino is an average kid that no one understands, he’s also the witness to the Big Bad giving the three movie theater kids Curse Cancer while they’re watching the latest Human Centipede movie and wants to know how he can be cool and punish bullies by turning their heads into misshapen gourds too. Meanwhile Kento and Yuji are sent to go investigate who made the attacks and clean up the mooks they left behind. Kento’s a pretty fun character and he’s basically the epitome of the ‘sorry for flying off the handle like that’ meme with the power of FRACTIONS, so that’s pretty cool. Yuji also shows off that he basically has a double punch now which reminds me of Kensei’s Bankai from Bleach so it’s cool that he gets to do shit now that he has an actual powerset and isn’t just swinging around a magical knife. Turns out the mooks they were killing though were actually human zombies like the cancer bullies and they were technically dead before they showed up so Yuji doesn’t have to deal with any moral implications of killing people though because he’s Yuji that doesn’t quite wipe his conscience clean even though it does adhere to the weird shonen protagonist standard of not being allowed to kill humans despite slaying demons which just seems kinda racist against sentient demons. Junpei seems to be getting lessons from the Big Bad in the sewers on how to be evil which if I’m not mistaken was literally the plot of the last Halloween movie for some reason, and he mentions Special Grade Potential Cursed Spirits which basically seem to be the Devils from Chainsaw Man so you could plausibly make the connection that Chainsaw Man is an alternate universe of Jujutsu Kaisen where they fucked up and the curse spirits got everywhere. But yeah Big Bad dude is apparently the fear humanity has for itself which may be extremely powerful or may just be him being edgy, hard to tell at this point. But yeah Yuji’s sent on busy work to go track down Junpei while Kento goes to jump the big bad’s lair which you’d think they could afford more sorcerers for given we’ve got 6-8 of them from the last episode basically just sitting in a field working out for a Sports Festival but whatever.  

Chainsaw Man: While Himeno’s Ghost Devil gets its ass kicked by the Snake Devil, her last act of strength lets her base ghost hand pull Denji’s cord to wake him up, you know every guy needs a good ghost yank to get going. He fights Katana Man for a bit and tries to take a hostage from the enemy side but Katana Man just does the anime thing where he appears behind them and has cut them both in half. If this dude has absorbed all the anime bullshit that has been poured into katanas over the past few decades then we really are screwed. Meanwhile Makima apparently used Gold Experience Requiem and just went ‘no’ to being fucking shot and apparently Contracted the Death Note Devil because not only does she pull a page out of L’s book and murder convicted death row inmates to catch the current bad guys but she’s able to kill the convicts and have their lives connect to the mooks currently doing the shootings. Though given some of the mooks were already dead and Makima had exactly enough convicts to do the job idk how she knew how many she needed given she said to get thirty convicts and they only used like twelve of them. So everyone but Katana Man and Snake Girl are dead and they’re trying to load Denji’s torso up when out of fucking nowhere comes KOBENI, she got her coworker killed and murdered a mafia granny so we’ve hit her trauma threshold and now she gonna bring down the power of the Sloppy Blowjob Devil on these motherfuckers and fucks them both the hell up and saves Denji, like damn girl nice job. One of the survivors meets Makima on the return trip and says that basically 90% of the human hunters are dead and they’ve just mashed all the remaining peeps into one squad directly under Makima herself, also he’s quitting because fuck he was not in this for a Godfather montage. But also he says she predicted at least part of this would happen and wants answers and she’s just like ‘bitch you don’t work for me anymore I don’t owe you shit’. Meanwhile Kobeni’s working on her character arc and apologizing to half of Denji for trying to kill him at the first sign of any kind of mental stress.

Ranking of Kings: Bosse!Daida tells Hilling about who he is and how he’s bodysnatched their son’s body to cheat death and Hilling gives the only appropriate response and passes the fuck out. We then get a flashback with Hilling’s bodyguard watching her clumsy attempts to relate to Bojji and how he eventually became endeared towards her and accept his job to be her shield which is good considering there’s three chimera beasts about to jump in her room and kill her. Dude fucking beats the shit out of them before almost dying though thankfully his charge is also one of the best healing magicians in the fucking world so he’s fine. Meanwhile Bosse!Daida and Miranjo are ruminating on how their plan didn’t work and Bosse is weirdly blasé about it like he’s not trying to stop Miranjo’s plans in any way and seems to support her but doesn’t seem too thrilled about how things are going and doesn’t want to be doing what he’s doing but is also making no effort at all to stop it so yeah he just gonna do a moonlight puppet dance with his third mirror wife I guess, sure. Hilling confronts him about, you know, trying to kill her, and while he’s busy giving non-answers, Daida can hear her voice from inside him and she can hear his and it’s a really touching moment until Hilling’s about to fucking stab Bosse!Daida in the chest to get Daida!Daida out and literally no one thinks that’ll work so they knock her out. Bosse!Daida tells her bodyguard to flee the country with her if he wants her to live and wait for Bojji to finish his training since for some reason he has faith that he will be the key to all this.

Vinland Saga: The time for the war between Denmark and England has come and Askeladd’s crew find themselves literally trying to make London Bridge fall down. Apparently the commander of the English is a former Viking named Thorkell and he’s just like… two and a half dudes tall and sinks ships by throwing fucking cabers at them. So Floki comes and is like ‘man the English are pussies, come back to us and we’ll pay you double’ and Thorkell’s like ‘The English ARE pussies but that’s why slaughtering them all would be no fun so I’mma stay here and fight some real men, you fucking guys.’ But he says it in Norse so his English subordinates can’t understand him which made me laugh. Askeladd goes with Plan A which at this point is always ‘throw Thorfinn at it and get the hell out if things look tough’ and Thorfinn does give Thorkell a good fight and takes two of his fingers but dude’s just too big and strong for Thorfinn’s tiny knives and kicks his ass but lets him dip himself off the bridge and thanks him for the fight. Meanwhile the King of Denmark is just like ‘man this is taking too long, how long should it take to sieg one of the most defensively capable cities on the planet? Like a week?’ and sends 4/5ths of the navy to other parts of England and lets his greenhorn son who we established last time is basically only here so the Vikings don’t think he’s a little bitch be in charge of the sieg of London. So Thorfinn’s beat to shit and regroups with Askeladd’s ground-based entourage now headed for Wessex and he’s just like ‘what the fuck is wrong with Viking culture that we all thing killing is fun, I’m killing for the RIGHT reasons, to stick my enemy’s heart on a pike and set my dead pacifist father’s mind at ease that his son wasted a quarter of his life killing himself over pointless revenge’.

[volleychumps]

« Insecure S/O Reacting to a Confession 2

part 1 here 

format: scenarios

genre: fluff

- includes: Iwaizumi, Tendou, and Matsukawa

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

Iwaizumi Hajime

The sun wasn’t helping his flared cheeks in any way. 

“Stop interfering.” 

“Stop stalling then.” Oikawa grins, rubbing his best friend’s shoulders as if he were about to enter a boxing ring. The dark haired ace rubs his eyes in irritation with one hand, ignoring the flare against his cheeks as Iwaizumi attempts to shake his childhood friend off. The sight of you kneeled down in the school garden, hair pinned back away from your face as you tended to the flowers, made the heat surge through Iwa’s cheeks even more. 

“I’m not.” 

“Really? Because every day you approach her creepily from some distance, and then disappear. C’mooon, I already owe Hiro like fifteen bucks-” 

“You’re betting on this, shithead?”

“Nope.” The answer comes out a little too quickly as Oikawa dodges a second swat. “She’s so pretty I might have to approach her myself-” 

“Not another word.” Iwa grits out, Oikawa slightly smirking at the tick in his jaw and the way his onyx eyes harden. “I just...don’t wanna mess this up.” 

“There’s nothing to mess up until you confess. Ah, young love.” Oikawa sighs dreamily, Iwaizumi ignoring his dramatic friend’s swoon before making a decision. Today was the day. 

You wipe sweat from your forehead, attempting to ignore the beating sun down on your face as you tried to hurry the process a long, ensuring the flowers were getting just enough water. The touch of an icy can of tea against your cheek startles you, almost making you drop the watering pot before you hold a hand up against the bright sun rays, tilting your head in confusion at the broad-shouldered man in front of you. 

“Iwaizumi?” You smile in greeting as Iwaizumi shuffles his feet, breath catching in his throat at the sight. He was so screwed. 

You laugh a bit awkwardly, the cold touch of the can beginning to numb. “Um, is this for me?” 

“Yes.” He curses himself at how stern it comes out, but you gently take the can from his grasp, nodding in thanks. “I-I know you like this one.” 

“You do?” 

“No.” He didn’t want to sound creepy, yet somehow made it worse. 

“Oh.” 

Iwaizumi was ready to kick himself. He was hoping you would understand, the day you shyly maneuvered your way through Oikawa’s fanclub to get to him to offer him an ice cold drink was the reason he became so infatuated in the first place. 

“Well, thanks for the tea-” 

“I like you.” 

This time, you do drop the watering pot, eyes widening like a deer caught in the headlights as Iwa’s heart sinks at your reaction. 

“I get it, alright?” You mumble, sadness swimming in your stomach as Iwaizumi fought the need to dart off. “You’re the handsome volleyball ace all the girls want, and they put you up to ask me out as a joke again. It’s getting old.” 

Ah. 

Iwaizumi sighs, knowing that the other girls preyed on you for your beauty and soft heart, finding ways to hurt you in the most immature ways possible. 

“Oi.” His heart tightens at the look of sorrow on your face, making him click his tongue before reaching a hand out before he can stop himself, smudging his thumb along the streak of dirt on your cheek. You look up at him in a doe-like manner, and your wet eyes are enough to make the ace want to hurt anyone who ever made you feel this way. 

“I’m not kidding.” 

“Iwa-” 

“Hajime.” He cuts you off, hiding a smirk when he feels the heat rush to your cheeks. “You can call me Hajime. Only you.” 

“Hajime.” you try it out, clapping your hand over your mouth once in shyness as Iwaizumi smiles a genuine grin, elated when you shy away into his touch. 

“Then...please take care of me.” You manage, condensation running down to your other hand holding the can as Iwaizumi slips it out of your grasp, taking a heavy sip of it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“I finished this one. Can I take you to a cafe?” 

“I’d love that.” You slip your gardening gloves off, Iwa slipping his hand into yours casually as you trail behind him, smiling when his grip tightens ever so slightly.

Surprisingly, the sun suddenly didn’t feel too hot today. 

Tendou Satori

“Today’s the day fellas!” 

“Oh, is it?” Shirabu mocks his surprise. “It’s not like you put ‘ask y/n’ out in huge block letters on our team calendar or anything.” 

“Bingo!” Tendou points finger guns at his teammate as Semi shrugs at a disgruntled Shirabu. “I’m about to get myself a Miss Tendou Satori-” 

“That’s not how that works-” 

“Hush, Ushijima. Your logic won’t ruin my day today.” Tendou bounces on the balls of his feet, waiting for practice to let out as he tugs his last shoe on, his other teammates still in the process of changing. 

“Is she waiting for you?” Semi tugs his shirt overhead as Tendou hums happily in answer, Shirabu snarkily making a remark from the other side of the locker room. 

“She’s out of your league.” 

“I know she is! Which is why I’m going to treat her like the queen she is, since I myself am but a lowly peasant beneath her-” Tendou perks up at the time. “Gotta go, I’ll text you the outcome boys.” 

“Please don’t.”

“Tendou-senpai-” But the redhead had already darted through the door as Ushijima glances at his worried kouhai, tilting his head in question. 

“What, Goshiki?” 

“Isn’t Y/N L/N the one who had that mean prank pulled on her last year?”

You bit the inside of your cheek as you rocked on the balls of your feet, fidgeting with the ends of your skirt as you wait for the rambunctious redhead on the volleyball team. No way a cute guy like him was actually- 

“Did I make ya wait long?” A pair of sneakers appear in your view, making you lift your head as Tendou Satori casts you a wide grin, school shoes hanging in his other hand. You tilt your head, wondering if he rushed here.

“Did you need something from me, senpai?” You blink, swinging your legs lightly on the bench you were sitting on, fearing the worst. Tendou clears his throat, suddenly feeling the nervousness he had been outrunning catch up to him. He can’t mess this up. Ever since you had adorably asked him to reach something for you at the snack shop for the school, he hasn’t been able to get you off his mind. He made sure to wait around during the same time during lunch hour, your usual snack already in hand and plucked off the highest shelf. 

“Go out with me.” 

You flinch. There it was. 

His smile fades slowly with every beat of silence that soaks in the atmosphere between the two of you, and you swallow back a sob. 

“How much are they giving you to do this?” 

Tendou’s shoes hit the floor, his eyes blinking rapidly in confusion as you refuse to meet his questioning gaze. 

“What?” 

“I um, can help you if you want. Go out with you for a few days so they really believe-” 

“Hey, hey!” Tendou’s arms begin to flail around as he shakes his head no. “I mean it Y/N, you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever met. I really wanna date you for real-” 

“You do?” 

Tendou’s chest felt heavier at the crack in your voice and insecurity swirling in your eyes, and he nods his head, kneeling in front of you carefully before asking to take your hands with his eyes. 

“I 100% do. You can strip me of my honor if I’m lying.” 

This makes you crack a smile, making Tendou breathe out a sigh of relief through his nose. He thumps his forehead against yours, making your eyes glint in a way they haven’t in awhile.

“Can this lowly senpai please take you out on a date this weekend?” 

“No, my lowly senpai cannot.” You say, turning your palms over so he can hold them properly. Tendou quirks an eyebrow, but he’s slightly smirking as you offer a shy smile. 

“But my boyfriend can.” 

Matsukawa Issei

“You’re staring again, ya creep.” 

“I think the term you’re looking for is skillful admiring-” 

“Just ask her out.” Hanamaki yawns, getting comfy on his best friend’s desk as Matsukawa leans into his palm, eyeing the way you pout when your friends steal your snacks. So cute. “What’s the worst she’s gonna do, say no?” 

“Yes.” Matsukawa sighs, hanging his head slightly as Hanamaki arches a brow, crossing his arms in pure amusement. 

“Wow, Matsukawa Issei hung up over a girl?” 

“Who the hell is hung up-” 

Hanamaki arches a brow when his friend visibly tenses up, looking over only to smirk when he sees another boy in class shyly offer up his pocky to you, you gladly accepting and smiling widely in thanks. Issei rests his head on the desk, stubbornly looking out the window as Hanamaki withholds a laugh over the hold you have over your classmate. 

“Oh just ask her out.” Hanamaki uncaps his drink. “You’re so into her dude, it’s making me sick.” 

Issei shifts in his seat. Maybe his adoration for you wouldn’t have begun if it hadn’t been for the way your much shorter legs pumped to catch up to his figure, who had pretty much reached his home.

“Matsukawa-san!” You had gasped for breath, the messy-haired boy guiltily slipping his headphones off at how tired you seemed. Before he could profusely apologize, you shoved his notes in his hand, bright hue to his cheeks at the act of kindness. 

“Um, you left this in the library!” you manage out, Matsukawa seeming to freeze in the moment. “I added some notes in there, I hope you don’t mind. It seemed kinda empty-” 

“You wrote notes for me?” He finds his voice again, cursing himself at that being the first thing that came out. 

“I was bored during free time anyways.” You scratched the back of your head before turning on your heel again. “Anyways, bye!”

And then you darted off again as Matsukawa Issei stayed still in his spot, wondering just why the hell his heart was beating at the pace it was going, colorful notes hanging from his grasp. 

“I’m gonna do it.” Hanamaki almost falls off the desk at Matsukawa’s revelation and the way he suddenly stood up. “I could kiss you right now, Makki.” 

“I’m praying to god, please don’t.” 

You lean against the shoe lockers, humming to yourself as you wonder just what your classmate would need from you, figuring he wanted to properly thank you for the notes. You would accept it and go, knowing that Matsukawa Issei was favored among the girls- 

“You’re here.” 

“This.” You smile softly, holding up a folded note between your fingers as Matsukawa shoves his hand in his slack pockets, suddenly feeling embarrassed. “This made it hard for me not to be, you know?” 

You eye him carefully, stomach sinking at the familiar situation in front of you. 

“You might have already guessed,” Issei breathes, trying to steady the pounding in his ears. “Or Makki might have already told you because he’s a shithead like that-” 

You tilt your head.

“-but I’ve got this killer crush on you. And if you could help me out, I would thoroughly appreciate it.” It comes out business-like, and you almost laugh if it hadn’t been for the weight in your throat. 

“Help you out how?” He doesn’t notice the crack in your voice as he pulls his sleeves up to his forearms, swallowing tightly. 

“I think a date would begin to ease the pain.” 

You really do laugh this time, but it’s not the kind of laugh of amusement. It’s forced, awkward, and makes Issei falter in his smile and movements. 

“Do they ever get bored?” 

All playfulness drains from the middle blocker’s face as his tone hardens. “What are you talking about?” 

“Sure, get the hot guy from the volleyball team to try and ask Y/N out, are you getting it on video?” 

“Y/N-” 

“I’ve gotta go.” you try to step away, eyes widening when he stops you with his much bigger frame. His lidded eyes widen at the tears prodding the corner of your eyes, carefully lifting a hand to swipe at them before looking at you seriously.

“You think I’m hot?” 

You can’t withhold the giggle that escpaes you, sniffling slightly as Matsukawa smiles gently, wrapping his arm around you to touch the small of your back. You yelp a little when you find yourself crushed against his chest, your upper back touching the lockers. 

“I don’t know what the hell happened to you in the past, but-” you look up at the handsome tall boy you had hand-written notes for, hoping your crush on him wasn’t too noticeable. “I can tell you right now that you’re really fuckin’ pretty, and I want to brag to my friends about how hot my girlfriend is-”

“Do you ever stop talking?” You cup his cheek in question as his grin widens. 

“Make me your boyfriend and I’ll show you.” He winks, and you raise both eyebrows in amusement before practically speaking against his lips. 

“I think we can arrange that.” 

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

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[therealvinelle]

Hi, I was reading a post here in Tumblr about how Edward has two gifts, he can hear thoughts and is super fast, so I wonder what is your opinion about this topic?.

Furthermore, what others power might the Volturi's leaders and guards might have?

Edward has one gift, and it’s telepathy. Being fast isn’t a gift.

Strength, speed and even senses is varied among vampires. Some, like Emmett, are on the extreme end, but that doesn’t make Emmett gifted, nor does it mean that the rest are at an equal level. The Cullens have clear variations between them.

Physique appears to play a dominant role in how these variations play out: Alice, who was malnourished and never made it past 4′10″, is the physically weakest of the coven, while Emmett at 6′5″ and a mountain of muscles is the strongest. This is made very clear during the baseball game:

“Emmett was hovering close to third (base), knowing that Alice didn’t have the muscle to outstrip Rosalie’s fielding." (Midnight Sun, chapter The Game)

There’s also the fact that it’s taken for granted that Emmett would be intimidating to other vampires, and he is dismayed when James is more worried about Jasper, who is lean.

I suspect this disparity exists simply because a large frame means more tissue to have blood in. Newborns, animal, and human-eating vampires all having a difference in terms of strength is proof that blood has the final say in a vampire’s prowess, so Emmett being able to contain more of it than Alice and therefore being stronger makes sense to me.

This isn’t the meta for me to get into that, but I don’t think vampires have muscles in the sense we do. Or rather, we can’t know that they do. Renesmée is proof that Edward retains his human DNA, or she would be a clone of Bella. Nahuel is proof that Joham retains a Y-chromosome. Does this mean that vampires have different cell types? Does a vampire’s stone-like skin still contain human DNA? One would think yes - except, if you rip a vampire apart, you get rubble. The parts are all solid. There’s also Carlisle theorizing that vampires digest blood by absorbing it through porous tissue, which makes me wonder why he dismissed his digestive system (my guess: vivisection fun times with Aro in Volterra. Carlisle couldn’t have done it on his own, and Aro is the only one mad and curious enough to be down for that). I’m getting off-topic - what I’m saying is, we don’t know how vampires work, meaning I can’t build this meta off of the assumption that they have muscles. I simply can’t know for sure that they do.

The important thing is that a vampire’s physique is a deciding factor in how strong they are.

There’s also Laurent’s warning about James, that he has “unparalleled senses”, meaning some vampires are better at sight, hearing, and smell than others. I can believe that, because we have canon examples of vampires being bad at tracking.

There’s Edward in Port Angeles, who couldn’t track Bella’s, his singer, scent to her location, and (I admit this one is conjecture but it’s so probable that I say it goes) Carlisle’s creator, who after taking care of the mob must have realized he’d bitten one of the humans, meaning a newborn would soon be loose in London. This is punishable by death by the Volturi. The fact that he didn’t return to finish Carlisle off means that he was unable to find him. I remind the audience that Carlisle was bleeding and suffering the effects by a venom intended to paralyze the victim. To put it this way, Carlisle wouldn’t have survived James, or anybody with a trace of tracking competence. By comparison, Carlisle was able to locate a dying Rosalie by the smell of her blood, even though there wouldn’t have been a trail for him to follow, as her body had not been moved.

When it comes to these disparities in strength and speed among the Volturi, I imagine Jane and Alec are the physically weakest members of the guard, and among the slowest. They’re prepubescent, meaning no muscle for them, and their height (a humble 4′8″ and 4′10″) implies very short legs. They’re simply not going to get as far as an adult would, not in the same number of steps. Renata at 5′0″ is another tiny vampire lady who likely isn’t very strong or fast.

That’s not to say I think these physically weaker members of the Volturi guard are necessarily useless in hand-to-hand combat, Alec at least is a boy stuck in a playful age, and the males around him are trained warriors. He’s probably picked up a few things over the years.

As for the others, Aro is described as frail-looking, which hints at him being quite thin. I don’t think he’s weak, if he couldn’t win a fight he wouldn’t be around, but I do think he’s probably below average in terms of strength. Caius I picture as a Harrison Ford type, so of course I’m gonna think he’s a bit burly, but this is me headcanoning and not actually hinted at in canon. Marcus is 19, so I imagine he can only be so strong.

Back to Edward’s speed.

He’s a 6′2″ teen, that’s code for “very long legs”, though I’m actually going to go ahead and posit that he’s not actually that fast. Strap in for this next part:

The guy was a teenager who lay dying for an undisclosed amount of time. The fact that Carlisle had the time to get to know his mother points to a few weeks, at least. And Edward was very ill:

Elizabeth worried obsessively over her son. She hurt her own chances of survival trying to nurse him from her sickbed. I expected that he would go first, he was so much worse off than she was. (New Moon, page 21)

Muscles atrophy quickly, never more so than when you’re a teen ravaged by fever, on your deathbed. And as I’ve explained above, I think your physique in life ties directly into your vampiric prowess.

I think Edward is certainly the physically weakest of the male Cullens, quite likely weaker than Rosalie as well, maybe even Esme.

Now, speed is not the same as strength. However, for humans, the two are connected. It’s the muscle fibers in our legs that determine our speed. Basically, type I fibers make an enduring runner, type II fibers make a speed runner. So, assuming that vampires retain their human musculature, one could argue that Edward had a lot of type II in life. However, Carlisle when he was human was able to outrun the mob he was with:

He ran through the streets, and Carlisle — he was twenty-three and very fast — was in the lead of the pursuit. (Twilight, page 158)

Carlisle clearly had a lot of type II fibers, and unlike Edward he was in peak physical condition when he died. He was also an adult who’d had more time to develop musculature, while Edward was a seventeen-year-old. If musculature was a deciding factor, one would think they would at the very least be of equal speed, though realistically Edward should be slower.

So, if it’s not muscles, what is it that makes Edward faster than the others?

It could be a matter of technique. Except, the way Bella describes movement when she wakes up as a vampire, it’s all very automated. Her body knows exactly how to do everything, and executes it without much input from her:

After that first frozen second of shock, my body responded to the unfamiliar touch in a way that shocked me even more.

Air hissed up my throat, spitting through my clenched teeth with a low, menacing sound like a swarm of bees. Before the sound was out, my muscles bunched and arched, twisting away from the unknown. I flipped off my back in a spin so fast it should have turned the room into an incomprehensible blur—but it did not. I saw every dust mote, every splinter in the wood-paneled walls, every loose thread in microscopic detail as my eyes whirled past them.

So by the time I found myself crouched against the wall defensively—about a sixteenth of a second later—I already understood what had startled me, and that I had overreacted. (Breaking Dawn, page 251-252)

Growling, crouching - those are all distinctly vampiric, non-human ways to act. Bella didn’t learn this, her body knew it of its own accord. When she later runs, she explains it as happening the same way - she just does it.

The way Bella experiences it, vampiric movement is like a package she downloaded, and that executes her instinctual commands with no need for her to actually know how to do any of this. Her grace is another example of this - Bella Swan may be in charge of her own consciousness, but the venom is entirely in control of her body.

Given these facts, I don’t think it’s technique that makes Edward a better runner than others. His technique is likely similar to everyone else’s. If it isn’t, if technique is what makes the difference, then who is and isn’t fast is an arbitrary process.

With that, we get to my controversial theory about why Edward is the fastest Cullen: he’s not.

Running and being fast is the only thing about vampirism that Edward enjoys. This is for another meta, but Edward is extremely depressed about every single other bit of it. Every aspect of being a vampire torments him.

Except the running. He enjoys all of it, especially being the fastest, so much. And as a newborn, he would have been faster than Carlisle.

But after that, when his newborn strength faded…

I honestly think that Carlisle decided to just slow down a bit when running with him, let Edward have this. It’s no skin of his back, and it makes Edward happy, so why not.

Esme joins the family, and of course she would be down for this. Nothing is more parental, more maternal, than losing at checkers to make your child happy, after all. Could also be she’s not very fast herself, but even if she were then she would downplay it to make Edward feel like Jesse Owens.

Enter Rosalie, who would think it’s completely ridiculous, yes, but she would also recognize this excellent opportunity to call in a big favor from Carlisle later on. There’s also the fact that I think Carlisle has a gift (yes, yes, meta is coming, people) that makes him very persuasive people. And also that for all that Rose gets a lot of bad rep, she is very generous and loves her family, if being fast makes Edward happy then alright.

Emmett is an easy-going guy, he goes along with things. Alice adores Edward and would go along with it. She also has tiny matchstick legs and couldn’t outrun him if she tried. Jasper could not care less.

Bella does get outrun by Edward after waking up, but she also did zero exercise in life (listing this in case musculature matter), had Renesmée devour her from within rendering her emaciated, and then died like a slasher movie murder victim. There’s not a lot of blood in her, and what little blood there is doesn’t have a lot to work with. She does defeat Emmett at arm wrestling, so I’ll concede that. However, there are enough extenuating circumstances surrounding Bella that I think my “Edward isn’t that fast” theory survives his ability to outrun her.

So, I believe Edward is the fast Cullen because Carlisle told a white lie in 1919, no one ever corrected that, and now it’s too late.

[redrobin-detective]

because I could not stop for death

because I could not stop for death / he kindly stopped for me / the carriage held but just ourselves / and immortality ~ Emily Dickinson

Danny Fenton was dying, properly this time.

Somehow, in the back of his head and in his worst nightmares, he knew it would end this way: bleeding on the floor of his parents’ lab where it had all began. He was so hot he felt like his skin was on fire, blood and ectoplasm were dripping all over him and his lungs and heart were working overtime to try in vain to keep him alive a moment longer. He’d imagined at the time that there would be more screaming but death, in the end, was turning out to be a quiet little affair. A lonely table set for one.

“Danny, Danny come on, you-you gotta slow down your breathing, just relax, for me, please,” Sam moaned, more than making up for his lack of noise. She was shaking and touching him all over, his chest, his face, his hair. Normally she jumped right into action but she had to know, deep down, that there was nothing she could do. All that was left was to watch her panic and cry, it wasn’t his favorite image. 

“Vlad!” He heard Tucker scream cry into the phone, “please it’s Tucker, Danny’s dying I think. The Fentons had some new invention, something about his core, please we don’t know what to do!” 

Ugh Vlad, he was probably going to be so happy Danny was on his way out. He wasn’t looking much forward to his last images being his archenemy gloating. Tucker hung up and reached down to grasp Danny’s hand so hard it hurt. “Don’t worry dude, Vlad’s coming. He knows so much about you half ghosts that you’ll be fixed up on no time.” Right, Danny was already dead. If calling Vlad, feeling like he did something, helped Tucker move on then he’d deal with it.

Danny tilted his head to the side where Sam’s fingernails were carding through his hair. It was getting harder to see with the blood pouring out of his eyes but he looked at her, and tried to memorize her face. He’d never been able to tell her how much he loved her, that any day spent with her was a blessing. Tucker too, his best bro and a part of his soul. His best friends in the whole wide world, through thick and thin. God, he was going to miss them.

“Glurk,” he said, trying to convey those feeling but the fluids in his mouth and airway made it impossible. “Blerh.”

“Shh shh shh,” Sam soothed, “it’s okay, don’t try to talk.”

“Daniel!” He heard Vlad’s voice shriek as he materialized in front of the portal. Sam and Tucker were violently pushed out the way. Danny wanted to be angry at his loved ones being taken away in his final moments but anger was for the living, he barely had the energy to breathe. This death was too long and too short all at once. He made eye contact with Vlad who all at once lost the frantic edge to his tone and and instead knelt on the floor. “Oh my dear boy. What did they do to you?”

“What is going on?” Sam demanded, shoving her way back in. Danny was glad, he could see again like this. “Why aren’t you doing something!”

“There’s nothing to be done,” Vlad said in a flat, monotone, he picked up one of Danny’s hands and patted it gently. “His core is dying, it’s like a ghost’s heart. It contains their very essence, it is from which everything they are comes from. If Jack and Maddie somehow disrupted it then there’s nothing anyone can do to save him.”

“But he’s human too,” Tucker defended, grabbing Danny’s other hand. His human warm skin burned but the contact felt so good, he twitched his fingers closer to his friend’s. “He-he doesn’t need a core, he’s already got a heart. So, so he doesn’t have powers, we can do normal again.”

“You-” Vlad hissed before taking a calming breath. “The accident that made Daniel like this irreparably altered him. His core was as much a part of keeping him alive as his other organs, without it, his body is shutting down.” Vlad turned down to look Danny in the eye and saw true, genuine grief in those hateful red eyes. 

“I cannot imagine the agony you are going through, I’m so sorry. I’d say it will be over soon but,” a hitch that sounded almost like a sob if it was coming from anyone other than Vlad. “But you’ve hovered on the edge of death for years, son, and you’ve always been such a fighter. You have minutes at most but those minutes are an eternity when you’re suffering.”

Sam and Tucker’s sobbing blended together in the background, Vlad was saying something with a miserable, stunned expression. The swirling of the portal in the background seemed louder than anything, louder than his heart beat pounding and pounding as it ran it’s last race. 

“Daniel, Danny,” he focused his eyes back on Vlad who had a stubborn, unhappy set to his brow. “Do you want me to make the pain stop? An ectoblast to your chest will end your life instantly.”

“Don’t you dare touch him,” Sam shrieked, coming back into view and looking like she was trying to fight Vlad off. “You do anything to him and I’ll kill you!” Tucker just sat and stared at him, like he too was trying memorize Danny’s face.

“It’s a mercy, Samantha or do you want his last moments on earth to be drowning on the blood in his lungs.”

“Sam, he has a point. I don’t- I don’t think we can fix this.”

“No! No we always fix things, I’ll do it myself if I have to!”

Danny’s vision was starting to go, more black than anything else. He closed his eyes and readied himself for the inevitable. 

“Time Out,” Danny opened his eyes and found he was no longer in pain. He was standing up and apart from where he’d previously been lying. Sam had her hands in Vlad’s face and the older hybrid was snarling something at her. Tucker was midmotion trying to stand up, presumably to get Sam but the three of them were frozen in the moment. Danny turned and found Clockwork floating, looking very out of place in his parents lab. “Good evening, Danny.”

“You that short on cash that you work part time as a grim reaper?” Danny quipped out of habit. He looked down at his body and grimaced a bit, that wasn’t a pretty sight. No doubt traumatizing for Tucker and Sam. God how were they going to explain this to his parents? “Gonna ferry me across the River Styx? I don’t have two pennies but I think I have a bloodied $10 on me.”

“You’re core is dying and you have 17 seconds left in this world before all your organs give out and finish the process you began when you turned on your parent’s ghost portal,” Clockwork explained as he changed into child form. 

“O-okay,” Danny said shakily, trying to be brave even when he was so, so scared. He was going out whether he wanted it or not but he refused to leave crying. “Nice of you to come say goodbye then but, uh but unless you have something to say then you should let me go back. No one knows better than me that you can’t outrun death. Thanks but I’m uh I’m ready.”

Clockwork stared at him for a bit, not sure how long, time was weird like this but he changed forms a few times. “You’re quite the remarkable young man, Danny Fenton.”

“Uh thanks,” Danny added, once more looking at his body which had, according to Clockwork, a 17 second expiration date. “What’s going to happen? Am I going to become a ghost? Does heaven or hell exist for someone like me?”

“I don’t get to decide what happens, I merely see options,” Clockwork stated easily, taking his time. “If you die naturally you’ll become ghost, a mere shadow of who you are now and one who would fade fairly quickly. You don’t have strong enough anger or regrets to tie you in the real world for long.” Not great but okay he supposed, hell for his friends and family though. “You could let Plasmius deliver his mercy kill, destroying what’s left of your ghost core and ensuring you do not come back.” Better, probably won’t help the Fruitloop’s instability but he can’t save everyone.

“That one comes with it’s own caveat but I’ll get to that in a moment,” Clockwork explained. “There is a third option where you get up off the floor and walk away.” Danny blinked then looked back at his body which certainly wasn’t walking anywhere but into a plush casket. Clockwork opened his hands and the Ghost King’s Crown materialized in his hands. “If you accept your claim to the King’s Cown, it will revitalize your core and your life would be saved.”

Danny blinked.

“By sealing Pariah Dark, you won by proxy and established a legitimate claim to the throne. The Zone has been without a king for millennia, most have forgotten the old rules. Those who remembered were not too keen on a half-ghost child assuming leadership and kept you in the dark. If Plasmius ends your life then your claim transfers over to him, which he is aware of. It had been his plan all along to trick you into defeating Pariah so he could steal the Crown from you at a later date, a much easier opponent.”

Danny’s mind was overloaded with information, he didn’t know what to focus on first. He stared at his 17 seconds from death face and tried to process it all. Crown? Claim? Vlad?

“Of course,” Clockwork tutted, “he didn’t plan on your dying and in such a gruesome fashion. If he kills you and takes your claim, he would spend his remaining years ruling the Ghost Zone in a just, controlled fashion for your memory. He destroys all the stable portals and keeps the ghost and human worlds separate.” Clockwork became and old man and titled his head, “it’s not a bad timeline, all things considered.”

“And if I take it?” Danny asked quietly.

“You’re compassionate, brave and motivated, you have all the makings of a revolutionary king,” Clockwork smiled. “The Zone would experience and unprecedented era of peace, there would be positive interactions between human and ghosts for the first time since life and death split into two. Your name would spoken with reverence for the rest of time.”

“But I don’t want to be king,” Danny frowned.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Clockwork stated. “Which is why I am giving you the choice. If you pass peacefully there will be no one to claim the Crown and life will continue on, ghost attacks and all. If Plasmius kills you, he becomes an effective but unmemorable king. If you take the Crown, you can get the chance to tell Sam and Tucker how much you love them.”

Danny rubbed at his face, he didn’t want to die but he’d be sealing away his entire future with a move like this. He didn’t even know if the Crown would let him go with death, maybe he’d die and be stuck as the Ghost King until his core finally gave out lord in who knows how long. Eternity was an awful long time to carry such a responsibility. He couldn’t bring himself to ask, too afraid of the answer.

“Is there ever a timeline I became an astronaut?” He asked instead. Clockwork hummed, seemingly unsurprised by Danny’s non-sequitur. 

“Yes, in one of the few universes where you never walked into the portal. You never go into space what with human politics putting a halt on the programs but you work for NASA. You leave Amity Park at 17 and don’t come back save for your parents’ dual funeral.” He paused and Danny felt read down to his very bones, “from the moment you became half ghost you were always heading for this moment. The circumstances varied but it always came down to you and the Crown. Time is straining to continue, to see how this drama plays out. Will you accept it and all the joy and grief that comes with it?”

Danny looked over at Vlad, still mid-sneer but there was a scared desperation in his face. He and Vlad sniped at each other all the time but Danny didn’t really hate him and he didn’t think Vlad did either. Leaving him alone, plus making him be king was a heavy burden to put on his enemy. 

Sam and Tuck probably wouldn’t recover from this, he’d put them through so much already but he just knew that they’d never be the same. Could he do that to them? Take the easy way out and leave them to suffer? Mom and Dad didn’t deserve to come home to a dead son, the truth would come out and they’d never forgive themselves. Jazz certainly wouldn’t, she was 2 states over at University but he could already hear her angry, grief-stricken screams. 

Death, death was quiet. It was quiet and merciful and sad, but it was also easy. And Danny Fenton had never once taken the easy route. He reached out and took and the crown before shakily placing it on his head. He gasped, throwing his head back as his core swelled, taking up residence once more right next to his heart. Clockwork smiled, looking like the cat who ate the canary. 

“The Crown of Fire, pardon me the Crown changes with each core, the Crown of Ice is now yours as is the Zone. Your reign begins now but so too does the rest of your life. People are waiting for you. Time in.” Danny slammed back into awareness on the floor of his parents’ lab, the floor he’d almost died on twice. 

He sat up as cold radiated off his body, causing frost to crawl down his arms and along the floor. Sam, Tucker and Vlad, who’d been frozen up until now, jumped back to life. There was a new, familiar weight on his head that he didn’t dare acknowledge. 

He squeezed his eyes shut and said a silent goodbye to a quiet, normal life. It wouldn’t be all bad, he could be happy like this but the Crown still felt like a iron manacle around his neck. But he got used to the ghost powers, he could get used to this too. Maybe one day he won’t look at the stars and say ‘what if?’

“Danny!” Sam shouted, throwing herself into his arms soon followed by Tucker. Their warm weight, their relieved sobs, their shaky breaths in his air, now this was something worth living for. He squeezed them tightly.

“But how dude, you were at death’s door!” Tucker asked, still not letting go.

“You accepted the Crown,” Vlad said evenly, “I wasn’t aware you even knew about your claim. Who told you?”

“You don’t know everything, Vlad,” Danny sighed, sitting himself upright. Ugh his shirt was covered in blood and ectoplasm. He needed to trash these clothes before his parents freaked. And find a way to hide the floating ice crown on his head. 

“Even an old man can be surprised every now and again,” Vlad said wearily. He stood up to his full height before startling Danny by dipping down to one knee. “Then allow me to be the first to welcome my new king and wish him well.”

“I thought you wanted this,” Danny questioned.

“I do, I did,” Vlad said, unusually off balance. “To be quite honest, I’m not sure how to feel about it but, right now, I’m just immeasurably happy you’re alive, little badger. Now I best be off, enjoy your kingdom, my liege, I’ll be sure to come bother you some time soon.” Vlad disappeared in a swirl of pink leaving just him, Sam and Tucker still clinging to him.

Danny may have a kingdom, a job he didn’t want and his whole life decided in a spur of the moment choice, but he also had something very important. He squeezed his friends tightly.

“I love you guys, thank you for being my friends even though I have the worst ideas for activities. Dying? On a Sunday night? How lame is that?” Sam laughed, a bit hysterical but it was real and it made Danny feel weightless. 

“Don’t do that again, buddy,” Tucker breathed into his shoulder. “So you gonna explain what just happened and why you’re apparently the Ghost King or something?”

“Yeah, yeah I will but let’s get changed first. Mom and Dad will be home soon and I think I’m going to need to have a conversation with them about my new job.” 

[drabbles-mc]

Whoever Broke Your Heart

Angel Reyes x Reader

Song request from @bishopslosawife: the song is Whoever Broke Your Heart by Murphy Elmore. When I do song fics I tend to just write a story based around the song, I don’t usually include lyrics or anything. Hope that’s okay!

Warnings: language, mentions of past toxic relationships, a good old bar fight, protective Angel comin’ in hot

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: When I listened to the song and the prompt, I definitely pictured Angel a little more than any of the other guys. Love seeing him get a little hot-headed and protective. Hope y’all enjoy!

Angel Taglist: @mayans-sauce​ @helli4nthus​ @angelreyesgirl​ @starrynite7114​ @queenbeered​ @sincerelyasomebody​ @sadeyesgf​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @appropriate-writers-name​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @multiyfandomgirl40​ @sillygoose6969​ @beardburnsupersoldiers​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​

You laughed as Angel wrapped his arms around your waist. He was standing behind your bar stool, pressing playful kisses against your neck and cheek. You reached behind you and gently rested your hand on the side of his face, reveling in the feeling of his hands on your hips.

It was one of the rare nights when the two of you went out with your friends. Normally you hung out with him and the guys at the clubhouse, and that was fine, but if you really wanted to go out and dance, you could usually convince Angel to come with you and your little crew. He’d never been good at saying no to you. Plus, you could tell that he liked being around when all of you went out because he kept his eye out for any creeps trying to make moves on any of you. Angel might’ve been your boyfriend, but he’d gone to bat for nearly every one of your friends at one point or another, defending them from belligerent drunks and shitty exes. Sometimes you worried that he’d get tired of it, but he always told you it was nice to feel purposeful, especially when he was one of the only guys in the group.

“I’m gonna step out for a smoke, querida,” he kissed your cheek, “Come with me?”

You nodded, hopping down off the barstool, “Of course.”

You were walking in front of him, giggling to yourself as you felt his hands reach out and slap your ass lightly. You turned around to him quickly, flashing him a smile before slipping out the door of the club. The air felt cold and fresh, and you took a deep breath before leaning back against the side of the building the two of you had just come out of. Angel pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his kutte. You shook your head no when he offered you one, content to just be with him away from the noise for a few minutes before you dove back into it.

Angel was looking at you, a smile plastered on his face as he let out a puff of smoke. You felt your face get hot for a moment, “What?”

“Nothin’. You’re beautiful.”

You smiled, shaking your head with a laugh, “You’re beautiful.”

He rested one hand onto your hip, “Nah, I mean it. I could look at you all day for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.”

You felt your heart swell inside your chest as you looked at him. Angel had never hesitated on telling you everything that came to his mind, and it was one of the things that you loved the most about him. He wasn’t afraid to be a little sappy with you and it went a long way after what your past relationships had put your through.

He saw the wheels turning in your mind and smiled, “Wanna bail and go home?”

You laughed, shaking your head, “No, no. I’m good, I promise. I just…it’s nice to hear that stuff sometimes.”

He snubbed his cigarette out on the ground before stepping in closer to you, cupping your face in his hands, “I’ll make sure you hear it every day.”

There was a brief moment when you wanted to tell him that you changed your mind and were totally okay with bailing and going home, but you stopped yourself. You hadn’t gone out with your friends in a while and you didn’t want to bail on them just because you were feeling extra lovey over your boyfriend. The two of you took a couple more minutes to stay outside of the chaos, and finally Angel tugged you along back inside to rejoin everyone.

He didn’t particularly like dancing—he’d told you that on more than one occasion. But he’d let you drag him out onto the dancefloor when you went to the club because he knew how much you enjoyed it. He also knew that whoever you had been with before kept you on an impossibly tight leash and you hadn’t been allowed to do much without your ex looking over your shoulder waiting for you to slip up. You hadn’t mentioned it to him at first, so when you would get upset and defensive over things, he didn’t quite understand it. But one day you broke down, not able to try and push it down anymore. From that point on Angel started going a little extra out of his way to be reassuring, and to let you know that you never had to defend yourself to him. He never wanted you to be nervous to talk to him about anything, but especially not things as simple as wanting to go out with your girlfriends for the night.

He was pressed right up against you, hands on your hips as the two of you danced to the music. Despite the music and the noise, you could still hear him clear as day when he leaned down next to your ear, “I love you.”

You smiled up at him, “I love you too.”

“Would a beautiful woman like you let me buy her a drink?”

You laughed, nodding, “I suppose, since you seem like such a gentleman.”

The two of you made your way back to the bar. You kept your fingers lightly entwined with Angel’s so that you wouldn’t lose him in the busyness of the club.  He managed to find you a free barstool to sit on and you gladly took it, happy to be off your feet for a few minutes.

Angel stepped away to flag down the bartender. You watched him, a smile spreading across your face. You were too busy gazing at him to notice who else had shown up and was now standing in front of you, waiting to gain your attention.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” he finally said. Chills shot down your spine and you turned your head. He smiled at you and it almost seemed genuine, “Long time since I’ve seen you. How’ve you been?”

Every fiber of your being was telling you to get the hell out of the club. No good would come of talking to him. Your answer was short, your tone cold, “Fine.”

“Let me buy you a drink.”

“Someone already is,” you were angry but you still felt a lump forming in the back of your throat. You thought you had outrun these demons.

He cocked one eyebrow, “Really? I doubt that.”

Your heart dropped into your stomach. You had no idea what exactly it was about him that made him able to make you question everything about yourself, and your life, but you hated it. You hated him. Your mind raced to try and find the right words to say to get yourself out of the situation, to make him go away, but you couldn’t.

Angel reappeared, a beer bottle in one hand and a drink for you in the other. He saw the look on your face and his smile instantly dropped. He looked at the man standing in front of you, knowing that he was the reason for your expression but not quite knowing why.

He set your drink down on the surface of the bar and stood next to you, facing your ex, “Who the fuck are you?”

The man stepped back slightly, taking in the intimidating image that Angel easily put off, “I should be asking you that question.”

Angel scoffed, stepped completely in front of you and blocked you from the sightline of your ex, “I’m her fucking boyfriend.”

He laughed, shaking his head, “Figures,” he peered around Angel to look at you, “let go of me and your standards, huh?”

The realization of who he was hit Angel like a freight train. He shoved the man backwards, “Get the fuck away from her.”

He laughed, “What are you gonna do about it?”

Before Angel could do anything too stupid you reached forward and grabbed the beer bottle out of his hands. Starting a brawl was bad enough but the last thing you needed was him cracking someone’s skull with a glass bottle.

It didn’t do enough to defuse the situation. Angel got up in his face, towering over him, “I don’t give a fuck who you think you are. Get out of here now before you regret it.”

“You’re gonna make me regret it, biker boy?” he eyed Angel’s kutte.

Angel was too protective and hot-headed to back down. He shoved the man again, and when he tried to step back to him, Angel caught him on the jaw with a clean right hook. You gasped, although you couldn’t say that the reaction surprised you all the much. Your ex stumbled backwards, hand coming up to nurse his jaw.

Angel was ready to swing again when the bouncer showed up and got in between them. He leaned in close to Angel, “You can’t do this in here. Take this shit outside, Angel. I don’t want to have to kick you out of here.”

Angel nodded, still not taking his eyes off of your ex, “Yea, got it,” he stepped around the bouncer and pushed your ex towards the door, “Let’s fucking go,” he looked back at you, “Stay here, Y/N.”

“Angel, don’t—”

He cut you off, “Stay here.”

You were gnawing at the inside of your lip as you watched the two of them head towards the door of the club. Your ex might’ve been able to intimidate you, but Angel was an entirely different story. You’ve never seen him back down from anything and you had a feeling that he wasn’t going to start tonight.

Angel pushed him out the door of the club onto the sidewalk, “Stay the fuck away from her.”

He chuckled, “What’re you gonna do about it? Send your gang to come and get me?”

“I don’t need anyone else to handle this, believe me,” he grabbed the collar of the man’s shirt, “Don’t even think about looking at her or talking to her ever again.”

“You can’t tell me what to fucking do.”

Angel shook his head slowly. He released the grip on the man’s shirt, and as soon as his hands were free he cocked his arm back and punched him again, slicing the man’s lip open. He dropped to the ground and within seconds Angel was on top of him. Your ex tried to shell up and protect his face, but it didn’t do him much good.

You stepped out onto the sidewalk, instantly running over when you saw what was going on. You grabbed Angel’s shoulders and tried to pull him back, “Angel! Angel, stop!” you pulled back as hard as you could, “He’s not worth it!”

He allowed you to pull him back, leaving your ex in a heap on the sidewalk. You pulled his face so that he was looking at you, “What the fuck are you thinking?”

“I’m thinkin’ that that fuckin—” he couldn’t finish his sentence as he shook his head and glared at the man who was slowly rising from the pile Angel had left him in, “He broke your heart, Y/N. He hurt you. He doesn’t get to get away with that.”

You cupped one side of his face in your hand, knowing that all he could think about was all the lasting damage that that man had caused you, all the pain you had to work through to be able to trust someone again. You sighed as you traced your fingers down through his beard, “He’s a piece of shit, for sure, but he’s not worth getting arrested over. Let him go.”

Angel turned back to your ex, who was trying to wipe away the blood trickling out of the cuts on his face, “I don’t ever wanna fuckin’ see you again,” he gave him one last shove, “Get outta my sight.”

You chuckled to yourself, shaking your head as your ex stumbled away and Angel walked back over to you. You looked over his face, smiling at the fact that he got out of all of that unscathed.

You sighed, “Feel better?”

“He’s a fuckin’ idiot, Y/N.”

You laughed, “Yea, that’s why I don’t want you going to jail over him. You’re on thin ice as it is, Reyes,” you smiled as you shook your head.

“No, I mean, he’s an idiot for doing what he did to you,” he pulled you closer by the beltloops of your shorts, “I’ll never understand how he didn’t see the amazing woman that’s standing in front of me right now,” he cupped your face in his hands, “I love you.”

You placed your hands on his, feeling that his knuckles were still damp with blood, “I love you too.”

“It’s never gonna be like that again, you know that, right?” he waited for you to meet his eyes, “I’m never gonna be like that.”

You nodded, “I know.”

He leaned down, kissing you softly on the lips, “Good,” he paused, a smile passing over his lips, “Now do you wanna bail and go home?”

You laughed, “Yea, let’s go. Before you bust up someone else’s face.”

He chuckled as he pulled you against his side, “Yea, yea,” he kissed the top of your head, “I’d do it again, you know.”

You smiled, leaning into him, “Yea, I know.”

[halfmoon-writes]

『"𝕙𝕪𝕡𝕠𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘, 𝕚𝕗 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕤𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕒 𝕜𝕟𝕚𝕗𝕖 𝕒𝕥 𝟛 𝕒𝕞, 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕠?"』

✉ 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚍𝚝 𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 ✉ 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎: 𝚖𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚗!𝚊𝚞, 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚜 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚊 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢 𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚘 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐(𝚜): 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚛𝚢, 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍, 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚜𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚎, 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚜𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 (𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚒 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚙𝚞𝚝) 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜(𝚜): 𝚍𝚒𝚕𝚞𝚌, 𝚔𝚊𝚎𝚢𝚊, 𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒, 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚎𝚍𝚘

☾ diluc

➥ he's probably still in his office at the time, sipping his nth coffee for the night as he glances the paperwork in his desk. mans a busy businessman.

➥ then, his phone rings. he would scowl at the sound then look at the clock. it was 3 am, who would call him at this time?

➥ when he saw your name on the caller, he'd sigh. 'what are they up to this time?' he thought, then pressing the green button.

➥ strong winds and rapid footsteps could be heard from his phone and he grew worried. he let out a small "hello?"

➥ "diluc! baby! love of my life, hi!" you answered, your voice was breathy, as if you've been running for a long time. "what are you doing at this hour, and why is it so loud?" he asked.

➥ he could hear you let out a laugh. your pace didn't falter at all as you let out a small squeak. "hypothetically speaking, if someone were to chase you with a knife at 3 am, what would you do?" you questioned.

➥ his slouched state became tense as he stood upright, phone pressing between his cheeks and shoulder as he hurriedly wear his coat. "run away. where are you right now?" he asked, grabbing his car keys and immediately exiting his workplace.

➥ "my brain is panicking right now I have no idea where I am." you informed, then laughed. he doesn't know why you could laugh at a situation like this, but it felt reassuring to know you're not overly panicking to the point where you couldn't even get help.

➥ "elzier, tend to my workplace while I'm gone. I won't be long." he said as he ran towards the garage. "could you stay on the line with me?" he asked.

➥ "yeah, yeah definitely," you said, taking a deep breath. "my breathing might sound unsightly though, hope you don't mind. I've been running for a while." you took another breath again.

➥ "that's fine. all that matters is that you're safe." he said. by the sound of the slight shuffle in your line (minus the breathing), it seemed like you are currently hiding, or relaxing.

➥ "did you lose them?" he asked. "uhh I think ye—" all of the sudden, you went silent. he wanted to ask if you're okay, but he was scared that he would've alerted the person in finding you.

➥ so, he waited. he was currently on his way to the supermarket you normally visit at an ungodly hour, in hopes that you would be somewhere near there. not too long after, he heard the sound of something hitting the concrete. hard.

➥ "(y/n)! are you okay?!" he yelled out. there wasn't any answer given other than the sound of ruffling and he was anxious to wait for your reply.

➥ "hi! I managed to escape death's grip and kick him in the fucking balls!" you shouted, your breathing still erratic. he let out a sigh of relief.

➥ "that's great. do you know where you're located now?" he asked. "uhh... oh, look! it's the gas station near the statue of barbatos!" you said. "good job. now, stay there. I'll go get you."

➥ "yes, please." once he arrived, he noticed you waving at him with a smile, as if you weren't in a near-death situation. he wondered what he's gonna do with you.

➥ as soon as he arrived, he immediately engulf you in his arms. "I was really worried." he said. you let out a laugh, hugging him back. "yeah, I was too. worried for that guy because he definitely won't be having kids." he sighed at your response, but laugh nonetheless, placing a kiss at your forehead.

➥ "let's go home. and you're not going to the supermarket at these hours anymore."

☾ kaeya

➥ let's face it. this man would be sleeping at this hour. but he's a light sleeper, so he would wake up the moment he heard his phone rings.

➥ he groans at the noise, rubbing his eyes and check the caller id, then back to the clock.

➥ what in the actual ever loving- it was 3 am, why are you calling him at this hour?

➥ he picked up your call and was about to make a sly remark about how you must've missed him, but the words were stuck on his tongue when he heard the sound of your heavy breathing.

➥ "you good?" he asked.

➥ "hey, bubs. nope. not at all." you said. "hypothetically speaking, if someone were to chase you with a knife at 3 am, what would you do?"

➥ the way that this man stood straight up. his sleepiness dissipate immediately. "you're joking." he said, well, more like convinced himself. this was the only time that he was hoping you were pranking him.

➥ there was a long silence on the line, then the sound of your footsteps, from light tiptoes to full-on sprinting. he grew panicked. taking the nearest piece of clothing and pants with him.

➥ "stay on the line. I'm coming to get you." when he said, that he heard a laugh from you and he really thought that you were pranking him, but it wasn't. "I don't even know where I am, how on earth are you gonna find me?"

➥ he stopped doing whatever he was doing at the moment, before continuing and grabbing his keys and drove off with his motorcycle (use your helmets!), his phone snuffed inside his helmet. "you're probably not that far off. I'll try to find you. meanwhile, stay on the line." he demanded.

➥ "yes, captain." if it was any other situation, he would've laugh at the nickname, but he couldn't. god, he was so scared at what might happen to you if he wasn't fast enough.

➥ the constant sound of you taking a long breath before continuing to run makes him very anxious. all of the sudden, he heard you scream in pain.

➥ "(y/n)! hey, hey (y/n)! what happened?!" the grip on the handlebar tightened. there was nothing but the sound of something stumbling around, then the sound of a loud groaning could be heard.

➥ "(y/n)...?" he called out one more time. "yes, yes I'm here." you let out another laugh. "well, now I know where I am now. it's a few blocks across diluc's bar." you said.

➥ you're breathing pretty heavily and he was really concerned about that, increasing up the speed to get to you. he spotted you sitting down near a pole and you waved at him.

➥ his eyes widened at your red hand, clutching the side of your shoulder. putting down his helmet, he rushed to your aid to examine the wound. "hey, you found me." you joked.

➥ he didn't answer, instead pressing the wound to stop the bleeding. "it's pretty deep." he answered. "just like you last night." you retort. he couldn't help but let out a laugh at your comment.

➥ "yeah? and I'll do it again."

☾ venti

➥ venti had a variety of activities he'd do at an ungodly hour. it could range from making new music or trying to summon a demon. either way, he'll probably still be awake doing random shit.

➥ the sound of lyre could be heard at his place, strumming softly with him humming along. it was peaceful, until it was broken by the sound of his phone ringing.

➥ he raised a brow at it, but picked it up without seeing the caller. "hello?" he greeted. his greeting was met by the sound of wind blowing harshly, as if someone was running.

➥ he released the phone and checked the caller. to his surprise, it was you. "(y/n)? wha-" "hey, venti!" your voice called out, mixed with pants and heavy breathing.

➥ "hypothetically speaking, if someone were to chase you with a knife at 3 am, what would you do?" at the question, he stopped moving.

➥ "...are you serious?" he asked. you laughed at his reaction. "'course not! I'm joking!" you said. "no, you're not." "no, I'm not. please help."

➥ I don't think venti's the type of person to have a car since his tiny legs too short to reach em so-- public bus it is.

➥ immediately, he rushed out of his home and ran towards the nearest bus. luckily for him, the bus was just on its way to leave. "where are you?" he asked.

➥ "uhh... hang on. I'm- AAH--" you shrieked. venti panicked at the sound of your scream. "(y/n)!" "HAH! I managed to outrun them. sucks for them for not being to able to have children now." you said with a laugh.

➥ venti's just relieved to hear you were still okay. "oh, how convenient! there's a bus stop ahead." you said. "that is convenient. stay there, I'll get you." he said.

➥ his eyes trailed at each stop the bus did and when he finally spotted your form, he asked the driver to stop then hopped down, immediately sprinting to you.

➥ "were you hurt?" he asked. "nah. damn, I know I've said that I wanna die a lot of times, but I wasn't ready yet." you said, catching your breath.

➥ venti laughed at your response then pulled you to a tight hug. "let's get you home, then."

☾ albedo

➥ he would probably either drawing, or doing some experiments, mostly the former.

➥ he'd have his phone playing one of those live jazz songs on youtube. he'd prefer to listen to live since it has no advertisement to bother his focus.

➥ while listening to the song and sketching your face by memory, the sound of his phone stopped, replaced by a ringing.

➥ he'd get a bit annoyed, but his previous emotion turned to worry when he saw the caller id. it was 3 in the morning, what on earth were you doing?

➥ "hello, (y/n), is everything alright?" he'd asked. he heard a loud crash from the other line, the sound of something falling at the ground, then followed by the sound of what seemed to be your phone slammed down.

➥ "(y/n)?" he'd ask one more time. in front of his bed was a coat neatly placed on the hanger and he was more than ready to just bolt towards your location.

➥ he'd heard grunts and shuffling for a few times, before he heard your voice. "hey, prince. sorry, was I bothering you?" mans was worried that he couldn't even bring himself to say yes.

➥ "forget about that. what were you doing?" he asked. he heard you let out a nervous laugh. "well, hypothetically speaking, if someone were to chase you with a knife at 3 am, what would you do?"

➥ albedo was someone aloof that doesn't really show emotions a lot, but the emotion of fear was evident on his face. "run and find a safe spot. I'll get to you. are you somewhere near the place where we would buy art supplies?" he asked, his voice calm and collected, a complete contrast to how he's feeling right now.

➥ "uhh... oh, yes! I can see the light from here." you answered. "good. go inside. the owner should recognise your face, go ask them for help." he suggested. he grabbed his coat and car keys and speed up towards said location.

➥ "alright, thank you." "don't hang up." he reminded. before he could hear your response, the sound of your scream could be heard. his car nearly crashed to a nearby tree at your voice, but he regained composure and continued to made his way to you.

➥ "(y/n)! talk to me! what happened?!" he asked frantically. there was a lot of stumbling sounds followed by your voice saying 'get off of me you fuck!' then a loud 'thud' was heard.

➥ "hey, hey I'm alright. still alive." you said. he took note that you sounded more breathy than before. "I'm inside. the person doesn't seemed to be following me though." you informed.

➥ "that's good. I'm only 2 minutes away. wait for me." he said. once he was there, he immediately went to you, eyes widened slightly at your bleeding form.

➥ that's why you screamed. he took off his coat and covered the bleeding area. the owner was nowhere to be seen, but he returned shortly, bringing a glass of water and a med kit, not surprised to see that albedo was there.

➥ albedo thanked the owner then tend to your wounds for a while. afterwards, he gave thanks to the owner again as he supported your wounded body on his.

➥ once the both of you reached his car, he placed his forehead against yours, one hand on your cheek, the other or your arm, supporting your form. "don't ever scare me like that again."

+

I honestly have no idea how to use Tumblr but it seemed fun.

[in-my-feels-probably]

INEFFABLE - Kaz Brekker

Chapter Six

If you would like to read this on Wattpad, it’s on there as well, my @ is in_my_feels_probably and there’s a few visuals and better descriptions and stuff on there. otherwise, enjoy, let me know what you think, and you can check out my masterlist for updates and more. don’t forget to read the prologue, it’s important to the story!

INEFFABLE – Kaz Brekker

ineffable (adj.) too great to be expressed in words, utterly indescribable; too sacred to speak of. 

Chapter Six

It was nightfall by now, and Elham, Kaz and Inej were following the Conductor to his supposed way across the Fold. Jesper was nowhere to be found, and Elham could only imagine what kind of trouble he had gotten to by this point in the night. The moonlight casted over them as they walked, the Conductor leading.

“We're almost there. Just a little further.”

Kaz fell back a bit, causing Elham and Inej to slow, matching his stride. He kept his voice hushed. “Where the hell is Jesper?”

“I should’ve gone with him. Have I ever been wrong? No. Do you ever listen to me? No. And here we are.”

Elham knew she was bold for speaking to Kaz like that, they might have been close, but he was still technically her boss, and more than that, she needed him focused on this job. Making him angry was never a good idea, but she just couldn’t help herself. It was too fun teasing him. She was the only one who could get away with it.

Kaz pretended like he couldn’t hear her, rolling his eyes, walking a little faster. He knew she was right, but he would never admit it. The Conductor approached a sign, barely lit up by his torch. He continued walking past it, but Inej stopped, putting her arm out in front of Elham.

“Landmines.”

Elham stopped, huffing. There was no point in being surprised, she knew this job was going to be the hardest one she ever went on. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t have a slight temper tantrum in Kaz’s direction though, it was just her luck that this would go bad from the beginning.

She almost risked following the Conductor, deciding to not care about the imminent death in the field, when Kaz put his cane out to stop her, giving her a glare. “We’ll wait. Follow the path that you carve.”

“Oh, that sign, it was my idea to keep people away. Can’t be too careful. We’re fine. Come.”

Elham glanced at them, sighing. Might as well. She took off, following the footsteps the Conductor had set, Inej hot on her trail. Kaz stood behind, looking for another way, before realizing there wasn’t one. He sighed, trying to corral the goat closer to him, before slowly following them.

The Fold was a wall, a giant black mass, with eerie groans and high pitched screeches coming from the inside. It was bigger than anything Elham could have imagined, and the pit in her stomach only grew. If nightfall was dark, the only light coming from the moon, she couldn’t imagine how dark and empty the inside of the Fold must be, a void.

Inej was warily glancing around. “It’s one thing hearing about it, but this is--”

“Nothing, compared to what lies within.”

Elham scoffed. “Thank you, Arken, very inspiring.”

The Crows watched Arken slowly crank a handle, watching a dingy train emerge from the edge of the Fold. “There. So, goat, jurda, thank you. Now we’re just waiting on…”

Gunshots emerged on the other side of the field, and Elham turned to see Jesper sprinting in their direction, a crowd of men right on his heels. “Wait for me!”

“They can’t see the train!” The Conductor took the torch from Inej, putting it out in the sand.

Kaz was growing angrier by the second. “Jesper! Get here now!”

“Put out the lantern.”

Elham pulled the pistol off her hip, advancing forward just enough to be able to aim at the men after Jesper. She only had two bullets, and then her gun would be useless. Without her sword, all she would have left is the knife strapped to her thigh. Still, Jesper had to get there, preferably not full of bullet holes.

She began picking off the two closest to him, one bullet missing, hitting the sign next to him, the other lodging itself into another man's thigh. He crumpled to the floor with a cry. “Damn it, Jesper! Hurry the fuck up, I’m out of bullets!”

She dropped the gun, pulling out the knife, ready to use it if she had to. Jesper had stopped now, reading the landmines sign. He picked his pace back up when another gunshot flew over his head. “Oh, wait for me! Don’t you go without me! Wait!”

Elham turned, pulling herself up onto the train, grabbing Jesper’s arm and pulling him in when he got close enough, falling back into one of the seats. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

The men were still advancing, and Inej began pulling the door shut, checking to make sure everything was secure. Elham had stood now, grabbing the sack off Jesper’s shoulder handing it to Arken.

“Please tell me this is 20 pounds of alabaster coal.”

Jesper turned to them. “Slight snag in the plan. Turns out that the kid who was helping me buy the coal, didn’t exactly know how to, uh, buy coal.”

Kaz nodded, unamused. “We know you gambled it away.”

“I lost a little bit of the money...ok I lost all of the money, but I managed to steal twenty pounds of alabaster coal.”

The Conductor looked over the bag. “No, no, no, there’s sixteen pounds!”

Jesper corrected himself, smoothing down his jacket. “Sixteen pounds, of alabaster coal.”

Kaz looked like he was going to have a heart attack, and Elham was fighting herself to not say I told you so. “Can we do it on sixteen?”

“Never been done before?”

Gunshots hit the side of the train, and Arken moved Jesper, placing him into a seat. “Sit here. Never shift your weight.”

Inej slowly sank into a chair, and Kaz violently pulled off his jacket, before motioning to Elham to sit down. She took a seat next to him, and watched Arken pull up his sleeve, seeing cuts along his wrist, like tally marks. Saints, he had crossed that many times?

Inej, knife drawn, said a quick prayer. Elham took a deep breath, getting ready to think of some funny last words, when an explosion went off, followed by the sound of men screaming.

Kaz’s face grew cold. “I thought you said they weren’t real.”

“I said nothing of the sort. I just said I put the sign up myself.” The Conductor hit a few levers, and the train began moving. Kaz glared, leaning back in his seat, and Elham straightened up next to him, exasperatedly laughing. Could this be going any worse?

---

It had been a few minutes, and the train was barreling down, the Conductor checking his watch. The sound of metal clanging got everyone’s attention, and Jesper uneasily sat up. “What was that?”

“I’ve erected a system of timers along the line. Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised of our pace.”

This piqued Kaz’s interest. “How did you know where to put the poles?”

“Physics and engineering account for most of my success. The rest is what we might call divine intervention, what others might call luck.”

Elham scoffed at that. “If there was any divine intervention, I’d be at the bottom of the harbour right now, Saint’s know I deserve it. But here I am, imminent death looming over me. Sounds like bad luck to me, eh Arken?”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I do know that the Fold is thick with volcra, and the tracks are not complete. Coal, please?”

Jesper perked up at that, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, did you say the tracks weren't complete?”

“I said they aren’t complete. And stop moving.”

Elham turned to Kaz, for the first time in the night, feeling actual fear. If she was going to die back there, a gunshot wound, or landmine, then so be it. It would be kinder than anything Heleen had planned for her. But to be ripped apart by volcra, part of a mass grave in the Fold?

Kaz gave her a look, one that said to calm down, don’t lose it. Arken ignored it, telling him to put in more coal. They were running late.

Jesper fidgeted in his seat, panicking, “I'm sorry, can we get back to the bigger issue? We’re on tracks that don’t connect to other tracks?”

“Yes, there’s a gap, but--”

Kaz had lost all patience. “You said you could get us through.”

Jesper was still panicking, now exasperated. “How much of a gap?”

Arken fidgeted with the levers, pushing buttons, and the car lurched forward. “I built slats on the car. They roll into place under the wheels. The turbine generates enough wind to push us all the way to the eastern track. As long as we don’t shift our weight. Now, the noise may attract volcra, but it’s the only way across. There’s a nest nearby, but we’ll be fine. If they haven’t attacked us in--”

A volcra screech was heard in the distance.

“Well now we’ve got a problem.”

“Of fucking course. Because why would this go well? Why would anything be easy? Can’t have anything nice, can we?”

Kaz looked worried now, but he was probably the most calm of the group. “Elham, shut up, Jesper’s gonna go into cardiac arrest if you say things like that. Arken, how do you fight them off?”

“I outrun them, open the throttle and toss in all the coal, which works when there’s twenty pounds of it!”

Elham sucked in a breath. “Jesper, I love you, but if we make it out of this alive, I’m most definitely going to kill you. Sit still!”

The car was slammed into, and a horrifying screech was heard. A pool of blood began pouring in through one of the cracks in the ceiling. Arken looked out the window. “Damn it! The stupid thing impaled itself on the spike.”

Kaz spoke up. “We need to get it off, the others are going to stand on it!”

“More coal!”

“We’re down to fumes! We’ll never make it with this extra weight.” He tossed the bag into the flames, but it did little to the pace.

Jesper was sitting in his chair, staring off. “This is how we die?”

Arken didn’t even look up. “Jesper, grab the groat.”

“I’m not throwing out the goat!”

“Grab the damn goat! It’s not bait, it’s for you! I need you to calm down, hug the goat. Shut the hell up.”

Jesper picked up the goat and held it tight to his chest, Inej groaning and placing her head in her hands.

Another clang, signalling the pace, went off, and Arken paled. “We should have hit that twenty seconds ago. My timings are precise to get us outside. Even twenty seconds behind means the train stops inside the Fold, and that...that means we die. There’s more coming!”

More volcra stacked up on top of the train car, screeching, and Arken scurried back to his chair. “You may want to make your peace!”

Elham turned to Kaz, who was positively out of plans. Inej was praying, Jesper was clutching tightly to the goat.

This was it.

Kaz met her eyes, desperately trying to come up with something to say, something that would possibly be good enough for his last moments with his Crows, with his Valkyrie, when Jesper stood up, the goat still under his arm.

He had this sense of calm to him, face now determined. He stepped forward, heading to the front of the car, the Crows watching him. He suddenly pulled his pistols from their holsters, twirling them around in his hands, before firing up at the ceiling. Volcra screeched, blood spattered, Arken was cowering in the corner, but Jesper persisted, rotating pistols, firing away.

Their pace increased as more and more volcra fell away from the train car, and Jesper holstered his pistols.

Inej glanced around, who had been still in her seat the entire ride. “Are they all dead?”

There was a moment of silence, before a claw burst in through the ceiling, and a volcra’s head pushed its way in. Arken screamed, but Jesper just raised his pistol, chambering a round, and launched it into the volcra’s head. It screeched, before falling off the train as well.

The Crows sat in their seats, stunned faces, before another metal clang went off, signalling the timer again. Arken checked his watch, and suddenly, the inside of the train car was lit up.

They had made it out.

They skidded to a stop at the edge of the Fold. They slowly stood up, making their way out of the train car. Elham wiped at her face, hopping out, turning to Jesper. “I’ve reconsidered. I’m not going to kill you. But pull some shit like that again, and I swear I’ll--”

“Got it, got it. Won’t happen again, love.”

She scoffed at that, speeding up to catch up with Kaz, who was leading them into the city. She muttered to herself. “Yeah, Jesper, sure. And I’m the Queen of the Barrel.”

Kaz raised a brow, glancing at her next to him, before continuing on.

---

A/N - hi, here's another chapter. please check out the authors note chapter, i will be deleting it before i post the next chapter, but i wanted a little feedback. (if you're reading this on tumblr, i didn't post the authors note on here, i'm basically just asking for opinions, critiques, likes, dislikes, ideas, i just want to writ something you all would enjoy better.) feel free to contact me anytime, and thank you for the support!

[dazedbydazai]

How about some hcs for Chuuya and Ranpo with a barely 5ft small mischievous s/o that often steals their hat and they have to chase her to get it back. It’s very hard cuz she’s like a little gremlin and very elusive.

If this ain’t me- (I’m exactly 5ft lol) anyways, thank you for requesting! This was so fun to write <33

➳ Nakahara Chuuya

Okay, so the only people who thinks his hat is nice and cool is him and his S/O

Like, everyone else was teasing him abt it esp Dazai but you? You absolutely love it.

So one day when you were feeling mischievous, you would go and steal his hat and run away from him like a child.

At first he didn’t quite register what happened.

He’s like huh? And then after a few seconds he’ll go “hUHHH??? Y/N GIVE THAT BACK!!”

And so he’s running after you all over the headquarters and would always lose track of you since you’re a fast runner and so tiny that you could fit into nooks and crannies.

You’d pop your head at the corner of the hallway and shout, “If you want it, come and get it!” and poke your tongue out.

Chuuya shakes his head and chuckles.

Now you’ve done it.

If he was playing around before, now he’s dead serious.

He’s using his ability to run after you at lighting speed and it takes 200% of your energy and endurance to outrun him.

Finally you would settle to hide inside the executives' meeting room, underneath the long table.

But Chuuya was right at your tail so when he bust the door open and didn’t see you, he was slightly confused.

He thought you got away from him again but your tiny little laugh gave your position away.

He easily lifted the table and shouted, “There you are! You little-”

You squeal and try to get up and run but Chuuya just threw the table aside and lunged at you, trapping you in his arms.

It crashed against the wall and almost split in half.

“Chuuya!” You gasped.

“You thought you could steal something from me and run away with it, huh?” He was smirking down at you but you were looking to the side, gaping at the mess that he made.

“You idiot! You broke the table!”

“Huh? Oh, that? Don’t worry about it. They’ll clean it up in no time.”

You just open and close your mouth like a fish out of water, unable to say something to your ridiculously strong and nonchalant boyfriend.

“Mori-san will be furious when he finds out-”

As if on cue, the older man walks in the room and you both turn your heads.

“Chuuya,” He sighs. “I allowed you to have a relationship with Y/N and enjoy it so you could at least have some fun but I didn’t mean this much fun.”

“Eh?” Chuuya tilted his head to the side. “We didn’t-”

“Just clean up this mess,” Mori sighs and leaves, shaking his head.

As soon as he’s out of earshot, you slap Chuuya’s chest. “See!”

But Chuuya only chuckles.

“Stay here while I clean up this mess,” He lifts you up and sits you down on one of the chairs. “But don’t think that you’re off the hook for one second.”

He takes his hat from your hands and places it on top of his head.

But as soon as he turns around, you’re back on your feet, swiftly jumping up to take his hat once again.

“Come find me once you’re done with that!” You laugh as you quickly run outside the meeting room.

And Chuuya just stands there like- Oh what’s the point 🤦‍♂️

Bonus: Once you’re back home, he would ask you if you really liked his hat that much and you would say, “Yes! It looks so good on you.” And he would blush and mutter a thank you before wrapping you in his arms and placing his hat on your head.

➳ Edogawa Ranpo

This cute lil bean

His fashion sense was top notch for you. Like you really love his detective clothes and would sometimes try them on for fun.

But what you loved the most was his cute hat!

Like it’s the cherry on top (quite literally) on his whole outfit.

But he’s so attached to it that he wouldn’t lend it to you ｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡

So one day you decided to just steal it from him.

He was dozing off in his office chair when he felt something brush against his hair and the weight of his hat being lifted.

His eyes immediately shot open and he was greeted by your wide grin.

“Let me just-” Before you could finish your sentence, you were already running away from his desk and onto the other side of the small office.

Ranpo blinked the sleepiness away from his eyes a few times before finally registering what happened.

His mouth opened in feint shock as he pointed at you, “Thief!”

The other members of the agency just looked at the both of you with ??? written all over their faces.

“Atsushi! Go get that thief! She stole my precious hat!”

Poor little Atsushi just goes back and forth like – should I? Maybe I shouldn’t? Wait, what’s happening???

“If you want it back, you’re gonna have to come get it yourself,” You twirl his hat on your finger before putting it on.

And as soon as Ranpo sees this, he bursts into a wide smile. Why? Because you looked so CUTE IN HIS HAT!!!

“Okay okay,” He raises his hands as he approaches you. “I won’t do anything so just stay there.”

You were both smiling widely, ignoring the stares of the other people in the room.

When Ranpo was a few feet away from you, he saw the glint in your eyes and knew that you were in a very playful mood right now.

So before you could run away from him, he jumped forward to encase you in his arms.

But all he was able to hug was air as you ducked down and ran away from him, giggling.

“Y/N, come back here!” He turned around, laughing as well.

And so you ran around the office four or five times before you finally stopped when Fukuzawa entered the room with his arms crossed.

Ranpo was about to catch you but his arms fell short.

“President,” Ranpo smiles. “I was just about to-”

Fukuzawa nods in response. “Don’t make too much noise. A client is on his way.”

You and Ranpo silently nod and when Fukuzawa left the room, you burst into a hushed giggle.

Ranpo took your hand and led you back to his desk. He gestured for you to sit down.

“Now, you pretty little girl, stay there while I go back to work,” He reaches for his hat and you hesitantly give it back to him.

But you were surprised when he suddenly patted your hair and placed the hat on top of your head.

You look at him questioningly and he just smiles at you, “You look cute in it. I’ll let you guard it for now while I go do some work.”

Bonus: After work, he would lead you to a small boutique near the agency. You ask him what you’re doing there and he would just say, “I’m buying you an outfit that matches mine and a cute little hat to go with it as well so you wouldn’t have to steal from me anymore.” And then your heart would just combust right there bc of your boyfriend’s sweetness.

[obeywho-meduh]

February 2 - Werewolf

February Monster Boyfriend Challenge

GENDER NEUTRAL READER

Non-Obey Me content

Based off @cosmic-whorror Character: Claudio

Warnings: Mentions of blood, animal cruelty (bear trap mentioning), Clastrophobia (avalanche), Near-Death Experience

Everyone around here has heard about the Legend of The Great White Wolf. You’d only lived in the area for a couple of months now but the stories of it now feel like a daily ritual when you went into town to get breakfast at the diner. 

“I’m tellin’ ya! It’s at least 15 feet tall! With claws as big as a bear! I don’ know why it would attack me but it did!”

You drank your coffee as you heard some of the hunters complaining about the clearly fake animal. Or probably just a really big wolf, they aren’t as small as most people think, you would know. You’d nursed some when you were younger with your family, probably why you became a vet. But this wasn’t your concern, clearly, they haven’t been able to catch it. And no one seems to really like having these hunters here. Especially him.

He’s a pretty tall guy with pale blue eyes and blonde hair, always has a snowboard with him and is actually pretty well liked around here. “Shut the fuck up already. If you got attacked by the wolf you were doing something you shouldn’t have been doing. Let me eat my damn breakfast in peace.”

[image made by @cosmic-whorror link to image]

He seemed like a hard ass but he’d never been rude to anyone unless they deserved it.

“You gonna make me shut up? Huh? Claw??”

Getting up, you leave before anything gets worse or you get caught in the crossfire. Because you yourself had a pretty strong opinion of animals.

You love animals, maybe that’s why you found yourself living out in the woods, the trek up to your remote cabin seemed like you were entering another world. And as you were about to head inside you heard howling in the distance. Wolves are after all very common in the area but no one has ever been attacked by one. Even the supposed ‘white wolf’ has never attacked anyone. You brushed off the howl until it was followed by a whimpering wail that hit your heart as if you could feel its pain.

Quickly you set down your stuff inside and then grabbed a bigger jacket as well as your personal medical kit. Rushing out of the cabin you wrap your scarf tightly around you and head in the direction of the noise.

You knew the sound, but looking at an actual wolf is always intimidating, but when one growls at you as you approach its even more daunting. 

You get down on your knees and present yourself to the wolf as you slowly move closer. You could finally see why it had been whining. It’s caught in a bear trap, its back paw was coloring the snow red around it.

“I’m not going to hurt you…” It wasn’t like it could understand but it still seemed to calm down as you inspected the trap. “I’m going to get you out.” Bear traps are terrible things, and they are even harder to get open if you didn’t have the strength to or if they were rusted. While you pushed it open you could feel the metal piercing your gloves and puncturing your hands, it stung but you needed to save this wolf. 

Once it was open enough, it took its foot out and you let it go. You had assumed it would run away but it limped beside you and laid down on its side, and you could hear it panting from the pain. 

Taking a deep breath, you then get your kit out and begin to stitch up what you could. To your surprise the wolf let you help it. And when you finished, it then quickly got up and while still limping ran into the woods.

“TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!” You exhale heavily and look at your breath in the air before looking down at your bloody gloves. Luckily the cold made your hands numb and you didn’t feel the pain as much. And you can take care of your hands when you get home. Which you needed to do soon, wouldn’t be good to get frostbite.

The sunlight was waning as you finished putting together your medical kit, you didn’t bring a flashlight so you needed to head back. You could feel the temperature dropping rapidly and it looked like it was beginning to snow. The woods seemed so quiet. You didn’t hear any owls, no chickadees, the only thing that echoed were the sounds of you crushing snow under your feet. Then your nose started to tickle and you sneezed.

That became the loudest echo as it bounced around the wood of the trees and the sheets of snow. You shivered, you knew you’d walked far but it still seems like you should’ve been home by now. 

Rumble

What was... No. There’s no way… The sounds of trees breaking made you turn your head. NO! You started to run in the opposite direction, this wasn’t the time for an avalanche to be descending on you. You knew you weren’t going to outrun it. There was no way. 

Help...

Snow surrounded you, it hurt as it pressed you down, it’s cold and you couldn’t move. You couldn’t breathe, there wouldn’t be a point in even trying to open your eyes. Plus... You were getting sleepy. No one would show up to save you. You at least helped that wolf today, that… that was enough… right?

You could feel the pressure of the snow against your chest, everything started to sting. It wasn’t going to help to cry from the pain. If you let go and you won’t have to worry about the pain anymore.

How long have you been under here? Waiting was pointless. Letting go would be easiest. Fine. You exhaled one more time before you just let your body succumb.

Not feeling how light the snow felt on you, but you did know that your body loved that soft warmth that held you. Were you dead now? Is the warmth you feel from the supposed light you see when you die? 

You still didn’t want to open your eyes, but when you did the feel of the fire only made you want to go back to sleep. Yeah, it would be better especially… Wait. Fire!?

Your body tried to shoot up but you were wrapped in a big mound of fur.

Wait… This fur. IS MOVING?!

Again you tried to shift, as you did you were met with bright beautiful blue eyes as a thick tongue licking your cheek.

As your mind processed, you noticed the immeasurable size difference between you and this.. Wolf?! How’d you get here? Where was here? You look around frantically and you realize it’s actually your cabin. Your heart pounded, what was happening?!

[image made by @cosmic-whorror link to image]

Once again, the wolf licked you, only this time starting from your neck and finishing at your ear.

Your body shivered as you reflexively  bonk its nose.

“Owowowow! Geez! What the hell did I do!?”

Eyes wide, jaw on the floor and it felt like you couldn’t breathe. Did… Did it just speak!?

The shock made you pass out. There would be no way an animal that size existed and on top of that! BE ABLE TO SPEAK!

When you opened your eyes again, you were on your couch but the warm feeling you got from the fur was gone. It was all probably a dream... Thank goodness…

“I just want to say that fucking hurt, can you not hit my nose anymore?”

You froze, your hand was touching something warm and as you look down you see a thigh and leg. Well… that’s not a furry body, but… You turn your head around to see that guy from the diner!

NAKED! 

With you in his lap! You shoot straight up, headbutting him in the process. Oh great, now you have a splitting headache. 

You could hear him growl a bit, “Why… in the fuck…” You were both holding your heads while you grabbed the blanket and put it over him. 

“Uuuggghh… I think that was hard enough for a concussion…” Then your mind shot back to the avalanche and you breathing started to hasten.

“Hey!” He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into him, “You have to calm down, your body took on a couple pounds of snow.”

So it did happen. Wait…

“Did you… did you say earlier… that I hit your nose?”

“Ah…” He sighed heavily before scratching the back of his head, “Shit. Well, guess there’s no point hiding it.” His whole body morphed and about tripled in size as his blonde hair turned while but once you saw his blue eyes you knew it was the same wolf as before.

So it really wasn’t a dream.

Fuck.

“And now that you know, if you tell anyone.” He lowered his head, his breath was hot against your ear. “Then I’ll have to eat you and them.”

After a few minutes of hearing multiple threats he turned back and put on some spare clothes I had. Good thing I always buy miscellaneously large shirts and keep plenty of different sized pants. Easier to stay bundled with layers if the layers can actually go on top of one another. 

“I’m Claudio by the way. Claw, preferably. And you don’t have to thank me for saving you, it was actually Nuka who told me about you being out in that area. So it’s a thanks for saving him and bandaging that wound.”

“Nuka?”

“The wolf.”

“Is he your pet?”

“No, why would he be? He’s a good friend.”

“Well he has a name so I thought..” “No, that’s what he said they call younger siblings where he comes from. So I guess he sees me as an older brother?” He shrugs while he puts on a spare jacket. “I think I’ll keep these clothes, they’re pretty nice.”

“By the way… What's your name?”

You didn’t think saving a wolf would end up with a werewolf saving you and now… we'll have to see what happens next.

[free-pool-trash]

folklore - isaac lahey {7/?}

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait I’ve been ridiculously busy the past few weeks 😓BUT!!! As compensation I made this part super long and fluffy with sooooooo much Isaac/reader content (enjoy it while you can because shits gonna be messy from here on out 🤭🙈)

Having said that, I don’t have my laptop right now as I moved houses and my stuff got put into storage so I’m working with the mobile version 😓 sorry in advance if formatting is weird I tried to make it better 😓 also there’s no continue reading button so sorry if this comes up on your dash 😭

Let me know what you think tho I’d really appreciate it 💕

Word count: 5.5k 🙈

Warnings: Fluff 😳, mentions of blood, Derek being a PAIN IN THE ASS, Isaac being the cutest 😌✨, ✨kissing✨, swearing

Masterlist

Tag list (open as always): @makeusfreefromthisfandom om, @cece-lives-here here, @chocolate-raspberries , @belsandthings , @dancing-tacos-23 , @truly-dionysus , @britty443 , @tanyaherondale , @furiouspockettoad , @yunsh-17 17, @random-thoughts-003 , @gloomybrieyxb , @futuristicslimemongerbanana , @linkpk88 , @big-galaxy-chaos , @im-a-stranger-thing , @riaisnotcool (I think u had a username change but idk let me know and I can fix it), @its-evita-here , @pad-foots , @sweetpeabellamyblakedracomalfoy , @bookswillfindyouaway , @what-the-hap-is-fuckening , @awkwardnesshabitat , @pieces-by-me me, @wreny24 , @kerosene-angel (if this is the wrong username I’m sorry it wasn’t working the way I had written it down so I’m assuming I just took it down wrong 😳 it it’s not you let me know and I’ll remove you), @marveloucnco o, @babypink224221 let me know if you’d like to be added <3 (strike through means tumblr wouldn’t let me tag you)

The days you’d spent in Mystic Falls bled into weeks and soon enough you were being beckoned back to Beacon Hills with a head full of things you hadn’t had a clue about two weeks prior.

There, of course, was the matter of Peter- who was now dead, well technically, he was murdered.

Derek’s first course of action as Beacon Hills’ new alpha was to break the news to you. He’d killed him but due to Scott and Stiles’ constant text updates, you knew it would’ve had to be done sooner or later. But still, you had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the last of him. That small intuitive feeling in the back of your mind told you that you’d see him again soon. You just hoped your next meeting wouldn’t be happening because you ended up buried next to him.

Over the course of your stay with Alaric, who had left you in the care of the Salvatore brothers- Stefan and Damon, you’d honed several new vampiric powers. As it turned out, some of the powers you possessed were completely unfamiliar to the vampires of over a hundred years.

You had super speed, it wasn’t just enhanced as you’d previously thought. As well as that, you’d discovered that you could run circles around both Stefan and Damon Salvatore, who were obviously a lot older and therefore should’ve been a lot faster.

And for that matter, they should’ve been stronger than you, they should’ve been able to snap you like a twig. They should’ve been able to. But they weren’t. Because not only were you faster, you were stronger too.

While having super speed and super strength was nice, mind compulsion, your most recent discovery, now that was incredible. All you had to do was look into someone’s eyes and they would become completely entranced to do whatever you told them.

Despite being over a hundred years old, neither Stefan nor Damon had ever seen a vampire quite like you.

They’d never seen a vampire who was also an empath, that, apparently, was usually more of a witch thing. Neither of them had ever come across a vampire bite which had a euphoric effect either. But having said all of that… they’d never heard of someone being turned from a wolf bite. Or a vampire who still had a beating heart, for that matter.

Your only real downfalls were that, for one, your blood’s healing capacity didn’t operate at the same speed for you as it did when being used to heal others. You’d put this down to the possibility that maybe your system had just grown too used to it. To be perfectly honest, though, you had no idea.

Secondly, your empathic tendencies were beginning to bring you down, but it wasn’t just that… it was the way in which you’d been instructed, by Damon Salvatore himself, on how to make them stop.

The plane ride home to California dragged on longer than you would’ve liked, the flight was delayed and you were absolutely starving by the time Derek picked you up from the airport. Your parents were still away, they’d travelled to Romania in search of answers to your predicament and they wouldn’t be home until at least next week, so that left Derek on chauffeur and babysitting duty.

“How are you?” He’d only spoken up thirty minutes into the car ride, you let out a sigh from the passenger seat and gave him a tired smile, you could feel the nerves radiating from him. He was afraid you’d be mad at him for killing Peter, and maybe you should’ve been, but again, you had a feeling he’d be back, and besides, spending time with Damon had helped you realise that everything wasn’t so black and white. It finally registered with you that people like Derek and Damon, the dark mysterious bad boys with secret hearts of gold- they sometimes did bad things but with good intentions.

Once you discovered this, you decided amongst yourself that you’d ease up on your not-really-big-brother in the future. Even if it meant you got hurt a little in the process. If hurting you was what he needed to do to learn his lesson then you’d be willing to make that sacrifice.

So you gave him a soft smile and answered, “Hungry.”

Derek let out a chuckle at that, nodding his head towards the backseat, drawing your attention to the three full blood bags laying on the leather seats.

A delighted gasp left your mouth as you snatched the plastic bags into your hands, wasting no time you stuck the attached tube into your mouth and began gulping the first bag down- it was definitely Stiles’ blood you were drinking, you’d gotten so used to the taste of it you were sure you could recognise it anywhere.

Letting out a happy groan you threw your head back against the headrest, “Stiles Stilinski you are a doll.”

Derek chuckled again, glancing at you fondly before his steely eyes returned to the road ahead.

It was only another 30 minutes before you were back in your driveway. “So are you staying here until my parents get back?” You questioned from the porch as Derek got your bags from the trunk of his car, the wolf shook his head with a smile, “Nah, I’ve got some stuff to do at home.”

“Derek, that home isn’t even structurally sound.” You chastised softly. Surely he’d be happier spending time with the family he still had breathing rather than living in the remnants of what used to be his.

Walking up to the porch, Derek placed your case down gently by your feet and moved himself to stand in front of you. A genuine smile painted his lips as he gazed at you, “New rule.” He stated, placing both of his hands on either of your forearms before going on, eyes staring affectionately into your own, “From now on, I will be doing all the worrying about you, alright? Not the other way around.”

With a defeated sigh, you nodded your head. “I’ll try my best.” That had been a lie. Unable to blind you with his unusually sweet sentiment, through the physical contact you could tell he was scheming.

“Good. Now, go get some rest I’ll come check up on you in the morning.” He kissed your forehead and then made his way back to his car, speeding out of your driveway and out of sight before you’d even unlocked the door.

The house was cold and empty when you’d re-entered. A shiver ran up your spine the second your feet stepped past the threshold. Something was very wrong, and unfortunately, you couldn’t tell what exactly it was that was so wrong. The feeling was unnerving, it was dark and it was agonisingly heavy. Like anxiety on steroids, lots of steroids.

Swallowing thickly, you gripped -more like clawed- at your chest. Nails scraping your skin as you attempted to catch a single breath, though it seemed that oxygen was determined to outrun you as you glanced around helplessly.

Almost twenty minutes has passed as you heaved and gasped frantically, overwhelming dread flooded your chest while simultaneously tears flooded your eyes, and still you didn’t have even the slightest idea of what it all meant.

And then it hit you. That panic- it didn’t belong to you.

Within a second you’d risen to your feet, breathing still staggered while you rushed out the front door, your vampire speed being put to good use as within seconds you were where your panic had led you. Night had fallen by now and it was completely dark, not to mention absolutely freezing, the hoodie you had on doing nothing to protect you from the biting cold in the air. The trail of feelings you’d been chasing had led you to Beacon Hills cemetery and before your eyes, there it was, the something that was very wrong.

Derek and Isaac. More specifically, Derek’s teeth buried in Isaac’s arm. You hadn’t even registered what you were doing when you ripped Derek from Isaac and violently threw him across the cemetery, the impact in which the Hale hit the tree all the way at the edge of the graveyard was a testimony to your strength. You hadn’t even used half it.

Without hesitation, you inspected Isaac’s body frantically, eyes lingering on the bloody bite across his right arm. Slowly and mournfully, your eyes met his, which were wide with shock. His heart was beating out of his chest to the point where you couldn’t ignore it.

“What did he do to you?” The question slipped out as a whisper, your anger melted away only to be replaced by dread as Isaac began to speak, “He offered me the bite and I- I said yes.”

“Isaac…” Your gaze drifted to the bite and you weren’t surprised to see it already healed. “I’m sorry.” You heard him mutter from above you, his anxiety pooling in your chest and mixing with his guilt.

Shaking your head softly you pulled him into you, your arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders while his own arms held you tightly against him as you kissed his temple to release him of the intense anxiety plaguing him. “Don’t be sorry. I understand.”

He relaxed against you upon hearing your words, the two weeks you’d been gone made him realise something, he was utterly useless without you, or so he thought. He felt weak. He felt as though if he didn’t have you as emotional support he was defective. Derek had honed in on that and manipulated it to his advantage, convinced Isaac that the bite was what he needed in order to be strong by himself. To keep you safe instead of you protecting him all of the time.

“Was that really necessary?” Derek’s voice broke the moment and you found anger was surging through you once again. You separated from Isaac to face Derek.

At this point, you didn’t care what his intentions had been, you weren’t going to let him away with this.

“I’m going to give you three seconds to explain why you did this.” As Derek moved to speak you ruthlessly cut him off. “Too slow.” And with that the back of your hand met his cheek, again sending him flying, only not as far this time.

His fangs were barred now, as were yours. Both of your eyes glowing, his red ones threatening as he attempted to demonstrate his power. And yet again, you had a revelation.

You couldn’t stop the laugh that fell from your lips, a synacal and sarcastic lilt to it as you towered over Derek’s form on the floor.

“Oh I get it!” You exclaimed, lip held between your teeth in mock disbelief you pressed your palm to your forehead as you spoke, “You thought you’d go around and stalk some kids so you could add to your big bad pack. Right?” He growled at you and attempted to pick himself up, only for you to give a swift, hard kick to his chest, returning his back to the dirt.

“I guess you told him it’d make him stronger? That it’d make all of his problems go away? And what about the Argent’s, huh? Did you tell him that you were manipulating him?” It was then, again in panic, Isaac spoke up to your surprise, in Derek’s defence.

“(Y/n), I promise it isn’t like that! He told me everything, it was my choice I said yes!” You spared him a glance before crouching down to Derek.

“Well did you tell him how you usually treat your pack?” The words were dripping in venom and the guilt that radiated from the man didn’t deter you from moving forward with you verbal attack, your head turning to Isaac, your eyes sparkling with sadness as you locked eyes with him, speaking hoarsely you wondered out loud, “Did he tell you that he’s a liar? That he doesn’t know how to run a pack? That if he doesn’t understand you he’ll leave you in the dust?”

The look on his face spoke volumes as he recalled the state Derek had put you in the weeks previous.

With a final sneer in Derek’s direction you delivered your parting words, “You better treat him better than you continue to treat me or so help me Derek Hale I will tear you to shreds.”

As you angrily stormed away, Isaac stood in confusion for a second before he began to chase after you, leaving Derek on the dirt floor to help himself.

“(Y/n)! (Y/n) please wait!” He shouted as he was just starting to catch up to you. When you felt that you were at a good enough distance away from Derek you finally slowed your pace.

When Isaac finally made it to your side, he was panting slightly, swallowing the lump in his throat he nervously grabbed your hand.

“I’m sorry.” He repeated, his eyes resembling those of a puppy and you could already feel your composure slipping away from you as you looked at him.

It’d been almost three weeks since you’d seen him, three weeks since you’d made out in the school basement and this definitely wasn’t how you were expecting the reunion to go.

“Isaac it isn’t your fault. I’m not mad at you, ok? I get it. I’m just worried, this town isn’t exactly kind on the supernatural.” You reassured him gently, squeezing his hand and giving him a sad smile.

“Don’t worry about me.” Isaac told you and you had to laugh, “Sorry, babe but I will not be taking my eyes off you until this town becomes normal.”

Isaac’s face was then taken over by, what could only be described as, a Cheshire Cat smile, “Did you just call me babe?” His voice was teasing and you felt your face heating up despite your freezing temperature.

Sucking on the inside of your cheek you tried your best to conceal your growing smile, you shrugged innocently, “Yeah. What about it?” The playful lilt in your voice had his smile widening even more as he began to lean down to you, his face getting closer to yours by the second.

His breath fanned across your lips when he spoke next, “I liked it.” With that, his lips pressed to yours cautiously, as if he was still unsure of whether or not it was okay to do so.

His uncertainty melted away when he felt your lips begin to reciprocate his actions and your hands moved to cup his cheeks.

The both of you could agree that this kiss was different than the last one you’d shared a few weeks ago. “Why is it that we only ever kiss when one of us is coming out as a supernatural creature?” Isaac laughed against your lips as you pulled away with a sigh.

“It would be us wouldn’t it.”

After a few minutes of nagging at Isaac you managed to put all the pieces of Derek’s plan together. Isaac himself didn’t actually know all that much, just that he was the first to be turned, but that alone told you everything that you needed to know.

Derek was now an alpha with no pack, so logically, a pack was what he was building and that would have been perfectly understandable- if he hadn’t started with your best friend.

“There’s a full moon coming up, did he tell you what would happen?” You questioned gently, ready to throttle Derek when the boy in front of you shook his head.

Heaving a deep breath you squeezed his hand reassuringly, the initial excitement of being turned had worn off and Isaac was beginning to radiate anxiety once again.

“Don’t worry okay? I’m gonna call Scott, he’ll be able to help you.” Isaac’s eyebrows came together in confusion, “Scott McCall?”

You nodded your head, “He’ll know how to help.” You tried to convince Isaac without spilling Scott’s secret. Not that it was going to stay a secret for too long, but it wasn’t your secret to tell.

Isaac shook his head rapidly, his hands moving to hold your forearms, his panic at your suggestion hitting you like a freight train as he stared into your eyes, a wild look in his own.

“No no no no. You can’t tell anyone. (Y/n) promise me you won’t tell anyone okay? If my dad finds out I’m a werewolf he’ll-“ The words came out almost as fast as you could run and his panic only intensified when his father entered his mind.

Quickly catching on to his looming panic attack as his eyes began to glow yellow you cut him off, “Isaac.”

He didn’t hear you as he kept rambling, claws growing past his nails and digging into your arm, “No he’ll kill me. Oh my god he’s gonna kill me. (Y/n) he’s go-“

Yes, it would’ve been easy to rip your arms from his grasp that was causing you quite a lot of pain as his nails sunk into your skin as his hands held onto you desperately. However, you had a feeling that his hold on your now bloody forearms was the only thing keeping him from spiralling completely out of control.

“Isaac! Look at me!” Your voice was strict but served to make his amber eyes finally settle on yours.

Gently, you finally slipped your arms out of Isaac’s clawed grip, although you were sure it would’ve been less painful to just leave them, his claws dragged down your arms while you lifted them slowly and cautiously until you replaced them with your hands, using your new grasp of the boy to provide him with some peace of mind.

You focused your energy on shifting a sense of relaxation from your own palms to Isaac’s sweaty ones as you spoke, voice soft again, “I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s just you and me, alright? Focus on me, yeah?” Isaac nodded his head, still slightly frantic but calmer than before as he did as you told and simply focused on you, “Take a deep breath.” You instructed, breathing steadily along with him until his eyes returned to their natural blue colour and his claws retracted.

A moment of silence passed with Isaac slumped against you, hands held tightly in his while he steadied his breathing. You placed your lips to his cheek and then again to the bruise forming beneath his right eye, you hadn’t noticed it earlier. You’d almost forgotten it’d been nearly three weeks since you’d been together, he’d probably been though it with his demon of a sperm doner over the time you were away.

“I’ve missed you.” It was Isaac that broke the silence when your lips disconnected from his injured face.

“I missed you too.” You replied simply, there was so much you’d planned on saying to him while you were in Mystic Falls but at the moment, you felt there were more pressing matters to discuss and again, it was Isaac who spoke.

He pulled away slightly to look at you properly, hands still clasping yours, he gave them a squeeze before he started speaking, “This pack that Derek’s building… I’m guessing you’re not in it?”

“I was never asked. But I’ve kind of already got a pack, which you are more than welcome to join.” You responded hopefully, wishing he’d agree but you knew he wouldn’t. As such a fresh beta he’d stay loyal to his alpha, but, you had to ask.

Isaac nodded his head sadly, “Scott McCall?” You let out a small laugh, at how quickly he’d caught on, “Yeah. He’s not exactly an alpha but he’s helped me out a lot, more than Derek has.”

“Derek told me that wolves are stronger as a pack, he didn’t say anything about vampires though.” Isaac went on, a confused lilt in his voice.

“I found out in Mystic Falls that vampires rarely belong to packs and by vampire nature I don’t need one, but Ric figures that it’s in my nature to want one since it’s all I’ve ever known.” You relayed the information to Isaac.

“Then why not, you know, join mine?” His lip was pulled between his teeth and he was looking at you with a hopeful expression.

“Isaac I just told you…” You said pleadingly, you didn’t want to upset him any further but you also couldn’t throw away the pack bond you’d built with Scott and Stiles when you’d first turned. If it was a matter of Isaac’s pack being made up of just Isaac there would’ve been no problems, it was the fact that it wasn’t Isaac’s pack but Derek’s.

Scratching what you’d decided about Derek earlier, you came to a new agreement with yourself: all of hell would freeze over before you even thought of easing up on Derek Hale.

Isaac threw his head back with a groan, “Come on, (N/n)! We are not going to let our love play out like Romeo and Juliet!” The way he spoke was humorous but it was obvious that he wasn’t really joking.

With a sigh you moved your shaking hands, that were now covered in scabbed over cuts as opposed to their previous status of raw and bleeding, to Isaac’s face. Your thumbs moved gently along his cheek bones as you took him in with an encouraging smile on your face as you told him confidently, “I refuse to let us become a modern day Romeo and Juliet, that’s not happening.”

You pulled him closer to you, slipping your arms around his shoulders and doing your best to ignore the butterflies rioting in your stomach when his arms wrapped tentatively around your waist.

You brought your lips to meet his briefly before fixing him with another determined look, “But listen to me, we might be loyal to different packs but I’m on your side, no matter what.”

Isaac nodded his head in understanding, “If it comes down to it, I’m always gonna choose you.” He responded honestly, arms tightening around you to hold you against his chest, his height causing his chin to be tilted downwards so that he could meet your eyes.

“I meant what I said to Derek, by the way.” You informed, Isaac’s eyebrows rose in confusion again, “If he mistreats you I’ll tear him apart.”

“Should I give Scott the same warning?” Isaac asked humorously and you had to shake your head in order to hold back a laugh.

It wasn’t until you’d separated from your embrace with Isaac that you took into account the fact that your body was now shaking with the cold.

“Come on, I’ve gotta call my dad and probably the sheriff and you’re freezing.” Isaac stated, wrapping an arm around your shoulder and leading you back to the cemetery where you noticed his overturned excavator and the dug up grave plot.

You listened with curiosity while Isaac spoke to his father on the phone, trying to explain exactly what had transpired in the last couple of hours since his shift started.

“How the hell does an excavator just flip over, Isaac?” You could hear his fathers anger through the line and Isaac fumbled for a response, “Someone, or something- I don’t know it could’ve been an animal, but it got pushed from the side and tipped over. I fell into the plot I was digging and that was it, I didn’t see the rest.” He explained weakly.

“You still stuck in hole, you idiot?” You watched as Isaac clenched his jaw and motioned to yourself when he was finally looking at you, “No. No, um, (Y/n) just got back from Virgina, she came looking for me and helped me out.”

“She still there?” His father questioned, seemingly cooling off at the mention of your name. You hated how much that man seemed to like you when he should’ve held that affection for his actual son.

“Yeah, she’s with me now.” Isaac confirmed and you offered up a fake cheerful, “Hi, Mr Lahey!”

“Invite her over while I call the sheriff and see about getting this mess cleaned up.” With that, he hung up the phone and Isaac sighed, “You’re starting to look like Mr. Freeze, let’s get you warmed up.” His arm stayed comfortably wrapped around your shoulder and as you reached up to hold his hand that was hanging over your shoulder you stopped dead in your tracks, “Isaac, I can’t go and greet your father looking like this.”

You motioned to your torn and bloodstained hoodie, immediately regretting it when his eyes widened in shock, “Did I… oh god (Y/n) did I do that?”

Not missing a beat you grabbed his hands and made sure you soothed his panic before you got a rerun of earlier.

“It’s not your fault. You’re new to this, okay? Mistakes happen and that’s fine it’s all part of the process. And look!-” You pulled off the hoodie to reveal your now completely healed arms and hands, nothing but dried blood to show that the claw marks were even there in the first place. “‘M all healed up! No harm done.” You reassured him, bringing his lips to yours to further convince him that you were okay and distract him from the guilt you could feel building within him.

Your arms, although no longer cut, were covered in goosebumps as Isaac ran his hands affectionately down the length of them. “It won’t happen again.” He promised and you gave him a shaky smile, teeth beginning to chatter, “Let’s go home?” Isaac nodded his head, nothing short of ripping his own hoodie off before pulling your arms through the sleeves and moving himself in front of you to zip it up.

You watched completely content as he fumbled with the zipper. His curls were falling in front of his eyes and his eyes were squinted in concentration. The quiet, but triumphant, “got it” he let out when he finally finessed the zipper had you grinning like a fool.

When he moved his focus from the zip and back to your face, he smiled bashfully, “What’re you looking at me like that for?”

The sleeves of his hoodie, that was miles too big for you, hung far past your wrists and brushed against the nape of his neck, your fingers finding a place tangled in his hair while you stared at him, grin ever present.

Your other hand was otherwise occupied being placed firmly against Isaac’s chest, enjoying the feeling of his rapidly beating heart, and you didn’t know it entirely. But in that moment it was beating for you and you alone.

Isaac’s hand made itself comfortable holding your waist, the other holding your own against his chest, keeping it in place.

Neither of you needed to say it. You could both feel it. But still, you found yourself uttering the words, “I love you.”

Not half a second had passed before Isaac echoed your declaration, “I love you.”

“I feel like if I kiss you right now I won’t be able to stop but I’m still freezing my ass off so… your place?”

Isaac nodded his head in agreement, “My place.”

*

Upon arrival at the Lahey residence, Mr. Lahey had greeted you with a wide smile and ushered you into the kitchen where he instructed Isaac to make you some tea, to which Isaac had to restrain a grumble as he’d been planning on doing it anyway.

Mr. Lahey was happily chatting away to you when Isaac set down two cups of tea, one in front of his father and one in front of you, his eyes lingering on you with a certain kind of glint before he turned back to the counter to grab his own cup and returning to sit beside you at the table.

Isaac was, in all honesty, losing it. He didn’t even know why. You were just sitting there, wrapped up in his hoodie, nose ever so slightly pink from the cold, talking politely to his father. It was nothing out of the ordinary but he was finding it hard to think about anything other than how his hoodie would look splayed on the floor of his bedroom.

He wasn’t very good at hiding it either, you could feel it as clear as day. Teenage boy hormones mixing with teenage werewolf hormones were causing havoc and it’d be a lie to say it wasn’t having an affect on you.

Trying to return your attention to whatever Mr.Lahey was babbling about you clearing your throat and took a sip of your tea, keeping your expression neutral as Isaac’s hand slipped to your knee under the table. His attempt to pull you into his mess of hormones was obviously successful as you found yourself ready to yell out in frustration when his hand stayed put on your knee for a solid twenty minutes before his father finally rose from the table.

“I’m going to check out the situation at the cemetery, you’re welcome to stay tonight, it’s pretty dangerous out there these days.” Mr. Lahey offered and you smiled innocently at him as he stood in the doorway, “I think I’ll take you up on that. Thank you.” The older man gave you a nod but said no more before walking out the front door.

“What the hell are you doing?” You finally burst when the front door clicked shut, whipping around to face Isaac.

“What?” He asked as if his hand didn’t start sliding further up your leg the second his father left the room.

You groaned, “Don’t ‘what?’ me when you’re about four centimetres from having your hand between my thighs!”

“Sorry.” He immediately retracted his hand, eyes wide as he realised how close his hand was to reaching the top of your thigh, “I, um, I didn’t mean to- I mean, I did mean to but i won’t do it again if you don’t want me to-“

“Isaac.” You cut him off, lip pulled between your teeth, “I want you to.” You declared and he let out a heavy sigh full of relief, “Thank God.” He muttered before he was pulling you up off the chair and right against his chest.

His lips immediately found yours and his hands were gripping your waist like there was no tomorrow.

At this point, the butterflies in your stomach were going absolutely bat shit feral when his lips began to trail past your lips, to your chin, then to the curve of your jaw. It was when his hand slipped deftly up your side to settle against your jaw that you realised just how much you’d been wanting this.

Isaac’s lips fell further to your neck and you couldn’t stop the hum of approval that escaped your mouth at the sensation of his soft lips sucking and licking at your pulse. “It this okay?” He asked in a mutter, the dainty and nervous nature of his voice contrasting greatly with the confidence and ferocity of his actions.

Your hands tugged gently at his hair to get him to meet you clouded eyes, when he looked at you you were sure that his eyes had flashed yellow, his breathing was getting heavy and you had an inkling that his lips on your neck was the most exciting thing that was going to happen between you tonight.

“It’s more than okay.” You told him with a dopey smile, letting out a laugh when he dived back into the crook of your neck, kissing your skin through a smile.

Despite your words your hands moved to his chest to push him away slightly, “But…” you started as Isaac threw his head back with a groan, “I think we should stop, and maybe revisit this after the full moon passes.”

After taking in a steadying breath Isaac nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you’re probably right.” His hand slipped into yours and he intertwined his fingers with yours, he spent a moment just looking at your linked hands with a fond smile and the look of achievement on his face. It was easy to tell, with the help of your empathic powers, that Isaac was proud of himself.

You yourself couldn’t quite pinpoint why he was feeling so prideful in the moment, but he knew. To be truthful he wasn’t just proud of himself, he was downright ecstatic. He’d been nothing more than your best friend since you were both eleven, and now, six years later he finally crossed the threshold from being your best friend to being your- well actually now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what he is to you now.

A few hours passed before Isaac worked up the courage to ask the question that had formed in his mind after his make out session with you earlier.

The pair of you had since gotten comfortable in his bed, which was nothing particularly new. You laid on your side with your back to the bedroom door, Isaac was behind you, his chin tucked in between your shoulder and your neck with his arms around your torso holding you close to him.

“Can I ask you something?” His voice broke through the silence and you responded with a tired hum, adjusting his arm so you could snuggle closer and tried your best to stop yourself from falling asleep while he murmured softly in your ear.

“What are we?” He kept his eyes trained on the dark room ahead of him, his hand grabbing yours as you readjusted his arm and he absentmindedly began playing with your fingers, the action being successful in calming his nerves.

“What do you want us to be?” You asked sleepily in response, a small smile forming on your face as you heard his heartbeat speeding up.

Isaac let out a nervous breath against your neck and you held back a shudder at the feeling, “I was kind of thinking that all the kissing would make us a couple.” Letting out another sleepy hum, if it was even physically possible, you snuggled deeper into his hold. You sluggishly turned your head to place a light kiss against his cheek, “Then we’re a couple.”

[rockinhamburger]

For the past two years, I’ve had a permanent full-time job with a salary. It’s a teaching position in a remote fly-in community in the Canadian north 1000km from where I call home, so there are challenges, but it comes with subsidized housing and benefits, and it is the first time I have had financial security in my life.

But I still feel poor. I feel like I’m one wrong move from everything I’ve built collapsing under me. It shows up in small ways. Panicking over a mistake at work because what if people think I’m irresponsible and/or lazy and I don’t get a good reference down the road. Telling myself I can’t afford a thing I need, even though I can now, because for so long I had to do without - holding on to a pair of defunct winter boots because, idk, what if I need them one day even though I can now afford to buy a new pair of boots if I need them. Putting off buying new bras because in my mind I’m still poor and can’t afford it. Finally getting around to it and almost exiting out the browser because 150$ still feels like a fortune to me. Successfully building back my credit rating and getting my finances in good order but always convinced I’m one pay check away from financial catastrophe. Putting off tasks and household chores because I’m exhausted from the daily routine and the low level existential exhaustion from grinding so hard to get to this point while constantly worrying I’m gonna mess it all up. Having to figure out financial planning on my own all this time because who was gonna teach me that. Wondering if I’ll ever be able to relax for like five whole seconds.

I don’t know if I’ll just always feel this way or if I’ll get used to it—provided I don’t mess it all up like I fear. All of this is definitely something to add the list of things to talk to a therapist about. That’s also on the list of tasks to carry out sooner rather than later. But it’s really something, the way poverty feels like this terrifying monster you’re constantly trying to outrun and if you pause for even a second it’ll overtake you.

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Well, that chapter title, combined with this being the last chapter of volume two, really comes off as ominous! 

Also, because there’s no good break point that I can see in this chapter, I’m just gonna do all of it. This is… gonna be rough, I think. Apologies for the long post in advance.

[No. 17 - Game Over]

We start out in the collapsed zone, which is basically a cityscape that’s been partially destroyed / knocked down. Kirishima and Katsuki are both huffing and puffing as they take a moment to breathe after taking out all the villains who had attacked them in the room they were dumped into. Katsuki notes that that was all of them, then calls them a buncha mooks. Kirishima wipes at his face a bit as he says they need to hurry and help the others - if they’re still in the USJ, after all, then everyone else must be as well! And he’s worried about those who don’t really have ways to attack.

Kirishima goes on to determine that Thirteen probably has her hands full since they rushed ahead like that, and that none of this would have happened if they’d let her suck in that mist man. So as men, they have to take responsibility.

Katsuki’s brusque reply is that if that’s what Kirishima wants to do, then go on alone - he’s going to go beat the warp gate villain to a pulp. Kirishima is surprised by this declaration, wondering out loud what Katsuki’s still pulling that ‘immature crap’ at a time like this, plus reminding Katsuki that normal attacks don’t work on the warp villain anyways. 

Katsuki snaps at him to shut up, and then points out that Kurogiri is how the other villains are getting around - if they bring him down, the others will have nowhere to run. And besides, it’s not like he doesn’t have a way to beat said warp villain.

While the two were talking about the stuff above, a camouflaged villain sneaks up from behind Katsuki on the ceiling. Considering the fact that a random mook villain with an ‘invisibility’ quirk was able to get an outfit that went invisible/camouflage with them, I wholeheartedly refuse to believe Hagakure can’t have a full costume that’s as invisible as she is what with UA’s resources. If she says she’s mostly naked, she’s just trolling people for shits and giggles. 

Anywho, the villain lunges, knife in hand as they become visible, thinking about how the kids should keep talking and let their guard down. Kirishima, however, does notice the attack, but-

Katsuki moves before he can even say anything, blasting the villain unconscious without stopping his explanation to Kirishima. He notes calmly that if all the enemy is sending against them are low-danger idiots, then they should be fine. Kirishima quietly admires Katsuki’s reflexes, while commenting out loud how calm Katsuki is all of a sudden, with an aside showing him noting that Katsuki’s like ‘die!’; portrayed with this is Katsuki’s same ‘evil face’ as Izuku pictured when he was worried about Katsuki being in the same class. 

Katsuki snaps that he’s always calm ‘you damn broomhead’, with Kirishima chuckling as he snaps his finger and says ‘there it is.’ Katsuki then clenches his gauntleted fist as he states that he’s out of there. Kirishima knocks his hardened fists together as he tells Katsuki to hold up, and that he (Katsuki) has to his pals, and to be a man. He then states that Katsuki’s convinced him. (Probably about the benefits of going after the warp villain again.)

Next, we shift back over to the entrance, with the door closed. Tenya is still making his mad dash for it, swearing through grit teeth as he tries to outrun Kurogiri. Kurogiri seems to be getting rather peeved himself based on the shape of his dialogue boxes getting more ragged; he calls Tenya impertinent, and states again that he won’t allow him to leave. 

Ochako dashes forward, a determined expression on her face, with Sero and Ashido watching her. Ashido is crouched over Thirteen, checking on her, but asks what Ochako is going to do. Ochako points out a bit of the metal brace just visible in the smoke to them, which they quickly spot as well. 

Tenya is getting close to the doors at this point, and remembers that they’re automatic doors, before wondering if he can kick them down, or if they’re too thick for that. We get a fun panel of his face as he seems prepared to just try and ram it anyways, shouting a battlecry - only to cut off as Kurogiri again looms before him, declaring that the kid has underestimated him. 

Also, the man fucking calls Tenya ‘four-eyes’. I cannot. The disrespect.

Anyways, Kurogiri tells Tenya to vanish, but Tenya manages to somehow duck underneath as Kurogiri moves upwards, much to the surprise of both of them. Why, you ask?

Ochako being a fucking badass is why. She has latched onto Kurogiri’s brace, noting that she’s not sure why, but if he’s wearing that brace, then he has to have a real body in there. She strains herself, but she manages to use her own strength and her quirk in order to toss him up, up, and away from Tenya, all while telling her friend to go. 

Kurogiri continues to woosh away from the ground as he realizes she got his body - then is alarmed again when a piece of tape manages to stick to his back. Sero tugs Kurogiri around on the end of his tape, also telling Tenya to get going. Tenya manages to get the door open enough to squeeze through while Kurogiri is distracted, dashing through the opening and towards the school while Sero detaches his tape and sends Kurogiri flying further with the momentum of the swing. 

Kurogiri is silent for a moment before swirling into himself, noting that if the kid calls for help, then it’s game over. Honest to god, why do I never see this stuff in fics, I cannot believe Kurogiri is saying this kind of stuff. Either it’s odd translation stuff, or else it was just cut from the anime, and if it’s the latter, then I am mad disappointed. 

(staring at next part) Yeah no, I think I’ll be pretty careful with my choice of image use. If this were a fic, this is where the ‘graphic depictions of violence’ would come in, if not sooner in this arc.

We go back to Eraserhead, Shigaraki, and the Nomu, with the first panel being a relative closeup of the Nomu crushing Eraserhead’s right arm. Like, that’s not hyperbole, you can see the arm being scrunched and the blood pouring from the arm, jesus fucking christ. And Eraserhead not making a peep for it? Talk about pain tolerance. I know this is a shounen and all that, but just. The arm is being CRUSHED. Lesser mortals would pass out at this point. 

Shigaraki wobbles back to his feet, noting that cancelling out quirks is pretty cool, but nothing special - up against crazy strength, he might as well be quirkless. Eraserhead manages to latch his eyes on the nomu’s left hand at it reaches for his left arm, but that doesn’t prevent the nomu from snapping said arm like a twig. Eraserhead can’t prevent himself from a pained shout. 

Eraserhead grits through the pain at he notes that looking at any part of the nomu’s body should have nullified it, which meant that was the nomu’s base strength - easily as strong as All Might. The nomu lifts Eraserhead’s head up while he’s thinking this, then slams him face first into the ground, hard enough to leave an impact crater. And, notably, Eraserhead is still alive and conscious. Jesus. Fucking. CHRIST.

Meanwhile, Izuku, Tsuyu, and Mineta look on, developing major trauma as they watch their teacher basically tortured for shits and giggles. Mineta is trembling with hands covering his mouth and tears in his eyes, Tsuyu’s partially submerged her face into the water, and Izuku is just. Frozen in absolute fear. Mineta realizes how bad this is, and practically begs for a change of plans from Izuku. Tsuyu ribbits in agreement, but Izuku just. Cannot think of a thing.

Kurogiri spirals into existence besides Shigaraki, giving Shigaraki’s full name for the first time in the manga. Shigaraki in turn greets Kurogiri, also the first time we’re seeing the name I think? Anyways, Shigaraki asks Kurogiri if Thirteen is dead. Kurogiri states that she’s incapacitated, but that there were students he couldn’t warp away, and that one of them escaped. 

Shigaraki starts scratching at his neck with one hand, then both, his irritation ramping up as he mulls this over. We get another shot of an eye between the fingers of the face-hand as he states that he’d turn Kurogiri to dust if he wasn’t their ticket out of there. They won’t stand a chance against dozens of pros, after all. He then states that it’s game over, and then corrects himself - it’s game over, for now.

He then tells Kurogiri they’re leaving. Mineta is surprised by this quickly glancing over to Tsuyu and Izuku, asking if he heard that right. Tsuyu says he did. Mineta leaps on her in relief, stating that they’re saved. Tsuyu starts to say ‘yeah, but-’ only to cut herself off when Mineta’s hand ends up on her boob (could have been accident or not here). 

She starts casually drowning Mineta as she continues her previous thought - she’s got a bad feeling about this. Izuku agrees - to do all this, and then just leave on a whim… 

He continues to think over the discrepancy to himself as he watches the villains talk a bit more. The villains had wanted to kill All Might; UA’s just going to be in more danger than ever if they get away now. He then notes Shigaraki’s use of ‘game over’, and is worried over what they’re thinking at that moment. 

As if Shigaraki had heard his thoughts, he speaks up again. Before they leave, they should leave a few dead kids… and he’s motioning right for the three who’d been watching up until then. 

Since I can’t really capture the moment of terror in words:

Just. Shigaraki moves so fast, the kids have no time to react to it. Tsuyu’s only just released Mineta from underwater. Izuku is just barely able to turn to see Shigaraki already in Tsuyu’s face, his mind empty but for the memory of what happened to Eraserhead’s elbow. And Tsuyu’s face is just. God, I cannot imagine how she must have felt, being so close to death like that.

There’s a moment of silence from Shigaraki as nothing happens. He then repeats his previous statement - you really are pretty cool, Eraserhead. As it turned out, he took advantage of the nomu living his head in order to activate his quirk, saving Tsuyu’s life. The Nomu proceeds to slam his head back down again, but I guess Aizawa’s managed to keep his eyes open, since it still doesn’t activate even as Izuku goes in for an attack. 

(Poor kid, his entire thought process as he goes in for that swing is just ‘no no no no no no no no no-’, like. You see this again later on when his close friends are in danger, how he just is basically so deeply tunnel visioned on just saving them.)

Izuku’s right arm buzzes with power as he thinks that Shigaraki’s nothing like the villains who’d been in the water. He mentally urges Tsuyu to run and save herself while he shouts at Shigaraki to get off of her. Shigaraki just casually calls for the nomu. 

His blow connects with something, the force fairly intense from the impact point. Izuku is confused as he registers that his arms’ not broken. He’s shocked and a bit annoyed (I guess) that now is when he managed to regulate the power. He then wonders if he really did it, since he knows the smash connected, he knows he did it.

As the smoke clears, we see the nomu lurking over Izuku, totally unharmed by the attack. We get a thin panel showing the nomu’s dead eye, as Izuku looks up in worry. His thoughts are a frazzled mess, first realizing the speed, then a half-finished thought on when the nomu moved, and then the slowly dawning realization (and fear) that the attack didn’t work. 

He flashes back to Tsuyu’s comment on the yacht, that the villains must have figured out a way to kill All Might, otherwise why show up just to get beaten. Izuku is in disbelief, because it’s one thing to accept that as theory, but another to realize it’s absolutely true. Shigaraki notes that that’s quite a move Izuku just pulled off… and with a ‘smash’ too. He then asks if Izuku’s a fan of All Might. Izuku tries to pull away, but the nomu already has him by the arm as Shigaraki shrugs off his own question with a casual ‘whatever’. 

God, just, the silence of this page and all the ‘in the moment’ snippets that show everything happening pretty much at once. 

Tsuyu shoves Shigaraki’s hand away as she lashes out ith her tongue to try and grab Izuku. Aizawa is shown to be passed out on the ground. We see Shigaraki reaching back out to kill both Tsuyu and Mineta as the nomu holds Izuku in place, Tsuyu’s tongue still not even managing to reach Izuku yet. 

The doors at the front of the USJ are literally blasted from the doorway like shots out of a cannon. The kids who were still up there by the door are all relieved as they look at their savior - All Might. 

And that’s the end of the chapter - and of volume two. Supplementary material to follow. 

Man, just imagine being someone who only reads the manga when the volumes come out. Can you imagine being left on this cliffhanger for who knows how many months? Couldn’t be me. And the cliffhangers are only gonna get worse from here on out!

[nanasarea]

IV

𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵: In a world where soulmates can visit each other in their dreams and can only remember the dreams once they found each other, what happens when you’re disappointed at the man of your dreams?

𝘎𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦: angst and fluff 

𝘗𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: reader x jaemin

𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵: 1.2k

𝘢/𝘯: 👉👈 pls tell me what y’all think so far

𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵  𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵  𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

Tag list: @keiboo​ @minavenue

I  II  III  IV  V  VI

“No.” “Yes.” I said, my eyes still as wide as they were when I saw the mark. “That, that can’t be, I mean, he’s so annoying and reckless, how could he be my soulmate?” I asked, walking around the room to try and calm myself down.

“Hey, bit-are you okay? Did something happen?” Haechan entered the room and asked when he saw the worried look on my face.

“Yn just met their soulmate-“ “Yay!” “-and doesn’t like him.” Renjun explained, to which Haechan just laughed.

“This is not a laughing matter, I mean, how can the most arrogant, irresponsible, stupid asshole I’ve ever met be my soulmate? How am I gonna spend the rest of my life with the man of my dreams when the man of my dreams is such a dick?!” I yelled out, not wanting to accept the fact that I’m going to probably marry him one day.

“Oh please, he can’t be that bad-“ “-he got into my car, told me to drive, almost gave me a heart attack, told me he was being chased by the cops because he bought alcohol and was caught with his fake ID, proceeded to annoy me all the way back to campus and acted way too smug when he brushed my hair behind my ear.” I ranted, finally sitting down and letting myself drop onto the bed.

“Okay, not the best first impression, but shouldn’t you at least get to know him? I mean, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Kei and look at us now, the power couple of the universe!” Haechan said as he sat down next to me.

He had a point, Haechan met one of his soulmates, Kei, when Kei accidentally kicked him while trying to kick the soccer ball next him, but since Haechan just felt a kick and didn’t actually see why he was kicked, he slapped Kei, but both of them froze when they realised where she had just kicked him. 

The two were a bit hesitant of one another, seeing as the kick and slap weren’t the best first impression of either, but over time, they grew fond of each other and now they were one of the most annoyingly cute couples I’ve ever seen.

Still in denial, I just shrugged and went to get more coffee from the coffee vending machine down the hall. If he really was my soulmate, I would be able to see him in my dreams and remember seeing him and I just wasn’t ready to accept that, so I decided that I’ll pull an all nighter.  

Jaemin on the other hand, didn’t even notice the mark on his finger had faded, that was until he was getting ready for bed and Mark pointed it out.

“Congrats!” “For what?” Jaemin stared at Mark in confusion, causing Mark to chuckle and approach his friend. Mark only held up Jaemin’s hand and pointed at the outline. Jaemin, still confused, looked at his hand and stared at it for a solid minute before seeing that his mark had faded.

“Who’s the not-so-lucky winner?” Mark asked, seeing that his friend finally understood what he was talking about and letting go of his hand before he walked over to his own bed and waited for Jaemin’s answer.

“I don’t remember touching anyone th-oh my god.” His eyes widened at the memory of the car ride. “There was this person I bumped into, they kinda helped me outrun the cops.” Jaemin answered, smiling to himself.

“Bonnie and Clyde, interesting.” “Not exactly.” He sighed at Mark’s chuckle, which caused Mark to give him a confused look. “They seemed kinda annoyed at me to be honest, I kinda made them give me a ride back to campus.” Jaemin admitted, fixing his gaze on the carpet.

“So what? You didn’t make a good first impression, sure, but you’re soulmates for fuck’s sake!” Mark tried to cheer him up. “Besides, you’ll see them in your dreams and you can explain.” He added before tucking himself into bed. “Night, Jaem.” Mark said and turned to the other side.

“I guess you’re right. Night, Mark.” Jaemin sighed and tucked himself into bed before drifting off to sleep.

The next day however, he woke up, somewhat disappointed and sad but definitely annoyed. He realised that his soulmate never showed up in his dreams and assumed they protested in order to annoy him, when in fact, I was simply in denial and watched Netflix series till dawn, which is when Haechan complained about the bright light coming from my computer and told me to turn it down. I only sighed and closed the computer.

“You actually pulled an all nighter?” he asked, still half-asleep. I murmured a yes and tilted my head back on the wall. “Sure he won’t be pissed?” he asked, to which I scuffed. “I guess you don’t care?” he asked, finally opening his eyes and turning to face me. I shook my head and got up, siping the last bit of coffee in my cup before announcing that I’m going to get some coffee at the local Moonbucks. “That’s not healthy!” He yelled after me and when he realised I completely ignored him, he just laid back and sighed. “I tried”

“Pink beverage, please.” I ordered and handed the change to the barista. I sat down at an empty chair near the counter, where I waited to hear my name and order.

“Pink beverage for yn and cold brew for Jaemin.” I stood up and went to get my things before accidentally bumping into the “man of my dreams”.

“Huh, opposites do attract.” He scuffed, grabbing his drink as I grabbed mine. I just rolled my eyes at him and walked towards the door. “Hey, wait up, I’m not done talking to you.” He yelled as he followed me outside.

“Well I am.” I announced before I felt a hand on my shoulder, lighting trying to stop me from walking. “What?” I asked, turning around to see him closer than I thought, making me freeze up and back up a step or two after clearing my throat.

“Were you really that annoyed at me that you pulled an all-nighter to avoid me?” He asked, trying to make eye contact, but failing, as I kept avoiding it.

“I wasn’t annoyed, I’m annoyed now b-“ “Then what? Doing your assignments? On a Saturday night?” He asked, clearly just as annoyed as me. “Were you just scared to face me? Or did you not want to see me? Were you still mad at me? Thought that if you ignored me, I’d just go aw-“ “I was in denial."

“What?” “I was in denial, I am in denial. I’m just not ready for the whole meeting my soulmate thing. No offence, but I kinda hoped it’d be someone else I-“ “Are you saying I’m not good enough? That you’re disappointed?” “No, but if I did, could you blame me? You made me be your get away driver!” I yelled, clearly annoyed at where this conversation was going.

“Look, let’s just forget how we met, start over?” He asked after a minute of silence. “I’m Na Jaemin, your soulmate.” He said, extending his hand for me to shake it, to which I just scuffed.

“Could we, could we just not right now?” I asked, heading back towards campus, leaving him hanging. “Soulmates, yeah right.” He sighed.

[caffeinatedbraincell]

Hi y’all I’m back with another TOG story! 

Summary: Joe and Nicky raise a duckling together during their time off. They're great parents and the ducking is very cute, and absolutely nothing sad or angsty happens because we all deserve some undiluted serotonin.

(Edit: Forgot to tag earlier, inspired by this post by @silly-old-guard-aus <3)

Read on AO3

“How are they?” Joe asked, smiling softly as he held the phone to his ear.

On the other end, Booker ran a hand through his hair fretfully. “I don’t know them like you do, obviously. But I- ah, I don’t know, this might be presumptuous of me. But I think they’re gonna be alright.”

“You know Andy well.”

“Yeah, but not Quynh. This is my first time meeting Quynh.”

“How did she react?”

“She didn’t cry in front of me. Didn’t even yell. Andy broke down instantly, but not Quynh. I told her Andy was mortal now, and then I left. I thought maybe it would be easier for them to be vulnerable with each other if I wasn’t around. Do you think Andy will be safe?”

“Yes. She is always safe with Quynh.”

“But Quynh was so angry.”

“She has every right to be angry. Even though it is not Andy’s fault. Andy knows this. Their love is many millennia old, Booker. These past 500 years will not break them.”

Booker grunted noncommittally. “I’m going to go back. Just to check on Andy. I’ll sleep in a motel if they want to be alone.”

“Alright. Text me, okay?”

“Yeah, of course. How’s everything over there?”

Joe looked over at the couch. Nicky was reclining in the corner spot, watching with rapt attention what Nile had called “one of the best episodes of Queer Eye ever” on their laptop. Nile was curled into a ball at his side. A cool draft snuck in through the cracked window, and Nicky adjusted the plush throw that was draped over them both. Nile sighed contentedly, snuggling closer for warmth.

“Good,” Joe replied, voice suddenly soft. “Everything’s really good here. You don’t have to worry about us.”

“Do you all need anything from Paris?”

“Not that I can think of right now. But I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. Okay, sounds good.”

“Sebastian.”

“Yeah?”

“Take care of yourself, okay? They’ll both be alright. Don’t sweat it.”

There was a pause. Then Booker sighed. “Yeah, okay. I’ll relax.”

“Good. Text me when you figure out where you’re sleeping tonight.”

“For sure. Thanks, Joe. Good night.”

“Good night.”

Joe left his phone on the counter and crossed over to the living room. He sat down on the carpet in front of Nicky, tilting his head back to rest it against Nicky’s knees. Nicky smiled, reaching down to run a hand through Joe’s hair. He wrapped a few curls around his fingers, tugging ever so gently before letting go. He shifted his hand a few centimeters and repeated the act.

“Come up here?”

Joe shook his head, practically melting under Nicky’s loving ministrations. The floor was especially comfy when it was closer to Nicky. “I love you,” Joe mumbled, as instinctively as exhaling. After a moment, he frowned. “I love you, too, Nile.” Nicky laughed, and Joe could almost feel Nile roll her eyes.

The episode ended with Tan France demonstrating how to do a French tuck, and Nicky wondered aloud if the technique would work just as well with his highlighter-green shorts. Joe, despite knowing full well that Nicky was trying to provoke him, promptly went off on a well-rehearsed tirade about the detriments of wearing a dress shirt with basketball shorts.

“Nile, back me up here!”

“You’re right. He’s right, Nicky. Why would you even suggest such a thing?”

“You two can’t stop me,” Nicky argued, just to be contrary.

“At least it won’t be as bad as that time you wore only yellow for two months,” Joe said resignedly.

“Yellow?” Nile asked.

“Yes, he insisted it would make the duckling feel more at home.”

“Duckling?!”

Nicky clicked his tongue impatiently. “I wore various styles and shades of yellow, from pressed goldenrod shirts to an actual pastel canary dress. He has no right to complain about my lack of versatility.”

“The duckling liked me better, and I just dressed like usual.”

“She didn’t like you better. You always kept blueberries on you to bribe her with.”

Wait,” Nile interjected. “We need to backtrack. When and why did you guys have a duckling?”

Joe gave Nicky a pointed look that did nothing to hide the mirth in his eyes. Nicky sighed around a smile.

“It was an accident.” ___

“Nicky, stop moping. Booker, get up from the floor. Enough is enough,” Andy said, far more gently that her words implied. She prodded a very drunk, very anxious Booker with her foot. “Book, have you eaten at all today?”

“He hasn’t,” Nicky muttered from the kitchen counter. “But neither have you, boss. You’re telling us to get it together, but you’re equally antsy about this whole thing. Don’t deny it.”

Andy sighed in frustration. “I wasn’t going to. It was a bad call on my part. I shouldn’t have sent Joe alone.”

“It was a one-man job. You said so yourself. And he did have the best-suited skill set out of all of us. I think, tactically speaking, you made the right decision.”

“But you’re still upset about it, aren’t you?”

“Look, boss, just because it’s a one-man job doesn’t mean said one man wouldn’t prefer company. And it would be safer to have someone along.”

“It would have been a lot of extra work for Booker, security-wise. You know that.”

“Noooo, I din’ miiind,” Booker slurred from where he was curled up on the rug. He made a valiant effort to prop himself up on an elbow before collapsing back down with a thud.

Nicky put his head in his hands. “He was supposed to be back today, right?” he whispered into his palms.

“He’ll be back. He’s fine. I know he’s fine.” Andy paced back and forth restlessly. “We just need to get out of our own heads for a bit. Be a little patient. Joe will be fine.”

The stool scraped noisily against the kitchen floor as Nicky got to his feet. “I’m going to go for a walk and not think about anything for half and hour. I’ll bring takeout on my way back. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, solid plan. I’ll drag Booker to bed and try to get him fully conscious by the time you’re back.”

“Sober?”

Andy chuckled. “Don’t get too ambitious.”

Twenty minutes later, Nicky was sitting on a park bench, forlornly looking out over a pond as the sun set behind him. He’d already called a nearby Indo-Pakistani restaurant and ordered one plate each of everyone’s favorite biryani to-go, including Joe’s. Joe had to come back tonight. He had to.

Nicky shook his head in frustration. He was doing a very poor job of thinking about nothing. Suddenly, a tiny movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. He turned his head, squinting at the reeds growing on the pond bank.

The reeds rustled ominously. Nicky was just contemplating his chances of outrunning a rabid racoon, or alternatively, how long it would take him to heal from death by racoon, when the rustling stopped. Then, with a piteous squawk, a small ball of yellow fluff popped out onto the footpath.

Nicky stared in surprise. The poor little thing had landed on its back, its orange, webbed feet flailing in the air. It didn’t seem to be able to turn itself upright. Cautiously, Nicky approached the creature and very gently scooped it up. It gawked at him with wide, frightened eyes, and he heard himself mumbling soothing reassurances as he set it back on its feet. It stumbled half a meter and fell into the pond with a splash.

Nicky almost jumped to rescue it, before remembering that it was a duck and probably did not need to be rescued from the water. Was this one old enough to swim on its own? At what age did ducklings learn to swim, anyway?

The baby animal splashed around happily in front of him, clearly not drowning. Still, Nicky decided to stay for a few minutes, just to make sure it would be okay. He looked around. The mother duck and her other babies had to be around here, somewhere.

Eventually, his phone pinged with a message from the restaurant, letting him know his order was ready to be picked up. He was startled to find that it had been over forty-five minutes since he’d left the safehouse. If he didn’t get back soon, Andy and Booker might start to worry.

Nicky looked wistfully at the duckling. “Off you go, little one. Go home to your family. I’ll go home to mine.” The duckling blinked up at him quizzically. “I’ll come visit you tomorrow, if you want,” Nicky tried. “In fact, I’ll bring Joe with me. You’ll love him. He’s the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. A ray of pure sunshine, just like you.”

As he spoke, he unconsciously reached out a hand to the duckling. To his utter shock, the creature hopped right up onto his palm and settled down.

“No, you can’t come with me,” he cajoled. “You belong here. In the water. Come on, in you go.” Reluctantly, it leapt back into the water, but made no move to swim away. Nicky pursed his lips, thinking hard. Maybe if he just got up and walked off, the duckling would go back to its family. He figured it was worth a shot.

Nicky got to his feet and turned around. He’d taken only two steps away from the pond when he heard a frantic splash behind him, followed by the soft thwack, thwack, thwack, of webbed feet on concrete. He whirled around.

“No, you have to go back to your pond!” he whispered urgently. The duckling tilted its head. “The pond!” Nicky gestured dramatically toward the fading light on the surface of the water. “You know, your home.”

Nicky sighed. He would just have to walk away as fast as possible. There was no way this baby duck could keep up; it would have no choice but to go back to its family. The thought made his heart break a little, but he had no other option. Taking a deep breath, he began to stride away purposefully.

In a matter of seconds, a series of tiny, woeful quacks stopped him in his tracks. He turned to find the duckling flopped over onto its stomach, crying.

“Ehi, no, piccolo mio,” Nicky exclaimed, rushing forward to gather the poor thing in his arms. He unbuttoned the top of his coat and held the duckling against his chest to warm it up. “Don’t cry, it’s okay. It’s alright.”

He looked back towards the pond. There wasn’t one single other duck in sight. He looked down at the duckling, trembling weakly in his jacket as it calmed down. He sighed. Andy was going to throw a fit.

“Looks like you’re coming with me, little one.”

Nicky managed to smuggle the duckling in and out of the restaurant without anyone noticing. As he picked up the warm takeout boxes, the duckling poked its head out of his jacket to investigate this new source of warmth. By the time Nicky reached the safehouse, he was carrying four boxes of biryani stacked one on the other like a Christmas tree, with a sleeping ball of fluff on top where the angel would go.

Before he could even knock, the door flew open and Andy shoved her cellphone in his face.

“Look, it’s a message from Joe! He says his flight got delayed, but he’ll be here tomorrow morning!”

Nicky almost dropped their dinner (and the duckling) in his haste to grab the phone. Beneath the update, Joe had sent a selfie of himself at the airport terminal, captioned with a cheery “See, boss? I’m fine!” and a couple heart emojis. Looking at his beloved husband’s radiant smile, Nicky felt his eyes mist over involuntarily.

“There’s a duckling sleeping on my biryani.”

Nicky and Andy turned around. Booker, who must have maneuvered the takeout from Nicky’s hands while he’d been distracted by Joe, frowned dubiously at the stack of boxes.

“Do you see it, too, Andy? Or did I just drink way too much earlier?”

“Both,” Andy replied without missing a beat. “Nicky, why is there a duckling-”

“It followed me,” Nicky blurted out. “I was sitting by the pond and it fell out of the reeds right in front of me. After that, it just kept hanging out nearby. When I tried to put it by the pond and go, it started crying. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just leave it!”

“Okay, but what if its mother is looking for it?”

“I really, really tried to find the mom. But there wasn’t one other duck in that entire pond. I have no clue where this guy came from.” Nicky spread his hands helplessly.

Just then, the duckling woke up. For a frantic second, everyone held their breath as it flailed around, threatening to topple from the stack of boxes. But the moment it saw Nicky, it sat back down, contentedly preening its downy feathers.

“Oh my god,” Booker said incredulously. “Nicky, I think it imprinted on you.”

“What?” Nicky demanded.

“Oh, no way,” Andy countered. “Ducklings are supposed to imprint on their mother ducks. Nicky isn’t even the same species.”

“Yeah, but ducklings have been known to imprint on other animals, including humans,” Booker continued. “Especially if the mother is absent during the baby’s first few days for whatever reason, it will imprint on whoever it can find. Nicky, looks like you adopted a duckling. Or it adopted you. Good luck.”

“Oh no,” Nicky fretted. “I can’t raise a baby all by myself. Where is Joe, I need a co-parent! Andy, can I have some time off? Maybe, uh, a few weeks? Oh no, I don’t even know how long it takes for a duckling to grow up. I don’t know anything about ducklings. Booker, can you print out the Wikipedia page on ducklings for me?”

“Relax, Nicky,” Andy chided. “You’ve raised chicks before. How different can this really be?”

“8-12 weeks,” Booker read out from his laptop. “Nicky and Joe are going to need 8-12 weeks off to raise this duckling to full maturity. After that, they can reintroduce it to the pond.”

Andy sighed. “Fine. You two were gonna have time off anyway, since I have business in Portugal and Booker’s going to Germany because he scored tickets to the World Cup.”

“Oh, Joe didn’t want to come?” Nicky asked.

“I only managed to get one ticket,” Booker admitted. “I offered to let Joe go instead of me, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Said maybe next time, if we get more tickets.”

“Oh. I guess that works out then.”

“For the record,” Andy said as she extracted her box from beneath the duckling, “this is absolutely ridiculous. Only you, Nicky, would go out for a walk to ‘clear your head,’ and come back with a real live orphan duckling.”

In the end, it was a good thing they were in Genoa, because Nicky had maintained his ties to the port city over the centuries and, in a matter of hours, was able to take out a lease for a small cottage closer to the pond. After dinner, Booker and Andy helped him shift his and Joe’s belongings, as well as some meager furniture, into the new place.

“I think I’ll stay the night,” Nicky decided as they finished up. “The duckling is already asleep on my jacket, and I don’t want to jostle it in the process of moving back to the safehouse.”

“Sounds good,” Andy said around a yawn. “We’ll send Joe over as soon as he drops off the mission file. Come on, Book. Time to go.” There was no response. “Booker?”

Booker tip-toed out of the room where the duckling was sleeping, waving his laptop around triumphantly. “She’s a baby pekin. That’s the species. Also she’s a she, in case you were wondering. See this faded eyeline?” He pointed to a picture on the laptop. “That’s how you can tell.”

“A she,” Andy grunted approvingly. “What are you going to name her, Nicky?”

“I don’t know. I’ll ask Joe tomorrow. He’ll come up with something pretty and meaningful.”

“Your laptop was dead, Nicky, so I plugged it in to charge,” Booker said, shoving his own laptop into a bag. “You’re gonna be doing a lot of googling, I think.”

“Thank you, Booker.”

“Mhm. Andy, let’s go? If I fall asleep before we make it back, you’ll have to carry me the rest of the way.”

“I’ll leave you on the footpath.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“I might. Let’s go. ‘Night, Nicky.”

“Goodnight, you both. Safe travels, in case I don’t see you before your flights.”

The next morning, Nicky woke up to webbed feet padding determinedly across his chest. He opened his eyes to see beady black eyes staring down into his soul, and very nearly had a heart attack.

“Madre de dio!” he yelped, sitting up sharply. He managed to gather his bearings and catch the little ball of yellow fluff before it tumbled off the bed. “Piccolo mio, you can’t just do that!”

The duck let out several loud, indignant squawks, stomping around in his lap. Nicky furrowed his brow.

“Are you…yelling at me?”

The squawking and stomping continued.

“Oh,” Nicky surmised. “Maybe you’re hungry. Babies usually cry when they’re hungry. Is that right, preziosa? Shall we find you something to eat?”

Nicky doubted the duckling understood any of what he was saying, but she responded to his tone, nuzzling her tiny beak into his hand. He took that as a yes. Nicky climbed out of bed with a yawn, stretching thoughtfully as he walked over to the clothing trunk to get dressed.

That was how, ten minutes later, Joe walked in on Nicky standing at the kitchen table in yellow sleeping shorts and a yellow t-shirt, slicing green grapes in half as a very energetic duckling devoured them happily. Joe felt his lips curl up into a hopelessly wide smile.

“When Andy told me you had a surprise for me, this is not what I expected.”

Nicky dropped the knife and whirled around, practically throwing himself across the kitchen in his haste to wrap Joe up in his arms. Joe gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He clung to Nicky, burying his face in his neck and breathing him in. God, how he had missed him. Finally - finally- Joe felt like he was home.

After a few moments, Nicky pulled back, eyes shining as he cupped Joe’s face in his hands. “You stink,” he accused, before kissing him soundly. Joe’s protests died in his throat, and he grinned into the kiss, feeling full to the brim with happiness. He marveled quietly at his husband’s ability to make 900 years seem like the blink of an eye. Perhaps his body had stopped aging centuries ago, but it was only in his Nicolò’s arms that Joe still felt 31.

Eventually, a series of tentative chirps interrupted them, and they broke apart, laughing.

“Aww, amore mio, how rude! You haven’t introduced us yet,” Joe quipped, gesturing between himself and the duckling.

“Ah,” Nicky smiles sheepishly. “Joe, this is…a duckling. Duckling, this is Joe - remember the one I was telling you about by the pond? The one with a smile like sunshine, sweetest person you’ll ever meet?”

Nicky turned, and Joe kissed him again, impossibly more in love than he’d ever been in his life. The idea of his husband waxing poetic about him to ducklings in a pond was just too adorable to bear.

Later that afternoon, after Joe’s valiant but fruitless attempt to potty train the duckling and Nicky’s stoic re-sanitation of their patio threshold, they decided to swaddle the drowsy baby in a soft washcloth and watch a movie together while she napped. They sat on the loveseat Andy and Booker had carried in last night, the duckling nestled comfortably between them. Both of them elected to watch a soppy romantic indie they’d seen a hundred times before instead of the new action flick; it was Joe’s first day back, after all, and he’d really had enough of gunfire for a very long time. Nicky couldn’t agree more.

Around halfway through, Joe leaned forward and paused the laptop. He stroked a finger gently down the sleeping duckling’s back, and then looked up at Nicky.

“Did you really not pick out a name for her yet, amore?”

Nicky shrugged his shoulders with a half-smile. “I figured that’s your department, no? Coming up with something melodious, beautiful. Poetic. Some worthy descriptor for this lovely little creature.” Nicky yawned. Maybe the duckling’s need for sleep was rubbing off on him. “You’re the creative one.”

Joe gasped in mock offense. “You are creative!” he whispered insistently.

Nicky laughed softly. “Yes, coming up with ways to keep you enamored for nine centuries does take creativity.”

“You could laze about on this couch for the next nine centuries and I’d still love you more than life itself.”

Joe’s retort was very matter-of-fact, but Nicky melted like sugar in a flame. Given how often his husband said things like that, he didn’t see how it was possible to be caught off guard every single time. To be stunned into speechlessness, heart alive with emotion his tongue knew no words for. It made Nicky realize what the poets meant when they compared love to a river of fire that could only be crossed by drowning.

“I know, hayati,” he replied at length, leaning in for a kiss. “Believe me, I know.” Nicky did not add that he felt the same, that if they never so much as left this house for another millennia, their love would only continue to grow - but Joe heard it anyway.

The next evening, Nicky finished showering and, after a moment of contemplation, opted for a mustard-yellow sweatshirt and last night’s sleeping shorts. As he walked towards the kitchen to make dinner, he decided to ask Joe to run down to the local pet store and pick up a bag or two of proper duck feed. The duckling could only be expected to eat grape halves for so long. He reached the kitchen and promptly froze in the doorway.

On the counter was a large steel basin filled with water. Inside the basin was a very happy duckling, splashing around gleefully. Next to the counter was a rather disgruntled Joe, soaking wet and trying in vain to coax the duckling into staying still long enough for him to rub a little Dawn soap onto her back.

“Wallahi, Nicolina, a little soap doesn’t hurt! Come on, baths are nice. You’ll like it, I promise. Would you rather smell like pond water, or, uhh…” Joe squinted at the soap bottle. “It doesn’t say what scent this is, actually. But I’m sure it’s better than pond water, don’t you think?”

“Joe, what are you doing?” Nicky laughed from the doorway.

“Nicky! Oh, thank God you’re here.” The duckling seemed to agree, chirping excitedly at Nicky as he walked towards them. “Give me a hand, amore. Nicolina doesn’t like soap.”

“You’re calling her Nicolina?!”

“It suits her. She’s just a miniature you, see?” Joe managed to seize the duckling and hold it up next to Nicky. “Both yellow, both don’t like soap-”

“I like soap!”

“Both like to swim,” Joe continued, ignoring Nicky and putting the duckling back into the warm water.

“And I’m only wearing yellow to make the duckling feel more…at home, you know?”

“Pekin ducks are white, Nicky.”

“Well, this one’s clearly yellow.”

“That’s because it’s a baby. Mother ducks are white.”

Nicky shook his head to clear it. He’d definitely come in here with the intention of telling Joe something else, not arguing about duck colors.

“Oh, right! Joe, I meant to ask you - could you get duckling feed from the pet store while I make something for dinner? After you’re finished bathing her, of course. That way she’ll have something nutritious to eat tonight.”

Joe nodded, and then leveled Nicky with his best poker face, a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. “Who will have something nutritious to eat, amore?”

“She will.”

“Who?”

“The duckling, Joe.”

“Yes, but the duckling has a name, right?”

“ I am not calling her that.”

“Però-”

“Yusuf al-Kaysani, I swear-”

Joe put on his best puppy face. “But you said I could name her anything I want!”

“I said you could name her something beautiful and meaningful.”

“There is no name more beautiful and meaningful to me than yours, Nicolò. You asked me to find a worthy descriptor for her - and I found no better way to honor her charm and kindness than to name her after you. You stole my heart the moment I saw you, and she did the same. What can I do? It’s perfect.”

Nicky gaped at his husband. “Wha- I- You- Hayati! You can’t just say things like that!”

Joe gave a tiny smile, trying to hide his triumph and failing spectacularly. Nicky threw his hands up in surrender, circling around the counter to thoroughly kiss the smug look off Joe’s face.

“So the name can stay, then?” Joe asked, a little breathlessly, when Nicky pulled back.

“Don’t ask questions which you already know the answer to,” Nicky scolded, kissing him again. “Now go pick up duck feed before the pet store closes. Remember, if Nicolina doesn’t get dinner, then neither will you.”

Joe burst out laughing. He stashed the bottle of Dawn soap next to the sink, waving an alacritous finger at the duckling as he scrambled out of the kitchen. “Looks like you’re off the hook for today, little one!” Nicolina splashed and quacked enthusiastically in response. “Nicky, there’s a clean towel next to the basin to dry her off with. Can you-”

“I’ve got it, love. I’ll finish up here before starting dinner.”

“Grazie mille, see you in ten!” Joe called from the living room, grabbing his wallet and heading out the door. Nicky sighed, reveling in the peace of the moment, silent but for the gentle splashes and chirps of the duckling in front of him. Eventually, he picked up the towel.

“Alright, Nicolina. Let’s get you dry and warm for your nap, shall we?”

The next few weeks passed happily, with Nicolina becoming a central part of their family. She was extremely intelligent, managing to figure out potty training by the end of week two. It took until week three to convince her that soapy baths were a good thing, but she grew to love it enough that as soon as a bubble bath was prepared, she would hop in of her own volition. Both Joe and Nicky were ecstatic. By the time week four was drawing to a close, Nicolina had even learned how to turn her heat lamp on and off by herself, by stepping on the switch.

One evening, as Nicky was walking back to the cottage after running an errand, he was struck by a thought. Tomorrow, he realized, would be the one-month anniversary of having found Nicolina by the lake. Since the duckling wouldn’t be with them for a full year, this was probably their best chance to have a first birthday celebration for her. He pulled out his phone and hit recent.

“Hello, Joe?” He paused as Joe spoke. “Yes, yes, the post office was open. It went smoothly. Yeah - I wanted to ask, can you feed Nicolina and whip something up for dinner? I just remembered a thing; I’ll have to take a bit of a detour.” On the other end, Joe grumbled something about Nicky going on impromptu shopping trips without him. “I never said I was going shopping!” Nicky laughed. “But you’re right, as usual. Tell me, hayati, how am I supposed to surprise you with what I buy if I take you with me?”

The next morning, Nicky snuck out of bed before either Joe or Nicolina were awake. He decorated the living room of their cottage with baby blue and yellow balloons - some hanging off the roof and walls, others rolling around lackadaisically on the floor. Then, he puttered around the kitchen for a bit, mixing batter and putting two cakes in the oven to bake: a regular one, and a special miniature one made with all duck-friendly ingredients.

Miraculously, neither of his housemates had woken up to all the ruckus he’d made in the kitchen. Nicky tip-toed back into the bedroom and quietly slid a dress box from beneath the bed. He went to the bathroom to shower and get ready.

When he’d stopped at a clothing shop the previous night, Nicky had honestly been dismayed at the lack of birthday-appropriate formal wear available for men in any color other than dark blue, black, or tan. Certainly there was nothing even approaching some semblance of duckling yellow. Nicky had sighed in frustration - he should have brought Joe along after all. Joe would have known what to do.

Nicky could almost imagine his husband’s gleeful smile. “Amore, try this!” he would say, gesturing to the obnoxious excuse for a suit on Nicky’s right. “Or no, wait - what about this?” Nicky’s gaze had snagged on a lovely light yellow dress, on display in the women’s section across the aisle. It was a simple a-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt that would probably come down to a little above his knee. There was no print, only a few tiny red flowers embroidered at the hem and on one sleeve. Also, it had pockets.

In his head, Nicky imagined Joe, who would have suggested the dress as a joke, tracking Nicky’s interest and suddenly getting on his soapbox about how men can wear dresses, too, because gendering clothing is stupid and outdated, and really, it was supposed to be hot tomorrow, did Nicky really want to spend Nicolina’s first birthday all uncomfortable in a scratchy suit, and…

Before he could second-guess himself, Nicky took the dress off the rack. He skipped the fitting room and decided to just pray that it looked good on him instead. He’d made his purchases and been halfway across the street when he realized that he hadn’t picked one out for Joe. He’d immediately turned and started walking back, earning a confused honk from a taxi driver who had to swerve to avoid him.

That was the story of how, on the morning of Nicolina’s first-month birthday, Joe came into the living room to see his husband in a stunning pastel-yellow dress, glowing like the sun itself among a shower of blue and gold balloons, playing peek-a-boo with a delighted duckling perched on the coffee table. Warmth and sunlight streamed through the open patio, and the air smelled sweetly of vanilla and cinnamon.

Joe pressed a hand to his heart, so overwhelmed with love that he was physically unable to breathe for a few seconds. Looking back, he prided himself on being able to remain standing at all. It shouldn’t be humanly possible, he thought, to fully and truly embody perfection to the degree that his Nicolò did. Joe smiled at the irony - he sometimes forgot that the very basis of their existence itself wasn’t humanly possible.

Nicolina spotted Joe first, and ran excitedly off the end of the table in a wildly risky attempt to take flight. Nicky gasped and lunged after her, managing to catch her before she hit the floor. “Nicolina, what the-”

He looked at Joe, standing open-mouthed in the living room entrance, and smiled. “Good morning, my love. Did you sleep well?”

“You’re beautiful,” Joe blurted out, like a thirteen-year-old talking to his crush. He frowned. Surely, Nicky’s current state of dress deserved something more poetic.

But Nicky’s smile only widened. “I’m so glad you like it, Joe. I have to confess, I had my doubts. But the look on your face convinces me I made the right decision.”

Joe opened his mouth to say, yes, yes this was absolutely the right decision, this might have been the best decision ever - but what really came out of his mouth was “Uh. Yeah. Can I, um. I really want to kiss you. If you want.”

Apparently, he would continue to be possessed by the ghost of an incoherent and besotted teenager for as long as Nicky was wearing this damn dress. Fortunately, Nicky seemed to find this endearing, laughing as he gently deposited Nicolina in his pocket - omg, it has pockets! - and walked up to Joe. He reached out to cradle Joe’s face in his hands, gazing at him like all the stars were in his eyes. Joe, who had just gotten out of bed and hadn’t even combed his hair, couldn’t imagine what Nicky was seeing, but the next moment, their lips were pressed together in a tender, blissful embrace, and every other thought in Joe’s head dissolved like salt in the ocean.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Nicky exclaimed, pulling back all too soon. “I got one for you, too! It’s in a dress box under the bed. Would you be interested?”

Joe blinked as his brain caught up. “One for me?”

“Yes, and don’t worry, I picked something you’ll like. It’s not tacky or unfashionable, I promise-”

“I like everything you pick.”

“That’s not true, you didn’t like the t-shirt I wore two days ago-”

“I like everything you pick for me.”

Nicky paused, trying to find a counterexample. “Ah. I guess you do. Well, go try this one on, then! Let’s see.”

Five minutes later, when Joe hesitantly stepped out of their bedroom in his new dress, Nicky realized that he had vastly overestimated his own ability to remain a functioning member of society with Joe looking like that. Even Nicolina, now resting quietly on a bunched-up blanket on the couch, couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of him.

“Well?” Joe asked, giving an experimental twirl that did nothing for Nicky’s screaming brain. “Does it look okay?”

Joe was wearing a knee-length deep teal sheath dress with a dribble of silver sequins spilling down one side like stardust. A shallow v-neck gave way to a sleeveless top, and the richly colored fabric fit snugly against his hips in a way that had not been nearly so breathtaking on the mannequin. Like Nicky’s own, this dress was simple, without excess print or decoration. Still, the way it looked on Joe as he stood there, smiling a little shyly in the late morning sunlight, left Nicky stunned.

He tried to speak around the sudden dryness in his mouth, but no sound came out. Rather, Nicolina chirped up first, quacking approvingly from her comfy spot on the couch. Joe grinned, crouching down next to the duckling.

“Aww, thank you, little one. At least someone has feedback for me.” Nicolina nuzzled her beak into his cheek affectionately.

Nicky sat back down on the couch and put his head in his hands. Joe glanced up.

“Nicky?” he asked, a little worried now. He walked over and sat down next to him. “Amati, is everything alright? Do you not like it? I can change back-”

“Mashallah, Yusuf,” Nicky said hoarsely, taking Joe’s hands in his. When he looked up, Joe was shocked to see tears glistening in his eyes. “It’s just - you are the most beautiful, wonderful, miraculous being that God has ever created, and I never forget this, but sometimes I am reminded anew and I just- I am left in awe of you, of your endless love and beauty. I can’t handle any of this. You’re too handsome, too kind. I wish I had one hundred hearts to love you with.” He sniffled, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

For the second time that day, Joe was rendered utterly speechless. On Nicky’s other side, Nicolina whimpered worriedly, climbing out of her blanket nest and nosing at his elbow. He chuckled wetly, reaching out to pet her.

“I’m fine, piccolo mio. Better than fine. Don’t worry.” To Joe, he said, “Sorry. I’m overreacting.”

“No,” Joe mumbled. He dropped his head to Nicky’s shoulder, reverently bringing their joined hands to his lips. “Ti amo, Nicolò. So much. Thank you.”

Nicolina clambered onto Nicky’s lap, snuggling close to him for warmth. Nicky caressed her downy feathers comfortingly. He turned and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Joe’s head. It had been a busy morning, and they still had big plans for the day, Nicky knew. A nice long walk in the park, visiting Nicolina’s pond, eating cake, maybe going out somewhere fancy for lunch or dinner (somewhere that allowed pets; he would have to google it). But for now, he allowed himself to just breathe, swathed in bone-deep contentment.

Over the course of the next month, they took Nicolina to the pond every single day. By week five, her feathers were growing out in earnest, and she could fly quite reliably. In week six, Nicky and Joe got comfortable leaving her at the pond unsupervised, using the time to run short errands before returning to pick her up. By week seven, Nicolina would stay out longer and longer, often loathe to leave the water even after the sun had set.

As week eight drew to a close, Nicky reminded Joe to pack an extra jacket for their trip to the pond. Nicolina ran ahead of them excitedly. The pond was always her favorite part of the day. After watching her splash about for a bit, Joe went for a walk around the park, and Nicky left to go grocery shopping for the upcoming week.

When Nicky returned, Joe was back on the bench in front of the pond. For a second, Nicky had a vivid flashback to the evening this all started - he’d been sitting in that very spot, worrying about Joe, when Nicolina had quite literally dropped into his life. He shook his head fondly at the memory.

“Joe?” He approached the bench. Joe looked up at him and smiled, patting the adjacent seat.

“How was groceries?”

“Ah. Nothing too remarkable. A lady spilled a gallon of milk in the aisle where we were waiting to pay, and then we all got distributed into different queues, so it took longer than usual.”

Joe clicked his tongue sympathetically. For the next couple hours, they sat mostly in silence, listening to the sounds of the evening and watching the last rays of sunlight fade from the surface of the pond. As it got dark, the park slowly emptied out, save for a few teenagers roasting marshmallows over a fire pit in the distance.

Nicky sighed deeply, holding his arm out to Joe. Joe scooted closer, wrapping his arms around Nicky’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

“She’s not coming back tonight, is she,” Joe whispered. Nicky squeezed his shoulder, pulling him closer.

“Got attached, Yusuf?”

Joe huffed. “Two months is nothing in the span of centuries, right? So why…” He trailed off, but Nicky heard what was left unspoken.

“The heart only knows how to live in the present, hayati. That is why it falls in love. That is why it cries when something ends. Even if we always knew it would.”

“You’re so composed - won’t you miss her?”

“I will. Terribly so. It just hasn’t sunk in yet, so I can offer you wisdom like a hypocrite.”

Joe smiled sadly. “When it sinks in, I’ll do the same for you.”

“I know, my love. My all.” After a few minutes, he said, “Give me that extra jacket.” Joe handed it to him, and Nicky shook it out, wrapping it like a blanket around Joe’s shoulders. “Lie down.” Joe lay his head in Nicky’s lap, stretching his feet out onto the bench. Nicky wove his fingers through Joe’s hair calmingly. “Alright?”

“Mhm. Nicky?”

“Yes?”

“Are we staying the night?”

“We can stay as long as you want.” ___

“The end,” Nicky said with a flourish.

“Wait, what?” Nile lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean, the end? You never saw her again?”

“Of course we saw her again,” Joe answered from the floor. “We walked by the pond several times a week, and she would always swim over to say hi when she saw us. It was the sweetest thing.”

“About a month later,” Nicky picked up the narrative, “Booker got back from Germany and Andy from Portugal. We took a series of back-to-back missions after that, and didn’t get to return to Genoa until early spring.”

Joe’s phone buzzed on the counter, and he got up to go check it.

“Mhm, and then?” Nile prompted.

“Well, when we got back, we came by the pond to see if the ducks had returned to their northern habitats yet. As we stood by the water, one duck, a beautiful, white bird, swam gracefully up to us and nuzzled our ankles for a bit. She looked really happy to see us.”

“Oh my gosh - Nicolina?!”

Nicky smiled in confirmation. “Do you know, she had a mate? He was quite lovely, too. They made a good pair.”

“Wow,” Nile breathed. “That’s so awesome.”

“Guys, look at this.” Joe walked back to them, phone outstretched. “A message from Booker.”

Nicky took the phone, and Nile leaned over to see. On the screen was a photo of Andy curled up next to a Vietnamese woman that Nile had only ever seen before in her dreams. Quynh, she knew. Andy was fast asleep, and Quynh smiled serenely at the camera. Her eyes looked like she had been crying, but her happiness was evident, even in the hastily taken picture. The message beneath it read “they’re letting me stay the night,” followed by a tentative thumbs up and smiley face.

Nicky grinned. “Oh, God. I can’t wait to see her. And look at them - I told you, Joe.”

Joe leaned in for a quick kiss. “I never doubted it.”

[leedongwook]

The fire station 118 gets taken hostage. Who will save them? 🔥

(Trigger warnings: violence, guns, shot wounds, blood)

Buck’s early to his shift today. He’s on truck cleaning duty this morning. That’s why he’d opened the big hall doors to get some natural light in. It was actually nice to have the morning sun shine into the hall while cleaning the truck. Yesterday’s been a busy day so Buck does enjoy the quiet of the morning while everyone’s just doing the chores. He looks up from wiping down the truck when he hears two men walking down the driveway to the fire house. Buck musters precisely because he’s not familiar with them. He puts away his cloth and walks towards the men.

“Good morning, can I help you?”

“Oh, I’m sure you can.”

One of the men laughs weirdly and Buck doesn’t even have the time to react when the other man moves himself quickly behind him pulling his arms behind his back, covering his mouth with his hands. Buck struggles in the man’s arms and tries to break free, and he could, but he stops moving when a gun is pressed onto his forehead.

“If you move or scream I’ll shoot you in the head, boy.”

Buck swallows hard. He thinks of his team members and a way to warn them. The pressure of the gun on his forehead makes it hard to think though.

“So, my friend here is gonna take his hand away now and you won’t make a sound. You’re going to close that hall gate and show us the way to your Captain. Do you understand?!”

Buck looks at the man with strong eyes. He won’t let them scare him. He needs to find a way to warn his friends.

The man with the gun slaps him on the head hard with his other hand. His cold eyes bore deep into Buck and a shiver runs down his back. This man was really dangerous. He’s seen such eyes. Cold and no regret.

“Do you understand?”

Buck nods his head and the man behind him lets go of his hands. The man lifts the gun away but keeps it trained on Buck. He walks over to the door and pushes the button to close it. Buck looks around and thinks about running out of the station. But then he thinks of his team. He can’t leave them in this situation. The hall gate closes shut with thud and Buck locks it.

“Good boy.”

The man laughs and Buck clenches his fists in anger.

“Don’t call me that.”

The expression of the man changes and the next thing Buck feels is an exploding pain in his face and he tastes blood. He brings his hand to his nose and it comes back bloody. He’s lucky when it’s not broken.

The man grabs him on his chin and violently moves his head up, so he has to look at him.

“I said. Don’t. Talk.”

Buck squeezes his eyes shut for a second. The other man grabs him by his arm and manhandles him into moving. Bucks face hurts and his vision is a bit blurry from the blow in his face.

“Now, get me to your Captain.”

Buck opens his eyes again and looks around quick. It’s early into their shift and he’s only seen Eddie, Chim, Hen and Bobby check in this morning. He hopes it’s not more firefighters who are around. In his current panic he can’t remember if he’s seen the others or not.

The man keeps on pushing him and it makes him stumble forwards. They walk over to the stairs. He can hear Bobby move around in the kitchen, probably preparing breakfast. When they arrived at the landing he can see his Captain. His back is turned to them and he’s busy cutting vegetables.

The man shoves him forward while is partner walks next to them. Buck wants to break free and scream for Bobby to run but he knows he’s got no chance. His eye sight is still a bit blurry and his head’s ringing from the blow in his face and he definitely wouldn’t be able to outrun the shot of a gun.

The man with the gun coughs loudly to get the Captain’s attention.

”Good morning Captain Nash.”

Bobby startles and turns around immediately after hearing the man speak.

“Good - ...”

His voice gets stuck in his throat when he sees the three men in front of him. The Captains eyes go wide and Buck knows he’s already planning a rescue mission in his mind. Buck slowly shakes his head though. It’s too dangerous. Bobby blinks at Buck and he knows it’s his Captain trying to calm him down. His face crunches up when his eyes wander to Bucks bloody nose.

“Buck, are you ok?”

The gunman chuckles and waves around with his pistol.

“Oh pretty boy’s fine, aren’t you Buck? He just doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut.”

“What do you want? If you need help I can - ...”

The gunman stops in his tracks and Buck can see how his expression turns into anger. He steps forward and huffs at the Captain.

“Oh you, you did enough Captain Nash, you and your team ruined everything. You took her away.”

Buck thinks about a call gone wrong or any reason why those two men would want to hurt them. Their faces still don’t seem familiar to him but then again they meet  hundreds of people in their line of work.

The man who’s holding Bucks arm grips him tighter. He can feel that he’s nervous through. Buck makes a mental note, maybe he can use that later. Maybe this guy doesn’t share the same grudge as the other man.

The gunman walks back over to him and laughs madly.

“Get all of your team here. Now. And don’t tell me it’s just you and him, we know the others are here.”

Buck remembers now that Eddie, Chim and Hen went down to the basement to check the oxygen tanks. The Capitan hesitates for a bit but then reaches for his radio.

“Don’t try to warm them or -“

The gunman puts the barrel of his pistols against Bucks temple. The cold metal on his skin making him wince and hold his breath.

“ - I’ll blow the kid’s brains out. We don’t want that mess do we?”

He laughs and Buck wants to punch him in the face so badly, his fingers itch. The Captian looks at Buck with worried eyes and Buck knows he wants to help him. But there’s no way the two of them can handle the situation without one of them getting hurt.

Bobby pushes the send button of his radio.

“Eddie, Chim, Hen I need you in the kitchen, now.”

The radio rattles and Eddie answers back.

“Copy that Captain, on our way.”

A couple of minutes later they can hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Buck wants to scream but the gun presses against his temple reminds him that they most likely will shoot him when he doesn’t keep his mouth shut.

The team talks while walking up the stairs. They’re in a good mood, ready for a new shift.

“Cap, what do you want?”

Chim stops talking immediately when he sees the gunman holding the weapon against Bucks head. Eddies eyes get wide and Buck knows that look. He’s ready to jump in the situation. Buck slowly shakes his head and pleads with his eyes for the other man to not do anything stupid. Hen let’s out a loud breath and puts a hand over her mouth when she sees Bucks bloody face.

“Nice of you to join us. Get over there. Sit on the ground. Hands where I can see them.”

He puts the gun away from Buck and waves it over to the side of the room. The man then looks back at Bobby.

“You sit right there Captain.” He points to the table. “Hands on the table.”

Bobby moves slowly and sits down. The man holding Buck shoves him at his shoulder and presses him down on a chair opposite from Bobby.

The gunman walks around and takes everyone’s radios away and throws them on the table.

“This is gonna be fun.”

He laughs and it makes Buck’s skin crawl. Buck looks over to his team colleagues who are crouching on the floor. Hen looks scared and Chimney holds at her hand. Eddie is ready to burst and Buck tries to get his attention. Their eyes connect and Buck can see the anger in Eddie eyes. He has seen this look only once in the other man’s eyes. The time he was street fighting to get this anger under control. Buck prays that Eddie won’t do anything impulsive though he doesn’t want him to get hurt. He doesn’t want any of them to get hurt.

The gunman’s tapping the pistol on the table and the noise breaks Buck out of his toughts. The man behind him digs his hands into his shoulders.

“You, you all let her die. You probably don’t even remember her. Her name was Ruth and you let her burn.”

Ruth. Buck remembers now and he can see in his friends eyes they can remember it, too. You never forget someone you lost on a call. There was a house fire: The husband came out safe but it was too late for the wife. Buck remembers how they went in but the floor was gone already and there was no chance the woman could have survived. They went in anyway to check. They barley made it out themselves but they couldn’t get the wife out. Calls like that happen and it was always difficult for the firefighters to accept that they couldn’t save someone. Buck remembers the husband, the anger the desperation after realizing he had lost his wifey. They couldn’t have saved her though.

He looks at the gunman and sees the same anger and desperation from that night again. It scares him.

“2477 Baker Avenue. The house fire.”

Bobby’s voice is quiet and calm. It’s the voice he uses when he tries to calm someone down, tries to help them and focus, Buck notices.

“We tried everything we could. But the house was almost gone when we arrived. I’m so sorry -“

The man rushes over to Bobby and waves the gun at his face. Buck can see the man’s neck vein pulsate dangerously.

“You left her to die.” He screams in the Captains face.

“There was no chance we could have saved her. I’m sorry.”

It’s Eddie who talks now. The anger in the man’s eyes flares up and he runs over to where the team is sitting on the floor. He kicks at Eddie and shoves the gun against his head.

“Shut up. Shut up.”

Buck can see the man’s finger move against the trigger of the gun and he violently pushes the man’s hands off his shoulders and jumps of the chair.

“Nooo!”

Bucks scream startles the gunman and he turns around, pulling the trigger in panic.

The shot echoes through the fire house. It’s quiet after that, no one dares to move or breath. Buck feels exactly when the bullet hits his shoulder. It collides with his collar bone and knocks the air out of him. The man who was holding him down steps aside with fear in his eyes. Buck falls backwards, his head and back connecting with the floor hard. His vision goes black for a second.

“Fuck, are you insane, Tom.”

The gunman walks up and down and presses his hands to his head. 

“Don’t say my name, you idiot. Shut up.”

Buck blinks his eyes open again. He looks at the ceiling above him. His left shoulder is on fire and his chest aches painfully. He wants to move his hand to check on the wound but he feels frozen.

“Buck, Buck can you hear me?”

It’s Bobby’s voice and Buck manages to slowly move his head to the side. The Captain is standing now, his hands on the table. Buck tries to speak but no words come out. He sucks in air loudly and has to cough. He regrets it when a sharp pain flares up in his right shoulder.

Eddie jumps to his feet but the gunman is at him seconds later.

“If you don’t wanna end up like him, sit the fuck down.”

Buck feels incredibly dizzy but he tries to lift his head up. There’s a wet spot on the side of his shirt. It’s not wet though, it’s his blood. He looks to the side and can see a lake of red next to him. He’s freaking bleeding out on the fire house kitchen floor. That’s just Buck and his luck, isn’t it.

He watches Eddie sit back down biting at his lip angrily.

The other man without the gun walks over to where Buck is lying. He can see fear in the man’s eyes and Buck hopes that he’ll be the key to get out of this situation. He’s not as angry as the gun man. Buck notices the man’s hands are shaking.

“Is he - is he gonna die?”

Buck moans in pain when he touches his shot wound and digs a finger into the wound to stop the blood flow.

“Yes, there’s a big possibility. Hte bullet seems to have hit an artery and Buck here is on blood thinners which makes him bleed out even faster.”

The man looks at his partner in panic.

“I don’t -  I don’t want him to die. You said you’d wanted to scare them.”

The gunman walks over to his partner.

“They let your sister die.”

Buck feels himself slipping so he presses down on his wound harder to stop the bleeding a bit. The sharp pain clears his focus and he tries to speak.

“We - we tried everything we could I swear? I swear.”

Tears are rolling down his face now and mix with the blood next to his head on the floor.

The man looks unsure now, fidgeting with his hands nervously.

“This is wrong, Tom.”

The gunman walks over and pushes the man to the side. He talks angrily at him. Buck can’t hear much the blood rushing in his ear being too loud. He looks around the kitchen. Hen and Chim are still sitting on the floor. Eddies on his knees, roaming around the room with his eyes. Buck knows he’s planning to attack the gunman any minute.

“How you holding up, kid?”

Bobby whispers and Buck moves his head to where he’s standing at the table.

“I don’t think the bullet went through it’s -“

He has to squeeze his eyes shut because he feels a sharp sting inside his shoulder. He can’t breath and his vision goes white.

“Breath Buck, come on, breath.” Bobby tries to help him.

“It’s - it’s stuck in my collar bone I think. Bobby, I’m so tired.”

He barely gets the words out. Bobby’s eyes look scared at him. If the Captain looks scared, it really must be serious.

“We’ll get you outta here Buck, hang on, ok? Please hang on.”

The gunman walks back to Buck, followed by his partner.

“Don’t fucking talk, I need to think.”

Buck musters the man again. He’s nervously shaking his gun around, his fingers are not resting on the trigger at the moment. The man stands right in front of Buck, so If Buck could kick out his legs, he could make him fall over.

A wave of nausea hits him and he feels bile coming up his throat. It makes him gag. He knows he’s only got this one chance because after that he might lose consciousness. 

He feels the blood run through his fingers where he’s pressing them on the wound, life leaving his body with every breath he takes. He curses the damn blood thinners.

He looks over to Bobby and then to Eddie who are closest to him, then nods his head over to the gunman and his legs. He just hopes his colleagues understand what he’s trying to say. 

The other bad man leans at the wall behind him and if Eddie and Bobby are quick enough, they could get the gun before him and disarm him. It’s their only chance.

Buck reassuringly smiles at Hen and cChinmey. He takes one last deep breath and lets go of the wound. He feels how all the blood spill out of the wound freely now. He puts all his energy into his legs and kicks out violently against the gunmans kneecaps. The man yells out in pain and Buck can see him fall forwards. Eddie and Bobby jump into action at the same time.

There’s screams and loud noises but Bucks head falls back onto the hard floor and his vision goes black.

He can hear muffled voices and this awful hot pain in his shoulder won’t go away. His mouth feels dry and tastes like metal. Buck can’t remember why he feels so weird. And the pain in his shoulder is really getting on his nerves.

There’s hands touching him now, pulling at him and all he wants to do is push them away. There’s a bright light floating his sight and he squeezes his eyes shut and tries to move away from it. His body won’t cooperate though. He tries to focus on his own breathing and heartbeat and notices it’s all way too so slow. Why is it so slow?

“-Evan, open your damn eyes.”

Oh someone’s using his real first name so it must be serious. Was he hurt again? 

Suddenly someone pushes against his shoulder and the pain makes him scream and his eyes shoot open. He waves around his arms in panic and tries to shuffle away from the hands, that hold him down.

“Stop, Buck, don’t move around too much. You got shot.”

Hearing Eddies speak makes him stop moving. He looks around and Bobbys and Hens face appear in front of him. His sight is still blurred but he can see them now. 

On his left side Eddie is kneeling against his side and he can feel the weight of the other mans leg press against him. He follows Eddies arms to his shoulder and sees the blood. So much blood. His eyes dare to roll back into his head when Chimney, he thinks it’s Chimney, taps at his cheeks hard.

“Eyes open, Buckaroo. Five more minutes and we have you ready for the hospital.”

Eddie keeps on pressing on the wound while Chimney pushes something into his IV line in his hand. Buck remembers the gunman now and panic sets in again.

“Gun.”

Bobby kneels down next to his head and gently strokes his head.

“They’re both arrested and locked up. You did good, you saved us by kicking the gunman in the legs. You did so good, kid.”

Relief rushes over Buck and he smiles a bit. Suddenly his vision blacks out completely and he doesn’t know where he is anymore. It’s back in a second but he can’t get his eyes to focus again. He isn’t even sure he’s breathing anymore. He feels his heart stutter in his chest. At least he’d saved his team, right. It’s ok if he might not make it. They’re safe. He tries to fight against the numbness in his body and mind but he can’t.

“No, no, no Buck. You’re not doing this.”

He barley can hear or see things anymore. He feels hands on his body again. What he does hear is Bobby’s voice next to his head. He sounds sad. He doesn’t want him to be sad. He wants to tell Bobby to not be sad, that it’ll be ok. He cant though. The numbness and darkness being too strong. Overwhelming him. He prepares himself for more pain but he feels nothing instead and he gives in into the darkness.

———————

“Buck?”

Oh why can’t people just let him sleep. What time is it anyway?

“Come on, time to wake up.”

He feels a hand taking his own. Gentle fingers rubbing circles over his knuckles.

“Don’t wanna.”

He mumbles. He doesn’t recognize his own voice. It sounds raw and thick. He moves his fingers on the sheets and notices they feel different. Right, that’s definitely not his own bed. Shit, did he go on a  bender and had too much to drink? He tries to move his upper body but stops when he feels a sting in his shoulder.

“You slept long enough. Open your eyes Evan.”

His first name again. He’s heard it before not so far away, hasn’t he. He moves again but his limbs feel numb and he winces in pain. Why does his freaking shoulder hurt so much.

“No don’t move too much, you’ll hurt your shoulder more.”

Buck’s annoyed now because he doesn’t know what’s happening. He slowly pries his eyes open. The light is too bright, it blinds his eyes. It smells clean and medical in the room and the cover thrown over him itches his at his skin. He now notices the beeping sound next to his ear.

When he finally has his eyes open he looks at the faces of Bobby and Eddie. Bobby’s holding at his hand and Eddie softly pushes his hands against his shoulder to make him lie down again. When did he move?

“You’ll rip you’re stitches Buck, relax.”

He blinks in confusion. He’s in a hospital room. Again.

“Why- why am I in the hospital again. What happened.”

Bobby lets go of his hand and pushes a glass of water in his hand which is not connected to an IV. Buck takes it gratefully, the cool liquid soothing his sore throat.

“Do you remember the gunman taking over the fire house? You got shot kid.”

Buck looks over to his shoulder and sees a bandage peaking though his hospital gown. Oh that explains the pain

“Ouch, shit.”

“Yeah, you can say that.”

Eddie flops down on the bed next to Bucks leg.

“You did a real action number there, Buck.”

Buck gives the glass back to Bobby who puts it away. He awkwardly scratches at his chin.

“I did? What did I do ? My head hasn’t caught up, I guess.”

Eddie laughs but Buck can see the redness under the other mans eyes. The puffy skin under it, like he’s been crying.

“You gave us a little sign that you were planning on doing something and then you just kicked at the gunmans legs so he fell and Bobby and I could disarm the man. You saved us, Buckley.”

“Oh. Yeah? I can’t remember that if I’m honest.”

“You already had lost a lot of blood, could explain the holes in your memory. It was a miracle you could even kick out like that.”

Buck’s still confused and he can feel the pain in his shoulder getting worse. Bobby seems to sense the other man’s distress and pushes at the pain IV that’s connected to his hand.

“You can use the painkillers Buck, that’s ok. You don’t have to be in pain.”

Buck nods and gives his Captain a tired smile. He carefully looks down on his shoulder again and sighs.

“How bad is it?”

He already feels the pain medication taking an effect. He feels more tired though.

“Since you’re always so lucky with stuff like that, the bullet got stuck in your collar bone. Took the doctors a while to get it out. You being on blood thinners made it worse. You’ve been out of for two days.”

He looks at Eddie who wipes at his eyes again.

“You scared us.”

Buck bites at his lip.

“-m sorry.”

Bobby shakes his head and smiles softly.

“No, don’t say that. You saved us all. I’m just so glad you’re ok, kid.”

Bobby walks over and gently squeezes Bucks uninjured shoulder. There’s an expression on his face Buck hasn’t seen often and it’s reversed for his wife. Buck leans into the Captains touch on his shoulder.

They all look towards the door when a nurse sticks her head in.

“I’m sorry but visiting hours are over and the police is here to get his statement if Mr Buckley is up for it.”

Buck nods and Bobby softly pats the back of his head.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, alright. Get some rest.”

Buck watches Bobby walk out of the room. He notices that Eddie hasn’t moved from his spot on the bed. He can see the tension running down the other man’s body. His hands grabbing the sheets tight.

“Eds?”

The other man shuffles closer and pulls Buck by his shoulders bringing their foreheads together. He can feel Eddie hold at his neck, gently rubbing his finger up and down there.

“Please don’t, don’t ever do that again.”

Eddie gulps hard and presses his fingers into Bucks neck. It doesn’t hurt though and Buck feels the tension run out of his shoulders.

“Eddie, I couldn’t let them hurt you guys.”

The other man blows out a loud breath.

“That’s not what I meant. Don’t ever die in front of me again, I can’t - I can’t handle it. I can’t lose you, Evan.”

He feels Eddies fingers shake against his skin.

“Oh. Ok, I’ll try.”

Eddie moves away and Buck wishes he could still feel the other man’s hands against his neck.

“Just, be more careful ok?”

Buck nods and actually blushes a bit. Eddies smiles at him and squeeze at his hand.

“Get some sleep, I’ll be outside and check in later again?”

“You don’t have to stay Eddie. Go home to Chris.”

Eddie shakes his head.

“Chris is the one who wants me to stay with you. He’s with his abuela anyway tonight.”

Buck waves his hand gestures him to go.

“Don’t think I haven’t seen your hands tremble and how you react to sudden noises.”

Buck looks down on his hands who are slightly shaking. He did startle earlier when he heard a car backfire.

“Sleep and talk to the officers later. I’ll be here.”

“Ok, thank you.”

Eddie pats his leg gently and walks out of the room.

Buck slips under the bedcover and holds at his shaking hands. The knowledge that Eddie will be there when he wakes up makes them stop shaking and the pain meds help him fall into a restful sleep quickly.

He’s glad he’s ok. 

He’s glad he saved his family. 

Because that’s what they all are

His family and he’d do anything to protect them.