#now you're gonna want to roll on your side to escape the immediate danger not thinking about the consequences of that move

[martinmynster]

life could be dream ? well life could be nightmare too

[angst-fairygodmother]

Will you write more Lila? Please? With the protective prompt: “I love you. Of course I’m gonna defend you like that.” you're the beast Lila writer!

A/N: I wasn't planning on writing for Lila again, but this prompt just fit so well, that I managed to bang this out in a single sitting. So here you are, enjoy! (Also thank you for the compliment Nonny, you are too kind.) Word Count: 2162 Rating: T - canon-typical threats of violence, swearing, emotional abuse/manipulation

FIC CONTAINS NO SPOILERS FOR SEASON 3 OF THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

The Temps Commission was all you knew. Not because you grew up there and were trained since childhood to be a master assassin or anything (that would never happen, right?) but because you had been there for so long, and time passed so unusually, that anyone you might have been before had long since faded into hazy memory, like a dream or a story that happened to someone else. 

The other analysts were nice enough. Weekly lunches with Dot and subtle but increasingly dangerous prank wars with Herb (his sweet, almost fatherly face hid a frighteningly devious mind) gave your life structure and stability. But it was one of the field agents, you had come to think of her as your field agent by the number of assignments you’d worked opposite ends of, that really served as your anchor, never letting you become adrift in the strands of time, or at least not alone. 

Lila Pitts was The Handler’s adopted daughter, and while officially the stance was that she wasn’t supposed to get special treatment based on that fact, unofficially there were betting pools and disgruntled grumbles alike over whether she was being groomed to take over her mother’s role, and when (some analysts didn’t think she should because she had never experienced your side of the work, but they had quickly learned not to express such opinions around you or face your wrath). And more important than who her mother was, she was bold and funny and stubborn and drove you crazy, in all of the best ways. She was easily the best friend you had ever had, or ever could.

“Hey sexy,” her voice was close to your ear and made you shiver as she kissed you on the cheek and boosted herself up to perch on the corner of your desk. 

“Lila, you’re not supposed to be in here,” you couldn’t help laughing while you scolded her, knowing she had never cared about that rule before and wouldn’t now. The room was empty of other analysts anyway, since you had been working overtime on a particularly weird assignment. 

“So? When has that ever stopped me before?” 

“It hasn’t. But someday you’re going to get one of us fired. And I’m not convinced the Commission doesn’t have a severance policy that would add the word ‘on’ to that.” 

She rolled her eyes at your concern. “Nah, it’ll be fine. My mother would never let that happen to me, and you’re my person, so I wouldn’t let them fire you either.”

“Your person?” you felt like your heart was in your throat, beating like a trapped bird and trying to escape. She might just mean it platonically, her friend, her favorite analyst, you made a good team. But you hoped beyond hope that it was more than that. 

“Duh. You’re like the best thing about this place,” she said casually, looking at the pen she was fiddling with rather than at you. “I wouldn’t want to be here without you.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that was a confession,” you teased, immediately regretting it when her face darkened and she started shifting uncomfortably. “Lila, I’m kidding.” 

“Would it bother you if it was?” 

“No, not at all. I just…didn’t expect it.” 

“Good to know,” she said, smiling mysteriously and hopping down to the floor. “I should let you back to work, but…I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Of course. You’re the one who’s hard to pin down, not me.”

She smirked, and you felt your face growing hot at your accidental innuendo (or was it admission, you wondered, picturing all the scenarios where she might be pinning you and finding all of them set your blood rushing and head spinning). 

~

It wasn’t unusual not to see your friend for weeks on end sometimes, but after the conversation between you, it still stung. Despite knowing the nature of the work you did, and she did, you couldn’t help but wonder if she was avoiding you or if you had misinterpreted the signals she was giving you. 

And then one morning, while you were settling into the work you had admittedly been distracted from by your fretting, the shoe that you hadn’t even known was there dropped. You were being called before The Handler for “a quick chat,” and your stomach sank. 

“How long have you been with the Commission, Y/N?” she asked in what was far too conversational a tone to put you at ease. 

“I…can’t say, ma’am. It’s a bit of a blur to be honest,” you answered, fiddling with your hands in your lap. 

“It’s been a long time though, right?” 

“Yes, I suppose so.” 

“And do you enjoy working here?” Her elbows rested on the desk and her fingers steepled in front of her face as she studied you, like a bug under a microscope. 

“Of course. It’s always fascinating, and tests me to the furthest of my ability. I couldn’t ask for a better job.”

“No you couldn’t. A smart thing for you to remember.”

You frowned. “Have I done something wrong?”

“Have I done something wrong?” she echoed in a mocking tone before scoffing. “Don’t play dumb with me. We both know if you were that, you wouldn’t be here.” 

“Ma’am?”

“And you won’t be here for much longer if you keep toying with my daughter. Do I make myself clear?”

“Actually, no. You don’t. I have no idea what I could have done that would be considered toying with Lila. And I would never do anything to hurt her, not intentionally, so that puts me in an even more upsetting position if you’re saying to me that I have.” 

The Handler’s hands slammed down on her desk, making you jump, as she stood up to lean menacingly over you in your seat. 

“Lila is a very special girl. And she has a Great Destiny that I am going to help her fulfill. You are not special. Your only destiny is to fill a seat at a desk and push papers around, like all the other analysts.”

You swallowed nervously and shrank down in your seat to avoid her wrath.

“But my dear daughter has a bit of a romantic streak, and she fancies you. I can’t say I see why in the least. It doesn’t matter.”

You couldn’t help the giddy flip your stomach did at the possibility that Lila might return your feelings, even if the news was delivered in the most terrifying way possible, and wasn’t coming from Lila herself. 

“You don’t matter. And I won’t have you distracting her or getting her hopes up that you and her can take a briefcase and run off to the riviera or somewhere equally cliche and live happily ever after forever and ever.” The Handler’s voice had taken on a mocking sneer again. “You cannot have her. Do I make myself clear?”

You didn’t know what to say. You wanted to say something about how you returned the feeling, and how that hardly equated to toying with Lila, that if she asked you would do exactly that with her in a heartbeat. Another, more cowardly part of you that thought The Handler might slit your throat with a pencil without warning wanted to assure her that you had no intention of getting in Lila’s way, or that you would just be happy to be able to watch and help her on her path, to promise that you would never act against The Handler. Neither of them, nor the part that said to just get up and flee and hope you could get to the briefcase room and out of there before The Handler brought security down, nor any other of your warring instincts that were swirling around inside you and leaving you quite nauseous, got to act. 

Suddenly Lila burst into the office, and if looks could kill, The Handler might be a pile of ash on the opposite side of the desk from you. 

“Mother! What the hell are you doing?!” Lila snapped, rushing to your side, moving as if to shield you from her mother’s wrath. 

“Taking care of a little problem dear,” The Handler purred, voice turning sickly sweet. “It’s nothing for you to worry about.” 

“You’re threatening my best friend. I think that’s definitely something for me to worry about.”

“Lila it’s okay,” you whispered, placing a hand on her arm and wincing in surprise when she shrugged you off.

“No it’s not, Y/N. You mean the world to me, you’re my Focus Point. And I’m not going to let my mother, or anyone else, get in between us.”

“Oh Honey,” The Handler laughed dismissively. “I couldn’t get between you if I tried right now, you’re so close together. But people like Y/N come and go, you’re much too important to waste your time with them.”

“Stop it.”

“I know what I’ve asked of you hasn’t always been easy, darling, but I only did it because I believed in you. I knew what you were capable of. But maybe I didn’t take enough care to make sure you were strong enough.”

“I said stop.” Lila shook her head, eyes pinching shut, as if trying to block out The Handler’s voice.

“If you continue to waste your time on palling around with analysts, or chasing silly romances, you’re going to get soft. Emotions make you stupid, sweetie. And if you’re too weak to do what needs to be done, you’re going to get killed. You understand that don’t you? I’m only trying to look out for you.”

You watched Lila deflating before your eyes with every word out of The Handler’s mouth and felt a white-hot rage building up inside of you.

“Shut. Up,” you suddenly growled, standing to look The Handler in the eye. 

“Excuse me?!” she laughed as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard, and Lila’s head whipped around to stare at you in shock and horror.

“With all due respect, ma’am, you can’t be fucking serious. Lila is one of the best agents this place has ever turned out. Even better than Number Five. And it is because she hasn’t become a cold, emotionless robot. Her heart and her humanity are her best quality. And she has so many good, no, incredible, qualities that that’s saying something. You could never be half of what she is. And yes, that puts her so far out of my league that I’m not sure we’re even playing the same game, but I don’t care. Because the most important thing to me is to support her. Not play pretend at it, not change her. And if I get to be in her life in any way, let alone have a chance with her, than I can consider myself the luckiest person in the universe.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you thought you saw Lila tearing up, and you held out your hand to her, giving a comforting squeeze when she took it, but you kept your eyes locked on her mother.

“And if you don’t see that, you’re the stupid one.” 

The Handler rocked back as if she’d been hit, mouth agape, and then sat heavily in her chair. 

“I have to say, Y/N. I wasn’t expecting you to have a spine. I’m actually impressed, and I’ll be keeping my eye on you.”

“No you won’t Mother, leave Y/N alone.” Lila still sounded small, but more sure. “Please?”

Before The Handler could answer, you turned on your heel and left the office, pulling Lila behind you. When you had made it to the courtyard, you finally stopped and let your panic set in.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that!” you shouted, beginning to pace. “What the hell was I thinking?! She’s going to fire me. Or kill me. Or both. I’m going to be used as target practice. Or a science experiment. I’m sorry Lila. I really meant it for the best, and I hope that whatever she does to me, she doesn’t also take my stupid big mouth and idiocy out on you too.” 

“Will you shut up?” Lila laughed, catching your face between her hands and making you stand still to look at her. “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. No one’s ever stood up to my mother before. Especially not for me. I can’t believe you did that!”

“I love you.  Of course I’m gonna defend you like that.” The words tumbled so naturally from your lips that you didn’t have time to regret them.

And then there were no words coming from either of you because her lips were on yours, and yours were on hers, and everything else melted away. 

“I love you too,” Lila laughed when you finally broke away to breathe, her hands still where they were cradling you. “For an analyst, I’m surprised you didn’t work that out sooner.”

[buckysboobs]

BEG ME TO STOP || k.p.

Warnings: degradation, slapping, spit kink, spanking, choking, daddy kink, slight consent play, dom!kai, just 1.6k words of really rough and filthy smut. Also it's my first time writing smut and I got carried away so oops?

He's busy reading the grimoire while she sits and watches him and the way her LED lights cast a reddish hue all over the room. He looked dangerous, and she was feeling like playing with fire.

"Malachai." She calls out, heart thumping against her chest. He replies with a 'Hmm?' without taking his eyes off the book.

"Give me attention."

He looks up at her. She's on the bed laying upside down, eyes hopeful and locked on his crotch. For some reason they're always locked there. It is a very nice sight.

"No." And with that, he's back to reading.

She gets up and slowly walks over to the chair.  She snatches the book away from him and straddles his lap.

His hands push up to her waist to still her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asks, gaze hard, an eyebrow raised. She throws the book over her shoulder and looks right into his eyes.

"Daddy, please give me attention." 

Once he realizes what she really wants, his features soften and his hand comes up to cup her cheek.

"Yeah?" he asks. She nods.

It was unpredictable, how he suddenly yanked her by the hair and darned a slap upon her cheek. She moaned, heat rising up her skin. 

"Always so thirsty for daddy's attention, aren't you? Such an attention seeking whore." 

She made the infamous puppy eyes at him, "I'm sorry daddy, just wanted your touch."

"Oh with that attitude i'm gonna give you a hell of a lot more than that." 

With that being said he holds her close and whooshes away to their bedroom. He throws her on the bed, his lips immediately pressing to her lips. She starts sucking on his tongue when his hand wraps around her throat, his fingers applying sight pressure as her mouth snaps open and a gasp escapes the back of her throat.

He spits into her mouth. 

She hums in content, swallowing and opening her mouth for more. He slaps her again. 

"Don't be a greedy bitch now, darling." He commands, lips attaching to her neck and sucking cherry shaded bruises into her skin.

"Daddy please…" she cries, small hands trying to pry open his shirt, "I want to feel you!"

"Of course you do." he smiles, and with a snap of his fingers his shirt is off. She presses her lips to his shoulders, open mouthedly sucking, loving the salty-sweet taste of his skin. His hot breath fans over the side of her neck and down her chest as he's licking wide stripes, fingers pushing into her hips.

"Off." he mumbles against her skin and with a heavy tug, he pulls down her panties. He shoves his fingers into her mouth and she rolls her tongue around them, sucking like there's no tomorrow. He pulls them back with a pop and she blushes red when his index finger rubs against her clit, furiously applying pressure. A heavy gasp escapes her throat when Kai starts kissing down her stomach, licking into her navel and down to her heat. She presses her thighs together, almost trapping his head between them when he pries them apart with his hand and moves back up to lick into her mouth.

"Daddy please…" she whines, pushing her heat back and forth on his fingers, trying to get some friction and he sniggers mockingly.

"Getting yourself off on my fingers… what a fucking slut." With that being said he abruptly reaches down and licks a wide stripe up her gaping cunt.

"Oh shit!" she cries out, earning herself a spank.

Kai's prickly beard rubs against her pussy and inner thighs as he eats her out like she's delicacy, tongue reaching in and out of her core and thumb rubbing harsh circles on her clit. Without warning, he pushes two fingers in and she gasps, hand yanking on the sheets to ground herself.

His experienced mouth sucks on her clit, fingers furiously thrusting in and out of her pussy, mind reveling in her cries and gasps of pleasure and mouth full of her sweet taste. His long and thick fingers scissor her open, thrusting hard against her insides, basically tearing her apart and he's not even started.

She pushes down on his fingers when Kai comes to level with her, whispering dirty things into her ear.

"Grind on 'em," he moans, his dick getting impossibly hard against his jeans at the mouth watering sight of her, skin red, hair spread out all over the sheets and eyes filled with tears. Her mouth looked puffy and a cry escaped her parted lips when he gave a particularly hard thrust with his fingers. 

She feels a heat pool in her belly and cries out, "Daddy i'm close!"

Kai pulls back and she whines in protest. 

"I was so close!" she says, breathing heavily as she watches Kai play with the buckle of his belt. 

"Make daddy feel good and he'll let you come."

That's an offer she can't refuse so it barely takes her a minute before she's on her knees, pulling down Kai's jeans and watching his hard cock bounce against his stomach. Kai's hand comes down to rest atop her head, slightly pulling at a few strands of hair as she takes the tip into her mouth, giving kitten licks to the head.

Kai slaps her across the face, his fingertips burning her skin. "Don't be a tease, bitch."

Tears roll down her cheek and she moans around his cock, taking all of it down, the gag reflex she had worked so hard on finally coming into use. Kai yanks at her hair roughly, thrusting into her mouth while her hands rest on his thighs. He shoves his cock harder into her warm mouth, letting out breathy moans at the sounds of which her heat begins to pool again and her hand reaches down to play with her clit.

Kai sees that and pulls out of her mouth, spitting onto her face and darns another slap onto her cheek. She cries out loud, her pussy pulsing wet and throbbing.

"Nasty little bitch," he snorts bitterly, shoving his cock down her throat again and yanking her head back by the hair, "I didn't allow you to touch yourself, did I?"

She moans and it sends vibrations around his cock, he's thrusting harder when she feels him twitch and his seed is spilling down her throat.

"Swallow it." he warns, even though he knows he doesn't have to tell her. She swallows it like it's delicacy and she's been starving forever, closing her eyes and humming in content. Kai pulls out and she opens her mouth to show him that she had, indeed, swallowed it all.

"That's my girl." he praises and she beams at the response. However, the soft moment is over when he grabs her and pushes her against the wall, tongue plunging into her mouth.

She grips his shoulders but he doesn't take it, instead he thrusts hard into her pussy. His hands find hers and their fingers intwine, Kai holding them beside her head as he thrusts roughly without warning. She cries out, but the pain subsides soon and she's dwelling in the pleasure that comes with his animalistic thrusts. Her body's bobbing up and down with every thrust and Kai is grunting right into her ear, his breath tickling her skin and hands holding her down. She's crying because it feels so good and it hurts so good, his thick cock ramming into her tight cunt and heat striking every inch of her skin, his pubic bone slapping against hers. He pulls out for a second and whooshes them away to the bed where he flips her onto her front and enters her from behind, ripping a scream from her lips. He's cheating with his vampirism too, his thrusts hard and deep when he changes the angle. He grabs her neck and pulls her back up against his chest, pounding into her mercilessly while she screams his name. 

His hand comes down to brush against her clit and she starts to cry even louder, "Fuck! Fuck i'm going to cum!"

"Go on, bitch, come for me" he whispers in her ears but his thrusts never stop, he fucks her through her orgasm, still pounding hard and furious when she begs him to stop.

"That's a good girl, beg." He fucks her hard and rough and she screams, tears rolling down her cheeks and pausing at her chin, her fluids slipping down her thighs. She could have used the safe word if she wanted to , but she truly didn't because the pain and the overstimulation felt so heavenly.

"I'm gonna fill you up." Kai snarls, fucking into her roughly and rubbing fast circles on her clit, lips attaching to her ear, "I'm gonna bury my seed in your tight little cunt, breed you like a bitch in heat."

"Oh god daddy oh shit— FUCK!" she cries as another orgasm washes over her and he thrusts even harder if possible, flipping her onto her back and throwing her legs over his shoulder, he fucks her into oblivion where she's completely at his mercy. 

It hurts so good. She feels his thrusts get slower and realizes he must be close to his own orgasm but this didn't stop him as a loud groan escaped his throat and he fucked her like an animal. 

With another thrust he's spilling into her, washing her pussy with his seed and leaving his cock buried tight into her as he collapses right on top of her, breathing heavily. Her hand comes up to play with his hair and he gives her cheek a soft kiss before pulling out, making her wince.

"I wanna cuddle, daddy." she mumbles, and he smiles at her, laying right beside her on the dirty sheets as he opens his arms and she falls right into them.

___________

@1-800-khaleesii

@rome5683

@genevivetaylor

@slut4kai

@fandom-strumpet <33

[helloalycia]

girl next door [three] // wanda maximoff

summary: the time has come where you realise your boyfriend just isn’t worth it, and your neighbour may or may not be an Avenger

warning/s: none i don’t think??

author’s note: part 3 is here! I kinda got carried away and wrote two more parts so my bad, but i hope you like it!

part one | part two | part four | part five | masterlist | wattpad

I couldn't be bothered with today. I just wasn't in the mood to go to work, so of course, I procrastinated as much as I could in the morning until it was finally time for me to get out of bed without being late.

Teddy had fallen asleep here last night after we watched a film, but he left earlier for work, so it was just me. I knew I had to break it off with him, it was time. But I didn't know how to tell him without hurting him. So, I was cowardly in that sense, which was only worse because I was leading him on. I'll find a way to say something soon, I promised myself as I took my clothes off and wrapped a towel around myself.

When I headed to the bathroom, I immediately slipped on the wet floor that only one person could have left behind. But, unlike the many times I had done so, I wasn't able to catch myself and instead fell on my leg, hearing a deadly crack noise, forcing a scream from my lips.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," I got out through gritted teeth, tears slipping from my eyes. The pain was unbearable and as I looked to my leg, I knew something was wrong because it instantly began to swell up and change colour.

Taking deep breaths to get through the pain, I tried not to imagine the several ways I was going to skin Teddy alive. He was so ignorant! How many times did I have to explain to him how dangerous it was to leave the floor wet?!

"It's okay, Y/N, you're okay," I told myself, before stretching and grabbing my phone from the side.

A striking pain shot up my leg and I suddenly felt nauseous, unable to deal with it. Swallowing hard, I called Teddy to give him a piece of my mind but also ask for his help since I couldn't move. Unfortunately for me, it went to fucking voicemail making me scream with frustration. I clenched my jaw as I tried to stand up myself, but more tears rolled down my cheeks as I accepted I was stuck.

The next person who came to mind was Wanda. If I was lucky and she wasn't at work, she'd be able to help me up and get me to a hospital.

I called her next and thankfully, unlike the arsehole that was my soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, she answered.

"Hey, Y/N!"

I breathed out as calmly as I could. "Hi, Wanda. I, er, I need your help."

"Everything okay?" she asked with concern.

I nodded, though I felt really sick as I tried to avoid looking at my leg. "Yeah, well– no. This is really embarrassing, but I slipped on the bathroom floor and I think my leg is broken. Please can you come 'round and help me up?"

"Shit, Y/N, of course!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks," I got out breathily. "Spare key is taped under the plant pot outside my door."

"Just hold on," she insisted, before hanging up.

I dropped my phone to the side and glanced down at myself, definitely embarrassed that I was sat here in my underwear and bra, but also glad that I wasn't completely naked.

As promised, Wanda came as soon as possible and I heard her approaching the bathroom before she squeaked and covered her eyes.

"S-sorry!" she said, flustered. "I didn't mean to look. I just–"

"Wanda, you need to see if you're to help me up," I said as nicely as I could without snapping from the pent up anger reserved for Teddy.

She removed her hand, though her eyes wouldn't meet mine. "Right, yeah, duh. Okay, er..."

Successfully, she managed to lift me up and let me use her for support as we limped to my bed and I took a seat.

"Can you pass me my–"

"Clothes, right," she caught on, still not meeting my eyes, before moving around the room to grab a shirt and shorts.

I put my shirt on with ease, but she had to help me with my shorts as I tried my very hardest not to cry from the pain. My leg, or rather my knee, was turning a yellow-purple colour pretty quickly, making me flinch.

"How did this happen?" she asked with worry, gaze falling to my leg.

I clenched my jaw. "My stupid fucking boyfriend. I've told him so many fucking times to mop the damn floor! And he always says okay, but he never does! Oh, boy, when I get my hands on him, he's gonna wish he'd never been born!"

"Y/N–"

"And can you believe he has the audacity to have his damn phone switched off?! I could be dying and he wouldn't even know! That selfish, ignorant son of a–"

"Y/N!" she called, snapping me out of my rant. "Hospital."

"Right, hospital," I agreed. "No ambulances because they're way too expensive. Maybe you can get me down to a taxi and I'll take it from there?"

She raised her eyebrows with disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

I mirrored her expression. "Er, no? Ambulances are like $700, and even with my insurance that's like $400. Taxis are, what, twenty bucks?"

She wasn't convinced as she crossed her arms and stared at me with uncertainty. I sighed and tried to stand up, but I pulled a face at the pain. She was quick to help me stand, giving me support on my right side.

"This is gonna take a while," I mumbled, biting back annoyance.

"Don't hate me," she said suddenly.

I looked to her, furrowing my brows. "What are you talking about?"

She avoided my gaze and instead swept me off my feet quite literally, taking me by surprise. I wrapped my arms around her neck on instinct, eyes widening as she held me close, bridal-style.

"Wanda, you can't just carry me like this," I said, though I was surprised at how strong she was.

She ignored me and walked out the bedroom before stopping at the fire escape. I gripped her tightly, wondering what the heck was going on. There was a hint of red in her eyes, startling me, before I noticed the two of us rising into the air. Levitation, to be exact.

"Woah!" I shouted, holding her as tightly as I could. "What the hell?! How–?! What–?!"

As she flew us away from our building, there was a red hue floating all around us, like an energy I'd never seen before. Except it seemed familiar... and that's when I put it together.

"You're that Avenger!" I blurted out. "The witch, the one with all the magical powers! You're– you're– Oh my God."

She frowned, eyes darting to mine apologetically. "I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

I swallowed hard, fearfully glancing over her shoulder at the clouds interwoven with the tall buildings of New York. Never in a million years did I think I'd be flying amongst them, with an Avenger nonetheless. She'd fought at the battle of New York, I remembered seeing her on the TV. She was dubbed an official Avenger not long after, but then coverage of her went quiet... because she'd moved away. It made so much sense now!

"I knew I recognised you," I said with disbelief, studying her face closely as I now knew who she was.

Her eyes still had a red hue surrounding her irises, matching the energy surrounding us as she flew us to, presumably, the hospital.

"I didn't intend to hide it," she explained guiltily. "I thought you'd figure it out. But then you didn't and it... it just never felt right to bring it up."

I thought back to the random hours she worked, the spontaneity of being called in for her shifts, her whole backstory for crying out loud... how stupid could I be?

"This... this is a conversation we should have," I said, nodding slowly, "but maybe not right now."

"Right, yeah." She nodded in agreement, jaw tensed as she stared ahead. "Just hang on."

–

After getting an x-ray at the hospital, the doctor told me I'd need to go into surgery so they could realign my knee – it wasn't anything concerning, but I wasn't exactly over the moon about it.

I returned to the hospital room to find Wanda had been waiting for me. I'd say I was surprised, but I was more grateful that she stayed. We hadn't had a moment to speak about her whole Avenger situation, and she was oddly quiet about the whole thing, so I decided to ease it into conversation whilst waiting for the doctors to return to prep me for surgery.

"You know, you didn't have to stay," I said to her, watching as she distracted herself with the stuff on the bedside table. "It's only a broken leg."

She stopped whatever she was doing and gave me a knowing look. "It's not only a broken leg. And I just thought you might like the company. Who else is going to make sure you're okay?"

I offered her a small smile. "Thank you. But the surgery is gonna take a while. I'll head home after and catch up with you then."

She seemed against the idea, but said nothing, before resuming whatever she was messing around with. The tissue box, I think.

"So... magic, huh?"

She swallowed visibly. "It's, er, not magic... at least, not exactly."

I hummed in acknowledgement, still adjusting to the fact that she had actual powers. It was amazing and unusual all at once.

"It's okay that you didn't tell me you know," I said gently, making her glance at me. "You apologised earlier. Back when we were–" I breathed out, still in mild disbelief, "–well, flying. You didn't need to. You don't have to be sorry about anything, Wanda."

She frowned. "But I lied to you."

Her Sokovian accent was more noticeable when she was upset, I noted. I wondered if she realised.

"You didn't lie, per say... more like bent the truth," I tried to make her feel better, stifling a laugh. "Either way, it's alright. Well, for me anyway. I don't know if you wanted to tell me or–"

"I did," she cut in with nod, eyes focused on me. "I wanted to."

I hoped she couldn't hear the way my heart rate picked up a little. "Okay, then I don't see a problem. You're still the same Wanda, just with a little something extra, right?"

Her shoulders relaxed and a small smile tugged at her lips. "Right."

I mirrored her expression, holding her gaze for a moment longer than necessary, before tearing away when I heard the doctor enter the room. After prepping me for surgery, I headed off into the operating room and made sure Wanda knew she didn't have to be there when I came back.

They put me under, so I wasn't awake until several hours later when I woke up to horribly bright, fluorescent hospital lighting and the accompanying nasty disinfectant smell filling the room. The first thing I noticed was the giant cast on my leg, followed by the sleeping brunette in the corner of the room that was Wanda. I would have questioned why she was there as my first thought, but I couldn't help but take notice of the lovely room I was in – for starters, it wasn't shared with other patients like I expected.

"Wanda," I called, my voice rough-sounding, but she didn't stir in the slightest.

I chewed on my lip as I found the remote that controlled my bed, using it so I could sit up. I was able to grab the water on my bedside table and take a few sips before calling for her again, sounding a lot better. To my relief, she began to wake up, eyes blinking open and looking around with confusion before realisation crossed her face and she settled on me.

"You're up!" she exclaimed, before a yawn escaped her lips.

"And you're here," I returned, hinting my confusion.

"I told you I was staying," she reminded me, before standing up and approaching my bedside. "Had to make sure you were okay. And obviously to help you home. By taxi, not flying, don't worry."

I smiled at her caring nature, expression softening at how cute she was.

"Also, before you ask," she added, "your hospital bills are taken care of. Hence the room."

I lost my smile, eyebrows raising. "Come again?"

She sat at the edge of my bed, getting comfortable as she looked out the window opposite us. "I didn't want you worrying about it, especially when none of this was your fault, so I called in a favour at the Avenger's compound. Tony owed me."

I almost forgot how to breathe as my eyes widened. "Tony Stark? The Tony Stark? He's paying for my hospital bills?"

She looked to me, a hint of panic in her eyes. "I hope that's okay. I mean, I knew you would say no, but I feel like I should've done something. You've done so much for me and it was only fair."

"I can't believe..." I trailed off, losing track of what I was going to say, still shocked. It made sense with her being an Avenger, but it was still hard to believe.

"You still with me?" she joked, her hand resting on mine.

I cleared my throat, ignoring the warmth from her skin touching mine. "Yeah, sorry. I just– wow. Still digesting is all."

"Don't worry too much about it," she said gently.

I nodded weakly, swallowing hard and avoiding her gaze.

"I should go get the doctor and let her know you're awake," she said, letting go of my hand. "You okay on your own for a minute?"

"Yeah, of course. Thanks."

After a chat with the doctor and an explanation of how everything would play out from here, I was getting ready to leave for home. I got changed out of the annoying hospital gown in the bathroom attached to my hospital room (another perk of Tony Stark paying for my bills – no shared toilet) and was in the middle of adjusting to my crutches in my room when there was a knock on the door.

Wanda and I paused as we looked up, and I was about to say for whoever it was to come in, but the person came in quickly and without waiting. To my bitterness, it was Teddy of all people.

"Oh my god, Y/N, there you are!" he exclaimed upon seeing me. "I got your message, both of them. I was so worried!"

In addition to the message I'd left him when breaking my leg, I also left him another before the surgery to see if he actually cared enough to check in. Clearly not.

I gripped my crutches to get out my frustration. "It took you long enough. I went into surgery five hours ago."

He scratched his head awkwardly. "I was at work."

I rolled my eyes, promising myself I wouldn't snap, but the annoyance of everything happening was building up and I couldn't help but blurt out, "I told you to mop up when you freakin' showered, Teddy!"

"I did!"

"No, you didn't!" I shouted, raising my voice. "If you did, I wouldn't be in this fucking cast!"'

He winced. "Are you, er, sure that it was the water that you slipped on?"

I clenched my jaw, knuckles turning white from how hard I was gripping my crutches. I didn't care that I was temporarily crippled, all I could see was red.

"Am I sure?" I repeated his question, tone laced with anger. "Am I sure?!"

I attempted to lunge forward, but Wanda seemed to know what I was thinking before I did it, holding me back suddenly.

"Y/N, just leave it," she mumbled, eyes meeting mine.

Something about the way she looked at me made my anger temporarily melt away, and I almost forgot why I was mad, until...

"Who are you?" Teddy asked with confusion.

Wanda and I looked to him, figuring he was just being his usual rude self, but he genuinely had no idea who she was as he studied her curiously.

She blinked with disbelief. "Wanda....?"

He waved his hand, motioning for her to say more.

Wanda raised a brow with offence. "Y/N's neighbour...?"

He pursed his lips, eyes squinted with thought.

Wanda almost scoffed. "Really? You got nothing?"

He chewed on his lip, genuinely stumped, and I couldn't help but groan with frustration, earning his attention.

"Of course you don't know who she is!" I glared at him. "You don't listen to a word I say! Not about this, not about mopping the floor–!"

"Y/N, just calm down!" he cut me off, only adding fuel to the fire.

"No," I said sternly, before nodding to the door behind him. "You can leave. You have no need to be here since we're not together anymore."

He raised his eyebrows with shock. "Seriously? You're breaking up with me? For what?"

I breathed out through my nose, genuinely stunned at how I managed to stay with him this long without either losing my mind or killing him. I could swear he wasn't this stupid when I met him.

His eyes fell to Wanda with distaste. "Is it because of her?"

"Did you actually manage to get stupider since this morning?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.

"Because I totally accepted when you said you were bisexual," he continued, "but I didn't think you'd actually leave me for a woman."

I pressed my lips together, looking to my shoes as I tried to talk myself out of not killing him there and then. The fact that he was blaming the breakup on anyone but himself was disappointing but not surprising.

"Can you leave now?" I finally spoke, looking up to him with expressionless eyes.

His smile of disbelief turned into a scoff as he headed for the door. "Whatever. Your roast lamb is shit anyway."

I scrunched my face together with annoyance, unable to stop myself from yelling, "No it isn't!" as he walked out the door.

Unexpectedly, I saw the familiar red wisps of energy by the door before it suddenly slammed shut, smacking Teddy in the butt and propelling him forward with a start. He turned around to look through the glass, expecting to blame someone, but Wanda and I were nowhere near the door, so he glared our way before storming off.

"Sorry," Wanda said, referring to the door, lowering her hand and red eyes returning to normal. "He's just a real dickhead."

I tried not to laugh as I nodded in agreement, already feeling better. "You're not wrong there..." I sighed, losing my smile as I gave her an apologetic glance. "I'm sorry for everything he said. Again."

Wanda rolled her eyes dismissively, shrugging her shoulders. "You should really stop apologising on his behalf. Especially since he's not your boyfriend anymore."

I relaxed my shoulders, leaning against the bed and looking to the floor. "Yeah, you're right... I just can't believe I put up with him this long."

Wanda didn't respond, but I heard her make a weird noise before she fake-coughed terribly, making me look up. Trying ever-so-hard to suppress a smile, she shook her head apologetically when she realised I noticed.

"Sorry, I– it's not funny," she attempted.

I smiled with amusement. "What?"

She licked her lips, before giving into her smile. "I just– I can't believe it either sometimes."

I breathed out with defeat, my smile turning into laughter alongside her. Eventually, she continued to help me with my crutches before I got the hang of it and the two of us began to leave the hospital. On the way out though, a random thought dawned on me and I stopped walking suddenly.

"What is it?" she asked worriedly.

I looked to her with curiosity. "That guy who stopped by your place a while ago. Your friend. Are you telling me that was–"

"Captain America?" she filled in with an amused smile. "Yeah."

"Woah." I was amazed, eyebrows raised as I let that sink in. I spoke to the Captain America and even implied he was a stalker. Woah.

"Come on, idiot," she laughed before leading me out the hospital, finally.

–

Breaking up with Teddy was long overdue, and whereas I thought I would feel bad for doing so, it was quite the opposite. I felt better, freer, unrestrained by the stupidity that was my ex. It was a few days after leaving the hospital when I found myself sitting on the couch with Wanda. She'd been helping me during my recovery, even though I insisted I was fine alone. She, of course, didn't listen though, and I was secretly glad because it meant I could spend more time with her.

"What about that fork? Can you move that?"

Wanda gave me a knowing look from the other end of the couch, amusement knitted in her smile. "Yes, Y/N."

To prove her point, her eyes glowed red and she flicked her hand, raising the fork on the dining table up in the air before setting it down.

I was amazed. "What about that cushion?"

She stifled a laugh before levitating the cushion between us and setting it down.

"And that book?"

"I have other powers, too, y'know," she pointed out, but levitated the book nonetheless.

I grinned. "Yeah, like flying."

She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, like that..."

And this.

"Woah!" I said with a start, eyebrows raised with surprise. "Did you just– what?!"

She laughed, the sound sending a swirl of butterflies in my stomach. Her eyes sparkled as she met my gaze, amused by my amazement.

"You can speak in my mind?" I asked in bewilderment.

"I can read minds, too," she continued.

"Wow." I breathed out, still not used to her having powers. Suddenly a thought came to mind and I glanced at her. "Have you, er, read my mind?"

"Never," she assured me, before adding with a head tilt, "at least not on purpose. Sometimes, if somebody's thoughts are too loud, I can't help but hear it."

I felt my face heating up as I avoided her eyes. "But my thoughts are quiet... right?"

Every potentially-embarrassing thought I'd ever had, including those I'd had of Wanda, came to mind and I suddenly grew nervous to her answer.

"Er, well, I mean..."

I looked to her when I heard her forming an answer, but the look on her face told me she had heard my thoughts at times and I ran a hand down my face with embarrassment.

"I promise it's never anything embarrassing or anything," she tried to make me feel better.

I groaned quietly, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Hey, I promise," she said with reassurance, before I felt her rest a hand on mine and squeeze it gently.

"What was the last thing you heard?" I asked, trying to veil my curiosity with a shrug.

I felt her gaze on me and looked her way to see green eyes sparkling with amusement. "Mostly you cursing at your ex."

Cracking a smile, I nodded. "Okay, maybe that's fine then..."

Her laughter surrounded us again and she let go of my hand before pulling her legs up on the couch to get comfortable and face me. She watched me with an endearing smile, making me unusually nervous.

"So, what other things can you do with your powers?" I asked, partially curious and partially trying to distract from my nerves.

She studied her right hand, red energy wisps at the tip of her fingers. "I can... I can throw energy balls," she remembered, looking to me before smiling, "but I won't demonstrate that since I'm sure you love your curtains."

"That I do," I said in agreement, leaning on the back cushion with my elbow as I faced her better.

"I can also manipulate thoughts, but once again, I'm sure you won't want a demonstration." She chuckled as she saw my change of expression.

"Yeah, no thank you," I said jokingly.

She pressed her lips together, thinking of what else she could do, but her smile faded into a thin line as a dark thought seemed to cross her mind.

"My brother had powers, too," she said quietly. "Super speed."

Since finding out who she was, I tried to piece together Wanda's background without bringing it up to her for fear it would upset her. It made a lot more sense why she'd moved next door now that I knew who she was, but she hadn't once brought up her family again until, well, until now.

"Pietro," I said, hoping I'd got his name correct. "Right?"

She nodded, lowering her hand and looking to me. "Yeah, that's him... he also had powers. It was actually what got him killed." She barely flinched as she spoke. "He saved someone's life in the battle against Ultron."

I sensed her sadness when her gaze softened as she finished speaking, and my heart ached now that I knew the truth.

"You don't have to tell me, Wanda," I said gently, hoping she didn't feel obligated to.

"No, no...," she shook her head, "it's nice to finally be able to tell you the truth. The whole truth. Not some rendition of it."

I nodded, relaxing under her stare. I was glad, too, to know she trusted me with such sensitive information about her life. It made me feel important, kind of like confirmation that I meant as much to her as she did to me.

"Do you think you're gonna go back to the Avengers tower anytime soon?" I asked. "I know you mentioned living here was temporary, so..."

It was selfish of me to think, but I hoped the answer was no. She hadn't said, but I gathered she hadn't been fulfilling her role as an Avenger as much as she should have been, as she was still on a break from there since grieving for her brother. But she seemed better than she did when she first got here, and if that meant she was going to go back there... I hoped it didn't, selfishly enough. I know the world needed another hero, but, I mean, did they?

"Trying to get rid of me already?" she teased, quirking a brow, making me smile with embarrassment. She noticed and added, "I'm kidding, Y/N. But to answer your question, no, not yet. Maybe not ever. I thought I would be here to get away from them whilst I grieved, but I've come to like it here. It's become my new home. I can still help them and not stay there."

I tried to resist the urge to smile like a weirdo. "Oh, cool. Yeah, I get you."

Calm on the outside, but over the moon on the inside.

"Though I may have to reconsider if my neighbour keeps using me like a carnival attraction," she added playfully.

I laughed, putting my hair behind my ear as I shrugged. "I'm sorry, I can't help it. It's just so cool that you have powers!" She laughed quietly, making my smile widen. I continued without thinking, "Plus, your eyes go this pretty red colour whenever you use them and I just think that's pretty neat."

She rolled her eyes playfully, but I was surprised to see her cheeks turn the colour of said powers. God, she was stunning. I was sure I'd always known that, but maybe I'd never acknowledged the thought. Now though... she was adorable when she bit back a smile and her hazel eyes sparkled with distraction.

Suddenly remembering the beautiful girl before me had the ability to read minds, I cleared my throat and tried to debate whether or not that would be classed as a 'loud' thought. I'd liked to think it wasn't, but now I wasn't so sure... what if this was a loud thought? And she could actually hear everything I was saying about her in my head? Oh, no... I was definitely overthinking this. It was nothing to worry about.

"You okay over there? I can practically read your mind."

I looked up and saw she was teasing again, though now that I knew she had powers, those words carried a double meaning.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you can," I played along dismissively. "Nice try, Wanda."

She shrugged, laughter slipping from her lips. "Okay, whatever you say."

Nah, she was definitely playing me... right?

[nonstoplover]

protagonist ~ joe liebgott (band of brothers)

my masterlist  |  my hbo war masterlist

pairing: joe liebgott x female reader

short summary: joe's assigned to search for the perfect house for easy's hq in the new town they'll soon arrive to on their way through germany and finds one with a girl in there who's like the protagonist of one of the comics he's read - courageous, fearless, heroic.

words: 2.5K

a/n: first of all, sorry for disappearing, exam season has started at my uni and i've been hella busy these past weeks (and gonna be for the following few as well,  u g h ).

anyway this fic came around from a conversation i had with the lovely @now-im-a-belieber when i was telling her about an idea i had and she technically came up with the base of this. thank you, Pearl, i love you xx (i hope i did justice to your idea)

oh and let's just say i have no clue if this would have been possible, at least the exact way i wrote it.

taglist: @how-are-those-nuts-sarge @50svibes @pennyllanne @nowinnablewar

gif credit: @basilone

Four loud bangs sound against her front door right as she starts washing the dishes after they finished lunch. With her eyes widening in surprise she rushes back into the room, telling the family of three to hide as she's drying her hands in her apron before making her way to the door.

After taking a deep breath she grabs the handle and opens it. The next thing she knows is being pushed to the side as a figure storms in past her without a word. A gasp leaves her lungs as her back lightly collides with the wall, head turning to watch as the soldier barges in the house.

What is going on? Has someone found out about them?

With a hand reaching behind her back she pushes herself off the wall and hurries behind the man. Trying hard to sound completely calm and innocent she asks him what is going on, but he only barks back something almost inaudible - only a few German words reach her ears.

The soldier is moving with such speed that she hasn't got a single chance to get a better look at his uniform as he's entering every room one by one. Who is he? Worry swiftly floods her veins - more importantly, what is he looking for?

She can only pray the family has had enough time to properly hide.

As he reaches that door, she holds her breath back, repeating her little prayer like a mantra inside her head. The man comes to a sudden halt just as he steps through the doorframe and in an instant fear makes her blood turn freezing cold. She carefully moves closer to glance inside next to his body, not knowing what to expect.

And what she sees makes everything else in her mind disappear - just the thoughts of all hell breaking loose any time now move around inside.

Her best friend crouches on the other side of the room, clearly frozen mid-movement as her body is still half out of the hiding spot, eyes wide as she stares at the soldier, not a single muscle moving. It's like everyone's got frozen in time, none of the three people makes a move.

Liebgott's mind slow to catch up to what he sees - he didn't expect to see that as he rushed through the house. He's only been trying to decide whether it's a good place for Easy's HQ, as he has been ordered to do when Winters sent him ahead of the company.

His eyes then start moving around the room, trying hard to find a good reason as to why that girl is half inside the wall. A book is laying on the table next to the door, open at around the middle. With one glance at the pages he recognises the letters of the hebrew alphabet, and suddenly it all makes sense.

She's a Jew.

His breath hitches in his throat as he struggles to comprehend this new information, and just in that very moment the silence is broken by a voice. And it's not coming from either of the two girls in the room - more like it's coming from inside the wall.

One simple sentence, ending with a Yiddish term of endearment - one he can perfectly understand. It came from a woman, asking the girl crouching facing him from across the room why she's stopped moving.

There are more Jews in there.

His lungs fill with a sharp breath he's taken and he spins around, staring straight at the girl who opened the front door only minutes prior. The question must be clear in his eyes as she starts stammering in defense, her voice audibly shaking.

Joe shakes his head, stopping her mid-sentence. "No, they're Jews, I can see it," he says in perfect German, and the already pale girl suddenly seems even whiter.

He swiftly grabs her arm and pulls her in the direction he remembers finding the dining room in, trying to find a chair for her to sit down on, as she's visibly close to fainting - though the reason behind it he can't find.

(y/n) flinches with utter fear, weakly trying to resist being pulled away - he most probably is now taking her away to kill her, right? He's a German soldier, that's what his job is. But no matter how hard she tries to wiggle away, his grip is too tight around her arm and she can't do a thing.

Just when they arrive to the dining room and he kind of pushes her into one of the chairs is when Joe realises that she's scared of him - she immediately pushes the chair further away from him as soon as he lets go of her. So that's why she's shaking so bad.

"No, wait, don't be scared," he rushes to say. "I'm a Jew too."

This finally breaks the scaredness - instead her eyes fill with utter confusion. Her forehead wrinkles as she tries to make sense of what he's saying. How can a German soldier be Jewish? It makes absolutely no sense.

With a sudden wave of suspicion she moves her glance down to his uniform, examining every detail she can lay her eyes upon.

Is he not German?!

Suddenly she can see differences - details about his uniform that she's never seen on a German soldier before, and she's seen her fair share of those in the past years.

But if he's not German, who is he and what is going on?

She takes a still shaky breath and looks back up into his eyes - seeing the waiting expression on his face as he's standing there in patient silence for her to say something.

"Are you-" Her voice cracks mid-sentence. It's not good. She clears her throat and tries again. "Are you German?"

All of a sudden he bursts out laughing - so loud, and somehow so dark that her eyes widen once again. She just can't decide if it's from fear again, or only surprise.

A minute or so goes by with nothing but Joe laughing - this must be one of the most hilarious things he's heard in the past couple years. That he is a German.

Then his laughter finally quietens down to slight chuckling and he speaks up once more to confirm the truth. "No, of course not," he shakes his head in amusement. One look in her eyes tells him that somehow she still has no clue about his nationality, so he opens his lips again to give an answer to her question in advance. "I'm American. Don't worry, you're not in trouble for that," Joe points back in the direction of the room with the hiding spot above his shoulder.

A loud sigh escapes her lungs, her shoulder visibly falling a bit as she slumps more into the chair. It feels like years worth of stress and nervousness have just come to an end - it's truly like an enormous stone has rolled down from her chest and shoulders. She somehow feels free again for the first time in years.

Relief completely replaces the worry and fear in her veins as all other thoughts leave her mind. She's not gonna die. At least not today.

"They're Jewish," the soldier speaks again - and it's not a question. More like a statement.

(y/n) nods, unable to say a word as she's still overwhelmed with her new feelings.

"You're hiding them?"

She just raises an eyebrow, and Joe mentally slaps himself - what a stupid question. He could've might as well just asked her the colour of the wall.

"Since when you've been hiding them?" He corrects his question.

"Ever since the whole thing has started," she answers, her voice so quiet it almost disappears in the air between them.

"Wow," Liebgott breathes out before he can stop himself. He stares at the girl in disbelief. She looks so innocent and young - she's probably one or two years younger than him. How could she pull off something such a thing? Such a dangerous and pretty reckless thing?

"Esther is my best friend, she's been ever since we were little kids, they all are like a second family to me, I've spent most of my days with them," (y/n) explains, the relief causing her to ramble and Joe - for about the first time in his life has to struggle to keep up with the German words that come flying out past her lips. "I just had to help them, you know. I couldn't just leave them here."

"Where's your own family?"

"My parents left to France to be further away from the chaos, and my brother joined the Luftwaffe, and since then I haven't heard from none of them."

"Why didn't you leave with your parents as well?" The young soldier keeps asking, moving closer to the table and sitting down on a chair on the opposite side, facing her. Pushing his M1's strap down his shoulder he places the weapon on the table, pushing it only a little further in order to calm the girl more. He knows he probably shouldn't do this - and keep Winters waiting, but he's too curious to stop himself, he has to hear the rest of her story.

"I love this town, I was born and raised here," she shrugs as if it's obvious. "But more importantly, I didn't want to leave and let innocent people like my best friend's family suffer. I wanted to stay and fight back as good as I could."

Joe subconsciously mumbles under his breath before he can stop himself - words that praise her absolute bravery, words that give away his true feelings he suddenly feels towards her - then he has to move his gaze away from her, fearing that she sees the embarrassment in his eyes. He tries hard to think of another question while also trying hard to forget the look of the half-smiling expression that took over her face just a moment before - it does nothing good for his heart.

"Did you make that hidden room yourself?" He asks in the end, thinking back to what he saw in the room.

"Oh," she giggles - and it's the prettiest sound he's heard in a very long time. "No, my father made it when me and my brother were young and often played hide and seek. I just improved it a little so they can fit in more comfortably."

Liebgott hums, not knowing how to tell her - or if he should even tell her in the first place - how absolutely super impressed she left him with every single thing she's told him and what he's seen. It's one of the craziest things he has ever heard, and he had a fair share of unbelievable stories told to him in his life. He simply couldn't even imagine how on Earth this girl could manage to do this - and not get caught. Throughout the whole war.

In that very moment he swiftly decides that he'll go and find another house for the HQ, and that he'll somehow get back to this particular one, no matter what it takes. He wants to get to know her better. He has to get to know her better.

She's the most incredible woman he's ever heard of, read about or met. She's a woman who fits in the stories of the comics he's been reading his whole life - as the protagonist, the hero. He can't leave this town without hearing more about her, seeing her face more. That would be the biggest regret of his whole life, he can already tell.

But for now, he has to leave. It wouldn't be a good idea to keep his officers waiting even longer.

He stands up, fingers reaching out to grab his M1 before looking back into her eyes. Damn, he doesn't even know her name.

"I have to head back to my company, but I'll come back later, if that's okay with you."

Her eyes are already on his, seemingly staring straight into his soul with that intensity that lays in her (y/e/c) orbs. The girl then rises to her feet - still never breaking the eye contact.

Thoughts race inside her head, and it's like an angel and a demon are sitting on each of her shoulders, one telling her to say no whilst the other trying to convince her to say yes.

What if he only wants to use her? What if he only wants to sleep with her? Maybe force her to do so, threatening her with his knowledge of the Jewish family. He might not even be who and what he says he is. How could she know?

But on the other hand, there is this feeling she has about him. A feeling that tells her that nothing she previously thought will happen. She doesn't know what it is, but it's there, right in her chest, and she can't fight it. He seems genuinely curious and impressed, and honest. And she feels a pull towards him. She wants to see him again.

In the end, the devil on her shoulder wins, and she simply nods - right before she could change her mind.

"I'm Joe," the young soldier moves around the table, one hand held out towards her.

A glance cast down and right back up to his face she takes his hand and gives it a shake, holding onto it tightly, as if only to let him know how strong she actually is.

It probably works, 'cause he raises an eyebrow, slightly tilts his head and the corners of his lips curve up into the smallest smirk she's ever seen - but it's there.

"(y/n)," she eventually answers with her own introduction.

A few seconds pass and neither has let go of the other's hand, not yet. They just stand there, staring into each other's eyes, only the small noises of them breathin breaking the silence.

Then Liebgott blinks, clears his throat, pulls his hand out from her grip and instinctively places his fingers upon his weapon hanging from his shoulder whilst nodding towards her as a gesture of saying goodbye without words.

She watches as he turns around and walks out from the room, and after a tiny, happy sigh she follows the sound of his steps.

Just as he opens the front door and moves through it is when she arrives to the hall. Joe glances back over his shoulder for one last time, offering her a small smile, then looks back ahead of him and continues his walk as if nothing has happened. None of the past dozen of minutes.

(y/n) leans against the doorframe and watches him right until he disappears in the distance with a dreamy look in her eyes.

She can't wait until he comes back again.

.::the end::.

(might write a part two if i'll have time and you'd like to read it)

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[maxwell-grant]

Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions once said :"If you can imagine your Batman comforting a shared child, then congratulations, you're righting Batman. If not, you're just writing the Punisher in a funny hat". This got me wondering: could the Shadow comfort a scared child?

Could he? You forget who was there to lift young Bruce to his feet at his first brush with death (sadly far from his last).

But it's an interesting question to pose still, because children were straight up not in the pulps, not in any I've read, and I can't recall any episodes of the radio show that feature them much (there's gotta be at least a few, because they had everything in that show). The most interaction I think The Shadow's ever had with children (from comics that I can discuss here, because Marshall Rogers' "Harold Goes to Washington" is way, way too much for me to go into right now, and the less I talk about some other DC comics, the better) is in the Street & Smith comics.

There's Jerry from the Devil Kyoti arc, a kid who was traumatized by an encounter with the villain who Sayre's looking after and who ends up having some kind of hidden power that allows him to see The Shadow and defeat the villain. There was a blonde Jerry who showed up later in the Monstradamus arc, but he isn't a kid so much as he's diet Jimmy Olsen or a replacement for Harry, but he had weird eyesight-based powers and a familiarity with The Shadow, so I assume it's the same character.

There was also Donald Jordan - Shadow Jr, and okay, I may have to talk more about this weird little failed experiment some other time, but the basic gist of it is that The Shadow had a friend in Tibet named Harry Jordan (and someday I'm also gonna write about the weird prevalence and significance of the name "Harry" in The Shadow's mythos in and out of universe) who was murdered, leaving his son orphaned and with nowhere to go. And, I'll admit that I have a real weakness for The Shadow calling people "son", which he does a lot in this story.

And as you can expect, it then turns out that the kid's also learned how to cloud minds and has basically the same powers The Shadow has in these comics, and they solve the mystery of his dad's murder together, and yeah, you can absolutely tell that they are setting up this kid to be The Shadow's Robin. Although, interestingly, they don't have The Shadow actually recruit the kid, instead it's Jordan who asks The Shadow if he can go with him and join his mission, and Cranston even states he's going to have to "earn" his way

"Must I stay here, sir? It will always remind me of dad - I'd like to devote my life to your fight against evil and evil doers!

Now, "Shadow Jr's" career was incredibly short-lived, it only lasted for about two other issues, and I have no idea what happened in his final appearence called "Snake Eyes" in Shadow Comics #77, I cannot find that issue anywhere and I really want to. But the one other solo story of his I've read was...well, I think it kinda illustrates why the idea of The Shadow having a Robin was doomed from the start.

...Yeah. Even The Shadow at his most sanitized and family friendly is still The Shadow, and there's no room for children in his network, obviously he shouldn't and wouldn't have children be in those positions or make decisions expected from grown-ups who have already had encounters with death and danger, why would anyone do that-

The only instance I can think of The Shadow interacting with a child in the pulps was during The Prince of Evil, when he has to rescue a young boy from Stark's thugs.

Cranston, dazed, tried to stagger to his feet. Before he could do so, the thug had picked up the limp figure of the boy and was darting out into the street. There was a scream of horror from pedestrians.

A heavy truck was racing at top speed along the avenue. Straight into the path of the truck, the thug threw the senseless boy!

The driver of the truck jammed on the brakes. But it was too late to halt the heavy vehicle. The broad-tired wheels rolled toward the limp head of the lad on the pavement.

An instant before it could crush out his life, Lamont Cranston dived headlong into the path of destruction. His shoulder struck the boy, rolling him toward the curb. A quick wriggle, and Cranston swerved aside from the grinding death that loomed over him.

He picked up the boy. One glance and he knew there was no time to lose. The attempted killer had leaped into a waiting sedan and had already made his escape.

The boy was all Cranston could see or think about. Brass knuckles had fractured his skull. He had suffered a concussion of the brain. A glance at his bluish lips and the fixed glaze of his staring eyes told Cranston that unless the boy was operated on immediately, he would die.

A leap, Cranston was in his car. He laid the boy gently on the seat beside him, then headed the car toward the nearest hospital. Traffic lights were ignored.

The boy was taken to an emergency operating room and a skilled surgeon went to work. When it was over, Cranston asked only one question: "Will the child live?"

"Hard to say. We'll do our best."

"Spare no expense. Put him in a private room. Engage day and night nurses."

Cranston's face was pale. He knew that he himself was indirectly responsible for the boy's attack. A supercriminal had made a prompt answer to Cranston's message over Jackson's telephone. That telephone must have been tapped. The attempt to kill the boy was a vicious warning for Lamont Cranston to mind his own business about the Harmon family. It was a follow-up of the attack on Jackson's dog.

Cranston felt a surge of hot anger. He kept it under control while he answered routine police questions. He told all he knew - which was nothing.

He had only one angry thought. He intended to drive straight to the office of David Chester. He'd get the truth out of the sleek Chester, if he had to batter him with vengeful fists!

Cranston was actually halfway to Chester's office before common sense returned to him. He realized he had lost his sense of balance. He was behaving exactly as the crooks wanted. He was playing their game, not his!

He parked, and the hot rage drained slowly from him. He stopped thinking about the limp figure of a young lad on a white operating table.

This is definitely because Tinsley writes the character differently than Gibson, but I actually cannot think of another occasion where we got to read about The Shadow actively wanting to hit someone with his fists. It's very, very rare to read about The Shadow actually getting mad in the first place in such an undignified way. And I think with this passage, you'll start to notice a pattern.

The problem isn't that The Shadow cannot interact with kids or that he can't comfort them, he does it to his agents and adults he wants to help just fine, he knows how to address people in their language, or any language. The problem is, The Shadow is constantly surrounded by danger everywhere he goes, because he is The Shadow. He can be any number of things at any number of occasions, but usually, when The Shadow shows up, it's usually because people are going to die, and people are going to kill, and it's his job to address that and work the scales.

Children should not be anywhere near this, and if The Shadow's interacting with a child, it usually means that some grave danger or tragedy fell upon them, and he's here to either prevent greater tragedy or address the fall-out, and he'd be the first to agree that neither of these options should be happening at all. It doesn't mean he's not gonna do what's right and give life and limb to protect them, but, it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to look after them in the first place. Maybe it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to protect us.

But then again, as I mentioned when I talked about my own reasons for liking The Shadow so much, there are many kids who would like nothing more than to have the Boogeyman by their side to protect them. There's comfort in knowing that the scariest man in the room is unconditionally there to protect you, and that is the comfort that The Shadow gives best. Not as Cranston, not under a friendly face, but as what he is.

Due to a lack of scenes from the pulps or satisfying scenes from elsewhere, I will instead be pulling one from a fan story written by Kimberly-Murphy Smith, editor and writer of The Hot Cornerm where The Shadow rescues a child who was kidnapped for blackmail. I couldn't care less that it's fanfic, and if you do, come back in 20 or so years after The Shadow's been made public domain and it's gonna be just as official as anything licensed (on my “to write about” list: how fickle the separation between “official” and “fanfic” is, and the many times it plainly didn’t exist). There’s aspects of her writing I don’t care for, but I really like this scene and I do think The Shadow’s more gentle interactions with people are necessary to getting the character.

Annabelle.

She stopped crying for a minute. "Who's there?" she said, her voice choked.

A friend. Your mommy and daddy sent me to pick you up.

"Mommy? Mommy's here?"

Sh-h-h. Annabelle felt a gloved hand gently stroking her hair. She's waiting for you at home. So, we need to hurry up and leave.

"'kay." She looked around. "Where are you?"

It's kind of hard to see me. It's dark in here, plus you've been crying so much your eyes probably hurt.

"Yeah."

Don't be afraid. I'm here to help.

"'kay."

The implicit trust of children was simply amazing at times. Adults trembled in fear of The Shadow's wrath, but children somehow seemed to understand that he was there to help them, even if they couldn't see him.

Sit up, Annabelle. I'm going to pick you up. Be very quiet.

One hand took each of her arms and guided them around a neck she could not see. "Why are you wearin' a blanket?" she asked as the fabric of his cloak brushed against her shoulders.

Sometimes I get cold at night.

"Even in the summer?"

Even in the summer. He gently stroked her cheek and wiped away her tears. Now, you need to be very quiet so those bad men in the next room don't hear us. I'll bet you're tired.

She nodded.

He rocked her on his arms, projecting a very gentle hypnotic relaxation into her with his powers as he did. You probably didn't get your nap, either. Poor thing. Lean on my shoulder and go to sleep. And when you wake up, you'll be back with Mommy and Daddy.

She yawned, then snuggled against his shoulder and went to sleep.

The Shadow sighed with relief. Now to get past the men out front. He gently pulled the pistol out of its holster under his left arm and slipped it into the belted waist of his overcoat within easy reach, then secured his grip on Annabelle and draped his cloak over her.

She clutched the edge of his cloak in her hand like a security blanket and snuggled against his shoulder again.

(Art by Jill Thompson)

[theamberwriter]

Hi!!! Umm, if you're not too busy can I ask for an Alpha!Fem!Reader x Omega!Todoroki or Bakugou (or whoever you want, as many as you want)? In which the omega is nesting and wants the reader to scent things but is too shy to ask?

A/N: Hhhiii!! I’m so sorry this took so long! I had fun writing this, and I hope that you like it! I’m slowly chugging through requests.

Word Count: 4351

Katsuki Bakugo

Anyone who looked at Bakugo would assume he was an Alpha.

But one quick whiff and anyone could tell he was an omega.

He wasn't just anyone's omega, he was yours.

He was still very new to being with someone, even if you'd been together for a few months.

Katsuki loved every bit of you.

You were an amazing alpha, able to handle his outbursts, and simmer him down.

He'd wanted you as his alpha from the moment he saw you, even more when he smelled you.

He couldn't believe he was finally yours.

Everyone who saw him thought he'd be a difficult one, but one little touch or one little word would make him melt inwardly into a puddle.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

He claimed no one could truly tame Pro Hero Ground Zero, but it was all one big lie.

He was a just a little puppy begging for attention inside.

Katsuki could feel when his nesting time was beginning.

The primal draw deep within his gut. The restless urge to hide away in all the things that brought him comfort.

You didn't mind when he disappeared for a few days.

His scent had started changing, so you knew what was happening.

You let him carry on his business.

You did check in, making sure he was eating and bathing, and that he had all of his favourite snacks to keep hoarded away.

You really wanted to scent something for him, but you knew it wasn't your place to until you were asked.

And you weren't sure that he was ready for that step yet.

You wanted Katsuki to be yours, always. But you worried that you weren't a good enough alpha for him.

When Katsuki was finished his nest, he was restless.

Something was wrong, he could feel it.

The itching inside to add something – but what??

He felt like he was losing it.

It wasn't until he came for a visit that he figured it out.

Your scent.

That was what was missing.

When he opened the door to your apartment, your scent flooded through him and he knew he wanted nothing more than to be wrapped in it.

“Shit,” he muttered. Hoping he didn't smell too distressed.

That would mean he'd have to ask you to scent something.

And the Great Katsuki Bakugo had too much pride to bow before such base omega instincts.

He wondered if he could sneak something.

Just one thing, anything.

Just to get this scent pining out of the way.

You two were going out that day, he wondered if maybe he could trick you into scenting something.

“There's my omega!” you chirped happily, coming from the back of the apartment.

Katsuki melted at the sight of your wet hair, crisp, clean clothes with a fresh strong scent wafting off you.

You wrapped him up in your arms, giving him a little peck.

You couldn't help but scent him just a bit.

He'd never asked you to scent him, but he never pushed you away when you tried.

You wanted everyone to know he was spoken for.

He leaned into your touch, his eyes drooping just a touch, a light purr coming from deep within his chest.

So Katsuki wanted you to scent him after all. You smiled to yourself.

You brought him more comfort than he showed, which made your heart swell.

Your alpha reared up in pride.

But it was nothing compared to your prideful omega.

“Are you ready to go?” you asked.

Katsuki hummed.

He was nearly lulled to sleep.

“Are there any special places my omega wants to go today?”

This jerked him right out of his stupor.

He had an idea.

He pulled out of your arms, giving you a stiff nod.

“I want to go to a nesting store. It's starting to get too fucking cold, I want a few more blankets,” he said.

His face tinged the slightest pink.

You chuckled a little. “My Katsuki getting cold, that's a new one.”

“Don't be stupid. Just because I have a fire quirk doesn't mean I don't get cold.”

You smiled gently at him, giving his cheek a kiss.

“We can do whatever makes you happy, my love.”

Little did you know, something as simple as calling him 'my love' could make him the happiest omega in existence.

You grabbed your coat and keys and were out the door.

You didn't live too far from the main shopping district, so you walked.

You kept Katsuki close, always finding a way to touch him. Letting everyone know he was claimed.

You sent a few deadly glares at alphas who were eyeing him up.

They immediately turned tail. But you didn't know if it was because of you, or because you saw Katsuki giving them his own deathly look.

He wasn't going to let anyone try to take him from the perfect alpha.

One of the first stores on the street was a nesting store.

They didn't hide the bias towards feminie Omegas, nearly everything was pink and frilly.

Katsuki crinkled his nose at many things.

“Can I help you two find anything?” a girl asked, she looked to be in her teens. She smelled like an Omega.

“Some blankets, nothing too girlly,” you answered.

The girl smiled at Katsuki. “Your omega definitely knows what they want.”

You were prepared to let it slide, but you could see the annoyance pinching in Katsuki's face.

He grabbed the girl by the collar. “I'm the omega here, dumbass. [Name] is a strong ass Alpha. If you can't tell, then maybe you should get your fucking nose checked.”

“I-I'm sorry,” the girl stuttered.

You glared at him. “Katsuki!”

You two shared a tense look, but he did put her down.

The poor girl scampered away.

“You can't keep doing this,” you said lowly.  “People make mistakes –”

Your scent peaked in anger. Souring the slightest.

Katsuki hated that smell, reaching his own scent out to comfort you.

“You think I should let it slide when people think I'm the Alpha?” Katsuki growled. “You're better than any the rest of the shitty Alphas, and I wanna make sure everyone damn well knows it. I'd be a crap Alpha. But anyone would be compared to you.”

Katsuki stalked off, going to hunt down what he was looking for. Leaving you bewildered in your spot.

He found an aisle with neutral colored blankets and pillows.

He was almost to angry now to even shop.

Soon he found himself choking in pheromones. Two people rounded the corner to the aisle, eyeing him down.

One stood way too close to him for comfort. “What's wrong, sweetie? I do believe this one is an Alpha.”

“I think he's a cute little omega. I want him as my own. Has someone upset you? Should we hunt them down?” asked the other.

“Would you two get the fuck away from me?” Katsuki grunted.

But the two got closer, rubbing on him. Rubbing off your scent.

There was no way of escaping without blowing something up. And he was trying not to upset you anymore.

You smelled it immediately as Katsuki's scent became sharp in distress.

What trouble had he even found on the other side of the store?

It didn't matter, because you were charging off to find him.

Seeing two betas pining after your omega set your nerves on fire.

What were they even doing in here?

Your scent thickened. Sending off dangerous messages to anyone close to you.

Their heads immediately snapped to you, Katsuki's gaze followed.

Shelves were shaking in your wake, rattling their contents to the floor.

The lights began to flicker.

Katsuki had never seen you in such a rage. It was kinda hot.

“Get your hands off my omega,” you warned. “Or someone's gonna get hurt.”

The betas released their grip, tripping over each other as they ran off.

You glared after them for one very long moment.

Everything around you went still, the lights coming back on.

You wrapped Katsuki in your arms. You nearly gagged at their scents on him.

He resisted just a bit as you scented him, wanting this to be something done in private.

It just made your scent flare more. He quickly gave in to its subconscious messages.

“Pick anything you want,” you demanded, pointing to the shelves. “As much as you want, I don't care. But I'm taking you home.”

Katsuki didn't argue, instead he picked a few things he wanted.

You piled a cart high with more, despite his protests.

No one bothered to come yell at you about the mess you'd made.

Between the obvious power of both your quirks, plus the murderous scent rolling off you waves, no one had the guts.

You left with nearly more bags than you could carry.

This was not at all what Katsuki had wanted.

Why was nothing was ever simple?

You started cooking lunch as soon as you got in the door.

Normally Katsuki cooked, but he figured it was better to let you do something productive to burn off the rest of your anger.

In the mean time, he'd find something productive to do.

And he knew just what.

By the time lunch was done, your anger had dissipated and Katsuki had made a second nest right on your couch.

To say you were surprised by the massive pile of blankets and pillows and stuffed animals would be an understatement.

Katsuki had very carefully constructed a huge blanket fort.

You wondered if this is what his nest at home looked like.

“Uuhhh, Katsuki?” you spoke to the blankets, a plate in each hand.

You had no idea where the entrance to this thing was, and you didn't want to enter his nest without absolute permission.

There was no answer.

Only a second past before he came out of your bed room with a heaping arm full of blankets.

“These are mine now,” he said, and ducked back inside the fort.

“Uh – okay? Yeah. Sure. Whatever you want, Suki.”

You set the plates on the coffee table as Katsuki started throwing things at you.

You gathered up what he threw, unsure of what you were supposed to do with them.

He clambered out, face a blazing red in embarrassment.

“Don't just fucking stand there!”

He grabbed a few things, starting to rub them roughly against your skin.

It didn't take long to click.

“You....want me to scent these?” you asked, gently rubbing a little stuffed penguin against your scent gland.

“What fucking else?” he snapped, and nearly dove back into the fort to hide his face.

You smiled gently, doing as he asked of you.

Once he stopped throwing things, you slid a plate under the entrance on the fort. You sat on the other side with your own plate.

You were more than prepared to eat like this, to give Katsukit he space he needed.

“Why the fuck are you out there?” he demanded, lifting up the flap. “Get your ass in here.”

“A-Are you sure?” you asked, knowing what this meant.

Katsuki nodded. “You're my Alpha. - Now get in here!”

You two spent the rest of the night inside the fort.

Stealing small pecks and cuddling.

You couldn't have been happier, knowing just how much your Omega loved you.

~

Shoto Todoroki

Shoto really wasn't sure he was doing this whole 'Omega' thing right.

He had the most amazing alpha he could've asked for. A better one than he thought he deserved.

And he couldn't even ask them to scent something for him.

He definitely wasn't doing this Omega thing right.

Every time he tried he froze up.

Far too shy and self conscious to get the words out.

You were his Alpha, you'd been together a year. Why was this so hard???

More than once Shoto stood stupidly in your kitchen as you made him something.

When you asked what he was doing, he simply replied he was wondering when the food would be done.

You always kissed him, give him a little taste of what you made, and he'd wander back off.

Then he'd just sit there staring at whatever he'd wanted you to scent, carefully tucking it away for next time.

Shoto was itching to finish his nest, but it would never be complete without something from you.

Which meant that his nest would never be complete.

He had the thought to sneak something when you weren't looking.

But he didn't want to break your trust in him.

Though you were his alpha, so surely you wouldn't mind...

Still, Shoto felt guilty when he snagged a shirt from your room.

He returned it the next day.

There had to be someway to get your scent in his nest.

He called Midoriya, maybe he would have an answer for the conundrum.

“I'm sure [Name] wouldn't have a problem with you borrowing anything,” Midoriya told him.

Shoto shook his head, though it wasn't like the guy on the other end could see it.

“I feel too guilty doing that.”

“Has [Name] ever said anything about not taking their things before?”

Shoto took a long pause.

“No. But I know Alphas don't like their things being taken.”

Midoriya laughed awkwardly.

“They're your Alpha, it's a bit different.”

“I still worry about losing their trust.”

Midoriya hummed in thought. “Let me ask Ochaco when she gets home.”

Shoto didn't like the wait.

His nest agitated him, it wasn't fair.

A nest was supposed to feel safe.

Be a paradise.

This place was pure torture for him.

What if [Name] thought they were a bad Alpha because he couldn't ask them to scent something.

He couldn't bear if you ever thought anything bad about yourself like that.

He had to find a way to let you know he wanted you.

You were the perfect Alpha to him.

You were kind and patient.

You let him open up as slowly as he wanted.

You worked on his self worth. You showed him so much.

Shoto was so much more of the kind of person he wanted to be now.

And it was all thanks to you.

He'd never be able to show you the full amount of his gratitude.

Which was why it was so painful for him to be unable to ask you this one thing.

The thing that showed he trusted you unconditionally.

A few hours later, Ochaco called back.

“I have an idea, Izuku and I went through a few possibilities. But I think this one will work the best.”

They spent a few hours conspiring.

A perfectly guilt free way to get you scent something for Shoto's nest, without his shyness getting in the way.

“[Name], can we go somewhere today?” Shoto asked.

He was making you two tea.

He was always happy when he got to make you something in return.

You smiled at him. “Of course, Sho. Where were you thinking?”

“I'm not sure yet. I thought we could go to the mall.”

You gave him a peck on the cheek.

This always caused his heart to do a little flip.

“When we're done our tea, we can go. I'll buy you anything you want.”

Shoto planned on buying his own things, since he could afford to.

But he was going to let you, his Alpha, purchase him a few things.

He knew you got sad when he didn't let you buy him things.

And the last thing he wanted to do was upset his alpha.

Once cups were empty, washed, and put away you were off.

It was only one bus to mall from your house.

You could smell the food court as soon as you walked in.

But you could also smell all the lurking Alphas.

Anyone would be lucky to have Shoto as a mate.

And you were very damn lucky.

You held him close, threatening anyone who looked his way.

He seemed as oblivious as ever.

Though you did notice the determination in his stride.

He was up to something.

You weren't going to press it.

Shoto always had his own way of doing things, and you always tried to make sure he went at his own pace.

That he knew it was okay to do things his way.

That's why you hadn't asked if he wanted something scented yet.

You knew Shoto.

You'd taken so long just to get him to this point.

To get him to see his own potential.

You didn't want to scare him off.

You'd be lost without him.

One of the first places you went was a large department store attached to the mall.

It smelled like perfumes and store warehouses.

You were just following Shoto, trying to figure out what he was up to.

It was cute watching him as he headed towards bedding.

He made a beeline for the throw blankets.

They were on sale two for ten.

Taking each one between his fingers, giving it a soft rub.

Finally, he decided on a plain one in your favourite color and a patterned one.

Shoto held it out to you. “I want these two.”

You took them from him, nodding.

He didn't ask for anything else from the store.

So you paid and went to the next.

He bought a shirt here.

You went to each store, and Shoto bought one or two things at each.

Finally, you ended up in a nesting store.

It was the last store with anything that interested him.

Shoto piled a cart full of stuff.

There was no way all of this was fitting in the little room you knew he used for nesting.

Maybe you should talk to Fuyumi, see if he's okay.

Shoto didn't even seem phased at the large price tag that came up at the register.

The question was how you were going to get all this back on the bus.

You'd been shopping for quite a while at that point. Your stomach just starting to shout in hunger.

“Would you like to get food, love?” you asked. “Are you hungry?”

“We could make something at home,” he said.

The way he said home shot a tingle of pleasure down your spine.

You were going to have to move him in soon.

You forced yourself to shake your head.

“I have to go grocery shopping later. It'll be better to eat now.”

Shoto nodded, then followed you to the food court.

It was packed to the absolute brim.

You were glad that the food overwhelmed the mixture of pheromones.

“I'll find us a table, and keep watch over our things,” you offered. “You can go get what you want to eat.”

Shoto scanned the food stations, then headed towards one.

His eyes were on you as he waited.

God forbid another Omega come and try to weasel their way in.

You tried to keep your eyes off Shoto.

Off the Alphas you could see trying to inch their way to him.

A few minutes later, you heard your name.

You looked up to find Izuku and Ochaco pushing their way towards you.

“Hey!” you greeted, grinning. “It's been a minute since I've seen you two. How've you been?”

“We've been good!” Ochaco rushed. “We should've gotten together earlier, it would've be –”

Izuku was frowning. “Is that....another Alpha trying to scent Shoto?”

You head snapped to the line where your Omega had been waiting.

Sure enough, another person stood very close to him.

Shoto seemed as indifferent as ever, but you noticed his tense shoulders.

And your nose, all too attuned to his scent, caught it as it snapped bitterly in distress.

“I think the hell not!” you growled.

You pushed people out of your way as you marched up to the line.

That earned you some grunts.

You ducked under the ropes separating the lines.

People called at you for butting.

But they went ignored, your eyes laser focused on the smugly grinning Alpha.

You aggressively butted between the two.

The Alpha jerked back.

“Everything okay, Sho?” you spat, still glaring down the Alpha.

“It is now,” he replied.

“Good. - Now back the fuck off my Omega.”

The Alpha was not happy.

“He's not mated, he's fair game!”

They tried to make their scent menacing.

You growled. Your scent overpowering theirs in threat.

You felt eyes on you.

“He is not! Shoto smells like me. He's my boyfriend! He's mine. And some random, stinking loser in the mall making him uncomfortable isn't going to change that!”

“Order up!” the guy behind the counter called.

“That's me –” Shoto started softly.

You whipped his container off the counter, slapped money down, and shoved him out of the queue.

People stepped away as you did.

You reeked like murder.

Once back at the table with Ochaco and Izuku, you clung to Shoto.

You didn't even bother eating.

That could wait until you were sure Shoto was safe from assault.

You invited your friends back to your place when you were cooler.

They helped carry Shoto's bags.

A little too willingly, honestly.

Every now and then Ochaco would let out a suspicious chuckle.

The pair stayed for a few hours, then offered to walk Shoto home.

You had wanted him to stay with you.

But he was insistant on going home to his nest.

You weren't going to argue with him and his instincts.

A little after they left, you noticed a bear Shoto left behind.

It was sitting casually on couch where he'd been.

You knew he wasn't forgetful.

Why was it there though?

It still smelled like the store and the residual scent of many other people.

You decided to scent it, just to see what he'd do.

To your surprise - the next time he was over, the bear disappeared.

In it's place was left a pillow.

In the same spot.

You scented that too.

Where was he hiding these when he came over??

The next time Shoto came, that disappeared too.

A blanket this time was left.

This happened every time he came over for a month.

You chuckled every time he left something.

Did he really think he was being sneaky?

Either way, it was adorable.

Shoto never said anything about it.

You figured this had to be what he was up to at the mall.

Buying things to sneakily leave for you to scent.

“Hey, Shoooto,” you cooed, about a month and a half later.

He kissed your hand and hummed.

“So you keep leaving things for me to scent....”

He went stiff next to you, not even a breath leaving him.

Of course you had caught on.

Now you were angry with him, weren't you?

“I was thinking....why don't you just – move in? We're both financially well off. So it wouldn't be a problem. Plus, it will be easier than trying to be secretive about wanting me to scent things.”

“I could never. I would take up too much space -” he retorted.

“Don't be silly. I want to marry you eventually,” you threw in casually.

Shoto's scent went sharp in surprise then danced delightedly.

“It would be silly for the two of us to live separately. - So, what do you say? Will you move in with me?”

Shoto was very still for a moment.

You began to worry.

Had you gone too far too fast?

Shoto suddenly tackled you, wrapping you up and giving you kisses everywhere he could reach.

You took that as a resounding yes.

Happiness swirled within you both as you started talking logistics.

Shoto was over the moon.

Maybe he really was good at this Omega thing after all.

~

[freakynct]

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: daddy!kun, daddy kink, car sex, semi-public, teasing, spanking, super light face slapping, oral [male receiving], hair pulling, unprotected sex, dirty talk, kinda brat taming, finger sucking and some praising

"the bikini is sticking to me, daddy." you complained as your body squirmed on your seat, your hand trying to helplessly pull on your bikini bottoms through your shorts. but that didn't prevent you from noticing how kun's cheeks blushed into a pretty shade of pink at the nickname you used. you would never get tired of seeing his reaction at the name he liked so much.

"i told you to dry yourself before putting your clothes on. you didn't listen to me." he replied, giving you a quick glance before returning his attention to the road, his fingers gripping the steering wheel of the old white renault r4 that he had rented for the vacation. 

"you didn't give me time to dry up." you kept squirming, your fingers digging inside your shorts but it didn't matter how much you tried, the wet fabric clinged onto all of the wrong places.

"you were the one that decided to go to the water one more time when it was already time to leave. don't blame your stubbornness on me." kun defended himself, one of his hands leaving the wheel to grab your arm, pulling you to sit straight. "and stop moving, the car is sensitive."

you shot him an annoyed glanced, one of your sandy feet on top of the seat, while your arm wrapped around your knee to steady yourself. "well, it was your idea to rent this piece of rusty metal." 

"hey!" you almost jumped in your seat at his sudden raise of voice, his finger pointing at you. "this is a great car, ok? don't insult it just because you're angry at your bikini."

"jesus. fine grandpa." you rolled your eyes and pushed his hand away. kun glanced between you and the road as you took your seat belt off, standing up and letting your body slide over to the backseat.

"what are you doin- auu!" your foot accidentally smacked the side of his head as you struggled to pull your body over the front seats and you couldn't help but laugh, the car swerving a little as kun smacked your ass in return. "you're gonna make us crash." he complained as you were able to finally sit yourself on the backseat.

"i'll give you a better reason to crash." you smirked as you positioned yourself on your knees on top of the seat, pulling your shirt and bikini top up, exposing your breasts to him through the rearview mirror and giggling as you saw his eyes widen, his arm reaching back to grab you but you flinched away from his touch, pulling your shirt down again and letting your body fall back into the seat, laughing out loud.

"are you crazy? you're gonna flash the other cars." maybe he thought you didn't notice, but you could clearly see the little smirk forming on his lips and you knew he was trying his best not to laugh too.

"what cars? i haven't seen any cars since you turned into this road." you pulled your bag into your lap, your hands wandering inside in search of some dry clothes to change into.

"it's a lot faster this way." he explained himself, his focus being put solely on the road now.

"whatever you say, grandpa." you knew how much he hated that name but you still insisted in teasing him with it, even if you knew it never ended up well for you.

"stop that. you know i don't like when you call me that." he glanced at you through the mirror, giving you a warning a look and you placed both of your hands on the seats in front of you, pulling your body up and pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, catching him by surprise.

"sorry daddy." you whispered in his ear before stepping back and sitting back down, leaving him to squirm in his seat, knowing exactly the effect that word had on him.

he cleared his throat before speaking. "what are you doing back there anyway?" you finally pulled some of your clothes out of the bag, laying them down next to you before settling yourself on your knees again. 

"just going to change clothes." you simply said while pulling your shirt over your head, smirking as you watched kun glance at you through the rearview mirror, trying to peek at just a little bit of skin you exposed. the fresh breeze that came through the open windows felt like heaven against your warm skin, fanning some of the strands of your hair back and refreshing you from the burning summer day. you teasingly reached around your body to pull at the bikini strings, slowly pulling on them and feeling the fabric loosen up around your breasts.

"i know what you're doing. stop that." he warned you but he was too lost in your body to stop staring back at you, letting the car swerve from time to time, because seeing you naked seemed a lot more important to him than driving safely.

"stop what, daddy? i'm just changing." you used the most innocent voice you could, knowing how much that riled him up and pulling the bikini top over your head, letting it fall to the ground, tilting your head cutely to the side as you saw his eyes lingering on your body.

"you know you're not just changing. stop being a brat." you loved how helpless he looked, having to keep his hands on the wheel and not being able to keep his total focus on you. you loved teasing him like this and you knew exactly what the outcome was gonna be. you undid the bottom on your jean shorts, pulling them down your legs and feeling the rough material painfully rub over the sunburn you had gotten on your thigh, trying not to make a big deal out of it since you already had to hear kun nagging you for not applying enough sunscreen.

"what's wrong, daddy?" you pouted at him as your fingers grabbed the strings that secured your bikini bottom together. one little pull and you would be completely exposed to him.

"don't make me fucking stop this car." you almost giggled at how desperate he was getting. you knew he never swore unless he was starting to lose control and you watched as his eyes started to turn dark, gazing back at you, which both intimidated and excited you.

you bit your lip and smirked at him before pulling on the strings, the material immediately falling down and you almost lost your balance at how quickly kun pulled over on the side of the desert road. you quickly moved your body to the other corner of the car, scrunching your body into a ball and letting out a small scream, giggles falling from between your lips as kun opened the car door, stepping out to open the backseat one. you tried to get away and flinch from his touch but failed as his hand grabbed your ankle, pulling you towards him. 

"i'm sorry, daddy! i'm sorry, i'm sorry." you pleaded while trying to contain the giggles that threatened to leave your mouth, feeling a hard smack being placed over your exposed ass. you whined and tried to turn around to look at him, but his hands secured you in place, smacking your ass again. "i said i was sorry, daddy." you whined again, trying to soften him up but you knew that once you misbehaved there was no turning back.

"now you're sorry? you didn't hear me telling you to stop?" his voice was stern, his body still standing outside of the car and he finally let you turn around. you took the opportunity to lay down on your back, your body completely naked in front of him, the sunlight making your skin shine brighter.

"i thought you would enjoy seeing me naked." you murmured as your foot started making its way up his leg, his hand immediately grabbing your ankle.

"i do enjoy it but only when i'm able to touch you. don't play nice now, you knew you were teasing me and i couldn't do anything about it." he pushed your foot away, his body standing tall in front of you and you loved how vulnerable you felt. "plus you did it while i was driving. that's dangerous." you chuckled at his scolding to which kun didn't seem too amused with.

"it's not my fault that you're a pervert and can't look away, daddy." the smirk that you once had on your lips quickly disappeared as you felt kun's hand harshly slapping over the red sunburnt skin of your thigh, a loud whine escaping your lips as your eyes scrunched up.

"keep going, baby. keep making things worse for yourself." you opened your eyes slowly, looking up at him as your lips formed a small pout. his fingers wrapped around your chin and he lowered his body so his face was closer to yours, his eyes burning into you. "what's wrong, princess? don't feel like making any more smart remarks? hm? don't have anything clever to say now?" you frowned your eyebrows together, clearly upset that you had lost to him but you still had one more thing you could use to your advantage. you started raising your leg slowly, your knee brushing over his crotch and he let go of a soft groan before pressing his hand down on your leg to stop your movements. "and i'm the pervert?" he raised an eyebrow at you and you were quick to grab his face and pull him closer to you. but just as your lips were about to meet, he pulled away from you, chuckling at the way you whined at him.

"you think you can be a little brat and i'm just gonna give you what you want?" he tsked at you and shook his head as if disappointed by your way of thinking. "it's like you don't know me. move over." he suddenly said and you quickly sat up, scooting over to the side and letting him sit next to you, his hand pulling the door shut, his back resting against it as he fixed his gaze on you. you simply stared back him, both your hands between your legs as you waited for his next words.

"you're so quiet, princess. you're not so brave when i'm sitting right in front of you, are you?" he smirked as he watched you squirm in your seat. you would never admit it but he was right and for some reason that was even more arousing to you, how intimidated he made you feel. "what are you waiting for? hm?" you looked up at him again, your eyes sparkling at him. "if you're not gonna use that pretty mouth of yours to speak then you might as well use it for something else." the temperature inside the car was starting to rise and you were pretty sure it wasn't just from the strong heat of the sun but also from how your body was burning for him, your eyes following his hand that rested on top of his crotch, his fingers fondling with his cock over his shorts. "why are you acting so surprised? wasn't this what you wanted? daddy's cock?" you bit on your bottom lip at the sound of his words, starting to feel your juices dripping out of you from the anticipation of having him inside your mouth. "come here, princess. feel how hard you made me." his fingers wrapped around your wrist, bringing your hand forward and placing it over his boner. you could feel how hard and warm his cock was, twitching under your touch. your fingers went as far as to wrap over the waistband of his shorts, ready to pull them down but his hand stopped you from doing so.

"who gave you permission? hm?" you felt his hand placing a light tap on your cheek, his thumb rubbing over the spot right after. "i didn't hear you ask for it. where's your manners?" he smirked down at you, clearly amused with the whole situation as you stared at him with doe eyes, the desperation being visible in them.

"can i please have your cock, daddy?" you felt your cheeks burning up under his thumb, that slowly moved down to your bottom lip, encouraging you to part your lips.

"where do you want it?" it was his turn to bite on his own lip, watching as your tongue poked out to lick at the tip of his finger.

"in my mouth. can i please have it, daddy?" you murmured, your lips wrapping around his digit, sucking it gently into your mouth and noticing how his breath got heavy, his eyes fixated on yours. he chuckled and removed his finger from your mouth before shaking his head.

"no, you can't." his smirk was wider this time and you whined at the sound of his words, your body moving forward and your hands wrapping desperately around his neck.

"why not? please daddy." you whined and pouted but he only grabbed your arms, moving you away from him and making you seat down again.

"you're still asking why?" his eyebrow raised at you, his hand coming down to rub over his boner, painfully teasing you with what was so close to you but you couldn't have.

"but i asked nicely." you pouted, crossing your arms in front of your chest and looking the other way, your eyes staring at some random spot outside of the car window, hearing kun laughing at your reaction behind you. you suddenly felt his fingers intertwining with the locks of your hair and pulling you towards him, causing you to whine at the pain. 

"come here if you want it so bad then. lay down." he commanded as you immediately complied, laying on your stomach on top of the car seat, coming face to face with his crotch, your mouth salivating at the though of finally tasting him.

your fingers quickly reached for the waistband of his shorts, pulling them down just enough to free his hard cock that slapped against his stomach. your tongue licked your lips eagerly and your hand wrapped around the base of his cock, but you received another hair pull before you could reach what you've been craving so much.

"we've talked about this already, princess. if you don't show me that you're a good girl then maybe you don't deserve daddy's cock." his hand kept your head still, watching as your body squirmed, your pretty eyes looking up at him.

"i'm sorry, daddy. can i lick it, please? i want it so bad, i'll be a good girl, i promise." your words came out more like whines but kun thought you sounded so cute begging for his cock that he could not hold it back anymore.

"there you go." you wasted no time in wrapping your lips around him, not even taking your time to tease him, you just took as much as you could in your mouth, tasting the remains of saltiness of the ocean water on his skin.

you heard kun groan as you sucked particularly harder at the tip of his cock, feeling him twitch against your tongue. you bobed your head faster on him, noticing how he would thrust his hips up slightly at you every time his cock reached deeper inside your throat. you felt his fingers pulling on your hair once again, forcing you to remove his cock from your mouth, a loud whine escaping from your lips at the lack of contact.

"come here, baby. i want to fuck that little pussy of yours." you almost lost your balance as he pulled you to his lap by your arm, his fingers tight against your skin until you were straddling his lap. you let out a chuckle, biting on your bottom lip as your arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"are you getting desperate, daddy?" you teased him with a big smirk on your lips, almost as if you were challenging him and you received a hard slap on your ass in return, making you flinch forward and whimper.

"you only said you would be a good girl so you could have my cock in your mouth, didn't you?" you chuckled and nodded your head at him. "you'll always be daddy's brat, i can't trust you." he shook his head in disapproval and you brought your body closer to him, consequently grinding on his cock, whimpering at the feeling of his warm skin against your folds. "you're lucky, princess. if i didn't want to fuck you so bad, i would just leave you here untouched." for some reason his threatening tone only made you wetter, contributing for the burning feeling inside you and you brushed your lips over his, your hand grabbing his cock and positioning the tip at your entrance, his arms wrapping tighter around your body.

"but you won't." you smirked, letting his length slide inside you, both of you moaning at the feeling of finally feeling complete. his hands slid down to your hips as you bounced on his cock, feeling him reaching a little deeper every time you sat on him, his length filling you up perfectly, causing you to moan against his lips as you pulled him in for a desperate kiss.

"daddy…" you whimpered, your movements starting to get more sloppy and slower, your breathing becoming more irregular by the second. 

"yes, baby." he answered back, his head thrown back against the window glass, small groans falling from his mouth.

"i'm getting tired." you whined as you kept eagerly bouncing on him but failing miserably, your legs way too sore to keep going.

"should have thought about that before opening that bratty little mouth of yours." he smirked, watching as your eyebrows frowned and small tears formed at the corners of your eyes from the desperation of not being able to please yourself on him.

"daddy please. help me." you cried out, your face burying on the crook of his neck and he chuckled, amused with your neediness.

"sorry baby, no can do." you quickly raised your head up again, looking angrily in his eyes as he just stared back at you like he wasn't still hard inside you.

"if i don't move you won't cum either." you tilted your head to the side, giving him a playful smirk with the thought that you had already got him, but he was quick to clean that smug look off of your face, his thumb caressing over your chin.

"but you will move. because you don't want to disappoint daddy, right princess?" your smile turned into an upside down one and you almost gave in to the urge of wanting to cry out again. which you ended up doing just seconds later as he delivered a smack to your ass. "right, princess?" he repeated and you simply nodded your head, pouting as you started moving on top of him again, whimpering at the feeling of his cock sliding deliciously against your walls. "you might just be daddy's good little girl after all." he smirked before kissing your lips. even if kun didn't want to admit, he still pitied you and would only let you suffer to a certain extend, so he placed his hands over your hips, helping you bounce on him, swallowing every single moan and whimper you let out, that sounded so sweet to him and made his cock twitch inside you.

"uhmm, daddy i'm close." you whimpered against his lips and small smirk made an appearance on the corner of his lips as your fingers wrapped under the locks of his hair and you started to move more eagerly on his cock.

"wanna cum, baby? already?" he murmured while his thumb settled on top of your clit, moving him in slow circles but it was exactly what you needed to bring your orgasm forward.

"yes… please daddy." you cried out for him, feeling the intense feeling spreading all over your body, causing it to squirm on top of him, a loud moan escaping unannounced from your mouth, kun's hands gripping your hips tighter against him, groaning at the feeling of your walls clenching around him. 

he gave you time to come down from your orgasm, his fingers brushing some of the strands of hair that laid over your face and tucking them behind your ear, his other hand caressing your back gently.

"daddy hasn't cum yet, princess." he whispered before pressing a quick kiss to your lips. you smiled warmly at him and got up, feeling his cock slowly coming out of you. you settled yourself on your knees in front of him, trying to squeeze your body on the small space between the two seats, your lips parting slightly and your tongue poking out, doe eyes staring brightly at him. he slowly let the tip of his cock slide inside your mouth, feeling your warm and velvety tongue brush against it, groaning loudly when your lips wrapped around him, moving up and down on his length, kun's hand settling on the back of your head to incentivate you to take more of him inside your mouth. you could still taste yourself on his skin, swallowing every little remain of your own cum that you had left on his cock. he threw his head back, his eyes shutting close and his eyebrows frowning as he felt his orgasm approaching, his seed filling up your mouth at the same time as you heard sirens in the distance. you swallowed his cum quickly, cleaning your mouth with your hand and shooting a worried look at kun.

"get dressed, baby." he simply said as he tucked his cock inside his pants again, exiting the car as the sound of the sirens just got closer and closer and as you hurried to pull the random dress you found in your bag over your head, you saw the blue and red lights outside of the car's back window. you heard noise on the outside and you quickly slid your body to the front seat again, sitting down just in time before a police officer showed at your window.

"hello ma'am. is everything alright?" the officer spoke and you quickly looked to your side to see kun talking to the second policeman, your eyes turning back to the one leaning against the car next to you.

"yes. our car had a problem but i think it's solved now. we were just on our way out." you smiled warmly at him and he nodded his head, walking around the car and you saw both of them leave through the rearview mirror. the door suddenly opened and kun got in, sitting down and laughing as the police car drove away. you let out a sigh of relief and couldn't help but chuckle too.

"that was close." kun said as he started the car again, driving it back to the road and returning to the journey you two left on pause.

"you think they knew we were fucking?" you looked at him with wide eyes and a smirk on your lips and he chuckled, glancing over to you and then back to the road.

"they definitely knew we were fucking."

[a-pretty-nerd]

Chapter 8

Tomura Shigaraki x AllMight!Daughter!Reader

Premis:

When The League of Villains discovers that AllMight has a daughter, they are quick to snatch you up and hold you hostage. Shigaraki had a careful and thought out plan, but that was before you got there. Now you’re in the mood for some not-so-healthy rebellion.

Word count: 2,214

Warnings: mentions of sexual assault (sexual assault does not occur). 

A/N: 

This took so long for no reason, I am so sorry. I hate the holidays, I’m always so busy and can’t do anything I enjoy and it just drained all my time and energy. I’m so glad it’s over. Anywhoo, I hope ya’ll like this chapter! 

Chapter 7 Chapter 9

You starred up at the ceiling, nodding off into space as your mind wondered. The cracks in the ceiling painting an abstract paining, giving you much to ponder on. You had been thinking about Shigaraki. The man had plagued your thoughts. You knew very little about him and it bothered you.

He subverted every expectation you had about villains. He was ruthless and driven, yes. Crude and dastardly, of course. But the glimpses of kindness he showed you, made your mind spin. Why was he so kind to you? Why was he training you to use your abilities? And why, on God's green earth were you attracted to him?

It made your head spin to think about. About him. His eyes. It was those red eyes. So bright in color and deep in thought. The way he looked at you, like he saw you. When was the last time someone had looked at you that way? Reality would soon sink in after these thoughts. Reminding you that you should fear him, hate him even. That you should be working to get yourself free. But, you hadn't made a single attempt to escape. What was there to escape? You weren't in any immediate danger. In fact, you were being taken care of.

A knock at the door shook you from your train of thought. Without waiting for an answer, the man you knew as Dabi walked in, and closed the door behind you. His glassy blue eyes watched you as he moved. He stood up against the wall adjacent from you, watching you, leering over you. Maybe you were wrong. Maybe, this is where your torture begins. Wordlessly he looked away to pull out a pack of cigarettes, place one to his lips and then look back at you.

"You don't mind, do you?" He asked. You shook your head. He turned away to use his quirk to light the thing and then silently take a few drags as he looked off into the distance. Was he going to rape you? This was the perfect opportunity for him to. You were honestly shocked you hadn't been by now. Normally, kidnapping victims were sexually assaulted in some way. But no one seemed interested, until now.

Would you have to fight him off? Could you fight him off? If you screamed would anyone come to help you? Would he kill you?

"What do you want?" You asked after a few minutes of silence. He looked back at you and raised a brow.

"I just wanted to smoke in piece. It's raining outside." He told you before going back to his smoking. "I do have a question for you though."

"What?"

"You really the big guy's daughter?" He took another drag.

"Yeah. Why?" He shrugged.

"The way you talk about him. Sounds like you don't get along." You shrugged.

"I don't know him enough." Dabi scoffed before finishing his cigarette and stomping it out. He licked his lips and kicked his leg as he shifted his weight. His eyes darting back to the door before looking at you again.

"You ever wanna be a hero?" He chuckled.

"No." Your voice firm and decided. He smiled.

"Why?"

"It's a shit job where I'm from."

"It's a shit job here." He remarked. You nodded.

"I know. Heroes are shit." You shared a few smiles with one another.

"With a quirk like yours, you could really do some damage."

"I know."

"Something tells me this isn't your first time off your meds. It can't be."

"It's not."

"Care to share-"

"No." You barked. The idea of it made your stomach turn and your heart ache. You worked so hard to push that down you weren't about to have that break down in front of a stranger. Dabi raised his brows and threw his hands up in a mocking motion.

"Alright, fine. None of my business." He scoffed.

"What do you want?" You asked again, not satisfied with his previous answer. He sucked on his teeth for a moment before answering.

"Shigaraki asked me to over see your training while he's out."

"He's gone?" You asked softly, maybe a little too softly.

"Afraid so. So it's just you...and me..." He smiled. You held your legs up to your chest and pulled them close. He looked you over and then scoffed. "Don't worry, kid, I'm not that kind of villain. Now get up, I'm your trainer for now and I'm not nearly as forgiving as the boss." He turned and opened the door, waiting for you to follow.

"Do you know why?" You asked as you laid your feet flat on the concrete floor. Dabi looked back at you with an emotionless expression. A face he often wore, it screamed "auto-pilot." Like he wasn't really all there.

"Why what?"

"Why he's training me. I don't understand. Why waist time with a hostage like this? Isn't he worried I couldn't fight back and escape?" You asked. Dabi thought for a moment as he watched you pass through the door and out into the living room.

"What goes through that lunatic's mind is beyond me." He closed the door behind you. "But if I had to take a guess, I'd say he's planning something using your quirk."

"Like what?" He shrugged and walked passed you, turning a corner into what used to be the building's break room, now a make-shift kitchen where temporary supplies were being stored.

"Fuck if I know." He muttered as he went about his business. He opened and rummaged through the fridge before turning back to you. "You hungry?" He asked.

"Um...no." You lied. He starred at you before turning back.

"That's a pity. You need to eat. Keep up your strength. You can't use your quirk properly if you don't have the right fule. Here." He threw a small blurry package at you. The lite weight objected bounced between your hands for a moment before you finally grabbed ahold of it. Instant noodles. Right fule huh?

"This is fule?" You asked.

"What? Were you expecting the fucking food pyramid? Do we look rich to you?"

"No, I just...the way you were talking. Like we were gonna chug raw egg yolks, it's just funny." You smiled. You made yourself the sad excuse for a meal and sat at the small plastic table and ate as Dabi made his own disaster. You watched him. By all accounts, he was a relatively normal guy. It always shocked you, how normal everyone was. How they moved and acted. Not like the villain characters you'd imagined in your head. But just, people.

As he sat down across the table from you, he set down two canned sports drinks, sliding one over to your side without a word. You took it and popped it open before taking a sip. You furrowed your brow.

"Sugar free?" You asked. He looked up at you, as if you had interrupted something important.

"What? Sugars bad for you, makes me bloated." Your smile widened. He relaxed his shoulders and leaned back in his chair. "What the fuck is so funny?" He barked. It only made you laugh.

"I'm it's just...I don't know.."

"Just what?"

"It's just so normal!" You flashed a dazzling smile without even trying. "Everyone here is just so...I don't know, human. Nothing like I expected. They paint this big scary picture on the other side but, everyones just so normal. Even nice at times, yknow?" He brushed you off and went back to eating. "So what's the plan right now?" You asked, picking at your food.

"What?" He asked, annoyed.

"The plan, the big scary villain plan. Now that the plan with me clearly failed. What's the big picture?" Why were you so happy? What's with that smile, those eyes. Dabi looked you over, trying to figure you out.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! I wanna know."

"Why?"

"Because." He looked at you like he was waiting for you continue. You starred back blankly.

"Because?"

"Because."

"Oh my god."

"C'mon."

"Eat your food." He ordered.

"Please?"

"Shut up and eat."

"Are you gonna use my quirk to blow up a hero agency?"

"No."

"A military target?"

"A what?"

"Government building?" He rolled his eyes and stomped his foot.

"I don't know! Alright!? I don't know." The room fell silent for a moment. You ate a few more bites before finishing and waiting for him.

"So Shigaraki doesn't share everything with you, I take it?" You interjected.

"No he doesn't."

"So you trust him?" You asked.

"No."

"But you still follow his directions regardless?" You poked.

"Our agendas line up, that's all you need to know."

"Mh, okay. What are your agendas exactly? I have a vague idea of Shigaraki's and Toga's but I don't know yours."

"Why do you care?"

"I...." you thought about it for a little while. "I'm just trying to make sense of it all. Why, things are the way they are." He starred at you for a while. His blue eyes piercing your flesh.

"You already know why."

"Wait? Wait? What do you mean, wait!?" Your mother shouted furiously across the meeting room table. Rows of tables lined with pro-heros watched her out burst.

"I know you're concerned, but with all due respect ma'am-"

"Concerned!? Concerned!? I'm beyond concerned, I am livid! We finally know where my daughter is being held captive and you want to wait!?" She cried.

"Mrs. Please, we understand your concerns and believe me, we're going to get her as soon as we can but we can't just bust in there like last time."

"Last time?" Xavier piped up. "This has happened before?" The heroes looked at one another with a puzzled expression. Your father gave an exhausted sigh.

"A few years ago, a student of mine was kidnapped in an attempt to recruit him. Thankfully we were able to rescue the student, but it cost us. A run-in with All for One, Shigaraki's old mentor, nearly killed Best Jeanist, and led to my retirement. Since then, Shigaraki and his followers have become much more of a threat. We can't risk starting an all out battle again. They've positioned themselves in a very populated area. If we aren't careful, Shigaraki alone could decimate everyone and everything. We have to be careful about this." He explained.

"This isn't just about Y/N's safety anymore. We have to find a way to get her out of there without endangering the city around her." Eraserhead noted, looking down at the papers he held in had hands.

"If that's the case, shouldn't we be sending in heroes who specialize in stelth? If we can get her out there without anyone noticing, we won't have to fight. That way, we have time to evacuate everybody in case of an all out fight." A young voice suggested.

"I could see how that would be effective, Deku. But in order to pull off a mission like that we'd need more information. At this rate, even a stealth mission would be a rash discussion." Bubble Girl stood to attention at the projection on the screen.

"What about the girl herself? She didn't say anything about their numbers or the hideout itself?" DynaMight asked, his brows furred, eyes starring off into space in thought.

"Unfortunate no, and theres no way to contact her further at the moment. It's too dangerous." Eraserhead answered.

"Ugh, Heroes. Useless." Xavier spat, throwing himself from his seat and storming out of the room. Toshinari watched him and then turned back to your mother who sat there with her head hung low. Her dainty fingers shoving tears away from her face.

"This is all your fault." She muttered before standing and following Xavier out of the room. Your father sat there, frozen, unable to process or move or speak. She was right. It was his fault, he thought. If only he had asked you to stay that night. If only he took better care of you, if only he spent more time with you, if only, if only, if...only...

"Um, uh...meeting adjourned. You're dismissed." Your father shuffled out into the hallway, his head hanging low.

"Um...A-All Might?" A soft voice spoke. He slowly turned to find young midoriya standing there. His eyes sparkling as they always did. They never lost their sparkle, after all he'd been through.

"Young Midoriya..."

"...I...I never knew you had a daughter..."

"You weren't supposed to. No one was." He answered with a blank and flat tone.

"Right. Of course. I just...well...she doesn't have..."

"No. One for All isn't genetic so it's not passed on to a user's children. Why? Are you worried that Shigaraki might still be after it?" Deku nodded. Toshinori sighed and looked off in the distance. "You heard the phone call. She seemed fine...she even laughed. I haven't heard her laugh since..." he trailed off. Since she was a child. He hadn't heard you laugh since you were little. The revelation tugged at his weakened heart, shattering it to pieces.

"Sir?" Deku asked.

"Promise me something young Midoriya."

"What is it?"

"The world needs dedicated and strong heroes," Deku looked up at him with a determined furrowed brow, "but don't let it rule your world."

Taglist: 

@craftybean13 @babayaga67 @imjustverable

@bat-eclecticwolfbouquet-love

@kamenoyaki @hentaiqween101 @skzero-99 @justanotherlifeff

[doubleshotofsomething]

To Hell & Back

Part Four:  “My wings are frayed and what’s left of my halo’s black”

--

Summary: Your exit strategy involves your neighbour... Well, it is your neighbour.

Prompt: "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

Warnings: swearing. (Typos that will be fixed). That's it??

Pairings: Bucky Barnes x Reader

-----

Series Masterlist

-----

You weren't always this...angry.

You weren't always this spiteful and short tempered, and malicious enough to deliberately poison muffins.

At one point in life, you were everything you'd ever wanted in a friend. Kind and compassionate. Even patience was a virtue you had an abundance of.

Then, one day, some guy from Asgard came with an army of aliens and ripped a hole through your father's finances. Apparently damaging a bunch of buildings, including the one your father worked at, was bad for business and so it closed down.

Just as your mother's job had barely managed to get your family out of the red, her boss gets murdered at some important meeting that blew up – along with some world leaders. In her boss's place, the son took over and ran the company into the ground.

Luckily, your sister had a bakery that made just enough to cover your parents' costs and your summer jobs had saved you enough to get you through college. Then, some other guy came with another alien army, and decided to take half the world with him – or whatever he did

The wrong half of the world, in your opinion. You could have lived without watching your sister's husband run her business into the ground. And life would have been a little easier if you didn't have to stretch yourself thin, to make sure your mother saw the next day.

"Then half the world came back," you continue, eyes focused on the cat. "And some random family showed up in my apartment. I'm pretty sure the husband had a heart attack when he saw me–"

Bucky places another beer in front of you. You hate the taste, but coffee on an empty stomach has never worked well for you.

"–so I moved," you take a final sip of your second beer, before placing it down and reaching for the one he just placed in front of you. "Now, I'm here. Stuck with a nosy neighbour and his cat."

"You can keep her." Bucky sighs, leaning against the wall next to you. Your shoulders brush. "I don't know the first thing about cats."

You frown and look up at him. "Barnes... You are cat. And I already have you, why would I want another one?"

He scoffs, blue eyes meeting yours. "I am not that kind of lady."

"Oh god," you roll your eyes.

"Gotta buy me dinner first, doll–"

"Not a doll."

"Maybe take me dancing," he continues, lips twitching at the sight of your scowl. "If you're lucky, I might invite you in for tea."

You glance at the coffee machine, still boxed, sitting on his counter but don't comment. You know what it means, you know why he bought it, and the thought alone makes you queasy.

So you look back at the cat, curled on your bare lap, and sigh. "Sorry I came in without pants."

You don't say anything else and he chuckles. He found you in nothing but an old shirt and socks that night, so he's not really surprised.

"Sorry I helped you without a shirt." He replies. He would've answered you immediately, the second you said his name, but he had to find pants first.

Silence falls between the both of you, and it takes actual effort for Bucky to look away from you. Tempering down the disappointment that has the audacity to knaw at you, at your stubbornness, you turn back to the screen of his laptop.

He was reviewing CCTV footage of your building's basement garage. Two hours into the viewing and he heard you calling him from the balcony, so he had to pause.

Now, four hours, three beers on your side and a weird trip down memory lane later – you're helping him sift through footage at a faster rate.

"So," you begin, eyes glued to the screen. "I have a question, about that whole serum thing."

"Hmm?" It's the first question you've ever asked about that part of him, that part of his history.

"How does it work when it comes to diseases?"

Blinking, Bucky has to pause the video to look at you. "Diseases?"

You nod. "Like flu, chicken pox, tonsillitis. You know, that stuff."

"I'm confused–"

"Do you not get it or does it run through you like water?"

"What?"

"Or does your immune system just basically butcher it within the hour?" You blink at him, eyes wide with curiosity. "'Cause like, I had this friend with one helluva immune system. He never got sick, so does it work like that?"

He pauses, lips pursing as he considers you. "Do you wanna know if my blood cells can cure AIDS?"

"If that were the case, you'd be in a CDC off-site lab right now–" you put down the beer you've been cradling. "–so, no. I wanna know what kind of illness can knock a super soldier out long enough for me to use it as an excuse."

He blinks. Once. Twice. "Huh?!"

"Saturday is in a few days."

Oh.

"What does that have to do with me?" His face scrunches up into the most confused expression you've ever seen.

"As we both know," you narrow your eyes at him. "Ever since you saved my life, like the asshole you are, my parents have taken a liking to you. And since I poisoned their favourite couple last week, I'm in deep shit this week unless I can find a good reason to not show up."

"I'm not gonna apologise for saving you."

You raise an eyebrow. "Of course not. That would mean admitting it was very selfish of you."

This is not how he expected this conversation to go. Or how he wanted it to go. So, he decides to turn back to the screen and continue watching the footage.

You know you struck a nerve, and it would be easier for you to blame it on the beer, but you can't. You want answers, just as much as he does.

You want to know what gave him the right to knock down your door, or the audacity to have his friend fly you to the hospital. He won't straight up tell you, you tried when you woke up in the ICU and found him there, and it pisses you off that he might not ever tell you.

Bucky frowns at the screen. "The camera's get switched off right after I leave–" he glances at you. "Did you bribe security to switch them off?"

"We have security?"

"The guys at the front desk?"

You frown at him. You know those guys, you bring them baked goodies from work three times a week.

"Hang on," you place the cat on the couch next to you, cross your legs and turn to move closer to him. "Let me get this straight."

Your knees gently press into his thigh and he forced to look at you.

"You're telling me that Laurence with sinuses, down in the lobby, and Percy with the three-legged rabbit. Those guys–" of course you'd know that. "–they're security? For this apartment building? We have security?"

"You can't be serious–"

"We have a biometric system at the door and like cameras, and a patrol car that frequents this neighbourhood–" you're pressing a little to hard on your fingers and he's worried you just might snap one off. "–what the hell do we need security guards for?"

You continue rattling off all the safety measures the building has, which means your fingers have to suffer throughout the list, unless he does something about it.

Which he does. Almost as if instinct, his hands are clasping yours before he can make the decision to reach for them. They're warm and cold against yours, but the right kind of warm and cold that makes you frown at them.

His hands swallow yours, which isn't something that surprises you. It's the way you're not pulling away, the way you're not fighting it, the way you can't blame the alcohol because it almost feels...normal.

You haven't felt normal in such a long time.

"You gonna stop tryna break your fingers?" Bucky starts. "Or do I have to stay like this 'til you knock out?"

You blink. "Does a concussion knock you out long enough to warrant an excuse?"

"You're relentless."

"Says the guy watching CCTV footage because of a cat."

"It's... For a good cause."

"Me missing Saturday dinner is a good cause, Barnes."

He sighs. "Doll–"

"–I'll owe you one."

Bucky is about to argue, his mouth was halfway open before your words registered. That's really what happened.

It's not like he was looking for an opening or anything. A way of asking you, that wouldn't resort in an argument or anything.

It's not like those were the words he's been waiting for, for quite some time now.

Not at all.

Of course not.

But, who is he to argue with the mysterious workings of a universe.

The room you're in is dimly lit, the only light originating from the kitchen and the streetlights. But you can still see that dangerous glint in his eyes.

He grins. "Is that right?"

You swear you heard yourself gulp.

-----

"Okay–" you're fidgety and anxious, and can't seem to stand still as the elevator doors close. "–now, let's go through this again. What's our exit strategy?"

Bucky turns to fully face you. He's been trying to keep you calm ever since the parking lot, but even he can admit that he was far too distracted to be helpful.

It wasn't even his fault he was distracted, it was completely yours. When he invited you to Sarah's party , the party celebrating the expansion of the success revamp of the boat business, he had said to dress comfortably.

Not dress like you were put on this Earth to be the end of him.

He was waiting in the parking lot, the same one that had the camera's switched off right after he left, when you came barrelling towards him.

You had narrowly escaped your sister. She was getting off the elevator just as you were nearing it, so you quickly opted for the staircase beside it. You were a flurry of floral black and white and pink in a summer dress, your hair barely in place – you tried using pins and thought about ribbons, but then forgot about them when you couldn't find your other shoe – as you basically pushed him inside the car.

You used the passenger window to try and fix your hair, as best as you could. And he spent the drive trying to reassure you that you looked fine.

You looked more than fine, but he couldn't seem to muster up the words.

"Doll–"

"Not a doll." Is your automated response.

"You look fine, " sweet as sugar, is what he wants to say. "And, well, there is no exit strategy."

You gape up at the mammoth of a man in front of you. His words, a ballad of heathens in your book, echoes in your head.

"No exit strategy?" You whine, fisting his shirt as you desperately meet his eyes. "Bucky, no. Please. You can't do this."

The elevator doors open before he can respond to you. Sam is waiting on the other side of the doors, champagne glasses in both hands.

Hands still gripping into Bucky's shirt, hair almost presentable, Bucky's face flushing from hearing you say his name, and your expression portraying pure fluster. You and Bucky both turn to find Sam staring at the scene in front of him.

His eyebrows shoot up, golden brown eyes lighting up at the sight. "Okay. This definitely makes up for you being late."

Bucky blinks, seeming to snap out of his stupor. "Wait, wha–"

"No–" Sam cuts in. "–I know how you 40s guys are about kissin' and telling. I won't pry."

"Hang on, Sam–"

"Bathroom's on the next floor," he has the audacity to grin. "Just be quick about it. The speech's in twenty minutes."

With that, he steps away from the elevator, gives a curt nod and – with a Cheshire grin – walks away.

You slowly peel your hands away from Bucky and take a few steps back.

Bucky clears his throat. "So, about the exit strategy..."

---

TAGS :D : @sunflowerxbarnes , @ginger-swag-rapunzel , @arctic-duchess , @sltwins , @thewayilookatbacon , @buckyisperfect , @paryl

[harrysbbby]

Don’t Forget Where You Belong - JJ Maybank x Reader - Part Fifteen

A/N:  OMFG the moment you’ve all been waiting for!!! EEK I think y'all are gonna like this chapter also she’s LONG so grab a snack and settle in cause you’re in for a WILD RIDE!!!

gif by @rudypankows

moodboard by the lovely @tcmhollnd

You were sat around a table at The Wreck. Kie placed a meal in front of you and a hot cup of coffee. You looked down at it numb. You knew you were hungry, but the thought of eating made you feel nauseous.

The moment JJ had turned around and spat in your face replayed in your head like a scene from a movie. The way he looked at you… it was like he had never cared for your before, like you were the root of all his problems.

“Y/N, please eat,” Kie urged you. You sniffled, wiping a stray tear that feel from your eye, reaching forward, slowly munching on a singular fry, and taking a small sip of the coffee. Your stomach churned, as the lump in your throat made it difficult to swallow, but you wanted to make sure you showed her you were okay. She seemed satisfied with your efforts, placing a warm hand on your arm, rubbing slowly. The bottom of your vision blurred as tears threatened to fall once again, keeping your head down as Pope, Sarah, John B and Kiara spoke around the table.

“He’ll come around, alright?” John B sighed, “he’s doing a JJ thing.”

You nodded, grabbing the sandwich of your plate, bringing it up to your mouth and taking a miniscule bite. Any other time you wouldn’t wolfed it down in two gulps, but the mention of his name made you feel as if you could never meet again.

“Do you think he’ll go home?” Kie asked quietly.

“There’s about a zero percent chance JJ goes home,” Pope said.

“You okay?” John B asked Sarah. She looked drained, mainly from having to keep up with the drama of the group she was now inducted.

“Yeah,” She nodded, “are you?”

“I’m in one piece so…” he laughed lightly before turning to you, “are you going to be okay Y/N?”

You finally brought your eyes up to meet the rest of the group. Their eyes conveyed their sorrow as they took in your blotchy face. You took a deep breath, throwing your head back to blink away your tears.

“I’m fine,” you said, “I’m… going to be fine,” you corrected, collecting yourself, “seriously, guys don’t worry about me. We’re got… bigger fish to fry.”

You sent them a small smile, the only one you could muster at that moment. Your friends smiled at you.

“That’s my girl,” John B said, as Pope grabbed your shoulders from his standing positing behind you, leaning down to wrap his harms around you. You cradled his as you laughed lightly, “That’s what we like to hear,” John B said, happy to hear you laugh.

Pope let go of you, moving back to pace as he spoke,

“It's too dangerous to pawn this thing off piecemeal. So, our best bet is to go down there and get the rest of it. Bring it all up at once. Put it in-- in a safe or a vault or something. I-- I don't know. Just until we can find someone who won't rip us off. I can figure it out tonight, get it done, and we can be out there tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds good,” you said, but with barely any enthusiasm as you took a melancholy bite of your sandwich.

“Let’s go,” John B said, before Sarah threw him a look over the table.

“What about that thing with my dad?”

“Shit,” he cursed.

“What thing?” Pope questioned.

“I have to go fishing with Ward.”

“You can't get 400 mil 'cause you're gonna go kill fish?”

“Look I have to go.”

“Blow if off,” Pope suggested, “It’s 400 million in gold!”

“Make something up,” Kie added.

“Look, I-- I have to, okay?” John B said, “He... he saved me, all right? If it weren't for Ward, I'd be in foster care. I have to go. Plus, it'll be better to do it at night. Right?”

The 5 of you sat in silence. Kie sighed, looking over at Pope, who hung his head but conceded,

“Fine. Fine, go fishing.”

“And at least JJ will probably have washed up by then,” Kie said but her flat tone didn’t make it sound hopeful.

You sighed at the mention of his name, standing abruptly, chair screeching against the floorboards as you went.

“I think I’m gonna head home,” you sniffed, wiping your nose with the back of your hand. Your friends nodded silently. You stood for a moment before moving towards the door, before a hand rested on your shoulder.

“Y/N,” you turned to see John B standing behind you, welcoming arms opened for you. You tucked your head into his chest as his arms wrapped around you, “he didn’t mean it.”

You started to cry quietly as he held you, “I know, I know,” you whispered, “it still hurt though.”

“He’ll come around. He loves you,” he held you at arm’s length looking into your bloodshot eyes, “just like I do.”

You gave the skeleton of a smile, holding out your fist for him to give you one of the Pogue bro handshakes.

“I love you too, JB,” you waved to your friends before grabbing your keys, jumping in your car and heading him.

As you stepped over the threshold of the door, you heard your mum call your name.

“Y/N! I’m so glad you’re home, I went to the store today and I wanted— What’s wrong?”

She came to a halt, watching you standing the entryway arms limp by your sides and bottom lip quivering. She rushed to your side, engulfing you in a hug. She stroked your hair as she shushed your small cries.

“Honey, what happened?”

“JJ and I got in a fight.” You let out slowly, stumbling over the words as your body trembled, “it was… it was pretty bad.”

“Oh, shhh,” She continued to rub your back as your cried into her neck. As you calmed, she let her grip falter, allowing her to lead you up to your room. She sat you down on your bed, taking your shoes off your feet as you sat there numbly. “I’m gonna go make you a nice hot cup of tea to make you feel better, alright?”

You nodded, flopping back onto your bed. But as your mum made her way back into your room, freshly made tea in her hand she noticed your closed eyes, and slow breathing. She smiled at your sleeping form, glad to see you peaceful. She slowly leant forward and pulled your door shut quietly, allowing you to sleep off the long and emotionally draining day you’d had.

You woke up to a hand shaking your shoulder, Kie leaning over your body. Your room had an orangey glow, alerting you to the fact the sun was setting. You rubbed your eyes, confused.

“What’s going on?” you mumbled quietly, stretching your arms as you woke up slowly.

“Morning sleepy head,” Kie joked, “we’re heading to John B’s to get the stuff set up for tomorrow.”

“And you need me for that?” you asked. She laughed,

“Of course, we do, you’re in this for the long run love,” she told you. You groaned, rolling over to face away from her.

“I want to sleep for the rest of my life,” you whinged, a longer groan coming out of your moth as Kie laid on top of you laughing.

“You know you can’t do that,” she joked, before throwing you a sideways glance, “What’s this about you not being JJ’s girlfriend?”

You groaned again, covering your face with your hands. Kie laughed, pulling them away from your face. You sighed,

“I may have kissed him again last night.” You said, causing Kie to squeal quietly, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you as her body pressed you into the bed. The first genuine laugh of the day escaped from your throat. Your smile dropped as you looked sideways at her, “I thought we were good, but you heard him this morning, I.. I just ugh.” You shrugged. Kie grabbed you in a hug.

“He’s just stupid ad insecure, you know, JJ.”

“Yeah I do,” you agreed quietly. You truly did know, everything about him and you knew why he was acting this way. He was taking his insecurities out on you because he didn’t know how to deal with them. And although you were upset with him, you weren’t mad, cause you knew that it meant he truly cared because he was terrified of messing it up.

“Come on,” Kie said pulling your laissez-faire body off the bed, “Pope’s waiting downstairs.”

You conceded, allowing her to drag you out of your house.

You pulled into the Chateau as Pope and Kie discussed the plans.

“Gotta be done before my scholarship interview in the morning,” Pope said, pulling the truck and bringing it to a stop.

“Okay, well, we gotta focus,” Kie said, jumping out of the car, and slamming the door shut. You exited Pope’s door, as he held it open for you.

“Don’t worry Pope, you’re gonna smash that interview. He smiled as he shut the door behind you before turning back to Kie,

“I know. It's gonna be fine. We got John B and JJ inside the well, and me and Y/N up top. You and Sarah will be outside transporting.”

“yeah got this,” she affirmed, shifting through the things in the back of the truck.

“Cool, I got a winch and that tin can hold over like… 200, 300 pounds.”

“Thanks,” Kie said quietly. Pope shot her a quizzical look.

“Uh, what for?”

“Stranding us. You know, making us make up.”

“What makes you think that was me?” He smiled at her. However, the cheeky grin slipped from his face at the sound of electricity whirling and fairy light illuminating the backyard.

“What the hell?”

The three of you cautiously made your way around John B’s house to be met by a string of multi-coloured lights, a hot tub and JJ popping the cork on an expensive champagne bottle. The three of you stared at him astounded.

“What did you do, JJ?” Pope asked, throwing his hands in the air as he looked around at all the stuff. Your eyes wandered across the miscellaneous items, your mouth hanging open. You could tell that this was the final straw for JJ. Your solemn eyes cast up at him as he spoke.

“I got a jet going straight in my butt right now,” his words slurred slightly as he giggled, “Y'all should get in immediately, you hear me?” he clumsily filled two flutes with the bubbly liquid, “Salud!”

“How much did this cost?” Pope demanded.

“Well, with the generator, the petrol, and oh, hey, express delivery…” he let out a drunken chuckle, “…pretty much all of it, yeah.”

“All of it?” Pope fumed.

“Tread lightly Pope,” you said through gritted teeth, knowing that this was the end of a very long, withered tether and it was threatened to break.

“Yeah, all of it,” JJ said nonchalantly, taking a swig from the bottle.

“You spent all the money in one day?” Pope asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah, burned a hole right through my pocket. But, I mean, like, come on, guys, like, look at this! Finest in jet-based massage therapy, that's what they told me.”

The three of you continued to stare at him. Unimpressed by your lack of enthusiasm he pressed,

“Kie, what?” he challenged, “Can't a man have a little luxury in life?” his voice faltered as he took off the sunglasses he’d been wearing, his tone shifting, “Come on, all this scrimpin' and scrapin'… I mean, like... guys, we— You only live once, right?”

“JJ,” you started quietly but he cut you off.

“I know you’re disappointed, it might not be up to your Kook standard but whatever, Y/N” his ability to dismiss you as if you’re nothing to him caused a deep pang in your chest but you knew it was a façade protecting him from what was really happening, “Enough of this emotional shit. Get in the Cat's Ass. Come on.”

He beckoned you all, but was met with Kie’s disapproving look,

“In the what?”

“In the Cat's Ass. That's what I named her,” he clarified, “Hey, yo, almost forgot,” he reached over flipping one of the switches causing the motor to run faster and water to trickle around him, “Yeah, that's right, I know. Disco mode. That's right, baby!”

“Are you kidding me?” Pope was fuming, “You could have paid for restitution!”

“Or literally given it to any charity!” Kie joined in angrily.

“Guys,” you tried to warn them, but your voice was too hoarse from crying that they couldn’t hear you over their anger (or the hot tub jets). They were pulling on that thread, yanking and tugging, and JJ was on the other end unravelling more quickly than he had before.

“You could have helped us buy supplies—” yank

“-to get the rest of the gold—" tug

“-- out of the well!” pull

“Okay, well, you know what? I didn't do that!”

JJ had stood up displaying the purple bruises on his body. A hand slipped over your mouth to cover your gasp as you stared at his body. His entire torso had been mangled. The three of you stood shocked as he continued,

“I got a hot tub! For my friends. I got a hot tub for my friends. You know what? No, you know what? Screw friends,” his voice became shaky, “I got a hot tub for my family!”

“What the hell?” tug

“Guys, look what I did for you! All right? Look at this! Look at this!”

“JJ” pull

“No, you stop being emotional. It's fine, okay?”

The thread had lost its elasticity. It had snapped. JJ had unravelled. Years and years of the string being yanked and tugged had led to him falling apart and he was spilling out in front of you, in the form of hot tears streaming down his face.

“I mean, it’s sweet, right? Everything—”

You pushed past Kie and Pope, your own hot tears streaming down your face for the countless time that day. You climbed up onto the sidestep of the hot tub. You reached for him, desperate to grab a hold of the shell of the boy you loved before he shrunk away so far you couldn’t get to him.

“Just get in!”

You wrapped your arms around his shoulders as his face fell into your stomach. His arms gripped around you manically, feeling for any piece of skin he could find. He held onto you, scared that if he let go, he would go back to where he was, getting kicked down and down further by his father. He grabbed his sides as he sobbed into you, allowing you to bring him out the hole he had been kicked down into.

“I just couldn't do it,” his voice was so broken you swore you could feel your heart shatter. Your vision was completely gone as you sobbed, rubbing one hand along his back and tangling the other in his hair, “I can't take him anymore!”

You shushed him as you placed a kiss on the back of his head. His body violently shook causing you to rock with him.

“I was gonna kill him.”

You couldn’t help the cry that left your lips. It broke you just as much as it did for him. You leant over his body cradling your head atop of his, desperately letting quietly whispers out of your mouth to centre him.

You felt extra pairs of arms wrap around you. Kie’s hair tickled the back of your neck as her head nuzzled in your neck. You could feel Pope’s arm rubbing soothing along your arm as JJ’s quiet voice came from the huddle of bodies.

“I just wanna do the right thing.”

“I know, I know,” you reassured him, voice cracking as it struggled to get the words out.

You held him for a while, all of you nestling into your group hug. You could feel JJ being to shake, from being cold in the wet and from crying so heavily.

“Come on let’s get you inside.”

You guided him out of the hot tub and into the Chateau. Pope and Kie followed you to the door but stopped before they came inside. You turned to them, pushing JJ towards the bathroom.

“I’ve got this, guys,” you assured them, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

They nodded in understanding. They both moved forward engulfing you in a hug. You smiled as you wrapped your arms around them

“Thanks, I love you guys,”

“I love you,” they chorused back. They let go exited out the door

“Good luck with the interview, Pope!” you called to him weakly, your voice not giving you much to work with. He shot you a grateful thumbs up before disappearing around the corner with Kie.

You retreated into the bathroom seeing JJ on the sitting on the toilet seat, his head in his hands. You leant down in front of him, grabbing his hands and pulling them away from his face. You ran your hand threw his hair moving it out of his face as he looked at you.

“I’m sorry,” his voice came out weakly. You nodded, showing him you accepted his apology but stayed silent, showing him you expected more, “I shouldn’t have treated you like that. You don’t deserve it.”

“Thank you, JJ,” you said sincerely. “What happened?” you asked lightly, pushing him back to lean against the wall to inspect his bruises.

“I took the restitution money I stole from Barry home to my dad,” he told you as you grabbed a cloth, running it under the water before dabbing it lightly across the bruises. “He said he wanted to use to gamble.”

You shook your head, “unbelievable,” you muttered under your breath.

“So, I tried to take it back from him and he—” his words trailed off, but you gave him another nod letting him know you understood.

You stood up, placing the cloth on the sink before holding both your hands out to him. He took them allowing you to slowly pull him up. Once he rose, he was standing close, his body almost touching yours. You leant away from him, turning the facet on allowing warm water (as hot as you could get it in The Cut after a storm) to strain out.

“You’re shivering, you need a shower,” you said turning to walk towards the door. But he grabbed your wrist, you turned back to him, eyebrows furrowed.

“Stay,” his voice was so small it was almost unrecognisable. You hesitated for a moment before nodding your head slightly.

He took his board shorts off leaving him in just his underwear as he stepped in under the water. You stripped yourself of your t-shirt and shorts leaving you in your bra and underwear. You followed him into the shower, careful to not get your hair too wet.

You both stood there for a while allowing the water to cascade down, relaxing your muscles. You slowly grabbed the soap bar, lathering it on your hands before daintily sliding your hands over JJ’s body, careful to avoid the bruises. He stood there numbly, allowing you to wash him, wishing that you would wash away all of the dirty things about him rather than just the physical on the outside.

“I really am sorry, Y/N,” he said again. You stayed focused on washing his body,

“I know,” you said.

“No, I mean, I’m so sorry. You’ve done nothing but look after me since the day we met yet I treat you like shit. I’m just, terrified that I’m not going to be able to be what you deserve. What you need. I— you’re perfect, Y/N. I just don’t know if I can…”

You stopped the movement on your hands as you looked up at him. His eyes were rimmed red and his cheeks were puffy. Your hands slowly slid up his body to rest on his neck as you pulled him towards you.

“You’re perfect to me,” you whispered before placing your lips on his. He returns your passionate kiss immediately, placing his hands on your hips as he pulls you as close as possible. You don’t even care about your hair getting wet as he deepens the kiss, his hands sliding around to your butt. Your hands tangle in his hair as you moan into his mouth.

He reaches behind you to turn the shower off. Both of you getting out, quickly reaching for the first towel you see you pat yourself dry so you’re not dripping before handing the towel for JJ to do the same. As soon as he’s done he tosses the towel to the side before grabbing your face and leaning down to capture your lips into another kiss, walking you backwards into his room at the Chateau. The back of your knees hit the bed, causing you to fall back. JJ’s body hovers over your own as he kisses down your neck. Your breathing quickens as you tug on his hair. He trails his feather-like kisses back up you neck before pressing a passionate kiss onto your lips, before pulling back, staring at you in the dimly lit moonlight.

“Y/N, I love you,” his voice is nervous, but at the same time certain. It sounds different to the other times he’d said it- not like the time you bought the boys burgers after a long day fishing, or when you successfully hooked him up with the hottest touron at the party, or when you would help him with his school work. This time, and you could tell by the look in his eyes, he meant it.

“I love you too, JJ,” you said back with as much certainty. He smiled as he pulled you into a kiss, catching the backs of your thighs and pushing you further into the middle of the bed, allowing him to crawl on top of you.

He continued to kiss you and you could feel him get hard between you. You moaned as he grinded into you before a hiss escaped his lips.

“What?” you asked, watching him retract from you quickly, a hand flying to his side.

“Ahh, sorry,” he sounded in pain, “it still really hurts.”

You crawled out from under him, kneeling on the bed with him. You grabbed the sides of his face, pulling him in for a deep kiss as you guided his body down onto the bed, before carefully straddling his hips. He pulled back, a curious look on his face.

“Just trust me,” you whispered, smirking as you murmured against his lips, “besides, weren’t you the one saying you wanted to be beneath me?”

A grin spread across his face as he eagerly grabbed the back of your head, smashing your lips against your own.

And so, you and JJ loved one another. It was something you had always known, or dreamed about, or both, but had never imagined actually happened. But as you spent that night with him in the spare bed in the Chateau, admiring each other in a more vulnerable light than ever before, you somehow fell even more in love with him.

And the butterflies in JJ’s chest flew viciously as his heart pumped blood so fast he felt like he might’ve died at times. But the feeling of kissing you, loving you and knowing you were his allowed him to let his guard down, pass you the thread, and allow you to stich him back together again.

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[v-velvetykisscs]

Safety Net

Chapter 3

"Come in." a voice from within says clearly, with a neutral tone. Jean turns the right doorknob, opening the door softly, stepping in.

I mirror his step and subconsciously position myself behind him, shielding myself from whoever was inside.

"Hey Eren, I came in to report o- Shit man it fucking reeks."

Jean pinches his nose, and when the scent reaches me my nose burns. Weed and whiskey fill the air. "Crack a window open dude, have you been basking in this smell all evening?"

A husky voice, fills the silence: "What do you care, this is my fucking office." the male coughs, his tone amused.

I'd expected him to scold Jean, but their informality had stunned me.

What had Historia pulled me into? Why hadn't she told me about this place? About these people? How had these series of events unfolded in a single night? I felt like I would never understand.

The more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to understand. I wanted to escape this feverish nightmare as fast as I could. That man was going to draw his gun on me and Toria without giving it a second thought. I can't let that affect me now.

This man is going to give me my answers, whether it's by choice or by force. It didn't matter to me.

"-She insisted on speaking to you." Jean explained, his body half turned to eye me as he spoke. 

I'd zoned out.

My hands were clammy and my heart thrummed in my ears. I inhaled, frowning slightly. I clenched my fist.

"Well then, If you'll excuse us."

Eren had said, ushering him out of the room solely with his authoritative tone.

I feel a small breeze sway past me as Jean walks out. My eyes darting around the room, trying to take in as much detail from within the darkness. Heaps of paperwork are stacked on a small table in the opposite corner of the room from me. Dark figurines above furniture. Trophies. Then, my eyes caught onto his desk; black and smooth, a coffee stained mug had been used as a pen holder, 2 ink pens spilled out of the mug onto the desk for use. A grey apple laptop laid folded in the middle of his desk. A tiny, turned over picture frame on the left. An ashtray to the right of it and a half empty glass of whiskey. The bottle nowhere insight.

Could use some.

I finally allow my eyes to land on the man before me. The twisting shadows of the room only display the sharp angles of his jawline, a pair of full lips and a perfectly straight nose.

No stubble, he must be young.

He slowly rises from his seat and walks slowly toward me, one hand in his pocket. He's wearing a navy blue suit and his white shirt is 4 buttons undone, showing a glimpse of muscle. He moves smoothly around his desk and stands in front of it, he leans back, tilting his head up a little, revealing a pair of emerald eyes staring right at me, illuminated by the dim corridor light. His shoulder-length hair glistens in the light; like smooth, silk curtains.

He uses his free hand to raise two fingers in a beckoning motion.

"Come and sit" he speaks.

As I take measured steps towards the leather cushioned chair, he holds the back of it, waiting for me to approach it and pulls it out for me to sit. I plop down on it softly, maintaining hard eye contact. I catch a small whiff of his personal fragrance: a mixture of pinewood, men's deodorant and a hint of cologne, entwined with the intoxicating smell of the room. I cross my legs as I eye him retreat to his own seat. I tear my eyes away for a second to eye the bookshelves on either side of the room, then to the wide, window panes taking up the space behind him, the yellow city lights half hidden by blinds.

"Seems like you haven't caught a break today"

"Not by choice." I respond, with venom.

He reaches for the blunt resting on the ashtray and holds it between his index and thumb, placing it between his lips and using a lighter to ignite it. We both look down at it as a bright orange flame forms at the end of it. He takes a puff and blows it out behind him. I hold in a cough. He reaches behind his head to tie strands of his hair back.

His calmness is beginning to irritate me.

I inhale and place my hand on the table.

"I came here to get answers, not to get some half-assed sympathy." I watch his face for irritation or outright anger but he takes another drag of his rolled up grass. 

He wasn't going to give in if I'd kept with this method. I had to catch him off guard.

He chuckles. "You've got fire, I like that."

I stay silent, my eyebrows in a hard line and my jaw clenched.

I stay focused on his movements, awfully calm to my liking. He drops the pot back into the tray and reaches next to it to grasp the glass of whiskey. Suddenly I take notice of the discoloured white bandage around his moving hand, encompassing his entire hand and knuckles as he downs the rest of the bitter drink with a small gulp.

Why isn't he hiding it?

"Seems like a nasty injury you got there. Is it recent?"

I don't miss his eyebrow quivering in the dimness.

He's surprised.

"It is, I got it taking care of something."

"You mean someone."

His mouth stretches into a smirk.

"You catch on quick, doll."

He's twisted.

"I don't want to know about you or your filthy business, I just want out." I assert.

"Nothing's ever that easy. Now that they've seen you they'll want to go after you. They know you're with us."

He's off his rockers. He can't seriously think that after being forcefully dragged into his mess I would wilfully stay.

"They? Who's they?"

"My brother and his men."

I laugh in pure disbelief:

"Oh so that's what this is about: a petty, fucking gang war between 2 immature brothers. Great. What's next? Initiation? Training? Killing?"

"Pretty much, yeah. But the killing is not necessary unless you're in immediate danger." His tone is light.

This is a joke to him. He finds this entertaining.

I stand wordlessly and move towards the door.

Note:

Here's chapter 3, sorry it's a little shorter than the other two. There's gonna be more coming soon. Thanks for reading <33

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 9

The Slaying of the Bobbledragon

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Since slaying a serial-killer dragon is a little outside the party's expertise, they're off to Cauterdale to enlist the aid of the Deathseekers' Guild! Having gotten a good night's sleep at a druid village, and not eaten, they're ready to take on, uh...

Well, some sort of very large monster that Zero kindly drew for me.

In the morning, they rather uneventfully get up and get back on the road, thanking the villagers for their hospitality. And the remainder of the trip to Cauterdale is likewise brief and uneventful, right up until the fire.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: the what Benedict I. (GM): The fire.

Yeah, the forest and the road up ahead are ablaze, sort of blocking passage. The dirt road isn't actively on fire, but the trees on both sides are, making it pretty risky to proceed. The team opts to send Oyobi up ahead to scout the situation- and pretty soon she comes back with a report. Apparently, just past the visible fireline, the forest is totally burned down- just charred stumps as far as she could see, right up to the city walls. The fire itself is just, like, 10 meters wide or so, so it's totally something they could just dash through.

It takes some Animal Handling checks to coax the giraffes through, and the ones that balk get them and their riders a little bit of chip damage from heat and smoke inhalation, but the party is pretty much able to push through to the blasted wasteland of charred tree stumps surrounding Cauterdale.

They notice a few people in strange armor in the distance, doing something near the fire- from the seemingly controlled nature of this burn and the name of the town, they conclude that those are fire squads doing this deliberately, and don't get involved. It's a fine conclusion, and the party begins walking the remaining mile to the city.

As they approach, they notice... a little ways off from the main gates, something is attacking the city walls. Guards atop the walls are manning some sort of huge harpoon guns, and they seem to have already slain several of the... whatever these things are. The remaining one, though, seems larger and more resilient than the others, continuing its assault despite the several harpoons already lodged in its flesh.

What they see is a huge reptilian monster. It's probably not a dragon- no wings, and it doesn't appear to be using a breath weapon- but it's the size of a dragon, with tiny arms, headbutting the metal walls of the town repeatedly.

Orluthe makes his Nature roll to recognize this thing- he's heard of them before. They're called "bobbledragons"- some sort of deformed mutant offshoot of true dragons, incapable of speech or flight or magic but still possessed of monstrous strength and durability.

Luckily, the bobbledragon doesn't seem to be in between them and the main gate- the fight is far enough away that they could potentially just walk up and head into town, assuming they'll open the gates during a situation like this. Hell, they don't even need to open the gates- if the guards just drop a rope, they should be able to just climb over. That seems like a decent plan, so Saelhen and Looseleaf begin working together to draft a use of the Message spell to ask the guards to help them inside.

Then they notice that I've been moving Oyobi's token on the map in the direction of the fight.

Oyobi, blinded by bloodlust and/or extra-credit-in-Severe-Zoology-lust, is determined to help fell the bobbledragon. Their attempts at persuasion fail, and Oyobi, undeterred, continues to charge the giant fucking T-rex that is making huge dents in the walls of a city.

As Oyobi runs for it, and as the party follows behind in hopes of stopping her from making a terrible mistake, the bobbledragon jumps and seizes one of the guards on the wall in its jaws, demonstrating its +10 4d12+7 bite attack by immediately oneshotting its victim.

Looseleaf: oh god we're all going to die. you're using the real t-rex statblock. that thing is challenge eight. it is made for a party of four level eight adventurers, so either we are all going to die here, or the guards are going to show us why they are professional fighters and we are students. Benedict I. (GM): "Shit! It can jump!" "No!" The guards seem upset.

Not promising.

Looseleaf: This thing does sufficient damage to oneshot any of us with a perfectly mediocre hit. Looseleaf right now is kind of thoroughly convinced that Oyobi is actually literally about to die. In that light, Looseleaf is going to message Oyobi again. And she is not going to get any closer. Actually, she's going to back off, put distance between herself and the monster. [Oyobi that thing is going to bite you in half get back here you are going to die.] Benedict I. (GM): Roll Persuasion! DC 20 again. -Looseleaf: 17 / PERSUASION (1)- Oyobi Yamatake: [I'M GONNA LIVE FOREVER!!!]

So... that's a bust, and Oyobi finally reaches the dragon and begins her assault. Miraculously, her flying leap hits, and she digs her sword in... for thirteen damage.

The guards return fire against the bobbledragon, and one of the harpoons catches it in the chest- but it doesn't go down, and the second harpoon- manned by just one guard, after his partner got crunched- misses. Another guard, without a cannon, throws a spear- and gets not only a critical hit, but a max damage critical hit, spearing the thing right in the eye.

...for eleven damage, because these are ordinary CR 1/8 Guards, but still!

Saelhen tries to distract the bobbledragon so Oyobi can run and hide, but... her arrow goes wide, and Oyobi isn't interested in running and hiding anyway. The bobbledragon, targeting whatever did the most damage to it recently with its bite attack, jumps and bites the whole damn harpoon gun out of the guard tower, leaving the guards without heavy weaponry.

And then with its tail, it tries to slap the insect that just stung it in the rear.

...and rolls a 3, meaning Oyobi gracefully backflips over the attack and strikes a dramatic pose.

Looseleaf: God, she did not deserve that dodge. She got so fucking lucky there. Saelhen du Fishercrown: she really didn't Oyobi Yamatake: "When you get to Dragon Hell, tell them Oyobi Yamatake sent you!!"

Looseleaf, in the interest of communicating to Oyobi how much danger she's in, makes use of an upgrade to her Rend Spirit attack she learned while studying Lumiere's notes on pain. With Painread, she can get some feedback back from something whose spirit she disrupts, and figure out exactly how bad a shape it's in. She does so (dealing a cool 16 damage as she does), and learns how huge this thing's remaining hit point pool is, so she can tell Oyobi how unlikely she is to survive long enough to take it down.

...It, uh, it was already pretty hurt when they arrived, and it, um, has nine hit points left. And it's Oyobi's turn.

Oyobi Yamatake: Oyobi dashes forwards, Naruto-runs up to the T-rex's throat, and does a spinning leap that slashes open its jugular. It roars, and the roar swiftly fades off as its breath escapes. Saelhen du Fishercrown: God dammit, Oyobi. Oyobi Yamatake: "YES! YES! B-S-U! B-S-U! B-S-U!" "THAT is how it's DONE!" She is jumping up and down, doing a celebratory dance, the works. "Flawlessed the boss! Hell yeah!"

Yeah, so... I had kind of been planning on her getting oneshot and laid up in the hospital, as a sort of character growth thing and also keeping her out of the way of certain events in town, but, uh... the dice... didn't exactly... share my priorities.

With the bobbledragon slain, and Oyobi doing an extremely obnoxious victory dance, the rest of the party springs into action to stabilize the guard who was used as a chew toy. Thanks to his plate armor, he hasn't lost much blood, but he's got more broken bones than not, and his prognosis wouldn't be good... if it weren't for the healer's kits Looseleaf had the foresight to buy for everyone. Saelhen stabilizes him, and Orluthe calls on his goddess to Lay On Hands to save the guard's life.

Then there's this guy- the captain of the guard, who fought in the battle with a fancy crossbow that shot flaming bolts. He demands to know who the party is, seeming kind of annoyed that they rewarded weakness by saving the guard's life.

Benedict I. (GM): He looks down at your medical kit. "Y'know, all of my men are prepared to fight and die for our home. You really want to take away this man's glory?" The injured guard looks up. "Uh, sir, I- it's fine, actually..." "Feh." Looseleaf: This guy immediately seems like a bad boss. Saelhen du Fishercrown: Oh, he's ridiculous. Okay, that changes the tenor of this conversation somewhat! "...I apologize, sir," says Saelhen, bowing to the guard on his stretcher, "if I have diminished your victory with my carelessness."

And rather than give this guy any more of the time of day, Saelhen asks the random guard his name. (And then I have to give him one and make him a character, whoops.)

Medd Cutter here is thankful for Saelhen's assistance saving his life, and Saelhen pledges to remember his heroism. The commander feels- by design- somewhat left out of the heroism-remembering, and declares that he is REX SCAR, and Saelhen kind of blows him off. He's not happy, but...

Captain Scar is still the sort of person who is very impressed with anyone who rolls up and kills a bobbledragon just because they felt like it, and despite Saelhen's calculated snub, tries to get buddy-buddy with the group of obviously very powerful people who just arrived. He decides to help them through customs without going through the usual processes, much to the chagrin of...

...Long-Tongue, Cauterdale Customs and Border Inspection Officer of Cauterdale, who's very loquacious and wordy and redundantly repeats what she says in different words to phrase things differently in a somewhat unnecessary fashion for no real reason. Rex bullies his way past her, but Saelhen- as another snub, and just to be... nice? (What's her game...?), hands her the 300-page history of the de la Surplus family as collateral for a deferred border inspection.

Inside the walls, Cauterdale is a very crowded place. It's like 80% slum, choked with buildings constructed of a patchwork of scrap metal and discarded siding, without much wood to speak of. The streets are narrow and bustling, and the general vibe around the place is impatient.

The remaining guards escorting them (Rex went off someplace) inform them, when questioned, that the town indeed burns down the forest around them- since they're near the jungle, horrible dangerous things tend to come out of the trees to attack them, and their harpoon defenses are most effective when they can see their attackers coming from a mile away, with no obstructions. Looseleaf asks if bobbledragon attacks are common.

Benedict I. (GM): Another guard shakes his head. "No, that one was pretty crazy. Usually it's just the giant spiders, or the giant mosquitoes, or the mushroom demons." "We've had a few bobbledragons before, but that was like, four at once." Looseleaf: "Oh gods there's already giant spiders?!" "We're not even at- I thought this was a pine forest still!" Benedict I. (GM): "No, that's usually after it rains," Medd says. Looseleaf: Looseleaf casts Druidcraft. Please tell me it's not going to rain. Benedict I. (GM): Nope! Clear skies for now. "Whoa, cool." Looseleaf:"Thank the gods of sea and sky and weather and everything even tangentially related to weather," she says. "No rain." "I hope it never rains, ever again." Benedict I. (GM): "Haha, better stay away from..." "Wait, where are you headed?" Saelhen du Fishercrown: "The rainforest," adds Saelhen, mildly. Looseleaf: "Ttttthunderbrush, and yes I know that place is crawling with spiders NOERU SHUT UP,"

Then Looseleaf asks about what they're there for- the Deathseekers' Guild. Unfortunately, the guards tell them that the Deathseekers... probably still exist, but they're like, a weird secret club of old people who think they're too cool to join the guard. They give them a couple leads- apparently the Temple of Andra keeps tabs on them, and also a guard by the name of Mags was the last to see them as they were recently seen leaving the city.

The team splits up- Looseleaf and Orluthe head for the temple, and Oyobi and Saelhen head for the guardhouse to talk to Mags. (Vayen... is still gone, after vanishing as soon as the bobbledragon fight started.) The latter group does their thing next session, so...

After dropping off their rental giraffes, they head inside to meet...

This guy, working the reception desk. He seems to be made of rock, and when he talks he rumbles.

As Looseleaf explains their dilemma and their need for Deathseekers, this guy takes a keen interest in their plight. He's very "hmmmm, iiiiiinteresting, oh i see, you don't say?" about the whole thing, making a very normal interaction seem as ominous as possible.

He tells her that the Deathseekers, to his knowledge, should be back in the city from their unspecified errand inside two days, and offers to take a message.

Looseleaf: "I don't suppose they're looking for a green dragon, are they?" Benedict I. (GM): This guy's smile keeps getting wider. It's kind of creepy. "Hm? What makes you say that?"

As she explains about the dragon, he offers her and Orluthe a candy from a bowl on the desk. After some hemming and hawing out-of-character because the creepy rock man is offering you suspicious candy, they eventually opt to have some, because really, Looseleaf isn't suspicious of this guy. Hers is lemon-flavored. It's tasty.

Then, as she describes the empty tower with the corpse of the torture wizard in it, this guy's demeanor changes suddenly from "creepy wry amusement" to "genuine concern". He tries to put on a poker face, but him having a poker face when he's until now been all creepy-friendly chewing the scenery... stands out. He gives her a strong assurance that the Deathseekers will handle this problem for her.

Benedict I. (GM): "I... thank you, for this information." Looseleaf: "You're welcome. Please, uh, make sure that the Deathseekers get this information as quickly as possible. The dragon eats a corpse a week and there's only three corpses left in the tower, there's a very real deadline on this." Benedict I. (GM): [rolling 1d20+4] (Insight) 17+4 = 21 Looseleaf: Belatedly, Looseleaf realizes she's made a mistake. Benedict I. (GM): "You say... the dragon eats three corpses a week?" "Only three corpses left in the tower?" Looseleaf: Namely: Looseleaf has no good reason to know the fact that the dragon eats a corpse a week. Since she's never met the dragon. Benedict I. (GM): "Curious information." "How did you come across it?" Looseleaf: "Uh, erm, uh." Shit.

Looseleaf opts to tell the truth about Arnie, to avoid spinning a dangerous web of lies for herself- after all, Arnie's not worth lying for. She does describe him in as sympathetic terms as she can, though, and asks this guy not to harm him if possible- she doesn't want to break her word to Arnie if she can help it.

Benedict I. (GM): He takes a moment to process this. "...Very well." "My people will be the soul of discretion." "I thank you very much for your generous contribution to the Ecumene of Understanding."

Looseleaf notices that something is wrong.

This guy is the receptionist. He's not a bishop or anything. He's not even wearing priestly vestments- just a nice suit. And he's speaking as though he's in a position of power- "my people", he says.

And after considering various possibilities, she tries something. A shot in the dark, but...

And the way Looseleaf plays this, is... "quit acting like you don't know what I'm talking about, c'mon, the jig is up". She takes out the letter she found in Lumiere's tower and shows it off, as proof!

And this guy keeps denying it, and getting increasingly more panicked, and looking nervously over at Orluthe, and asking her to please stop, shh shh shh shh, and it's when he begs her to have a conversation with him in private please that she makes the connection. If this guy is affiliated with Lumiere, who's apparently affiliated with some sort of secret conspiracy that's affiliated with some sort of deific usurpation... he maybe doesn't want to have that conversation in front of a cleric.

Looseleaf:"Okay, Orluthe, uhm. Sorry, so," Looseleaf whispers into Orluthe's ear. "Long story short, turns out my sister, who left my village way before I did, ended up falling into some kind of magical secret society. The kind of secret society with Hal Lumiere, i.e. 'the torture wizard who came up with all those pain knives that we all got stabbed a lot with', was apparently a very active member of." Benedict I. (GM):Oh my god, um. Looseleaf: "So, uh, I'm kinda freaking out about that, right now, but if my hunches are right then I'm the sister of someone important in their organization?" Benedict I. (GM): As you start whispering, he tries to interrupt. "Please do not say things to him!" "Please let us speak in private!!" Looseleaf: Oh he's freaked out now huh. "Anyways that's why I am actually indeed going to speak, with this guy, in private," Looseleaf finishes. "And if I don't show up in a half-hour or so, then things have probably gone lopsided." "In which case you should find everyone else and tell them to, I dunno, come save me or whatever." "You got all that?" Benedict I. (GM): The rock man looks distraught. Orluthe Chokorov: "I, uh... think so? This is really... I'm not sure it's safe..."

With a good Persuasion roll, Orluthe agrees to stay behind, and the rock man leads Looseleaf into a backroom whose doors and walls seem warded heavily with some sort of abjuration magic. A secret saferoom.

The man describes the problem: the gods don't know that they exist, or didn't until Looseleaf went and told a cleric of Diamode that they existed. Clerics, in this setting, channel divinity literally- their gods come into their heads to do magic for them, meaning anything a cleric knows is something a god can know, if they care to check.

Benedict I. (GM): "Because if the next time Diamode is in that kid, if she goes looking for that memory..." "I mean, she might not. And you didn't mention anything about our aims, so she might consider it beneath her notice." "But that, right there? That was nearly game over." "And I can't just kill you, because if I did, Yomi would end me." Looseleaf: "Yeah, I'm not incredibly foolish, I haven't actually shown anybody else Yomi's letter." "Nobody knows that Lumiere was involved with... deicidal blasphemy." "That's what this is about, right? Thereabouts, in terms of sheer magnitude and hubris?" Benedict I. (GM): He sighs. "It's not like that." "At least, it's not all like that." "The Project is... fractious." "The less you know about the project, the less you're able to carelessly blurt out about the project your cleric friends, or to anyone who tries reading your mind or tricks you into a Zone of Truth..." "The safer we all are." "With as much as you know, you're already dangerous. It'd be best for us- and you- if you dropped this. Never spoke of it to anyone."

Looseleaf points out that it's good that she found the letter, because that tower was sitting abandoned for a year- anyone could've walked in and read it, since it was lying on a bookcase in the open.

This is somehow not taken as good news- when he finds out that the letter could've potentially been read by anyone, that there was a security breach for a year...

Looseleaf: "Look, my man, next time you want to send a letter, by the way, use... use some encoding." "Don't just write things in plaintext like a chump, by the gods." Benedict I. (GM): "He was supposed to burn after reading." Saelhen du Fishercrown: he's too dead for that! Benedict I. (GM): "Wait, you said it was... out in the open?" "But he's dead?" "Either he was an idiot, or... someone else opened his mail." "Except... Yomi should've hand-delivered it, so..." "...well. We'll definitely look into it."

He brings up sending for someone to do memory magic to handle the breach- but he realizes he can't have that done to Looseleaf, because Diamode would notice if someone tampered with her cleric's memories, and someone needs to still know what's up so they can keep Orluthe away from the truth. (Plus, she figures she'd notice the inconsistencies and end up sleuthing it out again.)

Looseleaf asks if Yomi is doing well, and gets... that she's intense, and powerful, and she probably thinks she's "doing well", but... he doesn't know about happy.

Lastly, he shows Looseleaf a symbol- a blank circle, with the elvish character 人 drawn underneath. The symbols of gods are typically circles with a design inside- so the meaning of this and its relationship to the nature of the Project is fairly easy to infer.

Benedict I. (GM): "If you need to prove to someone you're in the know, without blurting out a bunch of dangerous details, this is the mark." He then eats the paper and the graphite stick he used to draw it.

Next time: Saelhen and Oyobi grill the guard Mags for information on the Deathseekers, and connections are made with powerful individuals.

[segafan37]

Shadamy Snippet: Emergency Meeting Pt. 1

Author's Note:

This Shadamy snippet used to be a Teaser Snippet for Chapter 6. I wasn't planning for it to be part of the story at all. It was just a old deleted scene that I wanted to share to give you, the audience, a broad idea about the upcoming chapter. However, after my sister read the teaser, she insisted that it be apart of the story. So, after some tweaks, the former Teaser Snippet is now apart of Chapter 6!

I hope you enjoy it! 😁 Art by @drawloverlala

Inside Dodon Pa's Mansion

[Normal p.o.v.]

After Metal and Rouge parted ways to look for Devious, Rouge started wandering through the different crowded rooms and corridors of the mansion. There were four levels to the mansion and Rouge was currently on the main floor. Metal ventured to levels 3 and 4, leaving Rouge to explore the others.

King Donda Pa was never one who lacked in abundance and his mansions were likewise. Each one was styled to attribute the environment that surrounded them, and the one Rouge was in was no different.

The mansion was large and fanciful, displaying the breath of winter. The hallways were long and wide and painted a calm blue. Tall windows filled the rooms and corridors showcasing the fierce blizzards outside. 

The halls were decorated with broad tapestries of cream and royal blue, and the floor was polished marble. The rooms were equally vast with crystal chandilers, honed marble floors and many assortment of decor to accent the rooms.

Rouge scanned the multitude of faces as she made her way throughout the main floor. Everywhere Rouge went she was surrounded by Mobians, both good and bad. Everyone seemed cordial enough, but the bat knew better. She could just feel the tension in the air. 

Rogue would have been lying to herself if she said this whole affair wasn't the least bit unsettling. It was just a matter of time before something or someone causes the inevitable. 

 It took a whole hour, but she had finally explored all of the main floor. Rouge still hadn't found her man though. It was time for her to switch tactics.

Just then her communicator picked up a male voice.

"We can't celebrate yet. We still need Rouge to do her part." 

It was the voice of Slinger the Ocelot.

"Don't you worry your pretty head about me, Ocelot." Rouge cooed, "I'm already in the mansion, and I've got to say, this mysterious dealer knows how to put on a party! I'm surprised that Dodon Pa even allowed this event! But seeing that he never takes sides...I guess it's not too surprising."

"Hey Rouge!" a female voice squealed through her eyepiece. 

Rouge immediately smiled. It was Salkia, her sweet little student. Well, she wasn't little anymore, but Rouge couldn't get the cute little 10 year old out of her head, who wanted to learn how to kick but. 

"If any of the food looks good, save me some! Okay!?" Salkia asked.

"Will do, honey!"

Slinger gave out a groan.

"Just stay focused, alright!"

Rouge rolled her eyes. She could tell he was in one of his moods again.

"Relax, Slinger. No need to get snippy!" she said.

"Yeah! We all know you're jealous!" Salkia added. 

"Mm hmm!" Rouge smiled.

Slinger released another groan, which made Salkia giggle. She knew she shouldn't be teasing Slinger when he's like this, but he's been acting like a big grump the whole day. And she was tired of it! 

Salkia and Rouge continued to pester Slinger with their giggles, until he finally spoke.

"That's not the reason why!" Slinger argued.

This made Rouge and Salkia both fall silent. They knew what he was talking about. [Author: Chapter 4 reference] No one spoke for sometime.

Rouge sighed and decided to change the subject and break the awkward silence.

"By the way, what do you mean by 'Rouge needs to do her part'? You two are the ones assigned to get the package! I'm just here in case there's a slip-up."

"And to secure our escape route!" Slinger emphasized.

"Which I already have covered!" Rouge insisted, "Now you stay focused on your job, while I stay on mine."

Slinger sighed. "Fine. We'll contact you when the package is secured."

Rouge's communicator went silent and she continued to make her way through the crowd, as different fragments of conversations caught her ears. 

"I wonder what makes this relic so powerful?" asked a female.

"Whatever it is I bet it's worth a fortune!" another spoke.

"Everyone's assuming that this relic has power, but for all we know, it could be a hunk of junk!"

"Well, if that were true, then Dodon Pa wouldn't have allowed this event to take place in his mansion in the first place."

Well, would you look at that!, Rouge laughed to herself. It seems everyone's here to get their hands on the relic. Huh! Too bad none of them will have a chance to see it!  

"What I really want to know" a male's voice began, grabbing her attention, "is who this mysterious dealer is? He clearly doesn't care who gets the relic as long as he's getting paid. And I for one, don't trust those kinds of people. If I'm going to get that relic, I need to first know who I'm dealing with." 

"Smart guy." Rouge whispered, as she approached the stairs to the second floor. 

"Okay Rouge, enough eavesdropping. You got a Mobian to find." 

Once atop the second floor, she looked about and immediately identified this level as the party floor. The music was louder here and gambling tables, slot vendors, pool tables and the like were scattered throughout the joining rooms. Rouge felt like she had walked into a casino.

Rouge peered over the corridor's open railing, and took one last look at the faces below, trying to find the one Mobian who would know how to pinpoint Devious. But she had no such luck. Rouge sighed. She knew it was a long shot. This guy was wanted after all, but Rouge couldn't ignore her strong hunch that he'd be here. 

Rouge gritted her teeth in frustration.

Where is he!?

Time was of the essence. She and Metal only had a limited amount of time to locate Devious, before Salkia and Slinger collected the relic. If her sources were correct, the best and only person who could find Devious quickly would be his favorite broker.

Rouge looked over the crowd again, but she still couldn't spot her man.

That cat could be hiding anywhere! I better check in with Metal to see how he's doing.

"Metal, honey? This is Rouge. Do you copy?"

There was no answer. 

"Metal, come in! This is Rouge. Did you find anything?"

Still silence. Rouge was about to try again, when a deep sinister voice startled her from behind. 

"Looking for someone in particular, my dear?"

Rouge spun around to come face to face with the infamous psychic magician Mammoth Mongul. 

His large tan trunk was almost touching her nose. Rouge could smell thick expensive cologne and winsted.

It was never easy to frazzle this bat; she has faced many dangers before, all without hesitation. Some, even close to death, but Rouge also knows when she's met her match. 

The hairy elephant towered over the bat, making her appear small and insignificant. Mongul's dark green orbs pierced through Rouge's teal eyes, paralyzed her. She remained in his gaze for ten full seconds.

A small smile slowly crept on the mammoth's face. Was Rouge terrified? Yes. Did she want to scream and fly away to safety? Yes. Was she going to show it? Not on her life!

The Bat released herself from Mongul's spell; eyes sparkling with defiance, as she matched the beast's smile with her own.

"I'm surprised at you, Mongul!" Rouge scolded, "You of all people should know not to be here! It could be dangerous for you." 

Mongul smiled at the bat's attempted threat, and decided to give one of his own.

"My dear, Rouge. I appreciate your concern but I can assure you that I am not the one who is in the least bit of danger."

"Is that so?" Rouge questioned, trying to sound unaffected by his words, "Well, even still! I would think you would send one of your mindless followers to get the relic for you to save you the trouble."

"Don't be so quick to judge, bat. I have sent one of my men to take care of the relic. I'm here for a different reason, and being here is no trouble at all."

Rouge raised a painted brow, "Oh?" 

"Yes. Just like you, I'm looking for someone, a colleague of mine." Mongul leaned down to bring his face closer to Rouge's ear. "And perhaps", he whispered "my colleague is the same pink cat dealer you're looking for." 

Rouge took a step back. 

How does he know about Locky!? 

Rouge swallowed, as her heart raced.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"No need to hide it, Rouge! Someone of your acquaintance told me all about it."

Rouge gasped.

Oh no, Metal! 

"No need to worry about your robot friend, my dear; he's perfectly safe. But I know he'll appreciate your concern." 

As he said this, Mongul's eyes met Rouge's and his distinct facial features began to pixelate before her. It was just for a brief moment, but Rouge could clearly see the face of her comrade. 

"..."

"..."

"Metal, …" Rouge whispered, "I'm gonna knock your bolts right out of you! And turn you into scrap!"

Metal Sonic quickly returned to his cloned form and moved out the way, before a slap could be delivered to his face. Some guests saw the scene and were shocked at Rouge's bravery.

"Why so anger?..." Metal Sonic questioned. His voice was just above a whisper. "Did I scare you?"

"Shut. Up." Rouge growled.

"Okay, okay! I just came down to tell you some news." Metal rose to his full cloned height and peered down at Rouge.

"Then start talking!"

"Not here." Metal instructed, still holding Mongul's deep voice. "Follow me."

Metal brought Rouge to a quiet room somewhere on the second floor. It wasn't like the ballroom, like the other rooms Rouge been in. This was a study. It was large in comparison to most studies, but it was still a study, none the less. 

Once both were safely inside with the door locked, Rouge turned to Metal.

"Now, talk!"

"Why are you still angry?" Metal still was using Mongul's voice. 

"Metal, stop with the cloning for one second and talk to me!"

Metal sighed, and returned back to his normal self. Rouge let out a small breath she didn't realize she was holding. Rouge folded her arms, waiting to hear her comrade's message.

"I was surprised at how many Mobians came to Dodon Pa's Mansion." Metal said simply." 

"That's what you wanted to tell me!?" Rouge screamed.

"Rouge, if you do not wish for us to be discovered in a restricted area, I suggest you lower the volume of your voice." 

"I'll start lowering my voice, when you stop messing around! Now, tell me why you brought me here!?"

There was a silence in the air, as each stared at the other.

"I found him." Metal calmly spoke.

"What?"

"I found him." Metal repeated, "I found Locky."

.

.

.

Exsert from Shadamy fanfic "12 Years Later: A New Dawn". You can read the rest of this chapter and more on Wattpad, DeviantArt, Quotev, or Webnovel.

[broadwaytheanimatedseries]

Once Upon A Time, In A Far Away Land... - AU:

The legend says that King Raymond, then still a Prince and an adventurer, went to find the terrible threat known as the dragon witch, that has been rumored to have hurt innocent people and was the cause of great distress for a long time. What he found was a lovely, beautiful woman with charm and wit and a heart of gold, who's reputation had been tainted by those who tried to steal from her and payed the price when she defended herself.

It was then and there that the king decided he would do anything to make her happy.

Many years later, and the two married and had a family together. Three beautiful boys. Two of them ordinary looking twins, and the younger one seemingly half dragon and half human.

Now of course not everyone in the kingdom was immediately on board with their new queen, not did they all approve of the princes, especially the young one. But eventually, most of them came around, or at the very least knew better than to voice their negative opinions.

The years pass and the children grow up. Roman and Remus learn magic and swordsmanship, both being more talented in the latter, and they go on lots of adventures, both together and separately.

while Drake learns all that and more, doing his best to perfect all his skills but being especially talented in magic. he wants to be able to always have the right answers, to never be caught unprepared.

Unfortunately, he is caught very unprepared.

One day, while adventuring in a part of the woods rumored to be overtaken by the misfits and rebels of the kingdom, Roman and Remus are caught in one of their traps.

"well well well, a couple of trespassers." A hooded figure teased, eyes lighting up in amusement.

"those are no ordinary trespassers! It seems we're in the company of royalty!" Replied a man with glasses who didn't seem that mean compared to the hooded figure.

"Vee did good job with those traps, I gotta hand it to him." Said the woman among them, sounding pleasantly surprised.

The twins were too weak from their previous fight to do much, and they could only stare angrily as they waited for one of the rebels to speak.

Finally, the woman gave an order.

"R, Em, escort our guests. I'll go tell boss the wonderful news."

Hours later, as Drake was pacing in his room and his parents were sitting in the throne room patiently waiting for news on the whereabouts of their sons, all knowing it isn't like them to disappear for this long without giving a proper warning.

Finally, a message came, from the leader of the forest dwellers.

"if you wish to see your sons, there are matters to discuss. I will come to the forest's entrance every night for the next three days. Send a representative, they must come alone. We shall see if we can come to an agreement that's favorable for both sides. Should you fail to accept this offer, we will have no choice but to keep the princes as our prisoners. Their transgressions can not go unpunished, but perhaps theit unfortunate mistake can bring about a new era, for all those who deserve a better life.

Sincerely, P. Sanders"

Drake couldn't sleep that night, knowing that his parents had no intention listening to the rebels' wishes. He couldn't help but worry what his life would be like without his brothers. He didn't like the idea of it, not one bit.

So that night, after tossing and turning in his bed for hours, he decided to do something he never thought he'd do in his life.

He snuck out of the castle to disobey his parents.

He went to the entrance of the forest to speak to the leader of the rebels. The man he saw before him, however, was not at all what he expected.

Patton Sanders has been fighting ever since he could remember himself. He was hardly the first rebel to find shelter in these woods, but with all the elders that had raised him having passed away, he became the new leader. It wasn't an easy job, but it was rewarding, and someone has to do it. He couldn't let all these poor people go without any help, not when he knew from personal experience how hard it was to survive in the kingdom for anyone who couldn't be born or marry into nobility, and who couldn't fit into whatever narrow path was set up for them.

So to see that the king and queen sent their youngest son to negotiate was... puzzling, to say the least. After all, you'd think at least one of them would want to show up to discuss a way to get their sons back.

But when he saw the prince's nervous body language, he suspected he knew what was really going on.

"greetings, Mr Sanders." the young prince gave a small bow.

~at least he cares enough to show up and be formal about it.~ Patton thinks and decides that he can allow himself to be a little nice.

"please, Mr Sanders was my father. You can just call me Patton, your highness."

"oh, alright. Well then I suppose you can address me as Drake, if you wish."

There was a moment of uneasy silence before Drake decided he'll cut to the point.

"so what is it that you want in exchange for my brothers' safe return?"

"simply put? Justice."

Drake raised an eyebrow, not in judgement or mockery but in confusion. "I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

"why is it, you think, that generations of outcasts and misfits have sought shelter in these woods? Have you considered why we'd need to seek shelter from our own kingdom?"

Drake had a few ideas, but by the look on his face they troubled him too much to express.

Patton sighed in sympathy and decided to say it himself, as he had many times before, to save the young prince (who actually was about Patton's age, although the leader looked older due to all that he's had to endure) the embarrassment.

"the kingdom is under attack from within itself. The rich and powerful are attacking the poor and helpless, by not extending to them the aid they need in order to just barely survive, let alone thrive as the nobles do. And your parents have been complacent, content to let the broken system that benefits them go on as it always had. All I want is equality. To be provided with what we need to survive and to be allowed to exist however we choose, be given the same freedom the nobles have that we had to escape from the kingdom into the forest to find. That is all the rebels have ever wanted, and it is all I ask."

Drake listens carefully, studying Patton's face for any deception or insincerity, and finds none. He sighs, tiredly, heavily.

"you know my parents didn't send me, don't you?"

"I figured as much, yes."

"so you understand this is gonna be hell on earth for me, trying to accomplish what you're asking of me, against their wishes, right?"

"indeed, but considering your choice of words, it sounds to me like you've already joined the cause."

"...unfortunately, yes." Drake couldn't help but agree. He knew it was dangerous, and would take expert planning, and would be downright impossible to achieve, but besides the fact that it was the only way to get his brothers back without starting an unnecessary war with the peaceful forest dwellers, it was also the right thing to do. And besides, Patton was very cute- convincing! Drake had meant convincing, he insisted to himself, unconvincingly. Yes the irony of that is not lost on him.

Meanwhile, At the rebels' campsite, the twin princes were surprised to find that aside from the occasional jab or tease, they were being treated rather respectfully. Sure their hands were tied to ensure they couldn't escape but they were treated more like guests rather than prisoners. In fact, they were treated like equals, which has never happened to them before. Their parents treated them like kids and, although they tried to be subtle about it, so did a lot of the older nobles, and everyone else treated them like royalty, which they were. But this was the first time they've ever had a normal conversation with people who saw them as equals.

Roman was a bit huffy at first, insisting he be treated with the respect worthy of a prince, only to be met with laughter and eye rolls. "there aren't any classes here, you're no better than anyone else. Better get used to it, Princey." said a figure standing completely in shadow, though his eyes almost glistened in the darkness, the fire reflecting off them. "let him whine, Vee. It's all he's got now." the woman he now knew as Valerie teased, and the only reason he let her get away with it is because she had bested him in combat earlier that day, when he made a daring escape attempt. Seeing as she proved herself a fierce warrior, she had his begrudging respect. But then he heard the shadowed figure chuckle in response, and the sound evoked many different emotions in him, so he decided to focus on annoyance and anger. "so, you're the Vee in charge of the cowardly contraption that ensnared my brother and I." Roman could see the eyes squint as they looked him up and down, and then a smug smirk spread across the shadow's face. "the very same. Pretty neat trick, isn't it?" "I don't know what you think is so impressive about a machine made by a man too weak and scared to best his enemies face to face." "it's efficient, and it takes a hell of a lot more wit and talent than waving a sword around like a reckless idiot." the shadow bit back, sounding very defensive. Roman would have been prouder to have gotten him riled up if it were for Valerie looking very mad at him for insulting who he now had to assume is a friend of hers. He really didn't wanna anger Valerie. "I wouldn't expect a ruffian like you to understand anything about the fine art of sword fighting." at that, the shadow growled. Well and fully growled, sending a shiver down Roman's spine, filling him with fear and... Well he was going to ignore that other feeling for now and hopefully it would go away. "okay, fuck this. Val, can you untie his hands?" Valerie's eyes went wide. "Vee, you don't have to-" "no, I want to. It's worth it to get this asshole to shut up and show some respect." Roman would have said something if he weren't intrigued by the conversation. "alright, but I don't like this." "no one's gonna get hurt. I promise." as Valerie untied his hands she glared at him. "what? How was I supposed to know he'd react this way? Also what the hell is going on?" "you'll see in a second, just don't see this as a chance to try escaping again or I'll personally knock you unconscious." "noted." as the bindings were fully removed from his hands and Valerie backed away, Vee stepped out of the shadows, allowing Roman to see him for the first time. This was already a very big problem for Roman, as he was not prepared for how hot the rebel was. To make matters worse, Roman wasn't done checking him out sizing him up, when Vee pulled a sword from where it was resting on his hip, and he held it directly at Roman's throat, just inches away from grazing his skin. And that really should not have made the blood rush to the direction it did for Roman, but his body just had the worst timing. Luckily, somehow, he still managed to focus on Vee's next words.

"you wanted to fight face to face? Fine. I, Virgil Fabre, challenge you to a duel."

And that is when Roman realized his big mistake. Well, too late to back out now.

"I accept your challenge."

Remus was ecstatic, though. He immediately started feeling more at ease and free to be himself. He didn't even mind being tied up all that much, and he made sure to get that point across with a bunch of inappropriate humor that made everyone uncomfortable. Well all except for the two men who brought them to the camp, and a third, much cuter nerd, resembling the rebel in glasses but seemingly more stoic, but even he was clearly smiling at one of Remus's crass jokes. Their eyes locked and the serious rebel blushed and turned back to resume his conversation with the men he now knew as Remy and Emile. Fuck. Finding a way to enjoy being kidnapped while waiting to be rescued or until he found a way to escape? That was one thing. But crushing on one of the rebels who was holding him prisoner? Remus would have to be a fool to act on these emotions. He glanced the other way to check on his brother and asked why he was sword fighting with one of the rebels. After being updated on what happened, he sighs heavily. Well you know what? If Roman was allowed to be stupid, and they were truly equals in this forest, then dang it Remus can do whatever Roman can do if he damn well pleases. With this new conviction, he boldly strutted over to the handsome nerd, only for Emile to give him a death glare that immediately makes him turn around.

But he's far from giving up. They all are.

Anyway thats it for this au, for now (;

Let me know what you think and as always -

Stay Tuned!

[oohlovergirl]

You're Roger’s Younger Sister, Secretly Dating Brian [GWILYM!BRIAN x READER]

Pairing: Gwilym!Brian x Reader

Summary: You’re Roger’s little sister, and you’ve been travelling with them on tour while also secretly dating Brian. And then Roger finds out. (Dun dun dunnnn)

Word count: 1577

Contains: overprotective brother Roger, lots of spicy language 

A/N: I don’t know why, but I was in a frenzy while writing this (it was really fun to write, and I was inspired!) Thank you to the anon who sent me this request! And like always, I hope you enjoy! 

“Okay, we all know that you have a sister,” the interviewer begins, looking at Roger, “but the question is, would you let anyone in the band date her?”

“Absolutely not,” Roger says with no hesitation. He’s not even looking at her when he replies, focusing more on taking a drag from his cigarette. Besides him, Brian laughs along with the audience, a light blush on his cheeks, scratching the back of his head. His friend besides him doesn’t notice. 

–––––––

“Hello? I called about twenty minutes ago, asking for some more conditioner and was wondering if you got it? Yes, room 728,” you talk to the hotel concierge through the phone. You hear knocking on the door. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I think they just got here, but thank you!” you say before hanging up and jumping out of bed. Tying your robe a bit tighter around you, you walk over to the door. You swing it open. But instead someone with the conditioner, you’re met with your brother on the other side of the threshold.

“Roger? What are you doing here?” you ask. 

“Have you called Mom? She called me at four in the bloody morning asking about your university documents, and I don’t know why she’s asking me about that shit, so I came to tell you to call her, so she doesn’t wake me up again,” he says, clearly still annoyed. 

“Oh shit,” you say, putting your hand on your forehead. “I completely forgot––okay––yeah I’ll call her after I take a shower.” 

But Roger doesn’t hear that, too busy squinting at you. 

“What is that?” he asks, pointing at your neck. 

“What is what?” you look down and see the giant purple bruise––the one left from Brian last night. Your heart stops a bit, but you quickly compose yourself.

Rolling your eyes, you say, “It’s literally just a hickey Roger, get over it.” But he’s not even looking at it anymore. Instead, his eyes are focused in the room behind you. 

“Are those…are those Brian’s shoes?” he asks, pointing at the white clogs on the floor next to the bed. You stay silent, completely caught off guard and not able to come up with a believable excuse. He pushes his way into your room. 

“Roger! Get out of my room!” 

“Those are Brian’s shoes!” He whips his head towards you, a dark red flush beginning to crawl its way up his cheeks.

“How long?” he asks, dangerously quiet. You let an exhale while picking at a loose string on your robe. 

“Four months,” you mumble, wincing. A pause as he lets that sink in. 

“Are you fuckin’ kidding me?” he explodes, his anger quickly building up. “You’ve been dating for four fuckin’ months and you didn't think to tell me? I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him,” he says, more to himself. And with history’s worst possible timing, Brian strolls out of your bathroom at that very second, only covered by a towel hanging loosely around his hips.

“Hey Y/N––” he begins, and Roger whirls on him, a fire in his eyes. 

“You fuckin’ asshole piece of shit––” he growls, stepping towards him. Brian looks at you and back at Roger. Somehow the dots connect in his mind, and he raises his arms, palms up in a placating gesture.

“Rog––we can explain––”

“Oh it’s ‘we’ now, huh? What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my little sister you fuckin’ wanker?” He’s so angry, his accent is all the more prominent, making him almost incoherent. Brian recognizes this too as it’s the exact same expression and tone of voice he’s experienced right before he’s seen Roger throw a TV through the window or punch a hole in the wall. Brian, recognizing that, this time, the wall is now his face, he begins to back up.  

“I bring her on tour for the first time, and you just jump at the opportunity––just––just using her for sex!” You gasp, and Brian stiffens. 

“Watch it Rog,” Brian growls. 

“You’re telling me to watch it?” Your brother steps towards him, his fists clenched by his sides. He’s about to hit him, you know it. 

“Roger stop it!” you scream, coming in between them. He looks down at you, and alongside the fury, you see hurt in his eyes. 

“It’s not your fucking choice to make who I get to date or not. And if you hurt him, I will never ever talk to you again. Now stop being a fucking dick!” you yell. He stops before letting out a deep exhale. It’s silent in the room. 

“Roger––” Brian begins. 

“I need a fucking cigarette,” he mumbles and goes to leave. Brian puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him, but he swats it off before stomping out the door. When he slams the door close, Brian goes to sit on the armchair in the corner of the room, putting his head in his hands. You walk over and put a hand on his cheek. He looks up at you, worry and distress marring his face. 

“It’ll be okay,” you say softly. “He didn’t mean those things––he’s just shocked is all. He’ll come around.” He turns to press a kiss to your palm. 

“I love you,” he whispers. “And you know I would never ‘use’ you or whatever Roger was saying.”

“I know, I love you too,” you say. 

–––––––

Roger walks to the public smoking balcony on the floor, throws himself into one of the seats, and rips out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his jacket pocket. But his hands are shaking so bad that he can’t even flick on the lighter. 

“Fuck,” he snarls before throwing the lighter onto the small table next to him. He’s mad. Not mad––furious. Seeing-red furious. But he isn’t mad because you and Brian are dating (that’s part of it) but more that you kept it a secret from him. Lied to him. He’s mad and angry and––betrayed. And hurt that you––both of you––felt as if you couldn’t tell him something as important as this. And he knows deep in his heart, Brian would never ever hurt you. Knows that he would be a great boyfriend and person towards you. Knows this about his best friend. 

The fresh air and this inner discovery calms him down. Calms him down enough to pick up the lighter again and successfully light his cigarette. 

––––––––

“Roger?” you say, rapping a knuckle on the sliding glass door. He doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t tell you to go away either. You step onto the balcony. 

“I’m really sorry for not telling you,” you start. “But––I also want you to know that this is my life, and some things I don’t have to tell you and––and I want you to respect that,” you say. He opens his mouth, but you’re not done yet. “And I know you’re my big brother and you’re protective and everything, but you have to let me live my life. But I am sorry for hiding and lying to you and everything.” He sighs. 

“It’s okay. And I know, it’s just that I don’t want you to get hurt. I know this lifestyle––and––it’s hard to keep relationships up like this…and you guys are two of the closest people in my life, and I want you to know that you can always come to me to tell me things––like––I don’t want you to be afraid of telling me things,” he says, twisting the ring around his finger. “And––and I’m sorry for saying all those things in there…I didn’t mean it.” 

“I accept your apology,” you say jokingly as it’s a line your parents would always make you say to each other when you got into fights as children. He rolls his eyes but smiles as well. He pushes himself up and flicks his cigarette to the floor before stomping on it. 

“I guess I should go apologize to Bri as well,” he says.

“Wait!” you say. He looks at you, about to step back into the hotel’s hallway. “Hug?” you ask with your arms stretched out in front of you. He rolls his eyes, not in an annoyed way. Walking back, he wraps his arms around you in a warm embrace.You two stay there for a little. But then you scrunch up your nose. 

“When was the last time you took a shower?” you ask. 

“Three days ago,” he says, and you can hear the smugness in his tone. And he tightens his arms around you, not letting you escape. 

“EW ROGER, LET GO OF ME!” 

––––––––

Brian is still where you left him: sitting in the armchair in your room, and his head whips up when he sees Roger and you walk back in. He immediately clambers out of the seat, almost tripping. 

“Rog––I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you––” 

“It’s okay––just next time––next time don’t lie to me,” he says before bringing him into a hug. Brian smiles, relief washes over him. 

“But if you hurt her, I will actually cut off your balls in your sleep right after I shave all of your hair off,” Roger says as they hug. Brian laughs nervously, not quite being able to fully make out the tone of the statement. 

“Roger!” you scold.

“What? I’m joking!” he says, laughing, slapping Brian’s back. 

I also wrote another “Band member Sister imagine” for Roger if you want to check that out: You’re Brian’s Younger Sister, and Roger Tries Flirting with You

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