#oh also apparently i’m supposed to eat breakfast too

[allylikethecat]

Maybe that end of the NA SATVB sickfic will be coming sooner than I planned- I feel like I am currently doing a lot of first hand research 💀🤧

[moonlight0934]

Necrosis

Chuuya gets out of his car, then walks over to the building that matches the address that Mori gave him. Dazai is standing outside, his hands tucked in his pockets.

“Hi, Chuuya.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Nothing much, nothing much. I got out of interrogation for this mission.”

“Yeah, I was off duty when Mori called. I was having tea with Kouyou. So, what’s this about? Mori said that we have to do some kind of pickup, but I can’t think of a single delivery that would be important enough to warrant us going. Especially since it’s my day off.”

“I’m not sure exactly who we’re picking it up from, but we’re supposed to get the monthly reports for the organization. That includes routes, expenses, employees, and everything else that you can think of. Whoever normally collects them, and drops them off to Mori isn’t available.”

“Oh, that is important. Well, I guess we should get going then. Do you have the addresses?”

“Yes, and I have a list of names, and who has which list. Can you drive?”

“Yep, that was the plan. I even brought my car.”

“Awesome.”

Dazai walks over, and climbs into the passenger seat. Chuuya gets in too, and Dazai starts up his GPS.

“Ok, turn left out of the parking lot.”

“Shut up, that would literally drive us directly into traffic. I am not doing that, so give the directions right.”

Dazai sticks his bottom lip out.

“Fine, but I still kinda wanna die right now.”

“Me too, but I’m still not driving the wrong way.”

They stay quiet for the most part through the first and second stops.

Then Dazai says, “Ok, we have two more stops, but I’m not sure about this last address. It’s not in an actual neighborhood, and it looks pretty far out of town, so we might want to ask Mori about that one before we actually go there.”

“Ok, you can call him while I run in to get the third set of papers.”

“I will.”

That one is just as slow as the other ones, and Dazai is getting off the phone when Chuuya comes back out. Chuuya waits to open his door till Dazai hangs up.

“What’d he say?”

“He said that the information is right, but that the guy himself is eccentric. Apparently he’s really good at his job, but we should try not to piss him off. He didn’t say what would happen if we did happen to piss the guys off, but we’re going to try not to figure that out.”

Chuuya nods, starting the car again. They drive out to the man’s house, which takes them almost two hours to get to. It’s getting late by then, almost time for people to start getting off of work.

“Geez, we’ve been working on this stupid task for almost seven hours. How did it take this long?”

“I guess it’s cause we’re new. Those people don’t know us, and didn’t recognize us, so they had to take a lot of extra precautions to make sure that they were giving the information to the right people. No one wants to be responsible for the fiasco that would cause.”

“I guess you’re right, but this is still ridiculous. Only because we’re going to be stuck here in the middle of nowhere for however long this guy takes to verify our identities, then we’re going to have to drive two and a half hours to get back to base. I live thirty minutes away from base.”

“Yeah, it is kind of ridiculous. I also haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“I haven’t eaten since dinner last night.”

“Oof, that sucks. Why didn’t you eat breakfast?”

“I don’t know. I don’t normally section off time for breakfast on my days off, and I hadn’t gotten around to it. Normally if I don’t eat breakfast, I just eat lunch early.”

Dazai hums as they both get out of the car. Chuuya tucks the other papers into his backpack, and pulls out his wallet.

“Ok, I have my ID and driver’s license in case he wants to see it. Do you have yours?”

“I don’t have a driver’s license, but I have my ID.”

“Ok, that’s fine.”

Chuuya knocks on the door, and the door cracks open. An old man with bulging eyes pokes his head out. He looks them up and down, then steps out of the building. His stance is defensive so Chuuya attempts a placating smile.

“Mo-” Dazai doesn’t get any further than that before the man lunges forward, sinking a knife into Chuuya’s upper leg.

Chuuya punches the man back, smashing him through the door. His vision blurs, and his legs go out from underneath him. Dazai says something, but Chuuya can’t hear him well enough to tell what it is.

When Chuuya wakes up again, he’s tied up, restrained to the ceiling. Dazai is across from him, and he has some bruises, but looks otherwise unharmed. Chuuya can immediately tell that his ability isn’t working, but he has no idea why. Dazai picks up his head after a minute. His eyes look a little hazy, and he definitely has a concussion, but he immediately starts looking around. He gets more alert quickly, and locks eyes with Chuuya.

“Hey, are you ok?” Dazai asks, sounding breathless.

“Yeah, did he drug you?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, nothing more than a few bruises. You, on the other hand, look awful,” Dazai replies, looking Chuuya over with a critical eye.

“Thanks, I feel awful too. Do you know what happened?”

“I have to assume that this man is even more paranoid than Mori made him out to be, and Mori didn’t tell him we were coming. I tried telling him who we were when he came down here earlier, but he called me a liar, and drugged me.”

“Oh, that sucks.”

Chuuya feels his head start to tip forward again. It knocks against his chest, and suddenly pulling his eyes open again after blinking feels like the hardest thing in the world.

“Chuuya?”

He can’t get his eyes to open again.

Dazai finally manages to get his hands free, and drops to the ground. They’ve been in this room for an undisclosed amount of time. Normally his internal clock is good enough that he can figure it out, but he’s been drugged for most of the time. Chuuya has been disturbingly still for a while.

As soon as he can get the feeling back into his legs and wrists, Dazai shakily walks to Chuuya. He unties Chuuya with uncooperative fingers, barely able to catch him before he hits the ground. Dazai lowers Chuuya down, not liking how hot he feels. He puts one hand against Chuuya’s throat, and the other against his forehead.

“Ok, so your pulse is really fast, and you’re definitely running a fever. Maybe you got an infection, so we’re going to check that stab wound he gave you,” Dazai narrates for himself as he pulls Chuuya’s hoodie off all together.

He gently pulls Chuuya’s shirt up and the waistband of his jeans down, his breath catching in his throat.

“Shit.”

Chuuya cracks his eyes open, his focus drifting to Dazai. Dazai barely even notices, his eyes focused on the wound. The area directly surrounding it is blue and black while the redness extends even farther than that. His hip and side are red with blister-like spots dotting the area. Dazai looks around, getting light headed.

When was the last time I drank water?

As if on cue, he spots a few water bottles at the bottom of the stairs on the other side of the room.

He must have just been throwing them down here, but how did he expect us to get them? I think this guy might be crazy. When I said I wanted to die, this was not what I meant.

Dazai stands, getting dizzy again. He manages to get the water, and come back though. Chuuya’s staring at the ceiling by then, unconcerned with what Dazai is doing.

“Hey, Chuuya, how are you feeling?”

“Hot.”

“How’s your stab wound?” Dazai asks as he starts trying to rinse it out.

I have no idea if this is going to help at this point. What do I even do? Why is his skin black? I didn’t pay enough attention to Mori if he even told me about this kind of injury. Is it some kind of infection?

“Stab wound? Oh, that, I can’t really feel it. Isn’t that weird?” Chuuya asks, sounding slightly concerned now.

Dazai bites his lip.

“Yeah, no shit.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing, I didn’t say anything. So you can’t feel anything going on with your leg?”

“No, why? Are you doing something?”

Dazai doesn’t respond, choosing to focus on what he’s doing.

“Shit, what do I do?” Dazai whispers, more to himself than anyone else.

Chuuya closes his eyes again, and Dazai shoots to his feet. He tips over this time, barely able to get his hands out in enough time to stop himself from slamming face first into the ground. Dazai scrambles to get back up. He opens another one of the bottles, and drinks some. Then he heads up the stairs, and tries to get the door open. He ends up trying to get the door open for at least half an hour before it clicks.

Did I do that?

The door swings right into Dazai’s face, sending him back down the stairs the hard way.

I did not do that.

The man from before steps down the stairs, glaring at Dazai. He walks over to Chuuya, and tips Chuuya’s face towards him. He frowns, and then starts to head back up the stairs. Dazai can’t even say anything, because his mouth is full of blood. He watches with dread as the door shuts and locks again. His vision is starting to fade out again, and he glances at Chuuya one last time, wondering if they’re going to make it out of this.

Man, after the reputation we’ve built up, this is a stupid way to die. Someone that wasn’t even supposed to be our enemy taking us by surprise. Dying in someone’s basement for any reason is a stupid way to die.

[glitterandmoondustofficial]

Side To Side

Chapter 240: An Ending of Sorts

Characters: Ruby Rating: Teen Warnings: Alcohol, language Notes: Well, here's the end of the Musnia adventure. I was originally going to make this two chapters, but it flowed better as one. What could be next? Could it even be Law? The One Piece character y'all are reading this for? 👀

~~~~~~

Ruby’s own loud snore woke her up.

She blinked and blinked, as if trying to determine if she was in the same plane of existence as her body. She sat up and yawned, still very tired. She collapsed back onto the bed and stared at the alarm clock. 9:00 AM. She sighed. Still time for breakfast.

She got out of bed and started to pull out clothes from her suitcases. The radio was a great background noise to help her concentrate on getting ready for the day. Ruby finished getting ready by applying eyeliner. She stared at herself in the mirror of the bathroom. She still looked fine. She didn’t look overly depressed, especially when she went through the effort of looking nice. Oh, and grooming herself. That definitely helped.

After she locked everything up she walked downstairs to eat breakfast. She sat at the bar and rested her chin in her hands.

“Elissa,” the bartender greeted her. “What are you having this morning? We’ve got pancakes with honey and cinnamon apples as the special today.”

“Oooh, that sounds great. I’ll have that with sausage and hash browns.”

He placed a glass of orange juice in front of her. “Coming right up.” 

Ruby smiled and sipped her orange juice. She watched as people started to file in for breakfast. The innkeeper greeted everyone. He caught her eye and started to make his way towards her. 

“Miss Elissa, how are you this morning?”

“I’m good, thank you.”

“Wonderful. You look much better than when you came in last night. A good night's rest will do wonders.”

Ruby grinned. She also probably looked better because she didn’t have blood, sweat, and grime on her. “You’re right. After I showered I immediately went to bed. I feel a lot better today.”

“Good, good. Oh, and did you hear? There’s going to be a video of the press conference today!”

“Press conference? No, I didn’t.”

“They announced it earlier on the radio. We’re going to show it here, so there will be a crowd. Make sure you stay in your seat so you don’t lose it!” He patted her arm and walked off to greet more patrons. 

The press conference is probably the official statement for what happened yesterday. She wondered what would end up happening, but she supposed a press conference to address the island would make the most sense, especially if there was visual d en den mushis on the island. 

She sighed. She hoped that Hanzi and Tas were doing better. She knew that Hanzi was probably insisting he was fine and that he could be out of bed. Tas was probably working and getting ready for the conference while he hobbled around in his crutches. She smiled tiredly. Idiots.

Ruby was brought back to reality when her breakfast was placed in front of her. A wide grin formed on her lips as she thanked the bartender and started to dig in. The food was divine, everything tasted amazing. Everything in the inn’s tavern had been so tasteful and delicious, she would miss it when she left.

Ruby blinked, suddenly aware of what she was thinking. “Miss?” She would miss this place? Had she already become attached to this inn and its people? She stared at the bartender, laughing with another patron. She looked over at the innkeeper, with his perfectly curled pink mustache, as he cheerily greeted the growing number of people. She sighed. She was far too soft and emotional for this type of thing, as she was coming to realize.

The crowd grew as the apparent conference time approached. The innkeeper set up the screen and den den mushi on the stage and turned it on, showing that the broadcast had already started. Ruby could see multiple reporters and a large crowd. There were also many officers stationed around the area.

Ruby sighed and finished her meal, pushing the plate away from her. The bartender took her plate and filled her orange juice glass. The crowd started to get loud due to the amount of people and chatter that was going on in the tavern. Ruby felt anxious over the amount of people in the room – claustrophobic. She stared at the screen and waited for something to happen as she sipped her orange juice.

Suddenly, someone walked to the podium. Everyone quieted down as the person began to speak. 

“As many of you are aware, there was an incident in the Old Forest last night. Members of the force were involved in the incident. Here to give the official statement is someone who was there, Captain Tas Simms.”

Ruby raised her brows as she watched Tas hobble up to the podium in his crutches. Ruby scanned the crowd and officers again, hoping that she would see Hanzi, but couldn’t find him. She sighed. That was probably for the best. These people weren’t monsters or famous marines or pirates. Getting shot was a big deal to them. 

Tas cleared his throat and Ruby turned her attention back to him. 

“Good morning,” he said nervously. Ruby smiled. “As our island is well aware, there have been continuous attacks from the Nine Lives over the past couple of decades. Last night that was brought to an end.” Multiple people gasped both in the crowd on screen and in the tavern. “A small group of officers, after a long and thorough investigation, raided the hideout of the Nine Lives yesterday and took the leaders into custody, saving many lives.” He cleared his throat. “Deputy Hanzi was injured in the fight last night and is currently at Tranquility Medical recovering.” Tas sighed, “Chief Lucian…Lucian…bravely…” Tas looked at the paper in his hands then to the side where someone nodded at him. Ruby sipped her orange juice. Here comes the cover up by the authorities. Poor Tas looked so uncomfortable with the conclusion. “Chief Lucian was…” he scoffed and crumpled up the papers. “Chief Lucian was the mastermind behind the attacks.”

Ruby felt like the entire island gasped at once. There was a loud burst of questions and chatter. The innkeeper tried to calm down the crowd, saying that they needed to quiet down so everyone could hear Tas. Ruby turned to the bartender. “Think you could make this a mimosa?” She grinned at him. He chuckled and walked to the sparkling wine to pour into her glass. As he was pouring the alcohol, Tas spoke up again.

“Lucian had been using his position of power and knowledge to lead the bandits to take the food, money, and supplies away from our people. As long as he got a cut from as many of those items as possible, he led the bandits behind the scenes, while the bandits themselves had free roam over our island. Last night, he foolishly thought he could kill me and Hanzi to bury the evidence we had gathered to take down the Nine Lives. He was arrested last night and is currently being held at the station, where he will remain until his trial to determine the full extent of his punishment.” Tas sighed. He looked into the camera with a sad expression.

“Captain,” someone shouted. “How would you arrest him if you and Deputy Hanzi were injured?!” 

Ruby drank her mimosa calmly.

“A pirate by the name of Ruby was the whole reason this operation happened.”

Her drink shot up her nose and Ruby coughed. She cleared her throat, tears were in her eyes as she tried not to choke. He just called her out like that? He didn’t cover it up? Based on the man shaking his head in the corner of the stage, it looked like Tas was supposed to.

“Ruby arrived to us a few days ago under the guise of Elissa.” Oh god, he spilled the beans. “She agreed to help us track down the bandits in an act of kindness.” She felt the bartender’s gaze on her and she saw the innkeeper turn to look at her. “Over the past few days she helped us track down the Nine Lives hideout and was with us during the raid. She was the one who took down the leader of the Nine Lives and Lucian. If it wasn’t for her, many people, including myself and Hanzi, would be dead.”

Ruby let out an anxious breath. She gulped down her mimosa and breathed out. She turned to the bartender who was just staring at her. She heard chatter around her. 

“Ruby? I think I’ve heard that name somewhere.”

“A pirate? Really? They let a pirate help out? She’s going to take all that money when they’re not looking!”

“I wonder if she’s hot!” Followed by a loud smack.

Ruby groaned with her head in her hand. 

The bartender chuckled. “Want more orange juice?”

Ruby looked at him relieved. “Please.”

At that point, Ruby couldn’t focus on the screen. It was all questions and answers that she already knew. Eventually, Tas walked away from the podium and the broadcast ended. The crowd in the tavern dispersed and it was quiet again. Ruby’s head was on the bar in stress. He really just fucked everything right up. The idea of getting off the island was definitely in the back of her mind. Stupid do gooders and their optimism. 

“Miss Elissa, er, Miss Sela,” the innkeeper called to her from beside her. 

Ruby lifted her head up. “If you need me to vacate-”

“Vacate? Nonsense! What kind of innkeeper would I be if I kicked out such a wonderful guest before their checkout time?” He patted her hand. “I just wanted to thank you and that I’ll keep your secret as long as you stay here.”

“Me too,” the bartender agreed.

Ruby smiled. “Thanks,” she sighed. “Oh! Where is that hospital? I want to visit Hanzi.”

The innkeeper gave her a map and pointed at where to go. She went to pay for her meal only for both the innkeeper and the bartender to refuse her money. Ruby sighed with a smile, thanking them before leaving the inn.

As Ruby walked throughout the town she noticed that things were very different. People were celebrating, there were sales, food was given out by the authorities, people were calling for a festival in the park tonight! Ruby giggled. The tension and heavy aura surrounding the island seemed to have disappeared completely.

Ruby adjusted her purse as she approached the average sized hospital. She walked into it, determined to find Hanzi. She walked to the information desk and waited in line. She barely paid attention to the conversations happening around her until she heard someone try to get info on a patient. They were denied because the family didn’t want visitors. 

Ah, shit. Ruby thought to herself. What if they don’t let me see him because I’m a stranger?

“Miss?” The front desk clerk called. “Can I help you?”

“Oh, um, I-I’m trying to see Deputy Hanzi.”

“I’m sorry, Miss, but-”

“She’s with me.” Someone said from behind her. Ruby turned and sighed in relief when she saw Tas. “Hopefully that’s okay?” He smiled handsomely at the front desk clerk.

“Oh, Captain Tas! Yes, of course that’s okay!”

Ruby and Tas walked away from the desk. Ruby sighed. “I didn’t even think that they wouldn’t let me see him. I guess it makes sense. I’m glad that you were here so I can.”

“Well, I figured this would be one of your first stops, so...” he shrugged. 

“You…waited for me?” She looked at him confused.

He blushed. “Don’t make it sound like that. All I meant is that I knew that they wouldn’t let you see him.”

“Ah. Right.”

They found themselves in front of Hanzi’s room. Tas opened the door.

“Hey! You should knock!” Ruby complained, her captain’s rules in her head.

“Oh, darling,” she heard Hanzi say. “It’s no big deal. I’m not doing anything unsavory.”

“That was not what I meant,” Ruby objected. “All I meant is that you deserve privacy.” She huffed. She looked at Hanzi, who looked like he was ready to be out of here. She knew all about that. 

“How are you feeling, Han?” Tas asked.

“Before your press conference I was feeling shitty, but after your conference,” he chortled. “That was great! You completely ignored what you were told to say and told everyone the truth! You even gave a shout out to Miss Sela over here!”

Tas sighed. “I only did what I thought was right. There’s no reason why Lucian should be given some “honorable death” when he’s the entire reason this island is suffering. Covering up shit like this? It doesn’t sit right with me.” Ruby and Hanzi looked at each other and grinned at each other. “What? Why do you two look like that?”

“Don’t worry about it, Tas,” Hanzi laughed. “Now, I hope you both know, I’m getting out of here today.”

“You are?” Ruby asked. “After being shot? They’re going to let you walk around?” Not that she had any room to talk. 

“They don’t have a choice! There’s that party tonight in the park! I’m going!” Ruby grimaced. “Don’t make such a face, darling, I’ve been shot before.”

“Well, me too, but usually I want to do nothing and lay around all day.”

“You’ve both been shot?” Tas exclaimed.

“Yeah.” They both responded. Tas groaned. 

“So, Ruby,” Hanzi grinned. “Are you coming tonight? To the party.”

“Oh, I…” she frowned. “I don’t know…my ship leaves in the morning and-”

“Darling, you’re the whole reason there is a party. You could at least show up for an hour or two, right?” He looked at Tas and gave him a look.

“I agree. You should be part of the celebration. It feels wrong accepting medals for something we all did and you don’t even get a drink.”

“Ohhh, you two are getting medals? Fancy.” She laughed. “I’ll consider it. No guarantees, though.”

“Good enough!” Hanzi laughed.

They dissolved into small talk and Ruby, without realizing it at first, gave medical tips for his wound. When she realized it, she laughed at herself. What had the Heart Pirates turned her into? Eventually, the doctor came in wanting to do a checkup and asked that her and Tas leave. 

They stood outside of the room and Ruby sighed. “I’m going to head out,” she told Tas.

“Already?” He frowned.

“Yeah. I need to get ready for tomorrow morning.” And eat. She thought to herself. 

Tas nodded. “Ruby, I hope you show up tonight. It won’t feel right celebrating without you.”

Ruby smiled. “I’ll try.”

Ruby left the hospital and made a beeline to downtown, where she could find a meal. She found a pizza restaurant by the smell. She got a personal sized pepperoni and black olive pizza with a drink and garlic knots. She almost bought a larger pizza, thinking that it would be good leftovers for dinner, but decided not to based on the idea she might actually show up to the celebration tonight.

She supposed it wouldn’t hurt. She did want to give an official goodbye to Tas and Hanzi. And the idea of festival food did sound appealing. Plus, almost no one knew who she actually was, so she’d probably be left alone as well.

Okay, she’d go to the party. What was the harm anyway?

After Ruby ate and paid for her lunch she went back to the inn. She greeted the innkeeper and walked to her room. She gathered everything up that wasn’t already in her suitcases and put them in, making sure not to leave anything behind. 

Especially her money.

She was starting to get worried she would run out based on the food she had consumed and how expensive it had been to eat here. It was good food! But it was definitely expensive on this island because of the whole bandit thing. She hoped that now they were gone it would be more affordable for the people of the island. 

She stretched and sat on the bed. She rolled her neck and yawned. All those carbs and the cheese from lunch made her tired. She knew that laying down after eating can cause heartburn, but she did take a walk after, maybe she’ll be fine.

She took a quick nap, making sure not to sleep too much when she had to wake up earlier than usual the next day. As she was waking up there was a knock on the door. She stared at the door for a moment before walking over and opening it. It was the innkeeper.

“Ah, Miss Elissa!” He said. “I just wanted to let you know that my staff and I will be at the party tonight! You’re welcome to stay in your room, of course, but if you were planning on dinner, we will not be here.”

Ruby smiled. “Of course, I was thinking about going to the party myself, anyway.”

“Wonderful!” He grinned. He looked from side to side. “You deserve it after all,” he whispered before giggling and walking away.

Ruby lightly sighed before closing her door. She walked to the window and opened the shutters. She never realized it, but this inn had a great view of the town. Had she not been so busy she would have enjoyed it more. She stared at all the people preparing for the party. There were food and game stalls, a stage for what looked like live entertainment, and she definitely saw fireworks. 

Ruby grinned. Perhaps she’ll enjoy herself on her lonely journey. 

She closed the shutters and walked into the bathroom. She undressed and got into the shower. She quickly washed her body and hair before getting out and drying her body. She was drying her hair as she walked naked into the bedroom again. She sighed as she looked at all of her luggage. Her whole life really was just in her bags.

She paused and shook her head.

No. Not her whole life. This wasn’t like before. She had a family waiting for her on the Polar Tang. She had a life to come home to. 

She stretched and wiggled her toes. She leaned over the dresser and looked into the mirror. She was getting dark circles under her eyes, no doubt a sign of her stress and anxiety. Her sleep hadn’t been the best lately, either, but she supposed it could be worse.

She ran her hand over her face before standing up straight. She tiredly stared her buff body, suddenly missing the softness she had started to gain after Law had told her she wasn’t allowed to fight unless necessary. When Law saw her starting to work out again he would make some…exaggerated attempts to make her smile again when he felt like she was being too hard on herself. 

He’d palm her hard stomach and caress her shapely thighs. He would kiss her wrists and nip at her jaw. He was always good with words when he tried.

She sighed.

She missed her love.

She groaned at herself and slapped her cheeks. Grow up! She had made her decision and she was going to see it through like an adult. She huffed and grabbed the sheer floral corset-like top and shorts she had left out for herself. She put it on and then slipped on some heels. She braided her hair and put on simple makeup.

She stared at her put together self in the mirror and sighed. She was pretty. She looked great. She knew she did. She cleared her throat and straightened her back. She put on her bedazzled sunglasses and grabbed her purse. She walked out of the room and locked the door on the way out.

She made her way downtown. She could already smell the food and hear the cheer from the crowd. She walked to the park and felt herself start to smile. It looked like a whole different island now. There was happiness and a liveliness. There were balloons and masks and those dumb carnival games that you had no way of winning. Food stalls, face paintings, live music! Everything was so exciting! Her Heart Pirates would have loved this.

She spent most of the afternoon eating festival food. The fried cheesecake was her favorite. She was also roped into playing one of those strength games by taunting men trying to take her money. She, of course, got the highest score and then gave her giant stuffed bear to the little girl in pigtails who was completely in awe of Ruby. The men were left dumbfounded and Ruby left with a toss of her hair. 

She sat on a bench eating elote without a care and watched the live band from a quiet distance. The sun was setting into beautiful colors of purple and pink. Ruby sipped her beer and sighed. This was nice. This could be a nice life. She wondered if Law ever thought about settling down when they were on islands like these. 

Probably not. He was too obsessed with his revenge. Ruby was too much of a fool to realize it at first. Or actually, it was more apt to say she was too willingly blind to it. She tried to pretend that she was enough for him, but that just simply wasn’t true. Ruby never wanted him to forget Corazón, not truly, but the selfish part of her wanted to be more important. She was the one in front of him now! Shouldn’t that matter? Shouldn’t the fact that she loved him so dearly now matter at all?!

“-by? Ruby. Are you even paying attention?”

Ruby blinked away her tears and stared up at Tas. She swallowed before taking a sip of her beer, washing down the bitterness in her throat. “What’s up?” She cleared her throat before eating more of her delicious corn. 

“Han and I have been looking for you. I guess we never really set up a meeting place.” He looked her up and down. “Why do you look sad? Well, more than usual.”

““More than usual?”” She questioned. She huffed, annoyed at herself. “I was just thinking about my captain is all.”

“Thinking about the Surgeon of Death makes you sad? Well, I guess that makes sense. He is kind of creepy. Uh, no offense.”

Ruby snorted. “None taken. He’s a weirdo,” she said quietly with a small smile. She leaned back on the bench.

Tas sat next to her. “Did he force you to come on this mission of yours?”

Ruby stared up at the darkening sky. She shook her head. “No. This was my idea and my choice. He…was actually against me doing this for him.” She sighed at herself, not sure why she was being so transparent. 

“So why’d you do this?” Ruby didn’t respond. A long silent pause grew between them. Ruby couldn’t admit that she loved Law like she loved the air in her lungs. That she’s going on this lonely and dangerous mission because she hoped it would bring her love peace. “Well, for whatever reason you did leave your crew,” Tas spoke up again. “I’m glad you were brought to us. If it wasn’t for you, Lucian would still be screwing this island over.” He placed a hand on her shoulder and Ruby looked at his face. He smiled at her and she felt herself smile back. 

“Thanks,” she said. She took her final bite of elote. She chewed. “This island seems pretty nice now that it’s not being fucked over.” She sipped her beer and cleared her throat. 

“Well, darling,” she heard Hanzi come up to them. “We’re flattered to hear that.”

Ruby eyed Hanzi nervously. “Are you sure you’re fine to be out of the hospital?”

“And miss this fun?!” Ruby smiled at him. 

“You know, Ruby,” Tas spoke up timidly. “There’s a lot this island offers.”

Hanzi’s lips twitched and Ruby looked at Tas. “I’m sure it’ll be nice for things to go back to a normal pace instead of the crap from before.”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“We want you to stay, darling,” Hanzi chuckled. 

Ruby blinked and stared at them in shock. “Stay? Why?”

“Because we like you!” Hanzi laughed boisterously. “There’s plenty of apartments and houses available to live in and you could even get a job with us!” 

Ruby stopped herself from laughing at him and his idea of her becoming a cop. She sighed and finished her beer. “That’s sweet of you guys, but…” she trailed off. 

“This isn’t your home,” Tas said quietly.

Ruby looked at him and nodded. “Yeah. My home is the sea. It’s my nakama.” She tossed her beer bottle in the nearby trash can. “I still have to finish my mission and see my captain’s goals through.”

“Why not do something for you instead of him?”

Ruby blinked. She stared at the two of them in shock for a moment before frowning. “I…” she swallowed and then cleared her throat. “This is for me.” It was a half-lie. One that she had been telling herself. 

The two men were silent and looked between each other. Hanzi sighed dramatically. “Well, I can’t argue with a woman who’s made up her mind,” he grinned. “Why don’t we all get drinks and food and party for the rest of the night?”

“Oh, I-” Ruby started to protest for her wallet’s sake.

“It’s on me.”

“Let’s go!”

Hanzi chortled and they both grabbed the sullen looking Tas, dragging him along. Ruby ate everything she was offered. The fried cookie dough, the turkey leg, the nachos, and especially the fried potatoes with cheese and spicy peppers. She didn’t drink terribly much, never letting herself forget how she used to be, but she laughed as Hanzi and eventually Tas started to drink and drink. They even played the stupid carnival games, drunkenly failing at them and losing Hanzi’s money. 

Ruby noticed pretty girls staring at Tas nervously. She grinned evilly and dragged him over to them. He objected, of course, but he did end up nervously talking to them and even gaining one of the girl’s contact information. Naturally, Ruby and Hanzi cheered for him the whole time like they were some frat boys watching their buddy ask for a date.

They stopped when there was a fireworks show, Hanzi mentioning that they were usually reserved for the harvest festival. Ruby smiled as she chewed on her caramel apple. She watched the pretty colors in the sky in wonder, happy to just enjoy a moment of fun instead of letting loneliness swallow her whole. 

That was until Tas fell backwards, completely passed out from his alcohol intake.

Ruby and Hanzi stared at each other before laughing at Tas. 

“Darling, you’re hardly making me look like a gentleman,” Hanzi said as he led Ruby to Tas’s apartment.

“You’re injured. You shouldn’t have even been drinking, to be honest.” Ruby said as she carried Tas on her back. “Besides, he’s a skinny guy, barely weighs anything.” 

“Carrying a grown man while in stiletto heels is definitely something to be proud of. Is that why your captain asked you to join?”

“Eh, well, kind of. He knew I could take care of myself and saw an opportunity,” she said, not wanting to reveal Law’s middle name. “I’m really not supposed to be fighting much anymore, to be honest.”

“Right, there was some sort of accident? There were some rumors about that.”

“Yeah, I got hurt and Captain forbade me from fighting unless necessary.”

“Sounds pretty serious.”

“It was.” Ruby sighed.

“And the reason you’re fighting for him, despite his orders, is because you love him, right?”

Ruby’s eyes widened. She cleared her throat. “W-what makes you say that?”

“Oh, darling, I’ve been around a long time,” he chuckled. “You’re on a mission that you eagerly volunteered to do for him, that he objected to you doing. You’ve separated yourself from your crew, made yourself go on a lonely journey with no help or backup, all for the sake of your captain. Sounds like love to me.”

Ruby groaned. “We all love our captain, that’s part of who we are as Heart Pirates,” she mumbled.

Hanzi hummed with a grin. “Of course, darling.” Hanzi walked up to the building and opened the door for her. 

Ruby followed Hanzi to Tas’s apartment. When they took Tas’s key from his pocket and opened the door, they walked in and stood in the middle of the studio apartment. Ruby frowned.

“What’s with the pitiful look?” Hanzi asked with a smile.

“There’s just not much. Are you guys even paid well?”

Hanzi shrugged. “We’re paid enough, I guess. Tas just doesn’t have much outside of work.” Ruby’s frown deepened. “He does have family who he visits, but most of his social life is at the office.”

Ruby walked to the bed and laid him on it. Hanzi handed her her purse back. Ruby sighed. “Well, he did get that girl’s contact info. Maybe that will start something up. Now that the bandits are gone, he should be less stressed. Maybe. Hopefully.”

Hanzi chuckled. “One can only hope.” He gestured to her and she started to leave. “Do you want me to walk you home?” He asked with a smile.

Ruby chuckled. “No, I’m good. Are you headed home? Back to the party?”

“Naw, I think I’ll stay here and watch him just in case.”

“Are you sure? Don’t you need your meds?”

He reached into his deep pockets and pulled out two bottles of pills. “Got ‘em here. Don’t you worry about me.”

Ruby smiled. “I’ll head on to the inn then.” She turned to walk out of the door but paused. She stared at the door handle and sighed. She turned and looked at Hanzi. “It was good meeting you, Han. I hope you guys have a good life.”

Hanzi smiled softly at her. “You too, darling.”

Ruby walked out of the apartment and out towards the road. She yawned as she walked to the inn. She smiled. Her stomach was full, she had a fun night, and she would be going to bed soon. She walked into the inn and up the stairs to her room. She opened the door and kicked off her shoes. She washed her face, undressed, and then collapsed on the bed.

She sighed. She stayed up too late, she was going to regret that in the morning. She closed her eyes and fell asleep, luckily all the food from the fair had made her tired. She slipped into a quiet sleep, with a dream she couldn’t piece together the next morning.

She gathered her things as the sun slowly rose and left the room she had stayed in behind. She waved to the bartender who was taking the chairs off the tables and he waved back with a kind smile. She greeted the innkeeper with the curled, pink mustache who begged her to agree to come back one day.

She walked towards the docks where she saw Jaal studiously directing people into the correct direction while Saban slept against his leg. Ruby nodded to him and he nodded back. Ruby walked towards The Sharke, lugging all of her bags behind her.

She stopped at the ramp and took a deep breath. She was moving on, she was finally leaving. She was one step closer to Dressrosa and one day closer to seeing Law and the crew again.

“Wait! Wait!” She heard someone shout from behind her. She turned around curiously and practically jumped in shock when she saw Hanzi, Tas, and some officers rushing towards her. 

Ruby gaped at them as Hanzi and Tas made it to her. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Ruby asked. “Shouldn’t you be at work? Or, hell, resting off your injuries?”

“Did you think we’d let you go without saying goodbye?” Hanzi laughed. He picked her up and hugged her tightly causing her to squeak. “Darling, you are always welcome here!”

“Th-thanks.” 

He set her down and she looked at Tas. He looked nervous for a moment before sighing. “Thank you, Ruby, for everything,” he said quietly. “Our lives will be much dimmer without you in it.”

Ruby blinked twice and then twice more, trying to stop herself from crying. “Don’t be so nice to me!” She swallowed the lump in her throat. They both chuckled at her.

“We hope that you can do what you were set out to do, Ruby, without getting hurt,” Tas continued. “And if you decide it’s too much, there’s a home waiting for you here.”

Ruby’s bottom lip wobbled and she sniffed. She would never leave her Heart Pirates but…this was good, too. This was another type of love. She had found friends on her journey and now she had to say goodbye to them. Her heart was starting to break in the bittersweet goodbye. She was far too much of a crybaby for this sort of thing. 

Both Hanzi and Tas hugged her. Ruby sniffed loudly. She didn’t want to promise that she would come back because she didn’t know if she would. She couldn’t promise anything, so she cried softly as she held onto her friends.

“Miss Elissa?” The man with the long black hair and round glasses walked up behind her. “We’re leaving soon, are you still boarding with us?”

Ruby sniffed and nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll get on the boat.” She let go of her friends and grinned at them. “Look for me in the news.”

“You bet your ass we will!” Hanzi grinned. 

“Good luck, Ru- Elissa,” Tas said. “I hope you find peace.”

Ruby nodded and turned to walk up the ramp, ignoring her tears with a determined look in her eyes. The man with the long black hair and round glasses followed after her and started to give orders to the crew. 

The seagulls cried in the distance and the scent of the sea hit Ruby’s senses. She felt strength return to her heart and courage fill her veins. She walked to the railing and looked at Hanzi and Tas. She saw Duhni in the distance and waved at him. She looked back and her two friends and grinned at them. 

“I’ll miss you!” She shouted, hardly believing the words that came from her mouth. 

Hanzi laughed and Tas looked flattered. They both turned to the group of officers who were waving at Ruby. They started to give orders and they saluted them. They turned and started to walk away from the docks. Hanzi laughed and followed after them. Tas paused and looked back to Ruby. He stared at her seriously.

Ruby watched him, pushing her hair behind her ears. She knew what he was telling her without words.

Be careful.

She grinned at him, her own way of saying that she would try. Tas sighed and turned around, seemingly pleased with her answer, and started to walk away from the docks.

Ruby’s grin slowly faded as she watched her friends disappear from the docks. Her heart started to hurt again, part of her wishing that one day she would return to this island and settle down with her crew one day. She took an encouraging breath and smiled at the worker coming up to her to lead her to her room. She could do this. 

She was ready for her next adventure.

[our-time-is-now]

September 15, 2019 (1): A distraction without moving? Show me…

(previous play)

You can find more information about the authors, translators, content warning and additional information about the plays in the pinned post on our blog.  

Attention! This play includes transgender topics. For more details see our interjection.

Sunday, 10:00 am:

WhatsApp, David/Matteo: David (02:54 am): Woke up half an hour ago and was good and had them bring me pain medication. It worked pretty quickly. Now I can’t fall back asleep… because I miss you and because I hate having to sleep on my back… and because I want you to lie next to me. Will you sing me a lullaby?

David (02:58 am): How nice that we both stick to the plan and that you apparently have your phone on mute… maybe tomorrow night, I can turn a little on my side if the drainages are out… I’ll put your shirt over my face now and imagine that you’re there with me. And then I’ll hopefully fall asleep. See you tomorrow, tesorino. Ti amo così tanto…

David (07:03 am): Why does everything at a hospital happen so early? Christine was already here and there’s already breakfast on the table, as well. I’m way too tired to already eat… I think I’ll sleep some more… and when I wake up again, then you’ll already be over very soon! I’m already really looking forward to seeing you! And a good morning to you ;-) Will you bring coffee again?

*really fell asleep again in the morning, but only for two hours* *then ate breakfast and was interrupted during eating by very early rounds by Dr. von Fratschen and his team, who has looked at the now closed wounds and who had a generally good impression* *was relieved and glad to hear that the drainages can be removed and that he’s allowed to go shower afterwards and that nurse Christine is supposed to put new bandaids on only after he showered* *has said his goodbyes to the doctor and then Christine removed the drainages* *found it pretty painful, but was distracted very well by her and was consoled by the prospect that one usually feels a lot better once the drainages are removed* *has promised to call once he’s finished with showering, but first finished his breakfast and texted Matteo*

WhatsApp, David/Matteo: David (09:32 am): At least I slept for 2 more hours… The drainages are gone! Was very ouch, but still: Yeah! And I can go have a shower! Yeah!

*had a shower after breakfast and put on clean clothes* *has realized again how much he hates the sanitary pad and has planned on asking Christine if he’s soon allowed to use smaller ones, because it isn’t bleeding as much as it did two days ago* *has also realized how difficult it is to wash his hair and to put on and take off tops, but finally manages it somehow* *has also looked at himself in the mirror for quite some time and taken another photo, because without the iodine and the imprints of the bandaids and bandages, his chest already looks pretty good and he’s so proud of it* *then called for Christine, who put new bandaids on his nipples, and at 10:15 he reached for his phone to see if Matteo’s already awake*

Matteo: *had trouble falling asleep and has put on David’s recordings again* *then eventually fell asleep at a little past 1 am, after all* *sleeps until shortly after 10 and is immediately annoyed when he looks at his phone* *but sees that he has several messages from David and smiles when he reads them* *records a voice messages, because he’s too lazy to type*

WhatsApp, Matteo/David: Matteo (voice message, 10:07 am): Oh, I gladly would have sung you a lullaby, but I stuck to the plan. I only fell asleep shortly after 1 and now I’m a little annoyed because it’s already past 10. I’m still in bed and in a minute I’ll first put on coffee and then hop in the shower. I hope that I’ll manage to catch the bus at 11 that goes directly there, then I’d be with you at a little after 12. And yeah, drainages are out, I’m happy! How was the shower? Ti amo, tesorino, see you later/soon.

*then basically jumps out of bed, puts the coffee on and then hops into the shower* *gets ready and refills the coffee* *only then notices a bag on the table with a post-it on it: “So that you won’t run out of the house without breakfast again. Your flatshare ;)”* *looks inside and sees two sandwiches and a banana* *wonders whose idea it was, but quickly packs the bag in his backpack together with the coffee and leaves the house so that he’ll catch the bus that leaves at 11* *texts another message to David while on the bus and sends a photo of the bag and the post-it along* *arrives at the hospital at shortly after 12 and is at David’s room ten minutes after 12* *this time knocks and waits for him to tell him to come in*

David: *was happy that Matteo replied after Christine has put fresh bandaids on, and while he’s on his way to the hospital, they wrote a few more texts back and forth until Christine came in with the laser and he had to put the phone down* *is done with lasering at quarter to 12 and waits for Matteo to finally arrive* *eventually got up and stood by the window to check if he can see the bus stop from inside - which he can’t* *but instead realized how freeing it is to be able to move without all his bags and drainages* *was just about to sit back down on the bed when he hears a knock* *smiles, because he can already guess that it’s Matteo, and calls loudly* Yeees? *sees him open the door, beams immediately and takes a few steps toward him* *waits for him to close the door, but then pulls him toward him and kisses him briefly* *says quietly* I missed you… *wraps his arms around his waist, slightly squeezes him close and takes a deep breath, to recharge his batteries at least a little bit*

Matteo: *quickly goes inside when he hears the “yes”* *is happy when he sees David out of bed* *immediately holds his arms out* Hey… *wraps his arms around him after he gets a kiss* So did I… *presses a kiss to his neck and holds him tight* *asks quietly* Everything okay?

David: *is pretty happy that today, Matteo isn’t worried about hugging him back, and enjoys the feeling of being close to him* *smiles slightly when he feels the kiss on his neck and humms in agreement when he hears Matteo’s question* *murmurs quietly* It is now… and what about you? *also presses a tender kiss to his neck and then pulls away slightly to look at him* *pulls a hand away from his back and puts it on his cheek* *can feel that this movement doesn’t hurt as much as washing his hair or changing his top and is pretty relieved about that* *tenderly strokes over Matteo’s cheek, looks at him and thinks how nice it is that he’s here* *does this for a few seconds before he tilts his head with a slight smirk and asks quietly* Coffee?

Matteo: *also hummms in agreement* Same… *smiles immediately when he pulls away and looks at him* *leans a little into his hand* *then laughs at his question and nods* Yep. *quickly kisses him again and then takes his backpack off after he pulls away* *pulls the bag with the sandwiches out first and puts it onto the bed, and and then pulls the coffee out and hands it to him* Should still be pretty hot, I just made it…

David: *grins when Matteo laughs and then watches him unpack the coffee* *accepts it and sighs quietly* Thanks… *pours some of it into his mug from this morning and some for Matteo in the mug from the thermos and then pushes himself back onto the bed* *feels some pain again while doing so due to having to use his abdominal muscles, and is relieved when he finally sits the way he wants to, which is with his back leant against the wall* *then realizes that he forgot the coffee on the nightstand and laughs and groans* Oh man… could you…? *points at the mug and smiles gratefully when Matteo hands it to him* *pushes the breakfast bag aside and then pats on the free spot next to him in invitation* Breakfast, Florenzi… your stomach has already called for help on the bus… telepathically and so on… *grins slightly and then blows into his coffee*

Matteo: *watches him as he pushes himself into position on the bed and would really love to help him* *is therefore very glad when he can at least hand him the mug* *then grabs the bag and pushes himself onto the bed next to him* It’s really very useful that you have such a connection to my stomach… so from now on, I only have to ask you i I’m hungry. *laughs slightly and opens the bag* *holds it out to him after he took out a bread roll* Bread roll?

David: *grins broadly at Matteo’s words and says* I do hope that eventually you’ll hear your stomach again yourself once I’m better and that it won’t be all about me anymore… but until then I’ll gladly take over that task. *watches happily as he takes a bread roll from the bag, but then looks skeptical when he holds the bag out to him* *shakes his head and makes a negating sound* /I/ had breakfast… and the way I know this place there’ll be lunch very soon… *smiles when he takes a bite off the bread roll and realizes that he’s really also a little hungry* *sighs quietly and says* Okay… one bite… *but holds his hand out for Matteo’s bread roll, because he really only wants to take one bite* *reaches for his phone after he took a bite and swallowed it, and shows Matteo the photo that he took of himself in the mirror earlier* Look… without iodine and bandaid residue… now it only has to heal…

Matteo: *looks a little reproachful but lovingly at his words* It’s always about you… *but then grins slightly* But yes, I know what you mean… and okay… *then pfffs slightly* Yes, 5 hours or so ago… *then laughs when he wants to take a bite, after all, and holds his bread roll out to him* *reaches for his mug on the nightstand and takes a sip, but finds it still too hot and puts it back* *then looks at David’s phone* Whoa, cool, that already looks much better! *then hears a knock and sees a nurse that he doesn’t know yet come in: “Hello, Mister Schreibner… oh you already have a visitor?”*

David: *also looks at the photo again after he shows it to Matteo and smiles to himself* *looks up when there’s a knock and recognizes a nurse who has already been present during rounds this morning* *isn’t sure anymore if she introduced herself, but if she did, then he forgot her name* *still smiles slightly and nods* Yes, that’s Matteo, my boyfriend… *sees the nurse smile: “Your boyfriend, who brings his own food to not eat up your food - very laudable!”* *grins slightly and watches the nurse put his lunch down on the nightstand: “Enjoy your meal!” and with a look at Matteo: “And you, too!”* *grins slightly* Thanks! *but then remembers something* I have a question: This afternoon, there will be a few friends of ours visiting. Would it be possible to get a few more chairs from somewhere? *sees her think and then ask: “How many do you need?”* *doesn’t really want to say eight and therefore asks* How many do you have? *sees her think again: “A little further down the hallway there’s a small common room… it’s not really used that much. I’m sure you could steal three or four chairs from there…”* *smiles* Yes, great! Thank you! *sees her looking at him sternly: “But you do know that you’re not allowed to carry them, don’t you?”* *laughs quietly and nods* Yes, I know, don’t worry… and we’ll also bring them back later…

Matteo: *grins when the nurse praises him* That’s me… *nods again when she tells him to enjoy his food* Thanks, I will… *then listens to the conversation and adds* Don’t worry, we’ll all make sure that he won’t lift a finger… *sees her smile and nod slightly: “Okay… see you later then…”* *sees her leave the room again and takes another bite from his bread roll* *says with his mouth half full* We could also go downstairs later if it gets too full… well, if you’re up to it…

David: *thinks that - even if he wanted to - he wouldn’t even be close to able to lift a chair, but nods at Matteo’s words* *takes a big sip of coffee after the nurse has left the room, and then looks at Matteo when he hears his words* *nods* True… yes… if it really gets too full in here, then gladly. Or if anyone wants to drink something or whatever… *then glances at his lunch and the mug in his hand and sighs quietly, because right now it seems impossible to him to scoot all the way to the edge of the bed so that he can eat, because he doesn’t know where to put the mug* *holds it out to Matteo and asks a little desperately* Could you please hold it again? *then scoots over a little and tries to strain his abdominal muscles as little as possible* *is relieved when he also sees new pain medication on the tray, but first takes the coffee back from Matteo so that he can continue eating* *then lifts the lid off his food and sees soup and bread* *reaches for the spoon and tells him* By the way, my mother texted me… she’ll be here around 1… and Laura will pick her up here around 5… so you’ll probably see her, as well… *starts eating and realizes that he’s a little nervous about her visit* *hopes that it won’t be weird somehow*

Matteo: *nods* Yes, we’ll just see… whatever you feel like and whatever the mood is like… *then takes the mug off David, of course* Why don’t you pull the nightstand closer… hang on… *waits for David to take the mug back and then pulls the nightstand around so that it’s comfortably over David* *then hears him say when his mother will be there* Oh, that’s very fitting, then… *looks at him* Are you nervous about it?

David: *smiles when Matteo moves the nightstand around for him so that he can reach the food better* Thanks… *doesn’t know if he would have been able to manage this by himself yet, but is going to test it later* *but currently feels like he wouldn’t even be able to hold a bottle of coke for a longer period of time* *starts eating his soup when he hears Matteo’s question* *thinks briefly and then admits* I am a little bit… *sighs quietly* I don’t know… it really has been a while since I had a normal relationship with my mother… okay, the messages and the phone calls were okay… pretty good, actually… but I just know that I’m still skeptical… and that somehow, I’m still waiting on something to happen again… *then laughs quietly* What am I supposed to talk about with her alone for four hours?

Matteo: *has finished his first bread roll and wipes the crumbs off the bed* *nods slightly when he talks about his mother* I can understand that… but hey, if you have to, then you’ll just tell her about Italy… and about Venice, you can talk about that a lot, right?

David: *nods when he says that he should tell her about Italy* Hmm… maybe I’ll make a folder tomorrow morning with photos to show her… then she can look at photos… and then I can use this to tell her a little about it… and she can tell me about her holiday… *has finished half of the soup and almost the entire bread roll and reaches for the pain pill* *flushes it down with water and then continues eating* *after lunch he feels like he maybe should lie down again for a little while to relax his back and abdominal muscles before the others are coming later, and uses the moment when Matteo goes to the trash can to get rid of the bread roll bag to lie back down on the bed* *scoots over to the wall, smiles and then pats on the space next to him in invitation*

Matteo: *nods vigorously* Yes, that’s a plan… looking at photos always takes a lot of time… *then takes the bag to the trash can after he ate and smiles slightly when David is more lying down again than sitting up* *pushes the nightstand away from the table and then lies down next to David very carefully* That okay?

David: *smiles happily when Matteo really lies down next to him, but immediately thinks that he’s too far away* *humms in agreement at his question* *then grins slightly* You can come even closer… you won’t break anything or whatever… *would love to take his arm and push it under his head, but already knows that he can’t reach out and stretch that far* *turns his head toward him and curses the fact that he can’t turn on his side yet* *smiles at him desperately and pleadingly and says quietly* Come on, I’m yearning for you…

Matteo: *looks at him when he says that he can come even closer* *scoots a centimeter closer, but is still careful* *then sees his look and hears his words and says quietly* Me, too… *scoots even closer and pushes his right arm under David’s head* That alright? *presses a light kiss on his head*

David: *is glad that it doesn’t stay one centimeter and that Matteo finally really scoots quite a bit closer to him* *lifts his head a little when he pushes an arm under it and smiles at Matteo’s question* *humms in agreement* *then reaches over himself and halfway across Matteo with his right hand to search for his left hand and pull him a little closer still* *can feel some pain in his belly again due to the movement, but ignores it and places Matteo’s hand between the two sources of pain on his belly and entwines their fingers* *then relaxes again and sighs quietly* *then murmurs* It works… well… better than nothing, right?

Matteo: *entwines their fingers when David reaches for his hand, but is careful when David puts it down onto his belly* *looks at him a little skeptically at his words* Mhm… better than nothing… *runs his thumb over David’s hand and runs his other hand through David’s hair* But if it gets uncomfortable then you’ll tell me, right?

David: *leans his head against Matteo’s hand and closes his eyes when he starts to card through his hair* *would also love to be a little more active, to cuddle close to him, run a hand through his hair, to turn onto his side and kiss him, and realizes that the fact that none of this is possible right now makes him pretty unhappy* *but tries to remember that it will only be a few days and that it will get better after that and that it’s worth it to wait for a couple of days if it means that he can finally be a little bit more himself* *then hears Matteo’s words and has to grin slightly, because he’s making sure again even though he already promised him countless times that he’ll tell him when something gets too much or if it hurts* *humms in agreement, opens his eyes again and turns his head toward him* You know what would distract me pretty well from possible pain that might occur if I move too much? *grins a little and wiggles his eyebrows*

Matteo: *enjoys the closeness to David and really hopes that it isn’t uncomfortable for him, and that he definitely positions himself in a way it’s good for him* *also turns his head a little when David looks at him* *smiles slightly and then also wiggles his eyebrows* Hmmm, noooo… no idea… distraction without moving? Show me… *then grins a little wider and slowly gets closer to his face*

David: *gives him a small secretary’s-office-look when he pretends to not know what might distract him, and then laughs quietly for only a second, because laughing hurts his belly, when he says that he should show him* *groans desperately* I’d love to… but I can’t move… *but then sees him grin and come toward his face and also moves toward him a tiny bit* *releases their hands to run it through his hair at least briefly, and then closes his eyes when they finally kiss* *can’t leave his hand in his hair for much longer because his chest hurts, and lowers it again* *enjoys it very much to be a little closer to him and looks at him lovingly when they pull away from the kiss* *whispers quietly* I love you very much…

Matteo: *grins slightly* Do I have to do all the work? *closes his eyes when David runs a hand through his hair* *enjoys that very much* *then kisses him tenderly and automatically runs a hand through his hair, as well* *also looks at him lovingly and can feel this flutter of love in his stomach again* I also love you pretty very much above all… *tenderly kisses him again*

David: *when he hears his question murmurs* I’m afraid over the next few weeks you’ll have to… *before they finally kiss* *sees Matteo’s smile when he hears his words after the kiss and thinks how much he loves this sight* *then hears his reply and can feel his heart skip a beat, but still has to grin a little because Matteo naturally has to outdo him like that* *then gets kissed again and at first considers if he can somehow top his words, but then thinks that it doesn’t really matter and that Matteo knows how much he loves him and that it’s much nicer to simply concentrate on the kiss* *they make out for quite some time on the bed and he keeps wishing to be even closer to Matteo and tries to pull him closer or scoot closer to him several times* *but realizes each time that it isn’t really possible without pain and eventually stops trying, because he can see that Matteo is very well aware of the fact that he’s in pain and doesn’t want him to worry* *they get “interrupted” by a nurse at a quarter to two, who wants to pick up the tray from lunch, and they are actually quite grateful for the interruption, because they have completely lost track of time and because they are finally checking the time* *decides to go to the toilet again and to freshen up a little before the others arrive*

(next play)

[askthespffcrew]

strange places, familiar faces

ch.1 It's dark…..it's cold….something happened…what was it again? Strange sky….....flying….a strange group of creatures…pain…was there a pink one?.....I think he had star wings…..falling…why is it so cold?.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bzzt-bzzt-bzzt!

The alarm goes off and startles the black and green puffball that was sleeping. At first their eyes refused to work properly while the alarm continued to set off. They then lazily reach for the alarm to check the time….and to shut the darn thing off.

As they were looking at it they then heard a commotion from downstairs. "DARNIT NEGATO!" The sound of a crash. "COME BACK HERE! YOU LITTLE JERK!" More crashes. They put the alarm back and started to rub the sleep out of their green eyes. "Better get down before one of them kills the other." They then get out of bed, put on their face mask and gloves. Walking downstairs they see the disaster called the living room. "WAT THE HECK IS GOIN' ON?!" A black, white, horned, and bat winged puffball suddenly freezes while a pink and purple puffball continues to run off into the kitchen. "Twist! Quick! Help me get the pink jerk, he's got my mask!" "Wait seriously? Again?" Both of them run to the kitchen to find it empty. "Darnit he must've gotten outside" Damien said while rubbing his head. "Are you kidding? It snowed yesterday! I doubt he'd want to go outside now." "Well if he didn't go outside then where did he go?"

Twist then hears a sound near the sink.

"I think I might know" they then walk over to the swinging doors. "Just get ready to grab the little stinker." They then slam open both doors while Negato runs out of the cupboard. Damien then manages to catch the pink puffball while grabbing his mask. "GOTCHA YA LIL' JERK!" Damien said as he kept a firm hold on the kid. "Lemme go!" Negato said as he squirmed about trying to get free. "Only until you apologize kid!" "ALRIGHT IM SORRY LET GO!" Damien then lets Negato go as he runs off into the living room. "Hmmph you can definitely serve it but ya sure as heck can't take it can ya." Twist then reenters the kitchenand turns on the oven. "So where's the others?" Damien then snaps out of it. "Ah they decide ta pay Durus a visit today. Negato didn't want to go and you were still asleep, so I told them ta go ahead and I'd watch ya two while they're gone." They then start mixing up some eggs. "So, they'll be back by 4 pm I suppose?" "No, they said this time they'll be back by six. Said that they wanted to give the kids some time ta hang out." Twist finished the eggs, brought out a pan and some leftover rice and started to cook the food. "By the way, how did Negato get your mask in the first place?" "He took it while I was sleeping the lil stinker." "Pfft seriously? You know he's gonna do something like why didn't you just hide it somewhere?" "I did! I hid it in the closet" "pfft must've not hidden it well if he found it so easily " "Oh shut up! It's not like he's  stolen your stuff too!" " oh pish posh besides breakfast is ready." They start dishing out the food. Negato then comes running in and jumps into his place at the table, while Damien also sits down. Twist then brings the food over and they begin to eat. "Still planning on taking your morning walk in this cold?" "Yep" "anything i can say ta convince not to?" He said jokingly "nope." Negato then pauses eating. "Are they seriously going to go out there just to freeze their butt off?" Twist nearly chokes on their food due to snorting. While Damien just continues to eat. "That's the plan apparently." "By the way, I heard someone was moving into the neighborhood soon." "Wait seriously?" "Yeah why?" "I dunno, last time someone moved here was Kno and Target, and that was before they took me in."  Negato then inhaled his food which surprised Twist. "Hey bud! What's with the rush?" Negato than begins to run towards the door. "I'm meeting some friends." Now it's Damien's turn to choke. "WAIT…..YOU GOT FRIENDS?!?....WHEN THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN?!?" "A few weeks ago!" "Seriously?!" "YES!" He then continued on his way. "Huh….never thought I'l live tol see the day where he has friends." Twist snorts a bit. "To be honest you were the same." Damien then glares at Twist. "Oh stop it's not like you got any proof against it and you know it." He rolls his eyes. They then finish their breakfast. "Alright I'm gonna get dressed then I'm heading out you coming?....or you wanna stay here?" "Heck no I'm staying here it's cold. What the heck made you think that was a neccessary question?" Twist rolls their eyes. "Pfft alright i get it you don't like cold." They then start to head back to their room. "I'll be back in a hour if i take a bit longer then don't worry i got my cape with me." "Alright see ya soon." Damien said as he headed to his room.

After getting dressed Twist then heads out."Nice day today maybe I'll go explore the woods some."  They then continued on their way leaving footprints in the snow behind them.

—------------ 2 hours later —-------------------

"Brrrr…I think it's about i head back."

They thought" they had walked until they had gotten to a thicker point of the woods they had known for most of their life. This to them was a , despite how deep they were in the forest at the point, was a well-known and familar part of the woods to them. In fact now that they thought about they were probably pretty close to wispy woods right about now. At first as they started to walk back they didn't notice anything. Until they heard a small noise.

At first they thought it was just the breeze….until it got louder. They then started towards the noise as it got louder. They then came to a pile of snow that appeared to be moving, they then shoved their hands into the snow and started to dig. After they finished digging they saw it was a small white puffball…with horns….and wings. But despite that they also noticed that their skin was starting to look bluish….and that they were whimpering. They quickly came to a decision and picked up the child, took off their cape, wrapped it around the little one, and started running like heck to get back to the house. As they were running they started to wonder……who the heck would allow a kid out in this weather….and why was this kid left all alone?

—------------ 30 minutes later —--------------

SLAM!

"WATTHE?!" Twist had kicked the door open. "TWIST! WHAT THE HECK!?" "No time to explain! Get the chimey working!" "What are you talking about?! You're making no sense!" Damien then notices them with their cape all bundled up in their hands. "And what the heck did you bring? An animal?!" "Shut up!" "What?" "I told you there's no time to explain get the chimney up and running while I get a hot water bottle!" "But…" "I'll explain once we get the kid warmed up!" "Wait….A KID?! YOU BROUGHT A KID?!" "YES! AND IF WE DON'T HURRY, THEY'RE GONNA BE A ICE CUBE IN A SECOND! "Alright, alright, calm down!" "I WILL AFTER WE GET THE KID WARMED UP" they set the kid down on the couch then ran to make a hot water bottle, while Damien went to work on getting a fire set up in the fire place. After doing so he then gets a couple of blankets and pillows and set them in a pile near the fire and placed the child on top of the pile of pillows and blankets making sure not to accidently rub the child or to touch them too much. Twist then came running in with the hot water bottle while juggling it then quickly placed it on the cold child. "You didn't touch them too much right?" "In case he has frost bite? Of course not." "Yeah who knows how long the kid was out there for?" "By the way are you sure they even are a kid?" "Because of the wings and horns?" "Yeah." "I'm pretty sure they are, they sounded like they were pretty young p And they're pretty small for an adult if that's not enough of a clue." "Heck now that I think about it……" Damien rubs his chin. "Why the heck was the kid even out there alone in the first place? Even with the horns and wings, he looks like he's only a couple months old." "Yeah…" Twist said while looking at the kid, this made Damien concerned. "Want me to make some hot chocolate?" "Sure I'll stay with the kid till he wakes up." Twist then sits next to the child to wait for him to wake while Damien starts making the hot chocolate.

—---------------- 2 hours later —--------------

The pink creature was winning……..the orb was losing…..at least that was what was happening….right?.....why does the orb want to hurt the pink one so badly…. And why is it so warm now?.............

Black colored eyes opened to slowly regain consciousness, as they opened the little one then realized that he was in unfamiliar surroundings. He then began to panic. "Hey…hey calm down..it's ok, you're safe now…." He felt a hand gently rubbing his head. "Hey kiddo you alright? Were you having a bad dream?" He looked to see a mask wearing puffball that was much bigger than him.

He jumped back a bit causing the elder puffball to flinch. "Whoa it's alright, nothing's here to hurt ya." The child slowly starts to calm down as Twist continues to rub his head. " geez you scare pretty easily for a kid…" the child then gets closer to them trying to get warm again. Damien then enters. "Is he awake?" "Yeah." "How is he?" "He still seems to be a bit cold but other than that he appears to be fine." Twist said, continuing to rub the child's head. "Though we should still think about getting him over to Reese's to fully get him checked out." They said rubbing their chin. "No telling how long he was out by himself….So let's make sure he is fine rather than finding out if he's not." Damien just nodded, he then went to the kitchen to find something. He could've sworn they at least still had one. "Ah found it!" Damien took out a small sippy cup and filled it with some of the hot chocolate, making sure to put an ice cube in it to make it not too hot. He then walked back to the living room. "Think he might want to drink this?" He said gently so as not to scare the little one. He wasn't sure if he knew how to handle a cup properly so he had prepared a sippy cup just to be safe. Twist sifted a bit as Damien handed the cup to them. "Maybe I don't really know if he'll be interested in it right now to be honest." Twist rubbed the white puff's head to wake them back up, they then showed them the drink. "Think you want some of this little guy?" The little one looked at the drink curiously, he didn't know what the bigger one was offering but he decided to give it ja try, after all they haven't done anything to hurt him….yet. He takes the drink and looks at it and then proceeds to bite the tap. "H-hey! Don't do that, you'll hurt your teeth!" Twist quickly grabs it back and shows him how to take a sip. It's handed back to him and he starts drinking it. He silently enjoys it. "I guess he likes it." Twist said quietly. "Is it normal for his eyes to be like that?" Damien asked, they then noticed the little one's eyes for the first time. "Probably, I've heard that our eyes can be that color but it can be extremely rare." "Huh." With a smile Twist then asked "how do you think Target and Kno are going?" "Knowing them i wouldn't be surprised if we found ourselves a new family member." "Heh wouldn't be surprised if you're right." Twist said as the little snuggled closer to them.

A little while later  Target, Kno, and the others then came home, and with no doubt Twist and Damien found themselves with a new little sibling. And that was how Mukou came to stay and became a part of the family.

[stratuscloudsurfer]

(Part 1 of ?)

I know this is unrealistic for a number of reasons but I’m way too sad at the thought of Ingo never getting to see Melli again so… what if Akari arranges for him to visit Ingo in the future?

It would probably be several months after Ingo returns back home. Enough time for him to readjust and clean himself up and maybe even get back to work. When Akari walks through the door of Emmet and Ingo’s apartment like she lives there one afternoon to casually propose the idea, Ingo is hesitant and worried that it wouldn’t be safe, but Akari assures him that she has perfected the art of time travel and that everything will be just fine. She’s apparently already talked it over with Melli who jumped at the idea. Ingo discusses it with Emmet, who also thinks its a “verrry good idea” until he’s convinced it is, as well. 

Akari leaves with the promise that she’ll be back with Melli the week after next, and the two brothers start planning. Emmet tells Ingo not to worry about work and that he’ll cover for him so that he can spend as much time with Melli as possible. Ingo isn’t worried anymore about the safety of the plan, but he still has other fears. Nimbasa is a big city; what if its too overwhelming for him? What if he doesn’t like it here? What if he doesn’t like who he is now? It has been several months since they’ve seen each other, and Ingo feels like a completely different person in many ways now that he’s no longer Sneasler’s warden. 

Emmet doesn’t think its necessary, but because it makes Ingo feel better, he helps him come up with an itinerary for Melli’s visit. They carefully plan out their activities so as to slowly introduce Melli to Unova’s second-biggest city 200 years in the future. 

On the night that Melli is supposed to arrive, Ingo is as nervous as a teenage boy going out on his first date. He won’t stop compulsively rearranging items around the already-tidy living room. He’s asked Emmet if he thinks he looks okay at least six times. When he starts pacing the length of the tiny apartment like a caged animal, Emmet finally points at a chair and orders him to sit down and relax. 

Emmet makes potato mochi using a carefully-followed recipe he found online because its the only thing he can remember eating in Hisui and he wants to cook something that Melli will find familiar. They turn out looking almost exactly like the ones that Beni made and he is quite proud of the himself, especially for his first time making them. 

When they get a knock at the door Ingo instantly shoots up to his feet but remains standing there looking like a lost puppy. Emmet resists the urge to roll his eyes and leaves the kitchen to answer the door. 

When he opens it he finds Akari with Melli, as promised. Melli stops restlessly glancing around at his surroundings to greet Emmet. His eyes widen. 

“Oh--Whoa. Emmet, you look... old.” 

Emmet laughs. “I’m going to choose not to take offense to that,” he says, then opens the door wider. “Come on in.” 

Melli goes inside, and Akari waves goodbye to Emmet. “See ya in five days,” she says, then vanishes. Emmet has no idea how she’s done it.

When he returns to the living room, Ingo and Melli are both laughing and wiping tears from their eyes. Melli can’t seem to stop touching Ingo, as if he’s trying to convince himself that he’s actually here. He pats his waist, his shoulders, his hair. Eventually he tugs at his tie and tells him that his clothes are weird but regardless, he “cleans up nice.” Ingo is blushing--blushing! And Emmet can’t help but smile with him. He goes back to the kitchen and makes himself scarce, convinced that everything will be just fine. 

The next day, Emmet leaves for work as Ingo is making breakfast. Someone’s got to keep the trains running, after all. On his way out the door, he reminds the two to, “Be safe and follow the schedule. And don’t forget to smile!” 

[zukump3]

ignoring them for 24 hours ✧ hc

you ignore your boys for 24 hours. or, at least, you try to.

genre: fluff

requested: yes! i added todoroki just cause

as perceptive as he is

izuku probably notices immediately how you’re avoiding him

you two wake up at similar times because you go to sleep at similar times, but this time you woke up before him

he gave you a sweet “good morning” and kissed your cheek, but you only smiled and went to the bathroom

he thought that was strange. you usually say good morning back

but then again, it was such a small thing that he didn’t really overreact over it

however, when you left his dorm without saying goodbye or anything like that he got a little worried

once classes were beginning, he went to your dorm to pick you up and walk you to class like usual but

you were already gone.

“what the...” he would murmur to himself, frowning now

what was up with you? were you ignoring him or something?

what even annoyed him further was that you spent the whole day with fucking bakusquad!

bakugo didn’t seem to like it of course, but kirishima and the others accepted your company like it was nothing

he tried to sit next to you at lunch but once bakugo noticed his presence, he immediately yelled at the green haired boy to “fucking beat it!”

“but i-“

“WHAT DID I JUST SAY?!”

the fact that you didn’t even come to his defense kind of hurt him

he didn’t even eat at lunch

he was so bummed out that he just poked at his food with a frown on his face

of course you noticed this. you had been watching him all day and it broke your heart to see your baby like this omg ㅠㅠ

you couldn’t do it anymore. you got up and sat next to him at lunch and you swear he shined brighter than the sun when he saw you

“y/n! i-you-“

“i was trying to praaank you,” you pouted. “but you looked so upset after what that bomb bitch said-i couldn’t do it anymore.”

his pout matched yours.

“don’t do that again... i was seriously worried!”

he makes you stay by him for the rest of the day 😭

ignoring him for 24 hours challenge: failed.

y/n only lasted 5-6 hours.

todoroki literally doesn’t notice at all

he doesn’t talk much, and seeing that you don’t talk to him much in the morning doesn’t really bother him

he just assumed you were tired and didn’t really care

you two usually got coffee together in the morning but as he went to the common room to wait for you, he was a bit peeved that you didn’t show up

he just assumed you fell asleep or something, or maybe you weren’t in the mood

not gonna lie, he was already missing your presence but he wouldn’t push you to interact with him if you weren’t in the mood

when he goes to class though, he sees you laughing and smiling with the rest of dekusquad

having a good time, apparently

he sits with you guys and listens, and his brows furrowed when he heard you say

“i wish i would’ve gotten coffee this morning. really wanted some mocha.”

...?

did you forget that you two got coffee literally every morning?

okay, whatever. something was definitely wrong with you but he wouldn’t push.

you two also sit together during lunch but you sat between tsu and izuku instead

he’s like

what. the fuck.

he stares at you for the entirety of lunch time 😭

he doesn’t even mean to, he’s just so confused?

like why are you ignoring him? you guys didn’t fight or anything last night so ?? why??

the day continues like that

whenever he comes around you leave, whenever he talks you look away from him

he’s a mixture of irritated and annoyed

irritated bc he doesn’t know why you’re acting this way, and annoyed because he wants to fucking talk to you

you’re one of the only people in this class he talks to on a daily basis and you’re pushing him away??

he only says something when it’s kind of late and everyone is tucked away in their dorms

he has a key to your dorm room don’t ask why so he goes ahead and enters

you’re on your bed, giggling about how well the prank is going to mina when you hear the doorknob jiggle and your boyfriend enter the room

“shoto!”

“we need to talk, y/n.”

you make a face. “actually, i-“

“y/n.”

the sternness in his voice makes you look up at him, kinda scared at just how serious he looks

“you’ve been ignoring me all day. why? did i do something?”

“i—“

“if i did, please tell me. communication is important in every relationship and our relationship is very special. if you do not talk to me, i have no way of knowing what i did to hurt you and-“

“shoto! oh my god, it was just a prank!” you tell him quickly, standing up and holding out your arms.

he lowkey makes a 🤨 face.

“a prank...?”

“yeah. ignore your boyfriend for 24 hours prank,” you sigh. “i was so close.”

he sighs with you, walking over to hug you tightly, which feels so good after today.

“it’s a very stupid prank.”

you giggle against his chest.

“yeah. very stupid.”

ignoring him for 24 hours challenge: failed.

y/n only lasted 18 hours.

another one that notices immediately

you went the extra mile as to leave his dorm way earlier than he wakes up, which-

how tf did you do that

he automatically doesn’t fucking like that.

“y/n?!” he’ll yell out into his bathroom and grumble when you aren’t in there, or anywhere else in his room

he doesn’t even see you until class starts, sitting and laughing with fucking dekusquad

not only that, with midoriya

“hey dumbass, why’d you leave my dorm so early today?!” he asks you, and your eyes don’t even meet his.

you just continue scribbling at your desk.

his eyes turn white.

“i’m talking to you!”

“bakugo, please go have a seat. you’re being incredibly too loud.” aizawa would tell him, slipping his face out of his yellow sleeping bag.

he looks at his teacher, then at you, then back at his teacher before cursing and marching to his desk

probably always glancing at you through the day

the fact that you’re smiling and laughing with fucking deku

that just makes his mood even worse

you’re supposed to be smiling and laughing with him, not that crybaby

obviously his friends notice how mad he is

“dude, why so pent up?” kirishima would ask him and bakugo would literally snark

the red head smirks. “oooh—its y/n isn’t it.”

bakugo pauses.

“how the fuck did you know-“

“you know she’s pranking you, right?” kirishima would laugh at the look of anger that crosses bakugo’s face.

you’re ignoring him for a... a...

a PRANK?!

he’s livid.

during training he will not hesitate to march up to you

“you think it’s funny to ignore your boyfriend for a stupid prank, huh?! you think that’s so funny don’t you?!”

“bakugo, i-“

“SILENCEEEE!” he’ll literally roar at you and blast you like 10 feet away 😭

cue him being your partner and beating you up for practice

ignoring him for 24 hours challenge: failed.

y/n only lasted 5 hours.

kirishima understands the concept of “personal space”

he knows that sometimes, you don’t wanna be bothered

and sometimes, he doesn’t wanna be bothered

but sometimes he doesn’t care about that concept.

he will poke and pester at you if you do this challenge.

if you wake up and don’t say anything to him, he’ll yank you down to the bed and whine at you until you manage to squirm out of his arms and go to your own dorm room

he’ll stand right next to you during breakfast

and i mean he will always be standing next to you.

no matter how many times you move around the tables, he’ll somehow end up next to you

like ?? does he have super speed or something 😭

he will not tolerate you ignoring him

like not at all

during class if he cracks a few jokes and you don’t respond to them he’ll probably fake cry

“y/n, you’re making me feel very unmanly right now!”

you swear you didn’t know it would be this hard

he probably notices it’s a prank though when he’s walking next to you in the halls and you’re not even speaking to him, just staring forward

“ahh... you’re trying to play a little joke on me or something? well, we’ll see how long you keep that up!”

retorts to making you jealous the entire day.

hangs out with literally every girl, even the fucking invisible bitch

you can’t take it anymore when it nears 6pm and he asks uraraka to come back to his dorm and watch movies with him

being the amazing girlfriend you are, you get up, land in his lap, and cuddle up to him tightly

he grins at you, preppering you with kisses

“told you you wouldn’t last, y/n.”

ignoring your boyfriend for 24 hours challenge: failed.

y/n only lasted 11 hours.

[justsomegalwhoshere]

#1 Hair Stylist

Note: this was supposed to be short but turned out a lot longer than I expected. I blame @hanji-is-life is life for making me wanna write domestic shit, quit it 😤 plz never stop

Warnings: a bit of cursing because Bakugou is bakugou, not prof read, just domestic fluff

Being a pro-hero and being married to Dynamight himself wasn’t easy, but you managed. Having a family with said pro-hero is also tough, but you still manage (somehow). You and bakugou had a small family that consisted of two little girls, a 9 year old and a 6 year old. You loved your little family and always spent as much time as you could with them.

Today was not one of those days where you had time.

You had woken up late after snoozing your alarm 5 times (thank god Katsuki yelled at you to get up after the last time) and you were now running all over the place to get ready before you were late for your shift. As you started making lunch for your daughters before they head to school, you felt some tugging on your pants. You looked down and smiled seeing your 9 year old, Katsumi, looking up at you, holding a hairbrush.

“Morning sweetie. Did you sleep well?” You ask as you quickly stuff two sandwiches into two lunchboxes.

She nods and extends the hair brush as you run out the kitchen to retrieve your bag. “Mhm. Can you make my hair mom?” She asks as you return shoving your stuff in your bag.

You sigh and kneel down to face her. “I’m sorry honey, I’m in a rush so I have to leave soon, otherwise I would.”

Your daughter pouts and extends the hair brush harder. “But I want you to make my hair pretty for me” she whines.

You kiss her forehead and get up while slipping your shoes on. “I’m sorry kiddo, I can’t right now. Try asking your dad. Bye! Have a good day at school!” You shouted as you closed the door behind you.

Katsumi stared at the door as she kept pouting. You always did her hair in the morning. It wasn’t fair that you had to leave without making her hair. This was nonsense.

“You just gonna stand there all day squirt?” That made Katsumi turn around and face her father. Katsuki bakugou, the number 2 hero, 6’1, big and scary. At least, that’s how he looks to the rest of the world. When he’s with his family, he’s extremely soft. Bakugou only wanted the best for his girls, no matter what it was.

Katsumi decided to use that to her advantage.

She held up the hair brush once again. “Can you make my hair dad?”

Bakugou frowned. He saw you do the girls’ hair all the time, but he’s never done it once. He shrugged accepting the brush and following his daughter as she skipped to her room. How hard could it be?

...

“Ow! That hurts dad!”

“I’m trying ok!?” He yelled a bit harshly. Apparently brushing a 9 year olds hair was A LOT harder than it looks. He didn’t even know it was possible to get it this tangled.

“What did you do this morning that caused it to get this knotted!?”

“Nothing!” Katsumi shouted back. “All I did was sleep and get up!”

Note to self: get something that’ll make Katsumi stop tossing and turning In her sleep.

“Ok it’s all smooth now, I gotta eat” Bakugou said getting up, but was stopped by a small hand grabbing his own.

“You still haven’t styled it!” Katsumi replied with her 100th pout of the day.

Bakugou sighed and sat back down. “Ok, how do I do this?” He asked, grabbing what he assumed was a hair elastic.

“So you grab all the hair and tie it. And then you have a ponytail” she instructed.

...that had to be the worlds shittiest instruction, but Bakugou made do. After some yelling back and forth and some trial and error, Katsumi had a half decent ponytail in her hair.

“Thanks dad!” She chirped, jumping up and kissing his cheek.

“Yeah yeah, go eat breakfast, I gotta drop you and your sister off to school” Bakugou nearly growled.

“Daddy?” Bakugou saw the small head peak from the doorway. It was his 6 year old, Sakura.

“Can you make my hair too please daddy?”

Bakugou sighed. This was gonna be a rough morning.

...

Later that day, you two were making dinner while Bakugou complained about making your daughters’ hair.

“Who knew a 9 year old was so picky!? I didn’t know there’s were 10 ways to make a ponytail!” He fumed, angrily chopping vegetables. You simply chuckled in response.

“I think it’s cute how the big, strong, scary dynamight softened enough to make two girls’ hair this morning” you replied. “It looked nice by the way. You wouldn’t mind doing it tomorrow would you? I have work early tomorrow”.

Bakugou minded very much, but he didn’t say anything, except with a grunt acknowledging he heard you.

...

A couple weeks later and bakugou was getting really good with the whole hair style thing. Katsumi and Sakura even started coming to him now asking for him to do their hair.

Today threw him for a loop though.

“Same thing as always, squirt?” He asked Katsumi as she sat down.

“Nope!” She responded, pulling up a picture on her iPad (which was used only for homework, Bakugou was not letting her get addicted to that thing). “Can you do a braid for me?”

“Hah!? The hell is that?”

“I have a picture here-“

Bakugou snatched the iPad out of his daughter’s hands and looked at the photo. Oh, it the weird twisty thing his wife does with her hair for hero galas.

“I guess I can try. Hold still, this’ll probably hurt” Bakugou grimaced as he watched the tutorial on how to properly do a simple braid.

...

A couple months go by and your girls stop asking you to do their hair in the morning, instead going straight to there dad. Well, Sakura sometimes asked you since she felt bad (? Did she pity you?), but she mainly asked her dad.

At first you felt something was wrong. Maybe their dad bribed them somehow into getting a horrible hair style done? Maybe he was jealous and had something to prove? You didn’t know. You decided to check it out, walking to Katsumi’s room, where all the styling was done.

Said child walked out with a perfect mermaid tail braid.

“Hi mom!” She chirped.

You stood there dumbfounded as she went to go eat breakfast. Even you couldn’t style her hair in a mermaid tail! You calmly opened (practically broke) the door and see Katsuki with Bobby pins between his teeth, sectioning Sakura’s hair with a comb.

“Hey” he grunts out with Bobby pins in his teeth as he twists his daughter’s hair. “Need something?”

“I- no” you responded. “I genuinely thought you bribed the girls into not asking me to do their hair in the morning.”

Bakugou chuckled as he removed a few Bobby pins from between his teeth. “I didn’t do shit. They just like me better” he smirked.

You were about to retort with how much better your styles were when you realized how he styled Sakura’s hair. It was like a rose was settled on top of her hair.

“H-how did you do that?” You breathed out as Sakura walked past you nonchalantly and bakugou bursted out laughing while getting up.

“You should see the look on your face! It’s priceless. I gotta get ready for work now. Can you drop them off? Thanks” he gives you a quick kiss as he walks out of the room.

You sign and shake your head. Even though your husband looked like a big, scary man, you knew better. He really was something else.

[kaunis-sielu]

Fire Dogs

The fires had been blazing for weeks now, inching closer and closer to your home and firefighters were pouring in. You’d decided to stay, the fire was mostly moving away from town, thank god. The mayor had said that people who were willing to stay and help care for the hordes of firefighters pouring into town were appreciated. So even though you were a single Omega, you’d signed up. You could take in 2-6 firefighters depending on if they were willing to share a bed with one another and if you needed to sleep on the couch. You’d been assigned 3 men, all from New York City, one a Captain and all of them Alphas.

When you open the door as they walk up your sidewalk the first, a man with light hair and blue eyes, gives you a tight smile.

“Hi, welcome. I have a dog, is that okay?” The three men don’t even have to look at one another before all nodding yes. “Great, come on in.” You move out of the doorway and the three men come into the house.

“Thank you so much for opening your home to us.” The first man says, god he smells good, like sandalwood and lavender.

“It’s the least I could do.” You introduce yourself as your dog comes trotting into the room, Cooper’s tail wagging wildly. “But you can call me Fawn, and this is Cooper.”

“Sorry, I’m Steve Rogers, this is Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.” The first man says introducing himself and the two men with him.

“It’s a pleasure. I’ll show you guys to your rooms.” You lead them upstairs and show them each to a room. Bucky takes your first spare room, Sam the second and Steve is in the master.

“Buck, you’ve got third shift, Sam you’re on first and I’m on second.”

“Do we start today?” Bucky asks as you make your way downstairs, you were given a small packet for the guys, things you would need to know like allergies, presentation, emergency contacts and dietary restrictions. All three are simple, no dietary issues, no allergies, Alphas, Sam has his wife Carol as his emergency contact but Steve and Bucky, or James as he’s listed, both have Rebecca Barnes, Bucky’s sister.

You get started on dinner and Sam wanders down into the kitchen bringing his

“So, why didn’t you leave town?”

“Nowhere to go. And the fire is heading away from here so hopefully everything will stay away from town.”

“The smoke doesn’t bother you?”

“I mean it’s not great but as long as Coop and I are okay I plan on staying. I’ve got some stuff packed up in my car and ready to go but I just haven’t pulled the trigger yet.”

“That’s fair. We do really appreciate you doing this. Letting us stay here.” He’s got such a soothing presence about him that you forget he’s an Alpha until his scent washes over you.

“It’s the least I can do,” you tell him with a smile, “so what does first shift mean?”

“Oh, it’s the really early shift, like 4am. Steve will be out running a crew since he’s a Captain back home and he’s around 10am then Bucky is 4pm.”

“What will I need for you in the morning? Breakfast? Coffee? Energy bars?”

“Coffee would be great. I usually take it with milk.” You jot down coffee and milk on a sheet of paper.

“How do the other two take their coffee?”

“Barnes likes it black, like a psychopath and Steve likes it with cream and sugar so he can’t taste the coffee.” You laugh and jot down creamer.

“Any chance you know what kind of creamer he likes?”

“Caramel I think.”

“I can always ask him too. I’ll set the coffee to go off at 3:15 for you.”

“Thank you.” Sam says as he sits down at the island. “What are you making for dinner?”

“Spaghetti. I make the sauce from scratch, from the garden.”

“It smells great.”

“Thanks, should be about a half hour. I’ve got meatballs in the oven and will have some garlic bread and green beans from my garden too.”

“You’re going to spoil us huh?” He says with a grin and you laugh, hoping that your suppressants work like they’re supposed to and keep you presenting as a Beta.

“I don’t get to cook for others often so I’m being a little selfish. Let me know if you need anything from town or want me to get anything. I’ll go shopping for the week tomorrow.”

“Are they paying you to host us?”

“No, but I don’t mind getting you guys stuff.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, I wouldn’t offer if it was a problem.” You assure him and after studying you he nods.

“I’ll be sure to let the guys know.” You chat with Sam while you cook. You learn that his wife Carol is an Alpha and a doctor. The Alpha/Alpha pair is uncommon but if it works for them that’s wonderful. You also learn that he, Bucky and Steve served together and that Carol had outranked all three.

It seems that Steve has always been the one to lead their little trio, and when the smell of dinner lures him and Bucky down you include them in the conversation. Bucky, whose scent is oranges and cedar wood, is more chatty and flirty than Steve is but there’s this quiet strength about Steve that’s impossible not to notice.

Sam goes to bed immediately after dinner but Steve and Bucky stay up and watch the news with you. You set the coffee machine for Sam and leave him a note to help himself to anything he wants to eat. Then you bring Cooper outside, he wanders your wildfire lit backyard, the orange glow is spooky and the smell of smoke is thick in the air.

“Come on Coop, it’s bedtime.” You tell him leading him to the living room. Both Steve and Bucky are gone so you change into your pajamas and get ready for bed in the bathroom then head back to the couch where Cooper is laying dead center. “Move it Coop.” He grumbles but gets down, once you’re settled you let him back up on the couch between your feet.

You wake up as Sam closes the fridge.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” He says softly. When he turns and sees you sitting up on the couch.

“No it’s okay.” You tell him as Cooper hops off of the couch. You follow him to the back door and let him out.

“Why are you sleeping on the couch?”

“They needed three more beds so I gave them three more beds.”

“We put you out of your room?” He asks with a small frown.

“I sleep more on the couch anyway, I usually fall asleep to one baking show or another.” You tell him with a sleepy smile, you hadn’t meant to tell them they’d taken all your beds but it was too late now.

“This is your home.”

“Seriously Sam don’t worry about it.” You say letting Cooper back into the house. “Be safe.”

“Thanks.” He says and you go back to bed on the couch.

The next time you wake it’s 9:00 and you want to make sure that you’ve got something ready for Bucky and Steve for breakfast so you get up. You feed Cooper then let him out again, if there wasn’t the fire you’d let him stay outside as long as he wanted. You sit down on the couch and pull your tablet into your lap. Cooper joins you on the couch as you start to draw your characters.

“Morning.” Steve’s voice is low and soft when he greets you.

“Good morning. There are pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon in the oven. The pans will be warm.”

“Thanks,” you hear him help himself to food and coffee then he comes out into the living room. “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all. Don’t let Coop fool you into any food though.”

“No people food for him?”

“Just some fruit and veggies.” You tell him glancing up at the fire captain. “So Sam said you guys were on a 4-10-4 start time but what time are you all home?”

“We’re doing 12 hour shifts, so Sam and Buck don’t overlap but I will with both.”

“Okay, I’ll have dinner ready when you get back. Is there anything that I don’t have that you need? Sam said you liked a certain flavor of creamer.”

“The French vanilla is fine.”

“He said caramel?” You glance over at him again and he has this little shy smile on his face. “I don’t mind, I need to go get groceries anyway.”

“Caramel is my favorite.” He admits and you nod then get back to your drawing. He finishes his breakfast in silence then puts his dishes into the dishwasher, Steve heads back upstairs and you hear him finish getting ready before he comes back down.

“Be safe.”

“Thanks.” He says before closing the door softly behind him.

Bucky sleeps until almost noon, you’ve taken breakfast out of the oven and put it in the fridge. He somehow looks groggy still and you’re worried he didn’t sleep well.

“Good morning.”

“Morning. How are you?” His voice is low and husky.

“Good. Did you sleep okay?”

“Yea I slept great. I could still be asleep to be honest but I might get called in early.”

“Why?”

“There are less guys at base camp right now. Apparently a group of them had some trouble on the way? I don’t know but Steve called.”

“Breakfast is in the fridge if you wanna heat it otherwise I have lunch meat and stuff for sandwiches.”

“I love breakfast food.” He says making his way to the fridge. He starts a cup of coffee then opens the fridge.

You find out that Bucky is a chatter. Which is fine but you’re glad that you’re illustrating today rather than writing because there’s no way you’d be able to focus on writing. He asks you about living in the small town, how you ended up here, about your job, when he finds out you’re an author and illustrator of children’s books he promises to buy his niece a couple books. You tell him to leave his address and you’ll send him a signed copy of the one you’re working on, he excitedly does.

When he leaves at 3:30, not being called in early, you take a break and start on dinner. You want to make sure you’ve got food ready for Sam when he gets back.

Sam comes in at 4:45, Cooper barks excitedly and Sam sinks to the ground and Cooper immediately calms allowing Sam to wrap his arms around him. You don’t say anything, just continue to cook while Sam hugs Cooper to him. You hear him talking softly but you ignore him, whatever he’s saying to Coop is none of your business.

“I’m gonna go take a shower before I eat.” Sam says at full volume, the side of his face still pressed to Cooper’s side.

“That’s fine,” you assure him, “I’ve got about twenty minutes before the rice is done.”

“Okay.” He disappears then Cooper comes wandering into the kitchen. You give him a couple of treats and tell him what a good boy he is.

Sam eats in silence then goes up to his room, you’re pretty sure he goes to bed by 7 but after the day he’s had you can’t blame him.

At 10 you start reheating food for when Steve comes in. Sure enough, 10:30 rolls in and so does Steve. Cooper greets Steve with a wagging tail, Steve gives him a little pat and heads upstairs. You hear the shower turn on and after around 10 minutes Steve is back dropping down on the couch as Cooper puts a head in his lap. Steve absently pets Cooper and you place a plate of food in front of him.

“Thank you.” His tired eyes meet yours and he gives you a little half smile.

“It’s the least I can do.” You tell him sincerely. Cooper stays with his head in Steve’s lap until Steve goes upstairs to bed. You set up your bed on the couch and set your alarm for 3:30 in the morning so you can get food heated for Bucky and coffee and food started for Sam.

You fall asleep still smelling Steve on your couch.

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[estrel]

Are You Happy? (Save Them Some Pie)

HAPPY 42ND BIRTHDAY, DEAN!! this is my gift to him for being my comfort person that i would hug on sight if given the chance 💗 love you dude, may you indulge in copious amounts of pie. ~ 1.5k words.

also dedicated to marlo ( @heller-jensen ), jace ( @thiscastielhasflown ) and dee ( @castee-yel ) thanks for bein real ones <3

[READ ON AO3]

The day had already started out weird enough.

Dean had woken up drenched in sweat, mind racing with the last lingering thoughts of a nightmare. A vamp nest that he and Sam had been hunting, Dean dying in the most ludicrous way possible, and driving Baby down a long road for an indiscriminate amount of time in a supposed heaven that his father (his father) also co-habited. Needless to say, the dream had come out of nowhere, but it was easy enough to forget once the smell of bacon made its way into his room.

Breakfast was hardy and quick, with enough coffee to fuel him for the rest of the day as he skimmed the internet for a possible case. He had the itch, but apparently, looking around at the three sleepy faces around him at the table, no one else did.

He packed up anyway, preparing for what would likely be an easy salt-n-burn; he’d be gone for only a few hours, tops. On his way out, Cas stops him before he can scale the stairs, arm gripping his shoulder tightly. There’s a memory, briefly—the same hand, the same shoulder. Blood.

Dean looks down at it. Back at Cas.

“…Yeah?”

After a moment, Cas lets go. He steps back half an inch as if he had forgotten himself. “Just…be careful.”

Dean nods, moving to leave again, taking the awkwardness as both a Cas thing and a morning thing and content to leave it at that. 

“And,” Cas says. Dean turns back.

“Come home.”

//

Dean picks up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Dean, hey! It’s, uh. It’s me. Krissy?”

Dean feels himself begin to smile, mindful of the road ahead of him. He balances his phone on his thigh while he drives.

“Hey, kid! Long time no call. How are you? Everything okay?”

The case had been as easy as Dean had suspected, but he had that familiar muscle ache and heaviness to his eyes that solo cases usually gave him.

Besides that, he was getting a little confused about all of the calls he’d been getting today. Before Krissy, it had been Garth, and before that, Claire and Jody and…

“Uh, yeah, dude, everything’s good. Um. How are you? How’s Sam and that angel of yours?”

Dean swallows to keep from choking, or potentially crashing the car.

“They’re good. Yeah…good.” Alive, he wants to say, back from the dead, probably in the DeanCave watching Scooby Doo without him. “Sorry, Krissy, ah,” he steps off the break to make a left, “I’m actually on my way home right now. Was there something I could help you with?”

There’s a pause, and Dean chances a glance at his phone to see if the call had dropped off. It hadn’t.

“Krissy?”

“I,” she huffs in what sounds like a laugh, “Nothing, Dean. You get home safe, okay?”

“Sure thing.”

“And hey,” Krissy says, before he can say his goodbyes, “Uh, make sure you save some pie for everybody else.”

Dean’s eyebrows furrow a bit, but he laughs. “I will. Take care of yourself.”

“Bye, Dean.”

“Ba-bye.”

//

Dean’s still mulling over the pie comment when he nearly falls down the stairs, squinting into the darkness of the Bunker.

“What the hell?” he asks, voice hoarse around the high note. “Guys?”

When there’s no immediate answer, Dean’s instincts kick in. He pulls out his gun and gently drops his bag, waiting a moment for his eyes to adjust so he can try for the stairs.

Before he can, though, the lights kick back on. His gaze locks onto the scene below, and Dean slowly lowers his gun.

“Happy birthday!” Jack says, the sound of a party horn whining shortly after. Beside him, Cas pulls the string of a party popper, and he jerks as bits of confetti fall around him and into his hair.

Skeptically, Dean starts descending down the stairs.

“You…this…” he manages.

“It’s your birthday, dumbass,” Sam says, swooping forward to slap a party hat on Dean’s head as soon as he’s made the landing. He smiles.

“Oh…kay.” Around them, the Bunker looks pretty normal. The only difference is the array of pies on one of the library tables, next to what looks like home made rice krispie treats, and a couple of birthday-themed plates and napkins. That, and the confetti from Cas’ party popper that litters the floor. “Are you sure?”

Cas frowns at Sam. “Sam was certain. I can’t imagine he’d get the day wrong, but he has had quite severe brain trauma over the years. Perhaps…” Cas reaches out to Sam’s head, probably intent on searching his brain for said trauma, or for the date of Dean’s actual birthday. Sam swats his hand away.

“Hey, no. My trauma is fine. Dean,” Sam redirects his attention to him, “It’s today. Did you really forget?”

Dean shrugs, trying to piece the day together from the beginning. Shitty dream, good breakfast, the three of them weirdly insisting on staying at the Bunker…the calls. Save some pie for everybody else.

He laughs. “So that’s what she meant.”

“That’s what who meant?” Jack asks. He’s wearing a party hat, too, with ridiculous stripes of blue and pink and purple patterned onto it. It matches the one currently strapped to Dean’s own. He shakes his head.

“You’re telling me all of you knew? This whole time? And…and…” He looks around again, pointing vaguely at the table and the confetti. “You put this all together for me?”

Sam shoves his arm playfully. “Course we did. Now quit pouting and come eat some pie.”

//

Sam is fast asleep, sprawled out on the couch hours later with one of his hands brushing the floor. Dean thinks he spots drool on the pillow underneath him. 

Cas has been quiet next to Dean, at least since Jack had disappeared into the kitchen an hour ago and hadn’t come back, thoughtfully tracing the lip of his beer bottle with his finger. 

“Something on your mind?” Dean asks, because he wants to know.

Cas continues unbothered. Scooby Doo reruns play in the background. Dean almost repeats the question, but Cas eventually lifts his gaze to stare at him.

“Are you happy?” 

Dean presses his mouth shut. Licks his lips. He takes just as long to answer.

“You know what,” he smiles. “I think I am.”

Cas smiles back at him, soft and genuine. The skin around his eyes crinkling tells more than the gentle upturn of his mouth. 

Dean swallows, nervously putting his beer down and turning it a few times until his fingers are wet with the condensation. 

“What, uh. What about you?” He swallows again. “You happy?”

What he really wants to ask, though, is if they were good. If, after recent events, they were still the same. If Cas was still fine with “just being.”

He’s quiet again. Dean thinks he deserves that, and tries to pay attention to the TV, but the voice in his head is too loud. Cas has to tap his knee to get his attention again.

“Hm?”

“I was saying,” he moves his hand back, “that I’m sorry I didn’t get you a gift.”

Dean stares at him. “What are you talking about?”

Cas looks confused, like he’s about to repeat what he just said. Dean stops him short with a wave of his hand. 

“Dude, you just got back from the dead, alright? That’s—that’s gift enough to last me a lifetime. Don’t worry about a gift.”

Cas frowns, and Dean rolls his eyes. It’s another few moments of tense silence, until Dean breaks it, his heart pounding in his chest.

“But, uh,” he says, “I might have a gift for you.”

“Dean, we don’t share a birthday. It’s not customary to gift me something, especially when I haven’t given you—“

“Cas,” he groans, officially putting his beer aside and facing him. Cas’ features are lit up with the colors of the TV. Dean reaches a hand up to pluck confetti from his hair, a green piece that he’d been eyeing all night. Hesitating, he lets his hand fall to Cas’ face, smoothing over his cheek and jaw. The TV paints his cheekbone purple. Dean brushes his thumb over it. “Just...shut up and let me do this.” 

Cas tilts his head, eyebrows furrowed in that way of his, and Dean thinks he looks perfect. When he dips forward and presses their lips together, it’s perfect, perfect, perfect. He’s warm, his face is burning, eyes almost watering when he pulls away.

Dean lets his forehead rest on Cas’, heartbeat still crazy. He closes his eyes. “We can have it, Cas. This. We can have this.”

Cas takes Dean’s face in his hands, lifts it a little to bring them face to face again, so that he’s looking into Dean’s eyes.

“I’d like that, Dean,” he says, and his eyes are wet, too. Happy, Dean thinks.

“Your gift to me?” Dean manages, smile wobbly. He’s teasing, trying to bring down the weight of this without getting rid of all of it. He likes this type of adrenaline rush, different from any hunt he’s been on. Better.

Cas smiles. “I think technically it was you that gifted me, but, yes. My gift to you, if you’ll take it.”

“Gladly,” Dean says.

Cas hums back, brushing his fingers through the hair at the nape of Dean’s neck. “Happy birthday, Dean.” He leaves a kiss on his forehead.

Happy. 

Dean thinks, for the first time, as he pulls more confetti from Cas’ hair, that it actually is. 

—

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[maibi]

Ok, maybe I do like him

Dabi x reader

Summary: lowkey enemies to lo lovers. When Dabi found out you got hurt by someone, he didn’t particularly take it well

A/N: got this random idea off of tiktok and decided to write about it lolz also not completely proof read sorry

——————————————————————————

You didn’t like Dabi. You didn’t like how he walked as if he was the main character. You didn’t like how he always followed behind you just so he could irritate you. You didn't like his face, that smug smile that appeared when he succeeded in irritating you and that frown when you said to him to leave you alone. You didn't like him. And he didn’t like you.

“Look out!”

You spun around quickly, ready to punch whoever tapped your shoulder, but glared when you saw Dabi standing behind you while he was laughing. 

“I swear if you come closer to me one more fucking time I will destroy the rest of your not purple skin”, you said giving him a death glare.

“Oh no, I got so scared my tear ducts almost started working again”, he said with a fake concerned look.

“If you don’t stop I will make sure none of the ducts on your body work”, you said as you walked away from him.

“Oh come on, that was funny”, he said as he walked faster coming closer to you so that he walked next to you, shoulders almost touching.

“If that shoulder of yours touches mine I'll make sure it doesn’t touch anything anymore. And for god’s sake leave me alone”, you said, closing your eyes and breathing in heavily.

“Fine fine”, he said as he slowed down his pace. “But will you miss me?”

“No”, you casually said as you walked away from him and left his standing alone on the street.

You didn’t like him. But you still turned around to see if he was still following you. But you regretted that you did, because the second you turned your head slightly he was standing barely inches away from your face. “If you wanted a good bye kiss you could have just asked me one.”

You placed your finger on his forehead and pushed him away from your face. “Did you eat tuna for breakfast or something?”

He looked slightly taken aback, but smiled right after. “Why? Wanna have a taste?”

“If it means spending more time with you, than no”, you said as you turned around and put your hand in the air midway. “Hope to not see you around.”

“That breaks my heart”, he said in a playful tone as his laughter faded the more you walked further away from him. 

You didn’t like to give him the attention he wanted. You made sure to do the exact opposite. You knew he’d irritate you even more, but as much as you hated him it was in some way some an enjoyment. You were bored quickly so having him around wasn’t always as bad, though he never knew his limits.

You smiled to yourself and walked further down the street. You didn’t really have a destination in mind, you just walked. Wherever you would land is where you’d stay. It was a continues cycle. 

You weren’t really paying attention but when someone grabbed your hand you quickly spun around. “Dabi for god’s sake not no-”

You stopped talking the second you saw that it wasn’t Dabi. “Who are you?”, you asked with frown while looking the man up and down.

“You alone?”

“Why do you care about that?”, you asked. 

His grip on your wrist tightened and even though you didn’t like to admit it, it hurt. You tried to pull away but the size of this man made you realize it was as good as impossible. 

“Why don’t we go to my place huh? Have a little fun. I see you a lot, wandering around the city on your own, thought you might wanted some company”, he said as he inched closer to your ear. 

“I’ll decline, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff”, you replied, trying to pull your arm away from him. But no luck.

“Don’t be shy, I'll be gent-”

You didn’t think any further and just crashed your head against his face, making him stagger back, his grip didn’t loosen, but you punching your two fingers to his throat did. And the second he let go you ran. You tasted iron and when you brought your hand up to your face you noticed your nose was bleeding. 

Trying to wipe that all away was the reason you didn’t look in front of you. While running so hard you just ran into someone, making the both of you fall down. Your head felt a little dizzy, but you regained yourself so that you could run away. You just gave the person a simple sorry, not even looking at their face just so you get away quickly. But you were stopped by a pair of hands around your wrist and you felt a stinging pain.

You turned around and took a good look at the person and saw Dabi in front of you with a worried look on his face. “Shit face not now”, you hissed at him as you tried running again, but his grip on your wrist, that had been previously abused by the man, didn’t loosen. “Dabi I’m serious, let me go.”

He didn't react and only looked at your wrist. It had a red color and it already started to bruise lightly. He looked at you and pulled you closer to him. He looked deep into your eyes and brought his hand to your face. You flinched and closed your eyes, but he didn't move any further with his hands. “I’m not gonna hurt you”, he whispered. He brought his hand closer to your face now and slowly wiped the blood away from your nose even though it was still running. 

He looked at your wrist again. “Who did this?”

“For fuck’s sake Dabi it doesn’t matter just let me go”, you said looking behind him to see if the stranger was coming and when you saw him you panicked again. 

Dabi didn’t budge and with half closed eyes he stared deep into your eyes. “Don’t make me repeat myself. Who did this to you?”, he said in a murderous tone. 

He looked behind him and when he was the man coming closer to the two of you he knew exactly it was him. He didn’t have to think twice about your facial expressions because he knew you. He knew you too well. 

He let go of your wrist and walked up to the man. And he did something that you didn’t expect to happen. He protected you. He helped you and got himself hurt just so you wouldn’t have to fight him. Just so you could be safe. 

And strangely, you felt your heart skip a beat at that moment.

Later around the evening you were walking a limping Dabi to his place. You never knew he actually lived somewhere and you thought he was just a street bird like you. But apparently not. 

“You know, you didn’t have to go overboard like that”, you said in an almost whisper while you walked him inside of his place. 

He didn’t answer. 

You helped him sit on the couch and you slumped next to him. “We should get your wounds treated. Where is the first aid kit?”

“It’s okey, leave it for now”, he said, throwing his head back and closing his eyes.

“Come on don’t be a bitch about it and just tell me.”

He didn’t answer and just stood up with a sigh. He walked away, out of your field of vision and came back later with a pack of ice and the first aid kit. You reached out to take it from him but he placed it next to him and put the ice pack on your wrist with a towel around it. He took out some cotton pads and wetted them. He started to slowly rub them around your nose area to clean up the blood that had dried there.

You held his wrist and stopped his movements. “You made me drag you here to your place, but you walked perfectly fine to get the first aid kit?”

A smug smile appeared on his face, but it was weaker than normal. You didn’t really question it, but it stayed in the back of your head. “Dabi, I'm not in the mood to play around right now, you little dick!”, you said as he let out a breathy laugh.

“I can agree with many names you call me, but I can assure you dick is not small”, he winked at you. 

Your face flushed red and you hit his chest to silence his laughter. “I’m being serious here”, you said.

“So am I”, he said in a more serious tone as he continued cleaning your nose. 

You let him do that and while he was busy you stared at him. You never knew you’d come to the realization that Dabi wasn’t that bad of a person and definitely not bad looking. His blue eyes made you want to stare for a long time and his piercings were a different story you were interested in. But the main thing you were interested in was-

“Why did you help me out there?”

He stopped his movements and with his head slightly down he turned his eyes only in your direction. He didn’t answer yet and only stared at you. 

“I mean, I'm never really nice to you and we’re basically always at each other’s throat. So why exactly did you help me?”

“Because”, he said as he walked away with the blood stained cotton and came back empty handed, sitting next to you again, but closer ,“I care about you and I worry myself over you getting injured.”

He just casually explained it like that as if was nothing. You felt your face heat up, but because you knew he’d make fun of you, you turned your head to the side. 

“Your ears are red”, he pointed out and you could basically hear him smile.

“I’ll make your face red if you keep coming at me like that”, you said in annoyance. 

You felt him scoot closer, but you tried to not show a reaction. His hand came to your face and with his fingertips placed on your chin, he turned your head so that you were facing him. “You don’t always have to be violent against me”, he said in a whisper as he inched your face closer to his.

“Then make sure I don’t have to”, you whispered back as you closed your eyes and your lips met. You melted in his touch and something never felt so right but so wrong at the same time. This was person you were supposed to hate.

But you came to the realization. You came to the realization that you did like the way he walked so confidently as if he was the main character. You loved the way he followed behind you because you knew he did it to protect you. You liked his face, the way he smiled when he got your attention and the way it furrowed when you left him when he desperately wanted your attention. And you thought to yourself that maybe you didn’t hate him and that maybe perhaps he didn't dislike you either. 

[jinx-jade]

Contagious adoption Part 2: Creatures

Marinette and Tim were sitting in the living room of one of Tim’s apartments. They had flown in from the Tibet village about thirteen or fourteen hours ago.

Tim had filled out all the adoption papers and any other legal papers his newly claimed daughter would need. To his surprise, Marinette had identification papers. He had thought the little deity didn’t need them. After all, Marinette had lived on the hill to grant wishes, why would she need identification papers.

Unless she didn’t live on the hill her whole life… 

Thinking back to what Marinette had said when he asked her why she stayed up on the mountain all alone. Tim had a feeling she’s been abandoned before.

Back on the mountain, Marinette had shifted from one foot to the other a few times before answering his question. She seemed to have been contemplating what to tell him. Or was it how much to tell him? 

Her answer, “Because I have nowhere else to go and no one waiting for me anywhere.” was a well-thought-out way to respond. 

If no one wants you, then no one waits for you.

If no one waits for you, then you have nowhere to go.

“... ake, Mr. Drake,” Marinette called for the umpteenth time.

“Sorry about that, guess I got lost in my thoughts,” Tim said with a sheepish smile. “Did you need something? Oh, and you can just call me Tim, or any variation of dad that you’re comfortable with.”

“Oh, uh, I don’t need anything… ” The little deity trailed off. “But, uh, does… does Papa work?”

Tim gave his daughter a soft smile.

‘His daughter. Now wasn’t that a strange thought.’ Tim couldn’t help but think to himself.

“You can call me Papa if you want.” He said with a smile, before adding, “I can speak French and a few other languages.”

Tim was unsure why he felt like mentioning that he can speak French was important. However, when Tim saw Marinette look up at him in awe, he couldn’t help but think It was the right thing to say.

“Now, what is it you wanted to do,” Tim asked, picking his daughter up so she doesn’t have to look up at him the whole conversation.

“Can we make cookies? It’s… It’s been a long time since I’ve had any…” Marinette trailed off again.

“Of course we can make cookies. What kind did you want to make?” Tim asked with a soft smile.

Life continued like normal for the young CEO, vigilante, with the addition of a small deity. However, there were a few changes to his lifestyle.

Tim was now able to cook and bake, not as good as Alfred, but he figured that Alfred won’t ban him from the kitchen.

Tim also registered Marinette Drake-Wayne as being homeschooled. Which was fine since Tim was technically qualified to homeschool his kid. However, Marinette flew through the classes like they were nothing. Her teachers wanted to have her IQ tested, but Marinette said she didn’t want to, so no one pushed it.

Tim also worked from home, only ever showing up to meetings. He also seemed to have a little helper when it came to some of the paperwork. Turns out, Marinette knows how a business runs, and how to run one. It was slightly concerning, but his daughter waved his concern off.

Tim took a break from being a vigilante. He still helped out by sending the bats reports of the rogue of the day, or sometimes a week, that they were tracking. Marinette helped out with this as well. Apparently, she’s been a vigilante before. To say that Tim was concerned was an understatement, but his concern was once again, waved off.

After a month of living with his adopted daughter, Tim had his first in-person meeting at W.E.

“Hey bean, do you want to come with me to work?” Tim asked while making breakfast.

“Am I allowed to?” Marinette shot back in response.

“I mean, B. always took his kids to work so, I’m just gonna say you’re allowed to,” Tim answered with a shrug, setting the food at the table.

Marinette shrugged back.

“Sure! I’ll go ahead and call H.R. and let them know I’ll be making my first appearance as Marinette Drake-Wayne.” Marinette informed him, before digging into her food.

Tim chuckled at that.

“You’re definitely gonna be H.R.’s favorite.” He claimed before he began eating his breakfast.

“Papa, I used to grant magic wishes on a hill with mythical creatures, that is my version of normal. I’m willing to bet that I will be H.R.’s least favorite person by the end of the year.” Marinette claimed, causing Tim to laugh.

“Bean, sweetheart, you’re about to call H.R. to let them know about a mess they will have to clean up. The rest of the Waynes, myself included, usually just let them find out through the tabloids and news stations. You’re definitely gonna be their favorite.” Tim informed his daughter.

_______________________

Tim stepped out of his car and walked through W.E. up to his office. He was aware of the attention that was on him, not bothered by it in the slightest.

He looked down at his daughter to see that she was trying to hide from sight. She was clearly not comfortable with everyone looking at her. Well, everyone looking at her and the lack of magic. He really should have remembered that Marinette has extremely bad anxiety whenever she can’t freely use magic. In his defense, it seemed that neither of them had remembered due to having barely left the apartment the whole month Marinette has been living there.

Tim looked up and around the workplace. He raised a brow at the employees that were just watching, most of them scrambled to work, or simply turned their attention away to seem busy.

When Tim and Marinette finally made it to Tim’s office, they thought they could relax, only to see the rest of the Waynes sitting inside.

Bruce looked like he was about to ask something, but stopped when he caught sight of the little girl hiding behind Tim.

Tim of course, ignored his families questioning stares in favor of calming his daughter.

Tim sat Marinette down in his office chair with a cup of coffee, before turning his attention to the others in the room.

“I wasn’t aware everyone started working at W.E.” Tim joked with a raised brow. A clear question as to why they were in his office.

“Not all of us do,” Dick answered looking towards the small child. “Did you just give the tiny person coffee?”

Tim shrugs the question off easily, “Caffeine helps calm her anxiety when she’s too overwhelmed.”

“And who exactly is she?” Damian inquired, sounding a bit more like a demand than a question.

Tim looked over to Marinette who seemed to be doing slightly better. There wasn’t much else they could do besides give her more coffee and random tasks to do. He gestured for her to come over and talk, a simple task to take her mind off the lack of magic. She slowly made her way off the office chair and towards the group of people.

“Marinette, this is my adoptive father, brothers, and sister, Bruce, Barbara, Dick, Cass, Jason, Steph, and Damian. Guys, this is Marinette Drake-Wayne, my adopted daughter.”

Marinette gave a small, shy wave and smile before hiding behind her father once again.

“You disappeared for a month, and apparently adopted a kid.” Jason states. “Damn, and here I thought it was supposed to be my job to stress B. out.” He claimed with a chuckle.

“Could one of you watch Marinette for me while B. and I are in the meeting? I had asked her this morning if she wanted to come since I couldn’t leave her at home alone, but I don’t think either of us thought It would be this bad for her anxiety.” Tim states.

“How about those of us who don’t have a meeting to attend will go back to the manor, and we can watch over Marinette,” Barbara suggests.

Tim looked to Marinette to see if she would be ok with it, only to receive a shrug from the little deity.

“Ok.” Tim agreed after some hesitation. “If Marinette starts getting too anxious then give her something with caffeine in it and have her draw, or bake something,” Tim informs them.

After Marinette and Tim say their goodbyes, Marinette follows Barbara, Dick, Cass, and Steph out to the limo.

The drive to Wayne manor was awkward, to say the least. None of the Waynes had known that Tim adopted a kid, and they weren’t sure if she knew about their nightly activities, so they stayed quiet.

Tim’s daughter didn’t seem to mind the silence. Marinette was looking out the window calmly with no signs of her previous anxiety. However, every once in a while her hand slightly opens and closes as if grabbing something.

When they arrived at the manor, Dick was immediately grabbed into a hug by his daughter. Mar’i speaks too fast and excitedly for them to understand, unknowingly grabbing the attention of most of the Waynes.

Cass however, noticed the youngest and newest Waynes flinch at Mar’i’s unexpected appearance. Cass quickly and quietly, moved away from the other Waynes, bringing Marinette with her, inside the manor.

“Would the two of you like anything to drink or snack on?” Alfred asked when they entered.

“Tea. Muffin,” Cass says pointing to herself. “Coffee. Muffin?” Cass said pointing to Marinette.

“Of course, why don’t the two of you relax in the garden,” Alfred suggests.

Cass nodded her head leading them to the garden while Alfred left to prepare their snacks and drinks. Marinette seemed to be stuck in her head and simply followed Cass silently.

Marinette and Cass spent the afternoon in the garden, the plants seemed to have a calming effect on the smaller Wayne. After Marinette being in the garden for a while and drinking her coffee, Marinette seemed to have calmed down.

However, not all of Marinette’s anxiety and nerves were calmed by the coffee and plants. Cass just wasn’t sure what else could be calming the little bluenette.

After a few more minutes had passed, some small creatures started gravitating towards Marinette.

A white rabbit, some squirrels, birds, even a butterfly landed on Marinette’s nose making the girl giggle.

Cass could only watch in awe as the small creatures came closer. None of them wanted any food, water, or shelter, they simply wanted Marinette’s attention.

Then Cass noticed that the few small injuries and bruises she had received from last night’s patrol were fading away.

No.

They were healing.

Cass took out her phone and quickly recorded her injuries healing too fast to be normal, this seemed like the kind of thing the other bats would want to know. 

Cass also took a video and a few pictures of Marinette playing with the animals. She had to admit, the pictures looked adorable, so of course, she sent some to Tim. 

Chat: Tim

Cass: one attached picture*

Tim: good call on bringing her to the garden

Cass: Alfred idea

Tim: where are the others

Cass: Mar’i frightened? Marenet?

Tim: KEEP MARINETTE AWAY FROM KORI AND MARI

Cass: why

Tim: Marinette isn’t

Tim: normal

Cass: one attached video*

Tim: yeah

Tim: her anxiety is caused by not being able to use magic freely

Tim: should have mentioned that before

Tim: sorry

Cass: I text others?

Tim: Yeah go-ahead

Tim: Lunch break is over

Tim: I'll see you guys when the meetings are over

Cass: ok

Cass shot a quick text to Dick, warning him that Tim doesn’t want Kor’i or Mar’i near Marinette till he was at the manor, before looking up from her phone to check on Marinette. She seemed to be relaxed, definitely not as anxious as before. Cass probably wouldn’t have been able to tell that Marinette has anxiety from looking at her right now.

Marinette looked up from the little creatures she seemed to have befriended, with a smile. She got up with some plants in her hand and made her way towards Cass.

Marinette placed a flower crown on Cass’s head with a giggle, before running back to the animals.

Cass couldn’t help but think that Tim had a lot of explaining to do when he gets to the manor.

‘But that’s not my problem to deal with.’ Cass thought to herself as she took a picture of the flower crown and sent it to the family chat.

[twst-bs]

NRC Students and an Anxious MC

And with this, I've done all of the students at NRC!! Well, with the nervous MC, anyway, I have some other stuff in the works too.

Also, in case anyone was wondering, I'm open for both requests and commissions!

-----

Ace: “You look awful.”

The Ramshackle Prefect shot Ace a glare, but it lacked their usual fire. “Thanks, Ace.”

“Come on, I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.” he caught up with them easily when they turned around to keep walking. “I just meant you looked like you had a rough night. Or like you’re stressed out. You know.”

“Your grave only has to be six feet, Ace, you can stop digging now.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “You aren’t usually this crabby. Seriously, what’s up?”

They sighed. “You’re right, I had a rough night.”

“Any particular reason why? Or just ‘cause?”

The two of them had reached Crewel’s classroom, but they still had a few minutes before they had to be in there. The Prefect bit their lip nervously. “I kind of freaked out last night because of the homework.”

“It was pretty hard, huh?”

“Well, that too,” they crossed their arms, almost like they were trying to hide themself. “But, it’s like...I feel stupid, you know? You guys all know this magic stuff, but I’m struggled to handle even the basics. Then I thought, well, if I can’t handle the basics, I’m going to get punished, and I would deserve it because I’m an idiot, and...you can see how the spiral went.”

Ace was quiet for a moment, studying them with an unreadable expression. Then, he heaved out a side and grabbed their wrist, tugging them into the classroom. “I guess it can’t be helped, then.”

“Huh?”

He plopped unceremoniously into his seat and dug around in his bag. “Be quick about it, okay? Queen only knows what Crewel’s punishment for getting caught copying homework is.”

The Prefect stared at Ace with wide eyes. “Seriously?”

“It’s better than nothing,” Ace shrugged, slapping his notebook down on the desk. “If he says anything, I’ll tell him you helped me word it. Now, come on!”

Deuce: They weren’t getting anywhere.

The longer they stared at the question on their worksheet, the less they could focus. Apparently this was supposed to be basic stuff, but there were so many strange ingredients with different magical properties that they couldn’t keep track. And the more that had to flip back and forth between their textbook and worksheet, the more stupid they felt.

“...right? Hey, are you alright?”

Deuce’s voice broke through the panic that was beginning to set in, and when they finally looked up, his blue eyes were wide with concern.

“What? I’m sorry, Deuce, I kinda...spaced there for a minute.”

That only made the crease in Deuce’s brow deepen. “You looked really freaked out. Is something wrong?”

The two of them had made a habit out of studying in the library together. Since Deuce wasn’t the best student and the Prefect was playing a very intense game of catch up, they figured they could motivate each other while studying. But lately, all they had been able to do was sit there and be anxious about everything.

"I...um…" They absent-mindedly clicked their pen, unable to look Deuce in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?" he asked incredulously. "For real, are you alright?"

The genuine worry in his expression made something in them burst. They threw their pen down on the table and buried their face in their hands. "I don't know what I'm doing! I went from magic not existing to suddenly having to study it, and I can't even master the basics! I'm terrified that I'll fail and Crowley will kick me out and -"

"Whoa, whoa, hey, it's okay!" Deuce's chair scraped against the floor as he hurried over to their side, grasping their hands in his. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Their chest heaved as they tried to suck in enough air. "But -"

"Listen," he cut them off. "The stuff you have to deal with is a lot. And I'm sorry for not realizing it earlier. If you want, we can go to Professor Crewel and ask for some tutoring, or even remedial lessons. Whatever you need, I'll help."

Cater: “What are you looking at?”

At the sound of the Ramshackle Prefect’s voice from behind the couch he was sitting on in the Heartslabyul lounge, Cater lolled his head back to grin at them. “Heya! Just scrolling through Magicam, what else is new?”

“That is your favorite pastime, huh?” they leaned on the back of the couch, looking at the screen.

“What are you doing in Heartslabyul, anyway?” he asked.

“Ace thought he could get away with not studying if he ‘forgot’ his textbooks at Ramshackle. I’m returning them before Riddle thinks I was in on it.””

“Yeah, that tracks.”

The two of them lapsed into a companionable silence, the Prefect watching as Cater scrolled. However, out of the corner of his eye, he could see their expression gradually get tighter and tighter, like they were trying to control whatever emotion was trying to show through.

“What’s with that face?”

“What face?” they asked defensively. “This is just my face.”

“That’s the face you make when you start having bad thoughts but don’t want anybody to know.”

“Get out of my head, Cater.”

He snorted, turning so he was sitting sideways on the couch and could get a better look at them. “Come on, tell Cay what’s on your mind.”

They hesitated, picking idly at the loose thread on the couch. “...It’s just me being stupid.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“...The people on Magicam are way more good-looking than I am.” the finally mumbled, looking away. “I keep wondering when you’ll realize that.”

Cater’s green eyes widened before he giggled. “Nope.”

“Nope what?”

“I won’t realize it,” he reached around them to pull their face closer, kissing them affectionately on the cheek. “Because it’s not true. And whenever you start to think like that, you tell me, so I can reassure you.”

Jack: Something felt off.

Nothing in particular had happened, it was just one of those days. But, it was bad enough that they thought about just going back to Ramshackle instead of waiting for Jack like they normally did. Waiting outside of the classroom just made them feel even more antsy.

Just as they were about to shoot him a text to say that they weren’t feeling well - which wasn’t technically a lie - said wolf came out of the classroom, tail wagging involuntarily when he saw them waiting like it wasn’t an everyday occurrence.

Before he could even greet them, however, his nose scrunched up. Furrowing his eyebrows, he leaned down and began sniffing them.

“Jack, what the hell?”

“You’re nervous about something.”

Right. Nothing could beat that canine sense of smell.

“It’s nothing.” Jack opened his mouth to reply, but they cut him off. “No, literally. Nothing actually happened, it’s just a...a weird day, I guess.”

It was clear from the expression on his face that Jack didn’t quite understand, but the guy was nothing if not sympathetic. “Do you need help with anything?”

“Nah, it should eventually work itself out.” They tried to muster up an encouraging grin, but from the look on Jack’s face, they didn’t quite hit the mark. “I’m fine, Jack, promise.”

His tail had dropped, and his ears were pressed against his head. “...When I get worked up, going for a jog usually helps me. Gets all the energy out.”

They raised an eyebrow. “You and I both know that your jogging is my sprinting.”

“Then I’ll walk and you jog,” he grinned. “If you want to, that is.”

They paused before shrugging. “I probably won’t do a good job on the homework if I’m like this, anyway.”

Floyd: Don’t fall asleep. Don’t fall asleep. Crewel will turn you into a rug if he catches you falling asleep.

Their internal monologue was the only thing preventing them from passing out onto their desk. They had had a hard time falling asleep last night, and of course they were working on sleeping draughts in Alchemy today. The vapor wafting from the cauldron was enough to knock them out.

They hadn’t noticed that their eyes had closed until a hard knock on the classroom door startled them open. When Crewel called out for whoever it was to come in, the door opened to reveal Floyd.

“The Headmaster wants to see Shrimpy!” he sang, leaning against the doorframe. Crewel nodded, motioning with his pointed cane for the Prefect to get out.

Physically shaking themself awake, they stood. Next to them, Ace went “Oooooooh~”

“Trappola, just for that, you’re responsible for giving them the notes for the lesson.”

“Aw, come on!”

They didn’t even have the energy to stick their tongue out like they usually would. They just inched past all of the other students until they were at Floyd’s side. The merman casually slung an arm around their shoulder and steered them out of the classroom.

“What does the Headmaster want?” they asked. It could literally be anything, honestly.

“Oh, I lied!” Floyd giggled. “He doesn’t need to see you at all.”

“Huh?”

“You looked exhausted this morning,” Floyd tugged them closer. Not quite a squeeze, but there was something intensely protective in the embrace. “I figured you could use a nap.”

“So you busted me out of class?”

“Yup! This makes me your favorite, right?” he grinned, showing all of his teeth.

“Definitely.”

Epel: They always did have a nervous stomach.

There was a test in Trein’s class that day. No matter how much they studied the night before, they didn’t feel prepared, and their stomach was committing mutiny in response. They hadn’t been able to eat any breakfast, so now they were nauseated and hungry at the same time. They were either going to puke on the test or eat it, they hadn’t decided yet.

“Are you alright?”

They jumped. They had been so caught up in their own head that they hadn’t even heard Epel approach. “Hey. Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bit of test anxiety, haha.”

Epel didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure? You look kinda pale.”

“Really, I’m fine. I was just a bit too nervous to eat breakfast.” they insisted.

“Well, that’s not good.” Epel frowned. “You’ll do even worse on the test if you’re hungry.”

Oh, why did he have to phrase it like that? Just the thought made their already roiling stomach turn, and they whined softly as they hugged themself around the middle.

“Ah, wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” he backtracked. “I just meant it won’t do you any good!”

Epel reached into his bag for a moment, mumbling to himself. “I know I have some in here...ah-ha!” he pulled out a bag of dried apple chips. “Here! It’s not exactly a full meal, but it’ll help. And they’re really light, so if you’re sick because of nerves, they won’t upset your stomach.”

“Are you sure?” they asked as Epel handed them the bag.

“Pos’tive.” he grinned. “I’ve got plenty back at the dorm. And Ma’s always sending me stuff from the farm anyway. So go ahead, I don’t want you passing out!”

Sebek: They had no idea what he was talking about.

It was a feat in and of itself to be able to not pay attention to Sebek. The man was a walking lightning bolt. But today was just not a good day, mentally.

A pity, too. They always liked walking around in the woods with Sebek. Something about being in nature and listening to him talk passionately about whatever was on his mind was almost soothing, but it just wasn’t working this time.

“Are you listening?”

They jumped when he said their name. They had gotten so sucked into their own head that they hadn’t noticed him turn his monologue into a conversation. “I’m sorry!”

“What are you sorry for? Is everything alright?” he looked them up and down with sharp amber eyes, scanning for anything that could present any danger. “Are you ill?”

“No, no, it’s not…” they sighed, shoulders slumping. “I didn’t sleep well last night. Nightmares.”

Bad dreams had been a problem before they arrived in Twisted Wonderland, but now they were really plaguing them. It made concentrating difficult, even on simple things such as a walk with their partner.

Sebek stepped in front of them, forcing them to stop in their tracks. His angular features were serious, thrown into deep contrast from the light of the sun setting between the leaves. He clasped both of their hands in his own, holding them tightly as he looked into their eyes.

“You needn’t worry about such things. I will not let anything harm you, even your own mind.” he squeezed their hands. “On my honor as a knight.”

Silver: Watching Silver train with a sword was...something else.

They could watch him all day, going after the training dummy like it was actually an enemy.

Well, usually, they could.

It had been another sleepless night, up worrying about all the various things they needed to do. They only managed to fall asleep around four AM, and they needed to be at their first class by eight, so they hadn’t exactly gotten well-rested. They were impressed that they had managed to stay awake during their lessons, but now it was catching up to them.

The warm sun shining on their face and the rhythmic swishing of Silver’s practice sword was vaguely soothing, and before they really knew it they had slumped against the tree they were sitting under, fast asleep.

When they awoke, they were moving. It took a minute to gather themself, and they blinked sleepily at their surroundings.

“You can go back to sleep.” Silver’s voice rumbled against their side. He was carrying them. “We aren’t that far from Ramshackle.”

“...You could have woken me up.” they mumbled, nuzzled closer to his chest. “I would have walked.”

“You looked so peaceful.” he responded, adjusting his grip. “Unless you want me to put you down?”

“No.” they sighed. “This is nice. Me and Grim are always saying that it takes forever to get to Ramshackle from anywhere in the school, I’ll take the ride.”

Silver chuckled, leaning down to press a kiss to their forehead. “Go to sleep.”

[zhanyes]

Tianshan dating headcannons because i also love these two dumbasses too

Also dedicated to @el-mundo-real who requested tianshan headcannons 🖤

. . .

- Literally no one knows whether they’re dating or not. Not even themselves because they don’t talk about it

- Jian yi thinks they’re dating already and Zhengxi says they’re still getting there (somehow they’re both right) and they make a bet

- He tian likes staying over at Mo’s and he’s gotten pretty close to mama Mo

- Mama Mo teaches him how to knit !! He tried to knit a scarf for Mo but it came out a little messy and tangled. Mo still wears it anyway saying it’s a waste of yarn if not used (He’s actually really touched)

- He eats dinner there about 5 times a week and sleeps over thrice a week. He’s a permanent fixture in the house now, he has his own plate and mug, utensils, toothbrush, a spare key, and more than half of his closet migrated to Mo’s closet

- Sometimes Mo “accidentally” wears He tian’s sweaters and He tian dies a little bit every time

- Sometimes He tian deliberately wears Mo’s clothes and it’s always tighter and a bit shorter on his body so when he moves his arms the shirt rides up. Mo guanshan shouts at him to change and to stop contaminating his clothes but his ears are red anyway

- They bicker A LOT. Over the smallest things because He tian loves riling him up and Mo gets riled up too easily

He tian, for the 7th time in 5 minutes: “What does this thing do?”

Mo guanshan, losing his mind: “THAT’S A FUCKING MICROWAVE WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK IT DO?!”

- There are times when homicide is the best option

Mo Guanshan: “I acknowledge that I can be mean sometimes-”

He tian, in the bathtub: “Sometimes?”

Mo Guanshan: “Shut the fuck up. So I brought you a bath bomb as a peace offering.”

He tian: “That’s a fucking toaster.”

Mo guanshan: “Exactly. A bath bomb.”

- Contrary to what his actions say, Mo guanshan is actually relieved that He tian spends most of his time in their apartment. He tian never told him but he can see how lonely the other teenager is

- Mo guanshan tries to teach He tian chores because He tian knows nothing about cleaning or doing everyday things

Mo guanshan: “How the fuck do you not know how to wash dishes where the hell do you eat?!”

He tian, drinking milk straight out the carton: “Obviously on plates, Momo. I just throw them away after.”

Mo guanshan, sputtering: “WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU THROW OUT PLATES?!”

- The first and only recipe that He tian managed to cook successfully is instant noodles with boiled egg that’s not quite cooked enough. Sometimes he brings Mo noodles as breakfast in bed and he looks so proud of it Mo has a hard time saying that the noodles are overcooked and that noodles aren’t exactly breakfast food (he eats it anyway)

- Mo sometimes, only sometimes, brings He tian grocery shopping because he needs to learn how to buy food for himself. Somehow He tian always ends up in the miscellaneous section where he has a pack of ballpens he’ll never use, 2 journals he’ll also never use, a couple of scented candles, various dog clothes and leashes for the dog he doesn’t have, a couple’s mug, and a vase in his cart

- He tian stopped trying to barge into Mo guanshan’s bed and sleeps on the futon on the floor beside it. It’s not the most comfortable and he had a hard time sleeping on it at first but he likes being in Mo’s company even while sleeping

- Sometimes Mo would move in his sleep and leave his arm dangling on the side of the bed, He tian grabs it of course and Mo wakes up to sweaty palms. He still leaves it for a few moments before harshly slapping away He tian’s hand

- Mo’s hands aren’t smooth at all because of working all the time and practicing the guitar but He tian loves them all the same. He likes to feel the contrast in textures with his slightly smoother hands

- He tian has a thousand pictures of Mo guanshan sleeping in various angles and poses. He has his favorites framed and keeps it on his bedside table in his apartment so when he’s sleeping there he still feels like they’re sleeping together

- Mo guanshan has a few of He tian sleeping but he swears up and down that he'll never do anything as disgusting as that. He makes one of them his wallpaper.

- Sometimes when they don’t feel like sleeping yet they stay up talking and arguing about random things

Mo guanshan: “Why would aliens be in space? The ocean is definitely the way to go.”

He tian: “But why would they be in the ocean? They’ll drown.”

Mo guanshan: “They’re aliens maybe they have gills or some shit.”

He tian: “I’m telling you they’re not in the ocean, Mo.”

Mo guanshan: “And I’m telling you you’re wrong, bastard.”

- On rare days they would stay up talking about their pasts and about life in general, with the lights closed and the only source of light is the moonlights from the window

- One of these nights, Mo told He tian about what happened to his dad and their restaurant, why they’re in so much debt over it and He tian holds Mo’s hand tightly throughout

- He knew better than to say that he could pay for that debt so Mo doesn’t need to worry anymore (He still says it anyway and Mo blew a fuse) but he swore to help Mo through other means

- The next day he orders a whole carton of mangoes, apples and peaches in his apartment and learns how to peel properly through youtube and Zhengxi

- He goes to Mo’s part time job in the grocery and helps him peel fruits, Mo guanshan doesn’t mention anything when he notices the bandaids on the other’s hands but he does cook him beef stew for dinner

- As expected He tian’s presence brings more customers and the manager asks if he wants to work there permanently but he said he’s only working for Mo so the manager can give Mo a raise instead

- Once, Mo got sick so he missed his part time job for the day (He was supposed to give away flyers on the streets) and got extra pissy because He tian didn’t visit him and wouldn’t answer his phone 

- Apparently He tian took over his job for the day and he only finds out when he goes to the manager and the manager asks when his ‘boyfriend’ can come back to work again because the customers love him

- He tian almost never talks about himself but once he talked about the puppy who disappeared after he saves it and then found out that it’s still alive after all these years

- Mo keeps quiet about it the whole time he was talking and the next few days he takes time to knit a small dog plushie and leaves it on He tian’s futon

- He tian didn’t cry, he didn’t (he did), but he hugged Mo and whispered a sincere thank you. For once, Mo lets it happen

- Mo quickly regrets his decision when He tian names the plushie “Chicken sandwich”

- He tian brings Mo in a lot of not-dates (according to Mo) like arcades, ocean parks, festivals, and fairs because he didn’t get to go as a kid and he wants to experience it for the first time with Mo

- They get crazy competitive in every game. Every. Single. One. If it’s a co-op shooting game they would compete on who kills the most enemies, if it’s a harmless crane game it becomes a competition of who can get the most plushies

- They both each have a photobooth strip. Mo keeps his as a bookmarker in a journal, and He tian has his in the back of his phone.

- They go on a double not-date with Jian yi and Zhengxi and it ends up in almost getting chased by a police car at 2 am in pokemon onesies and holding a bag of chips 

- Sometimes Mo would visit his dad in prison and just rant to him about He tian

Mo guanshan: “The nerve of that guy to do something like that in front of a teacher urgh.”

Papa Mo: “Your boyfriend sounds like a fun guy, son. I want to meet him soon.”

Mo guanshan: “BO-BOYFRIEND?!”

Papa Mo: “Yes???”

Mo guanshan: “No??? That bastard isn’t my boyfriend??”

Papa Mo: “Are you sure about that?”

Mo guanshan: “...Yes?”

- Enter gay panique because he doesn’t actually know whether He tian is his boyfriend or not

- They don’t call each other boyfriends and they never talked about it so no??? But they’re also not just friends so maybe??? Do they go on dates?? Can grocery trips be considered dates??

- He rings up Jian yi and the blonde just laughed for 5 minutes straight without stopping and he wonders how he’s still breathing

Mo Guanshan, after hearing Jian yi laughing for 5 minutes: “Are you fucking done?”

Jian yi, trying to catch his breath: “Man this is some top-tier entertainment.”

Mo guanshan: “WELL?!”

Jian yi: “Look bro literally no one knows whether you’re dating, fucking, planning each other’s murder OR planning a murder together.”

Mo guanshan: “What if it’s all of the above?”

Jian yi: “Then congratulations…? Please don’t murder me?”

Mo guanshan: “Urgh you’re fucking useless I should have called Zhengxi.”

Jian yi: “Wait don’t, I don’t wanna lose the bet. How about this, there’s a festival upcoming for couples and families, if He tian asks you then you’re probably, maybe, dating?”

Mo guanshan: “That’s stupid. AND WHAT BET?!”

Jian yi: “Ah woops gotta water my dog.”

- Mo tells himself that it’s stupid and there’s no way he’s falling for that...but he feels disappointed anyway when He tian doesn’t ask him the following days

- He tian asks on the last day before the festival, but he asks mama Mo first and Mo guanshan second cuz he wants to celebrate with both of them. He confessed that he’s never actually went to a festival with a family before so he was trying to build up courage to ask

- Mo guanshan is an absolute goner after that

- On the day of the festival, they find Zhanyi there on a date but decide to leave them alone. While they were leaving Jian yi kept throwing Mo guanshan so much winks that Zhengxi thought he got something in his eye

- The festival was fun but Mo couldn’t take his eyes off how happy and content He tian looks

- Queue cliche fireworks scene but it’s He tian being amazed by the fireworks and Mo looking mesmerized at him thinking, “Ah, I want him to look at me like that.”

- The next day, he drags He tian to visit his dad in jail

Papa mo: “Oh this is a surprise, you’ve never brought someone before?”

He tian, trying to introduce himself: “Hello, sir. I’m He tian, Mo guanshan’s fri-”

Mo guanshan, cuts him off: “Boyfriend. He’s my boyfriend, dad.”

He tian:

[oitommothetease]

Invisible String (4/?)

Pairing:  Bucky Barnes x Female reader (Modern AU)

Description: James Buchanan Barnes, the owner of the most expensive-looking club in town and your new apartment. He was a dick and you hated him. What could possibly go wrong when you, the new girl in town, start bartending at his club to pursue your dreams?

Word Count: 2.6k words

Warning: 18+ (discussion of assault, nervous breakdown, anxiety attack, just don’t read this whole series if you are a kid)

You woke up to a night of dreamless sleep like you always did, but then the events of the previous night hit you. You wished it was a dream, but one look in the mirror and a bruise running along your cheek was enough to confirm. Not only that, but you remembered asking your boss to stay over, but you didn't expect him to. The blanket on your living room’s couch and the bowl of fruits and a glass of juice situated out for you on the kitchen counter proved that he did stay.

And then the reality sunk in, you have a decision to make. You can either go to the cops or let that guy get away. The latter sounded not so great, but you knew going to the cops isn't going to be great either. You've seen enough detective shows to know that. You've had enough, and you just wanted to forget it. 

What did Mr. Barnes mean when he said you were going to talk about this? Are you supposed to visit him before work? Is he going to come to your place?

You decided to work on your book but ended up not being able to concentrate, so you started watching a show and fell asleep while watching it. Maybe some Chinese take-out could make you feel better. It didn't. Nothing made you feel better. You wished you had some friends in this new town because you didn't want to burden your work friends. 

After a horrible day of trying to cope, when you finally made your way to the club, you noticed the security was increased. Usually, security guards weren't present inside the club, but today it was different. Everyone was so vigilant and you felt a little safer. If you didn't know any better, you'd think Mr. Barnes did it for you, but again he would have done the same thing for any other employee. 

"Boss wants to see you," Pietro told you. You were about to head for Clint's office when the blond twin spoke again and pointed his finger towards the stairs." The boss."

Okay, well maybe playing naïve couldn't avoid this meeting, so you slowly walked upstairs. How bad could this go, it's not like he saw you in your most vulnerable state? Oh, wait, he did. 

You knocked on his office door, wanting to rip the band-aid and get over with it. 

"Hey," you said, faking a smile. "Thanks for getting me home last night and for breakfast today. I didn't even know I had fruits and juice at home because let's be honest, I'm a toast and coffee kinda gal."

Mr. Barnes didn't say anything, he just looked at you as if you were a confusing puzzle that he couldn't solve. He raised a hand towards the seat in front of him and you took it, nervously fiddling with your fingers under the table.

“You do that a lot, you know?” he asked, it wasn't a question, it was merely an observation.

“What?”

“Deflecting a serious issue by using a joke.” Mr. Barnes observed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“What are you? My therapist?”

He arched an eyebrow, indicating that you were literally doing the thing he pointed out. 

"Yeah, well, it's called having a healthy coping mechanism. You should try getting one, brooding is only gonna help you this far."

 "It's not healthy if you're not dealing with it," Mr. Barnes pointed out. 

You scoffed in incredulity and you felt very, very attacked. 

What is it? Attacking y/n day?, you thought. 

"Anyway, I think I want to press charges," You changed the subject to a more serious conversation to avoid him calling you out on your bullshit. 

"Okay, I understand.” 

“You do?” You asked, bewilderment clearly written all over your face. “I mean, letting an employee go to the cops is not gonna be great for your club's reputation and yours too. And, you know, considering the shady business, you do-” 

"What exactly do you think we do?" He asked.

And that's when it hit you, you didn't know what he did or mob bosses do in general. All your knowledge about it came from movies and Wattpad, both of them are not a great place to gain knowledge.

“What exactly do you do?” you pondered.

 He obviously wasn't expecting you to directly ask him, nobody has directly asked him or even made it known that they are aware of his work. It was kind of like a silent pact that everybody signed for, everybody except you, apparently. 

“Um, you know, I've been working for almost 2 weeks here now, and I haven't seen any drugs around here, so it's obviously not drugs. You don't look like the sex trafficking types-”

 "Jesus, woman!" He exclaimed, offended by your assumptions. 

"Then just tell me what you do."

You expected him to tell you something, but he just kept looking at you with a face void of emotions.

 "Fine, don't tell me," you mumbled, raising your hands dramatically in defeat. 

“So you don't mind me ruining your reputation by going to the cops?” 

“I told you I don't care. Your safety is my utmost priority,” your face might have given away the surprise you felt because he quickly backpedaled. ”I mean, the safety of my employees.”

“The safety of my employees is my utmost priority,” he told you, providing an extra emphasis on the word employees. “Anyway, one of my people would take you to the police station near-"

You cut him off immediately. 

"No, you can't tell anyone else. I don't want everyone hopping on the pity train. I'm already ashamed that you know about it," you pleaded but your voice was firm, telling him that this was not up for a discussion.

At this, his eyes and features softened. Bucky didn't want you to feel guilty or ashamed for somebody else's actions, but clearly, you did. 

"Okay, then I can take you. You just had to explain to the officer last night’s events, and they'll ask you to recognize Rumlow and then we can-"

Mr. Barnes’s voice faded into the background when it finally hit you.

"You know what, I changed my mind. It's too much. I don't want to press charges anymore. I didn't think this through," you backtracked. You did think this through, but now all the factors were adding up in your brain. You'd have to explain the details to a cop who is probably going to be another man and a stranger, and then they'd ask you to identify the guy. You didn't think you had it in you to face him. At least not now. 

He interpreted your thought process and promptly changed the topic. "Okay, we can work with whatever you want, and at least let Peter escort you home after work."

"What? No!” You quickly declined.

“It's for your own safety,” Bucky tried to reason. He wasn't letting you get off this easily.

 “I'm a strong, independent woman and I'm not scared of anything.” 

That was a lie. You were scared of many things like heights, dark, spiders, confrontation and the list goes on and on. 

You remembered all the lectures your mom gave you telling you that women should be scared because men are monsters, and you'd lose your honor if you are reckless and some other patriarchal crap that you didn't pay attention to. But you weren't scared, you were just always careful. You'd always put the keys between your knuckles when you went home alone. In your previous job, you used to laugh it off whenever your coworkers made a sexist joke. You'd ignore the subtle shoulder touch that your previous boss did. You told yourself that this is what it takes to make it. If you were to run away every time someone eyed you in a wrong way, then you'd spend your whole life running. 

Women usually shrug this behavior off as it is what is, but the truth is it shouldn't be like this.

“Please, I insist.” 

“I'm very capable of taking care of myself. Just because one bad incident happened doesn't mean I'll fucking break!” You stated, your voice louder than your regular voice to get across your point.

That was also a lie. You were walking on a thin line and you were ignoring your emotions. You were one outburst away from a breakdown, and you just couldn't bring yourself to feel anything. 

Mr. Barnes tried to call your name, but you were already bolting out of his office. 

You needed a drink. No, fuck that. You needed multiple drinks. It wasn't exactly wise to get drunk during work, but it couldn't get any shittier than this, right?, you thought.

Right?

 Wrong. It could get way shittier than this. Now it was almost midnight, you were kind of tipsy, and you could see two Mr. Stark, your regular customer, in front of you. 

Did he have a twin? Is he and his twin brother one of those identical twins that dress up the same? Because that's what it looked like.

 “Earth to y/n," Mr. Stark said, or was it his twin? It was getting hard to keep track anymore.

 And that's when you noticed. 

“Holy, Shit. You're triplets, Mr. Stark," you announced. 

"Okay, kid, close my tab.”

“Hey, y/n. Are you okay?” Peter asked, noticing the concerned look Mr. Stark gave him before leaving.

“Yes, I'm fine. Absolutely fine.”

***

Turns out you were not fine. You've been pretty much hammered for the past week, and you could barely get a sentence out without giggling or slurring. Your colleagues took notice of your state and whenever someone pointed it out, you'd just shrug it off as a bad day or a bad week. There was no concept of time in your drunk state.

You couldn't concentrate on your book, you could barely look at someone without squinting, and you've been eating takeout and leftovers for the past few days. 

James would have fired if someone working under him was this irresponsible, but he knew your reasons. He knew you clearly weren't coping with the trauma well. Your work ethics were shoved down the trash that even Clint asked why you weren't fired yet.

Bucky didn't want to talk to you, he thought that maybe giving you some space would do you good, but clearly it wasn't working. Usually, the mob boss didn't interfere in the affairs of his employees, it was Clint's job, but when you smashed a bottle on the head of a customer, he had to interject.

“I TOLD THIS FUCKER NO!” you yelled, Peter’s hand around your middle from behind. Another empty beer bottle was in your hand, ready to be smashed across the face of the drunk dude in front of you.

Pietro and Wanda were enjoying the show. Peter, being the peace lover he is, held you back when you smashed a bottle across a drunk customer's face. Even though Peter was younger than you, he was stronger, and he was not only holding you back but also himself. He didn't want to cause a scene and that is why he was mulling comforting words in your ear like, he's not worth it, you're gonna kill this guy.

Damn right I am, you thought.

It was ironic because everyone in that club had killed someone except you.

When Bucky walked into the room, the drunk guy turned towards him and pointed at you. ”You are hiring crazy bitches now? Just called her baby girl and she went psycho!!!”

Bucky didn't understand what was happening. He told the security guards to take that man outside his club and he walked towards you. He firmly yet gently took a hold of your left arm, signaling Peter to let go of you. Without a word, he started walking in the direction of his office, dragging you along with him.

Once near his office, he lightly yanked your hand and shoved you inside, making you stand in front of him.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he inquired, having had enough of your incompetence.

You were seething with rage. "Wrong with me? I told him no, but he didn't listen."

Bucky stepped forward, his anger dissipating into sympathy. " I know, he mumbled, "and I'm so-"

 "No, you don't know!" you yelled, body trembling and tears welling up in your eyes. "I told him no multiple times, I even tried to push him off me, but he just kept coming back."

Bucky's eyes furrowed in confusion. He didn't understand your words, the drunk customer didn't touch you. And that's when he realized, you weren't talking about the drunk customer. He cognized that the drunk guy purely triggered something that you've been suppressing for days now. Bucky was aware that you needed to get it out of your system to cope healthily.

“I told him no, you know? But he just wouldn't listen,” you stated, trying to convince yourself that you didn't lead him on. ”And he was so…. so strong and… and then he hit me and everything just went blur, I couldn't see but... but I could still feel him with me.”

Not realizing that you were not in that place anymore, you wrapped your hand around yourself to seek some sort of protection and comfort, bottom lip quivering, the welled up traitorous tears were streaming down your face and all you could think about was that night. 

“I… I can't get his touch out,” you stammered. ” I shower, multiple times a day, but I still can't get his touch out.”

With that, you broke down completely and shattered on the floor, sobbing ferociously. Your knees ached because of the position you were situated in, but the emotional pain was enough to overshadow the physical one.

For once in his lifetime, Bucky did not know what to do. Cautiously, he made his way towards you and knelt down in front of you. He did not know what to say or do to make you feel better.

You launched your body towards him, snaking your arms around his shoulder to settle on his neck as if he was the only thing grounding you. You lurched onto him like he was your anchor, and maybe he was. It took a minute for Bucky to register your actions, and when he did, he wrapped his arms around your middle and closed the minuscule distance separating you.

He surprised himself with the way one of his hands automatically reached for your hair and whispered words of comfort in your ear. He caught you as you crumpled physically and emotionally. 

”You're going to be okay, doll,” he whispered and kissed your temple with sincerity. ”I will make sure of that.”

The second part was barely audible, it wasn't meant for you, it was a promise he made to himself.

Bucky held you tightly yet gently while you sobbed on his shoulder.

 He didn't know how long he held you, it felt like an eternity to him with the way he could feel the guilt and rage inside him. When you passed out in his arms, he gently placed you on one of the comfortable couches in his office and draped a blanket around you that he had for when he would work late at night.

An office chair might not be the most ideal place to spend the night in, but it didn't matter to Bucky. All that mattered was you.

TAGS: @bananapipedreams​ @akkinda10​  @rivers-rambles21​  @emmabarnes​@goodcleanfunsis​ @valsworldofcreativity​

[paintball-writes]

Day 3 - Identities

Day1 - Day2 - Day3 - Day4

Marinette had been living with the waynes for over a month now. The reason? Tom and Sabine sent her away to her biological father. Apparently To Dupain was not her biological, but Bruce Wayne was.

Marinette had a sliver of hope, A really, really thin one. Which had faltered by the month.

Marinette had defeated Hawk Moth with Chat Noir. Apparently Plagg found the brooches along with two sleeping kwamis accidentally. At night when Gabriel and Natalie were asleep, He had stolen the miraculous. On the patrol that night, Chat had told her that the miraculous were right under their noses. He gave her the two brooches and told her that Plagg had found the brooches in his father’s study. He told her that Gabriel was Hawk moth and Natalie was Mayura. Then he de-transformed and handed her the ring saying that he wanted to continue his life as a civilian.

Later that week it was announced that Chat noir found out who Hawk Moth was and he had stolen the miraculous at night. He then said that Gabriel and Natalie were the Villians. He then revealed himself saying that he was innocent, and he had no idea that his father was Hawk moth. Marinette had thought that with Hawkmoth gone she could beat Lila, But no, it Backfired. That was the reason she was Shipped off. Like an object. She was replaced just like an object.

Her only wish was to die. But she had tried to do that multiple times. Someone always managed to save her. So no, that option was unavailable. She had thought that she would finally be able to die in Gotham by sucide, But no, Selina, Cassandra or Jason always managed to save her.

By now she had started to see the woman as a mother figure. The Waynes hated her. They didn’t even listen to her side of the story. Only Cass and Jason had seen that there was more to the story. Selina and Alfred too, of course. The waynes saw her with disgust. They laid out certain rules.

And of course she figured out they were Bat family. She may not be from Gotham, but she wasn’t certainly stupid. She had to admit, The Waynes were really good at hiding the Batfam thingy. But what gave them away? Misplaced Batarangs by Tim. Then Tikki had also found the cave. She wasn’t stupid, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were good friends and certainly Batman and Superman. The people of Justice league stopped by often at the Manor too.

Speaking of the Justice League, They had given her an offer to join the League, but she declined. They had given her a satellite phone for emergencies to contact the league. They had praised her high and low. Batman was even Concerned for her when he found out her age range. Concerned! If they knew that Ladybug was their new sibling who was claimed to be a bully, she’d be declared a threat and her take Miraculous away.

Her routine was the same. Wake up. Eat breakfast in silence as she was being glared at. Study something. Do commissions while talking to her boyfriend, Luka and the others. Eat Lunch while being glared at. Study the Grimoire with Alfred. Sketch some designs while talking to Selina and Cass. Draw illustrations while Jason talks. Eat dinner in Silence. Stay up till 3 am doing commissions. Sleep.

Last week she had introduced Luka to Cass, Selina, Jason and Alfred. It went really well. Especially when Jason found out he was Jagged Stone’s son.

She was thinking how she could step up her game with the Waynes. In her thoughts she didn’t see Selina coming in.

“What are you thinking about Kitten ?” Selina asks, seeing the half sketched dress.

“Gah! Selina don’t scare me like that! Anyway I was thinking, ``What do I do to annoy the waynes?” Marinette asks the Master of scheming Cat-woman.

“Hmm, what about going to your true self? Being in headphones, ignoring them, Snide answers, and stuff like that?” Selina says thoughtfully.

“Selina, that's brilliant! You’re the best Mom!” Marinette says. She covers her mouth with her hand realizing what she said.

“Aww, Com’ere Kit. I love you.” Selina says softly.

“You’re not mad?” Marinette hesitantly asks.

“Of course not!” She says.

“You’ll be more of a mother than Sabine will ever be to me.” Marinette says with a small voice and hugs the older woman.

Then the Chaos was unleashed. Whenever the Waynes wanted to ask her something she’d ignore them and she always had her headphones on.

- - - - - - - -

“Marinette, tell me why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks in a stern voice. Of course Mari didn’t hear him because of the blaring music.

“Marinette, Why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks again, obviously annoyed.

“MARINETTE-” He was cut off from Alfred of course.

“If I may Master Bruce,” he says, earning a nod. He gently taps the girl’s shoulder. Marinette moves her hair away and removes her Airpod. The music is loud enough for everybody to hear.Meanwhile Bruce flushes in embarrassment. “Miss, Your father wants to ask you something.” Marinette nods. She turns to her Father.

“What?” She asks.

“I asked, Why did you hurt the poor girl marinette, around two months ago?” He asks, patience bearing thin.

“Oh? I didn’t know that I could make a clone of myself and Send one to the fencing class and the other to beat her up at the Seine?” She says in a bored tone. Jason and Cass, not being able to hold their laughter any longer, burst out laughing.

Later that night they checked her attendance, sure enough she was in the fencing class.

- - - - - -

One day Marinette got a call from the Justice league, Stating an emergency. She quickly transformed to Ladybug and Portalled to the Watchtower.

“Ladybug, welcome to the Watchtower,” Wonder Woman welcomed, standing at the head of a group of heroes. Interestingly enough, Batman and all of his brood were among them. Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin and the others.

“Wonder Woman,” she greeted back. “What’s the problem?”

“Your former partner has been kidnapped.”

Ladybug’s face turned pale, but she took a deep breath instead of panicking. “What do we know?”

“Ra’s al Ghul has taken the former Chat Noir in an attempt to convince the Guardian of the Miraculous to turn over the jewels to him,” Batman reported.

Her face turned up into a snarl. “The League of Assassins,” she spat.

They were surprised that she knew Ra’s. But they hid it well.

“I take it you understand why we cannot allow the Miraculous to be surrendered to his control,” Batman continued.

Wonder Woman stepped in before Ladybug could reply. “Ladybug, we need you to tell us who the Guardian is so that we may protect them.”

Ladybug let out a cold laugh. Shivers ran down everyone’s spine. “Wonder Woman, you misunderstand. The Order of the Miraculous is all but dead. I’m all that’s left. You want the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous?” She spread her arms wide. “You’re looking at her. And Ra’s al Ghul can have them over my dead body. ”

The gathered heroes looked stunned. “Now where is Adrien?”

Red robin started, recovering first. “You’re not going alone.”

“You’re right,” Ladybug cut in. “I’m not. I’m gathering my team.”

“What Red Robin meant to say is that Batman and his assembled partners are going with you,” Wonder Woman soothed. “They have experience dealing with Ra’s and would be a great asset.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, at the most.” She said. Everyone nodded. She portalled away to gather her team.

Five minutes later a portal opened and stepped out Honey bee, Dragoness and Cobra in the Glory. The portal snapped shut when Ladybug entered.

“This is not enough! We’re dealing with Ra’s al Ghul and the league here!” Ladybug said. “We need her. She’s the last resort if we lose!” Dragoness exclaimed. The Justice league was confused. Who were they talking about?

“You’re right. Bee, you’re the only one who knows where she is. You’re her best friend. I can't find her in all of paris!” Ladybug asks, turning to Honey bee.

“You’re right, I do. It’ll be easy to find her. She’ll be in her room. She’s always Isolated, so don’t worry about getting caught.” Honey Bee answers.

“Isolation! I thought I told her to Socialize!” Ladybug exclaims.

“Yeah, but her family treats her like a pariah except some people. But Ladybug I don’t know if she’ll be able to fight.” Honey bee says.

“Rossi?”

“Rossi.”

“Now location please.” Ladybug says.

“Right. Wayne Manor, Gotham, New Jersey.” Honeybee whispers. Earning surprised looks from Ladybug and the Supers.

“Alright.” Ladybug portals away. This was all staged of course. She had recently found a spell to make a clone of herself.

“Why won't the hero be able to fight? She’s a hero!” Batman exclaims.

“Depression, you overgrown furry, Depression. She’s tried committing sucide several times. We saved her.” This earns many shocked looks.

Cue opening a portal. All of the Paris heroes Gasps. All in glory Multimouse is standing there.

When Honey Bee saw Multimouse, she gasped and enveloped her in a hug, muttering French endearments and saying how much she’d missed her. Dragoness stole Multimouse for a hug next before passing her on to Viperion who also received an extra peck on the lips in return, while Ladybug watched with a soft smile.

With Kaalki involved, it was child’s play to get into the assassin stronghold. Team Miraculous filled the gaps and worked seamlessly in their own right, simply a step away from Gotham’s Bats. They beat assassins on their own. The Bats just watched in awe.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to Ra’s.

The man wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he greeted him from his throne. A bruised and bloodied but otherwise intact Adrien was being restrained on the dias a few feet away.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Team Miraculous,” Ra’s mused, looking down the line. His eyes paused on Multimouse and his expression shifted to intense amusement. “And if it isn’t the latest in the Detective’s brood. I suppose heroics truly do run in the family after all.”

A number of shocked and confused gazes snapped to Multimouse, who simply stared at him down with cold eyes growling quietly.

“And yet she isn’t why we’re here,” Ladybug cut in coldly, shoving that problem in a box for later.

Ra’s shifted his oily attention to her. “Yes, I believe I requested the Guardian, young Bug.”

“And here I am,” Ladybug said simply. “But I will never cede the Miraculous to you.”

“Well, then I suppose the Blonde Cat dies.” The assassin near Adrien tried to kill him only to turn to orange smoke. Ra’s growls when he realizes he was tricked.

“Your reign is over. Your crimes won’t continue much longer. Tell me, just how long have you been using the Pits to keep yourself alive?”

“Goodbye, Ra’s al Ghul,” Ladybug intoned. “We’ll leave you to what remains of your empire.” She turned and motioned for the Fox to open the portal to the Watchtower. The Bats followed behind.

Adrien was at the fringes, attempting to escape a hero that was trying to get him to the Medbay for medical attention. He only had eyes for Multimouse.

“Marinette!” he called.

The Bats were shocked at both the name and the blatant outing of a secret identity.

Adrien broke free from his wounds. “Marinette, I’m so sorry,” he said brokenly.

It was quiet for a moment. “I take it they told you why I left, then,” Multimouse said, carefully devoid of emotion.

“I never thought-”

“Don’t, Adrien,” Queen Bee snapped.

Adrien gaped at his friend, shocked at the venom her words carried against him.

“But her Lies, they weren't hurting anyone!”

“How?” Multimouse snapped, her voice cracking. She took a deep breath. “How was it different? Because you told me I had to ‘take the high road?’ Because her lies would unravel themselves? Because she wasn’t hurting anyone? Bullshit, Adrien! They were hurting me!”

“She followed your advice at first,” Queen Bee said sharply. “She shouldn’t have, but you were her friend and she trusted you. By the time she realized that it had been a mistake, it was too late. Everyone else was in too deep and you did nothing . When Mari tried to tell everyone that they were being lied to, she was made to look like a liar. A bully.”

“Do you realize that the rest of us had people on watchlists?” Ryuko said bluntly. “People at risk of Akumatization that could bring the city to its knees. Aurore, because of Stormy Weather II. Ondine, because of Syren. But do you know who was on top?” She let the silence sit. “Marinette. Marinette was on top of that list. The only reason she was above Ladybug was because Marinette was drowning. But any time she tried to get through to the others, Lila hit back harder and you would ask Mari to back down. Because we don’t want to upset Lila, right? We don’t want her to become an akuma. Again.”

“My parents believed her, Adrien,” Multimouse said quietly. “They sent me away because I was ‘out of control’. I’m treated like a criminal where I am now! So I’m sorry, Adrien, but I can’t forgive you. You said you didn’t want to live with more lies, but then you stopped telling the truth when it threatened your ‘peace’. Even when that ‘peace’ might have ruined my life.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “But you know what they say, right? Never meet your heroes.” She turned and looked straight at Batman. “They’ll always just disappoint you.”

- - - - - - - -

The next week was tense at the Wayne manor. But eventually they apologised to marinette. She became close with them. She and her family then sent lawsuits to the Akuma class.

The saying is true then. “All’s well that ends well.”

@maribat-bdbwm