#seriously i hope someone is compiling things because a) it is a confusing situation when you decipher from brief post out if chronological

[fucktrain]

scrolling trying to find all the details of the predesterone ban has got me feeling like beniot blanc finding layer upon layer of shitty behavior but knowing the dickwad ceo was at fault from the very beginning

[exovapor]

I'm OBSESSED with your writing. Can you try.. Maybe, Donnie being a filthy boy being an 'stalker-ish' of his long time crush? Be checks their FB for new posts, saves every picture of them he finds? He doesn't mean to be a creep, feels guilty, but just doesn't know how to ask for more than friendship?

Good afternoon Anon. Here is my short story in relation to your ask.

I wasn't sure where you wanted me to take this, so I had to do a bit of guessing on my part. I hope this something like you were wanting.

I will admit that this ask was a bit of a struggle for me, not knowing a clear direction to take it outcome made me a little unsure of my writing and guessing abilities LOL. However, I will admit to crying along with the characters in this story more than once.

Thanks again for the ask and the initial compliment. I hope to continue to earn your favor in future posts.

· Stalker [noun]: 1a person who harasses or persecutes someone with unwanted and obsessive attention. 2a person who hunts game stealthily.

· Donnie stared at the definition on his one of his monitor screens while his various other screens were busy flashing receipts of files downloaded, text trail streams from your phone, notices of any social media post/update/like/heart/emoji, a GPS line grid of your routes today (overlayed over the routes you’d taken previously), and data search hits of anything and everything that pertained to you.

· At this point, the boy had literally every picture you had ever posted, anywhere, of yourself. In fact, he had all the pictures that other people posted of you in them. He had even gone through the effort of designing a face recognition program that picks you out of the background of total strangers’ pictures and, yeah, he had those in a file too.

· He has special file folders that compile things that you like, things you don’t like, things that make you happy, things that make you sad. He is your own personal Pinterest and you didn’t even know it… and maybe that is the part that keeps bothering him so much.

· He sits staring at that word and definition and chewing his bottom lip. True, he knows the word and the meaning, but he needed to LOOK at it, analyze it, mull it over in his guilt ridden brain.

· He just KNEW the word Stalker couldn’t apply to him.

· After all, he isn’t harassing or persecuting you, you don’t know! So, it isn’t necessarily ‘unwanted attention’. It is just…unknown attention.

· Stealthily, hmmmm, did that part apply to him? Well, He isn’t EXACTLY being stealthy.

· If you knew about technology like him, then you would probably see his programs running on your devices and be alerted to his activities. AND, if you shared his love and view of technology, then you would probably be more understanding of his activities and not consider them stealthy…just data mining. In fact, you might applaud him.

· ‘Ok, that was taking it a bit too far’, Donnie thinks to himself and he feels a band tighten and squeeze around his infatuated heart.

· He is almost certain that you would be shocked to learn of his extra curricular activities and how they revolve around every aspect of you.

· Regardless of how he tried to spin the truth and wiggle out of the definition of stalker, Donnie still felt guilty for invading your privacy. However, he honestly couldn’t help himself…at least not anymore.

· He has fought the urge, the nagging thoughts and the burning need, to know more about you for what seemed like an eternity.

· Listen to him, he is starting to sound dramatic like Mikey! What is his turning into? He is losing his rational edge!

· To be accurate, it hasn’t been an eternity. In fact, he has known you 1 year, 36 days, 14 hours, 11 minutes, and 23 seconds to be exact. However, you started occupying space in his mind 2 minutes into meeting you and your claim over his mind has grown exponentially over time.

· You were quiet and reserved during that first meeting, so there wasn’t much to go on. It started as a simple visual interest with a thought of ‘Oh. She’s pretty’.

· However, then you started talking and that changed everything.

· You opened up more and more each time you hung out with their little group, revealing layers and layers of interests and personality. You were fascinating…and that’s when his thoughts about you really started to snowball and spiral out of control.

· You went from being a simple pretty face to being a walking embodiment of everything he seriously ever dreamed of having in a mate.

· Early on, there were three sticking points that really made Donnie’s feelings problematic. 1. He was a nearly seven foot tall walking talking turtle and you weren’t. 2. You had a boyfriend that you were deeply in love with and adored. 3. Donnie was too insecure about #1 and how you felt about inter-species dating to let you know that you had started to OWN his heart.

· Now, thanks to his surveillance, there were only two sticking points….#1 and #3.

· He still remembers the feelings of that day, 44 days ago, when the blip of information popped up on this screen alerting him to the fact that your boyfriend was starting to stray.

· Donnie had severely conflicting feelings bombard him at once and it was overwhelming.

· The initial knee jerk reaction was elation, one of the problems blocking him from you may soon be null.

· However, the feeling of elation only lasted for a second or two before the intense anger and sadness set in. Donnie was honestly shocked at the depth of his anger, he didn’t even know he had that level of malice in him. Had he been in physical proximity to your boyfriend at that moment in time, Donnie isn’t sure that he wouldn’t have hurt your guy…or worse.

· How COULD this guy do this? WHY would he? He HAD YOU! What the heck was this guy thinking? Not only did he have you, but you thought the world of him. When you spoke about him you would smile so genuinely, your eyes would shine and gaze off into a bright imagined future. Donnie was always so jealous to watch it happen, he wondered what it would be like to be THAT GUY. And here the idiot was throwing it all away and meeting up with another girl!

· WHAT THE…(yes, this called for a curse) HELL…IS WRONG WITH HUMAN MEN?

· As the anger set root in his heart, the sadness engulfed Donnie like an all-consuming wave. He realized he was going to have to share this information with you, somehow, and that he was going to have to watch as it destroyed you.

· At first, Donnie had a plan to try and save you both from that fate. True, it would hurt him more to save your relationship, but he would rather be the one facing the pain and not you.

· He TRIED to circumvent the situation. He sent anonymous messages to your boyfriend stating that he knew about the infidelity and that he would tell you if needed. However, it didn’t seem like your boyfriend cared because he sent messages back stating Donnie could, basically, go fuck himself.

· Life had cruel sense of irony, thought Donnie, that is exactly what I do since this moron has the woman that I love.

· So, after trying for nearly two weeks to stop what was happening behind your back, Donnie had no choice but to let you in on the secret.

· Donnie couldn’t come right out and tell you that he caught your boyfriend cheating by hijacking your data streams and the data streams of those around you. So, Donnie intercepted some texts between your boyfriend and his mistress and he then sent you a text, under the guise of your boyfriend, telling you to meet him at a specified restaurant for a date.

· It had been a gut wrenching night for Donnie. He remembered watching it all play out on camera feeds from around the restaurant and street outside. He watched you dressed up in your pretty dress get out of your cab in front of the restaurant. You had such a lovely smile on your face, you must have thought you were in for a romantic evening.

· He watched as you walked inside and how the hostess got flustered and confused by a 2nd girl showing up for your boyfriend’s seated-for-two table.

· Donnie stopped breathing as your eyes found the new couple holding hands and giving each other sweet kisses across the table. Hands and lips that were supposed to be yours were touching some stranger.

· Donnie watched your smile and eyes die…the light of your inner sun go out…

· …and it killed him.

· He’s not sure who was crying the hardest, you standing there in that restaurant witnessing the scene or him back at the lair watching your world crush around you on his monitor.

· It had taken a while for you both to recover from that night.

· His brothers noticed his melancholy mood for a couple of weeks but Donnie wouldn’t tell them what was bothering him. And you stayed in your bed, refusing to face the world, for nearly as long.

· Eventually, the group began to notice your silence and absence, so April stopped by your apartment to check on you. She was the one to pull you out of bed, get you to shower and eat. She visited everyday and made sure you had someone to vent to and a shoulder to cry on.

· Donnie was glad that April could be there for you when he couldn’t. He didn’t think it was appropriate for him, a male, to be your confidant at that time. Especially since he felt so much guilt over having to be the one to expose you to that pain.

· No, he didn’t CAUSE the pain, but he did have to make you face it and he didn’t like not being able to protect you from it. You were such a rare, precious creature and watching you in pain felt like he was suffocating slowly.

· There were some points during those first few weeks that he questioned if he did the right thing, but logic told him it would have eventually come to pass with or without his involvement. It was better to rip the bandage of quickly and let you start to heal than it was to let you linger and drag out the inevitable.

· Donnie did secretly check on you every single night during patrol. And, of course, his surveillance feeds were always running. He watched from a distance as his beautiful phoenix burn down to ashes and, eventually, started to rise again.

· Now, it’s been over 3 months and you’ve begun to be more like your old self. Donnie can tell there is a silent sadness there, but you are able to laugh and smile with the group during your get togethers. And each time you two are left alone, his mind nags at him about those last two sticking points.

· Would you be at all interested in him? And HOW does he go about telling you that you have become the center of his world?

· Still staring at the monitor and the Stalker definition, Donnie sighs and rubs the bridge of his snout to release of the pressure now pushing against the inside of his head. The memories of what has happened, the emotions of what was and what is, it was all starting to be too much.

· “Bro, what’s all this?”, Mikey says standing behind Donnie’s chair, talking around a mouth full of pizza.

· “NOTHING!”, says Donnie, voice breaking from the stress of being caught. A startled Donnie quickly taps some keys on his keyboard and the screens revert back to the standard lair camera feeds.

· Mikey may look or even come off as naïve at times, but he’s no fool, he can sense that his older brother is trying to hide something. “Dude, seriously, what was that? I’ve been standing back here reading the screens. I saw Y/N’s name and that looked like her phone number on that other file…, you know the file that looks like texts messages. And why is there a plotted map of the area around her apartment, her work, and to the lair? What’s up?”, Mikey said giving a disapproving look at being thought a pushover.

· “Just standard surveillance, Mikey, nothing to worry about.”, Donnie says trying to placate Mikey’s curiosity. Donnie hates lying, especially to Mikey, but he’s feeling so guilty about being such a…(inward sigh)…stalking creep that admitting the truth is hard to do.

· Mikey stands there staring at Donnie and, as he does, Donnie begins to fidget with his computer chair armrests.

· Mikey stuffs the remnants of the pizza slice into his mouth and does his best Leo impersonation by crosses his arms and staring down at Donnie as sternly as his jolly face can achieve, “Dude, I’m not going to ask you again. You’ve been weird for months. We’ve let it go for the most part but now you are hiding things from me…from ME, dude! You and I, we’re like peanut butter and jelly, we’re ice cream and chocolate fudge, we young dudes have got to stick together. Trust me, bro, I’ve got you!”.

· Donnie stared at the floor, too ashamed to meet Mikey’s eyes any longer. He gave a heavy sigh and reluctantly started to speak, “Sorry Mike, I…I honestly don’t know what’s come over me lately. I’m doing things I never thought I would do, I’m feeling so guilty about it, but I don’t know if I can stop doing it either. I feel…lost.”.

· Mike relaxed his leader stance and leaned against one of Donnie’s lab tables, “Bro, I can tell you’ve been carrying some heavy stuff lately. You need to let it out.”

· Donnie felt the heat rise up through his body like he was suddenly being consumed by a fire and he ripped his glasses off his face and drew them down on the desk in frustration, “Mikey, I’m in love with Y/N. I have been for a while. I have been…”, Donnie hangs his head in shame, “…tracking all her digital foot prints and watching her. In fact, I’m the reason she found out that asshole boyfriend of her's cheated.”

· Mikey’s mouth drops open at Donnie’s demeanor and use of the word ‘asshole’, “Whoa, dude, why didn’t you say something earlier?”.

· Donnie can feel a stinging at the corners of his eyes, this was so embarrassing, so frustrating, so…..so many things at a once. He didn’t have a response for Mikey, all he could do was shake his head.

· Still with his head hung down and staring at the floor, Donnie starts to hear Mikey chuckle. Donnie looks up to see Mikey’s eyes on him and for some reason they are full of merriment at his painful dilemma. Donnie stares at his, normally, very considerate brother in astonishment, this isn’t like Mikey at all!

· “Mikey, I’m more than serious here, now is not the time to make fun of me. What is so funny?”, Donnie asks exasperatedly.

· Mikey shakes his bald head and claps his brother on the shoulder with his green hand, “Bro, she thinks you’re cute.”.

· “W-What?!”, Donnie stammers out.

· Mikey, still chuckling, says, “Yeah, dude, that’s why I asked WHY you didn’t say something about liking her sooner, she’s always thought you were cute. She and I talk about it all the time.”.

· Donnie just stares at his jolly brother in silence. His mind is too blown to form a sentence.

· Mikey turns to leave stating, “And by the way, dude, stop watching her like that…that’s just creepy.”.

@turtle-babe83 @tmntspidergirl @kokokatsworld @nittleboo @the-second-circle-of-shell

[jmnjmnjmn]

Celebrity Crush| part 1 | BTS x Reader mini series

Pairing: BTS x Celebrity!Reader

Key words: celebrity crush, singer, idol.

Word count: around 8,000

Masterlist

Okay, this one is just regular fluff, but it definitely has potential to become more juicy, maybe even angsty... I had many ideas when I was writing it, but decided upon cutting it where I did. Maybe there will be part two to this story, maybe not. If there will be it will also probably be able to functionas a totaly separate one shot. Also I couldn’t decide on a ship here! Initially it was supposed to be RM, but I kept coming back to JK (my bias xd). That’s where possibility of an angst story lays... Anyway tell me what you think of this piece!

“AH!” Namjoon exclaimed, dropping his spoon down into his soup.

“Hey, watch it! You’re spilling everything!” Seokjin yelled back at him as some of his friend's soup splashed out from his bowl.

“What happened?” Hoseok asked, sipping his soup slowly and looking at Namjoon with curiosity.

“It’s-It’s (Y/N).” He stuttered out, his eyes still glued to the screen of his phone. He was scrolling through Twitter when he noticed a tweet from his favourite female artist, (Y/N), announcing her world wide tour.

“What? Did she message you?” Seokjin asked him with a chuckle, knowing well that wouldn’t happen.

“I wish.” Namjoon scoffed and clicked on a link to an article some music site posted immediately after reading (Y/N)’s tweet. “(Y/N) has announced details of her long-awaited world tour.” He read out loud to  his friends already feeling his heartbeat pick up. “The singer has continuously updated her fans on the details, promising them that she was working on the announcement. Now, via a short video on Instagram simply captioned ‘Hello world’, she has finally revealed when and where the No Limitations tour will be starting off. You can see the full dates, which she simultaneously posted on her Twitter account, below.” He quickly scrolled down to take a look at the dates and locations. His jaw dropped as he scanned down the list and noticed the Asia leg of the tour. “Soul is on the list.” He muttered. “In January. Seoul is on the list.” He repeated looking at his friends with wide eyes.

“Finally!” Hoseok exclaimed reaching across the table to pat him on the shoulder. “You can go see her then.”

“It hasn’t been announced when tickets will go on sale.” Namjoon said in panic as he frantically searched the internet for information about the tour.

“I’m sure our staff can get you in there without a ticket.” Seokjin said casually, but Namjoon took the matter very seriously. (Y/N) wasn’t just someone who’s music he liked. He also had a huge crush on her as a girl in general and he wasn’t about to pass on an opportunity to see her perform live.

“I have to talk to our PD about that.” He said in an excited tone and clicked his Messages app to draft up a passionate yet professional text saying how much he wants, no, needs to go to (Y/N)’s Seoul concert.

“Now?” Seokjin asked, taken aback a little by his fast pace.

“No time to waste. It’s (Y/N) we’re talking about.” Namjoon chuckled. “If all goes well maybe we could work on some music together.”

“Yeah and maybe something more.” Hoseok teased him, earning a loud laugh from Seokjin. Namjoon only smiled up at them from his phone, because among those who followed the news about BTS it was a well known fact that he had a thing for (Y/N).

Whenever they would get asked about their celebrity crushes in interviews he would say (Y/N)’s name. Ideal girl - someone like (Y/N). A song they could listen to on loop - (Y/N)’s latest single. Fashion inspiration at the moment - (Y/N). Favourite movie - that one (Y/N) had a cameo in for like three minutes. It would happen so much that ARMY’s started making compilations of him talking about her on YouTube called “Namjoon drooling over (Y/N) for 7 minutes straight” and so on. At first he was embarrassed about it, but after some time that awkward feeling turned into hope that maybe she’ll see it and fall for him as well. He knew it was wishful thinking, but he still liked to imagine the moment you would message him saying you would love to collab on a song.

-

“I’m going to go talk to our PD.” Namjoon said, as he took off the bright pink sunglasses with Happy New Year written on top of them in a silly font. He wore them for the small photoshoot they just had for BTS’s New Year’s Eve post on Twitter.

“Now?” Jimin asked him, raising his brows.  He was still wearing his party hat he put on for the session. “It’s New Year’s Eve.”

“I know. I just-” He was interrupted by Taehyung’s loud cheer. “I’ll be right back.” Jimin just shook his head at his eagerness to find out whether (Y/N)’s staff has already answered BigHit’s request for letting Namjoon go to your show with a backstage pass as a celebrity guest of sorts.

Since they were already at the BigHit headquarters for the photoshoot and a little celebration for the beginning of the new year Namjoon had to walk just a couple of doors down to get to PD’s office. He took a deep breath before knocking on the door. After hearing a faint invitation he pressed on the handle and opened it.

“Oh, it’s you. Why aren’t you with the others celebrating?” The PD asked, obviously surprised to see Namjoon.

“Ah, yes. I’ll be joining them in a minute.” He said, remembering Jimin’s words. “I just came here to ask about the No Limitations show. It’s in January and since it’s already first of the month I wondered-”

“Ah, of course.” PD cut him off with a smile. “You're going.”

“Really?” Namjoon asked in shock.

“Yes, all of you are.” Namjoon must have looked very confused for a moment there, because PD rushed with an explanation. “We got an answer saying they were going to issue a formal invitation to the concert and an after party to the whole band anyway. Go and pass on the news to the rest of the boys. We’ll have a proper meeting about this next week.” Namjoon thanked him accesively and assured he’ll let the rest of the members know about the situation. As he walked down the hall he heard their voices from the dance studio they had the photo shoot in. He was speechless.

“It’s happening.” He thought, leaning on the wall to catch a breath before coming inside. After a moment he pushed the door open and joined his group members with a bright smile.

“Guys, guys. Listen” He called. “We’re going to (Y/N)’s concert!” He exclaimed and they cheered, gathering around him, smothering him with hugs and tugging on his cheeks teasingly.

-

“Look at him.” Jimin chuckled pointing at Namjoon who was pacing around the room. “So excited for the concert.”

“Of course he is. He’s going to meet his crush.” Seokjin added, also laughing.

The whole group was teasing him about (Y/N) all throughout January. It was seventeenth today, the day of her Seoul show and he couldn’t wait. They already got their hair and makeup done. They were dressed to the nines. All that was left was to get to the show.

“The car is here.” Someone from the staff announced and all the boys got up from their spots. As they walked down the hall together they all took turns patting Namjoon on the shoulder for encouragement.

“Do you think we’ll have a chance to talk to her?” Jungkook asked with excitement when they were all in the car together.

“Of course!” Hoseok exclaimed.

“No, but like, for real talk. Not just: nice to meet you, let’s take a picture, goodbye.” The youngest explained quickly.

“Hopefully.” Seokjin said, patting Namjoon on the thigh as that was something he was worried about. He would definitely be happy if he got even only a second with (Y/N), but he wished for more.

After a short drive the car stopped in an underground parking lot under the venue of the concert. As they got outside they could hear the cheers of the crowds gathered outside. Their staff took them on an elevator explaining once again how the night will go. First a before party with other guests, then the concert itself and after that the after party at a hotel. Namjoon repeated the sequence of these events in his head a million times already. Technically he was prepared, but practically he was a mess. His hands were sweating and his heart was racing like crazy. He looked around the small elevator at his closest friends and the familiar faces of BigHit staff who were accompanying them. Realising he has so many people around him for support eased his nerves a little.

“I can’t believe we’re in the same building.” Namjoon muttered under his breath.

“Yeah, she was also in the same building as us at the VMA’s and AMA’s and so on.” Yoongi teased him and everyone chuckled.

“That’s true, Namjoon.” Taehyung agreed with a grin. “You shouldn’t be so worried.”

“Easy for you to say.” Namjoon added right as the elevator door opened.

“Yeah, she already saw us perform at one of the award shows. She knows who we are. It’s going to be fine.” Jimin said in a nervous tone. Namjoon just nodded to himself trying to make the anxious thoughts go away as they approached the area where the before party was held.

They were all excited to see (Y/N)’s show and attend her after party, but with the tremendous enthusiasm also came the stress of meeting an A list celebrity from overseas.��

-

“I can’t believe she’s still not here.” Namjoon whined to Taehyung and Jimin as the rest of the group scattered to chat with other invited idols and celebrities. “All the dancers and her band are here already.”

“It’s still early.” Taehyung tried to cheer him up. “She’ll show up any moment. I’m sure.”

“Definitely.” Jimin agreed with him energetically.

Before Namjoon could voice another concerned thought lingering in his brain everyone in the room started cheering and clapping. He looked around wondering what caused this reaction as he noticed the obvious reason.

“Thank you all so much for coming.” (Y/N) said stopping somewhere in the middle of the gathered crowd of celebrities and staff. “It means a lot. Really.” She put her hand to her chest as she spoke. “If all goes well the show will be starting in a couple of minutes. Wish me luck and have fun.” 

“That’s it?” Taehyung asked as (Y/N) was rushed away by her staff to the stage entry. “I thought she was going to chat with everyone or something.”

“Do you chat with guests before the show?” Jimin asked. “That’s what the after party is for.” He explained and Namjoon hummed in agreement. Just the quick glimpse he caught of her was enough to leave him speechless.

“Let’s go watch the show.” Hoseok said approaching the three from behind with the rest of the group following close behind.

There was a big screen in the backstage lounge and a couple of smaller TV’s located at the stage entries for those that wanted to glance at the stage during the show to see the real deal. They watched the first half of the show in the lounge and later relocated to the left entry area. Namjoon’s eyes were glued to the screen as everyone around him chatted away. He tried to pay attention to the conversation and partake from time to time, but his focus quickly went back to (Y/N). She looked stunning singing and dancing on stage.

Suddenly a group of staff dressed in all black rushed into the area they were hanging out in with some other guests.

“Wardrobe change, left.” One of the staff said as she clicked on her earpiece.

Namjoon almost jumped out of his seat when he saw (Y/N) jogging down from the stage and into the swarm of her people from her team.

“Woah, that gave me chills.” Yoongi commented as (Y/N) passed by them surrounded by her wardrobe, hair and makeup team.

“Say something.” Hoseok whispered, elbowing Namjoon’s side.

“Like what?” He asked following (Y/N) with his gaze as she disappeared behind her dressing room's door.

“Great show, looking good. Anything really.” He encouraged him with a cheeky smile.

“No.” Namjoon shook his head, already feeling the blood rushing to his head.

“Do it. Do it.” The rest of the members repeated after Hoseok, but he only shook his head once again.

“She’ll come out any second.” Seokjin added in a warning tone.

He was right. The dance number performed by her backup dancers was getting to an end and (Y/N) should be running out onto the stage soon to sing the next song.

“Great show!” Jungkook yelled out in English.

All the boys’s heads snapped in his direction and then onto (Y/N). She was walking out of her dressing room in long strides. As Jungkook yelled out his praise she turned to look his way without stopping,

“Thank you!” She answered quickly before being escorted by her staff into the understage corridors.

All the boys started shoving and pushing the youngest member teasingly.

“Namjoon was supposed to say that. You took over his part. Jungkook, you’re so eager.” They yelled with laughter.

-

“What time is it?” Taehyung asked the group as most of the guests gathered in the backstage lounge to watch the encore of the show.

“It’s close to eleven.” Seokjin answered, looking at his phone.

“Before we finish off the show with this last song I just wanted to take a minute to say: Thank you so much.” (Y/N)’s voice echoed from the stage and through the speakers in the lounge. She was standing in the bright lights holding the mic to her lips. “Thank you for choosing to come see the show and spending the night here with us. I really can’t even begin to express how grateful I am for all of you, here in the audience and back at home watching and streaming my music and the shows. Thank you so much.” 

“Ah, she’s so nice. Never forgetting about her fans.” People around muttered.

“I really, truly appreciate you guys. I cannot imagine how this year would’ve gone if I hadn't spent it with all of you, all of the people on the stage and behind it. We’ve been away from our homes for so long.” (Y/N) voice got higher with nerves and sadness that came over her as she spoke about her home. “We’re coming close to ten months on the road now. That’s a long time.” She said, bringing her hand to her chest to show her gratitude. “Thank you so much for putting up with me.” She chuckled and the staff cheered. “I feel so lucky and so fortunate to be working with all of you and to be able to perform in front of all of you.” She sighed deeply, undoubtedly masking a cry. “So thank you. I love you so much. Thank you.”

-

The audience was shouting and applauding loudly as (Y/N) walked off the stage waving to them. As soon as she was out of the view she handed her microphone to one of the sound people and took a big gulp of water from the bottle one of the staff handed her.

“Thank you.” She breathed out. “I need to get out of this hair as soon as possible.” She chuckled tiredly as she walked into her dressing room.

“We’ve got about twenty minutes to get you ready for the after party.” Her assistant, who was waiting inside, spoke calmly as the beauty and wardrobe team gathered around (Y/N) quickly taking out the bobby pins from her hair and undoing the back of her dress. “There’s quite a lot of guests your manager would like you to talk to, at least for a minute.” She said and quickly moved on to listing all the most important people attending the party.

“Have any of those people been informed that I might want to reach out to work with them later?” (Y/N) asked, getting into her oversized sweatshirt dress with the help of some staff so that she doesn’t ruin her makeup.

“No, that’ll be done after tonight. Sometime this week though.” She explained scrolling through something on her tablet.

“What time is the flight to Osaka tomorrow?” (Y/N)’s voice sounded tired as she thought of getting on another plane.

“Actually, there’s been a change of plans.” Her assistant said casually. “You got surprise booked for a daytime show tomorrow, so we’re staying in Seoul for that for the whole day and flying to Japan the next morning. The crew will be already there setting everything up for Saturday.”

“Two days in Seoul?” (Y/N) was surprised.

“Mhm.”

“What’s the show?”

“King of Masked Singer. You’re going to be the surprise opening act. I’ll fill you in on everything tomorrow morning.”

“Perfect.” She said smiling at herself in the mirror as the hairstylist was fixing up her hair.

“Heels or sneakers?” One of the wardrobe girls asked.

“Heels.” (Y/N) answered without hesitation. She wanted to look her best when surrounded with so many new faces at the after party and pairing sneakers with an oversized sweatshirt didn’t seem like the greatest combination for that.

“Ready.” The head stylist stated as one of the staff helped (Y/N) get into her thigh high booties.

From there, accompanied by security, (Y/N) and her assistant walked to the elevator that took them to the parking lot located under the venue.

-

As (Y/N)’s car pulled up in front of the hotel a swarm of fans and paparazzi started yelling out her name and waving to get her attention. She stopped to get her pictures taken, walked up to a couple of fans to sign their albums or pictures and walked inside to get to the after party. With her assistant following her every step and the three body guards right behind them she took yet another elevator to the hotel bar rented for the occasion. 

“Let’s do this.” (Y/N) whispered to herself as she pushed the bar door open.

When she walked deeper into the crowded room random hands touched her shoulders and unknown voices spoke words of praise directed her way. She smiled and thanked the faceless mass making her way towards the DJ’s stand.

“That’s her.” Hoseok whispered as (Y/N) passed by the group of boys.

“Woah. She’s dressed cool.” Taehyung gasped, eying down her figure.

When she stepped onto the slightly elevated stage the DJ stopped the music and handed her a microphone. A wave of cheers erupted from the gathered guests as everyone noticed the star of the night had arrived.

“Hi.” (Y/N) spoke sweetly into the microphone and let the crowd yell or whistle back at her for a moment. “It’s so nice to see all of you here.” She chuckled. “Eat, drink, have fun. It’s all on me tonight. Just tonight.” She joked and the crowd clapped and yelled in excitement. “I know you all came here after the concert, but it’s not all about my music tonight.” Her tone turned mysterious all of a sudden. “It’s actually a very special day for someone else as well. A very funny guy, an inspiration in the studio, a dance mastermind and a dear friend and coworker of mine.” With every endearment term she listed the cheers got wilder. “Johnny Campbell. Where you at?” She asked looking around the room.

“Here!” Someone called out in the front of the room.

“Johnny, this is for you.” (Y/N) said in a low voice and started singing a very sexy adaptation of the birthday song.

As she finished someone in the crowd whistled and Johnny joined her on stage.

“Happy birthday Johnny.” (Y/N) finished off her wishes and hugged him tightly. “Let’s party, everyone!” She exclaimed into the microphone earning a loud cheer from everyone gathered at the bar.

-

(Y/N) made her way to the bar, stopping to chat and take a picture with someone every couple of steps. More than twenty minutes had passed from the moment she got off stage to when she finally got to the counter and grabbed herself a glass of expensive champagne. She sipped on the bubbly liquid and chatted to members of her dance crew. Looking around the room she locked eyes with a guy she recognised from somewhere. It took her a minute to realise it was BTS’s Jimin she was looking at. She smiled to herself, remembering that his group was on her manager’s to-talk-to list. Being halfway done with her drink she decided to down it and get another one before walking up to the group of boys.

“Oh my god.” Jimin exclaimed. “(Y/N) just looked here.” 

“Where is she?” Namjoon asked, feeling his panic and excitement blur into one.

“At the bar.” He answered through gritted teeth.

“She’s coming here. She’s coming here.” Jungkook said quickly as (Y/N) made her way towards them.

“Hi, guys. I’m so glad you could make it.” She said in a sweet tone. “I’m (Y/N).”

“We know.” Jungkook blurted out which would normally earn him a shove to the shoulder from the older members, but the sound of (Y/N)’s chuckle at his comment made them relax and join her with nervous laughter. “I’m Jungkook.” He added extending his hand.

“I know.” (Y/N) answered with a smile and went for a hug and kiss on the cheek instead of a simple handshake.

“You know?” He asked in shock.

“Yes, I saw you guys perform at award shows, your music is everywhere. I know BTS.” The members smiled widely as she explained and started greeting the rest of them in the same way one by one. The hugs were quick, but still sincere. “I’m so happy you found time in your busy schedule to come see my show.” 

“We wouldn’t miss it.” Namjoon said, trying to sound cool and collected. He wasn’t going to mention that he practically begged their PD to get them backstage.

“Oh, thank you.” She smiled and Namjoon’s knees almost went weak at the sight.

“Yes, great show.” Jungkook added and the group laughed.

“Oh, it was you.” (Y/N) also laughed realising it was Jungkook who yelled the words of praise her way halfway through the concert.

“Yes, I… Liked your dance with… By Your Side.” Jungkook said slowly making sure he picked the right words. “Great choreography.”

“Thank you.” She answered, bringing her hand to her chest as she accepted his compliment. “It’s nothing compared to your routines though. Those look hard.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you. We work hard. A lot of practice.” They muttered with modesty.

“Honestly!” (Y/N) exclaimed. “I was trying to learn the routine for your song with Halsey with my girls… So hard.”

“Boy With Luv?” Jimin raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, but the foot choreo was killing me.” She complained jokingly.

“Hyung, ask her which member’s part she learned.” Jungkook asked Namjoon in Korean.

“He wants to know which member’s choreography you learned.” Namjoon explained.

“Yours,” (Y/N) pointed to Jungkook.

“Me?” He asked and she nodded energetically. “Hyung, say I can teach her the choreography.” He added in Korean with a wide smile, still shocked he’s talking to such a huge star. Namjoon and the rest of the boys laughed at the youngest member’s bluntness.

“He’s saying he’ll teach you.” Namjoon hurried with an explanation as (Y/N) looked confused by what they were laughing about. 

“Watch out, ‘cause I’ll take you up on that offer.” She raised her brow at Jungkook cheekily who looked at Namjoon for a translation.

“She says she might take you up on that.” He translated to his friend and he laughed, feeling a blush creep up onto his face.

“I sang your song during soundcheck today.” (Y/N) stated and all the members raised their brows at her.

“Which one?” Jungkook asked.

“Sweet Night. V’s solo.” She said pointing to Taehyung. “It’s such a sweet song and you sound amazing in it.” She said, touching his shoulder.

“Thank you so much.” Taehyung smiled, bowing to her slightly.

Not in many moments Namjoon was glad that his members couldn’t speak English as well as he did, but right now he couldn’t be happier about it. They were all so excited to be talking to (Y/N) they forgot their tongues. The alcoholic beverages that they already consumed didn’t help either. They asked him for translations every other sentence, meaning (Y/N) needed him to translate for her as well, meaning he was talking to her more than any other member, meaning she looked at him more than at any other member. Despite the language barrier the conversation flowed so easily between them. He felt ecstatic.

“(Y/N).” Her assistant called her name and brought her to the side for a moment.” It’s showtime.”

By saying “showtime” she meant that it’s time for (Y/N) to perform a song or two to entertain the guests and keep the party going.

“I’ll be right there.” She answered her and walked back to the group of boys.

“V, could I borrow you for a moment?” She asked with a sweet voice.

Unsure of what she might want from him, but still excited Taehyung followed (Y/N) into the bar.

“You said you love Underneath and know the lyrics by heart.” She said, glancing at him as they walked side by side through the crowded room filled with chatter and music. Taehyung hummed in agreement, feeling his heartbeat grow faster and faster. “You know them well enough to sing it live with me now?”

“What?” He asked, almost tripping over his own feet.

“I’m supposed to perform a couple of songs now. Would you like to perform one with me?” She asked stopping and looked him in the eyes with hope.

“Of course.” Taehyung answered, giving her his signature box smile.

“Great!” She exclaimed and grabbed his hand to lead him backstage. “This way.”

-

“Where do you think she took him?” Seokjin asked as (Y/N) disappeared with Taehyung in the crowd.

“I have no idea.” Namjoon answered, also curious about the whole ordeal.

“She’s very nice.” Jungkook commented.

“Yeah, nicer than I imagined.” Yoongi added.

“We have to get a picture together.” Hoseok said and the rest of the boys agreed.

“Look, there’s (Y/N).” Jimin pointed towards the stage where the DJ’s booth was located.

“Welcome to the stage, the one and only, (Y/N) and Korea’s very own, V of BTS!” Announced the DJ and all the boys’s jaws dropped to the floor.

“What?!” They screamed in unison.

“Hi.” (Y/N) said in a low voice. “V and I have a very special cover for you tonight. Please enjoy, Underneath.”

The rest of the members sang along to the fast paced pop song as V and (Y/N) performed. The lyrics talked about hidden feelings and the tension that can build up if you don’t give them a way out. Even though (Y/N) and Taehyung never sang together before their voices blended perfectly in the duet. When they finished their performance the crowd applauded loudly. (Y/N) put her arm behind Taehyung and he did the same. Joined in this side hug they bowed to the audience.

After a minute or two Taehyung got back to his friends with the widest smile on his face.

“Can you believe this?” He was still in shock.

“Congratulations. You were so good. Woah.” All the boys chattered at the same time.

“I recorded you.” Seokjin added as he pulled out his phone from his pocket. They gathered around the small screen watching Taehyung and (Y/N)’s performance once again.

“Where is she?” Namjoon asked Taehyung as the video came to an end.

“Last I saw her she was talking to MAMAMOO.”

“Ah, so cool. She’s probably busy. We didn’t even take a picture together.” The group chimed. After a moment of sulking they went back to obsessing over the fact that they met (Y/N) and that one of their own members sang with her.

Surrounded by music, food and alcohol the time seemed to fly by very fast. Accompanied by their staff they left the party around two in the morning without having a chance to talk to (Y/N) one more time.

-

Mornings after concerts are usually pretty bad for both the audience members and the performing artists, but mornings after concerts combined with after parties, meeting new people and mingling with every music producer possible are even harder.

(Y/N) woke up with a headache and a bitter taste in her mouth. From her bed she walked straight to the bathroom to take a shower. When brushing her teeth she scrolled through her Twitter feed reviewing every other caption or photo on the endless string of posts from last night she was tagged in. She liked a couple of tweets posted by her friends and was about to lock her phone when she noticed a simple caption.

“Great show #정국” (Y/N) pressed on the picture to see it whole. She immediately recognised Jungkook, one of the members of BTS, a band she met last night. He was standing in front of the big monitor backstage with her tour logo on it, making hearts with his fingers and smiling at the camera. She smiled to herself remembering how easily yesterday’s conversation flowed with the group of boys.

“Ah, I wish I had his number.” (Y/N) muttered. “I could take him up on that dance lesson offer.”

-

(Y/N) rushed to open her hotel room’s door to the room service. The hoteboy brought in the big breakfast she just ordered minutes ago and set it on the table. As she got ready to dig into the scrambled eggs her phone started vibrating. She looked at the called ID and quickly picked up as she saw it was her assistant calling. She gave her a quick rundown of the day’s events and informed her she’s free to rest and relax until three in the afternoon.

“That’s when they’ll pick us up for King of Masked Singer.” She finished explaining.

“I have one more question.” An interesting idea popped into (Y/N)’s head. “Is there a way you could get me the number of BTS’s Jungkook?” 

-

(Y/N)’s phone chimed as she was finishing up her breakfast. She picked it up reading the message she just recieved.

“I got it.” As she read the message from her assistant another one appeared on the screen. This time it was a string of numbers.

“Ah, what should I say?” (Y/N) pasted the number into her contacts and waited a minute before pressing the dial button. The phone beeped a couple of times before going silent. Jungkook didn’t pick up. “Hm. Let’s try again.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Jungkook was hanging out with his friends in their shared apartment. He was typing something up on his phone when the screen lip up with an unfamiliar number. 

“Hyung, do you know this number?” He showed the ringing screen to Taehyung sitting beside him on the couch.

“No. Pick up.” Jungkook just shook his head at his answer.

“I don’t pick up unknown callers.” He rejected the call and went back to what he was doing. “This person is calling again.”

“Pick up.” More preoccupied with switching through TV channels, Taehyung encouraged him tiredly. Jungkook swiped right to take the call and put it on speaker.

“Hello?” He asked in Korean.

“Ah- Hello.” Jungkook and Taehyung locked eyes in surprise and curiosity as the person on the other side spoke in English. “It’s (Y/N). From yesterday.” Taehyung almost screamed in shock. Jungkook felt all his blood rush to his head.

“Ah, sorry. Hello. Sorry.” He stumbled over his words, trying to explain why he didn’t answer her call at first ring. “I don’t pick up if I don’t know the number.” (Y/N) chuckled on the other end of the line.

“It’s fine.” Her voice was sweet and calm. “Actually, I’m calling, ‘cause I’m still in Seoul-” Taehyung stood up from the couch covering his mouth with his hands, still in deep shock. “-and I was wondering- I was thinking about what you said last night, so…” Jungkook scrunched his eyebrows, trying his hardest to remember what he said that made (Y/N) call him the next morning. “If you have time we could meet and dance together.” Taehyung gasped. “You could teach me the Boy With Luv choreo and-” Jungkook couldn’t control himself and answered her before she could even finish asking the question.

“Yes.” He blurted out. Taehyung jumped back on the couch and pushed his shoulder with a huge smile.

“Really?”

“Yes, yes.” He assured her.

“Should I come to your-” Eager to see her he cut her off again.

“You can come to our studio. I will text you the address.”

“Great. I’m free until three in the afternoon so text me the time as well.” She added.

“Okay.”

“Okay. I’ll see you there.” (Y/N) added after a moment of silence.

“Okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

“AH!” Jungkook threw his phone, which felt red hot in his hands right now, on the other side of the couch.

“What was that?!” Taehyung yelled, shaking on his shoulders. “How did she get your number?!” 

“I have no idea!” Jungkook felt his body relax as he was no longer on the phone. “Oh my god. I have to text her now!” He reached to dig his phone out from under a stack of pillows and blankets on the couch. “And I have to go see her!”

-

“You’re doing great.” Jungkook praised (Y/N) with laughter as she jokingly overdid the moves and gestures in the choreography. “Like that.”

“Okay, but in all seriousness how did I do?” She asked, cutting the jokes short. Jungkook raised his thumbs up with a smile and she chuckled again.

“Let’s do it again and record it so we can review. You vs me.” He set his phone up on the floor by the mirrors in the studio space at BigHit.

“Teacher vs student.” Jungkook just hummed in agreement before playing the music.

-

Tired after practicing Boy With Luv for an hour and freestyling for almost two more (Y/N) and Jungkook sat down on the floor of the dance studio panting. She stood up to get herself some water and immediately regretted it.

“Ah, my legs.” Jungkook smiled at her words. Although (Y/N) danced in her music videos and during live performances her routines were far more relaxed that BTS’s regular dances. Their moves were sharp and strong and her’s more sexy and slow. Chucked her emptied water bottle back into her bag and turned to face Jungkook again. “Are you hungry?” He raised his brows, knowing what will come next if he says he is in fact hungry.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go eat something.” Her proposition was so blunt and free. He could not refuse her, but the excitement that filled his chest at that moment didn’t overshadow the fact that the rest of his group would be so bummed they didn’t get to eat with (Y/N) as well.

“Ah, can I do this to them?” He whined in Korean. (Y/N) gave him a confused look since she didn’t understand a word he just said. “My members will be jealous.” He explained with a slight smile.

“Oh, I didn’t think about that. Should we invite them?” That Jungkook wasn’t expecting.

“You want that?” He asked to make sure he didn’t just hear something wrong. (Y/N) smiled sincerely at his unsure expression.

“Yeah, why not?” Jungkook quickly got up from the ground and dug his phone up from his pocket.

“I’ll call them. Wait a second.”

“Okay.” (Y/N) answered as he walked out of the studio to call his friends.

Jungkook dialed Namjoon’s number, knowing he was at the apartment right now enjoying his day of rest. The line beeped a couple of times before he finally picked up.

“Hello?” His voice was low and sleepy in contrast with Jungkook’s, which was excited and fast paced.

“Hyung, listen. Get the rest of the guys and put me on speaker. I have something to tell all of you.” 

“What is it?”

“Are they all there?”

“Wait a second.” Some shuffling and name calling was heard on the other side of the line before Namjoon spoke up again. “Okay, go.”

“So I’m with (Y/N) right now. We just got done dancing and all that and… She’s invited us all to lunch.” 

“What? Oh, wow. Really? How cool.” The group erupted in chatter as they heard Jungkook’s news.

“Yeah. Can you come?”

“Of course. Yes. I can’t.” Another bundle of statements was heard.

“Who can’t?” Jungkook asked, saddened.

“Yoongi.” Seokjin said.

“I already have plans with our producers, but you all should go.” Yoongi explained, still encouraging the rest of the boys to go out.

“You sure?” Namjoon asked.

“Yes, go.”

“We’ll take a picture for you.” Hoseok joked.

“What are we going to eat?” Taehyung asked out of the blue.

“I don’t know.” Jungkook answered, not really having thought about that yet.

“Since we know Seoul maybe we should pick the place?” Seokjin proposed thoughtfully.

“Good idea. I’ll tell her that. When will you come here?”

“Thirty minutes? We need to get dressed.” Namjoon said and murmur of agreement was heard.

“Okay, okay. Don’t overdress though, we’re both in sweatpants.” Jungkook added with a chuckle. After exchanging goodbyes he hung up and sighed deeply, letting his shoulders relax a little before going back into the studio.

When he opened the door he saw (Y/N) stretching her legs in a sitting down position. He joined her on the floor before speaking.

-

As Taehyung pulled into BigHit’s parking lot Jungkook and (Y/N) were already waiting outside. Both dressed in large black puffer jackets going over their knees, they stood beside one another. Jungkook was looking over (Y/N)’s shoulder pointing to something on her phone.

“Now you can add a picture.” He said, swiping his finger on her screen. (Y/N) nodded and pressed on the camera option.

“Take a selfie with me.” She asked, raising her phone up to take a picture of the two of them.

Jungkook smiled shyly and pulled his mask down half way. (Y/N) did the same before snapping a cute picture to set as her contact photo. Jungkook quickly pulled his mask back up to cover his cheeks that started to turn bright red. He glanced over her shoulder as she manipulated the photo to fit both of their faces into the small square.

“And synchronise your contacts, so I will be there.” He added as she finally accepted the placement of the picture.

“Oh, great.”

“Yeah.” (Y/N) pressed on the ‘synch contacts’ button before looking up at Jungkook.

“Thank you.” She said sweetly and pulled her mask back over her nose.

“You’re welcome.”

Taehyung noticed the two of them standing in front of the building exit and slowly pulled up. As he got closer he rolled down his window.

“Hello!” The sudden greeting made them jump up slightly.

“Hi!” (Y/N) called back sweetly.

“Come in!” Shoulder to shoulder they walked towards the car after Taehyung's invitation.

Namjoon was already sitting in the passenger's seat making it so that Jungkook and (Y/N) had to sit together in the backseat.

“How was dance practice?” Namjoon asked them.

“What was it?” (Y/N) tapped Jungkook’s arm. He whispered something to her and she clapped her hands in realisation. “Daebak.” Namjoon and Taehyung laughed at her harsh pronunciation.

“It was good. Great.” Jungkook added after the chuckles died down. “Where are the other guys?” He asked Namjoon in Korean.

“The rest of the guys will meet us at the restaurant.” He explained in English, so (Y/N) could understand. She was still doing something on her phone when he glanced at her from the front seat.

“Jungkook.” Her shy tone echoed in the car. “I synced the contacts, but you’re not here.” She showed him her phone with a concerned expression. “Look.” 

“Maybe I will just add my number like normal and then it will be saved in the contacts.” (Y/N) hummed in agreement, giving him her phone.

“What are you doing?” Taehyung asked in Korean, eying the two in the rearview mirror. Jungkook glanced at him, thanking god that (Y/N) doesn’t speak their language.

“I made (Y/N) a Kakao account.”

“And you’re putting your number in?” Taehyung continued in a teasing tone. Jungkook smiled at (Y/N)’s screen and typed in his ID.

“It’s not like that.” 

-

The boys picked out a traditional korean diner with private rooms and floor level tables. They ordered mountains of meat to fry and tons of side dishes, soups and rice. At first (Y/N) widened her eyes at the amount of food concerned there will be leftovers, but within thirty or forty minutes she realised that those six boys’s stomachs can intake much more food that she can.

The conversation within the group flowed swiftly and comfortably as it did the night before. There even was some talk about possible musical collaborations. No one was looking at the clock, but at two o’clock sharp (Y/N)’s phone buzzed.

“Ah, it’s my assistant.” She announced with deep sorrow in her voice. “Unfortunately I will have to get going soon, guys. I have a TV appearance this evening.”

“TV today?” Seokjin asked in English. He seemed really shocked. When he spoke again he directed his words to Namjoon and spoke in Korean. “She shouldn't have eaten so much noodles and rice. She’ll be bloated and puffy. That’s very bad.”

“He says noodles and rice is bad for TV, ‘cause you might get puffy.” Namjoon explained to (Y/N) who just waved him off and chuckled.

“Ah, I’ll be wearing a big dress and a mask anyway.”

“What show are you on?” Namjoon asked, curiously.

“Something called King of Masked Singer.” The boys started talking over each other in Korean and patting Jungkook on the shoulders. After a moment of that Namjoon translated the jist of it to (Y/N).

“Yeah, so JK also was on that show.” (Y/N), who was sitting opposite to the youngest member of the group, looked up at him with a smile.

“Really?” She asked after swallowing another sip of hot soup. “What did they put you in? What costume?”

“I was…” He wanted to tell her everything in English, but was missing the most crucial word. “Hyung, how do you say fencer?” He asked Namjoon who looked confused for a second before answering him with a shrug. Jungkook reached to his pocket and pulled out his phone. “I’ll show you.” He typed the right words into YouTube and passed (Y/N) his phone. As soon as she looked at the moving screen she nodded in realisation.

“Ah, fencer.”

“Fencer, yes.” Namjoon agreed. (Y/N) skimmed through the video listening to Jungkook’s clear and beautiful vocals in the cover of BIGBANG’s If You.

“Woah, this is good.” She said, looking up at him.

“Thank you.” He accepted the compliment as she passed the phone back to him.

“You know what you will have?” Hoseok asked.

“What I’ll be dressed in? Yeah, I’m singing Beauty and the Beast, so I’ll be a princess.”

“Ah, cute.” Seokjin called out with a chuckle as (Y/N)’s phone buzzed once more.

“Ah, I really have to go.” She sighed deeply as the boys whined at her early leave. “I have to get myself intact before going to the studio.” She said gesturing to her laid back outfit. Since she was meeting Jungkook earlier for dance practice she was wearing a pair of branded sneakers, high waisted sweatpants and a hoodie - an outfit most of the boys in the room thought of as very pretty, but to her it was just workout gear.

“Do you need a ride?” Jungkook asked, all of a sudden realising she drove here with them and might not have a ride back to her hotel, but (Y/N) shook her head.

“No, my security is already parked outside.” The boys nodded at the professional sound of that statement. She was an A list celebrity after all and couldn’t just run around town by herself.

Everyone stood up from the table as (Y/N) slipped on her shoes and jacket.

“It was so nice to see you again.” Namjoon started as (Y/N) turned towards them before going out the door of the private dining room. She smiled sincerely and swung her backpack onto her shoulder.

“I’m so glad we got to hang out.” She looked at them with a shine in her eyes before going in for a hug with each of them. “And that we got to dance.” She added stopping in front of Jungkook. He smiled and chuckled as she hugged him goodbye.

“Yes. Me too.”

The group exchanged a couple more words of goodbye before (Y/N) walked towards the sliding door. As she was about to close it behind herself she slipped her face mask down and smiled at the group once more.

“Hopefully that’s not the last I see of you.” She added and the boys erupted with negating statements and chuckles.

[kimberly-spirits13]

Batsis HC Compilation

1.     Being the Artist/ Sensitive Also Kinda Scary Wayne Daughter HC (lol):

Warnings: Depression and anxiety mentions

·      You were the first biological child of Bruce Wayne

·      Well as far as you knew lol

·      You were younger than Jason, but a few months older than Tim

·      I suspect that if you were in the family business as long as Dick or so you’d have some issues

·      Those would include but not be limited to depression and possible anxiety

·      There would be happy days but it would still go downhill after a few days

·      On the days where it was worst, everyone would pile in for family movie night

·      Secretive person and would probably be quite and sarcastic

·      Since you were living at the manor your entire life, you would’ve lived to see Jason’s death and it really hurt

·      If you were a musician, I suspect that Alfred or Bruce would have walked in on you at the piano or something playing a terribly sad song about it or just emotions and they’d cry

·      Something like the song “Beautiful Scar” by Alicia Moffet (sad one btw like omg)

·      If you were a writer or an artist, just pieces describing everything symbolically

·      Going back to the musician, there is a music room in the manor in my mind so I suspect that there are times where Bruce or one of your older brothers will carry you into your bedroom if they find you asleep

·      You find it hard being a Wayne and all seeing as it’s like everyone around you is fake

·      That led you to hanging alone a lot which concerned Bruce

·      “Y/N, why don’t you go to the party you were invited to? It’s a beautiful day for one.” He said one day finding you reading in your bedroom.

You looked at him solemnly, “All my friends are fake and want me for money and clout.” “I don’t try to go out with them much if I don’t have to.” *Que protective batdad*

·      The library is your home as well as the gardens

·      Now public and patrol is a whole new story

·      Riddler is your favorite villain because he starts good conversations

·      Sometimes the villains have in fact questioned your health to your older brothers

·      Riddler: So, does it concern you that Y/S/H/N seems to openly hate life or is it just me?

Nightwing: We all hate life, she just does a little bit more

Riddler: ...okkayyyyyyy

·      You sometimes make very violent threats on patrol which lead to some interesting conversations in the vans back to jail

·      The paps are literally scared of you

·      You have given the famous Wayne glare but on level 1000, billions of times

·      Very sarcastic answers to some questions

·      When people on the internet come for anyone you love you shut them down asap

_______________________________________________________________________

2.     Being the Business Woman

·      You showed interest in the business for a while but never really total want to take over WE

·      No, you wanted to leave that for Tim

·      The boy deserved it anyways

·      Instead you started taking extra courses in business and such in middle school and worked your way up

·      While you didn’t like galas, you did try and make connections

·      You went to either an Ivy Leauge or Oxford or something

·      Then Wharton

·      After that you were on your way

·      If you already had a business it was booming but now it’s “extra booming”? idk but you get the idea

·      HuGE

·      Bruce was very proud and made that clear in interviews

·      Your company works closely with WE

·      Asking B for advice

·      Paparazzi doubling down on coverage for you since now you’re bigger than ever

·      Hosting you own galas

·      You either have a big house and rooms for everyone or a penthouse with the same situation

_______________________________________________________________________

3.     Being Bruce’s Favorite

·      You have the best relationship with Bruce out of everyone

·      He takes you out on father/ daughter lunch or dinner dates which is pretty fun

·      He would never openly admit that you’re his favorite

·      Taught you to drive

·      If you ever need advice you go straight to him

·      Best birthdays ever

·      You go and visit him at WE and he lets you hang in the office

·      There’s a secret fridge stocked with snacks

·      Dad/ daughter patrol

·      Read you stories as a child

·      Legit might still if you ask

·      You sit in his office to do homework

·      Has come home to you spinning in his office chair

·      Shopping sprees

·      Interviews

·      Very protective on patrol when it comes down to being in a ton of danger

_______________________________________________________________________

4.     Being the Metahuman

·      I’m thinking that you would have gotten your powers from a mission gone wrong

·      It was probably involving magic or something and you were seriously injured

·      I think that it would be fitting to be able to control darkness and things like shadows

·      Everyone was freaked out including you

·      You begged not to be sent away knowing what he thought of metas

·      He promised that he wouldn’t and just had someone over that would help you

·      Lots of tests at first and you kinda just lived in the Batcave for some time just incase

·      After that you changed your costume a bit to fit to the power theme

·      The villains were straight confused

·      “Bats what happened to your kid? Why is she scarier now?” ...”it’s complicated”

·      You know how in Young Justice, Robin had that creepy laugh?

·      It was like that now but then shadows came out of the wall

·      Everyone is pretty sure you made a few street criminals and Black Mask’s goon pee their pants

·      Best Halloween fun on patrol now

·      You scared Joker once

·      The powers do sometimes take a darker turn and you had to learn to control that since it did come from a maliciously used magic

·      “I can smell the fear off of you, clown.” You smiled and walked around him, shadows in the room, darkening your presence.  “Uhhh Batsy, I don’t like this one anymore.”

·      Hanging out with more Metas

·      You and Duke are like best friends

·      Gotta figure it out with someone am I right?

_______________________________________________________________________

5.     Being the Author

·      Your father does have presence everywhere, but you don’t like to think that that is the reason for your success

·      I could imagine you being a true crime or just mystery writer

·      Maybe even fantasy/fiction

·      Jason helps you write them if you ever get stuck

·      All of them go to your book signings and sometimes it’s embarrassing but also funny

·      You love that they support you

·      Care packages from Alfred when you’re on book tours

·      There are typically also some more things tucked inside from everyone

·      Staying up with Timbers

·      Your room is probably really aesthetic just sayin

·      Gardens and library is the beesstttttt

·      Sometimes for books, you take your time on patrol and as a superhero even if you still do it as inspiration

·      Everyone is like HoW Do ThEY COmE uP WiTh ThIS

·      Hehe

·      If you’re moved out I can imagine you have a really cool apartment or house

·      Cozy and open

·      *aesthetic*

·      One time, Damian did a book cover for you and so since he actually wouldn’t let you pay him, you took him on tour with you

·      You helped him make that his side hustle lol

·      Alfred has all of your books in the library

_______________________________________________________________________

Okay so I could NOT sleep last night and was up till 6 doing this, I don’t mind adding onto it and I’ll totally take requests for this. I do hope that you guys liked this.

[quietmyfearswith]

where our demons hide {dark!tony stark x fem!reader}

where our demons hide {dark!tony stark x fem!reader} part 1

status — ongoing series

warnings — non-con turns into dub-con, oral sex (giving & receiving), name-calling, swearing, porn with a bit of plot, dark!tony stark, unprotected penetrative sex (pls dont do this, use protection!)

word count — 3,205

a/n — so i’m not gonna lie this is a little self-indulgent and this was an idea i somehow had after reading a few fics/drabbles with the same premise. this will be a dark series featuring not only tony stark but also the other male avengers. i’m also considering on making a separate dark series featuring the female avengers with the same concept. also!!! infinity war, civil war, and endgame did not happen (totally not bc everything went downhill from there & i hate it but because it just would be more fitting for the story) and that tony & pepper are not in a relationship in here bc in this house we do not condone cheating. & this is my first ever time writing smut so feedback would be very much appreciated :>

masterlist

“Boss lady, you heading out already?” John asked as he knocked on the outside of my office door. Seeing him with his bag strap over his shoulder, it made me turn back my attention briefly to the desk clock I had, my eyes widening in shock as I noticed how it was already a quarter to 9. “Jesus, has it been that long?” I said to him and to myself in disbelief.

John chuckled as he approached my desk and moved some files out of the way and sat down, “Well time sure does fly when you’re working your ass off.” I threw my head back, trying to rub off of the exhaustion off of my eyes, agreeing with him by saying, “As the head of the research department, I don’t think I have time to slack off and mess around.” 

As I looked into his eyes, I felt that he was conflicted — that he did want to help me furthermore, but there was also this part of him that wanted nothing but to spend a night out and enjoy himself and afterwards proceed with crashing into his bed. He inched closer to me, “You need to take a break though. Your report is like, 90% done, and that it is extremely well-detailed and comprehensive. I’m sure the mighty heroes of the world will understand if you go home now, rest and enjoy for the weekend, and come back on Monday to finish it up.”

“Do you think that these mighty heroes of the world always have the option to take a break on the weekends and come back to the job on Monday?” I sassed back as I moved my attention from him back to my computer, searching for more essential information for the team’s next mission. John, not taking a hint that I had already wasted time by talking to him, scooted closer and said, “Well for one, your work does not involve travelling suspects and mercenaries. You’re computer ain’t going anywhere, you know?” as he brushed a strand of hair that has fallen from my ponytail as he explained, “I just don’t want you to overwork yourself. I really care about you, Y/N.”

Creating some distance between me and him, I looked at him pointedly and told him, “I get that you may be worried about how I overwork myself, but I’m okay. If it ever gets too much, I will take a break. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish this research and report so that I can go home and get some rest. Unless you’ll help me in accomplishing this task, then I suggest that you just leave.”

John looked like he was in disbelief, but he quickly masked up what he felt and just walked away from my desk and awkwardly waved as he headed for the door. “What a bitch..” I heard him mumble lowly, not having enough strength to say it directly in my face — for in doing so could get him fired.

Following John’s departure, I was able to work peacefully and productively. Gathering and verifying information, confirm tipped intelligence, compiling these into an extensive and coherent report. As I was re-reading once more the final product of my long hours of labor and hard work, I stretched my arms up, hoping to provide some relief to my aching back. 

“Mr. Stark would like to ask if he can swing by your office, Ms. Y/n,” the voice of the A.I. startled me briefly, but it somehow also brought me back to my senses. Wanting to look decent and not like I was mere minutes away from passing out, I quickly removed the hair tie from my ponytail, fixing up my hair as I replied to Friday, “Yeah, he can come up.” As I was done attempting to look presentable, it wasn’t even a minute until I heard the office door open and the man himself, Tony Stark, did walk in — wearing a tight dri fit shirt and sweatpants. 

“Good evening Mr. Stark, was there anything I can help you out with?” I watched as he walked around the office, as if he was checking out if everything was in place — as if he had been there before and was making sure that things were the way he once envisioned. He settled down on an office chair, opposite from where I was sitting down.

Putting his chin on his hand as he crossed his legs, he stared at me curiously and intensely as he informed me about his sudden visit, “Was walking around the office wing when Friday informed me that you were the only employee left in the building. So I thought I’d drop by and see as to what was the reason as to why you were still working late and not going about with your weekend plans.”

I let out a sigh I did not know I was holding — probably out of relief that I was not in trouble — before sharing with him the reason, “I was just finishing up the final touches on the researched information for your mission next week.” He looked interested in that and rose to his feet and made his way to where I was sitting. “You mind if I take a look?”

I shook my head no and started to get up from my seat, when he placed his left hand on my shoulder, pulling me down to remain seated. “Stay,” he requested as his right hand operated the mouse in order to inspect the document opened on my computer, “I might have some remarks or questions about what you have researched.”

Beginning to feel a bit of uneasiness, I tried to fill him in about some parts I thought he was confused or curious about — judging by how he spent some time longer on certain pages compared to the others. “You did a good job, Y/N. Without a doubt next week’s mission would have already failed without what you have done.”

Avoiding his look and our close proximity, I shrugged off the compliment by responding, “Um, thank you. But it wasn’t just me, you know? Some other researchers also helped, I merely just organized and arranged it, Mr. Stark.” His hand still on my shoulder moved to turn me so I was facing him, he sat down on my desk and begged to differ, “I don’t think you would have been the overall head of the research department if all you did was compile shit, right?”

Fiddling with my fingers, I halfheartedly agreed with what he said. Looking up, I saw him cross his arms and his face lit up, as if he had remembered something he forgot to mention. “Which reminds me, I do need your help in researching something. Think you can handle it?” I was able to conceal my surprise, what was it he needed help with? And most importantly, why would he tell me about it now? There are procedures if an Avenger needs something to be researched relating to their work. But I could not bring myself to question him, so instead I buried those doubts in the back of my head. 

“T-That would depend, I guess? What is it about? And w-when do you need it to be completed?” I couldn’t help but scold myself for coming out as timid and scared. He uncrossed his arms and checked his wrist watch while he answered, “I need it to be completed tonight. Possibly into the morning. It depends.”

My jaw dropped in shock and astonishment. Does he seriously think that a research can be completed in mere hours? But if I had wanted to keep this job, then I had to comply with what he wanted. “I think that it would be a challenge to do so, but yeah. I guess it can be doable. What would the research be about?” I managed to blurt out and started to roll up the sleeves of my white, long-sleeved blouse and preparing to type on the computer.

However, Tony held my hands and placed it in my lap, preventing me from moving towards the computer and looked at me deeply, “It’s gonna be about you, Y/N.” I once again found myself dumbfounded and speechless. Opening my mouth I stammered out, “W-What? Mr. Stark, what do you mean?” 

He chuckled as he brushed the strands of hair that had covered a portion of my face. One of his hands stroking my cheek while the other had a firm hold on both my hands situated at my lap, he calmly said, “It’s gonna be about you, baby. I wanna get to know you better. Let’s start with me finding out what it is you’re hiding underneath all these clothes, hm?” 

As he guided me onto my feet and pushed me against the office table, his lips grazed my ear and he kissed it lightly and whispered, “I like the way you call me Mr. Stark, makes me feel powerful.” His kisses started to descend, his lips leaving a trail in my neck as his hands started to caress my waist. Snapping out of my frozen state, I somehow managed to speak up and attempt to push him away from me, “Mr. Stark, please don’t do this. Please, stop” 

With one hand, he quickly grabbed both of my hands and placed it behind my back. His other hand wrapped around my throat, just where his lips were and hissed out, “Why do you want me to stop, Y/N? Do you not like this, baby?” I shook my head, telling him I did not in fact like where this was going. He scoffed, “I think you do. You like the idea of someone taking you in your office, the place where you spend most of your days in. Can’t imagine you getting laid frequently with how busy you are, baby.”

Tears were slowly streaming down my face, trying to wiggle away from the hero that everyone adored and respected. He pushed his body into mine, causing me to stumble which he used to his advantage by lifting me up and sitting me down on the desk. His legs wrapping around mine, effectively trapping me, he lifted my jaw and looked into me as he smirked and said, “Tell you what, if I search you up down there and find that you aren’t wet, I’ll let you go. Think that’s fair, baby?”

He did not even wait for me to answer as he made quick work of removing my skirt as he knelt down on the floor. After unzipping my skirt and discarding it to the floor, he chuckled upon seeing that I was wearing red, lace panties. “For someone who claims to not want this, you sure as hell came prepared.” His hands were then fondling my thighs as he kissed both my kneecaps and requested, “Open those legs, baby girl.” I shook my head and tried to cover my intimate area with both my hands. This evidently displeased the billionaire as he harshly placed his hands on my knees and threatened me by saying, “Unless you want to walk away jobless, then I suggest that you fucking open your legs.”

Filled with fear and horror, I reluctantly opened my legs and showed him my lower half. He showed his appreciation by chuckling darkly and immediately ripping off my panties. Just as I gasped with what he did with my piece of clothing, he brought one hand to my entrance and scooped some of the juices that my body was involuntarily producing. “Well what do you know, you’re not just wet. You’re soaking wet,” he bragged as he used his other grab my leg and stretched it out sideways, giving him more room to work with. “Time to start our research on you, baby.”

As he slowly inserted two of his thick fingers, I could not hold back the whimper as he ruthlessly moved his finger in and out of me. “Please, Mr. Stark, don’t do this.” I pleaded, hoping that his conscience would slap him and somehow get him to stop. But shortly after saying that, I let out a moan of pleasure as I felt his tongue lick my bundle of nerves.

“Just stop resisting, baby,” With his mouth still attached to my pussy lips, he used his other hand to fondle my thighs — hoping to rub off the tension within me. I threw my head back as he thrusted his fingers hard and sucked hard enough that I forgot my earlier concerns of how I was at first reluctant in giving in to him. I threaded my fingers into his hair, pushing his face closer, urging him to continue with what he was doing. He complied and proceeded to focus his sucking my little nub while he added another finger inside before managing to go at even a faster pace than he previously was.

“Fuck,” I exclaimed, “I’m close.” Right after saying that, Mr. Stark abruptly stopped his actions. I looked at him, and there he was licking off the residual juices off of his fingers.”Can’t have you finishing just on my fingers, baby. Has to happen with me inside you. But before that,” he stood up and pulled down his sweatpants and briefs, “Show me how talented your hands and mouth are first, baby.”

Before I could even process what he said, my body responded to the words that just left his mouth and I was pushing him away in order to make room for me to work and dropped down on my knees. Despite being of average length, I took note of how he had an incredible girth. With one hand fondling his balls, the other swiped the precum that was leaking out and spread it around the tip. He let out a loud groan as I then opened my mouth and captured his length.

“Yes, that’s a good girl, baby,” he complimented me while stroking my hair and later on gathering it all up in order for him to control the pace and speed of how I was sucking him. I glanced up at him just as I started gagging around his cock and fondling the rest that failed to fit in my mouth. “Do I taste good, baby?” he teased me while probably noticing that I was struggling not only to fit his entire length in my mouth, but also to please him.

A gurgled yes was the only reply that I managed to get out and he suddenly pulled out of my mouth and quickly put me back into my feet. He ripped off the blouse that I was wearing and briskly unclasped my bra. I watched him intently as he sat down on the swivel chair where I spent most of my working hours on and called out for me, “As much as I love how you please me with your mouth, it would be a waste to not cum inside you. So come over here and ride me,” he demanded as he patted his thighs.

I slowly began to walk over him and climbed over his legs. His smirk widened upon seeing me slowly get into position to ride him — with one of my hands holding onto his shoulder and the other one holding his cock up, I sank down onto him fully. The action might have taken the superhero back as both his hands flew into grasping on my hips and he threw his head back in pleasure.

Moving in slow, circular motions I found myself moaning and panting loudly, breathing out words of praise that had stroke the ego of the superhero. He brought his hand to my clit and he rubbed me fast enough that got me to stop riding him because of how intense the pleasure was. Mr. Stark’s dissatisfaction with what I did was made evident by him slapping my ass with enough force to push my chest into his and reprimanding me, “Did I fucking tell you to stop? No! So keep riding me, you fucking whore!”

I let out a whimper as he once again slapped my ass cheek and rubbed me even harder and faster. Placing both my hands near his collarbone, I began to ride him even faster and started to feel the release begging to come out. This pleased him as he stopped his assault on my ass and began to twist and pull on my nipples. The simulation proved to be too much for me that my head fell into the side of his neck and I began to trail kisses on there and suddenly let out a loud scream as I had suddenly reached my climax.

“Fucking hell, you’ve become even more tighter,” Mr. Stark sounded like he too was already on the verge of reaching his climax. Both his hands then met my hips once more and he started to bounce myself on his cock, disregarding that I could have been sensitive, hoping to finish inside of me. “I told you that you wanted this. That you needed to be fucked hard. So much for the “I don’t want this bullshit,” huh baby?” He mocked me as he noticed the stray tears that were falling on my cheeks as I felt that the stimulation was too much.

“I bet I can make you cum again. That by the time I release my load deep inside you, you will also be creaming over yourself.” His overconfidence was once again being made evident and determined to make his statement true, he began to wrap his mouth around my nipple and one of his fingers was shoved right into my asshole. It might have been the sudden intrusion on my backside, or the feeling of his warm tongue on my nipple, or the fact that his cock was being rammed in and out of me at a dangerously quick pace, but I found myself squirting all over both of our legs.

“Fuck, baby, that’s a good girl,” he moaned out as I also felt him release his juices inside of me. He stopped his licking, fingering, and maneuvering of my body as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled my head to lay down on his chest. We both took this time in order to calm down and catch our breaths. His one hand was playing with my hair while the other lightly ran up and down my spine. 

With his cock planted still deeply in me, he made me look into his eyes as his hard and demanding tone vanished and instead was replaced with a soft voice accompanied with a gentle look in his eyes as he said, “You did very well in accompanying and complying with my research, baby.”

His praise made me smile and I once again placed my head by his shoulder and briefly closed my eyes — still not having fully recovered from our sexual activity — when what he said caused me once again to be speechless and shocked, “Get ready because in a few minutes I’ll once again be conducting research. But I was thinking about conducting it in a different venue.”

[chucklegigglechortlesnort]

Not Quite Unrequited

{Hanahaki AU} {Sero Hanta}

You were completely aware of Sero’s condition, however, try as you might, you were never able to figure out who was the cause of it.

It came as a shock to you, when you found out about his condition in the first place.

It was a typical weeknight, the two of you sitting in his dorm studying - you on the hammock and him on the bed - when all of a sudden he started to cough. At first, you thought that he got a popcorn kernel stuck in his throat, but when the coughs started to sound violent and he rushed to the bathroom, you realized something was seriously wrong.

When you managed to stumble your way out of the hammock and over to the restroom, all you could see was a flourish of soft pink rose petals decorating the floor and your best friend hunched over the garbage, struggling to breathe through the plants obstructing his windpipe.

Unsure of just what, exactly, you should do in the situation, you swiftly turned to make your way out of the bathroom to find help, only stopping when Sero managed to utter the word ‘wait’ followed by another flurry of coughs and petals.

The look in his eyes pleaded for you to stay, pleaded you not to tell a soul. And despite your better judgment, you did just that - staying right beside him, with what you hoped was a comforting hand on his back for the rest of the fit. It dissipated a short time after, but you were left with the knowledge that this must’ve been a common occurrence for him to be able to have handled it so calmly.

Since then, you’ve tried to convince him to talk to someone, get prescribed special medicine that helped soften the petals, or to just get the surgery to have them removed permanently. Much to your dismay, he refused every single one of your suggestions, saying that he didn’t need to talk to anyone because he had you, that he didn't want to rely on medicines with countless side effects that could hinder his ability to perform, and lastly that the recovery time for such an insignificant surgery would take away from training time and set him back.

It hurt you, knowing that you couldn’t do anything to help him, that he was dealing with feelings that you couldn’t even comprehend, though knowing this you doubted your pain could hold a candle to his.

Lately, it had been bothering you more than usual.

He was losing sleep, that much you could tell by the bags under his eyes and the way he was constantly dozing off in class. He struggled to hold a conversation, often losing focus and sometimes even falling asleep.

It was one of those typical nights, where you sat comfortably on the hammock and Sero across from you on his bed as the two of you went back and forth with review questions for the upcoming test, a bowl of popcorn and an answer key somewhere in the space between you. However, your study partner was being less than diligent, to say the least. It wasn’t the first time tonight that he had dozed off during your study session, but it would certainly be the last.

You almost didn’t want to wake him, he looked so peaceful - well as peaceful as one could look while sleeping in an upright position - but if you let him stay like that it would compile neck problems on top of all the things he had to worry about.

“Sero?”

The only response you got was a light snore.

“Sero.”

“Hm!”

You sigh when Sero snaps up, dazed and confused while trying to blink away the bleariness in his eyes.

“I think we should call it a night.” You conclude, flipping your binder closed and collecting the answer key from where it lay in front of you.

“What, why?”

“You can’t keep your eyes open for more than a few minutes and your attention span is even worse. I think you should try and get some rest.”

Sero frowned as he watched you collect your things and rise to leave. It wasn’t just the fact that you were leaving, something seemed to be bothering you by the look on your face and he didn’t want you to go before he got it out of you.

“Night, see you in the morning.” You called over your shoulder, glancing back just in time to watch as Sero’s hand wrapped around your wrist.

“Wait. There’s something bothering you, isn’t there?”

You sigh. You feel like you’ve been doing that a lot lately. Turning to face him, you can no longer mask your worry behind an indifferent expression. You part your lips, mulling over your words.

However, your train of thought comes to a screeching halt when you see Sero’s face morph with discomfort as his free hand reached up to clutch at his chest.

“Dammit.”

He quickly rushed past you to the bathroom and the realization set in. You feel the panic rise up inside you only to force it back down. You’re about to follow after him when you hear the first fit of coughs and you’re stopped in your tracks. They sounded different from when you had first heard them all that time ago. 

They sounded worse. Much worse.

When you tried to move again, your legs felt as if they were made of lead, slowly dragging along the ground toward the bathroom. Toward Sero. The room seemed to elongate with every step, but it didn’t matter, you needed to make sure he was going to be okay.

When you reached the bathroom, the sight before you rendered you motionless.

Petals were strewn across the floor, like before, but this time they were accompanied by full flowers, stem, leaves and all. In the middle of it was Sero, hunched over drool and streaks of red running down his chin while tears cascaded down his cheeks. The same red smeared on his chin was dotted on the pink rose petals as well as the spiky stems. You felt the color drain from your face as the realization hit you.

His blood. It was his blood.

“Oh my god.” 

You were aware that it had gotten worse but... you could’ve never imagined this.

Sero’s eyes cut to where you stood in the doorway, your expression nothing short of horrified. He once again feels the stabbing pain in his chest as he heaves out another fit of coughs, blood speckling out as he feels a particularly thick stem force it’s way up his esophagus.

You notice quickly that this one is different than the others spread about the room. This one’s longer, the stem thicker, and the thorns sharper. You have to cover your mouth and force the urge to sob back down and before you’re even aware of what you’re doing, you’re right beside him, carding your shaky hands through his hair and gently pulling it back so it no longer sticks to his face.

At the moment, you weren’t sure if you were helping or hurting, but the desperation yanking on your heartstrings was threatening to rip you to shreds if you continued to stand there and do nothing.

With a final heave as well as a small cluster of petals, the entire flower dislodged itself from Sero’s throat. Once you were certain that it was over, you let his hair fall from in between your fingers and sagged down beside him.

Sero slowly leaned away from the garbage, his entire body fatigued from the ordeal. His breathing is ragged and his throat raw, he focused on taking slow even breaths, as to not agitate his throat further.

Your head falls limply on his shoulder, the stinging behind your eyes suddenly becoming too difficult to suppress any longer. Silent tears drip down your cheeks, plopping onto the petals below you.

“You’re so stupid.”

Shocked by your choice of words, Sero turns his head in your direction to see your head resting on his shoulder, your own shoulders noticeably trembling.

“___-“

“Has it ever occurred to you, that you could die from this someday? That you could be one damn rose petal away from ending not only your career but your life?” Bracing yourself, you lift your head from his shoulder and stare straight into his eyes.

“Say what you want, Hanta, but you can’t live like this for the rest of your life - however long that may be, at the rate you’re going!”

Sero opens his mouth to respond, but you quickly cut him off.

“I know it’s selfish of me to say this, especially when you’re going through what you're going through, but... do you- do you even realize how much it hurts to see you like this? To know that you’re going through this and I can’t- I can’t do a single damn thing to help you?”

Your hands had found their way to his shoulders and you were kneeling in front of him now, instead of beside him, fingers digging in so hard there would be bruises there the next day. You were a teary, snotty mess at this point, your face was blotchy and red, your voice thick with emotion, and he was so blurred that you couldn’t even see his stupid, wonderful face anymore, but you held firm and stared him down through your tears.

“Please, just do something because it hurts too much to know that someone I love has to live through this.”

Silence hung in the air as Sero stared at you, his expression unreadable through your blurred vision. The tears slowly came to a stop as you fell forward, gently wrapping your arms around him and burying your face in his neck.

“Please, Hanta.”

Your voice is so quiet, but somehow it’s enough to snap him out of the trance he was in, the echo of one word bouncing around in his brain.

‘Someone I love’ you had said.

Could it be that maybe...?

No, there was no way. Not a chance. You loved him, but not in that way.

But, what if? What if he took a chance? What was the worst that could happen? He would continue to live through this, but at least he would have closure.

Maybe he would even take your advice.

But he couldn’t think about that now.

Sero’s heart pounded in his chest, as he silently, slowly, wrapped his arms around your waist and brought your bodies together, resting his chin on your shoulder.

He was so close that you could feel each breath by your ear and a small shiver ran down your spine at the sensation. Anticipation bubbled up inside you, but you weren’t sure as to why.

“I...”

Sero feels his throat tighten and his mouth go dry. He was absolutely terrified. Terrified of you confirming what he already knew, terrified that he would end up ruining a friendship that he valued with everything he had. But he wanted - needed to tell you. Not only because he needed closure, but because you deserved to know.

“...I’m in love with you.”

He feels your entire body stiffen in his hold and immediately fears the worst.

What he doesn’t expect, is for you to start crying all over again. Your tears drip from your eyes and onto his neck, where your face was buried.

“_-____?”

Sero hastily removes his arms from around your waist to pry your arms off him. He gently guides you away from him so that he can see your face.

“So you’re telling me that I’m the reason that you- that it’s my fault you-!”

The more you try to force the words out, the heavier the tears flow and any sounds that make their way out of your mouth are embarrassing gibberish.

“H-hey, hey, hey,” Sero reaches up to cup your face and brushes away your tears, momentarily forgetting himself. “None of this is your fault, okay? My emotions aren’t your responsibility.”

“B-but-“

“‘But’ nothing, now just try to focus on breathing.”

Giving him one last look of wariness, you close your eyes hesitantly, focusing on taking oxygen in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Sero watches as your brow slowly becomes unfurrowed, noting that your shoulders are still tense. He slowly glides his hands down from your face to rest on your shoulders, just above your bicep. Shaky breaths escape from your swollen lips 

Once he sees you relax completely, he lets his hands fall from you altogether.

Silence falls over you, and for a while, neither speaks.

Your eyes open just slightly, sore and dry from tears shed. You see Sero’s larger hands resting right next to yours, the white cotton of his loose pajama pants, and the soft pink of the petals scattered about the floor.

“So, is it true?”

“Is what true?”

Your lips press together as you struggle to collect your thoughts. You didn’t want to outright repeat what he had told you - in all honesty, you didn’t think you could handle that right now. You were so overwhelmed at the moment that you could barely piece together proper sentences.

“What you said- that you, well-”

“That I’m in love with you? Yes, I was telling the truth.”

Your face flushed as his words echoed in your brain

Sero was... in love with you?

Since when?

For how long?

Thoughts and questions began racing through your head so fast you became dizzy. You leaned forward, planting your head on Sero’s shoulder for some much-needed balance. You had never thought of him that way, he had been in your life for so long as a friend that it was just what you were used to. But when you did think about it, maybe being more than friends was just the next step in your relationship. Images of you holding hands, going on dates, and kissing flashed through your mind... and it felt right.

“Okay.”

Yes, it was pathetic, but it was all you could bring yourself to say at the moment.

“Okay? Does that mean... you feel the same?”

“... I’m not really sure, but... I want to give it a try.” You take in a deep breath and raise your head to look Sero square in the eye. “Besides, who would make a better boyfriend than your best friend, right?”

A dry chuckle escapes Sero as he pulls you against him once more, resting his chin on top of your head.

“My thoughts exactly.”

................................................................................................

OK I KNOW WHAT I SAID ABOUT BEING BURNT OUT WITH BNHA BUT THIS HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY DRAFTS FOR LITERAL YEARS AND IM PRETTY PROUD OF IT SO HERE YOU GO

[i-wanna-go-fight-the-aliens]

Enigmatic Gifts

Pairing: Jason Todd

AU? Soulmate/Red String of Fate AU.

Context: This story is based Extremely loosely on the animated movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, at least for the beginning. After that, I took some ”artistic liberties” with it. Also, I was trying to figure out how old Jason was when he died/came back, and my favorite answer was he died around 13, then came back around 16, just for reference.

Word Count: 4,658

Warnings: Moderate language, death, guns, violence, etc. 

Not all strings were perfect. Some people had their soulmates fall deeply in love with someone else, and the string would disappear. Some people would swear to celibacy, and their strings would disappear. Some people’s soulmates would die before they met, and their strings would disappear. Some people didn’t have a romantic soulmate. There were various tales of people whose soulmates were simply very good friends, or even the man whose soulmate was a dog. 

You hoped to God you weren’t those people. On the morning of your tenth birthday, your red string appeared, and you were absolutely ecstatic. Especially because the news was rampant with stories about Batman-- and his new Robin. Or, at least, everyone was sure it was a new Robin. 

Though the media still tackled the mystery of where the last Robin went, witnesses were sure this was a new Robin. He acted differently-- he was a little more rambunctious, a little more flippant, and he relied more on strength than dexterity. And others said he was shorter than the last Robin, some said his face was more round, but whatever tipped them off, everyone who had seen him was sure that this Robin, this new Robin, was younger than the last one. 

You had seen this Robin once. Walking home from a sleepover with your mother. She had opted to walk there, as it was only a few blocks away. But it was getting late, close to 10 pm. A car flew down the street, swerving around nothing but empty road, and your mother pulled you closer to the buildings on the sidewalk as the car began to ride on the curb. The car veered a violent left and out of sight, but your mother did not move for another few moments, and neither did you, both still trying to comprehend the situation. A figure settled a few feet away from you, and you immediately recognized the famous costume. 

“Did you see a car-” he didn’t have time to finish the sentence before you pointed to the left, and he thanked you before leaving you and your mother. After that night, you had a quiet fantasy that maybe, in some strange way, Robin was your soulmate, and you would get to learn his secret identity, and help him maintain Gotham’s safety. It stuck with you as you grew older, and though you would never admit it, it almost persists to this day. 

But, you faced reality. And reality states that there is no chance your soulmate was Robin. You knew whoever your soulmate was, you would be happy with them-- fate says so, anyway. You began to think of your soulmate as your own personal superhero. Not Robin, but close enough for you. Any time you felt scared or sad, you would tug on the string, sighing in relief when you got a tug in response. It was a mode of comfort, a way of knowing that someone was out there for you and they hadn’t even met you yet. And it was one of the best feelings in the world.

Around three years after your tenth birthday, you woke up one morning, bright and early, ready for school. Dreaming of meeting your soulmate. You tugged on the string, and… Wait a moment. Looking down to where your string was-- where your string should have been-- your mind was filled with horror. Various thoughts rushed through your mind, until you settled on one: your soulmate was dead. 

You stumbled to the kitchen, hoping the noise would alert your mother. It did, and your eyes filled with tears as you explained what happened. Or, what you think happened. She didn’t make you go to school that day. 

One, two, three, three and a half years passed by in peaceful misery. You never quite got over it. How could you, at least. You went to high school, you made friends, you got a job, but there was always something… tugging at the back of your mind. 

You made a lot of friends. Your mother sometimes questioned your choice of friends, but all of that stopped when she saw you at the library, studying with... Dick Grayson. When you got back, she hurled question after question at you, asking how you met a Wayne of all people. 

You responded with the story of how you met, telling her that you were studying in the library one day and it was obvious that you needed help. Dick just happened to be there, and, though he was a couple years older than you, he still offered to help tutor you in your classes. Or just get some of your frustrations out. It was weird. He was like a friend, but he also acted as a kind of mentor.

It was a Friday, which meant that you would meet up with Dick after school. You were trying to compile a list of all the things you didn’t understand from this week’s lessons, and boy the list was sure long. It basically boiled down to ‘I don’t understand chemistry’ though. It was lunch, and that means one thing: you finally had complete, free access to the internet. The school tried to block most websites on anything connected to the WiFi, and they attempted to ban phones during school hours. 

No one cared about lunch though. So the entire lunchroom was absorbed in one conversation. The latest news, the newest story. Surprise surprise, vigilantes were engaged in another fight. 

People were saying that both Batman and Nightwing were on the scene, but the enemy that they were fighting was unknown. Weird for Gotham, right? Usually villains like to have dramatic entrances. 

You were so entranced in the discussion that you barely even noticed the flash of color from the corner of your eye. 

You saw it in the block after lunch. Sitting in your history class, fiddling with a pencil before you dropped it. You looked down at your hands only to notice it, and you almost screamed. A friend later that week told you that you had turned so pale that they thought you changed colors, and the teacher asked some of your friends to escort you to the nurse. 

But you weren’t sick. In fact, nothing was wrong. But you stayed silent for the rest of the day, almost in.... fearful awe at what had happened. 

Thank God school ended soon. You rushed off to the library, past the scene of the fight earlier today, past the street where you had first seen Robin, basically bursting into the doors of the empty library. The librarian looked up at you, and when she recognized you, smiled. She pointed to a nearby table, where Dick was sitting, forehead on the table, looking at something on his lap. You sat in the seat across from him, and he looked up at you-- at first in warm happiness, but it quickly switched to worried confusion. 

“Hey, you alright? You look a little…” He didn’t say anything else, he just cleared his throat. You started to notice small bruises and cuts on his face. You were about to ask him about it, but he shook his head. “I fell down a flight of stairs. Pretty impressive, huh?” 

It sounded fake, plus the way that the wounds littered his face, it looked more like a fight. But you didn’t say anything else. Just looked down at your hands again. 

“But seriously, kid. You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. What’s up?” Dick asked, sliding his phone onto the table and leaning back. Your brain tried to make a sentence that even came close to the thoughts running through your mind… just something to show the emotions that you felt… but it came up blank, so you went with the basics.

“Around three years ago, my soulmate string disappeared. I don’t really know what happened. Overnight it just… vanished,” you started. You looked at Dick, and he nodded for you to continue. “Well, I don’t really know when it happened, but right after lunch, it… I- how do I say this?” You sputtered, trying to find a convenient way of saying “I think my soulmate came back from the dead.” Meanwhile, Dick sat up and leaned forward in his chair, eyebrows knit tightly together. You didn’t like the serious look on his face. It reminded you of all the times he was trying to figure out what your chemistry textbook was actually saying. “I noticed after lunch that my string was back. How.... how is that possible? Can someone get another soulmate? Or is my soulmate a zombie?” You said in a hushed whisper. Not that it was necessary, as the only other person in the library was the librarian, and she was trained in the art of eavesdropping, as you and Dick discovered one unfortunate Friday. 

You heard her stifle a gasp, but Dick stayed completely silent. He studied your face while you waited for him to say something… anything… but he stayed silent for the next minute or so. 

“As far as we know, it’s not possible to get another soulmate unless you and the other person have a deep, mutual love for each other. And I don’t believe that that’s the case here, unless you think it is,” Dick said, his voice also dropped into a murmur. You were startled out of your thoughts, and you reaffirmed that it wasn’t possible. “So here’s the fun part. Can someone come back from the dead? It sounds like a thing that would happen to… well, a superhero.”

A superhero, you thought, could it be possible? Then you remembered. The night that your soulmate string disappeared, there were rumors that the most recent Robin had died. That Robin who you had met. The Robin that you idolized, the one that you dreamed about. Could it really be…? But he was dead, so it wasn’t possible. Unless, like Dick says, superheroes sometimes come back from the dead. Then, it would be totally possible!

“So how do we figure out who it is?” You asked. A part of the back of your mind made you tug on the string, and you waited a moment. Two moments. Three moments. In the past, they never made you wait… But there it was. Like electricity crawling up your arm, they tugged back, and for the first time in a long time, you felt truly happy. Knowing that they were out there again. But the look on Dick’s face made the smile fall from your face.

“What crazy scheme do you have planned?” 

“Have you ever wanted to become a detective?” Dick asked, a wide smile growing across his face. You groaned.

“Please don’t tell me that instead of studying we’re going to try to figure out who my soulmate is.”

“What would you know! Seems like you’re pretty good at this whole “detective” thing already!”

Two hours passed, but you and Dick were no closer to solving this “mystery” than when you started. When you told him this before you left, he simply shrugged you off. 

“Nonsense!” He said. “In fact, I think I have a lead!”

Now, that being said, he didn’t tell you anything when you asked. He only said “sorry, don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

Whether or not he is a good detective (which he proved today that he is not), Dick Grayson is good for one thing: lightening the mood. Thanks to his efforts, your mother didn’t say anything about you looking freaked out, so you were able to simply crash on the couch and turn on the news. Anywhere else in America, the news may not be vital, but in Gotham, it can save you from death. No major battles so far, it seems, but both Batman and Nightwing have been spotted around the area. 

Nightwing in Gotham? Crazier things have happened, sure, but for a quiet night like this, it was a little odd. Nightwing usually only swings into town when it gets real bad, and Batman and Robin get overwhelmed. 

“Seems like the city’s quiet for one night and one night only,” you said. Your mother chuckled, but pointed back to the TV. 

“But Nightwing? Maybe something’s about to happen and they know about it,” she said.

“Or maybe it’s nothing. Probably just a family reunion or something like that.” 

Of course, Gotham never has a quiet night. Luckily, no innocents lost their lives, but there was property damage off the wazoo. Like most times when Batman gets involved. 

“Guess you were right, mom. Maybe they did know something was coming,” you said the next morning. “They know who did it yet? Normal Gotham villains usually paint the area with their names. I mean, there was one time I literally heard Harley Quinn shout that she was, and I quote, ‘Harley fucking Quinn’ at Batman. She had a megaphone and everything!” 

“They don’t know yet. Some criminals have been talking about a new big bad-- someone they say can rival Black Mask. Forgot what the name was though,” your mother said. 

The next week or so went off fine, but with more word about Gotham’s newest villain. None of the news about it was interesting, so most everyone ignored it. Just another villain, vying for attention. That was, everything was fine until Friday. Dick had cancelled your last tutoring session on Tuesday, saying that he had to deal with “family business,” and knowing his family, you didn’t want to get in the way of that. However, he had promised that he would make it on Friday.

Which is why when you sat in the library, alone, for almost an hour, you were confident that Dick Grayson was either dead or ghosting you. Wait, both are technically ghosting… you laughed at your own joke, only to be brought into the real world by another voice. 

“You finally gone insane? Or are you working on your next stand-up routine?” Dick asked, approaching your table. A smile appeared on your lips, but vanished once you noticed his limp. “Don’t pay attention to it. Just bent it wrong.”

Sure. Like a professional acrobat would do something so clumsy. His face was littered with bruises again, and probably so was the rest of his body. Some flight of stairs…

“Dude, you gotta come up with better excuses,” you said. You smiled at the flustered look on his face, but it quickly vanished. 

“Fine. You wanna know the truth?” He asked. You nodded, and he looked around at the empty library before leaning in, motioning for you to do the same. He dropped his voice down into a deep, gravelly tone and said…

“I’m Batman.” 

And you burst out laughing in his face. A grin spread pretty wide on his face while you continued to laugh. 

“What? Don’t believe that I could be Batman? I have the same… seriousness as him,” he said. At this, you laughed even harder. And laughed until you couldn’t breathe anymore.

“No offense, but I don’t think you could ever be Batman. I mean, seriously!” You said, still trying to catch your breath. He leaned back, feigning anger. “Now, Nightwing? I think you could be Nightwing. But never Batman.” 

Of course, at this moment, the librarian dropped a stack of books, causing you to look at the noise. Meanwhile, Dick stayed still, scrambling for some way to push the thought of him being Nightwing out of your mind. When you turned back to him, he held his usual grin on his face, which only meant one thing…

“Met your soulmate yet?” He said. You groaned and rolled your eyes.

“You think I would be here if I met my soulmate? They’re probably smarter than you are,” you teased, and he very maturely retaliated by sticking his tongue out at you. “After all, I thought you had a ‘lead.’ So, Detective Grayson, how’s that lead coming along?” 

“Well, I don’t really have anything yet. I have an identity but I am… cautious to believe that I’m right. Now, what chemistry help do you need now?” 

And with that, the topic of your soulmate was dropped. Dick couldn’t possibly have a lead, could he? I mean, who could Dick know who died and then came back to life. On the other hand, Dick has enough crazy stories to where it could be entirely possible. 

“Any news about that new villain?” You asked your mother, setting your backpack down on the floor and promptly collapsing on the couch. 

“Actually, yeah. We finally got a concrete name. The Red Hood. Sounds a little generic to me, but it works,” your mother said, picking up her purse. “I just got a call about a work emergency, and it seemed pretty serious. I don’t know how late I’ll be out, so be careful and make sure to eat something. Kay?” You muttered “okay” as she went out the door, while flipping through the channels on your television. Not finding anything interesting, you decided that now would be as good of a time as ever to find something to eat. 

“Nope, no, absolutely not, I’m pretty sure that’s like… three months old.” Looking through the contents of your fridge and pantry for anything edible was obviously a lost cause. “Okay, so I guess I’ll go and get something to eat. Uh,” you looked through your wallet. “And something cheap too.” Grabbing your keys and your shoes, you walk through the door, locking it behind you before heading wherever your feet took you. 

Of course, Gotham at night wasn’t safe, but luckily for you, it was barely 7. All you had to do was swing by the closest fast food place, and make it home in one piece. No problem. Of course, with that new villain on the loose, perhaps it could be some problem. Most likely it would be none at all. The Red Hood, if that’s really what he calls himself, hasn’t even been seen around these parts. If you ran into any criminals at all, they would most likely be petty thieves or something like that. 

A small yelp drew you out of your thoughts and into the world. You peeked your eyes into a nearby alleyway. Mistake number one. Mistake number two? Letting yourself be seen. Even just a little. You should’ve never even seen what happened. And you definitely should not have been caught looking. 

A dead person. An actual, real corpse. Of someone who used to be alive. God, the body was probably still warm… 

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re looking at, eh?” Looking up from the corpse makes mistake number three. Mistake number four was not running the moment you recognized that this man was holding a gun to your head. What was your gut reaction every time you were in a crisis? Just a small tug on your soulmate string. Well, this one wasn’t exactly little. It was more like a large pull, but those are details. What really matters is that you have now been labeled a witness to a crime you didn’t know was committed, and now you were going to be shot because of it. 

“Nothing. I don’t see anything,” you said. You were surprised that you managed to say anything. The man laughed, but the gun was still pointed at your head. 

“Nice try, but I can’t let you walk away from this,” he said, grabbing you by the shirt and pulling you into the alleyway. “Now, since you didn’t really mean for this to happen, I guess I’ll give you some luxury. Any last words?” You could hear the click of the gun, and you knew it was about to fire.

“I-”

“If you were smart, you would’ve stopped talking and just shot her,” a voice echoed through the alleyway, and the ringing sound of a gunshot hurt your ears. But your ears were still alive enough to hurt, so you must not have been the one shot. You looked to the source of the voice, hoping to see Batman or Nightwing or a superhero. Only to be met with the shiny exterior of a red hood. The Red Hood. But how did he know to come here?

You took your eyes off of his hood to look at the rest of his outfit. Unlike most of the villains that plagued Gotham, he looked like a relatively normal person. If he wasn’t holding a gun and all over the news, you would’ve thought he was simply a very enthusiastic biker. He dressed in very dark colors, so what’s with the red… the red… string? Around… his finger? That… connected to yours. Holy shit was the Red Hood your soulmate?

“What…” you started, before muttering a whole ton of syllables that were meant to be words, but simply sounded like you were an alien. 

“Never had this happen before,” he said. A minute passed, before you heard someone land behind you. 

“Jason,” a gravelly voice said, before someone else cleared their throat. You turned around, only to be faced with Batman and Nightwing. As if this week wasn’t weird enough for you. Nightwing’s face contorted when he saw you, but you couldn’t tell how. Did you know him or something?

“Should I… leave?” You said. It felt a little weird to leave to quickly after meeting your goddamn soulmate, but if Batman wanted you to leave, you would do what Batman said. 

“No.” The definitive voice of the Red Hood was the only thing you could hear for a moment. 

“Yes,” Batman said, standing from his landing position and… God, he was tall. There was silence for a moment, while you weighed your options. 

“Wait,” Nightwing said. “Why should you stay? Why would you want to stay here with an actual criminal?” You gulped before looking back at the Red Hood, who stood motionless. Gee, thanks for the advice…

“Unless…” you looked back to Nightwing, who seemed to be doing some sort of victory… dance? It almost reminded you of… “Unless my theory was right! This whole week I’ve wondered if I was right, and now here you both are! So? Was I? Was I right?” 

Wait. Huh? There’s no way… is there? I mean, Dick did have the Batman voice down, and if anyone you knew was to be Nightwing, it would be him. Oh, and didn’t Dick have a brother around your age? A… dead… brother…

“Dick?” You practically shouted, only to regret as Batman grew scarier and scarier by the second. Nightwing stopped his victory dance, only to realize that he said that entire thing out loud. He cleared his throat. 

“Uh, hey. How’s it going?” He said, walking closer to you. You weren’t sure it was a sign of friendship or to get away from the ever-angering Bat. “Jaybird,” he said, nodding to the Red Hood. The Red Hood only grunted in response.

“That’s it. What’s going on here?” The Bat said, in a tone so threatening you could swear you heard all the petty thieves in the area scatter in fear of their lives. The Red Hood cleared his throat to speak, but Dick stepped in front of you, facing the Bat. You could feel the Red Hood’s hand on your shoulder, pulling you away from the situation and closer to him. 

“Are you okay? Did that guy hurt you?” He whispered. It was kind of hard to make out the words because of his voice modulator, and… oh, that’s right. Less than five minutes ago, some dude was holding a gun to your head. Maybe you forgot a little, due to meeting your dead soulmate and getting involved in Batman’s family drama. 

“Listen, B, I know you’re pissed for basically giving away our secret identities, but we can trust them. Really, we can! It’s not like we really have a choice, anyway,” Dick said.

“What do you mean by that?” Batman’s tone was cold and demanding, and it almost made you flinch. 

“Let me explain it, and I’ll tell you. Look, I’ve known them for a while now. I tutor them on Tuesdays and Fridays, and I’ve been doing it for, I don’t know, five months?” Nightwing said.

“You’ve had relationships that lasted longer than that where they didn’t know a damn thing. Why should that matter?” Batman said. Every time he spoke, his voice got deeper and more demanding. You had no idea how he did it.

“B, let me finish before interrupting. Now, as their mentor, when they had a problem with their soulmate, they shared it with me.” As Batman said nothing in response, Dick continued on. “As it turns out, around three years ago, their soulmate string disappeared.” He turned to face you. “What day did your string vanish?”

“April 28th, I think,” you said. This date obviously had some significance to both Batman and the Red Hood, as Batman stepped back uneasily and the Red Hood’s grip tightened on your shoulder. 

“See? Now, the odd part was, around a week ago, just when he,” Dick pointed to the Red Hood, “appeared, they said that their soulmate string just… showed up again. Out of nowhere. Without gaining significant feelings for anyone,” he finished. He took a deep inhale. “That story was a lot shorter than I thought it was.” There was silence for a beat.

“So you’re suggesting the theory that Jason and your… friend are soulmates?” Batman said. There was something alarming about his tone-- oh wait, it’s that it wasn’t overly threatening. It actually sounded like a human voice instead of Batman. And finally, someone said his name! 

“We are,” Jason said, followed by a strange noise you couldn’t quite identify. When you turned around, you were met by the bluest eyes you had ever seen. Rivalled only by Dick. In the light, you couldn’t see his face well, but you could tell he was handsome-- scratch that, he was downright pretty. The moment lasted only a moment, before Batman spoke again, his voice reverted back to the original. Cold, calculating.

“Then why are there two dead men,” was all he needed to say for you to get pushed, no, shoved into the world around you. You had just been a witness to a crime. 

“Look, Bruce, the first guy was already dead when I got here, and the second guy was about to shoot an innocent person. My bad for reacting quickly and saving a life. Seriously, I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Jason’s tone was harsh before he returned his attention to you, where he whispered a slight, “hold on” before hooking his arm around your waist and hoisting you through the night sky with his grappling hook. You quickly gripped onto his shoulders, trying not to look down onto the street below you. Jason deposited you on a nearby rooftop before harshly sighing and sitting next to you.

“Sorry about that, he can be a dick sometimes.” You just nodded your head. He stuck his hand out to you. “Name’s Jason. Jason Todd.” You shook his hand and introduced yourself, before falling back into silence. 

“So… soulmates,” you said, trying to say anything to break the harsh silence.

“Soulmates,” was all he said in response, just as lost as you were in this situation. Guess that’s one thing the Bat doesn’t teach: social interaction. Just then, your stomach growled, and you realized why you even came out here to begin with. 

“Hungry?” He said. You sheepishly nodded. “Me too.” Jason stood up, offering his hand to you. “Lemme get you some dinner I know this great little place a few blocks from here. Call it… our first date.” He said, beginning to smile. You definitely wanted to see that smile again. “Shall we?” He asked, offering his arm. 

“We shall,” you said, looping your arm around his. 

[doflamingadonquixote]

Permission Granted

Titolo: Permission Granted Pairing: FemStormtrooper!OC/Armitage Hux Warnings: Needy general, bad jokes, smut and little fluff Summary: You are a Sergeant Stormtrooper who serves on the Steadfast after the collaps of the Finalizer. One day, Randy the new Intern, delivers a Spiran Caf with an excess of Lothalian Currant Wine to General Hux. Managing a drunk Hux was certainly not in your plans. Words: 5328

A/N : Hi, guys. I’m still sorry for the bad english. This time I did a long one-shot with my favorite character. I love him too much and cannot accept his departure. I don’t know how many fanfics I will write about him, but I can probably say that this will not be the last. I will be grateful for all the comments and reviews (even negative, if constructive) that you want to leave. After saying this, enjoy the reading.

———————————-

It was a day like any other. You had checked the progress of your sector, consulted by the leader of the group, updated the database and you should have eventually compiled your usual report of the day.

But fate had other plans for that day.

Protected by your armor and showing the black pauldrons, you were walking down the corridor with your head totally immersed in the holopad you held in your hands.

The team Leader SE-0987 has just been given a party after the assured victory over Mustafar’s soil on the sixth floor of the Steadfast, in the dining room and dinner of that sector.

You have just been notified that you were invited to this party but that you didn’t observe the captain’s mandate’s first email.

You looked at the time on the screen and frowned. It had already started a few hours ago, would it have been wise to stop for a few minutes? Aware that, you should have established an end to your report?

Despite a thousand doubts gripping your mind, you had nevertheless taken the path to that side of the ship, hoping with the same thing that nothing too inconvenient was done. It wasn’t the first time after all that a team was making trouble after a successful mission.

When you turned down the corridor of the room to reach, you stopped.

The music reached your ears distinctly even though the helmet still attenuated its power and a large group of stormtroopers were about to enter.

You reach the closed door and with a sigh, you also approached to open it.

The one that is presented to you was the most absurd scenario you had witnessed in 17 years of service.

First of all, the room was huge. You had never had lunch in that area, being on the upper floors and you asked yourself if the size of the room needed all the excessive number of stormtroopers concentrated in that wing. Furthermore, a soft red light filled the air and the walls, like a veil.

The second thing you noticed was the crowding. You were almost ninety percent certain in that room there weren’t crowded alone in participating groups but literally the first 7 floors of the unsolicited and non-operational agents at the time.

And third, that even the highest grades were joined in that party. Officers and generals chatted with various agents and it all seemed completely out of the power struggle he was facing.

You asked yourself if General Allegiant Pryde knew about the improvised one. It would probably have been better if you hadn’t been found in such a situation.

As soon as you had time to turn on yourself and someone collided with you, however you didn’t step back an inch while the other figure fell to the ground.

You opened your eyes wide.

“Are you going to keep -hic- staring at me, soldier, or do you want to help me?” Hux puts his hand on his head as he stretched out his other arm in your direction.

Fortunately they all seemed too distracted to have noticed that particular incident, and before you could get into more trouble than expected, you grap him by the gloves.

Believing that he could stand once helped, quickly move away from his hand but he literally collapsed on you, clinging to your shoulders covered in armor.

The man was decidedly taller than you and, from what you could see behind your helmet, his eyes were red and clouded even if the pupil was dilated beyond normal.

Hux looked down at your shoulder and not the classic black pauldrons of your title.

“Oh, a sergeant. I’m sorry.” He let his arm slide along yours, and even if it didn’t directly touch your skin, you shivered.

“General, am I allowed to speak?” You asked how it was from the correct label. No soldier of lower rank could turn to that of higher rank except by permission.

“Permission granted.” Laughted Hux, trying to put his feet better to stay straight.

“Are you okay, sir?” You were seriously worried about his health. Maybe he had hit his head when he fell.

“Not really, sergeant. It seems that an –hic- intern named Randy confused my –hic- Spiran Caf with something decidedly alcoholic,��� sobbed the red-haired general, waving a covered finger in front of your face for no apparent reason. "I was going to –hic- degrate him.”

You grabbed the fly. The man was definitely drunk. Thanks to the helmet you didn’t notice any smell, which was filtered, but from the way he literally leaned on you, his bruised eyes and persistent hiccups, there wasn’t much else to allude to.

“Sir, you are drunk.” You turned around and you clearly noticed that by now you had attracted the attention of some stormtroopers. It would have been a problem if some admiral, lieutenant or general had seen him in that state. General Hux had already been downgraded in authority, Pryde had literally outclassed him. “It is better if I take you to your quarter.”

You covered the general’s body as much as possible with yours and pushed him towards the door in the least obvious way possible. But the man seemed to want to make the task impossible for you.

“No, let’s stay a while!” His complaint was almost that of a child and suddenly he moved away from you, pulling you by the sleeve of his white jacket.

That lament definitely attracted attention and you blushed. “General, I-”

“All the other generals –hic- are here, I want to make friends. You should make friends too, ser –hic- geant.”

The right eye had a nervous tic. What the hell did you care about what his colleagues and subordinates would think of the conditions under which he was reduced? He was your superior, but you were definitely not his babysitter.

“General, if your choice is to stay in the wolf’s den, go ahead. I will not assist.”

You tore your arm from his grip and walked away, approaching the door and clashing with soldiers who had huddled to see what was going on.

Once the door closed behind you, you went back to the pearly white corridors and sighed. He had heard of men who reduced themselves badly with a little alcohol but the General … he was a completely different person.

You half turned to the closed door and frowned. You had seen how troops had quickly pulled out the holo to retake the general and in a way it didn’t seem fair to him that he would pay for the mistake of an idiotic intern.

You snorted while sliding the door again. You entered with a brisk step, pushing the soldiers away and before the door could close again you had grabbed Hux by the arm and dragged him behind you.

Fortunately, the man hadn’t resisted, so in addition to a few trips, you managed to drag him far enough from the room.

“Are you jealous, Sergeant?”

At that question you stopped your steps and looked at him with disbelief.

“General, with all due respect, but you were ridiculing yourself.” You rolled your eyes and when you turned to continue your journey and leave him to his destiny, he rose over your shoulders risking you to fall.

To avoid both of you ending up with your butt on the ground, you grabbed him by the thighs while he let his arms slide down your shoulders and neck and his chest leaning against the back of the armor.

It was incredibly light, which amazed you. You were used to training with much greater weights and for its height you thought it weighed more than 80 kg.

Maybe he wasn’t eating properly.

“I will take you to your quarters, sir. I think it’s the wisest choice.”

You sensed his head dangling to your right and because of the helmet you couldn’t distinguish it well.

On the way, many stormtroopers turned to look at you but nobody said a word. The drunken general’s voice had probably not yet reached all ears.

You hoped that your name wouldn’t come out in the gossip, you would have wanted anything except to face the wrath of Pryde or, worse, of Kylo Ren.

“Sergeant, have I been a good –hic- general for you?”

The question still surprised you. You had never spoken to the general except to convey the day’s information or reports.

The First Order had taken you from the planet of Andooweel in the Arkanis sector at the age of 8. Since then, with grueling 17-year training sessions you have fought alongside and for General Hux.

He must have been about ten years older than you, yet his figure was always younger despite the tiredness that sometimes outlined his face.

You had followed his orders and witnessed the extinction of the Republic with the final weapon Starkiller. It was glorious.

But then the Starkiller collapsed at the hands of the rebels, you had risked your life to protect it, and Hux’s position had a decisive collapse.

You responded to his orders and still respected the man, but his authority was less than that of Pryde and Kylo Ren. So when Ren gave you orders, those overtook those of your General.

“Of course, general. You are still a great leader.” Adulating him would have led to nothing but stability in the mind of man.

There were heavy moments between you but you continued your advance without problems.

“Ren is blowing everything up for that scrap hunt. I can’t believe I wasted twenty years of my life just to see everything burn at the hands of a spoiled brat.” The general’s voice came out torn and whimpering. His sobbing was finally over, but it was certainly more excruciating to hear him sigh and complain.

Certainly the Supreme Leader was pursuing more of his goals than those of the Order but did it matter in the end? In the end, it all came down to the victory of Kylo Ren, consequently that of the Order would come, right?

However, you didn’t know how to reply to his words. You honestly wanted to do it.

You kept walking and Hux finally seemed to have calmed down. When you came to his room, you coughed up to get his attention.

“General, we are here.”

But the man didn’t reply.

“General?”

Nothing. You decided to take risks.

“Hux?”

But no unpleasant scream came. You just turned to wade him and there, with his face pressed against your black shoulder, the red-haired man slept like a child.

You groaned. You didn’t want to believe it.

“Sir, please. There are four corridors that divide us from the elevator…”

Inevitably, you ended up having to drag him into your room two floors down. It’s okay that it wasn’t excessively heavy, but carrying it on a piggyback ride for more than an hour had certainly not benefited your back from the grueling day.

Tired and irritated, you threw him on your bed. Your room, being of a simple sergeant, was not very large.

It consisted of a bedroom and a bathroom, and the room was already full only with the presence of the closet where you placed the uniforms and the bed on the corner, near the bath door.

Hux moaned and slowly opened his eyes just as you lifted your helmet and put it back in the closet.

“This bed is as hard as the floor of the Finalizer…”

You weren’t curious about how he knew what it was like to lie on the deck of their former flagship.

“I know, General. They are my humble rooms after all.” Finally your voice rang out without the horrible background that the nice stormtrooper helmet gave.

He snapped his head in your direction and rolled his eyes, but not moving from the fetal position he had acquired.

“You are a woman, sergeant.”

You opened your mouth like a fish out of the water and you looked at him confused. What exactly had he been thinking all that time?

“Er, I think so, sir.” You looked at your breasts under the armor and you were sure that nothing dangled between your legs. Had he confused you for a male because of the armor?

He nodded, as if to confirm the fact, and dropped the head he had raised on your pillow again. You wondered if he would leave his scent on the sheets…

“Are you feeling better, sir?”

He didn’t seem exactly returned to himself, but trying to make him come to life ahead of time and give you a good night’s rest had prevailed on the probable sense of guilt that would have occurred later if the man had lost himself in the ship. “Maybe one night on your comfortable bed will help you.”

“I still have a headache.” His water-green eyes narrowed, as if he were judging you without hiding anything. “Are you kicking me out, Sergeant?”

You whitened when you felt clear hatred in his voice.

“I- No, general. But I don’t have many comforts to offer you…” you looked around, highlighting the obvious. Where were you supposed to sleep? On the bathroom floor?

Hux continued to look at you but his eyes had softened again, as if he had just focused on something else much more pleasant. You watched him motionless from your position as he ran his bare palm against the clean white sheets of your bed.

You moved your head in all directions, looking for where he had thrown away the gloves, which he had until a few seconds before, and hoped that they had not slipped between the bed and the keyboard. It would have been difficult to recover them, just in case.

“The First Order should no longer offer me anything, Sergeant…”

You didn’t know how to respond to that self-pity. He was clearly unstable and surely didn’t mean half the things he said. But maybe helping him to realize it wasn’t a bad idea.

“You don’t really think so, sir. You have done a lot in the service of the Order, everyone realizes it. I respect you a lot and even the teams I deal with follow your orders with dedication.”

You turned to pick up the helmet and place it on your head. You felt vulnerable without it while approaching your supervisor.

“Don’t do it.”

You got stuck in the middle, with the object in your hands raised right above your head.

“Take off your armor, Sergeant.” There wasn’t much authority in his voice, it sounded very much like a joke that made your skin crawl.

“Um… sir, you’re probably still slightly tipsy… I don’t think it’s by the rules-!”

“You may be right, Sergeant.” He pointed a sardonic and evil smile. “Or not and you are contesting a direct order from your general.” He stood up on his elbows to better observe your reactions.

You had often heard of officers taking advantage of subordinates, in the most disgusting and treacherous ways. But you never would have believed that Hux was that kind of superior.

However, you would have preferred reconditioning rather than lowering yourself to that level.

“You are my general but I will not execute an overpower order.”

You thought he would scream at you like he did with others or hiss threateningly to literally hang you alive but he grinned amused, stretching himself against what continued to be YOUR bed.

“But mine is an order purely for the good of the community, of course. Now, take off your armor, Sergeant.”

You closed your eyes. How much did you struggle to get there? Could the general really report you and punish you without evidence?

With a flash of genius, you raised the helmet slightly in your hands, letting a finger slide under the neck joint and pressing the button for the recorded radiovision.

The helmet was equipped with an excellent video recorder which was very useful after the missions on unknown planets, you could also have used it for your own safety for once.

“Allright, general. As you commands.”

Place the helmet in the upper door in the closet, with the visor facing you and with a lump in your throat, you began to remove piece by piece the white and hard components of your armor.

You felt the general’s gaze on you but you tried not to be intimidated.

Once you took off your boots, your bare feet touched the cold floor of the room. You decided not to continue further, he would surely have asked you later in case, and you remained in your tight black suit that covered from your neck to ankles. The elastic and resistant material prevented the corners of your protection from pushing and scratching the flesh and it was also a fabric that allowed you soldiers to face lower or higher temperatures.

Hux looked at you from below and with a bored movement of his hand he suggested that you approach him but when you didn’t, he gave voice to his movements.

“Come closer, Sergeant.”

And as ordered, you stepped up to touch the mattress with your knees.

You remained motionless. He completely at ease lying in front of you and you definitely uncomfortable while you found him staring insistently at your thighs.

Then, without warning, he reached out and touched the muscle of your right thigh for a few seconds. You blushed on contact and you looked up at any point in the room.

His hand moved lower, reaching the calves, that at the contact you had stretched until the spasm and remained there for what seemed like hours.

You clenched your teeth, ready for a new attack, but what happened made your mouth wide open like a foolish child.

“Now I understand how you managed to drag me smoothly up to here. The training of my soldiers is still excellent.”

You blinked, as if you didn’t believe the general’s observation.

A smile escaped you and then an evident amused puff. So he wasn’t trying to touch you in any of the ways you saw flashing in your mind. How stupid…

“Why are you laughing, Sergeant?”

The man withdrew his hand from you and placed it under the pillow, observing you curiously.

“It’s nothing, sir. I apologize for my accusation.” You ran a finger over your lips, trying to erase the raised and amused smile that remained on them.

“You have a beautiful smile, Sergeant.”

You looked him up, trying to record any trace of a lie but it wasn’t there. Words from a drunk man, though.

“Thanks, general. It’s kind of you.” You decided not to fight that compliment, albeit dictated by the glamor due to alcohol and you walked away again, to reach the dark slippers near the bathroom, and going inside.

Hux, for his part, remained to contemplate you until you were gone, leaving him alone. He still felt dizzy and when he lifted his head from the pillow the ship seemed to have taken a hard turn, causing the floor to bend under his feet.

After leaving the bathroom a few minutes later, a towel resting on your face and you approached the side of the bed. Your hair got wet a little with the heat with which you rinsed your face but you didn’t notice. Certainly yours were in better condition than the general’s red and tousled ones.

“You can stay if you wants. I will patrol the corridor. After all, this section is not as supervised as the one in your quarters.”

You were about to put on your stormtrooper suit again when Hux’s hand grabbed yours.

“Yes, sir?” You asked, looking at your joined hands.

“They have called me in many ways since I was born … the last one called me aged, skinny and pasty.”

You remembered that rumor. Many lieutenants and officers inside the room had made sure that the voice reached even the lowest ranks.

You wondered, although Hux might have been confused at the time, what reason was there in raising that speech?

But the answer was not long in coming.

“Do you think so? Do you think I’m weak?”

Weak would certainly not have been one of the adjectives you would have used on that man. You had gone through many of them, gaining your rank with effort and dedication. Imagine someone like him, who was even a bastard.

Thinking about it, you had collected a lot of rumors and information about the general over the years of service. Even on what was thought to be a probable relationship with Captain Phasma.

When he pulled his hand away from yours it was as if you realized that Hux really wanted an answer.

“General, you will probably consider my opinion only as that of a subordinate who doesn’t want to be downgraded … but I think you are one of the best generals of the First Order. You brought innovation and the whole galaxy fears or respects us. You thought about tracking down rebels in hyperspace. I think you’re definitely strong.” And you scratched your cheek, looking absently at the bathroom. “And you don’t look as old and pasty as they described you. Maybe thin but you’re a handsome man, general.”

You weren’t sure why you added the last comment. Not that it was required.

But seeing those eyes constantly filled with hardness soften and a calm smile appear on his lips was certainly worth it.

“First you take me to your rooms and then try to seduce me with compliments, Sergeant?” He jokes, trying to stagger to go straight again. He had had his moment to let go and blame alcohol but he had to preserve the little respect you had for him.

“Do I look like the type of soldier who sells herself for a promotion?” You laughed, finally at ease with that man who sat up with his legs out of bed. Hux took a fleeting glance at the closet behind you and then looked back at you.

“Of course not, but I didn’t even suggest it.” He put his hands on his lap, making his finger touch each other. “I don’t think I’ll get more similar comments in the future.”

You took a step back. It didn’t seem right to you to look at him from such a high height.

“I’m sorry, sergeant. I must have made you uncomfortable. I was just kidding.” He said after a short pause where you hadn’t mentioned adding a half word.

You saw him get to his feet but he put his hand almost immediately on the wall to support himself as best he could. His legs were trembling under him and if you hadn’t intervened to support him, he would most likely have fallen to the ground.

“Sorry again.” He stammered, clinging to your forearms, now free of armor and marveled at when you was soft. The leg muscles were much tighter before.

“Am I allowed to lift you up again and take you to your apartment, general?” It might have seemed like a joke but it really sounded like a service you were offering him.

“Would you do that?” He asked immediately, amazed.

“I would do this and more for you, General.”

Initially you didn’t realize how badly others could interpret it but you had no reason to worry about it. It was just the two of you and the general wouldn’t have understood it in a way other than total duty.

So you thought. Until his lips rested grossly on yours and his hands tightened on your shoulders.

You had certainly had your experiences. Physical contact was necessary to keep the nerves in the missions. The First Order didn’t need hormonal kids to fight their battles.

Yet that kiss was sloppy and you asked yourself if it was due to the general’s condition or to your suddenly being immobilized like a rock.

Hux, not hearing you correspond, immediately pulled back and you saw a man destroyed before your eyes. With that hair that had taken directions at random, ending up on his forehead and that look full of fear and affliction, you no longer recognized what you had learned to fear.

What had they really done to this man who was so desperate for contact?

“General-”

“I need this, sergeant. I need to be touched by someone who has no intention of killing me.” He was serious as he spoke and could really look professional if it weren’t for the fact that he was holding on to you so as not to end up on the ground. “But I have no intention of forcing you into anything.”

For some damn reason you didn’t feel like refusing it, right there on your feet. But you weren’t even bold enough to say you were doing it out of pity.

The general was a beautiful man, you hadn’t lied, and you were certainly wondering what it would have been like to have him under you. But it still seemed all too wrong.

“My name is Y / N. Sergeant Y / N.”

“Y / N. It’s a beautiful name.” He agreed, charming.

And it was enough as he said it to convince you completely.

You got up just enough to touch his lips with yours again and gently pushed him back making him collide the back of the knees against the mattress.

He dropped onto it, dragging you behind him until you were forced to straddle his figure, continuing to explore his mouth.

Well, now you were sure he had ingested a lot of alcohol and you could taste Lotharian wine on his tongue. How had he not felt it in the coffee he always drank you couldn’t understand…

The General’s hands in the meantime had reached the closure of the suit at the base of the back of the neck and dragged it down with a slowness that, you were aware, was intentional.

On the way, the tip of his cold fingers touched your skin kept warm by the fabric and moaned against his lips, making him grin with satisfaction.

“General, do I have permission to undress you?” You pulled back, trying to free him from the uniform jacket but that placed a thumb on your lips.

“It’s Armitage here.” He muttered silently. “Permission granted, Y / N. You are allowed to do anything.”

You moved your head to the side, so that your thumb moved away from your lips and you ventured a smile. Surely your name with his voice was one of the most beautiful things you would have ever heard.

You ran your hand along his chest, spacing the material of the coat in the process and when you came to the metal belt it was enough to touch it to make it fall with the rest.

His skin was clear and smooth and perfect in your opinion. He didn’t have muscles as evident as your former partners, but it was certainly a relief to find something new.

After all, Armitage had to be unique in some way.

You leaned over to kiss his shoulder and looked at him seriously.

“Are you having trouble leaving control to someone else, Armitage?”

He was still slightly stunned by his name dancing on your lips but he shook his head.

“Is that what you want to do? Take control?” A mischievous expression took possession of his features, making you relax while gently squeezing his shoulders.

Instead of deigning it with a vocal response, let yourself be clarified with your intentions. You slowly accompanied him down, again with his back against the mattress and your thighs still covered touched the general’s hips, making him hold a sigh.

The hand he had placed behind your back fell to your side and twisted into the mattress covers. While yours wandered from the belly to the chest, making small curious circles with the nails.

His eyes were still wide and watched everything, alert and all too quivering.

You advanced towards his face, stopping to touch a throbbing vein on the neck but soon replaced your fingers with your lips.

You touched the neck like a petal that rests on the surface of the water and when he didn’t react, you became more enterprising.

You massaged his chest with a full palm and you clearly felt him shiver when in addition to your lips, your tongue was added to pamper him.

You gave wet kisses along the length of his neck until you reached the back of his ears.

“Can I continue, Armitage?”

Hux watched you rise again, your face hanging over his, as if waiting for yet another authorization to proceed.

“Don’t you dare quit, Y / N.”

You raised your right hand and brought it close to his face, skirting his lips with a thumb.

There was nothing else to say, you just had to show him that you had no intention of hurting him. Because it was what he was looking for, kindness. And that’s what you would have given him all night.

When you woke up the next morning, the general’s red hair spread out on the pillow and his neck full of love bites was the first thing your eyes recorded.

You stood up with all possible delicacy. It was clear that the general’s full awareness had returned already at the time of your sexual intercourse, but you wanted to avoid the embarrassing post-sex moment of solidarity.

You went to look for a new clean suit on the lower floors of the wardrobe and your gaze was captured by the intermittent light on your helmet.

You whitened. You had kept the camera on all night without realizing it. Had it taken something in the end?

“Good morning, Sergeant.”

A frightened squeak sounded on your lips, forcing you to quickly stop the production of the video and you turned rigid and composed as if you had been called to report. Completely naked.

Hux chuckled, his head still resting on the pillow but his open and evil eyes staring at you.

“Relax, Y / N. I’m still naked in your bed.”

Not realizing that you had taken the position, you loosened your shoulders and sighed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I have to proceed with the training and supervision of the recruits.” You bowed your head slightly out of respect and then went back to find your suit. You listened to the unmistakable noise of the mattress going down and up, notifying you that the general must have just got up.

Quickly put your legs up, lifting the tight material up over your waist and then you searched for the sleeves. The zipper was never difficult to achieve given the elastic material but before you could do it yourself, another pair of hands first reached the tongue.

Hux pulled the zipper up until the dress was completely closed and let his hand slide along the passage he had just completed.

“Are you embarrassed, Sergeant?”

You turned to look at him, a little afraid of the reaction he would have. Could he accuse you of taking advantage of his status? Did you become the attacker?

“I don’t know, General. Should I?” You asked, trying not to look down at his naked figure closely next to you. His green eyes were still soft, different from those of the general who walked the Steadfast and this raised you a little.

“I thought, after shouting my name so much last night, it had entered your head by now, Y / N.”

You blushed deeply at that allusion but before you could stammer some excuse, he lowered his face and kissed you slowly, gently, taking you by surprise.

“No, obviously not.” He said once he went straight back, answering your real question and with the usual satisfied smile on his lips. “Am I allowed to use your towels, Sergeant?”

You laughed. “Permission granted, Armitage.”

[inessencedevided]

The Untamed, episode 14 - watching notes

Little note on the last ep: I love how everyone finds wwx in his inner robe absolutely 🔥🔥🔥 I mean, I agree! but it's just one less layer! It's still covering his entire body! 😂 but still, it's somehow the hottest shit any of us have ever seen :D

So, off to ep 14 *bangs head to opening melody*

He put the headband back on because he fears that lwj is nervous without it 🥺🥺🥺

How can they be so soft with each other???

And lwj's almost-smile :')

Can't write much about the arrow picking except that I honestly love how this scene is shot. The lightening, the music, the sound of them working. It all works brilliantly to build up the tension

Wait? Was that weird lightening that lwj shot into wwx head something to let them communicate by thought? The potential! 😲 My mind immediately went to thought-sharing-smut fix but then I remembered that there might even be hope for that in canon!! 😱 (or at least, some version of canon)

That's vaguely disgusting (The inside of the shell, I mean)

I'm surprised the turtle doesn't notice that there is someone walking around inside her shell

So wait ... what? There is a sword there which traps the turtle. Meaning, someone has been there before and maybe purposefully trapped it there, meaning this whole excursion was completely unnecessary. They could have just left it there and it would never have bothered anyone outside that cave. Then again, Wen chao doesn't strik me as someone to think such things through ...

Quickly, Wei Wuxian! Stab the diary with its tooth! ... wait, wrong fandom

Maybe it's not though ... there's very horcrux-like black goo coming out of the sword 😳

Tf is happening to wwx? He's hurting 🥺

Now he's... not. And he's somehow controlling the black mist and the swords ... I'm confused. Is this where the "demonic cultivation" comes in

Worried lwj is my new favourite thing on this show

Why is there random fighting in the throne room of the wen sect???

Wwx looks mildly traumatised :(

Oh wow ... I'm continuously in awe of the music choices. During this talk, you can hear the main theme (wangxian's theme, I think) in the background. But for the first time, it's played on deep, melancholic cellos. That alone gave me chills! Just, endless kudos to whoever was in charge of the soundtrack for this show!

Apparently, worried lwj is also wwx's favourite thing :')

Seriously wwx!!! He is helping you and NOW you decide to throw the "boring" back at him??

Are these two idiots allergic against genuine, heartfelt moments???

Oh god, no I take it back immediately!!!!

"Can you sing a song for me?" 😭

Hughn ... you don't understand!

There's NO trope I love more than one part of a couple singing to the other (maybe it's because that's how I like to show love. Sorry, tmi)

I'm weak guys ... 😭😭😭

He's doing it .... OMG HE'S DOING IT! and his voice is so nice and deep and ...

Okay ...line break ... I'm actually crying. I legitimately have tears running down my face

I just watched this sequence three times and I couldn't type while I watched because I COULDN'T MISS THIS!

Also I'm crying. It was hard to see anything

Just ...

...

THEY DID THAT

They did a straight up compilation of their love so far

And the song! THE SONG!! THE SONG!!!

I had suspected so before, but it's actually their love theme

And ... hugh ... lan wangji sang it ... for wei Wuxian

Apart from how f*cking meta that is, that's just... the most romantic thing you can do for mesomeone (have I mentioned that I'm weak for this ...)

And and and the compilation ...

They really know how to play a fandom, right? Like, they know

I'm speechless...

Just the fact that they do this and then they have to pretend that nope, this is completely straight, nothing to see here is absolutely bewildering to me

Hugh ... I need to calm down... I'll watch it a third time

The lantern scene was there, tooooooo!!! 😭😭😭

No, no I'm concentrating again

"What's the name of the song?" What's the name??? What is it?

(If you know, please don't tell me! I just ask these questions to get my feelings out, not because I genuinely want to know spoilers ;))

They got out. I'm almost sad. With how things were going, a few hours more in that cave and they probably would have straight up cuddled :D

Jiang Cheng allows himself to show 1, ONE second of genuin concern for his brother, before he starts acting all tough again 🤦‍♀️ *sigh*

Noooo, why did lan wanji leave??? :(

Okay, that's a good reason

Yay! They finally decided to do something about the Wen clan :D

God I love Lotus Cove :)

Again, this reminds me so much of lotr and particularly the elves. The way the camera pulled from a light background to wwx, just waking up in bed after being injured ... the only thing missing was Elrond's head floating above him :D

Woahwoahwoah, hold a second. I had to go back and pause ... is that two men kissing on the bed frame??? Is this the show's way of telling us "yes they kissed, no we couldn't show you. Here, have some heavy-handed subtext so you won't miss it"

It's senior sister :,)

And even Jiang Cheng is caring eith him, bringing him soup ... I have feelings!

And now the whole family is here *sniff*

Okay ... f*ck. I see. Jiang Cheng did so mich, wwx even tries to pull attention to it and their father/uncle still only pays attention to wwx :/

Argh, I forgot that there's still one more member to this family 🤦‍♀️

Oh f*ck her!

Just ... ugh ... that's all I'm saying about that

wwx and jiang Cheng! 😭 - they're both such emotionally constipated idiots (especially jc), but this heart to heart felt so real, you know? Like it could happen between any two brothers in their situation :')

And honestly, it's so tragic. Both of them are definitely NOT at fault for their situation, yet it always hangs over their relationship. I hate it when,in a story, the parents' baggage is transferred to their children, mostly because that's sadly how it goes most of the time

Episode finished... Going back to the song part, so I feel good again :D

These past two episodes where ... hagh ... heaven for my hurt/comfort-loving heart 🥰

And in general, I think, this one was my favourite so far!

@sweetlittlevampire @fandom-glazed @elenirlachlagos @allhailthedramallama @luckymoony (please excuse my typos, btw. I'm sure there are many) 😅

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

i walk in 20 hours late sipping a starbucks hot cocoa

i don’t like coffee

promethea!!! 

awwwwww yis

tl;dr: uhh wow i talked a lot today, sorry. Mostly about whatever the fuck that thing Rhys is handing us is, how it ties into the dig site we see like maybe it’s a piece to activate it, maybe the dig site isn’t a Vault but instead a teleporter or something and needs multiple pieces to activate. so i guess kinda like a Vault but not that kind of Vault. Also if said dig site is actually on Promethea because that’s, like, DEFINITELY Elpis behind it. and like, okay, maybe we used the giant space gun to destroy the asteroid fields and make room for elpis and teleport elpis there, or maybe we teleported the dig site to pandora because it needs to be opened since Moon = Key and maybe Promethea’s moon was destroyed by the giant space gun (TM) and turned into asteroid belt, or maybe the dig site was always ON pandora and it’s not actually a Vault (because the Map would have pointed it out), but still. lots of possibilities here. oh and i go over the Battleborn easter egg and talk about Tannis is Not What She Seems (and pray she won’t end up being evil bc I love her) and I wanna believe the Eridians sent that message, not the cult ‘cause fuck those guys they probably can’t see the future they probably just adopted the name. also I ramble about how gorgeous this planet is for like... 30 minutes. but damn it really is pretty.

man this was a fun thing to wake up to and then have to wait like 8 hours to actually fully take a look at lmao

“Home to the Atlas corporation headquarters, Promethea is a metropolitan world covered in futuristic towers of chrome and glass. A recent siege by Maliwan has turned the urban environment into a warzone; their mechanized infantry patrol the streets, rodent/insect hybrids known as Ratches infest the sewers and back-alleys, and the Children of the Vault are seizing the opportunity to recruit displaced and disgruntled citizens. Atlas CEO Rhys Strongfork is getting desperate.“

“... Children of the Vault are seizing the opportunity to recruit displaced and disgruntled citizens”.

yeah that’s the most important part of this description for me. I really really like the idea of that, and it could tie into the whole Mayhem is Coming tagline for the game as, like many people have speculated, the Mayhem we hear about is the spreading of the cult/the psychos across the universe. A very interesting tie-in to the marketing campaign, as it’s clear we’re now the target of this cult propaganda, like the citizens of Promethea are (were? this is all past-tense since marcus is telling this story, isn’t it?)... like the citizens of Promethea were.

And we know that Atlas is trying to protect the citizens in the tunnels, so it’d be really interesting to see the two get into a direct conflict over a group of citizens. Like Lorelei tells us it's a hostage situation or whatever and we run in and it’s more of a brainwashing situation. Worse if the citizens decided to switch over without any brainwashing. oof.

im also curious about the number of hexagons we see on Promethea. The shapes look identical to the ones on Pandora’s page, so I’m curious if this is an accurate representation of how many areas will be on each planet.

just sayin’.

We do know that Pandora has more than those 3 listed areas (from Supmatto’s new video! can’t believe i missed the stream. ah well.)

“Covenant Pass”. I wanna believe this is near the area where we go find Sanctuary-III, at the very least that one tunnel-y area?

you know the one

this one, it’s right next to Sanc-III afterall.

Also thinking it may not be the name of a huge area, but instead the name of one of the smaller areas within that area? like the ones where when you discover it you get experience points? yeah.

the name makes me think this is someway related to the CoV cause of the word ‘covenant’, an agreement. We also know this area is directly near this one bandit camp which I’ve theorized before is a sun smasher camp

(you can see the back of sanctuary-III near both areas) 

so it’s possible there was an agreement made and both could pass freely through that one tunnel, or the twins were able to build that wall close to this camp. idk, just spitballing ideas.

So then it is possible there’s only 3ish areas on Pandora, but I really hope not unless they are BIG areas. There are most likely more than 3.

oh but we’re here to discuss Promethea

sorry i forgot.

For Promethea we got the Titan Skyway, the Atlas Campus, and the Meridian Seaport.

Titan Skyway reads to me like that giant road we keep seeing in the trailers 

like this one, which is giving me huge Bloodshot Stronghold (Damtop) vibes. Which is one of my favorite levels to play as melee Zer0 with execute and many must fall so... please let this be what i think it is. i may end up running that map just for funsies at the end of the game. mm if it didn’t take running the actual bloodshot stronghold every time i wanted to play the damtop level, i’d be running it all the time. sigh.

Atlas Campus immediately made me think of the Meridian Metroplex, but that’s definitely not it. In the instagram trailer we see Rhys on the ‘Atlas HQ rooftop’ with Zer0, so I’m gonna imagine Rhys is somewhere in the Atlas Campus.

Now if this is like an actual college campus, which i don’t think gearbox would do due to the implications, that’d be wild. I heard they had a mall designed for somewhere in the meridian metroplex, but we’re probably not actually allowed inside. which makes me sad, but also it probably holds no significance on the story. but then again... neither did caustic caverns. hmmmmmmmmm

oh also rhys is holding

whatever the fuck this is

uhhhhhhh... huhhhhh...

tbh i legitimately thought this was their attempt at macgyvering a vault key at first lmao

i know it’s a mission object because it has those glitteries, but... it reminds me a bit of Gortys’s core but i really don’t think that’s it. maybe another Atlas project to try and open a Vault? It just doesn’t look Eridian to me.

then again

this appears to be at the eridian dig site so... maybe it actually is Eridian. Definitely new to me.

some way to get inside the Vault area maybe? I can’t imagine that’s the actual Vault Key, because the one we see in the We Are Mayhem trailer doesn’t match.

you know i’ve been thinking more about vault colors

this one appears pink which... alright. maybe something to do with seraphs/seraph crystals.

The bl1 Vault was blue, the bl2 Vault was purple, the Vault of the Sentinel was... purple? blue? pink? all of the above? ... bisexual? tbqh there was a LOT going on there lol. wasn’t the Vault of the traveler yellow? either way

the big question here is: does each Vault have its own color scheme?

I wonder what that means since the Vault Mey has turned red now... it’s probably leading us to the big boy. the Vault to end all Vaults. 

now wouldn’t that be fun

right back to Promethea sorry

final listed area we get is called the Meridian Seaport. Which, if you know me, has got me all like 👀👀👀👀👀👀

water area? why yes PLEASE

i was actually talking to someone on reddit about said ‘seaport’ and it got me wondering if maybe this area is where we’ll find that one car from the Mask of Mayhem trailer. 

i can’t imagine what else those wing-like things on the side would be for. but i am definitely not a car person, like the closest i get is being a fan of Transformers, so maybe someone can enlighten me.

I am wondering if this area is the one we see in the instagram trailer with Moze

here

also i know we see water near where we find Zer0 in the demo, but that’s not really a dock area, more just a viewpoint. this has me thinking it’s an actual dock because the buildings are all off in the distance. It reminds me a lot of NYC actually lol

and interestingly enough i write about an assassination mission at a port on Promethea in one of my fanfics, but tbh i wasn’t actually expecting anything like it to be in-game. That was kind of an assumption I made since the area with Zer0 had water and I can’t believe I’m going to have to go back and edit it to be canon-compliant, cause I legitimately didn’t...

anyway.

Should i go over the instagram stuff now? I feel like i should go over the instagram stuff now.

see here is my problem with this

no moon

you’ll understand why once i compile my evidence

no moon

no moon!!

no moon

i even watched both time lapses during the amd stream and there was no hint of the moon (i understand promethea is in a state of perpetual twilight, but i thought maybe it would show up somewhere. it doesn’t. in fact it only shows the sun and this asteroid belt).

where is my moon, randy?

well let me tell you what i’m thinking here so you’re not even more confused

let’s go through that instagram video showcasing Promethea again

you should recognize this!

this is from that one video i reblogged like 4 times because i kept debating whether or not it was on promethea or pandora. now we can assume it’s on promethea but let me ask u something

if promethea doesn’t have a moon...

what the everloving fuck is that?

in fact, let me ask something

what does elpis look like in bl3?

look familiar?

hell yeah it does

now...

is this actually promethea?

I can’t imagine gearbox would be using footage that ISN’T from the planet they’re showcasing in a video about said planet. because that’s naughty. Plus, Rhys is shown giving us something that looks very similar to the tech in that area, and I can’t imagine we’d go through all that trouble just to get that tech then immediately go back to Pandora with whatever it is. whatever happened to the Promethean Vault Key we see in the We Are Mayhem trailer?

so there’s 2 options here if we’re under the assumption that dig site is/was on Promethea.

This dig site was moved from Promethea to Pandora

OR

Elpis was moved from Pandora to Promethea

Now i went over ALL of this in an old post. (seriously, give this a read if you haven't already, i go into this in a lot more detail than i will here). but we kinda got some new information.

My first instinct is that this dig site is on (or moved to) Pandora. just, 100% Pandora. the moon, the spiky rocks in the background, what look like Rakk near the back, there’s no asteroid belt in the sky. etc. etc.

do the blue sparkles have anything to do with it? maybe!

Also again, im not 100% certain this is actually a Vault. It just... doesn’t feel right to me. If this was actually on Pandora the entire time, then we’d have known about it through the Vault Map. We would have gone to open the 3rd Vault on Pandora before bl3 even began. If this really has been on Pandora the whole time, I do believe this isn’t actually a Vault. I go over this in that previous post I’ve made and I’m still standing by it. I think this is just an Eridian ruin and the Vault shape is just a statue or whatever. I could be 100% wrong, but that’s my first instinct if we’re being lead to believe this is on Pandora. 

Now I’m curious why this dig site was never mentioned in bl2 if it WAS on Pandora this whole time. And, again, if it actually does end up being a Vault, there’d be a huge plot hole with the whole Vault Map thing if it was on Pandora all along.

So was it moved here? Yeah... probably. For what reason? I... have no idea. How? similar answer. Lily couldnt’ve done it, she doesn’t have her powers anymore. Maybe activating it with whatever Rhys gives us makes it teleport to Pandora. For... reasons.

If it is a Vault, maybe it requires Elpis to open it. for some reason. We know Moon equals Key, so it could play into that. It definitely looks like it’s positioned directly in line with elpis.

but why would a Vault built on Promethea need a moon from a totally different planet to open it?

Because Promethea’s moon was destroyed.

That asteroid belt? I don’t think that’s there just for funsies (okay maybe the artists had funsies but the actual writing? yeah). And that big gun looking thing we see in both concept art and in the trailer? i think that thing fucked up Promethea’s moon to the point it shattered. So they couldn’t open that Vault.

alright, we all cool on this version of the theory?

let’s flip it on its head.

let’s consider:

Elpis was moved from Pandora to Promethea

NOT possible i hear you say

but hear me out.

what’s our reasons for saying this is Pandora?

“the moon, the spiky rocks in the background, what look like Rakk near the back, there’s no asteroid belt in the sky. etc. etc.”

Elpis? teleported! bah!

Spiky rocks? Well! We hear typhon mention a quarry, don’t we? one with brittle rock. This very well could be the quazmarian quarry he talked about where he found that very first Vault (and Vault Key). After all, if he fell into a hole and found it, it makes sense that there would be a shitload of dig teams trying to clear it out for easy access.

Rakk? We see those on Athenas, too, during the Happy Together trailer. Plus, they’re super chubby on the bottoms compared to what we see of the Rakk in the Claptrap Presents Pandora video. Maybe they’re not even Rakk.

Finally. Ah. The asteroid belt.

Well, if you believe that that giant gun could’ve obliterated Promethea’s moon, then is it so hard to turn around and believe that it’s actually obliterated the asteroids surrounding Promethea?

in fact, if we really ARE moving Elpis to Promethea, wouldn’t it make sense that we can’t have asteroids hitting Elpis for fear of worsening the Crackening and breaking our own moon?

In FACT, do we even SEE any asteroids above Promethea in that trailer shot of the bigass gun?

I THINK NOT.

There’s more to this theory, though.

from claptrap presents pandora

from the we are mayhem trailer

yeah, they COULD be celebrating the destruction of Elpis (because i would not be surprised if those are both near the same area)

lets think of something new, though. Elpis being blown up was totally 2015, with Zarpedon. That’s SO last season, Calypsos.

Plus, why would the calypsos even want the moon destroyed? is that not the home of a Vault that would allow them to see the future? how fucking powerful would that be, being able to see the future??? Jack knew what he had to do to win the Pandora games (even if he uhhh didn’t get to see that last bit because of Lilith), so why wouldn’t the Calypsos want to see their own futures?

There is the argument that they’ve already gone to Elpis and didn’t like what the Vault showed them, but I kinda assumed that they’d have gotten the funky eye things like Zarpedon did if they really did see what the Vault showed them. Given that Jack’s was interrupted by Lilith, we don’t really know if that’s truly the case.

I’m 100% down to blow up the moon cause Good Riddance, but also it needs to make sense WHY the calypsos want it blown up other than like shits and giggles? which... fine, but the story..? Elpis has to be important somehow. They have to want it blown up for some reason. A show of power? awesome, maybe they got that giant space gun. Moon = Key, so maybe they think if we can’t get this Vault, nobody can? sure why not. Destroying Pandora? Sure, but why blow up elpis when u could just also blow up pandora? 

either way, if the game gives us an actual reason as to why the twins are blowing up the moon, we’re all fine and dandy. if they’re going it just because then yeah, im gonna get kinda testy. 

anyway my point IS

The effect around elpis here looks strikingly familiar to the effect that appears around Lilith (and the cultists) when they’re teleported.

so it would be much cooler if, instead of blowing up Elpis, they were actually celebrating its movement. 

And it would be very interesting then, if this tied into that Easter Egg we got.

You know the one:

Because yeah im still iffy on the implication that this is from the Calypso twins. Why wouldn’t they want the Vaults opened? isn’t that the grand plan?

maybe this could be from the Eridians or the Guardians on Elpis. If Elpis was teleported from Pandora to Elpis, maybe the translation from Eridian -> English is slightly off, or simplified for the message. (on vs orbiting for example)

Visit Promethea -> Where we are right now, or where we’re going to go. We need you there.

Children of the Vault -> Yes, it could be the CoV cult that’s being referenced, but the way this is broadcasted, through morse code, spoken like an actual cryptic message and not, you know, with that Calypso flair... me thinks the cult simply adopted the name “Children of the Vault”. I think this may either be referencing Sirens, or the Vault Hunters/Crimson Raiders. Maybe the twins picked up this broadcast and that’s why they immediately head to Promethea after they steal Lilith’s powers.

We are not on Pandora anymore -> shit dudes we got yeeted to Promethea, help us. Or... we’ve moved elsewhere. We’re not nearby, we escaped, we fled, come find us on Promethea. 

Tannis is not what she seems -> this one... I don’t believe the Calypsos actually know anything about Tannis. If they do, then she was possibly the one to rescue/experiment on them, turning them into artificial Sirens or whatever, but then... isn’t Tannis exactly what she seems? She’s crazy, she totally would experiment on the twins. That is EXACTLY what she seems like. 

The people who would know about Tannis not being what she seems... the people who can see the future? The Guardians of the Sentinel’s Vault (maybe just the Guardians/Eridians in general). The Watcher can speak (speak? she uses telepathy, doesn’t she? that’s why Brick asks Lilith what she says) eloquently, I imagine there has to be more than one Watcher-like Guardian. Or this is the Watcher herself sending the message. 

Either way, if, later on in the game, Tannis starts showing signs of not being what she seems, then... wouldn’t it make sense that the only characters who knew this were the ones who could see the future? And given the new info, it makes sense that the Guardians/Eridians/yougetthegist would know her by name, because she could be the one who turned herself into an artificial Siren.  Or figured out how to create artificial Sirens. Whichever (both?). Which is kinda big news in the Eridian world, I’m sure. Plus, the wording using ‘What’ instead of ‘Who’ is kinda a big pointer. I’m almost leaning towards the idea that Tannis tried to give herself Angel’s phaseshifting abilities. I can’t see Tannis with actual offensive abilities... It wouldn’t really fit her character. But I can 100% see her with mad computer hacking skills, to the point she could ruin anything with a flick of her wrist. Yeah, I can see that. 

And I really hope Tannis doesn’t end up being a villain. She could do so much good with her intelligence and newfound powers and tbh it’s really nice seeing a character with autism not treated like Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory (the butt of every joke). She feels real to me (as someone with autism)- she’s got her obsession (Eridians/Sirens/the Vaults), her crazy intelligence, the social phobia/unawareness. I really like her as a character (going from betraying us in bl1 to realizing her mistake and immediately trying to help and assisting the Crimson Raiders) and I’d really hate for her to become the villain just for... idk a shock twist? The shock twist should be that she’s a Siren or whatever, not that she’s going to betray us. I like Tannis :( And all the message says is Tannis is Not What She Seems, not that we shouldn’t trust her or that she’s going to betray us.

Do Not Open the Vaults -> well this is the whole thing, isn’t it? this is why I think this message has some sort of Eridian origin, instead of the Calypsos cult. The Calypsos WANT the Vaults open. They want that ‘universe-destroying’ power. They want to absorb the powers of the Vault monsters. Shit, even we Vault Hunters want to open the Vaults for some of that sweet, sweet loot. But who doesn’t want the Vaults opened? The Eridians.

oh yeah we were talking about Promethea. how the fuck did i get here?

oh the moon

yeah it could have just been a shot in the Instagram trailer they used to show off the ‘Eridian alien technology’. that’s not fun to talk about tho lmfao. plus the thingie Rhys holds matches up so well with the cool technology we get

anyway

the instagram trailer. we’re not even like halfway done with this post btw. still gotta do those beautiful screenshots

oh

trailer

sorry it’s like 1am im starting to lose focus im shifting into sleepy mode

i just love the aesthetic of this city.

also. that one building with the 0 on it? you can’t convince me Rhys didn’t give Zer0 their own skyscraper.

oh, you want an entire building to store all your loot and trophy kills? OF COURSE ZER0 ANYTHING FOR YOU

yes....... Eridian log.

im really excited to see it glowing. especially since it’s glowing red, like the Vault Map/key/you know. I hope that has some significance. 

i did boost the brightness and noticed it was part of a wall, not just one slab found elsewhere. makes me think this is part of a Temple. maybe part of the dig site below? we know that one is connected to some sort of building. and if it glows red, that’d be a really neat tie in to why Atlas always has that glowing red aesthetic going on in their bases.

still not done talking about this shot. yeah the stuff on the right looks similar to the thing Rhys hands us. NOT why i brought it back up tho. The guardian statues in the back seem very ‘low poly’. VERY different to the guardian statues we have on Pandora. they’re also holding staffs which is new. 

compare

these ones also seem much buffer than the guardians we see. with shorter necks, as well.

Maybe these are statues of ACTUAL Eridians? not just Guardians or any other construct (further proof for my theory Pandora was a Guardian production planet lol) but like what Eridians actually look like.

shorter necks, thicker limbs (because why would the constructs NEED muscles?), actual bodies that aren’t thin as twigs. I think we found it boys

this is the ideal Eridian body

no cause, seriously, if they ARE guardians, why are they so BUFF?? i don’t GET IT

also weird  this atlas gun isn’t wrist mounted. Atlas sniper confirmarinoed? or just an Old Atlas gun. sure. that too.

Moze on a turret near what i assume is the Meridian Seaport. She has what i think is an Atlas pistol equipped. There’s a dead guy leaning up against some cinder blocks, all cozy-like. 

better shot of the area. We talked about this earlier, so moving on!

Okay... so is THIS the New Atlas sniper? it looks like nigel thornberry’s nose

smashing.

we saw this before, too. im actually really excited to look out over the Promethea skyline from the top of a skyscraper. also, idk, rhys’s hand looks like a yaoi hand to me. like his fingers are above the F in strongfork, right? look how far away his thumb is. YEESH.

it’s actually ONLY rhys lol

An Atlas soldier at work! I like that their gear has the crimson lance logo on it. And the new Atlas symbol. I feel like if we have to fight these guys, the crit spot is gonna be that backpack.

maliwan robo!!!

a big boy. one of the flying ones too iirc from the We Are Mayhem trailer. 

Atlassss in the back. it’s weird that the second A in Atlas is the logo, not the first one. the first one is a triangle. that’s weird is it supposed to be signalling something else? a triangle with a circle around it. i don’t even know what that might be a logo for. hm.

oh also police bots i guess, but we see these dudes a lot.

im more interested in this thingie in the back. wonder what happened to it/what it is

ratches. blegh.

i hate these things jfc. they’re so gross.

i like that maliwan is just claiming things by throwing their flag up on it. that’s not how this works! that’s not how any of this works!

anyway.

how are those screenshots lookin

pretty good.

im pretty sure i’ve mentioned this before, but i love that they named this part of the city Meridian and then kept the Eridian logo in the spelling. it’s so fuckin dorky to me.

also i know we’re supposed to hate these robos, but at least they’re getting some characterization as enemies. the loaderbots in bl2 do this but not to a degree that they get their own interactions (LB being the exception of course). I like this.

also i love that parts of the city are color coded. like red and blue parts are different areas. It’s such a neat way to help people not get lost (cough, me) and it fits great into the design of the city with the neon lights and bright colors. I noticed this in the gameplay demo as well, tho i don’t remember if it was followed. Also I’m pretty sure that symbol up there

is what the blue area is called. could be wrong. but i think i saw this during the demo as well.

i think this is going to be my favorite area to visit on Promethea, hands down. I love this little living area. It feels so unlike anywhere we’ve visited in previous games, like it feels like somewhere Gaige could be from. Actually, iirc Roland was from Promethea, wasn’t he? Be wild if we visited his house here. Anyway, I’m also excited about the trees. Fucking! Trees!

and cars!!! holy shit yeah on Pandora we only ever saw like light runners or bandit technicals and the occasional bus. all the cars were broken down and stripped for parts! It’s really cool to see actual full cars here.

wow i am excited over the most mundane shit lol

wait till you guys hear about the PARKING LOT

OHHHH YEAH

CROSSWALKS TOO

lol im actually- i just love this area. i love it so much. this is lovely. i love the giant glowing reactor in the background too, i 100% hope we get to interact with that (posssssibly blow it up. maybe just a little.) I can see this area being the area we have to run through to reach the entrance of that thing. I mean, it’s just RIGHT THERE.

Also would not be surprised if this KV fellow is waiting for us there. “Who wants to BANG a billionaire indeed”. He’s totally gonna be a boss fight. BANG i imagine means more shooty shooty than innuendo... innuendo...

it sounded better in my head.

the symbol for the red area possibly on that tower in the back?

I’m like, 60% sure this isn’t the area we explore with Lorelei, so maybe this is the Titan Skyway? also maybe the bridge Moze and Fl4k drop off of in the Happy Together trailer.

hate. i would quote AM here but im tired so just imagine the entire ‘Hate’ quote here because i HATE these things.

there’s also a big skelly in the back, i wonder just how big these fuckin things can grow. hopefully uhhh like a cow died here or smth. cuz fuck man.

this area is also super green and watery so i wonder if this is a sewer or smth. that’d be wild lol

Another shot of the city. It’s so fucking beautiful. I really love how they went all out for this. Opportunity was great, but it wasn’t nice to look at. Promethea is fucking STUNNING. I love this place way too much. Never even been here before.

also i love the fog coming up from the bottom. Maybe this shot is taken from the water? god if we get to go on the water and then it starts fogging up i might actually start crying lol.

this building is my favorite by far i think. I love the way the middle turns in. I have no idea how that’d work like... from an inside standpoint, cause the ground would just be slanted under you but im sure they made it work somehow.

anyway. im gonna go cry myself to sleep over how beautiful this game is. sorry i talked like... WAY too much during this one lol.

also i just thought of this while writing the tl;dr but maybe that item rhys gives us is after all the Promethea stuff is over, even the Vault(s), maybe we need it to activate something in that vault statue area on Pandora and that’s our way to like some important Vault or the Eridian homeworld or smth and we gotta collect all the pieces to activate it. like it’s a teleporter. Maybe Rhys had a piece because that’s what was in the Vault of the Traveller. I mean it would make sense because if you didn’t want someone to have something, you fuckin hide it in a box that’s teleporting across the galaxy at random intervals. That might be our way to the Eridian Homeworld. Now wouldn’t that be neato...

[softxharry]

Blacklist (seven)

Harry Styles, one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals turns himself in– and all he wants to do is speak with one rookie agent.  

It’s her job to figure him out and it’s his to protect her from her past, but all secrets have to be told eventually.

AN// You can keep up with this story here via the tag HSBlacklist or on Wattpad at brutallybeautiful !

Grace

We learned two things after Harry's stunt he pulled last night. One: Youseff Badawi, a human rights activist is hosting an event tonight whether his life is on the line or not. Two: Youseff Badawi was going to be killed at tonight's event.

Youseff began his organization National Hope  in 2012 after his sister was rescued from human trafficking. Since then, Yousseff and his sister Noura have been rescuing young girls from their traffickers and starting them onto a better life. And someone didn't like that. 

Someone that we can't stop without Harry's help because Harry is the only one who knows what the assassin looks like—the assassin who they (by they, I mean criminals) call Phantom (I think it's silly too). 

I feel like I've been in this situation a thousand times before, standing in front of Harry's makeshift cell, Harry smirking at me. He's facing the wall, hands clasped behind his back whenever the door beeps open. He doesn't turn around to see who it is, but I'm sure he knows it's me.

"I need your help," I mumble quietly, almost afraid to admit it. I can't see his face, but I know the smirk is there. Something has changed between us since last night, or at least I think so. I feel vulnerable around him, closer to him somehow. Armed guards stand behind me waiting for Harry to make some sort of irrational move, but he doesn't. Harry isn't in restraints this time.

"You know what the Phantom looks like, we're compiling a list of everyone who is attending tonight, but-" Harry cuts me off, turning around as he speaks.

There's not a smirk on his face like I expected, but rather his lips are formed into a thin straight line, his eyebrows furrowed. For once, he's serious.

"Gracey, I want more than anything to help you. It's the reason why I'm here," he mumbles. I suck in a deep breath, bothered by his words because I know he doesn't mean helping me catch criminals, he means something more sentimental or sinister—I can't tell which. 

"But I won't say another word until the terms of my conditions are met." 

And just like that, Harry got everything he wanted. His own personal bodyguard Paul, his own hotel and a title as an FBI informant. It took more than three hours to convince the private board that Cooper has organized to discuss all things Harry, but somehow he did it and somehow he convinced Harry to let him put a tracking chip in his neck. And Harry was somehow on his way to freedom.

Harry steps out of his cell with a wide smile, his eyes shining like he's just discovered a cure for cancer. Agent Hunter is shoving a manilla folder into his chest before he's even over the threshold. 

"You got your end of the bargain now we get ours," Hunter grunts. Harry doesn't take the folder and instead lets it fall onto the floor.  He looks at me, beginning to say something until Hunter interrupts him. 

"I'm right here, you can talk to me," Hunter spits.

It takes everything I have in me to not laugh when Harry looks at me to answer. 

"This guy didn't RSVP. I've seen the man. If you want to identify him, put me in that room," Harry said. 

"So, you want to go to the party?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows. 

Harry grins, "I thought you'd never ask." 

-

I don't know how I keep ending up in these situations. In a fancy dress, with Harry in a suit attached to my side. But somehow I do. The music is deafening as we step out of the elevator and onto a rooftop filled with hundreds of people dressed just as fancy as we are (and also a few dozen agents acting as security). Harry is greeting people, hugging them, kissing their cheeks, shaking their hands. I stand back idly like an awkward girlfriend at her first family reunion. 

I am way out of my comfort zone here and he knows it. Harry grabs my hand, shocking me, and leads me over to a couch where the music is much quieter. We take a seat. I scan the area, looking around for anyone who may look suspicious.

"Do you see him?" I ask.

Harry shakes his head no and sips on the champagne in his hand. He tried to offer some to me earlier, but I am technically on the job, so I couldn't.

"Are you liking D.C.?" he asks, crossing his legs so he's sitting comfortably.

"I guess so," I shrug, shifting in my seat. 

"Must be awfully lonely," he said. 

I turn towards him and furrow my eyebrows, suddenly becoming frustrated. 

"How do you know so much about me?" I huff. "I mean—are you stalking me or something?" 

"There," he points suddenly, ignoring everything I just said (typical). He stands up, reaching his hand out to help me up, but I ignore it. I push myself up off the couch using the arm. "That's him, you need to clear the area."

He's pointing to a waiter holding an empty tray and I don't hesitate to pull my gun out of my purse. "Stop! FBI," I shout towards him. The crowd around us erupts in chaos, people screaming suddenly and running away from me towards the exit. The guy takes off and I radio Hunter his location.

 I don't know why I thought wearing heels to an event where we were planning on catching someone who's killed hundreds of people was a good idea. It proves quite difficult to run in them. Agent Hunter takes the lead on the pursuit, chasing the waiter down while I slip out of my heels and down the stairs. 

I'm running as fast as I can amidst all the chaos and to the floor of Youseff's hotel room. I'm relieved to find guards outside of his room, telling me he made it there safely. 

He sist wide eyed on the couch whenever I walk in to confirm that he was safe.  I couldn't trust anyone anymore.

 Youseff stands and walks towards me.

 "Thank you," he said, taking my hand. He places his hand on top of mine. "For everything, you saved our lives tonight." 

I smile at him, nodding graciously. I don't know what to say in these situations. Do I say you're welcome, no problem, anytime? My phone starts ringing in my purse and I am thankful that it's there to advert the awkwardness. I pull it out of my purse to see who it is.

Hunter. 

 I excuse myself and walk out into the hallway. 

"It was Harry," Hunter said breathlessly on the other side of the line. "He hired the Phantom." 

I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. He had to be fucking with me. Someone was seriously fucking with me. I step into the stairwell and walk slowly down to the next floor where Harry was supposed to be staying. 

"Think about it. The hostess didn't leave the picture for him. Harry was signaling the hit."

I stop in my tracks, realizing everything I must have missed. Pointing out the waiter was a diversion, I don't realize I am saying it out loud until Hunter excitedly yells on the other end in agreement. It's the first time I've heard his tone be anything other than flat and angry. He had come to the same conclusion. I'm running back up the stairs before I have time to hang up the phone. 

I felt so cheated as I ran breathlessly through the hallway to Youseff's suite. Security, or should I say Paul, lets me in without a word. When I walk in, Harry is sitting calmly at the table. 

Youseff is standing a mere few feet from him. 

"Oh Grace, thank god you're here," he says hurriedly. "This is the man," he said pointing to Harry. "This is the man who wants me dead." 

I glare at Harry, looking at him made me feel worse than I already did. I felt foolish for letting Harry do this a second time. Something tells me this time won't end up like the last, Harry won't end up sitting exactly where we want him to in the back of our van and things won't fall right into place. 

"You hired him," I say angrily. "How are you going to do it? What's the headline going to read?" 

"How about, humanitarian exposed as fraud, commits suicide?" 

I look back at Youseff who is standing just fine, but paling by the minute. "What have you done?" 

Harry stands up and smells the fresh flowers on the table in front of him. He adjusts his suit, buttoning the second button. "I didn't do anything. The assassin may have slipped him a lethal cocktail. Of the same family he uses to drug the girls he's selling." 

Youseff cups his hand over his mouth and slowly kneels down to the floor. I run over to him and check his pulse. It's still there, he's still conscious and breathing. 

"He is not the man you think he is. He doesn't free enslaved children, he imprisons them." 

Youseff is choking now, holding his hand over his throat as if that will help him get some air. I had no idea what to do, other than to sit there and watch him choke. 

"I have the antidote, Youseff," Harry said, pulling a capped needle filled with a red liquid out of his coat pocket. "All you have to do is tell her." 

"I don't believe you," I tell Harry, feeling hopeless as I was Youseff struggle to breath. I didn't know how to believe Harry. I couldn't trust him 1. because he's a criminal 2. because he's a manipulative criminal who knows how to get what he wants. And that terrified me. 

"Come on, Youseff. A simple nod will suffice," Harry said, bending down next to the choking man.  Youseff nods to the best that he can with barely functioning lungs. Harry seems pleased with the admission of guilt and uncaps the needle to shove it in his neck. 

The door behind us bursts open and I can hear Hunter's voice immediately asking whats going on. Harry stands up, capping the needle and throwing it on the table. "Looks like he is dying," Harry nods. "Definitely dying."

-

The sun is peeking over the horizon, the first of the pinks and oranges disappearing behind the mass of buildings, visible only a tiny bit. I felt exhausted and I look like I'm taking the walk of shame. A man stands at the end of the pier, a line casted out into the water, Harry sits on the bench directly behind me and has been for the past twenty minutes without saying a word.

"You look tired," he says huskily, finally breaking the silence. I roll my eyes at him knowing that he can't see. Of course I' fucking tired, I want to say, but instead I stay quiet, until he speaks again.

"Maybe you should go home and get some rest."

"What would you have done if the antidote had worked in time?" I ask suddenly. "It would have exposed you as our informant."

"There was no antidote," Harry says flatly, I glance back at him then immediately turn my gaze back to the water.

"We confirmed that Youseff Badawi was moving money. The man was one of the biggest traffickers we've ever seen. We were able to locate a shipment of girls. And I had no idea. I should have known." 

A part of me wanted to cry and another part of me wanted to scream, scream at Harry for everything he's done over the last couple of weeks, scream at the world for being so fucked up.

"We never really know anyone, do we Gracey?" Harry said after a long pause.

And with that, Harry gets up and walks away, leaving me alone on the pier wondering how my life got so fucked up.

[darkmindsthinktwistedthoughts]

Enter the Kitsune - Prologue pt4

Warnings: Strong language

Masterlist

—

Prologue part 4

“I know. I’ve been expecting you.”

What the hell does that mean? I was led by the hand deep into the woods. The Ninja lowered his mask and turned to me allowing me to see his complete face.

“Do you recognize me now?”

“Oh my god, you’re the lab guy from the monument.” I couldn’t contain my shock as I took in the man before me. Apart from a change in attire, he didn’t seem altogether that much different.

“I’m actually a post-graduate physics student. But I’m glad you remember me. That makes things easier.” Sasuke seemed relieved that I recognised him. I meet you earlier today. I know I took a massive clout on the head since then but my memory isn’t that bad.

“You ended up back here too? This whole thing feels like a really weird sci-fi story… Are you a ninja? Actually, why are you a ninja?” Questions just tumbled out of me like water. I was face to face with someone who knew I wasn’t just telling tall tales of coming from the future. That feeling of acceptance had me babbling like an overly curious child asking a million questions at once.

“It’s easiest if I start from the beginning. My name is Sasuke. And just like you, I come from the present, or rather, the future.” He went on to explain what happened since our encounter. The whole thing made my already sore head throb as it tried to keep track of everything. Swaying on my feet a little I took a seat on a tree stump and looked up at him.

“So, when that lightning struck that monument it caused a warp in space and time around us and it dragged us both back in time?” I tried as logically as I could to walk through the step by step dummies guide to time travel my befuddled brain had compiled for me as it translated extreme science guy jargon. I can’t say I was a brilliant student in school. I mean I liked classes but I was always what they called an average student and clearly, this guy was not only in a different class to me but had slipped into a whole new realm.  

“Yes. That is a very simplified and condensed version of my current theory. We entered the wormhole at the same time. However, I arrived four years prior to you. In that time, I’ve learned that this Sengoku period, or Japan’s civil war, is different than the one we’re familiar with.” Sasuke was happy enough that I had understood his lecture. Four years? No wonder he asked if I remembered him. To be completely honest I’m impressed he remembers me.

“I’ll have to take your word for that. I’m not familiar at all with Japanese history, it wasn’t something we were taught in school … probably the closest I might get are things I’ve seen in movies at some point. Although I know they aren’t accurate reference material.” I admitted my supreme lack of knowledge expecting to see Sasuke react in some way. The reaction doesn’t come if anything he just seems more sympathetic.

“Indeed. In that case, allow me to explain a little more.” Sasuke talked about how his situation upon arriving in the past was similar to my own. He had found himself near a fallen samurai in need of help. That samurai was Kenshin Uesugi. Thanks in large part to his quick thinking and knowledge of modern medicine Sasuke had managed to save Kenshin. A man who was supposed to have died on that date in that time. That meant that according to Sasuke the historical records did not match with the ones from our time. Nobunaga and Kenshin were both alive but that wasn’t all. Shingen (tall guy from the cliff) was supposed to have also been dead by this time too.

“The fact that he is also alive when he shouldn’t be raises some questions about exactly what is happening. Parallel timelines? Multiple dimensions in space and time? Did we change the past?” Grasping the gist of the conversation I ended up with my mind wandering thinking of possible answers. However unbelievable those answers might be.

“To a degree. I do think we’re in an alternate Sengoku period, not the one we know from our time. Following on from your idea it is possible that because of fluctuations in spacetime we’re in a divergent timeline – one in which history will take a different course.” Sasuke thankfully didn’t think that my mainstream grasp on time travel from late night movies on tv was ridiculous. Time travel, alt-histories, timelines… this really is like science fiction. “I said that I was a post-graduate physics student. My major is in theoretical astrophysics at Kyoto University. I specialize in wormholes and am studying them for their potential for time travel. I’d created a method for predicting the conditions and patterns by which a traversable wormhole would manifest. That’s why I was at the stone monument that day. I was trying to verify my method.” I listened to Sasuke only taking in about a third of what he was saying as I was struggling to keep up with him. Ok clearly being a little different is not something monopolised by people born in this era. “I’ve been searching for you here, expecting you to have travelled back in time as I did. I hadn’t considered the possibility that you would arrive four years later.”

“When I came here, I was kind of hoping this was all a dream. Everything that happened so far has been the stuff that movies are made out of but it’s too real to be a dream or a movie.” I said remembering my experiences so far. The smoke in my lungs, how it burnt my eyes. The heat of that fire and the chill in the air when I was outside. How it hurt when I pinched myself and my heart pounding in my chest after I ran. It was all too real to be a dream.

“I can see why you would think so. There is also another anomaly that I have noticed in this timeline.” Sasuke’s stoic expression seemed to have an intense look about it as he looked closer at me in the dark.

“Another?”

“Are you aware you are speaking perfect Japanese? Not just speaking it but obviously also understanding it. I Don’t suppose you could, before could you?”

“What? Err, no I… Seriously I’m speaking in another language?” Sasuke’s words suddenly hit me with something I had yet to realise. I was so wrapped up in everything else happening I hadn’t even noticed.

“You didn’t know?” His brown eyes widened slightly.

“Well no I didn’t. although I suppose that makes more sense than everyone from 15th-century Japan speaking perfect English. How could I be--?” My voice trailed off, swallowed up by the quiet stillness of the forest.

“It is only an idea and I would hesitate to provide a diagnosis as I am not trained in medicine but I think you might have developed a rare form of something like foreign language syndrome.” Sasuke spoke calmly as if he was recalling some distant memory.

“What is that?” I was curious. It was a bad habit that got me in far more trouble than I would like, but at the same time, it was never something I had been able to change since I was a child.

“Well, it is something that can occur after a trauma has taken place. You develop a shift in your accent to sound as if you are a native from a different country. There have been cases where the stored vocabulary banks of the mind have also been affected and people have been known to speak fluent alternative languages as a result. As I say the cases of such things are very rare phenomena, I wouldn’t be able to go into great detail on it other than to say I believe I read a medical journal at some point that said that patients with this could possibly return to normal after the trauma is healed and with the help of relearning their native language.” Sasuke’s gaze was looking through me, settled at a point that was both where I was and also where I wasn’t. He clearly had the ability to recall even vague information in detail.

“So, the bang on my head was bad enough to knock the English right out of me?”

“You seem to be very good at summarizing. But yes, that would be my working theory at the minute. I realise it’s a little unbelievable--.” Sasuke lowered his eyes a little as he spoke.

“But… Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.” I don’t know why but sometimes my mind just makes random connections to things and I end up blurting out references and quotes to things that generally just leave others confused.

My friends in college took great delight in making up their own game where they would ask me quick-fire questions and see if I could answer them using only quotes and general trivia. That small memory had me cringing as I waited for the same look of confusion to appear on Sasuke’s face, but that never happened.

“Nice use of reference. I must admit I enjoy a good mystery novel from time to time myself.” Sasuke’s eyes seemed to brighten as he recognised the Sherlock Holmes quote. He not only understood that he liked it? “To get back on track if I may. With reference to your idea of this not being a dream, you could say that this is, in fact, a dream situation for me. I get to see and meet the famous men and women of the Sengoku with my own eyes.”

“Well, I’m glad one of us is enjoying themselves.” Looking at him it did seem to be true that he was actually in his element right now. I was confused and not very happy with my own situation but I was still happy enough that someone else was at least having fun.

“My parents were huge history buffs. I got my name from Sasuke Sarutobi, who was a legendary ninja that served Yukimura Sanada. Being a ninja of legend also meant he is fictional. So, I have assumed his “place” in time in order to avoid damaging the historical timeline further than necessary.” Sasuke almost appeared to be more animated as he elaborated. It was probably the most expressive I had seen him since I’d met him, even if his face still seemed to be devoid of movement.

“Did you pick up your job here as a ninja while you were waiting or were your parents ninjas as well as history fanatics?” I asked mirroring a little of his enthusiasm. When someone speaks so happily and passionately about something it's hard not to get wrapped up in the moment.

“I studied that here. It seemed useful to pick up a marketable vocation.” Sasuke said as he pushed his glasses back up securely on his nose. Ok well, a scientific history fanboy turned historical ninja is an interesting plot twist. Talk about thinking on your feet. I may have to take a leaf out of this guy’s book on fast adaption aiding survival. Sasuke indicated the path we had just taken to get here. “Right now, I’m employed with the men you saw earlier by the cliff. I would like you to come with me. I promise I’ll find a way to return us both to the present.” He offered me his hand waiting for a reply.

For the first time since arriving here, I found myself properly thinking about where I had come from. The job I had worked hard to gain experience and recognition in so I could get into the department I really wanted to be in. My small apartment that was a little rundown but I loved it all the same. Then there was all the people, the ones I worked with, family, friends that meet up with me once a month just to grab drinks and hang out.

My options in this situation are definitely limited. I had no doubt that I wanted to return, there was nothing for me here after all. If there really is a way to get back then my chances of doing so have to be increased by hanging out with the guy who can work out space-time stuff. Great now I have the theme for Doctor Who playing on a loop in my head… that is so not helpful right now. Ignoring my inner radio station that clearly took just as much of a bump as my skull did upon entry to the Sengoku. I was about to take his hand when our private moment was interrupted.

“Aerion! Where are you!? Come out!”

---

[sirladysketch]

Another drabble for Compilations! This one pushes the fic firmly into the realm of AkuRoku, so enjoy!

Please note-- these are all first drafts, any minor spelling and typo issues will be dealt with when this finally gets posted to AO3.

“Something bugging you?”

Roxas jumps as the unexpected voice startles him from his thoughts, and he has to catch himself before he drops the ice cream onto the unsuspecting people below. When he’s made sure that nothing is in imminent danger of falling from the tower, he turns and Lea nudges him with his shoulder.

“You just have this weird expression on your face, like you’re not happy about something. Someone say something to you?”

“Oh,” Roxas says, then lowers his ice cream. Something is bothering him, but he can’t figure out how to talk to Lea about it, and that bothers him even more. He chews on his bottom lip, stalling for time. “I’m not unhappy.”

“Yeah, I can tell you’re ecstatic,” Lea says with a roll of his eyes, and Roxas flushes, looking down and away. “Seriously, though,” Lea continues. “Is there something on your mind?”

When Roxas still hesitates, Lea sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose with one hand as he lowers his ice cream bar in the other. “Look, I meant what I said, ok? If you have questions for me, just ask. I’m not gonna bite your head off or yell at you or anything. No stupid questions and all that.”

Lea’s said that a couple of times now, and he’s right, he’s never gotten angry at Roxas for asking questions. There were a few times that he got sad, once that he got confused, but never angry. Roxas knows he can trust Lea to be good to his word-- he can feel it, even if memories of Axel are still hazy, half-remembered things.

Still, it’s not like he can just up and say “Did Roxas ever kiss you?”

...He didn’t actually mean to ask that out loud.

Lea stares at him open mouthed, his ice cream bar halfway to his mouth. He does that when Roxas asks questions, takes a bit of food or drink or something so he can ‘chew’ on the question, so to speak, before he answers. But Roxas got the question out before the ice cream got in, and now its melted drips are falling unnoticed onto Lea’s thigh. Roxas flushes, looks down, and mumbles “nevermind” before taking a bite out of his own bar.

But the question has been bugging him for weeks now, more so now that Lea will actually talk to him. At first he thought it might have been an initial contact high from soaking in so much heat when he first woke up (coupled with the pretty face). Lea’s abrupt departure had hurt, but Roxas had chalked it up to his initial confusion and the overwhelming emotions of what had to be the worst day of his life. Granted, technically it had been the first day of his life, too, but after the initial shock and fear and overall confusion he’d felt in the days to follow, Lea continued to be a sore point, almost like an empty hole in his heart.

In the weeks that followed, hearing about things the other Roxas had done, trying to sort dreams from memories, figuring out who he was in all of this-- he’d analyzed everything he knew of Roxas before he went into the data simulation with everything he’d felt since being created. And, unfortunately, he’d come up with only one viable conclusion: Roxas had liked Axel.

Every story had Roxas and Axel laughing about this, or talking about that. Ienzo had hinted that Roxas followed Axel around like a puppy long after his initial confusion and ‘zombie days’ were over. Even thinking about Lea-- or rather, Axel-- left him with a strange warmth and sharp pain. He’d spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about what the other Roxas would’ve done in this situation, and even more wondering if Lea thought of Axel as the other himself, too.

And now that they’re finally talking-- about ‘Axel’ stuff, nothing about how he feels now that he’s Lea again-- Roxas can’t help but wonder if Axel had known about Roxas’ crush, and if he had, if Lea thinks it disappeared with whatever version of Roxas he’s been keeping in his heart.

Lea’s still dodgy about some topics, and when Roxas asks about certain things or says certain words, Lea clams up and leaves, or worse, he gets sad.That’s why Roxas hadn’t meant to say that. If Axel and Roxas had been kissing, or… more (and he blushes even thinking this) then Roxas had just given him yet another reminder of something he’s lost. It also explains why Lea was so upset when Roxas turned out not to be who he thought-- who he’d hoped he would be.

Now he can feel Lea staring at him and his blush darkens, his cheeks hot and no doubt bright red. He’s an idiot and Lea’s going to get angry-- or even worse, he might make fun of him and Roxas isn’t sure he can take that. But when he finally steals a glance, Lea’s expression is unreadable. He seems tense, like he’s just gonna get up and leave again, and Roxas shrinks in on himself a little, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut.

“No…?”

The reply is soft and tinged with... something. Lea looks confused, but he almost sounds sad and Roxas isn’t sure why that would be.

“Oh,” he says instead, and looks down at his ice cream again. “I think he probably wanted to. I mean, based on everything I’ve heard, and what I can remember,” he admits as an afterthought, then takes another bite of his ice cream.

Lea doesn’t have anything to say to that, he’s just sort of staring at his hands with the oddest expression on his face. Roxas feels…. relieved isn’t the right word, but he’s glad to know that he didn’t forget something like that, something that might hurt Lea if he had to remember it all on his own. He wonders if he should feel embarrassed, admitting the other Roxas’ feelings when there’s no way for Axel to do anything about it now, but he doesn’t, because the other Roxas’ feelings are his feelings, and Lea’s told him he needs to stay true to his heart.

He licks his lips, thinking that over, and looks over at Lea again.

“Can I kiss you?”

Lea blinks for a minute and just stares at him, expression blank. Roxas swallows. He’d just assumed that since Axel had been so close to Roxas and Lea had worked so hard to bring him back that the feelings were probably mutual. That it would be fine talking about how much Roxas liked Axel, because Axel-- and now, maybe Lea-- had liked him back. But maybe Axel hadn’t felt anything for Roxas because he hadn’t had a heart, at least, not a real one, so maybe Roxas’ feelings had been one-sided after all.

Then Lea laughs, and something shifts in Roxas’ chest, because Lea is smiling at him and suddenly nothing else matters.

“I dunno, can you?”

That’s...not the answer he expected, but at the same time, it’s not a ‘no.’ He feels his cheeks burn as he looks into Lea’s eyes, trying to gauge if Lea is serious or if he’s making fun of him. But there’s no hint of derision and Lea’s leaned in a bit, almost as though he’s daring Roxas to give it a try.

“W-what?” he asks, wondering if he’s misunderstanding something, or if Lea’s going to tease him about this because he doesn’t actually return the feelings.

Lea grins, then nudges him again. “I dunno if you can or not. You’re kinda short, can you even reach?”

Roxas blinks. Twice. Then-- “I can too reach, shut up! I’m not that short, you’re just freakishly tall!”

“Prove it.” Lea’s still smiling, really smiling, like, it’s reached his eyes and even though he’s got his shit-eating grin on Roxas can feel the warmth radiating off of him. He’s watching Roxas expectantly and Roxas can feel his heart picking up speed, hear a distant ringing in his ears as his attention focuses on crossing the gap between them. Lea is pretty tall, he’s got almost eight inches on Roxas even when they’re sitting down, and even though they’re sitting pretty close together, it’s still gonna be a bit of a stretch.

Roxas half turns towards Lea, putting a hand on Lea’s thigh for leverage and sucking in breath a bit when he feels Lea’s heat through the fabric. Apparently he hadn’t been delusional that first day he woke up, Lea really did feel like a furnace. A very sexy furnace, sure, one that’s muscles tightened under Roxas’ touch. But Lea hasn’t broken eye contact, although his expression has softened, and Roxas watches his face for some hint of what’s going through his head.

He’s so focused on Lea that he doesn’t notice that in turning more towards Lea, he’s actually sliding off the edge of the clock tower. The lack of stone under his butt doesn’t even register until there’s a sudden weightlessness, followed by a painful yank as Lea shouts and grabs him by the arm and under the shoulder. There’s a scramble for purchase against the smooth face of the stone and then Lea’s hauling him back over the edge, where Lea falls flat on his back with Roxas pulled tight against him.

With his head pressed up against Lea’s chest, Roxas can feel the pounding of Lea’s heart as they both draw in rapid, shallow pants. And then, once they’ve managed to catch their breaths, Lea starts to laugh, a fast, almost wild thing, and Roxas shakes in laughter with him, smiling now that his body’s realized that it’s safe and not plummeting towards a grisly death.

Somehow those eight inches don’t seem all that intimidating now, so he squirms in Lea’s arms until they’re loosened, and uses the freedom to slide the rest of the way up Lea’s chest and bring his face more or less level with Lea’s.

The kiss is tentative. Just a quick brushing of lips, testing, tasting, trying to see if this is all really real, or if he’s going to wake up all alone in his bed, the bed that he’d stolen from Lea, apparently.

Lea makes a noise and he loosens his hold on Roxas even more, which makes Roxas pull away, worried that he’s taken something that wasn’t really being offered. But Lea’s only let go so he could move one hand to the small of Roxas’ back, pressing him closer, while the other runs fingers through Roxas’ hair as it makes its way to the back of his neck.

Lea encourages him down for a second kiss, and this one lasts longer, though the touching of lips is no less delicate, and somehow even more tender, as though Lea is afraid that Roxas will break if he’s too forceful in his touch.

That leaves it up to Roxas to make the third kiss more enthusiastic, and he presses his whole body against Lea’s as he leaves open mouthed kisses along Lea’s jawline. Lea lets out a soft sigh, his fingers kneading the back of Roxas’ neck while his other hand finds its way under Roxas’ shirt and up his spine.

Lea is molten under his touch, all languid heat curled into long muscled limbs, soft and inviting despite his angles and sharp edges. Roxas soaks it all in, reveling in how easily he fits against Lea, and feeling the familiar tingle of magic that’s unique to the sharing of memories and emotions. He’s used to feeling it in his hands, where he holds onto Sora, Ven, and the others while they tell him about things that were. But here, so close to Lea, his skin tingles at the contact of skin on skin, and Lea’s fingers and mouth leave trails along his skin that are almost numb with pleasure.

They end up laying on the stone balcony for some time after they finally break apart, although Roxas eventually slides off Lea’s chest to tuck up against him, head resting on Lea’s shoulder. It’s peaceful, so high above the sounds of city life and traffic, and Roxas realizes that he’s never seen this view of the sky, with its muted colors of sunset and the bright pinpricks of stars. It’s beautiful, and he gets to share it with Lea, their own personal secret.

“Getting me on my back is cheating, y’know,” Lea says after their breathing has leveled out. Roxas can hear the smile in his voice, and he tilts his head back to see Lea wink at him.

“I’ll just have to try again later, then,” Roxas promises, and Lea’s grin widens.

“You can certainly try,” he laughs.

[amanecercreciente]

Full Moon

→ Jaebeom → Suggestive, Fluff → 1,8k words → Jaebeom struggles with the wolf inside him, while his girlfriend teases him.

Author’s note: This scenario was originally written in Spanish. It was inspired after GOT7′s Before The Full Moon Rises, and this evil compilation. Let’s just all cry together please.

The plan was to have an innocent date. That you, his girlfriend, could go to his studio in the afternoon to listen the latest song he had composed. To talk about unimportant stuff, drink tea, and simply relax after what had been a busy week without seeing each other.

But as the night settled in, the so-called innocent date was threatened. Your game was completely harmless, you only wanted Jaebeom to complete his punishment by having him talk ridiculously with his cheeks pressed together. This, after you had won the last slice of pizza.

You sat on his lap to proceed with your task, and his thoughts went wild. Your exposed legs in contact with his, and your perfume like a provoking wave, made his body tense quickly.

In half a second, Jaebeom decided the best thing to do was to hold back and simply follow your game. But his attempt to tickle you to death was a complete failure. As soon as you felt his hands brushing your waist, fury awoke in you, and with all possible force you threw yourself against his body to halt any other movement.

In the middle of flustered giggling, you realized the vulnerable position both had ended up in after the brief fight. Jaebeom was restrained, his body slightly reclining on the sofa, and his arms above his head pressed by your hands. You were still sitting on his lap, but this time holding him tightly with both legs by his sides, your center dangerously close to his.

‘Ummm… Sorry…’ you muttered and laughed nervously while letting go of his arms. Actually, it was a bit funny to notice how Jaebeom’s body had tensed and his pupils dilated by your actions.

‘It’s okay,’ he said. But by just sitting on him he had become alert. To see you and have you so close to him, your skirt pulled up to your hips, and the warmth of your body burning his skin, were all driving him crazy. He placed his palms on your thighs and caressed them slowly, penetrating you with his eyes, and waiting for your response.

Lately, every time he received physical attention from you, whether it was your hand tenderly touching his, or a kiss longer than usual, he felt that the wall that restrained him came down a bit. One brick at a time. Although you had no intention of provoking him excessively with those actions, he had to fight and suppress the impulse to touch you and feel you where he never had before.

You placed your forearms on the back of the couch to reposition yourself, this time sitting intentionally on his member. Then, you approached his face and kissed him gently. Jaebeom responded to the kiss almost desperately, introducing his tongue to your mouth and massaging your soft muscle. He gripped your hips and pressed hard, moving your lower body and increasing the friction of the position.

Still kissing you, he raised his hands to your waist and slowly traced your sides. Then, he brought his palms under your skirt and began to massage your ass until he squeezed it hard, slightly lifting your body. The contact of his firm hands with such an intimate part of yours was too much, and the surprising but pleasant sensation caused you to be unable to concentrate on reciprocating the kiss. You left his lips and leaned your forehead on one of your arms resting on the back of the couch. Jaebeom took the opportunity to play with his tongue, tasting the exposed part of your neck.

Suddenly, as someone who has a divine revelation, he became aware of the place you both were in. Today you both would have an innocent date in his studio, where any of his colleagues with whom he shared the place could enter, at any time. If your date was not going to end up innocently, at least he should take action and protect the privacy of both of you, he thought.

‘I have to lock the door’ he blurted after stopping his attack on your neck.

Without even looking at him you knew his eyes were on you. His gaze like a sharp needle piercing your skin, and his hands still squeezing your butt, was an instance that had you very exposed. You raised your face, avoiding him.

‘I’ll go.’ You forced yourself to wake up from your daze and close the door quickly. You got up, pulling away from Jaebeom. Only then you observed him, still half lying on the couch, with the look of a wolf fascinated with his prey.

Jaebeom was entranced with the image of your body in front of him. He contemplated you fixing your skirt, your cheeks slightly flushed and your chest rising and falling because of your unsteady breathing. Of course, the idea of having sex with you for the first time had crossed his mind. Even too many times that same day, more than he would dare to admit.

As you were about to turn around, lock the door, and re-immerse yourself into him, the alarm on your phone went off. It had happened once not too long ago, after you had spent hours chatting with Jaebeom in his studio, you had ended up missing the last train home, and having to pay an expensive taxi ride.

‘It's my alarm…’ you said in a low voice, while approaching the desk where you had left your bag earlier. You took your phone and turned off the annoying sound.

‘Alarm?’ Jaebeom asked, a bit confused as he straightened himself up on the couch.

‘The last train stops by in twenty minutes. I lost it last time’ you explained, putting your phone inside your bag.

‘Ummm…’ Jaebeom watched you, still disoriented because of the abrupt interruption. ‘Do you want to leave or…? I mean, you want me to take you to the station?’

He felt clumsy after his questions. Despite the latent desire to passionately have you in his arms, he hoped that it was you who took the first step to spend a night together. His only doubts were a bit ridiculous, logistical. He could not invite you to his apartment, not when he shared it with Mark, Jinyoung and Yugyeom, and had a strict rule, which he himself had encouraged, to not invite girlfriends over. And now that he really thought about it, his studio was not the right place either, precisely because at any moment someone else could come in. No, it was definitely you the one that had to guide him, invite him into your space. He had to wait.

‘Jaebeom?’ you called him, while putting your coat on. Jaebeom was still sitting on the couch, deep in thought. Obviously, he had not heard your request to accompany you, so you approached him and jokingly touched his forehead. ‘Are you okay? Do you have a fever or something?’

‘What? I'm fine’ he said and stood up.

‘You know I really can’t miss the train again. So please take me home? It's too late to go alone’ you repeated.

‘Sure’ he said, scanning the room and looking for his belongings, distracted by the thought of taking you to your apartment at such a late hour.

The ride was mostly silent. Being the last hours of the day, the train that you had gotten into was empty, except for an exhausted office worker and two college girls dressed ready to join a party. You held Jaebeom's arm to play with it and caress the delicate skin of his forearm. You thought that he, of course, would not make any attempt to touch you in a public place. He pretended to ignore you, but at times would look at you and smile sweetly.

From the first moment, when you had sat on his lap, you had perceived it. Even until now, his body was evidently tense because of the heated session in the studio. You needed to see more of that transformation, the change from a tender Jaebeom that made you laugh with absurd jokes, to another stealthy Jaebeom that prey on you between dark eyes. But you wanted to provoke him a little more. Probably he was already waiting for you to invite him to your apartment, you thought. You swept the train with your eyes and noticed that the office worker and the college girls had already gotten off. Only you and Jaebeom remained there.

To your apartment, that had been your request, Jaebeom repeated in his head. Did you mean to leave you at the door? Or would you invite him in? He wanted to act like the relaxed man he knew he could be, but could not help getting impatient in this situation. Your hand still stroking his forearm and one of your knees brushing against his, was not helping at all.

When the train came out to street level, you observed the familiar view through the window. The darkness of the night over the streets, the distant buildings, and the colorful neon lights of stores and restaurants. And further, towards the horizon, the full moon, beautiful and brilliant. You pressed lightly on Jaebeom's arm, looked at him, and pointed to the moon.

‘You're not going to turn tonight, are you?’ you joked.

‘Ha-ha. Very smart,’ he said after contemplating the moon.

You both laughed and you buried your face into his warm neck, inhaling his scent. You left a few tender kisses, feeling the vibration of his laughter. After a few seconds, you looked at him again and whispered into his ear.

‘But seriously… Animals are not allowed in my building.’

Jaebeom looked you.

‘How old are you? Don’t you think you're old enough to believe in tales?’ he said mockingly.

‘But I'm flirting with you! Why would you ruin it?’ you yelled, smacking his leg gently.

Jaebeom laughed loudly and put his arm around your shoulders, taking you into his embrace.

‘Then I guess I’ll leave you at the door’ he said following your game.

‘But I want you to come… inside my apartment’ you said quietly.

Jaebeom brushed your hair with his nose, closing his eyes and absorbing your essence as if he had never done it before. You were inviting him in, and he could not hide a smile. He approached his lips to your ear and played with your lobe, biting delicately, and running his tongue through the sensitive place. He brought his free hand to your knee, and massaged the inside of your thigh under your skirt.

Then, he abruptly left you and stood up. He watched you with dark eyes.

‘Isn’t this your stop?’

The train had stopped. You looked out the window and read the name of your station on the platform wall. You laughed at the new interruption and stood up too.

‘Let’s go’ you said, pulling Jaebeom's arm close and entwining it with yours.

You got out of the train and walked through the platform without saying a word. As you went out to the street, the night dew threatened to touch and cool your bodies, but it was imperceptible for both of you. Then, you strolled through your neighborhood, through your quiet street with the full moon in front like a compass pointing north in the dark sky. You walked together, spellbound. Silently, into your building.

[taexual]

GOT7 / Being their favorite YouTube gamer

Request: Hi! Could you write a mark tuan’s scenario? Please? the s/o being his favorite YouTuber she’s a gamer and love overwatch? Something like that. 🌼  

I did this request with all of the members, hope you don’t mind! Thank you for requesting this and please enjoy!

Mark

Mark absolutely freaked out and let his nerdy side show when he saw that you have uploaded a new video to your YouTube gaming channel. He immediately found his headphones, so as not to disturb anyone else, and played the video. However, as soon as he saw that you were playing Overwatch in this new video, he threw the headphones off.

“Jinyoung!” he yelled, sprinting across the dorm. “Y/n just uploaded a new video! It’s Overwatch!”

Jinyoung raised his head from his laptop to look at Mark’s excited face.

“I’ll only watch it with you if you promise not to get jealous of her teammates who, I assume, will be guys,” Jinyoung warned him.

“I will never promise such a stupid thing,” Mark said, sitting down on Jinyoung’s bed. “But you’re still watching it with me.”

Jinyoung sighed heavily and proceeded to watch the video with Mark as he ooh-ed and ahh-ed at every kill you made in the game.

JB

It was 2am. He had to do a concert in eight hours, so he was preparing to go to bed, but as he was brushing his teeth in the hotel bathroom, he heard his phone go off, indicating a new notification.

With the toothbrush still in his mouth, he walked back to his bedroom and picked his phone up. He almost swallowed the toothpaste once he realized that you had uploaded a new gaming video to YouTube.

After quickly rinsing his mouth, he jumped into bed and turned the video on. He only realized that the video was over an hour long when he yawned for the first time, twenty minutes into the video.

Although he realized that he’d probably be grumpy in the morning since he wouldn’t get enough sleep, he still chose to watch your video until the end, simply not being able to turn it off, and not just because you were playing LoL, but also because your team was kicking everyone’s asses and JB couldn’t stop smiling proudly.

Jackson

As soon as you mentioned you’d do a Twitch livestream in your YouTube video, Jackson had set a reminder so he wouldn’t miss it.

Once you started the livestream, he shooed the members out of his bedroom so he could watch you play Overwatch in peace.

“How about you also take notes,” Youngjae commented, on his way out of Jackson’s room. “So next time you wouldn’t cause our team to lose five seconds into the game.”

“How about you get out and leave me alone,” Jackson shot back, not looking away from the screen of his laptop.

“I never realized how annoying Jackson was,” Youngjae said half-jokingly.

“He’s only like that when it comes to watching Y/n’s videos,” JB answered him. “Get out of his way whenever she posts a new one.”

Jinyoung

Jinyoung wasn’t really a big fan of YouTube gaming channels, so the fact that he passionately loved yours was surprising to him, too.

One time, when he was watching you play DotA at full volume, thinking he was alone in the dorm, at least three members barged inside of his room with confused faces.

Surprised by this, Jinyoung raised his head from his laptop.

“Oh, we thought you were playing DotA,” BamBam said, a little disappointed.

“Hold on,” Mark said, walking into the room to look at Jinyoung’s laptop. “Is that Y/n? I love her videos!”

And he sat down on Jinyoung’s bed without saying anything else, ready to watch the video with him.

“Um, excuse me,” Jinyoung glared at him. “I don’t remember giving you permission to watch her videos with me. Or to even speak about her. Find your own favorite YouTuber.”

Youngjae

He was watching a compilation done by fans that consisted of your best gaming moments. And this wasn’t even the first compilation he’d watched. More like the fifth or sixth.

The other members were seriously starting to become concerned with his obsession.

“Wouldn’t you rather be playing the actual game instead of just watching someone else play it?” Yugyeom had asked him about it.

“Nope,” Youngjae answered quickly.

“Then answer honestly,” Yugyeom pushed. “Are you watching it because you like Y/n or because you like the games she plays?”

Youngjae actually thought about this for a moment. “Both. The ultimate goal of my life is to play something with her.”

BamBam

BamBam started to play Overwatch at 10pm and he had promised himself he’d only play one match. But it was already 3am and he was still playing.

And he would have kept playing, but one of his teammates sent a text that caught his attention.

“How ironic is it that Y/n (the youtube gamer in case you didn’t know) just uploaded an Overwatch video to her YT lol”

This was the ultimate sign to stop playing. BamBam impatiently tapped his foot all through this last match before he turned the game off and instead turned your new YouTube video on.

“Did BamBam stop playing just so he could watch Y/n play the same game?” one of his previous teammates texted.

“This boy has his priorities right,” another teammate replied.

Yugyeom

Yugyeom wasn’t sure if there was anything he hated more than horror games. He was relieved to finally find a YouTube gamer who hated them as much as he did.

However, due to a high demand, you were forced to film a video of yourself playing Five Nights at Freddy’s. And due to the fact that Yugyeom has never missed a single video you uploaded, he was forced to watch it.

“Alright,” he announced to the other members after he packed enough ammunition – hot chocolate and cookies – and was about to retreat to his room. “I’m going to do this.”

“Do what?” JB asked, confused about the whole situation.

“I’m going to watch Y/n play Five Nights at Freddy’s,” Yugyeom announced as the rest of the members cheered on him.

“You don’t have to watch it if you don’t like horr—”

“You don’t understand,” Yugyeom cut JB off before he could finish. “I have to watch it. It’s Y/n. I have no doubt that she can make me like horror games.”

credits go to the original owners of the gifs

You can leave your requests here!

[xiranrayne]

A Talent for Disruption

Desperaux wasn’t sure what to expect, his focus on the mage’s safety. Her eyes were wide with fear. He spoke easy, hoping to persuade the monk to cooperate. “Easy now, lad. There’s knights crawling all over this place, no need for anything rash…,” he set his sword on a barrel. 

The monk spoke just as calmly back to the Inspector, “Rash, this is not. I knew you were coming. I sent the boy to lead you here, after all.”

“So this was you, all of it?” asked Desperaux.

The monk nodded in response. “And you’re going to help me finish it.”

Desperaux looked back in surprise. “What are you, daft? For all I know, you’re the one causing all this lunacy.”

“You already know that isn’t true. The violence in the Brume started before I showed up. It’s not my fault Cafard has an affinity for fire sand.”

The inspector did his best to hide his annoyance. “Cafard? Seems like a lot of trouble for a name we’ve never heard before.”

The monk moved the blade from Desperaux’s neck to the mage’s, who squeaked in fear. “Don’t move,” the monk told her. He took his hand from her mouth and fished a folded piece of parchment from his pocket. He held it out for the inspector to take. Desperaux slowly approached and took the letter, reading it and folding it up again. “Where did you get this?”

“From the first house that exploded. It was cleared out, but there were signs that people had still been using it. It was the house where the Dzamel murder took place. And Cafard’s parents.”

“Why hasn’t anyone come forward with this before?” 

“Because no one could put two and two together before this. If your knights had bothered to inspect the house before boarding it up, they would have realized this much sooner. So whoever was tasked with that deserves some reprimand.”

The mage spoke in a high-pitched squeal, “Er, I’m sorry to interrupt the brooding conversation, but you are both aware that this room is filled with fire crystals and firesand, correct? Perhaps we should talk about this elsewhere?”

“I’d love to, provided your superior officer here is on board…” The monk replied. He and the mage both looked at Desperaux. As much as he didn’t want to admit, the monk had gathered more information than the knights and could end up breaking the case open if more could be obtained. Desperaux made the call hoping it wouldn’t backfire on him later. “All right, then. We will take this Cafard character down together, but I am expecting an arrest after it’s all said and done. You hear me? An arrest. Someone has to answer for all this. I don’t care who as long as the evidence holds up.” The monk nodded, taking the blade away from the mage’s neck. She grabbed her wand from the floor and went to Desperaux’s side.

The monk held the sword to his side. “Might want to keep a better grip on that. Shame if it were to be lost,” he said to her. The mage’s lip quivered. Desperaux tried to calm the situation. “Oi, mage, what’s your name?”

She looked to Desperaux, “Arya Browne, sir.” 

“Well, Browne, you presented a most serious concern. Why don’t you make sure these crystals won’t kill us at the slightest cough?” 

Arya put the wand on her belt, quickly walking to the first box of crystals on her left. Desperaux sighed in relief as the monk slid the blade back into its sheath. The Inspector looked at his unlikely ally, taking his sword back. “So, how about you? Can’t call you the White Monk when you’re clearly not that,” he asked sarcastically.

The monk shook his head at the Inspector. “You can call me Suzie if it makes you happy, as long as we stop this bastard. Two people have died in his wake, and that’s just what we know about,” he replied sternly. He turned to walk away. Desperaux called out to him, “Wait where do you think you’re going?” 

He stopped at the bottom of the steps. “I’ve given you everything I have. It’s not much, but it’s what I was able to gather in the short time I’ve been here. When you’ve gathered more, tell the miqo’te woman staying at the Forgotten Knight.” He turned and darted up the stairs. “Wait, the knights-” Desperaux called out. He ran up the stairs and into the main room. The two knights inside the main room looked to Desperaux in confusion. “Sir, is everything all right?” one asked. The Inspector shook his head and collected himself. “Ahem, fine! Carry on,” he barked back. Arya was in the kitchen when he turned around. “It’s all safe sir, nothing rigged to blow but I would seriously suggest removing the crystals as soon as possible.” Desperaux nodded to Arya. “Grab some knights and get started then, I’m going to start trailing what our hooded friend told us tonight,” he said quietly.

“Sir, if this is just the beginning, then there’s bound to be more setups like these.” Her face was rife with worry. 

Desperaux could only sigh in acknowledgment, “Good thing we have a mage like you, isn’t it?” She still had a look of worry but compiled with a sense of duty. “Yes sir, I’ll do my best. These crystals needed to come from somewhere.”

“Well, then I expect a report as soon as possible.” He left the house and headed back to his office to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 

The morning sun peered into the windows of the warehouse. It sat on the opposite end of Foundation away from where most people, common folk and nobles alike, would tread if they didn’t already work in the area. Being part of Ishgard’s industrial complex, the constant movement of crates was never seen with suspicion.

Pigeon had heard Cafard laugh before, but never like this. He had laughed with sarcasm, anger, and pain on rare occasion, but this wasn’t any of those. He seemed genuinely entertained, as though the news of the barracks being overrun with Temple Knights was an unexpected, well-played move in a game of chess. They stood on the catwalk of the warehouse, Cafard was doubled over laughing against the railing. His walking cane was gripped in his white-gloved hands. His suit now black under a dark red coat. His breath plumed from his mouth as he laughed. When he could finally breathe he stood up and took a deep breath in through his nose and out of his mouth. It looked like he was expelling a large breath of smoke from one of his cigarettes.

Such laughter was a fright coming from him, despite his looks. His features were sharp. A pointed nose, thin lips, almond eyes, and a smile that could probably melt most women in their place. His golden eyes didn’t hurt him in this regard. He graced his way into the heart of Ishgard’s nobility. Partly with his cunning, the rest with his good looks. It also helped that his childhood of running around Eorzea with some of the worst the realm had to offer left him with varied connections to secure exotic and hard-to-find goods. This allowed him to set up an importation business to fund his activities. Pigeon was still staring at him, shocked at his reaction. “Oh Pigeon, continue to stare at me like that and I’ll need to give you another scar,” he said with a smile still on his face. “So what hath our new friend wrought upon us?”

Pigeon averted her eyes, staring down at the various crates in the warehouse. “The barracks is lost. It’s been cataloged as part of the recent crime in the Brume. Even if they haven’t found the underground storeroom, there’s no way we can get in there to pull out the fire sand and crystals. The Knights got their hands on a good number of men. Doesn’t seem like any of them are talking to the knights except the one that told them where to go.”

“Yes, that one. Where is he?” Cafard asked as he inspected the workers moving crates around in the warehouse. 

“In lock-up, with the rest.” 

“Our boy in the Knights knows this for sure?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm…how the plot thickens.” He tightened his grip on this cane. The entertainment on his face shifted to annoyance, realizing he lost more than he had hoped from the Highlander’s actions in the night. “And the boy that told our new friend where to find the barracks in the first place?”

“He’s in the cold room.”

The Cold Room was just that, a room with no insulation on the roof of the warehouse. The only way to it was through Cafard’s office. Pigeon followed Cafard through the dimly lit office, eyeing the spot of blood left from Heath. With a forceful push on a brick, the mechanism inside the shadowed wall behind Cafard’s desk swayed the false door open. 

The room was made simply of wood. It was sturdy, and any noises made here were muffled by machina and activity from airships repairs and the Skysteel Manufactory. Sunlight broke through the seams of the wood planks to illuminate the young elezen, hanging from his wrists in the middle of the room. His skin was purple in several spots on his abdomen. The cold air kept the bruising from spreading too far. His face was less worn, but a small drop of dried blood trailed from the left side of his mouth. He hung unconscious, his breath forming small clouds. Cafard stepped into the room, about fifteen fulms long and ten fulms wide. He enjoyed using this space whenever he got the opportunity. In the five years after the Calamity, most of Ishgard’s citizens hadn’t grown used to the cold. A fact he used to his advantage. He let Pigeon walk out before pulling the door ajar. Two large buckets adjacent to him had water inside with thin layers of ice. Cafard cracked the ice of both buckets with his cane until it sat in chunks at the surface. He then set the cane aside and took off his heavy coat and suit jacket, hanging them on a hook on the wall. He tucked his black tie into his white silk shirt, rolled his sleeves up, and made sure the buttons on his black suit vest were proper. His arms bore a few scars. Pigeon had never seen him with anything less than a full 3 piece suit for any reason, so for him to strip himself of any layer was an odd sight. Cafard picked up a bucket. “His name, dear?” he asked Pigeon. “Gideon, sir,” she responded meekly. She hated being present for these things, but he insisted she watches when he first brought her into his organization. What good is making a show when there’s no one around to appreciate it? She remembered his words quite clearly. 

Cafard threw the bucket of freezing water on Gideon’s pale skin. The shock made him scream and flail. He looked around frantically as if he had forgotten where he was. “Gods, oh Gods no!” Gideon screamed in fear. “Cafard chuckled and took off his gloves. He reached them out to Pigeon, who stared at his hands in shock. Cafard never took his gloves off, and with good reason. His hands were horrendously scarred from burns. His wrists had shackle scars on them, which lead to the few lacerations on his forearms. Cafard scowled at Pigeon’s hesitation and dropped the gloves. She let out a quick gasp as she hit the floor to catch them. He turned back to Gideon and approached him slowly, cracking his knuckles. Gideon finally took notice of his master and screamed louder, “No, please! He was going to kill me, I didn’t know what else to do!”

Cafard gripped his neck the very same way Xiran did, but with every intent to choke. He pulled Gideon in close enough that the boy could smell what he ate for breakfast. “Then you should have died, Gideon,” he replied in a light tone. He drove a knee into Gideon’s stomach, but the youth could hardly yell with Cafard’s hand on his throat. “You should have shown your loyalty.” He sent his knee into Gideon’s stomach again.

“Your conviction!”He let go of Gideon’s neck and punched him.

“Your dedication!” Another punch, breaking Gideon’s nose. Blood began pouring down Gideon’s face. 

“If your only options are liberty or death, and your enemy has squandered your chance at liberty, then the only option is death!” He grabbed Gideon’s hair and sent more punches into his face. Gideon’s blood spattered on the floor and on Cafard’s shirt. Cafard’s knuckles began to split open. After a short series of punches, he let Gideon go. Gideon coughed up blood from his mouth, spitting out broken teeth. His breathing was heavy, unable to talk from the beating. Pigeon didn’t move throughout Gideon’s punishment. Cafard washed his hands in the other bucket of water. He then picked up his cane and twisted the handle. “Now that they have the storehouse, it’s only a matter of time before they link all the details together. This won’t do,” he spoke as he pulled up on the handle to reveal a chamber large enough for a small caliber bullet. He fished a bullet from his jacket and put it in the chamber, pushing the handle back down into place. Upon securing the handle, a small trigger popped from the inner curve of the handle. Cafard stood next to Pigeon, picking up the cane to unscrew the ferrule, revealing the end of a rifled barrel inside the cane’s shaft. 

Pigeon lowered her head. This part she hated the most. Another young man perishing at Cafard’s hands. He lowered his hand to her ear and snapped twice. She flinched and looked at him, worried. He beckoned her with a finger. She quickly stood up and faced him. “Turn around, it’s time we begin culling the links that will bring down what we’ve worked so hard for,” he said to her. Her expression was now fear. She slowly turned around and faced Gideon. He was looking at her, his face swollen but his eyes still open. “Help…” he rasped to her. Pigeon closed her eyes as Cafard approached from behind and held the loaded cane in front of her. “Take it,” he ordered her. Pigeon hadn’t expected this. She reached up and took the cane. Cafard moved her hands so they held the cane like a rifle. Right hand on the handle, handle under the right cheek and left hand on the shaft. Cafard whispered in her ear, “This is a small bullet so what happens here depends on how well you aim. If you want him to die quickly, aim for the head. He’ll go instantly with the bullet ricocheting inside his skull. Anywhere else, and he’ll suffer painfully. Even knicking an artery in his heart will only cause him to bleed slowly. Then we’ll need to load another bullet and go again until he stops screaming. So aim carefully.” He stood straight up, hands on his hips like an instructor with his student. She couldn’t believe what he was making her do. “Ready?” Cafard prompted, confidently. Gods, what do I do? she thought anxiously.

“Steady…?” Why is he making me do this?!

“Aim…” Gods no, please!

“Fire!” She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger, the crack of the ignition setting off bells in her ears.

Luna sat at the end of the bed, careful not to disturb Xiran’s feet under the comforter. She was in one of Xiran’s old sweaters, smallclothes underneath. She watched the snow fall through the balcony window. She had helped Ellena pack while Xiran was gone and wasted no time getting her on a carriage to Gridania early in the morning. She hated the idea not being there for her sister while she went through so much pain, but stopping Cafard was a higher priority. It was a surprise when a gentle knock broke the silence of the late morning. She quickly put on a pair of lounge pants and went to the door. “Who is it?” she asked quietly.

“Madam, it’s Inspector Desperaux. Do you remember I escorted you yesterday?”

Luna’s heart began to race. Xiran told her about his talk with the inspector. She didn’t expect him to have answers so soon. “Yes, please wait for me downstairs, I’ll be down shortly.”

“Very well, please be quick. I’ve been up all night for our mutual friend.” She heard his steps carry down the hall. She quickly changed into tight black trousers, knee-high boots, and a Sharlayan themed jacket she loved. She watched her husband sleep as she buttoned up. “Fingers crossed, love. I’ll be back soon,” she whispered, tying her hair back as she walked out the door. 

The inspector nursed a cup of coffee in the dining area. His face was tired, bags forming under his eyes. He was about to stand as Luna arrived but she held her hand out to stop him. “Forget the formalities, what do you have?” she spoke quickly and hushed. The inspector was taken aback at her eagerness to discuss his findings. “So it’s as I thought, you’re working with the monk?” he asked, more from pure curiosity. “Masking him as your husband, it’s clever.”

Luna shook her head, “It’s not a facade, he really is my husband.”

Desperaux nearly dropped his coffee. “Come again?”

“Yes, he’s my husband. I love him with all my heart. He’s also a trained Samurai and frighteningly resilient Dark Knight, so I’d like to help him resolve this as fast as possible before he needs to escalate.” Luna’s face was rife with worried determination. Desperaux could see he wasn’t dealing with an average woman. He put his coffee down and picked up his satchel full of documents. He spoke as he took out various reports, sketches, and lists pertaining to different aspects.

 “Well, the good news is that I believe your husband’s claims that there’s a man named ‘Cafard’ roping these young men into his organization. For the last six months, we had been getting reports of young men and boys going missing in the Brume. There’s been so many, however, that we could never have hoped to follow up on every case. The ones we could track only led to rumors that the boys were being recruited, but without proof, we couldn’t do anything to investigate. Of course until now, since a vast majority of those missing boys are now sitting in cells in the city’s dungeons from your husband’s late-night raid. So they were, in fact, being recruited, and ‘Cafard’ is the ringleader. The problem is that even though we can connect all this crime to the gang of missing boys, there’s nothing that seems to reach beyond them. The owner of the house your husband turned upside down has been deceased for some time now. Very few of them are talking to us about Cafard and the few that have told us they never see his face. They won’t even give us an idea of where they meet him, only that it smells like a forge is near it. At best, we’d have to tear apart Ishgard’s entire industrial complex, and that’s if we can get the permission of each building’s respective owner. So unless you can give me a definitive link as to who exactly Cafard is, there is hardly much I can do to help.” 

Luna racked her brain, then remembered Xiran’s confirmation on his first night of investigating. “The house where the Dzamel boy was slain, it was his!”

“Whose?” Desperaux asked quizzically.

“Cafard’s, it’s the house where his parents were murdered and because nothing was done to get them justice. It’s why he’s punishing the High Houses! He wants the Nobility to suffer like he did! Find out who that house belonged too!”

Desperaux sighed heavily, “Ah, I remember now, your husband mentioned that last night. As much as I’d like to, I already know that house was abandoned. It hasn’t had a living owner in decades.”

“So who were the last owners?”

“An elderly couple, but they died over thirty years ago.”

“But someone had to be taking care of it. The stories I’ve heard is that some twenty or so years ago a murder occurred there, probably around the time that Ala Mhigo would have fallen to the Garlean Empire. Could there be any way to check on that?” 

The inspector thought hard, his fatigue catching up to him. “All I could figure, possibly, is that if it were a house handed down to a family member or friend, but it wasn’t done as an official inheritance. Either way, someone has to pay the tariff for the property, and a name still needs to be signed. As long as that kept up, no one would bother to check if the rightful owners still lived in it.” Desperaux pulled up a blank sheet of parchment and fished a quill from his pocket with a small inkwell. He scribbled a name and some other details before handing it to Luna. “Take this to the Congregation, ask for a mage named Arya, she’ll take you to the records office in The Pillars where you can look unhindered.” He stood up and took a bow. Luna looked at him with slight annoyance, “You’re not coming?” 

“I spent all night compiling this for you and your vigilante husband. I’ve done all I can for now, and a man needs his rest. Arya can get you into the office and make sure you can search without interruption.” Desperaux collected the documents as Luna rose from her seat. They walked up the stairs to the entrance of The Forgotten Knight. “As soon as you find what you need, Arya knows where to find me and we can continue from there. Good luck to you, Mrs. Rayne.” They bowed to each other and parted ways. 

The walk from the Congregation to the Records Hall was a quiet one. Arya didn’t like the idea of sharing vital information of the case with yet another person she had never met. Luna could feel the tension from Arya, so she kept quiet as to not make the situation worse. When they arrived at the Records Room, Arya finally spoke, “My cousin Maribelle is the clerk here. She’s new but she knows the rules. Keep quiet and be quick.” Arya pulled the handle, but the door didn’t move. This set off Arya’s anxiety. “What’s wrong?” Luna asked. Arya pushed on the door roughly, the heavy latch still not moving. “This is never locked…” Arya responded, stepping back. The door suddenly unlocked and swung open. A young Midlander with a scar on her left cheek stood at the opening. “Oh dear, I’m sorry! I must have locked it by accident. Please, come in,” She stood aside to let Arya and Luna into the office. “Where’s Maribelle?” Arya asked, annoyed. The Midlander woman sat behind the desk, a smile on her face. “She was sick today, so I was summoned to cover for her. I don’t know much about down here, though. This is the first time I’ve been in the Records Hall. I’m Patricia!” The Midlander woman answered. Arya wasn’t convinced. Luna was also tense. She remembered Ellena’s description of the woman that approached her in the Forgotten Knight. If this was the same woman, they were on the right track, and possibly too late. “Well, Patricia, could you direct us to the records containing tax information from 1557 of the 6th Astral Era and older?” Luna chimed in, not wanting to waste time. “Excuse you!” Arya piped in, “You have no place to request anything!” Arya looked back to Patricia, “Could you direct us to records of that date range, please?” 

Luna sighed, exasperated, and walked aside, her eyes wandering around the room. Patricia smiled again and spoke uncertainly. “I can try…,” She looked at the reference sheet, genuinely unsure of where to begin. “It might take me a moment though…” Arya began to squabble with Patricia when Luna’s eyes spotted a pair of feminine fingers slipping through a crack in the old desk. It was directly under Arya, who was too busy getting snippy to notice. Luna walked up to Patrica behind the desk and socked her on her scarred cheek. Patricia screeched as Luna grabbed her by the hair and pulled her out of the chair. “Luna! What in the Seven Hells are you doing!” Arya cried in anger. 

Luna pointed to the desk, a handful of Patricia’s hair in her grasp. “Look underneath, someone is down there!”

Arya followed Luna’s direction to find Maribelle, who was crying in joy at being found. Arya walked up Patrica, who was trying to fight Luna’s grip on her hair with no success. “Who are you? Who sent you here and why?” Arya demanded. Patricia was silently whispering something when Luna tightened her grip and pulled pack on Patricia’s hair. “Speak up!” 

Patricia took a deep breath and screamed at Ayra. “Liberty or death!” She reached inside her shirt and Luna struck her ribs with a knee. Patrica fell in pain and dropped her pistol. Luna, hand still full of Patricia’s hair, pulled the Midlander back and knocked Patricia’s head into a small cabinet behind them. Patricia cried out in pain, gripping her head free of Luna’s grasp. Luna never thought she’d have a use for the smattering of techniques Xiran taught her. Luna helped Maribelle up and loosened her fetters. She cried more and hugged Luna, “Oh Gods, thank you! I don’t know what could have happened! There’s two more in the hall!” Luna pushed her back and held her shoulders, “Focus, girl! What were they here for?”

“They wanted the same thing you did, but a more specific year. 1549, Griffin Section, Subsection 4!”

Arya trained her wand to Patricia, “Go show her, I’ve got this one!”

Maribelle looked at Arya, shocked. “You want me to–”

Luna grabbed Maribelle’s shirt sleeve, “Come on, there’s no time to grow a pair of bollocks so you’ll have to find some!” As she pulled Maribelle to the door to the Hall, two elezen men burst through the door in a rush. Luna pushed Maribelle back to shield her. The two noticed Patricia on the floor, Arya with her wand out and Luna’s fierce gaze. They turned around and ran back into the Hall. One of them had a brown leather satchel. “Arya!” Luna called back as she gave chase. Arya looked at Patricia and cursed the heavens. Arya picked up the pistol and tossed it at Maribelle. “If she moves, shoot her!” she ordered as she ran after Luna. 

The Hall was more massive than a library. Generations of records stacked on shelves higher than Luna had ever seen. She and Arya ran past all the history after the two Elezen. They split up and Luna went after the one with the satchel as Arya took to the other. Luna’s prey darted right down a long corridor with no outlet. Luna found it perfect to stop and cast a Stone spell. The small boulder she summoned flew through the air faster than the man could run. It smacked the back of his head, dropping him quickly. Luna ran up to him and took his satchel. He tried to grab it back and Luna punched him. He recoiled as his head hit the floor again. She took off and tried to find her way back to the office the way she came. Her focus in the chase left no time to gain bearings. She tried to be careful with which stacks she ran between to get back. She could hear the elezen yelling behind her, demanding the satchel back. Running back through another aisle, she saw the door to the office and bolted. The Elezen Arya was chasing turned the corner of an aisle in front of her. He ran towards her at his full potential. Thinking quickly, Luna stayed on her course and dropped to a slide on the dark marble floor at the last moment. She kept her feet up and knees locked, slamming her boots into his crotch. He squealed in pain, unable to react in time. Luna used his momentum to push him over her. He landed on the floor face first. She stood and cast Fluid Aura, sending him soaring across the floor into a low bookshelf. 

As she turned the other Elezen was poised to pounce on her. At the peak of his leap, a fireball blasted his side. He flew into a table and rolled onto the floor forcefully. Arya ran out to the main room from the direction of the blast. She examined Luna, “Are you alright?” 

Luna smiled and squeezed her shoulder, “I’m fine, thankfully my husband is a great teacher. Come, let’s get back before–” A gunshot came from the office, interrupting her. 

“Maribelle!” Arya cried and they ran back. Arya burst through the door to find her cousin against the wall clutching the pistol, visibly shaken. She was aimed at the door and Patricia was gone. Arya gently took the pistol from her. “It’s alright, Mari. It’s over. I need you to lock the door to the Hall until I can get a few Knights here to collect the goons inside. Can you do that?” Arya asked her as if one were speaking to a scared child. Maribelle looked to the door, and then to Arya. She nodded and went to her desk. She took a key from the drawer and slammed the door shut, locking it. She sat back in her chair as Luna took out a book from the satchel. It was a thick ledger with a deep red cover and white lettering. “Ishgard Property Tariff Records, 1500-1565, Foundation,” Luna read out loud. She felt relieved and more worried at the same time. She handed the book and satchel to Arya. “The inspector said you’d know where to find him,” she said solemnly. Arya nodded and took the satchel, placing the book safely inside. “Go on, I can handle things from here. Likely the Inspector will be seeking you out later in the afternoon once he’s had a look at this,” Arya spoke with a hint of confidence and trust. Luna smiled and went to leave. As she exited the office she spied a blood spatter on the door. Maribelle must have grazed Patricia as she ran out, Luna pondered. She looked around after exiting and spotted a trail leading down the hall. Perhaps more than just a graze… Luna took a deep breath, deciding to follow the trail.

Xiran walked briskly through the streets of Foundation. He figured that so much fire sand and crystals had to be shipped in large quantities in order to avoid detection from any city officials. This meant some sort of industrial organization within the city had to be using it, or at least making such orders that could be skimmed. The Skysteel Manufactory was the best he could come up with. He wore a new cloak over a thick wool black sweater and navy felt kecks. He had hardly just arrived before seeing the entrance to the Manufactory swing open and Stephanivien welcoming him with open arms, wearing his Manufactory uniform. Though Xiran wasn’t one for firearms, he did help the Manufactory Foreman claim a hold in Ishgard’s defensive forces. “Xiran, old boy! It has been far too long! Come in, speak with me!” Stephanivien said with zeal. Xiran smiled sheepishly and entered, “Forgive the sudden intrusion, I hope I’m not imposing.”

“Nonsense! You’re practically family here! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

Xiran watched his surroundings. The entry room was generally empty save for a few employees out of earshot. “Well, you’ve heard of this madman that’s making a mess of things in the Brume?”

Stephanivien gave a somber nod. “Aye, it’s sordid tale I’ve been hearing. The latest is that the Knights have found the source of the violence and have put a stop to it.”

Xiran shook his head. “Unfortunately they have it wrong. There is a worse man in control, he was recruiting boys with promises and a silver tongue. The Knights found an entire basement full of fire sand and crystals where the boys were being held.”

“Gods, it’s a miracle nothing happened, storing them together in such conditions. Are you aiding this investigation?” Stephanivien inquired.

Xiran continued,”Yes, in a limited capacity. Regardless, it all had to come from somewhere. The only place I can think of that would make use of both items is here, the Manufactory, but I know you wouldn’t want to supply anyone with supplies you need especially for such purposes. By chance, have you noticed supplies going missing over time or even entire shipments stolen?” 

Stephanivien thought for a moment. “Well, we were having some trouble with shipments being raided up until 6 months ago. A new importation business came almost out of nowhere and offered secure shipments of all our supplies at a serious discount. Since then, shipments have been perfect but when I go to pick up our count from his warehouse, there’s always a few extra crates of sand and crystals.”

Xiran felt he had the break he was looking for, “You’re sure about this?”

Stephanivien chuckled, “Of course, attention to detail is my saving grace. I couldn’t very much have designed our turrets if I didn’t pay attention to even the most minute details. I can’t say where those extra crates went, but I know they were there.”

“Where?” Xiran asked, ready to run.

”Beaumont Imports, towards the end of the Industrial Complex. It’s the last, and largest, warehouse. Warreniox Beaumont is the man in charge.” 

“Ha! Thank you, Stephanivien, this is good. I’ll need to let the Inspector know as soon as possible.” Xiran stood an bowed. 

“Yes, indeed, go old boy! I feel better knowing you’re working on this!” Stephanivien gave Xiran a pat on the shoulder as he left. Outside, Xiran turned the corner to the street to have his wife walk into his torso. “Oof!” she yelled, falling backward. Xiran quickly leaned in and caught her. They appeared to be in the middle of a dance with how he held her. “Now love, I know you fell for me, but you needn’t do so literally,” Xiran said with a smirk. Luna gave his cheek a light tap, “As long as you catch me, we’ll be fine.” Xiran stood with her and they hugged. “I take it you spoke to Stephanivien just now?” She asked her husband.

Xiran nodded, “His supplies are intact, but the group that does his shipments made extra orders. Why is unknown.”

Luna crossed her arms, “Beaumont Imports?”

Xiran looked confused, “Yes, how did you…?”

“You’re not the only one who get’s to have a little excitement in their day. Come, let’s get back to the inn room and I’ll explain. Desperaux might have something for us soon.”

“Everything points back to Beaumont,” Desperaux said assuredly.  Dusk brought the inspector, Arya, Luna, and a maskless Xiran to in the inn room Luna and Xiran were staying. “Frankly I wish I had more knights like you two, it would save me from a lot of headaches,” the inspector scoffed. 

Xiran, in his armor, stood at the foot of the bed next to his wife who was sitting on the bed. He didn’t feel the need to use his mask with what was coming next. “So this is enough for a raid on the warehouse?”

Arya spoke up next, “The crystals you found under the house came through Beaumont’s. It was a pain to follow the aether trail to that, but I found it. Add the fact that Luna was able to follow a blood trail from the Records Hall to the warehouse only adds to the damning evidence.” 

“Could what we’ve been doing be officially added as evidence?” Luna asked.

Desperaux waved his hand, “That’s part of minor details we can hash out later. What matters now is that Haillenarte’s testimony, Arya’s aether trail, and the confirmation of the fire sand residue found at the explosions matches what we found in that basement are enough to hold a full-scale raid on the warehouse.”

“And you’re sure he won’t know we’re coming?” Xiran asked.

“I made careful to not denote exact specifics to the men. They know we’re handling an operation tonight, where and when will be revealed at the time of execution, which will be soon. If you want to be there, I suggest you make your way there now. Once it starts, however, I won’t be able to save you from any knights that want to stop you.”

Xiran shook his head. “The fray will be too much to do anything well. I’m better off taking a far position, that way I can look for would-be escapees.”

Desperaux beckoned to Arya, then spoke to Xiran. “Very well then, do as you must. We need to prepare.”

Luna asked another question as they left, “What of the ledger? Were you able to find out who owned the home?”

Desperaux stood in the doorway, “Warrenoix Beaumont was the last man to pay a tariff of the house where Lafayette Dzamel was murdered. Cafard is hiding under his dead father’s name if that’s the case. Gods willing, we’ll make him see to his crimes.” He exited and closed the door. 

Xiran put his sword into the clasp of his hip. Luna put on a hooded wool sweater and her coat over it. Xiran watched her with worry. Luna caught his gaze and gave him a determined nod. “I promise, I’ll be fine. I’ve fought primals by your side and much worse. It’ll take more than a man and a few bombs to keep me from this.” She affixed her Tremor Staff to a hook on her back to carry it. Xiran put on his mask and put his hood up. They had their rendezvous point picked out so they could watch the action from a safe distance.

Pigeon never knew pain like this. Her leg was wrapped up loosely, the bleeding long since stopped, but she was unsure if that was due to the bandages or the cold. Cafard had no hesitation throwing her into the Cold Room. She had failed her task, and in the process, they lost two more soldiers to the knights. Cafard didn’t say a word after she explained what happened. He simply grabbed her by the hair as she screamed and pleaded for her life. Dragging her out to the Cold Room, he let her sit for hours into the night. Pigeon sat cold and alone in the furthest corner, the last place she felt the warmth of the sun before it set, fearing each passing second might bring Cafard in to punish her as he did Gideon. Her mind flashed back to the look on his face after she pulled the trigger. The look of death, eyes rolled to the back of his head after her shot entered right above his eyebrow and scrambled his brain. 

The image quickly left as the large stone door swung open. Pigeon looked to find Cafard walking towards her hurriedly. “Sir, please…” she pleaded. He took her arm and pulled her to her feet. She cried out in pain from the wound in her leg. “Come on, girl, we’ve no time to waste! If you want to live, deal with the pain,” Cafard snarled at her. She took the bandages and wrapped them tightly, crying out a little more as she tied it. Cafard watched intently and held a pistol out to her when she was done. “The Knights have found us. You either follow or die here,” he said. Pigeon took the pistol and pressed her lips together, standing straight, swallowing the pain. “That’s a good lass,” he grabbed her jaw and stood close. “Don’t fail me again,” he whispered to her before walking back to his office. She followed as quickly as she could, hopping along to keep up. 

From the catwalk she saw the workers clamoring inside, doing their best to hide the smuggled goods. There’s no use, Pigeon thought, If he’s leaving there’s nothing left to do. Cafard led them to the old service lift. Inside, Cafard pulled an old lever and the lift continued down past the main floor. It stopped at an old tunnel that looked as though it hadn’t been used for several decades. The tunnel carried on for a few hundred fulms until it met a boarded entrance. Cafard knocked the boards down, having already been loosed by wear and tear from the elements into another section of the Brume, far enough away from the warehouse to not be found. Pigeon’s leg had begun to bleed again from the movement warming her up. Cafard noticed her struggling and grabbed her hand. “Not far now. Some of the boys will be meeting us soon and we’ll head to the other safehouse. We’ll need to go with our finale ahead of schedule,” he said. He walked her into an alley to wait for his men when he heard the footsteps rushing from where they came. Cafard walked out to the street, annoyed. “Well it bloody took you long enough to–” He stopped and grit his teeth at the sight of two hooded figures before him. His hand clenched on his cane, his anger building. “You sodding piece of shite!”

Xiran drew his sword, Luna behind him with her staff ready. “The shite is you, putting innocent men and women up to your dirty work.”

“Innocent? Do you not remember our conversation? No one is innocent in Ishgard, not as long as the Nobility feed of the blood of the common man! House of Nobles and Commons be damned, this whole city must be purged as Charibert once desired!” Cafard picked up his cane and held it like a staff. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a chunk of red crystal with silver bands on it. The crystal sat atop the handle of the cane and sparked with dark magick. 

Xiran wasted no time and charged at Cafard to interrupt his spell. Cafard stopped the katana swing, on the defensive. Sparks flew from the impact of the sword and cane together, more flying as they exchanged strikes. Luna cast a Stone spell aimed for Pigeon as the Midlander took aim at Xiran. The stone pegged Pigeon’s hands, knocking the pistol from her hands as she pulled the trigger. Luna ran forward to take advantage of the opportunity seeing Xiran still on the attack. Cafard noticed Luna’s advancement and went to stop her, breaking away from Xiran. The Highlander gave Cafard no quarter, grabbing the neck of Cafard’s coat and pulling him backward. Xiran slammed Cafard against the wall of the adjacent building, swinging his katana again. Cafard stopped it again and let his crystal float on. His hand now free, he swung and punched Xiran’s face. The impact made Xiran’s mask ping but did nothing to deter him. Xiran struck back with a headbutt to Cafard’s nose.

Luna got to Pigeon as Xiran struck, who had scrambled to grab the pistol again. Pigeon had barely lifted the pistol again when Luna kicked it out of her hands. Luna followed up with a staff swipe to Pigeon’s scarred cheek, knocking her to the ground. Luna jumped on top and pressed her staff across Pigeon’s back with all her weight. In her weak state Pigeon’s struggle was to no avail. 

Xiran’s headbutt caused Cafard’s nose to pour blood like a fountain, drenching the Elezen’s face. He was disoriented as Xiran continued his attack with a knee into Cafard’s abdomen. Winded, Cafard fell to his hands and knees dropping his weapons. He coughed blood onto the cobblestone, feeling the cold steel of Xiran’s sword on his neck. He underestimated the Highlander, a mistake he wasn’t keen on making again. “Your schemes end here, Warrenoix,” Xiran said.

Cafard laughed, “Warrenoix was my father. A weak, foolish man that thought he could use his influence with the common folk to incite change. It earned him a death sentence from that rat cunt, Thordan,” Cafard said in a disgusted tone. “No, I won’t let them have the chance…” A flurry of footsteps from ahead of them broke the silence. Fifteen of Cafard’s men were armed and ready to defend their master. “Err, Xiran…?” Luna called back, scared. Xiran wouldn’t have minded the odds but he couldn’t put his wife in that position. They were still running up the street when Xiran made the call.

“Clear out!” Xiran called out to Luna. She shoved off of Pigeon and darted back. When she passed he ran after, sheathing his sword. Cafard grabbed his cane and slowly stood up. “My schemes are far from over, Xiran…” he growled as he fished a handkerchief and wiped the blood away. 

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