#she can hate people and situations wow! (i bet she is blaming herself for those emotions as well)

[razorblade180]

Interdimensional Moms: part 1

Intro <-

Yang:So how we doin this? Drawing straws or... well we actually don’t have straws here so-

Weiss:It’s obvious that you wanna go first.

Blake:Extremely obvious.

Ruby:All over your face.

Yang:Hey now, don’t call me out like that! We all have so much to sort out here. I don’t even know where to begin. Differences could start and stop anywhere for all we really know.

Blake:From what it seems, Beacon itself would have one or two minor changes, but the real changes start after the fall. At least, for you three that is.

Weiss:You saying you’re different?

Blake:Unless you three started going on dates with Jaune at Beacon, then yes, I’m different.

RWY:(They’ve been together that long!?)

Yang:Okay, starting from Beacon...nothing really stands out too much. Jaune and I were just friends. *cringes* Back then, a certain faunus caught my eye.

Blake:Ah...right. I guess that tracks in practically every universe.

RW:Oh yeah it does. You two are joined at the hip.

Yang:Haha, really? Glad to hear it. My Blake and I are best buds! Remnant has never seen such a dynamic duo! Can’t say it didn’t take a lot of time effort after a rough patch. We actually dated in my world.

Blake:Same.

Yang:What!? How long?

Blake:I don’t know, it was pretty on again off again.

Yang:Well for me it was after Haven. Both of us had gotten pretty serious. All the growing we’ve done together and apart had brought us closer. However, Adam unintentionally put a wedge between us. His attempt to change and the problems that came with it were-

Yang stopped midway and saw the confused faces of her otherworldly teammates. They were shocked, confused even. Especially Blake, who looked the most shocked of all.

Yang:Umm did I say something odd?

Blake:Adam, he...isn’t dead?

Yang:Oh, well I guess that’s the start of the major changes then. Blake and I fought Adam at Argus. Stabbed him through the chest and watched him fall down rocks into a river.

Ruby:That lines you with my world. Dude died that day. Like any normal person should.

Yang:Well Adam is anything but fucking normal. Man has the craziest luck. A young women, the winter maiden in fact, she saved his life. She’s not exactly normal either. The maiden, Jacquelyn, ended up sticking by him to see if she could change his ways. This naturally meant we’d run into them again. And that’s how things fell apart.

Blake:What do you mean?

Yang:You were fully committed to seeing if Adam could actually change. I wasn’t, so we constantly butted heads in any situation involving him. Then we would fight about things that had nothing to do with at all. Eventually, we broke it off. We remained on decent terms but I was pretty heartbroken about the disconnect. Enter our lovable blonde idiot. Jaune did everything in his power to cheer me up.

Weiss:Sounds like him. Always such a bleeding heart. That boy just can’t help himself. Let me guess, his kindness and concern made you feel all warm and fuzzy?

Yang:Hehe, guilty. It was more of his willingness to laugh at my puns. Jaune’s always been interesting to talk to. He tries to act cool and calm even though he’s terrible at it, then comes clean right after. Before I knew it I was telling him things I hadn’t talked about with people before. I could tell he looked at me like most guys do, but also genuinely wanted to listen to me. Talk about playing unfair; he got defenseless. Suddenly I was smiling again. Anytime with him was time well spent. Then one day, I kissed him.

Ruby:Happily ever after?

Yang:Not even close! Hahaha!

Weiss:Why do you sound proud?

Yang:It’s funny looking back at it to a certain degree. Gods, I was such a brat. More than a few fights are on me. Between Blake, Raven, and other experiences, my insecurities flared up in ugly ways over nothing. It even got us to break up too. I was officially done with dating. My Ruby was out in an uncomfortable position.

Ruby:I bet! I’d never want you two fighting. Especially in my world. Picking between the person I love and my sister!? I don’t know what will happen.

Yang:I kinda do. *sets up* You’d start dating Jaune because you’ve looked at him since Beacon. The two of you would confide in each other and share a special kind of love, but it would be bittersweet. All because your sister still pines for him and never met to make him leave, and Jaune never says it, but he hates how things fell apart. He’s faithful to you and would never do you wrong, a guy to truly cherish. So... you let him go. Watch him walk back to your sister like you asked, because my happiness was worth that much to you.

Ruby:....

Yang: In my world at least. Honestly it’s still the most amazing thing I’ve seen you do. We must’ve cried over that conversation for hours. I felt so guilty and you only smiled, hugging me tight. Jaune and I had a few more stumbles. Nothing serious though. Eventually we moved in together when the world was saved. You and Oscar got together officially which made me happy. Even made our weddings a competition of who’d make dad bawl his eyes out the most. You won by the way; Raven came back into our family and into dad’s arms. Last but not least I had a baby. Yujin Xiao Long, my fucking pride and joy from above.

Weiss:Wow, that’s a lot.

Blake:What am I doing? Did I marry Sun?

Yang:Yep. You and blondes Blake, I tell ya.

Weiss:Hold the phone! Who am I with!?

Yang:Pretty sure you’re technically single. Buuuut, Neo and your have gotten pretty friendly from what I managed to interrogate out of you.

Weiss:That’s, highly unexpected. For a number of reasons.

Yang:Better believe it. Besides Cinder, a few crazies, and Salem, a few people made something of themselves. Dying sucks after all.

Ruby:You have a dead Cinder?

WBY: You don’t?

Ruby:*crosses arms* Hmph, I’ll wait my turn. Yang, you said you’re the only mother from our team. If Blake and I have been married for quite some time then what, we don’t want kids?

The joyful sunshine from Yang slipped into grayer skies. Her smile faded and it increasingly got harder to look at this Ruby without thinking of her own.

Yang:Are you sure that’s something you wanna know? I’ll tell you, but I didn’t want to bring down the mood with the problems where I from.

Blake:Problems? How big of a problem.

Yang:The biggest we’ve faced. It’s...a lot.

Ruby:Well we’ve listened this far. *takes hand* Lay it on us.

Yang:Pfft, oh boy. So...umm...another secret war came up. One that caused us to leave our friends and family for over a decade.

Weiss:A decade!?

Blake:What gets worse after Salem!? Who tries anything after a grimm queen!?

Yang:So a majority of Remnant was still unaware of her, but a fight like that can only be kept under wraps so tightly. Plenty of people still learned fractions of the truth. A few of those people weren’t exactly nice guys. They idolized her efforts and became her followers that wanted to keep her will alive, starting with taking revenge on the people who defeated her. We were so unaware. So caught up in normalcy. They ambushed us, and I mean everyone. We...we didn’t come out unscathed. Ren was crippled badly. Weiss, you almost your brother. Jaune’s family got hit but thankfully lived. The real casualties were aimed to hurt Ruby.

Ruby:Oh, of course. S-So, either you’re about to say I had no time to start a family, or...

Yang:...

Yang:When I tell you the look you made when you learned what happened to Oscar, to Qrow... that’s the moment it felt like my little sister left forever. Till this day you don’t smile like you used to. Very recently, now that it’s finally over, you’ve started looking better, but those ten years were hell. We choose to go out and fight again, avoiding contact with family. I haven’t had a real opportunity to be in my daughters life.

Ruby:How old is she?

Yang:Sixteen soon. Left her when she was four so you know. *tearing up* I missed everything. Just about anyways. Ironically it was Raven and Adam that helped her through the years with Jaune and Dad. Eventually we came back and ooohh boy was Yujin not thrilled in the slightest. Hehehe. Her right hook is really strong. I only had about a week with her before things got complicated again. *wipes eyes* But it’s okay. We left on good term. Something I definitely don’t feel like I deserve.

Blake:I can’t believe a thing like that would be possible.

Yang:Cults are a huge problem in Remnant now. You’re definitely aware of that. You actually oversee a little group from the shadows to deal with them in secret. An idea you got from experience. Adam works for you and everything. Hate to admit, but he’s become the guy you wanted him to be. Even has a family. I’m grateful to him. He personally kept my girl safe.

Blake:To think I’d hear you say that. Now I know this isn’t my world.

Yang:Don’t get me wrong, I still will hit him if given the chance. My life hasn’t been charmed and sacrifices too great were happening way too many times but it finally has gotten to a point where everyone feels like we’re taking steps towards a better future.

Weiss:Moving forward?

Yang:Yes, I was trying to avoid the phrase but yes Weiss, we’re moving forward. Still... *looks at Ruby*....

Ruby:W-What?

Yang:It’s unreal seeing you like this. My Ruby has become so strong and endured but hasn’t really picked herself up completely. All her tragedy stemmed from the loss of Oscar and Qrow; her last talk with Oscar was fight about kids too. That’s the entire reason she went off alone in the first place. Looking at you I can’t help but question my own choices. If...I just let her stay with Jaune, then maybe-

Ruby:Nope.

Yang:Huh?

Ruby:Look, if I know anything about your world, then it’s gonna be me and I can tell you without a doubt your Ruby doesn’t blame or would consider her own happiness without you. She loved you enough to take the chance to find love again. You really think there’s anything you could’ve done differently at that point. That girl is as stubborn as they come! *smiles* So buck up cowgirl. You deserve it.

A sense of warmth came over Yang as she heard those words. This other Ruby smiled at her with the same love as her own; completely caring about Yang’s feeling before her own. Yang felt so...unburdened. She couldn’t help but cry a little, laughing softly as she did. Who would’ve thought love could transcend worlds? It was so vindicating, therapeutic even.

Yang:Ruby, you’re something else entirely, you know that?

Ruby:It’s my curse. All I ever wanted was normal knees but the world said “no, special eyes!”

Yang:Well I guess I should thank the world then?

Weiss:You said your Ruby is getting better? That’s good. Still, it must be pretty weird looking at Jaune. Can’t imagine how lonely it must feel losing a love twice.

Blake:It never numbs.

Yang:Geez you two, lighten up. We can’t all be depressed. Ruby also didn’t lose Jaune. Actually....there may or may not have been an interesting...arrangement for a brief period of time.

Ruby:Ehhh what?

Yang:Hehehe well, hahaha, ummmm a decade is a very long time without feeling any kind of pleasure in a bleak situation. And you know me, I have to share things with you all my life.

Ruby:OH MY GOD!!!

Blake:*grinning* Yooooo! You loaned out Jaune!?

Weiss:That’s....accurate; in a lot of ways.

Ruby:That’s so scandalous! How could you!?

Yang:I didn’t force it! I gave the option, you said no, then you changed your mind because things got real stressful. Like come on, a decade of death and loneliness.

Ruby:Sigh...yeah. I can see it. Still, it’s so filthy. He’s a married man. What, so I’d just look at you and say “Yang I’m gonna sleep with Jaune, don’t come in the room.”

Yang:....

Ruby:What?

Yang:....Nothing.

Ruby:Bullshit! What is it!?

Yang:*scratches head* Well, I was lonely too, and a week is only so long-

Weiss:Oh so it was a group thing!!?

Ruby:WHAT!?

Yang:Only sometimes!

Ruby:SOMETIMES!?

Blake:HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! THAT IS AMAZING!

Ruby:Why are you laughing!?

Blake:Because that’s just so extreme, and not, all at the same time. I could totally see that happening.

Weiss:Same. Dang, Jaune slept with sisters. That’s dangerously close to being like your dad.

Ruby:That’s different!

Blake:Is it though?

Yang:Eh, I don’t see the problem. We’re all grown and make choices. Plus I’m the one who guided you through awkward teenage changes. It not like we didn’t share a room for years.

Ruby:That doesn’t make it okay.

Yang:Eh debatable.

Ruby:*red* It isn’t though! How could I do something so bold!? So taboo!?

Weiss:It isn’t like you’re the one who did it. Just a version of you.

Ruby:Not better!

Yang:Awwww it’s okay Ruby. Let’s hug it out. Hehehe *opens arms*

Ruby:Don’t touch me!

Weiss and Blake laugh until their sides hurt as Ruby tries escaping the bear hug that terrorized her. Yang’s world found interesting for sure. Weiss finally decides to help Ruby out.

Weiss:Got a picture of Yujin?

Yang’s eyes lit up and pulled out her scroll. Her team huddled around her and collectively cooed like that parents they are at the sight of a blonde young girl with gorgeous blue eyes with a black combat school graduation cap and gown and a certificate proudly raised up high. If it wasn’t for those eyes and shoulders length hair, they might’ve mistaken her for Yang.

Yang:She’s going to Beacon early because she’s fucking awesome like her mom.

Ruby:I think you mean her aunt?

Yang:I know what I said.

Weiss:I bet she’s just as hardheaded.

Blake:What do you think your kid is up to right now?

Yang: Well...*smiles*

xxxx

The girl in question sat at a work bench with oil on her face and her hands busy tinkering with gauntlets. She looked over at blueprints in a journal. If they were right, then she was definitely doing something wrong. How her mother made something so complex was crazy!

Yujin:Come on Yujin. You can fix a car, making gauntlets into a sword that don’t break should be easy!

Footsteps came up from behind her and a plate stacked with sandwiches. She looked up and smiled at her dad that gave her a wink, then kissed her forehead.

Jaune:Haveing fun, you grease monkey.

Yujin:Jokes on you, I like monkeys. Just a few more attempts and I’ll have the coolest weapon in Remnant. That entrance exam is as good as aced.

Jaune:Not if you don’t have a landing strategy. Tomorrow we’re going on a trip.

Yujin:Does it happen to be near a cliff?

Jaune:Who can say? Rule one of being a huntsman, be prepared for everything.

He ruffled her hair and left, laughing evilly. Yujin could tell he’s been waiting for this day. She pulled out her scroll and searched through a collection of videos labeled “mom” and found a super early one. She hit play and watched her mother give a peace sign to the camera as trees increasingly got closer from below.

Yang:Beacon rules!!!! Wooohooo!

The camera flipped and focused on a familiar blonde flailing through the air like a doll in the distance.

Yang:Oof, hate to be that guy! Wait, that’s vomit boy! Hahah, hope he survives. He owes me shoes. Poor dude. I guess he needs more training in flirting and landing. Wait, eugh I think he barfed again! Hahaha!

Jaune:Stop watching that one!!!!

Yujin:Hahaha but it’s the best one. The ending is priceless.

Jaune: *walks back down*

Yang:Well if he survives this I guess I can off him at least I can offer him mints and company. Fake it to ya make Jaune. Between me and Ruby, at least you’ll look like a player. Heh, nah, I don’t think I can support a bunny onesie.

Yujin and Jaune:*grinning* And then she did! *high-fives* Arc charm, baby!

[faerielleart]

who is here for a really bad and random high school au that is completely self indulgent yo

in which levi loses a bet with erwin and mike and is forced to audition for their school’s production of les misérables, he tries to mess up the audition but somehow he still sucks less than everyone so he ends up getting the part of marius??? and he can’t quit because it will influence negatively on his grades??? idk imagine levi reading the script without knowing shit about the play and reading all the cheesy lines for the first time and him hating every single thing about this situation until the first day of rehearsal where he meets the person who will play cosette, his weird schoolmate hanji who shares some classes with him who is always spending time in the school laboratory to do experiments and shit and oh. Oh.

at first dude wants to Scream because he just can’t bear the thought of acting like a booby who is madly in love (quoting old les mis memes from years ago here) with this wEiRdO who somehow has a pretty fucking amazing voice and wow maybe this weirdo,,,,, isn’t a bad weirdo. how bizzarre

Maybe just maybe as the days go by they start spending time together because hey! Looks like they are polar opposites but at the same time they have SO! MANY! things in common!!! and they eventually use rehearsing as an excuse to spend even more time together! and they bond over the fact that they’re supposed to play characters who are SO distant and different from how they are irl and levi finds out that hanji tried to audition as a joke but got the part bc she can actually S I N G like an angel and has a really solid head voice and range despite being a mezzo and cosette needing a soprano bc her parents forced her to take lessons, while levi despite having a decent singing voice actually had to have the songs lowered a lil bc bby is a baritone in a tenor role and has never had lessons and can’t support all the notes but fear not! Hanji offers to teach him some tips and tricks and whoops now they’re spending even more time together

And maybe just maybe it becomes easier for levi to sing “in my life she has burst like the music of angels, the light of the sun, and my life seems to stop as if something is over and something has scarcely begun”, maybe it comes natural for levi to stutter his line in “a heart full of love, a heart full of song, i’m doing everything all wrong” because?? he is looking right at hanji’s really pretty brown eyes and he can’t concentrate?? and he hates feeling like this lmaooo like sweaty palms butterflies fast heartbeat,,,,, boi is in love and he doesn’t realize it he just thinks he’s constipated

anyway let’s spice shit up and add erwin to the mix! erwin knows hanji, they’re childhood friends and they actually met through their singing lessons, the dude who was going to play enjolras gets idk chicken pox and the director is frantically looking for a substitute, levi wants to get back at erwin for making him audition in the first place (it’s all in good faith tho it’s a joke and they’re best friends dw he just wants to have a lil revenge) and suggests erwin, not knowing that he and hanji know each other and that he actually has been trained in singing so yeah erwin gets called for a last-minute audition and dude SMASHES it the director’s crying tears of joy they found their authentic tall hot blonde enjolras who looks like he’d be a great commander and people would die for him (;DDDDD) and during rehearsal levi finds erwin and hanji chatting like old friends!! and dude’s like wtf do u know each other??? and hanji says hell yes we studied together since we were children :D and just because i am huge huge erumike trash lemme say that mike got a lil part bc they needed ensemble members and he got to play grantaire so yeah enjoy both e/R and erumike there we go erwin gets to act with his boyfriend!! and they both watch levi and hanji during rehearsal and see how they obviously pine for each other but are far too oblivious for their own good so they decide here and there that they must get those two together bc it’s exHAUSTING to watch them stare lovingly into each other’s eyes and hold hands and kiss and then brush it off saying “it’s just acting we literally have to play a couple”

anyway the day of the show is here ladies and gentlemen levi is nervous af but doesn’t show it, he has to act like a lovesick fool in front of the whole school, the students, the teachers, the parents, EVERYONE and oh my god i hate it here might become his gratuation quote but all he needs is hanji backstage who squeezes his hand and whispers “can’t wait for you to sweep me off my feet shorty” which is extremely cringy but hanji did it on purpose just to see levi get embarassed and he does lmao so yeah the show goes amazingly! levi went flat a few times on the higher parts but it’s totally normal bby’s not trained and he did great everyone praise the birthday boy he deserves it

it’s after the show that things get a lil sad for our boi bc now he doesn’t have to rehearse anymore and is afraid that hanji won’t spend time with him anymore bc the show’s over :(( but fear NOT hanji plans on glueing herself to his side for the rest of the schoolyear and until they graduate and even after that and years later they’ve graduated college they’ve been living together for a while and they go to see the actual show on bway done by professionals and hanji acts weird all evening and OH as they’re going home she stops in the middle of the streets and whips out two lil matching rings,,,,,,, and says the cringiest cheesiest fucking thing in the world that has levi groaning and facepalming,,,,,, hanji says “will u be the marius to my cosette” and yeah levi just sighs and puts the ring on his finger and they smooch under the moonlight aw isn’t that CUTE and they lived happily ever after victor hugo is smiling down at them from the afterlife and patting himself on the back for helping them get together

NOW THERE’S TOO MUCH FLUFF AND I NEED ANGST TO BALANCE IT OUT so imagine this is also a reincarnation au and whenever levi sings “empty chairs at empty tables” he gets a weird feeling in his stomach and he gets really emotional singing “oh my friends my friends forgive me that i live and you are gone, there’s a grief that can’t be spoken, there’s a pain goes on and on” and “oh my friends my friends don’t ask me what your sacrifice was for, empty chairs at empty tables where my friends will sing no more”?? He blames it on the character getting to him too much but then he sees the scene where the students sing drink with me and the lyrics “drink with me to days gone by, can it be you fear to die, will the world remember you when you fall, could it be your death means nothing at all, is your life just one more lie” sound really familiar and resonate with him somehow as if he heard similar words somewhere else already, he sees erwin playing enjolras and being a commander giving orders and singing “let others rise to take our place until the earth is free”, he sees the scene where all the students get shot at the barricade and die one by one and he feels his head pulse and he has the strongest feeling of deja-vu and suddenly everything goes black and he wakes up in the infirmary with a very worried hanji sitting on a chair beside him and he really can’t explain what happened except that he feels like he just woke up from a very long dream and he feels like he fought through a battle and hanji just waves it off as him taking the stanislavski technique a bit too seriously for a high school play but the feeling doesn’t really ever go away and sticks with him even years later whenever he hears les mis being mentioned

[k7l4d4]

Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 6 Part 4

Hello, and let me once again introduce you to the whimsical world of Midnight Striga! Everybody Clap Your Hands!!

As Luz glanced back between Amity’s pale face, and Willow’s nearly bursting rage, the pieces started coming together. With widened eyes, she said, “Wow. She didn’t remember you at all? That is cold.” She shook her head, her cautious respect for the ambitious woman having taken a hit. She bit her lip. “Are you two going to be okay?” She hesitantly asked, her and Gus looking concerned at the reactions of the two girls.

“I-!” Willow started, before pausing, the anger draining out of her face. “I’ll be fine. They aren’t worth the effort.” She said, sounding exhausted and drained. She sighed, smoothing out her dress. “Let’s just get this night over with.”

“Indeed, let’s.” Amity stated, face regaining some hints of color. With that awkward moment finally passing, the group headed into what they assumed was the room Amity had staked out to host the Moonlight Conjuring in. Before too long, the rest of the guests had started coming in: Amelia, Cat, Selena, Bo, and Skara. There weren't many, but they came all the same.

The girls froze upon seeing Luz, Amelia audibly gulping at the sight of her. The group frantically glanced back and forth between Luz in front of them, and Skara, situated at the back. Luz resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing it wouldn’t help any. She sighed, “Okay, look, I’m not going to assume I know why you’re all freaked out over me being here, though I do have a guess. I’m the security you were promised, and as long as I’m here, I’ll keep you all safe. Okay?” She finished, a note of hesitance in her voice.

“During the attack, someone I cared about was killed.”

The group turned towards Skara, staring straight at Luz, a blank, empty look in her eyes. Bo reached out, only for her arm to be gently pushed away. She stepped forward. “His name was Batthew. He wasn’t the smartest guy in the world, and he always went overboard. And now he’s dead.” Her voice sounded hollow, like she had no hope, no joy inside of her at all.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Luz said softly. If Skara was going to blame her for her friend’s death, she wouldn’t fight it.

Skara lightly shook her head. “Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault those maniacs killed him.” She stated, getting bewildered looks from all. Tears started to prick at the corners of Skara’s eyes. “All I want to say is thank you for avenging him. Even if you didn’t fight his killer, you helped stop those sickos, and prevented any more people from feeling the hurt I felt.”

Luz blinked, feeling some measure of relief that she didn’t hate her. That relief quickly shifted to guilt when she reminded herself Skara was grateful for stopping the people who had killed her crush/boyfriend. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve seen the kind of things the Black Dogs get up to when allowed to rampage.” She shuddered at the mental image. “I was more than glad to stop them.” She said gravely. She and Skara shared a solemn nod at her words.

With that, the tension seemed to bleed out of the room. Amity’s friends were still noticeably nervous around Luz, but it wasn’t anything too bad, and a few, such as Bo, even made an active effort to talk and interact with her.

“No way! Humans don’t have healing magic!?” Bo exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.

“Well, sorta,” Luz said sheepishly, scratching her head in embarrassment. “Back in the old days, it was a pretty common tactic of warring groups to attack enemy healers to deprive the opposition of their skills, as well as destroying information sources when capturing them wasn’t an option. Because of that, a lot of forms of magic and magical arts were all but lost, including Healing.” She finished, a soft frown on her face.

“Oh my Titan, that must be horrible!” Bo said, heart aching in sympathy of those whose lives were lost because they didn’t have access to healing magic.

“Yeah, I was honestly a little shocked when I learned that the Isles had healing magic.” Luz chuckled, arms crossed over her chest. “Still, efforts have been made to bring back Healing Magic, with assistance from those practitioners still alive in the world. Last I heard, Fiore, my home country, had actually established a school exclusively for the study and research of Healing Magic!”

“Well that’s a relief,” Bo sighed. “It might’ve come late, but at least it’s there now, and people can go get treatment when they need it, right?” She inquired.

“Yeah.” Luz said, cracking a sad grin. “Just wish it had come a little sooner.” She muttered.

“What was that?”

“Oh, nothing!”

Willow and Amelia were currently having a discussion about Plants. By all accounts, Willow was giving Amelia some pointers for upcoming assignments, particularly those dealing with more aggressive breeds of plants. Amelia frantically scribbled down the tips and suggestions Willow offered.

“Good, good, I can work with this!” Amelia excitedly exclaimed, relief and joy shining in her eyes. She turned to Willow, an embarrassed smile on her face. “You are seriously amazing at this!”

“It’s just some stuff I’ve pieced together in my free time.” Willow shrugged noncommittally. “I’m happy to share it if people think they need it, I just don’t see anything really special about it.”

Amelia gave a rueful grin, shaking her head. “And that’s why it’s so incredible! You figured all this stuff out on your own, when it took actual, fully-trained adults years to discover this stuff!” She gave Willow a sad smile. “You really are amazing.”

Willow averted her eyes, uncomfortable. Amelia may not have been as… aggressive as Boscha was at even her best, but she was still part of the group that made her school life difficult. But… Willow couldn’t find it in her to stay mad at the girl. She certainly didn’t like her, but she didn’t dislike her either. “Thanks, I guess?” She ultimately mumbled out.

Amelia briefly searched Willow’s face in confusion, before sighing in realization. “Look, Willow? About the whole ‘Half-a-Witch’ thing…” She started, proceeding carefully at Willow’s sharp look.

“Yeah?” Willow drawled, hackles raised.

Amelia bit her lip slightly, before continuing. “I’m sorry. It was a seriously lame thing to do, and to let Boscha and Amity get away with. Even if we weren’t friends, we could’ve done something to try and make things easier for you, but we just went along with it because it was easier.” She turned clear eyes towards Willow’s suspicious gaze. “It may not mean much now, but I will try and make things up to you. If that’s okay with you?” She gave a hopeful smile.

Willow mulled it over… but she didn’t feel any suspicions rousing at Amelia’s words. Sighing, she finally said, “I’m willing to give you a chance. I really don’t know how to feel about you and the others here.” She glanced over at Luz and Bo. “I honestly only came because my parents insisted, and because Gus and Luz were going to be here. But, if you really are serious about being sorry,” She gave a hesitant grin. “I’m willing to let bygones be bygones.” The two shared a nervous laugh. A thought came to Willow. “Hey, do you know why Boscha isn’t here?” She asked.

Amelia gave a snort. “Amity didn’t invite her, and considering how she’s been acting, that’s probably for the best.” She explained, getting a look of mixed confusion and concern from Willow. She elaborated, “Boscha basically screamed her head off at Skara and sent her into tears after she burned her, and she’s been avoiding everyone ever since. And between her and Skara, every one of us chose to stick by Skara.” She finished. Willow pondered the topic. As much as Boscha had caused her grief and some heartache over the years, she didn’t wish that kind of loneliness on anyone. She’d probably talk about it with Luz later.

Gus was surprisingly hitting it off rather well with Cat and Skara. Cat had basically volunteered to be Skara’s backup nurse for when Bo wasn’t around or when Bo just needed to take a break for herself. Skara frankly thought Gus was hilarious, even if she wasn’t really in a laughing mood, as his energy and nervousness gave him a unique air to him.

“-And so yeah, Bo’s a member of the HAS!” Gus finished explaining, getting a look of shared amusement from his conversation partners. “I mean, I guess with everything that’s happened, our group and the Human Roleplay Society is gonna get a lot of dirty looks after the attack.” He concluded, a look of bashfulness and sadness filling his features.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to join the HAS to send a message.” Skara remarked, getting an incredulous look from Gus, and a snort of amusement from Cat. “I’m serious! You shouldn’t be getting harassed because of what someone else did. Plus,” She gave a nervous smile, “It’ll let me hang out with Bo more often.”

“Well, I’m never one to turn away new members!” Gus excitedly cheered.

“I’ll bet.” Cat remarked sardonically, giving a loose shrug.

Unbeknownst to any of the guests, Amity had slipped away, stalking through her home on the search for her parents. The scowl on her face would’ve sent even the toughest of the Isles’ residents backpedalling. She roughly shoved her way past the assorted Abomination servants, utterly unwilling to deal with even the slightest of delays. Eventually, she made it to her father’s workshop, him STILL tinkering over his pet project, her mother calmly sipping her tea next to him while going over some of the paperwork from the family business. “Mother, Father.” She said with tightly controlled politeness.

“Ah, Mittens! How is the party going?” Her mother cordially asked, while her father gave a grunt of acknowledgement as to her presence. Odalia stood up, moving closer, pulling Amity to her side. “I must say, I am most impressed, sweety! Cultivating new relationships for the future with exceptional individuals, a stroke of brilliance!” She said, a proud smile across her face.

“Thank you.” Amity bit out, before continuing, “But what I actually came to talk to you about is-”

“MITTENS!!” Emira’s voice rang out, accompanied by frantic pounding. “GET ME AND ED OUT OF HERE!!!”

Amity turned a confused glance towards Odalia. “Emira was rather adamant about supervising your Conjuring, and when I tried to put my foot down, she… objected, rather aggressively. I had to seal her and Edric in the panic room so they wouldn’t get up to any mischief.” Her mother sheepishly explained, looking both pleased and annoyed at the ferocity her eldest daughter had displayed.

“I can understand locking up Emira,” Amity stated, quirking an eyebrow. “But why Edric?”

“Mittens, we both know he would free her in a heartbeat, if for no other reason than because it is Emira.” Odalia drolly stated, causing a brief moment of solidarity to pass between the two. Yes, they were both very familiar with Edric’s peculiarities and the sheer depth of his loyalty to his twin. “Now, what is it you wished to speak with me about, Mittens?” Odalia finally asked, getting back on track.

Amity breathed in deep, forcibly holding back her anger. “When you spoke with Willow, you implied that you only knew her through our confrontation at school, would that be accurate?” She tersely asked, getting a look of baffled surprise from Odalia, and a raised brow from Alador.

“Well, yes! Where else would I know her from?” Odalia rhetorically asked, a note of borderline condescension coloring her voice.

“Hmm… I must say, that name does seem familiar, but I can’t recall from where.” Alador muttered.

Amity’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Here’s a hint. My fifth birthday.”

“What does that have to do with anything!?” Odalia demanded in bewilderment, even as Alador mulled the hint over.

Alador snapped his fingers in realization. “Ah yes! Now I remember! Willow was the name of one of Amity’s playmates when she was little. When we noticed that she wasn’t developing as fast as her peers, we had Amity sever ties at her… fifth… birthday- oh.” He said, his usual tired expression widening into pale realization, even as Odalia’s own face shifted into horrified realization as the implications sunk in.

“Yes, oh.” Amity echoed, a look of bitter amusement on her face. She turned on her heel. “That was all the confirmation I needed. I believe that I will spend the remainder of the evening seeing to my guests. Mother, father.” And with that, she power-walked away, ignoring her mother’s cries to come back, to talk things over, as if she would. Amity ripped her necklace off, shoving it into her pocket, in no mood to hear her mother’s voice in her head tonight. Yet another blotch had appeared in her mental image of her parents. It was honestly mostly a black smear at this point anyway.

Eda glanced out at the sky, seeing that the Night Market was about to open, if the encroaching darkness was a solid indicator. She called over her shoulder, “Come on, King! We’ve got a shady seller to see about some potions!”

“Weh! I’m ready to go!” King cried, running up to her side, putting on a look of fierce (adorable) determination. She cracked a smirk at that. The two headed out, giving Hooty permission to use any and all means to defend the house in their absence, prompting a delighted shout of excitement from the friendly, if annoying, House Demon. Neither noticed, the heavy figure moving through the branches of the trees, stalking them on their approach to town, nor its bloodthirsty grin.

Luz glanced up from her discussion with Skara at Amity’s arrival to the room. “Hey Blight!” She cheerfully called out, only for her expression to shift into concern at Amity’s gloomy demeanor. “Something wrong?”

Amity sighed, waving off her concern. “It’s nothing, just an unpleasant talk with my parents.”

“Oh no, are they kicking us out!?” Gus exclaimed, a look of panicked despair crossing his face. He turned to Willow, clinging to her dress. “This is it! The moment of hopelessness as our dreams are dashed to pieces! Willow my friend, it was fun while it lasted!” He cried, sobbing into her dress, much to Willow’s exhaustion.

“What!?” Amity asked, baffled, before shaking it off. “No, you’re not getting kicked out, I just had something unpleasant confirmed. Please, you’re free to stay.” She said, bemused at the cheer of relief Gus let out, even as Luz and Willow shook their heads in amusement at his antics.

“Well, I guess it’s about time for me to start doing the job you recruited me for.” Luz said with a joking tone, heading for the door. She flicked a finger gun towards the group. “Save me some snacks for when I get back, okay?”

“Will do!” Willow called back.

Snorting in amusement, Luz made her way to the front door, planning on crawling up to the top of the roof for a vantage point against any attackers. Plus, she thought standing on a roof by moonlight was badass. Chuckling to herself at her inner geek rearing its head, Luz pulled the door open, only to go still at what she saw. Seven humans, all standing outside the door, staring her down. However, what really drew her gaze was the figure in the center, someone she hadn’t seen in quite some time. “Neon!?” Luz exclaimed in shock.

“LuLu!” The girl exclaimed, jumping towards Luz in a flying hug. The blue-haired girl eagerly buried her face into Luz’s side, a look of childish excitement covering her face. “Oh I just knew it was you!!” She pulled back, her face puffing out in a pout. “And here you are, having a fun-time slumber party without me!” She whined, flailing her arms. Luz felt her face go deadpan, even as the others, guards she figured, sighed in exhaustion at the antics of their charge. Yup, this was definitely Neon. Neon crossed her arms, a look of defiance covering her, admittedly adorable, features. “And since I’m here, I’m gonna be joining this party, whether you like it or not!”

“There is absolutely no way I’m talking you out of this, is there?” Luz droned, already resigned to the excitable girl’s antics.

“Nope!”

Amity busied herself with the setup for the Conjuring, intently ignoring the glances the others sent her way. She wasn’t distracting herself from the confirmation that, yes, her parents were callous enough to completely disregard one of the most bitter memories in her life, not in the slightest.

“Hey, guys?” Luz’s voice called out, drawing the attention of the group to the door. “We might have a situation!” Everyone was instantly on guard; Bo, Cat, and Amelia were nervous, seriously wondering if they were in danger, while Skara and Gus grew nervous but steeled themselves, even as Willow and Amity braced themselves for an attack. “Now, don’t be alarmed, but we’ve got some… surprise guests is all!”

With that said, Luz walked into the room. Everyone instantly took note of the girl tightly clinging to Luz’s side, a thin girl, roughly around their age, with messy blue hair held up in a ponytail by a yellow ribbon, a long-sleeved purple striped shirt under a vest, a long skirt going to her calves. She was beautiful, with delicate features that screamed innocence and gentleness, with brilliant blue eyes shining outward. Following behind them were six other humans, all varying in appearance, the only commonality being the immaculate black suits they wore.

“Um, Luz?” Willow tentatively asked. “Who’s this?” She asked, gesturing to the girl tightly hugging Luz’s side.

“Ugh, everyone, this is Neon Nostrade. She’s a friend of mine from the Human Realm. Neon, these are my friends and acquaintances from the Demon Realm.” Luz intoned, introducing the girl to the group and vice versa.

“Oooh!! It’s so amazing to meet you all! I am Neon, heiress of the Nostrade family, and these are my guards!” She cheerfully announced, wildly gesturing to the group behind her. “Basho,” She pointed to the tallest, a muscular man with a cleft chin, pompadour, mustache and sideburns, who gave a friendly wave, “Piper,” a round, short figure with prominently pointed front teeth, long hair with a significant bald spot on top who gave a small nod, “Baise,” a beautiful woman whose hair was done up in an intricate braided top-knot offered a short wave, “Tocino,” A gangly fellow with bright orange hair offered a smile, “Squala,” a darker skinned man with tightly pinned back hair gave a two-fingered salute, “and Kurapika!” The last guard, a handsome young man with rich blond hair, gave a bow, a polite smile on his face. Neon turned a sweet grin to the group. “They keep me safe from meanies who wanna steal my predictions!”

The assembled witches numbly waved in greeting. They all turned to Luz, who groaned.

“Look, I have no idea how they got here, but I can vouch for Neon, and I know her dad screens her guards to an insane degree. They won’t be a risk to us.” She stated, nodding to the group.

“Oh LuLu, you say the nicest things!” Neon cheered, eagerly hugging Luz’s arm.

“LuLu?” Amity questioned.

“Uh huh, LuLu!” Neon eagerly agreed. “LuLu was my very first bodyguard! Originally, papa kept me tucked away so my future husband would be the first person outside the family to see me!” The Witches paled. “But then I figured out fun magic, and papa made a bunch more money than usual, and he said I wasn’t gonna have a husband anymore, and he had his business buddies give him LuLu to protect me!” She cheerfully explained. “After that, LuLu took me into town a bunch and I had lots of fun! I got to shop for my own clothes, and didn’t have to wear dolly dresses anymore, and got to eat yummy food that wasn’t just veggies and water, and I even met a nice man who was getting money for his sick momma’s medicine and I gave him a bunch of money, but LuLu took him into an Alley and gave him her money and got mine back!” She just kept rambling away, even as her guards slumped over in exhausted resignation, a matching expression on Luz’s face.

“Hey, Neon? We’ve got some snacks set up, if you want any.” Luz said, pointing to the tray of goodies.

“Ooh! Yummy!” Neon cheered, rushing for the treats, eagerly stuffing them into her mouth.

The blond guard, Kurapika, spoke up. “Please excuse the Young Miss. She means well, but… she doesn’t have the most experience with the real world, I’m afraid.” He formally stated, giving a deep bow to the Witches. As he pulled up, he added, “I believe it is accurate of me to say that we are very grateful for you allowing us in. When the Young Miss overheard that her friend,” he gestured to Luz, who was currently staring at a wall, dead to the world, “was going to be attending a gathering at night with a group of youths, she insisted we come.” He sighed.

“By all means, this is no trouble.” Amity stated diplomatically, compartmentalizing the barrage of information Neon had blurted out, focusing on the gentlemen before her. Noticing the nervousness of the others, she asked, “Forgive me, but our Isles have recently been attacked by a group known as Oroboros, and everyone is on edge when it comes to humans, and while I mean no offense, I have to ask, do you have any association with them?”

The guards gained matching looks of dark loathing. “No, we do not.” Kurapika stated, his voice a mask of tightly controlled cool politeness. He relaxed slightly as he explained, “We were hired to guard Miss Neon so as to keep her predictive magic from being taken, along with her. While her father is, unfortunately, a high-ranking financier for Oroboros, we fortunately exist outside of that nest of darkness’ command structure.”

Amity nodded, filing away the information. “While I’m not sure how much you can actually say, would you care to explain how you all got to the Isles?”

As Kurapika opened his mouth to reply, he was cut off by Neon’s shout. “We passed through a big gate filled with water, and then Zoop! We were on the Isles!” She cheerfully called over, before resuming stuffing her face. Her guards just sighed, nodding at her words.

“What Miss Neon says is true.” Kurapika stated with a rueful grin. “While we don’t know its precise nature, we entered this Realm through the use of a Water Magic based portal. It was… quite the experience.” He finished, a look of embarrassment crossing his features at some memory.

“Thank you.” Amity said, moving over to Luz, who was still staring a whole into the wall. She pulled in close, harshly whispering into her ear. “That girl mentioned she had been kept in seclusion until her marriage. How old was she to be during it?”

“Thirteen.” Luz growled out. “The fact creep was one of the few people I’ve killed and not regretted, at least not outside the abstract regret of killing at all. I honestly would’ve preferred to expose the corrupt monster, but I had to settle for putting him out of people’s misery.” She turned a burning glare towards Amity. “And Neon’s dad is even worse.”

[yourdeepestfathoms]

Clipped

[Wings AU]

Wing Reference

Tw: Discrimination

———————

“A TV show? Really? We’re getting a TV interview?” Cathy said, wide-eyed.

“Yes!” Anne said excitedly. “The director told me! Isn’t that amazing? I mean, I knew we were popular, but not THAT popular.”

“Wow.” Jane looked up thoughtfully, like she was trying to imagine herself on television. “That’s wonderful! When is it?”

“This Friday,” Anne told her. “So everyone, get your best wing accessories!”

“Well, not everyone is gonna need some.” Kitty tittered.

“Hsst.” Aragon flicked her with one of her wings.

Nobody ever talked about why their music director didn’t have wings. Some of them assumed they had been cut off when she was younger for whatever reason, as she didn’t have any while she was a lady in waiting, but Cathy’s running theory was that she wasn’t born with any at all.

Instead of wings, Joan had awkward little wingbuds curling from her shoulder blades. And today, they looked the exactly same as yesterday: Small, tightly curled, and iridescent silver, with a gem-like gleam beneath the taut layer of flesh wrapped around them.

The wingbuds twitched at Kitty’s comment and everybody glanced at Joan, but if the comment bothered her (which it almost 100% does) she didn't show it on her face. She just straightened herself up some more and exhaled a sharp breath through her nose.

“Anne is right. We all have to look good for this.” She said. “And be ready to answer questions. You know how interviewers are.”

—

When Friday rolled around, the queens and Ladies met their interviewers, a robin named Carrie and a cardinal named Russel. They both seemed friendly enough and their wings were constantly snapping with energy, perhaps thanks to their job as anchors on a talk show, or perhaps they were just always like that.

The show started out with a performance of Ex-Wives and Six mashed together, thanks to Joan, who slaved herself over making the song. When that was over, the queens and Ladies took their seats on the studio stage and got to the questions.

The questions were normal- What’s it like being in such a big show? What’s your favorite song? If you could switch places and play a different queen, who would you choose? Was Henry really as bad as history says he was or was he worse?- and there were even some directed to the ladies in waiting, but then things took a turn for the worse when Carrie turned her attention to Joan and made a very bold move.

“I’m sorry if this sounds rude,” She said, and the queens and three other ladies in waiting all tensed up, already knowing where this was going. “But what’s wrong with you?”

Joan is very stiff from where she’s sitting, hands clasped together tightly in her lap. Her jaw is set firmly, but her eyes reflect a great amount of hurt and humiliation, and red flames flickered on her ears. Her wingbuds twitch slightly on her back.

“Well-”

“Don’t you eat?” Carrie went on, cutting Joan off, although it’s hard to tell if she meant to do it or if she did it on accident because Joan took a moment to finally speak up.

“What exactly are you supposed to be?” Russel chimed in, tilting his head at Joan as if she were a peculiar butterfly he found sitting on his windowsill.

“I’m-” Now Joan was really embarrassed. She looked down, stammering on a response. “I-I’m, umm...”

Although it was said quite rudely, nobody could really blame the hosts for asking such a thing. Avians were said to be magical, mostly because they can fly. Since everyone now seemed to be one, the government had to regulate the air space to keep them from crashing into each other and flying too high for safe breathing. Clothing was made with special flaps in the back to accommodate the extra appendages, much like sleeves. Avians decorate their wings like they would their hair, dyeing them different colors and accessorizing. Some people even pierce and tattoo their wings, even though the skin there is the most sensitive on their entire body.

But Joan didn’t look magical. She just looked like a defective toy on an assembly line of correct products- an eyesore that wasn’t thrown out.

“I’m...” Joan tried one more time to muster up an answer, but nothing came out. She looked down, wringing her hands in her shirt.

“I couldn’t imagine not having my wings,” Carrie said woefully, and her robin wings ruffled on her back to enunciate her point. “What a sad life you must live.”

Joan winced and shrunk in her seat. If she had wings of her own, then she definitely would have been using them to shield herself. But, then again, if she had wings, then she wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.

“Are you one of the wingless?” Russel asked, leaning forward in his seat.

“Don’t you see those things on her back?” Carrie said. “Clearly she’s SUPPOSED to have wings. She just doesn’t.” She turned back to Joan, her eyes lit up in curiosity. “Why didn’t yours grow when you were born?”

Joan looked absolutely helpless. She glanced around her, at the queens, at the others ladies, even at the camera crew and live studio audience, but she didn’t seem to find any support in anyone. None of them could relate to her; they all had wings.

They were all normal.

“I don’t know,” Joan whispered.

“Don’t be rude.” Aragon spoke up. She tipped her glistening golden pheasant wings at the hosts, but they barely seemed affected by the action.

“What a bore it must be to not be able to fly,” Carrie mused. “I bet you feel like half of a person. Hardly a person at all. Such strange little bumps on your back, though.” She tilted her head at the wingbuds as if they were gemstones growing from Joan’s back.

“They’re called wingbuds.” Anne said.

“They have actual names?” Carrier goggled at the parrot. “How weird!”

“Can I touch one?”

“NO!!”

It was unknown as to who looked more horrified: The queens, the other three ladies in waiting, the hosts, the audience, or Joan.

“They’re sensitive,” Aragon quickly said to Russel, who had asked. “So they shouldn’t be touched.”

“Ah,” Russel said, nodding knowingly, despite probably not knowing that at all. “I see.”

“They’re sensitive?” Carrie echoed. “Then they might come in soon.” She gave Joan a sickly sweet smile. “Pray for that, little bird!”

Joan slumped and nodded dejectedly. She wouldn’t pray, though. That never got her anywhere.

———

If there was one thing that Joan really, truly hated it was the stark belief by everyone around him that the world was black and white.

Black and white. Good and Evil. Angels and Demons.

Right from the moment he was old enough to understand the concept, he had been told the same damn thing, over and over again.

If you weren’t an angel then you were a demon. If you weren’t a demon, either, then you weren’t a person.

In a world where everyone had wings, Joan was wingless.

In a world that believed that all people with bright, colorful bird wings were angels that wouldn’t hurt a fly but were often sanctimonious and arrogant, Joan was nothing.

In a world that believed that all people with crow were demons, cruel and twisted but with so much more passion than their counterparts, Joan was less than nothing.

Beast.

It was a name that even outstripped the title of coward that her mother and father had been given for fleeing their pale-winged snowy owl son and malformed daughter. The same title she had earned when she entered court, where she had been surrounded by wings swathed in gemstones and chains and silk. But then, no one expected a beast, something more like an animal than an avian, to understand loyalty and honor could they?

In her past life, it was years later that she’d learn that Peter only married her for the challenge, the adventure of taming the wild beast that lived in the court. She wasn’t much of a beast in that respect, too quiet, too shy, and too content to spend his days spinning wool and playing the harpsichord- she’d been a disappointment from the first day.

He hadn’t loved her. Her mistresses didn’t love her, although she had hoped they would. Her parents didn’t love her, either. The only person who ever loved her for who she was was her brother, John.

John was the only person Joan knew who accepted her for all her faults and failings. For her cowardice, her shyness, and her lack of wings. Joan loved him and, in a moment of terror at the thought of being the cowardly lame beast again, she betrayed that love. And he left her. He flew away on his own.

It would be centuries before she found someone who could accept her as she was again. Centuries of darkness of meeting people who either looked at her with disgust (secure in their superiority), fear (of the beast she was) or pity (for the poor, lost creature that tried to be an avian but couldn’t possibly be). She tolerated those that feared her far more than those that pitied or were disgusted.

But the robin and cardinal who had hosted the TV show? She didn’t even know what their reactions were. They seemed to be more in awe at her deformity, but not in a good way. They ogled her in a way that made her want to shrivel up in a ball and just die.

Their stares seemed to linger on her for the rest of the day. And that sort of stress is what made her back hurt more than it usually did.

No matter how much Joan scratched her shoulder blades, the itch won’t go away. It always prickled in her back, and she tries to force it away, she really does. She itches and itches until it looks like cat scratches down her back. She presses against the backs of chairs when no one is looking, wool and wood rough against her back. And still, the itch doesn’t go away, only lessens, just barely.

It’s maddening.

———

“It’s for you,” Jane said tiredly, trudging away from the door. Her huge harpy eagle wings were dragging on the ground; she must have been ready to sleep if she weren’t lifting them.

Aragon watched her go in amusement before walking towards the front door. There, she found the little wingless fledging who she had taken under her wing, into her nest, awhile ago.

“Hello, Joan,” She greeted warmly. “What are you doing here at this hour?”

“U-umm…” Joan gestured for her back.

Aragon frowned, knowing exactly what that meant.

“Of course, my darling. Come on. Take off your shirt when you’re in my room.

Shyly, Joan followed Aragon up into her bedroom, wrestling off her shirt once she was inside. She sat down in front of Aragon on the bed.

Aragon hummed worriedly when she saw how red the wingbuds extending from Joan’s back were.

“They feel a little inflamed,” Aragon said, carefully prodding around one of the buds.” How long have they been hurting?”

“A few days, I think.”

Aragon frowned deeply at that.

“Honey…” She sighed, “Why didn’t you tell someone?”

Joan shrugged.

“Didn’t want to worry anyone..”

Another sigh.

Aragon began to gingerly knead the area around the wingbuds, making slow, deliberate circles with her thumbs against the distended shoulder blades. Even with her careful moments, Joan still winced and flinched a few times, but held still as best as she could.

“C-can you go down a little bit?” The fledging asked shyly.

“Here?” Aragon pressed just beneath one of the buds and Joan nodded. She massaged carefully in that area.

“Your muscles are really stiff, love.” Aragon said, "Think you can flutter your wingbuds for me? It might get some of the tension out.”

“I’d rather not,” Joan breathed.

“I know, sweetie, but your back is really locked up. It probably isn’t very comfortable.”

Joan gave in and flexed the wingbuds, which sent strings of fire shooting through every nerve. Aragon helps her through it by gently rubbing her back to try and loosen some tenseness in her muscles.

“Shh, shh,” Aragon murmured when she heard a tight whimper, “You’re okay, darling. You’re okay. You’re doing so good, you know that?”

Joan shook her head a little.

“Well, now you do,” Aragon said, “Would you like me to go get a cool rag? Would that help?”

“N-no. P-please don’t leave me.” Joan whimpered out, “Please, Catalina…”

“I’m not going anywhere, Joan,” Aragon assured her, “You must be tired, huh? Do you want to try to sleep or should I keep-”

“Sleep.” Joan said. “Please.”

“Alright.”

After pulling her shirt back on, Joan laid down next to Aragon, feeling her soft golden pheasant wings bundle her up. Slowly, she’s able to drift off.

—————

The next morning, Aragon woke up to Joan trembling in exhaustion and pain.

She says she’s fine.

[marvinswriting]

Parties

sorry guys, we needed a bad guy.......blame bear for this one parties never end well og g/t mg (but its not canon to the ‘storyline’ and will never be referenced again lmao)

I hate parties. 

Any size parties.

Just hate em.

There's a reason I spend my Halloweens with Damian watching horror movies rather than going to events. 

The rest of my friends on the other hand love parties. 

Maybe not Aaron, but he can deal. I can't.

Yet here I stand next to a drunk as fuck Regina in the Heron's kitchen. It's not a holiday or anything. Cady just wanted to throw a banger so Cady threw a banger. 

Gretchen was around here somewhere. Aaron was in the living room and Cady was running frantically through the house multitasking taking shots and stopping drunk teenagers from wrecking her house. Damian stayed home with the common sense he's been blessed with. 

I should be with him but Regina convinced me to come. And hey, it's Cady's house. At least I know I won't be dealing with Shane Omen or anything.

"Isn't this fun?!" Regina asks gripping my arm. As always shes wasted an hour in. To be fair, so are most people here. I think Cady was already drunk when we arrived. 

"Yeah, this is tits." I say sarcastically, watching Cady do cheers with a random classmate and down whatever was in that red solo cup. 

I was tipsy too, don't get me wrong. I'm not putting myself through a highschool party totally sober, but I wasn't wasted as fuck like the girl next to me. 

"Huh, where is Gretchen?" Regina calls over the music. 

"How should I know? She's not my giant."

Regina begins texting on her phone, clearly struggling to do so coherently. 

My own phone dings and for a second I think she may have accidentally texted me but its a message from Aaron. 

"Come to the living room." I read out loud. "It's Aaron." I explain once Regina shoots me a confused glance. 

"Well, how the fuck does he expect us to get there?" Regina asks. "Can't just walk!" She's theatrically throwing her hands around and I can't help but laugh. 

Cady walks into the kitchen, leaning against the counter we're at, looking incredibly stressed. "My house is going to be in flames by the end of the night." She mumbles.

"Hey, Cady?" I ask walking over to her. "Think you can take me to Aaron?"

Cady hums in agreement, watching a group of teens push each other around a couple feet away. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you want Janis. Just- give me a moment."

She walks over to the boys and says something to them, I can't hear what they're saying but they stop roughhousing.

Cady walks back over, a stressed smile on her face. "What did you want?"

"Aaron texted me. I nee-"

"Hold that thought, Janis." Cady holds a finger out before walking away again. 

I sigh, looking back to Regina. "You hear from Gretchen? She might be our best bet."

Not that I trusted a drunk Gretchen. I also promised Damian I'd stick with Cady in hopes to minimalize the risk of being dropped. But I don't see much choice right now. 

"Nope," Regina pops the 'p', wobbling up and stepping over to me. "I like your hair today!" She grabs a strand and twirls it between her finger. "You're so pretty. You know that right?"

Regina has two levels of drunk. A bit tipsy and cliche white girl wasted. There's no in-between and it's abundantly clear where she's at right now.

"Right," Cady walks back over with a sigh. "What did you two want?"

"Oh, if it's not too much because you look kinda busy right now- could you take us to the living room? Aaron wants to talk with us-" My voice trails off as it becomes apparent that Cady isn't listening. She's glancing around the house while simultaneously taking long sips from her red solo cup. "Cady."

"What?" She glances down at us. "Oh, sorry. You were sayi-"

"Cady Heron!" A voice calls from the crowd. 

I groan in frustration as Cady walks away without even saying bye to us. 

Yes, I know its Cady's house party and she needs to watch out for her property, but Jesus is it so hard to pay attention to your friends?

"Still no Gretchen," Regina says. "I tried calling twice."

Cady walks back over with a grin. "Sorry. Sorry." Her phone dings and she pulls it out. "What did you need, Janis."

"For you to pay attention," I say, not bothering to hide the mild annoyance in my voice.

"Yeah, I get it. The same thing happened to me," Cady replies dully before gasping. "Who's posting my parent's bedroom on their private story! Upstairs is off-limits!" She runs back into the crowd.

I groan pulling out my phone to tell Aaron we may be a while.

"She's not paying attention." Regina points out.

"No, really."

It's not long before Cady is once again, making her way back to us. "False alarm." She chuckles. "Now. What did you two need again?"

"Can you take us to A-"

"Put that down! If that breaks you're getting billed!" Cady interrupts me, yelling at some people in the next room.

"Cady!" I yell, throwing my hands out in exasperation. "Pay attention, god damn it!"

"Jesus, Janis. Needy much?" Cady teases. 

"Yeah! I am! I'm fucking small and would like assistance but you keep running off!"

"Yeah!" Regina cheers from behind me. "What's going on?"

Cady scowls. "You try throwing a fucking party, Janis. I have better things to do right now."

"Better things to do than care about the well being of your friends?" 

I know Cady is drunk and probably isn't explaining her emotions the best right now. That or she's being one hundred percent honest because that's what happens when you're wasted. Just look at Regina.

"Yeah, Janis! Believe it or not, my world doesn't revolve around you."

"Actually, Damian put you in charge of Janis. To ignore her would be destroying his trust." Regina says, leaning onto me for support.

Cady shrugs. "And if my house gets wrecked I'm destroying my parent's trust."

"Listen, Cady! This doesn't need to be a fight! I just need help getting to A-"

"Janis I can't put all my attention on you all the time! It's not my fault you're in love with me or som-" Cady cuts herself off.

I already got the gist of it.

Regina gasps from somewhere behind me as I freeze.

"Janis-" Cady reaches forward but I step back. 

"No."

"Janis I'm so sorry I-"

"Don't touch me." I push her hand away and Cady lets it fall to her side. 

"I didn't mean it."

I think back to my 'people are more honest when they're drunk' thought. How come Cady only said these things when wasted? It clearly meant she believed those words to an extent. 

"Janis please-" Cady raises her hand again.

"I said, don't touch me!" 

There are tears in my eyes at this point. Arms wrap around me as Regina hugs me from behind. 

"I want to leave." I whisper. 

Regina nods into my shoulder. "I'll try calling Gretchen again."

I look up at Cady, whos standing there frozen, regret all over her face. "Janis," Her voice is barely audible over the party. 

"Save it." I snap. I'm not going to let the tears fall. Not again. Not over her. I cried over Regina and I said I wouldn't cry over Cady. But I did.

I sure as hell won't do it again.

"Oh thank god you picked up, Gretchen." Regina lets go of me to step away and talk on the phone. 

Gretchen, Regina, and I were all supposed to stay at Cady's for a sleepover. We would help her clean up the house and deal with hangovers together in the morning. But the last thing I want to do right now is stick around Cady. 

Having your sexuality thrown at you as an insult has a strangely sobering effect. Guess you can learn new things even in the worst of times. 

I'm pushing back the need to cry to the point where I'm feeling sick. I mean, puking my guts out would really just be a great way to end the night, huh? Anything other than cry over this. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me three times, twice with the same girl? Guess that's on me for being a dumbass. 

Gretchen walks into the room. "Hey," She says tentatively. "I'm just here for Regina and Janis."

Cady steps to the side silently. 

Gretchen holds her hand out, waiting for Regina and I to climb on. I'm not thrilled with the idea of a drunk Gretchen carrying me, but at least she won't turn my sexuality into an insult. 

Gretchen pulls us to her chest and turns to Cady. "I don't fully know what went on, but Regina and I probably aren't going to stay the night. If you need help cleaning up tomorrow I'll swing by but I think everyone has had a bit too much tonight and we all need to take a step back." 

Since when was Gretchen the reasonable thinker?

Cady nods, looking everywhere but me.

Regina's arms are back, pulling me into her for a hug. I don't fight it, I'm too occupied trying to keep tears at bay. I text Aaron saying we were leaving and the check up on Cady. Just like last time, even though she went for the lowest blow she could, I still care about her. 

Maybe that's why I keep getting hurt.

Gretchen steps outside. "I'm obviously not driving."

"Yeah," I whisper. There's instantly one person in my mind I know I can call.

But-

I don't want to worry him over something like this. It's my fault I keep getting into these situations. It's on me. It's late, I don't want to have to wake him up.

But he wouldn't want Gretchen to drive, I know that much.

As if she can sense my inner turmoil, Regina's hand runs up and down my arm. "You wouldn't be annoying him, you know."

My phone rings, making both of us jump. Gretchen laughs at the sudden movement in her hand.

It's Damian.

"Wow, you guys really do have soulmate intuition." Regina giggles. 

I elbow her and pick up the phone, trying to sound as normal as possible. "Damian, what's up?"

"I just got off the phone with Cady."

Why did he call Cady? What?

As if he knew my questions, Damian continues. "She called me because she said so,e things and wanted me to make sure you were okay. Do you, Regina, and Gretchen need a ride?"

"You don't need to, it's late you probably want to go to bed and-"

"Janis. I didn't ask what you think I wanted to do. I'm asking if you have somebody sober coming to pick you up?"

There's a long pause. "No." I say quietly.

"I'm on my way." Damian doesn't sound mad or annoyed that he has to come, much to my relief.

I nod, forgetting her can't see me, and lower the phone from my ear.

"Damian's coming." I say to Gretchen as the line clicks dead.

There's a lot of questions in my head. Why did Cady say those things to me at the party, again? Why did Cady call Damian? Why does it hurt more each time? All of my questions go largely unanswered. 

Gretchen sits on Cady's front steps. 

We can still hear the party going on inside, people cheering and music blasting. I feel bad for dragging Regina and Gretchen away from the party. I know it's their scene.

"I thought I was gonna be sick in there," Gretchen admits. "Kinda glad for an excuse to get fresh air. Just wish the excuse wasn't because of-" She glances back inside. 

"Yeah." I say slowly.

Regina has since let go of me and the cold winter air is a lot more apparent. Why throw a party in the winter? A high school party is just an excuse to wear skimpy dresses and minimal clothing. Why not do it in the summer or something. 

I look down at my own dress. Regina insisted I wear one but she couldn't get rid of my fishnets and jacket. You couldn't really tell it was a form-fitting black dress due to my baggy jacket yet I still felt uncomfortable. I tugged at the bottom in a vain attempt to make the dress longer. 

"I hate parties."

Regina giggles from next to me in her pink rubber dress. I don't understand how she could walk around like that. Her dress was even shorter than mine. 

Regina and Gretchen chat while we wait for Damian. I don't contribute to the conversation, I barely even listen. I'm too lost in my thoughts, trying to figure out why Cady would do this to me. 

Again.

It isn't until a familiar car pulls up that I properly tune into the real world. Damian doesn't even wait for Gretchen to walk over, he's already out of his car and making his was over. I cringe at the worried look on his face, knowing it's my fault. He's wearing his denim jacket and its wrapped tightly around him in an attempt to fight the cold air.

"Hey." He says softly. "Mind if it?" He motions to me but directs the question to Gretchen. Gretchen holds out her hand and Damian lifts me up, mindful of Regina.

"I assume you're taking Regina back to your place?" Damian asks Gretchen.

"I think so."

"Let me text my mom to let her know, but yeah." Regina says, pulling out her phone. 

Damian nods, holding me close to his chest and walking to his car. "Janis, do you want to go home or-"

"Can I stay with you?" I ask tentatively. Cady was annoyed with me for asking too much, was everyone else too? I knew I wasn't overstepping boundaries to ask to stay with Damian, but deep down I felt like I was.

"Of course." Damian says warmly. Both him and Gretchen step in the car. It's warmer in here because of the heater. Damian slips me wordlessly into his jacket pocket where I sink down, not even bothering to join in this conversation. Damian taps the pocket before starting the car. He and Grethen talk in hushed voices and I can occasionally make out Regina saying a word or two. 

I think Regina is telling them about what happened but I don't contribute.

"You could see it on her face as soon as she said it that she regretted it."

"Then why did she say it?" Gretchen whispered.

"When she called me," They were all whispering, but Damian's voice was obviously clearer. "She told me about how much she wished she could take it back. I told her that yeah, the first time was fucked up, but Janis still accepted her apology. And that was a big step for Jan. The more she says it, the harder and harder the apology will be to accept."

"Mhmm."

They talk more, but the conversations are about little thing so I don't pay attention much. The car stops and I poke my head out of the pocket to say bye to Regina and Gretchen. They both wave and Damian watches to make sure they get inside before pulling off.

"So," He says. "Talk to me, Jan. I know you don't like to, but please do it for me."

I sink back into the pocket slightly, leaning my head over the lip of the pocket. 

"I feel shitty."

Damian hums knowingly. He waits for me to say more but doesn't push it. Just, a quiet opportunity to add more if I wanted to.

I didn't.

"When I got the call-" Damian sighed, turning onto his road, his voice filling up the silence in the car. I didn't mind, sinking into the pocket but still paying attention. "I didn't know how to feel. I thought it showed a level of matuirty that Cady wanted me to check up on you, but I think an even bigger sign of maturity should be to not do it in the first place. But- it's not about what I think. It's about if you're okay. Which you don't have to be right now, but you can talk to me. You know that."

"Yeah, I do." 

Damian pulls into his driveway and turns off the car. "I love you, Janis." He says, unbuckling himself. "I don't know why this keeps happening to you but no matter what happens I'll be there."

Damian scoops me out of his pocket as he closes the car door behind him. He brings his hand up to his shoulder and I take the hint climbing on. 

We make our way through the Hubbard household and into his room. Damian must be able to tell that I don't want to talk right now, because he talks about a bunch of random things from today's sunset to his new favorite broadway show. I don't contribute to the conversation and he doesn't expect me too. It's just nice to hear his voice and to concentrate on that, instead of the thoughts in my head.

Damian pulls out a small box that I recognize and gently brings me to his desk. He places the box on the table and lets me open it. 

"I'm sure you don't want to go to bed in your party outfit."

It's a small box of all clothes I have left at the Hubbard in the past either intentional or by accident. I pull out a pair of sweatpants and an old band t-shirt, the album cover long faded. 

"I'll be in the bathroom getting ready for bed, holler if you need me." Damian smiles before ducking out of the room.

Even when I hit my lows, my relationship with Damian doesn't change.

Yeah, I wasn't feeling very talkative tonight, can you blame me? Yet Damian didn't mind. He filled the quiet void himself. I smiled to myself as I began changing. Damian was always there when I needed him and he always knew what I needed in order to help. 

I don't deserve him. 

Did he ever get annoyed? Cady clearly did. I mean, I ask Damian for help a lot more often than I ask Cady. I bet it got irritating. He was probably about to get ready for bed before Cady called. And then he had to get up and leave the house because of me.

I'd be a little annoyed. I don't blame him.

God and now I'm making it worse by being here for the night. 

I should have just gone home and dealt with my thoughts like a normal person. Me being here and me being such a mess isn't fair on Damian.

He deserves better.

There's a knock at the door as I finish slipping on my shirt. "I'm done!" I call, making sure my voice travels.

Damian steps into the room and the knot in my stomach tightens because I don't deserve him. And he deserves better. 

I haven't cried about Cady yet. And I won't. I can't. Not again. Besides, it will worry Damian more and that's the last thing I want right now. 

Damian crosses the room, sitting down at his desk. 

"Hey." He says softly.

"Hi." 

Damian's hand comes up to cup around me gently and I allow myself to lean back into the warmth.

"Tell me what's going on in that head of yours, Jan." He prompts gently.

"I feel stupid," I say. "Like maybe I should have seen this coming. Regina changed, why didn't Cady? Why is it that every time she's drunk that's the lowest blow she can think of. It's not even the words that hurt anymore, its the fact that Cady said it. Literally anybody else at that party could have said it and I'd be fine. But Cady said it. And it hurts."

I cut myself off when I feel the tears sting at my eyes again. 

I already feel guilty about asking for help all the time. I already feel like a nuisance- being tiny and all. I didn't need Cady to solidify the thought that I was just an inconvenience to everyone.

"All I did was ask for help." I whisper, looking down.

It's quiet for a while. The silence almost feels too loud. 

"Jan," I look up at Damian who also looks like he is about to cry. "Asking for help is never a bad thing. Ever."

"But, she-"

"No. Janis." Damian's voice is soft but stern. "We don't know what was going through Cady's head but that doesn't make what she said okay. Please promise me you'll ask for help when you need it. Even if you never ask anyone but me, promise me you won't try and do things on your own when you know people are willing to help."

I take a shuddered breath, still trying to hold the tears in. "Okay."

Damian smiles but laced with worry. "C'mere."

His fingers close gently around me as he draws me in. I grip onto his t-shirt, letting myself fall against his chest. "You're so strong, you know that, right?" 

"I'm no-"

"I don't know anyone as brave as you." Damian continues without letting me deny anything. "To go through this so many times and still put a smile on your face? I'm so proud of you."

Damian gets up and walks over to his bed, placing me down on the pillow before walking around his room, turning off all lights.

I can ignore everyone's calls and texts for now, but school is going to be a bitch on Monday. Facing Cady is going to be a bitch on Monday. 

A hand scoops me up at Damian lays down, placing me on his chest. His hand rests over me and I can't help but smile.

Yeah, Cady may see me and nothing more than a liability. Just another annoying thing to watch over, but Damian doesn't. Damian has proved time and time again that he cares and will continue to care.

Yeah, Cady's words hurt. A lot. But she didn't speak for every giant I know. 

"Night, Janis," Damian says softly. "Love you."

"I love you too."

Cady had a lot of explaining to do come Monday. And even then, I'm in no rush to accept her apology. Because no matter what happens, I have Damian. 

I always have.

And I always will. 

lmao i told bear i wanted to write giant damian and tiny janis and im fully aware i could have just written like 500 words of fluff but like- this is so much more fun @realmisspolarbear @musicallygt @sourishlemons @smallsoysauce

[geekygoddesss]

Ex’s and sticky situations

Luke 

Here’s a myth I bet you didn’t know, musicians life isn't always as glamorous as movies and magazines want us to believe. It is a stinking lie and right now in this particular moment this is one of the lies I wish I could uncover from the media, even if it was impossible because studio days were hard and stressing and I was living that stress live and on first row.

It was the very start of spring and that could only mean he had to go back to business whether he wanted or not, which was not much of a problem since he enjoyed what he does, thank god, it was the start of the new season and his new album was coming together, he was excited about it and even when there was a ton of hard work surrounding him, he was having fun.

But of course, there was always going to be some days that weren’t so fun, like for example, this one, where Luke dragged the short stick and now we had to buy lunch for everyone (which meant a lot of people) and he wasn’t so thrilled about it. Rules were rules though and today it’s his turn.

We drove all the way to downtown Los Angeles to the same old restaurant they liked to get food in and got food enough to feed a village, that only took us about an hour and a half, now driving back to the studio was another story, which was slower than expected thanks to traffic and now we were finally at the studio to our final task, loading off all of the food from his car trunk, that was going to be interesting.  

At first I thought the wisest decision of them all was to prioritize what kind of foods mattered the most and according to that carry everything in some kind order so we might finish earlier, but sometimes he could be a little impatient and didn’t love my idea, but there wasn’t much he could do so he went in with it.

I watched him organized the bags into stacks as I stand back and waited for him to ask for my help, I looked around, took in the fresh weather from Los Angeles and tried to take my mind to a quiet and calm place where stress was not a thing at all.

I looked back to the entrance of the place and something immediately caught my attention (or should I say, someone?). I’ve seen that face in pictures before, but tried to not remember it since the picture of that face was always associated with something bad and ugly.

“ Luke?” I ask, turning to look at him as he pushes some of the bags in my direction.

“What’s up?” He asks in a soft tone, picking up his stack in his arms.

I nod, lowering my tone and saying “Look behind you, act natural” I command, going to pick my stack up.

He looks back just a little, takes a good look and turns back around, his mouth widening right after.

“Isn’t that your ex?” I ask softly, gripping the box of food under my hood.

“I think so” he says, turning to look again “Wow” I mimic him just to check it out better, but the second I do that he is panicking and mumbling soft “Turn Turn turn” as he turns his look right to the trunk of his car again.

I turn back, my eyes widening at his sudden panic “Why is she here?” I ask, not understanding her presence here at all.

“I don’t know, I thought I take her name off the list, I don’t know why anyone let her in” he said in clear annoyance as he looked down at the stuff in his arms “Oh man, are we supposed to get in now?” he said in annoyance.

I understood his sudden stress, just the thought of facing her was painful not only for him but also for me, because even if I didn’t know her at all, I knew how much of a handful it was and how messy it could get. “We have lunch”  I shrugged innocently “I’m sure it won’t be that bad, let’s just walk right in”  

He sighs a tired sigh in rendition, if we really think about it, there is really no other way for us to get in, the only real option we had to get inside that studio was through that door and right now it was only on us to hope for the best and pray she doesn’t notice us.

So that is exactly what we do. We grab our stuff and make our way inside without looking around much, that would grab too much attention towards us, walking fast and not talking between us, just making sure our way was clear so it was faster, but things couldn’t just go the way we wanted to because right when he opened the door for me, we heard it, the sound of the devil herself.

“Luke?” said that voice that instantly stressed me out. “Oh, Jesus” Luke sighed looking back and putting on a small smile on his face as he turned and said  “Hello” She was smiling, walked past me and took the liberty to hug him. “Hi!” she cheered, pressing herself to him “I haven’t seen you in so long! How are you? How’s Petunia?” she asked, making those typical small talk questions we all hated. “I’m good everything is great!” he said, making his best to be nice to her  “What are you doing here?”

I want to slap myself in the face, he couldn’t be more obvious, he had to answer the one question he had in mind and know what the hell was she thinking on coming here.

“I have a friend working here, he invited me to check out some tunes” She answered, taking a step back from my boyfriend as she spoke.

“Oh really?” he said in surprise “I didn’t know you know about music”

“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me” she said teasingly, clearly with the whole intention to annoy him.

I am standing there as a clear shadow for both of them because since the moment she saw him, I have been standing behind him and no one has noticed my presence here. I am a ghost to them.

“Luke” I say trying to catch his attention and drag him out of this, we both know this is uncomfortable for both of us.

he turns to me but for my luck, she does too and finally I am not as invisible as I thought I was, but still, this was uncomfortable, no one likes a weird encounter with anyone's ex-girlfriend. that girl, Arzaylea I think her name is. She is pointing at me now and smiling “You’re the new girlfriend”

Busted

I smile too and totally blush as I answer “I am, hello”

“Hi!” she cheers again and goes to hug me. I don’t want to seem rude, so I take the hug as I can since my arms are full of things. She takes a step back looks at me up and down and says “You’re not bad”

“I get better each time” I smile proudly.

Her smile doesn’t go away, but she clearly ruins the whole moment as she turns back and says “I’m glad someone laid an eye on you, not like you aren’t good looking, but I think you know what I’m talking about”

My smile is wiped away, that was a really rude thing to say and we all know that, but I was betting that she was dying to say it.

“No I don’t know what you’re talking about” Luke said with a fake smile as he fixed the boxes in his arms and opened the door for me “I’m glad someone else felt in that dumb trap, I think I’m smart to know I won’t be that guy ever again”

I caught his sign immediately and the moment he opened the door for me I was slipping through it, so we could get going now.

”Right, you act like what you did never happened” she said, now her smile going away and being replaced with a very annoyed look.

“It did not happen, you know that very well” Luke defended yourself and what was right, because right now we both knew what really happened with us.

I just felt like I had to step in, he could not be fighting this one alone “Can you please stop talking to him? I think we all know who’s right and who’s wrong here, so if you want to make him feel like trash, you can go the other way, we don’t want to hear it” I say, nodding to Luke to get in so we could go.

“Right, honey, I feel sorry for you” She said to me with a pitiful smile “At least I won’t be the one doing as your maid all day”

“At least I’m not bitching around all day” I said fighting her back, already having enough of her bullshit.

“We should really get in now” Luke finally said, walking back to get in the room, putting an end to the conversation  “it was weird to meet you again, please don’t come back” “Likewise” she said now annoyed, starting to walk away. “See you never” he yelled, hoping she heard. “Hopefully” she yelled back, finally going away and leaving us alone.

That was really weird.

I turned to look at my boyfriend, who was now closing his eyes tight and breathing heavily in annoyance. This girl just got out the worst in him and now that we had this little encounter, he seemed to be genuinely affected by it.

“I am stressed now” he announced, shaking his head.

I tried to not seem like I pity him, but right when I heard that, I couldn’t help to kiss his cheek and say “Sorry baby”

This was the first time I ever talked to this woman in my life and I see it was just as stressful as people told me it was. I don’t blame him for feeling like this, it sucks.

Hopefully, we won’t see her ever again, because she is one hell of an annoying person.

Calum

I knocked on the door twice, praying that I was on the right house because I have been walking for way too long and I was really tired and wishing to get over with this.

Calum has been on tour for nearly two months and a half, I didn’t mind it at all, in fact I thought it was just fantastic, but sometimes, you would think that having him on tour would mean that he has everything under control, but that was completely wrong because apparently, he doesn’t.

In the middle of my week, I got a call asking for me to go pick up his dog from his ex’s house and sit him until Calum was back, which was fairly unexpected and it totally caught me off guard. I barely had time to take care of myself and now I had to take care of little Duke too.

I have walked the entire city, to get in here, so when the door was open in front of me, I couldn’t help but crack a smile on my face, this meant I could go back home sooner now.

“Hello” the person behind the door, opening it for me and revealing herself.

She was small, a lot smaller than me, her hair was short, dark and her eyes were big and her smile was actually really beautiful. I think I know why Calum liked her so much, this must be the famous Kate.

“Hi! I’m (Y/n)” I say, introducing myself just in case “the doggy sitter” I point out, finding it to be the most suiting title at the moment.

She smiled, nodded to me and said “You’re cal’s girlfriend” she pointed, waving at me and opening the door “Come in, Duke’s in here somewhere”

I blush, step back a little and stutter with a smile “Oh don’t worry I can wait here”

“uh, are you sure?” she asked, leaning on the door frame just a little “I don’t know where he is, he likes sleeping around in random places, it might take me a second to find him” she said with a shrug, opening the door a lot more and grabbing my hand “Come in”  

She made me walk in the house, I was not planning on doing that but I couldn’t really object by now. It felt wrong to get in her house right now, but since she was insisting, I might as well just do it.

“Thanks” I said shyly, walking inside the house and looking around the place. It was a really nice house.

I take my jacket off and let it hang on my arm, it’s really hot inside. I follow her lead as she walk inside because standing in the middle of the living room did not seem like the best option.

“Do you want some water? You look exhausted” she mentioned, walking us in the kitchen and turning to look at me shortly as she spoke.

“Yes, please, sorry” I nodded desperately as I heard the name ‘water’  “My car broke and I had to walk here, I forgot how far it was” I shortly explained.

“Oh no, are you alright?” She asked me, a worried expression in her face as she spoke.

She opens the fridge door and lets me take sit in one of the multiple chairs around. My mouth basically waters when she pulls out one big jar of cold water, I’ve been walking for so long, I needed this.

“Yeah, it was just a small failure, I didn’t get it out of the garage” I shrugged. She poured the clear liquid in a glass and pass it on to me, I didn’t even think about it twice, I was drinking out of it as soon as she passed it on to me “Do you have a leash? I couldn’t find one at home” I asked before I forgot about it.

She nodded smiled to me and said “Yeah, Cal gave me one, hold on” she said, walking to the other side of the room and digging in one of the cabinets.

In no time she was passing onto me that blue leash I have seen Calum use before, I guess this is why I couldn’t find one before.

She stopped in track, looked at me up and down and saying.

“You are really pretty” she complimented with a small sincere smile on his face. “I see why he likes you so much”

I can’t help but blush, even when I appreciate her compliment, I thought talking about his night be a sensitive topic.  “Aw, thank you” I say, drinking from my water, feeling a bit of tension in me to then say “Sorry if I am bothering, I’ll just grab the dog and go”

I don’t know why I felt like this, but it was completely uncomfortable for me to be standing in the same room as her, even when I knew she and Calum never really ended thing In bad terms, it was still a little weird for me to talk about him or keep up a conversation with her knowing all the backstory she had with my boyfriend before, it just made me feel weird. I feel strange in this house.

“Don’t worry about it” she said, shrugging it off, not really minding all of this. She stopped talking for a second, sighed and leaned in on the kitchen counter and she said “Is Calum doing great?”

It takes me a good second to answer. I nod “He’s good, yeah, a little sick though, I think he went out without a jacket back in Italy and caught a cold” I explain a little.

That might be a little too much information but it just came out of me naturally. Those were facts though.

“Oh no” she said, shaking her head  “I can't even be surprised by now, really, when we were dating I would always tell him about it and he never listened to me” Kate chuckled at the memory.

“Tell me about it” I laughed back because with me it was pretty much the same stuff “I always carry an extra jacket in my bag, He always ends of complaining about a scratchy throat or stuffy nose and I try to evict that”

She smiled and pointed at me “Smart” she nodded “He’s stubborn sometimes isn’t he?”

“Yeah, that’s just typical him” I chuckled. I was slightly exalted when I felt something touch my leg and smiled when I looked down and saw that little ball of fur I was waiting for “hey buddy” I cheered, leaning down and picking him up “I’m going to go now” I announced once I had him “thanks for the water”

“Alright” she said with a smile as she walked me to the door. “I’ll see you around, it’s nice to meet you”

“Likewise” I say with all honesty. I accepted that second hug she went in, waved as I made my way out “Bye Bye” was the last thing I said before I made my way home.

In my honest opinion, I do see why she liked it so much and I do not understand why I felt so intimidated by her in the first place, it seemed like the both of us could make a great friendship, but that is not how things work, Ex-Girlfriends are ex-girlfriends.

One thing was for sure though, not all of them were bad. 

Michael

The music over the club was blasting and outside it was already getting more and more lately as Michael glanced at the clock, he was exhausted ms certainly not in the mood for any parties but today did not seem to be his day at all.

He’s been walking around the club for the fifth time tonight and he could not find his girlfriend anywhere, it was like she vanished, she went in for Drink and completely disappeared at the worst time ever, he just wanted to go home and have a good sleep.

“Have you seen (y/n)?” He asked around as he bumped around familiar faces all over the place “I can't find her” he would justify every time even with it was obvious already.

He would say this each time, but it was not only that, but it was also a mixture of.  “hey have you seen a girl, this tall and wearing this white dress? No?” And if he felt necessary to remark the unnecessary details, such as “Hey! Have you seen a girl this tall, white dress and totally drunk? she has a curfew” the last one was totally a lie but if it helped in something he would take it.

Thank god it only took him about an hour and a half to finally see that face he was looking for and as soon as he saw and heard that voice of her, he was immediately walking to her direction and hoping it would not be so hard to convince her to get out of here, because she looked like she was having fun and he hated to steal her thunder.

.”I love that song!” She yelled over the music, talking to some other girl in front of her.

“Me too” said the girl on her front.

Michael stopped in track as soon as he heard that, for a second thought he might be hallucinating because right in front of her was the last person he thought she would find around and she was laughing along with her. This was too weird for her.

“Isn’t it so amazing?” (Y/n) asked with a voice full of excitement “Do you like the band?” She asked.

“Are you kidding? They’re the best!” The girl pointed out and right before she could continue, Michael felt like it was the right thing to step in, so he did.

He just walked in, slipped his hand around her waist and kissed her cheek. Smooth.

“Hey! Michael!” Said (Y/n) totally yelling super loud and jumping to hug him close “Where were you?” She asked, raising up an eyebrow in clear question.

“Where were you? I've been looking for you everywhere” he asked, letting her hug herself to him in one tight hug and kissing his cheek back.

She was about to say something, but they couldn’t completely ignore the elephant in the room.

Crystal, his ex, was right there standing in front of them with an awkward smile on her face. She took a step forward, put a smile on her face and decided to make herself noticeable.

“Michael!” She said with a cheer “ What at a surprise”

“Crystal” he said, pretending to be surprised and walking in for a very short hug “Oh my gosh, hi! How are you?”

“I’m good I’m doing really good” she chuckled, hugging quickly to then point out “So you are his…”

“Girlfriend” (y/n) completed, hugging him in the way she always did and pressing her body into him.

“You’ve meet” Michael said in surprise “woah, this is awkard” he chuckled, rubbing on the back of his neck.

(Y/n) seemed fairly lost though, she seemed to be very confused about why they have known each other before.

“Why?” She asked in curiosity “You know each other?” She said, pointing at the two people standing in front of her.

He panicked “Well, we used to… you know” Michael said nervously  “date”

Crystal nodded, not denying it nor seeming to be affected by any of it, she looked like she was genuinely happy to see him when on the other hand, Michael was really nervous.

“Huh” (Y/n) said with a nod “Well that’s a coincidence”

Michael sighed “Yeah” he mumbles as he grabbed her hand and announced “we have to go, I’m sorry to cut you guys off but it’s getting late”

Crystal didn’t really seem bothered by it, she just smiled and waved it off “That’s alright, it was nice to meet you and really nice to see you again”

Michael smiles back, dragged his girlfriend behind him and waved as he said his goodbye “We’ll see you later” he announced and started to completely Leave the room.

This was awkward as hell.

(Y/n) did not really had any time to even say goodbye though, she was so drunk a so lost that right now everything was moving way too fast for her drunk head to process it all, she needed the world to slow down.

Before she could even notice, she was standing in the parking lot and being still dragged by Michael, who walked way too fast for her liking.

“Wow” She said, talking for the first time in a while and  trying to keep up with him “Why didn’t I know about your ex?”

He shrugged, not really giving it too importance “I don’t know, I don’t really talk about her”

Her head cocked to the side “Why not?” She asked “She’s really nice, Why didn’t you tell me she was so nice?”

He chuckled, kissed the back of her hand and simply said “It’s weird to explain” he shrugged to then say in a teasing tone “and you’re drunk”

Her eyes narrowed at his sudden tease “I’m not drunk you are”

He laughed and shook his head, hugging her close “Whatever you say beautiful” he pointed out, kissing the crown of her head.

She didn’t care what Michael said or thought, In her honest opinion, she thought Crystal was such a nice person, ex-girlfriend or not, she really wanted to know more about her and was already starting to wonder if she would ever see her again, because maybe this weird coincidence could be the start of a nice friendship.

Ashton

“Ashton” I called around the house for what felt the 20th time, raising my voice more than before to hopefully get an answer from him soon, because right now I was just desperate.  

I ran around the big house trying to get a hold of my boyfriend, but I was not thinking straight and could barely think about something with complete sense as a million thoughts rushed my mind.

I heard laughs coming from the basement, the last place where I would have thought to look but somehow the one that made the most sense, he had practice today, of course, he would be there of all places.

I ran all the way there, I didn’t care if I was interrupting anything, this was important and I needed to talk to him as soon as possible.

I open the door and call his name again, not really waiting for him to give me the green light to come in, I just make my way down the stairs and the moment I see his face behind the set of drums in the room I am already finding my words and making myself noticeable.

“Ash” I call him again, walking up to him and asking softly “Can we talk for a second?”

I see a frown appear on his face at the sight of my worried face, he sets his drumsticks down “Are you Alright?” he asks, getting up from the stool. I don’t say anything, I just grab his hand, drag him away from his previous place and from everyone. This was important.

His eyes widen at my sudden reaction and he turns to his bandmates immediately and says  “Okay uh, sorry guys” he excuses as I drag him to the corner of the room.

I know it is not the most private place, but right now I didn’t care about privacy, I just wanted to know what the hell was happening because I was really confused and needed answers immediately.

“What's going on?” he asked softly watching me as I shake my head and try to calm my panic  “Are you Alright?” he asks me, reaching to caress my cheek softly.

“I think something is wrong” I say, blinking away my fear and handing him my phone, which hasn't stopped vibrating since ten minutes ago  “my phone is blowing up I don’t know why”

He is looking at me weird now, I just hope I didn’t sound crazy.

“What do you mean?” he said, grabbing the phone but before I could take my hand away he grabs it, held it in his and laced our fingers together “Babe, your hand is shaking”

“I know!” I snap out of the blue, he seems exalted by it and frowns when I take my hand away “Sorry, this makes me nervous, okay? This is really weird I just thought-“ I tried to say but I could barely speak, this was so strange “Can you look for me?” I asked softly.

Because maybe this would be a little better if he took a look first and then told me, I was too confused, I didn’t want to overthink this more than I already was.

“Of course” he nodded, raising up my phone in his hand and unlocking it with his fingerprints. He takes a look, it is still blowing up with notifications from my twitter account, which was already weird in the first place “okay…” he says softly, now looking more into it.

His face is normal at first, then he frowns, he presses his lips together, holds in a curse between his lips and then shakes his head saying “shit” he lets out, looking closer to the screen and then up at me, I was biting my nails in desperation, I just wanted to know what’s up.

“sorry uh” he apologizes as he rubs the back of his neck in stress “Crap” he curses again.

“What? What is it?” I said in a small panic.

Again, he doesn’t say much, he just looks at me again and before saying something relevant, he mumbles a small “Hold on” to then go and talk to his friends.

“Guys! Did you see this?” He calls out, not taking his look off the phone as he walks more in the room  “Caitlyn is writing bullshit on twitter and putting our names everywhere” he says in disbelief, passing the phone to one of them to see as he spoke.

I freeze in place. I see what’s happening now. His ex-girlfriend is trashing us all over the media and not only that but he’s writing my name and his in everything, that explains a lot.

“I'm actually reading that now” Calum says from the other side of the room as he scrolls something on his own device. “You should call her right now” he advised, looking up at his friend with a not so happy look on his face.

“Damn right I will” Ashton groans, passing the phone to me as he walks upstairs, barely talking to me or anything. He was mad now. “This is crazy” it’s what he says as he goes upstairs, barely saying a thing.

This was not totally helping at all to my initial confuse, I was still a little lost after all.

“What’s going on?” I ask the other guys who were clearly more informed than I was.

They don’t say much, all they do is tell me to look for myself and give me a name, so I do it, I look for it and make my best to have a panic attack at the moment because what I saw was not pretty at all.

My name was written all around.

She has mentioned me in every comment and my boyfriend, saying the most horrible lies and ugly things I have seen in a long time.

‘Ashton Irwin is an insensitive pig that plays with women if you really think he’s a good person, I feel sorry for you’

That was just the start of a thread of lies that came later, but I can’t describe it all without feeling the need to throw up, all I need to say is that there were a bunch of words that could hurt anyone way too easily. Starting with:

Cheater

Liar

Drug addict

He and his new slut make the perfect combination of snakes

They're disgusting.

And the list just went on. Everything was so horrible, rude and random, I could barely understand where this was all coming from, but whatever this was, none of this was true and she was just making up a scene, that was for sure.

So I don’t say anything else to them. I just run to Ashton, because when he has a temper it was better for him to be with someone than to be alone, he needed some kind of support right now.

It is not so hard so find him, because the moment I run upstairs, I hear his voice saying stuff of the backyard. For the first time in a long time I have heard this being this angry and stressed when talking over the phone and every word coming out of him was pure venom. He was beyond mad right now.

It hasn’t even been five minutes since he started that conversation and he was already so done with it. He was dropping his phone over the table in front of him and sitting down on the first sit he found, this was too much for him.

I walk up to him slowly, not meaning to disturb him or trigger something that would make him any more upset. He looks up at me the second I walk in, let’s out a harsh sigh, presses his forehead with his index finger and thumb and tries his best to drain out his anger.

I understand how he feels.

“She drives me insane” he confesses, as he lets me slowly walk to his side.

I nod “That’s okay” I say, sitting by his side and resting my hand on his shoulder “i know she isn’t speaking the truth in there, you know that too” I tell him, hopefully making him feel better “Don’t let her words get you”

He nods at my words, looks up to me and says “I try” he confesses  “I’m sorry, this is affecting you too if I could do anything-“

“I don’t care what she said” I said, shaking my head and before he could argue with me, I had to say something “Yeah it’s hard to have so many people calling me names but I guess why really matters here is that, I know what I am and at the end of the day, no one really knows me, they don’t know what they’re saying” I shrug, it was almost as if I was telling that to myself, because really, this was something that I had to fully understand “I’m fine and you are too, don’t let her in your head”

He shakes his head, leans into my side and with a heavy sigh he says “I told you she’s insane” he mumbles, letting me run my hand through his hair “how am I going to face this now?”

“Don't” I say in simple words “be bigger than her, ignore it”

He looks up at me shortly “You say like it’s easy” he says with a small chuckle, trying to find a positive side of it all “fine” he nods, rubbing his eyes with his hand in frustration “Man this was a bad minute”

I can’t help but crack a small smile. “I know” I say, kissing his forehead shortly “I love you”

He looks up at me, leans in to peck my lips and says “I love you more”

It’s almost like a confession like he is mouthing this in slow serious words so I can understand that he means this and he knows this is hard and he would be with me in this, all the way.

I know that and that’s why I love him so much.

We would go through this together and a lot more, because we’re a team and it was us against the world.

[thecorteztwins]

(Just a small thing for @awkward-snake-girl starring her OC Mattie with the Serpent Society again! No funny Fabian cameos this time, but someone else does show up! Connected to THIS and THIS fic! I know it’s mentioned in the latter that Monsoon met Black Mamba when he picked Haven up from the prison that she and Tanya were both at, and yet it comes off in this fic like they’re meeting for the first time. How do I explain this? I don’t! Because I don’t really care about continuity, JUST LIKE CANON MARVEL! ;D ) Mattie was hanging out at the house shared by Black Mamba, Asp, and Anaconda again. She had become a pretty common guest there; today she’d come over to deliver the new dancing costume she’d made for Asp---just because her clothes came off during her act didn’t mean they shouldn’t look beautiful!--but then stuck around just to chat and watch TV with the other ladies. “Man, I don’t get why he’s spending time with Sandra,” Blanche criticized the male lead, “Donna’s obviously the right gal for him, she gives him everything he needs.” “Not excitement,” Tanya explained, “Not adventure. And most importantly---not emotional support. Donna just puts food on the table. Sandra feeds his heart.” Blanche snorted, “Don’t think his heart is what he’s following here.” “Well, okay, that too,” said Tanya, “But can you blame him? The poor guy is just starved for a little romance.” “Yeah I’d blame him!” Blanche replied, “I’d bust his face!” “He shouldn’t be with Sandra if he’s with Donna,” Mattie semi-agreed, “He’s got to pick one or the other.” “Well, that is the point of the show,” said Cleo analytically, “Were he to choose too quickly, we would not have our full thirty minutes of salacious fantasy entertainment. Nor if he made the right choices in the first place.” “Can we watch the nature channel next?” Mattie requested, as more poor life decisions played out on screen. “Only if it’s no more snake shows,” Blanche said, “Yer startin’ to make me hate my own codename, I’ve had to hear it so much!” “Now Blanche, she is our guest,” said Tanya, “Though, Mattie...are you sure it’s REALLY the snakes you’re craving? Might they...represent something else? How long has it been since--” “Tanya!” Mattie shrieked, turning red, “No, I just really like snakes! Come on, you’re the Serpent Society, you should get that!” “Hey, don’t pigeonhole us,” Blanche replied, “We got diverse interests.” “I’m just saying,” Tanya continued as Cleo sighed with her fingers against her own forehead, “Women have needs too, and there’s nothing wrong with that. And if you need help meeting a man who can help, I can---” Her next words were lost in a gale of wind so strong that even from outside the house, the roar consumed all other sounds, rattling the windows and even causing the TV to shake. “Hey!” Blanche ejected, stretching out her super-elongated, super-muscular arms just in time to catch the television as it plummeted towards the floor from its sleek stand, “What’s with the freak storm?! S’Margaret Hamilton outside?”! That was when the door exploded in a million splinters. “RELEASE MISS MATTIE GRANGER!” a voice boomed from outside, yet there was no one on the doorstep...only the violently whipping wind.

“Come out and make me!” bellowed Anaconda, running out on the stoop, her fists clenched and ready to meet the face of whoever was doing this, just as soon as they showed it. “Up here, fiend!” called the voice from above. Anaconda accordingly looked up, as did Asp, Mamba, and Mattie, who had all come outside too. Levitating among the whipping wind was a tall, muscular Indian man with dark skin, a harsh face, and long wavy black hair. “Whoa, who ordered the beefcake?” Black Mamba quipped. “I don’t know, girls---but I’m hungry!” Anaconda answered, shooting out one of her extendable arms with a fist clenched at the end. “I do not wish to hurt you,” the man called over the winds as he dodged the blow, which was slowed by the force of the air itself, “I merely come to rescue Mattie---give her up, and you shall not be harmed this day.” “You know this man?” Asp asked. “I do!” said Mattie, embrassed at the situation, and yelled up, “Monsoon! Monsoon it’s okay!” “Mattie!” he yelled back, “Are you hurt?” “No! Monsoon, these are my friends! They didn’t kidnap me, we’re just hanging out!” “Oh,” The wind began to still, and he seemed to deflate, but then suddenly he tensed again, “Are they making you say that?!” The wind returned, stronger than ever and accompanied by warning rolls of thunder, and the three Serpent Society squad women were lifted into the air, even Anaconda, yet Mattie was left safely on the ground. “They have no power over you, Mattie!” “I know! They don’t! That’s why you can be sure I’m telling the truth, we really are just hanging out!” “We were watching TV, you dumb jerk!” Anaconda shouted. “Yeah you stupid hot gorgeous musclehead!” Black Mamba added. “It’s fine, Monsoon!” Mattie pleaded, “Please, put them down!” Monsoon looked at the women, his face blanching under his dark skin as he began to realize what he’d done. “Please, Monsoon, put them down!” Mattie repeated. “Yeah, put me down---so I can pummel ya! Bet you’re not so hot in a fair fight!” “Anaconda, I sincerely doubt stating your intentions honestly will incline him to---oh, thank you sir,” Asp cut herself off as she found her toes touching the ground again, Monsoon having settled them down with great care. He began to ask if they were hurt, and to apologize for the misunderstanding. Began to. Before one of Asp’s venom blasts hit him full in the chest. She was polite. It didn’t mean she wasn’t pissed. Monsoon, who had not yet descended himself, began falling like a rock. Mattie cried out, but Anaconda smirked, “Don’t worry, princess---Mama’s got him!” One of her elongated arms caught him halfway down...then slammed him into the pavement twice as hard as he would have hit it from merely falling. And then...then the other arm got involved, and they began to constrict him like two great snakes. “No!!” Mattie cried on, tugging on Blanche, though the bigger woman didn’t even notice. “Yeah, ‘Conda,” smirked Tanya, “It’s not fair for you to finish him off before I get my turn too!” “Please, no, he was just here to save me! And he didn’t hurt you guys!” Which is why we won’t kill him, said Asp, though that looked like a surprise to Blanche, and one she was not pleased with. “We’ve just got to show him why it was a bad idea either way,” Tanya continued, “I mean, come on Mattie, we can’t have people thinking you can just show up and trash the Serpent Society. Got a company reputation to maintain, you know?” Mattie whimpered, but she seemed to realize that this was as good a result as her protests were going to get. Blanche, now curious what her teammates were about to pull, released her captive, her arms returning to normal length and crossing over her broad chest, ready to return to their foul play should the punishment meeted upon Monsoon be unsatisfactory to her. “We won’t do anything permanent,” Black Mamba promised as she sauntered towards Monsoon’s massive form as he pulled himself from the ground. Wow, he was still conscious? And moving? The stamina on this guy! She was impressed. Not many guys could get back up after a blast from The Asp OR a big hug from Blanche, let alone BOTH. “Hey big boy, I’m not gonna hurt ya.” She leaned over, knowing he would get a good view of her cleavage, “In fact, I’m going to make you VERY happy...” Then she stood back up and kicked up, hard. She loved baiting them before the hit. “...is what I would say if you weren’t Mattie’s boyfriend. But since you are, I’d hate to make her watch you with one of my love phantoms. So I’ll settle for this.” Monsoon did not fight back physically, nor summon more winds. Maybe he was just too worn out and hurt, but to Tanya it looked more like he was simply accepting the attack. Black Mamba might not be that much of a physical fighter, but she had enough experience to know this guy could have fought back more if he’d chosen to. Weird. Weirder still, he’d looked away from the free view of her rack. Wow. He must REALLY be faithful. Poor guy, he’d looked downright embarrassed! Guys, huh? Not humiliated at all over getting trounced by three girls----three and a half, really, Blanche was at least one and a half on her own--- but breasts apparently made him have to avert his eyes. Must be a progressive type. Or a really conservative type. Funny, how much those two tended overlap in some ways. “Your guy is a real catch,” she said to Mattie as she returned back to the others, “Not only did he come wind-riding to your rescue, he didn’t even try to sneak a peek at my tatas when I bent over. Class act. I’d keep him if I were you.” “He’s NOT my boyfriend, Tanya!” Mattie protested, before rushing over to Monsoon’s side, “Aloba! Are you okay? Oh my gosh, Haven is going to be SO WORRIED!” “Er, Mattie, if I may make a request...I would actually...prefer you did not tell her?” END                  

[jaggedwolf]

For the meme - please do the voyeurism fic?

Gladly! Ficlet is here.

Violet didn’t mean to lose track of the time. She’d curled up in the engine room with queue of research papers to go through, and suddenly it was hours later, her eyes burning from staring at a screen. Seemed her idea that no one was likely to disturb her in the hottest room on the ship had panned out.

Is anyone on this ship not a secret workaholic? I will say that now that I’m out of school, that is the one truly unrelatable thing about all of them. 

A thump echoed from outside the room.

Violet willed herself not to panic. All sorts of noises were perfectly normal to hear in the normal operation of a spaceship. She took a tentative step towards the door.

Remember that time I suggested the Rumor is to either Iris as the Millenium Falcon is to the Normandy SR2? I would like to propose another comparison noise-wise: NYC underground trains versus fancy modern trains in Singapore/Tokyo/etc. Bet that frankenship makes a lot of weird noises, and here Violet is definitely quoting something Sana told her.

Another thump, and then a gasp. Sana’s voice.

Wonder what was causing those thumps ;). I spent too long wondering whether a person could recognize someone from simply a gasp, and then gave up and decided Violet is such a detail-hoarder that this would be fine. 

Violet relaxed. Sana had probably tripped in the hallway. The Rumor’s floors were remarkably uneven in height - Violet had spent what felt like her first month here staring at the floor whenever she so much as left a room. One would think Sana, out of all them, would be least prone to clumsiness here, but given that Violet’s watch said it was way too weird a time for any of them to be up, Violet didn’t think she could begrudge her too much.

I miss the frankenship so much. That’s all. 

She walked up to the door, about to slide it open when Sana’s voice stopped her.

“Really? Only five more feet to my actual room,” Sana dryly remarked.

The idea of being caught making out in a public area of her own ship is Not Sana’s kink, thank you. Will be practical even as very distracting things are happening. 

Then another small gasp, and more noises and - oh. Those were definitely kissing noises and also moaning noises, the thin door between Violet and Sana filtering out almost no sound, except who the heck was Sana kissing.

What a good question, Violet, it’s not at all like a simple process of elimination would help you here. Sana’s back is definitely against the engine room door, by the way, so Violet is hearing...a lot. Months after writing this, I’m wondering why on earth I chose “heck”.

Violet was definitely on Sana’s side since she’d like to go to bed and they were right outside her only exit and also she could feel her face starting to flush red from the embarrassment of this entire situation.

You can take away my “Violet is an obvious blusher and she hates it” headcanon away from my dead hands. And yeah, the closest I could get Violet to this fic prompt was being trapped and forced to listen because 1. It’s funny 2. thirst is difficult to write well.

The noises stopped. 

“Technically, isn’t the entire ship kind of your room?” asked Arkady.

It is important to note that Arkady distracted Sana very thoroughly before delivering her snarky retort, which is a very good strategy. Also, I think the edge between Arkady’s paranoia and Arkady’s “well, what the fuck does it matter, take the risk” is a fun one to be on. (I hope it’s pretty clear this is not the first time these two have had this conversation, haha)

Huh. 

Violet’s first thought was that she doubted she’d ever get what an out-of-breath, thoroughly-kissed Arkady sounded like out of her mind, because wow. 

Violet lives as she was ready to die on the Iris, quietly horny. 

Her second thought was nothing more than stupid, unwarranted disappointment, a spiral her brain would’ve gladly jumped into if Sana and Arkady hadn’t decided to keep talking. Almost as if they were completely unaware Violet was hearing all of this.

“Sure, Kady,” Sana replied, the words so fond and soft that Violet felt a pang of guilt at hearing them.

Eavesdropping on emotional intimacy might be even more of a dagger to one’s heart than eavesdropping on physical intimacy, you know? I think, Violet correctly suspects that while Sana might easily say those two words in that exact same tone to Arkady in front of the rest of the crew, Arkady’s response is unlikely to fit that criteria. 

Violet backed away from the door as far as she could. No more audible noises or voices, now, though whether that meant they’d left or she was simply far enough away was unclear. It was fine. She’d stare at her research articles for another half hour and check if the coast was clear then.

So Violet makes sure she doesn’t hear it. 

Her eyes stared at the screen, processing nothing. God, of course, it made so much sense, the two of them together. Even more sense that they were hiding it - Arkady’s paranoia would make sure of that.

History and loyalty intertwined :D. Are they hiding it? Is it a defined relationship or is the physical stuff just another dimension to their relationship? I don’t know - I can easily see Arkady convinced that somehow, sleeping with Sana is very separate from her very intense “yeah dying in her place is the best thing I could do” feelings about her, and that Sana feels no great need for more clarity given the chaos of their lives. It’s working for them. And...

Violet shut down the continued feelings of disappointment. She’d thought that-that maybe her interest was reciprocated, that their dumb exchanges had meant something. Silly old Violet, always reading too much into things.

...it means I could keep this ficlet firmly in a world where all of Arkady and Violet’s interactions have exactly as they’ve been in canon. (Everyone else’s, too! Like. Do you think Sana wouldn’t tease Arkady about her obvious thing for Violet just bc she’s sleeping with Arkady? Nah, bro.)

I guess, personally, I don’t find romantic jealousy particularly interesting, especially the spiteful kind. More power to those who do but I find the sadness “Oh. What else would I have expected” much more appealing. Wallowing > lashing out/blaming other people. 

Somehow, she smiled. It was weirdly comforting to know that Arkady and Sana had found each in the chaos of their lives.

Violet tells Arkady that being on the Rumor is the safest she’s felt in a long while. From everything else she says, I have to assume it’s also the least lonely she’s felt in a long while. There was no chance of Violet being too morose about a crushed crush or being the fifth wheel - her life on this ship is already more than she ever thought she’d get. 

And hey, Violet can appreciate the nice story that established Arkady/Sana would make. 

Even if hearing them wasn’t the ideal way to find out.

Violet ignored the images her mind helpfully supplied at the thought, her cheeks still burning.

This is very much a pre-OT3 fic, because I’m a weenie who usually hates unrequited pining. Nope, none of that here, this definitely turns into being so on-purpose happy for your crush that you end up having a thing for their partner too. 

[lil-nct-scenarios-11]

NCT- A Strange Ignition || Gang au- part.11

Group: NCT- all members 

Theme: Gang AU

Type: series- fluff + angst 

*Warning- this series will cover some dark themes such as abuse, drugs, and crude language so please read at your own discretion, if these themes make you uncomfortable at all, please do not read this

Plot: 4 days after the outbreak, everyone finds out that you are actually dating someone. In your new AP chemistry class, you just stuck next to Haechan and you end up causing an explosion. Kun comes home late as usual but his face is anything but usual this time.

Previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 

4 Days Later 

“Oh my gosh, Jeno hyung it’s Y/N.” Chenle whispers as you walk in the cafeteria with a mean look and an enraged stride.

“No shit. Why else would everybody’s jaws be dropped?” Haechan sasses.

“Ugh, can you guys just shut up for once? This isn’t a football game or something where you gotta comment and announce everything that’s going on. Oh god, I wonder what he/she is up to this time?” Jeno worries.

-

“Renjun hyung are you gunna apologize to him/her?” Jisung asks.

“No..” Renjun replies, his voice quivering. “Ahem, I mean no. Why should I? He/she made things very clear and I’d like to go home in one piece today.”

“Renjun,” Jaemin starts, placing his hand on Renjun’s shoulder. “He/she’s your best friend, you gotta talk to him/her at one point. The sooner you do it, the quicker you can resolve issues instead of letting them build up.” 

“Yea, you’re right but I’m not ready right now. I don’t know what to say and Y/N hates it when people don't get straight to the point so I’ll wait until I come up with something. Oh lord, what is he/she gunna do?” Renjun tenses. 

--- 

The two groups, along with half the cafeteria, watch with curiosity as you grab your condiments and now have to decide who to sit with: the ‘Color Pop’ or the ‘Fresh Death’ gang. Countless pair of eyes follow as you go to sit by a girl with a flower in her hair who sat all the way in the corner of the cafeteria and you greet her with a short kiss on her lips. 

--

“Oh my god Jeno, that’s the girl you sit next to in English,” Haechan points out excitedly. 

“No shit Haechan,” Jeno says with his jaw dropped. 

-

“Holy, I didn’t know he/she was dating someone. See I bet you didn’t even know if your best friend was dating. Well you can’t talk to him/her even if you wanted ‘cuz he/she seems occupied to say the least,” Jisung gushes. 

Mark jogs up to the ‘Fresh Death’ gang and pokes his head in between Jaemin and Renjun and breathlessly says, “Damn Renjun, looks like your friend wasted no time after leaving you losers. And he/she landed him/herself a fine girl, what’s her name? It’s starts with an M, ugh what is it?”

“Mina. Is that so hard to remember?” Jaemin scoffs. 

Renjun and Jisung look at each other in shock because they weren't sure what they just heard was real. 

“Di.. Did you just talk back?” Mark asks, equally if not more surprised then duo. 

“If that’s what you call talking back then I suppose,” Jaemin says nonchalantly. 

Now Mark just looks at the duo to really make sure this was happening. Never in the history of ever did Jaemin ever talk back, sass, or even stand up for himself but now he’s speaking like this like it’s nothing. 

“Ha ok bud,” Mark says uncertainly patting Jaemin’s back, not sure if he should be mad or proud. 

___

“Good afternoon class, today we’re gunna have a quick seat change then we will get into the lab we didn’t have time to start yesterday. So to prevent that from happening again let’s get straight into the seating change,” your chemistry teacher announces. 

--

“Ok over here in the front we have Jiwoo and Hyeon then the station behind them are Haechan and Y/N. Following them will be...” your teacher lists.

You slump into your seat with aggression causing Haechan to move his chair to the edge of the desk space. You let out an audible sigh as you get settled into your seat reluctantly and preparing the station for the lab.

“Hey Y/N uhm, I know you don’t talk to us anymore bu-” Haechan starts. 

“Good. Let’s keep it that way,” you cut him off with a feign smile. 

“Ummm actually. You’re gunna wanna hear this and in the future I’d appreciate it if you don’t cut me off,” Haechan puts in, adding a feign smile of his own. 

“Ah but you see, I’d reallllly appreciate it if you just stop trying to talk to me that way I won’t have to cut you off,” you point out as you add a light shrug. 

“What happened to you? I know you like to sarcastic that’s borderline rude but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be a bitch,” he retorts, crossing his arms. 

“Um excuse me? What did you just call me?” you ask a little too loudly. 

“Haechan and Y/N, I know you two sass queens like sitting next to each other but I’m gunna ask you to be quiet and we’re dealing with explosive substances here so it’s best to have your attention up here,” your teacher warns. 

You and Haechan sit in compliance as you two follow the instructions given by the teacher. As you pour the liquid base into the beaker, Haechan decides to try speaking to you again. “Y/N, look I know you’re dealing with a lot right now but there’s something going on at-” 

“Haechan, shut up. There’s a time and place for everything and right now I’m trying to make sure we don’t get ourselves blown up so-” 

“FIRE!” you hear a voice shout from behind you as they point towards your beaker. 

You instantly look down to see that there was a fire indeed and before you could do anything, you feel Haechan grab your shoulders in disarray and pull you down under the table and you hear a loud and mild explosion go off above you. 

--

You sit across from Haechan and glare at him intensely as you hold an ice pack against your cheekbone. “Look I’d thank you but it's your fault that this happened so it’s just a basic ‘cause and effect’ situation. And honestly, I thought you were smarter than that considering that you got yourself into an AP class but-” 

“Y/N!” you hear a familiar voice call out. “Y/N? Are you ok?” Yuta asks worriedly as he holds your shoulders to see if you had gotten hurts. 

“Wow thanks for caring about me,” Haechan says bitterly as he shifts away, holding the blanket over his shoulders tighter and looks at the ground. 

“HAECHAN! OH MY BABY! WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OK?” Taeyong shouts loudly as he runs and engulfs Haechan in a bone-crushing hug.

“Babe, loosen up. You’re gunna kill him if you continue to hold him like that,” Yuta jokes as he puts a hand on Taeyong’s shoulder. 

“Oh my bad, my bad. What happened, I just heard that there was a fire so I ran over here right away. Did you get burned any where? Let me see,” Taeyong says frantically as he searches Haechan’s body for any burn marks. 

“Hyung, I’m ok I swear. It’s Y/N that got burned,” Haechan points out. 

“Oh really? Y/N how are you feeling? The nurses put some cream and antibacterial stuff on right?” Taeyong asks in the same worried tone, this time directing it at you. 

“Yea they did and I’m ok too, really. And I deserved it, I wasn’t paying attention and I blew everything up-” you ramble. 

“Nonsense! It was an accident, that’s all. Don't you dare blame this on yourself. Your mind is occupied with all that’s going right now. And speaking of which, why did you just leave us? Do you know how worried I was? I was waiting all night for you to come home then I come to find out that you don’t even care to stay with us anymore. No that won’t do. I’ll have Yuta pack your clothes and you’re gunna stay with us no questions asked. And don't say that you don't want to live with Jeno anymore that’s why you won't stay ‘cuz you’re not in any shape to be making any decisions, do you understand?” Taeyong says sternly, pointing his finger at you. 

You keep your head down and nod, then you feel Yuta rubbing your back to comfort you.

“Babe, he/she actually can’t stay with us anymore,” Yuta says quietly as he’s continuing to rub your back. 

“And why’s that?” Taeyong asks furiously, his hands on his hips. 

Yuta retracts his hand to retrieve a folded piece of paper which he unfolds before handing it to Taeyong. Taeyong reads just the title and gasps then promptly folds the paper to return to Yuta. 

Taeyong nods, “Ok so I suppose I can’t ‘legally’ make you stay with me but I know for a fact that those last 10 months meant something to you so I’ll just leave you with that. Well I think we gotta head home now but take care of yourself Y/N, and don't go around trying to blow yourself up.” Taeyong shakes your head with a smile and you get up and give him a tight hug. Your eyes flood with tears so Taeyong holds your face and says, “Hey, you’re gunna be alright. Your dad is finally coming home and he’s here to look after you now. After all he did do something right if he’s kept you alive all these years huh. Well you just say hello to him for me please. Imma miss having you around, in a way you help keep things sane at home and I’m surprised you’re the only one who doesn’t find me kissing my beau at the dinner table revolting. Anyways, I know I really gotta let you go cuz I’ll just talk forever but I’ll see you around peaches.” 

Taeyong and Yuta leave the nurses’ office and Haechan turns on his feet to face you before he walks out, “Don't turn your back on family Y/N, don't forget that.”

_____

“Kun. Why are you home so late?” Ten’s groggy voice asks in the darkness as Kun stumbles into the room. 

“Oh. I was with a friend. Same as always,” Kun says with slight difficulty but enough for Ten to notice. Ten reaches for his nightstand lamp and Kun exclaims, “NO!”, cowering and covering his face. 

Ten doesn’t say anything but just narrows his eyes at Kun to observe something that was off. “Let me see your face.” 

Kun reluctantly brings his hands down, away from his face and Ten immediately gasps. “Kun... what happened to your face!” 

“I don’t want to tell you.” 

“Just tell me, who did this to you?” 

“It was Johnny,” Kun whispers with his head low. 

“Oh, I’m gunna bring an end to him,” Ten growls, clenching his fists in the bedsheets. 

Part 12

*hey sry for the late update as usual and I swear I was all set to post this yesterday but I hit one wrong button and it was all gone so I rewrote it to the best of my ability and if there are any lil holes or punctuation errors plz lemme know cuz I didn't have time to edit it today

*and as always comments, questions, or concerns are always welcome and thanks for reading! 

[missmeikakuna]

(GL/Yuri) Shoujo Heroine... and Friends Chapter 17

Kunie and Masami discuss what happened to Kunie. Please comment your thoughts and like this chapter if you, well, like it.

Rated: T

Fandom: Original story

Relationship type: F/F with some F/M

Description:

Sahana is friendly, innocent and optimistic, making her the perfect shoujo anime heroine… except she’s not the main character of this story.

When school prince Toyomi asks her out, she starts hanging out with him and leaves her friends behind. Prim and proper Masami and tomboyish slob Kunie don’t seem to have much in common outside of their friendship with Sahana, but they try to make the best out of a lonely situation.

So why is the god of love and marriage watching them, red string of fate at the ready? CONTENT WARNING: Some homophobic language and bullying.

Chapter 17: You have no idea what it’s like!

When Kunie returned to school the following day, she saw black writing all over her desk.

Dyke

Just crawl into a hole

Call Kunie at (555)-555-5555 if you want hot lesbian sex

Dooru laughed. ‘Wow, someone’s popular.’ Kunie glared at her. ‘What? I didn’t write that stuff. Much too vulgar. Plus, I doubt sex with you would be any good, even if I was a lesbian.’ Snorting mixed in the laughter. ‘Oh my god, could you imagine? Who’d want to sleep with another girl?’ She smirked at Kunie. ‘Oh, right.’

At lunch, Kunie decided to eat alone by the steps. On the way, she passed a male student she didn’t know. Apparently he knew her.

‘Hey, what’s scissoring?’

‘Huh?’

‘I mean, you’re the expert, right?’

‘What’s that supposed to…’ Realisation dawned on her. ‘Okay, fuck off.’

The boy snickered and went on his way. Kunie groaned and rubbed her temple as she sat down with her bento box. At least her mother included teriyaki chicken. 

She found herself wondering what ingredients Masami would add to chicken to transform it into one of her unholy abominations. Once the thought entered her brain, she shook her head to shake away any memories of that girl.

People whispered as they walked past her, thinking she couldn’t hear. ‘Who’s the mystery girl? That teacher said she liked a girl, right?’

‘None of my business. Still, kinda trippy, right? Never thought there’d be one of those people at this school.’

‘Oh, I saw a girl give her a love letter. Maybe they’re an item.’

Kunie twisted her upper body towards the gossipers and scowled at them. ‘Go bother that girl instead of me.’

She tore the chicken into smaller pieces with her teeth, not caring about the teriyaki sauce spreading onto her face. Something wasn’t adding up. She wasn’t the only lesbian at the school, so why was she getting all the attention? What about the girls who liked sending her love letters?

She stood up and began searching each classroom for one of the girls who had a crush on her, leaving her bento box on the floor. It didn’t take long for her to find one of those girls.

If there was one word to describe the girl, it would be ‘nondescript’. Average height, medium-length black hair and proportional facial features with no parts that stood out.

‘Hey, can I talk to you for a moment, uh...?’

The girl’s smile dropped. ‘Kuri Satou.’ However, she still followed Kunie outside of the classroom.

‘So, um, what’s it like, you know, liking girls?’ Kunie asked. ‘Has anyone given you crap for it?’

‘Oh, my class generally doesn’t care. Some of the girls in the art club…’

Kunie put her hand on Kuri’s shoulders. ‘What do the girls in the art club do?’ Her voice sounded a little harsher and more desperate than she had hoped.

‘Just, you know, comment about how they bet I can’t wait to start drawing naked portraits. Sometimes they also put fake love letters in my shoe locker. I don’t pay attention to those anymore, though. Fool me twice and all that.’

‘Wait a minute, fake love letters?’

‘Yeah. But my one to you was real. They send the fake ones to any girl they suspect is a lesbian, even if they actually aren’t. I think they just like to humiliate people. To be honest with you, I thought you were one of the people they got wrong, since you never, you know, responded to my letter.’

‘Oh my god, I am so sorry. I just didn’t know how to react. I don’t really know you well enough to be able to return your feelings, but I appreciate you for writing that letter. Probably took a lot of courage.’

Kuri looked down. ‘Yeah, it’s all good. If you want someone to talk to about your struggles, I can lend an ear.’

‘So, um, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but what got you interested in me? We don’t exactly know each other.’

As Kuri continued her answer, her face got redder and redder. ‘Oh, well, I would walk past you every once in a while and notice how pretty you looked. Then I saw you defending one of your friends one day, which was when I heard your name. You exuded confidence and I was super drawn to that. Um, thanks for talking with me, even if you don’t feel the same way about me.’

‘You’re welcome. Good luck with dealing with the art club girls. See you around.’

With that, Kunie returned to her empty bento box and brought it back to her desk. She then decided to stroll through the school. She was tempted to stop by the art club room and trash the place but remembered a key detail in Kuri’s words. Some of the art club girls.

However, she managed to spot a girl who may have been in the club. Or rather, the girl spotted her.

‘Hey, it’s the dyke! I knew I was right about you. Thanks for helping me win a bet.’ Kunie turned around and power-walked away from her. ‘Hey, where are you going? I thought you liked getting girls’ attention. By the way, what got you to hate men?’

‘Leave me alone or I swear I will hang you by your eyelashes over a pit of fire!’

‘Wow, no need to be so angry. I guess that’s supposed to be expected, though.’ After giving her a smirk, the girl eventually did leave Kunie alone.

Kunie realised that her classroom, despite containing Dooru’s Dooru-ness, was the safest place to be for now. She sunk into her chair.

Masami tiptoed towards her. Great. She had to be there. ‘Could we maybe be able to talk?’ Kunie turned her head away. ‘I want to apologise and tell you something.’ A shake of the head from our incredibly mature Kunie. ‘Come on. Please? I won’t bother you again. It’s just kind of important.’

With a big sigh, Kunie stood up and followed Masami outside the school building. They walked to the athletics track. While Kunie dropped on to the grass with no care as to how she looked, Masami sat down as gracefully and cautiously as a fairytale princess with a fear of germs.

Kunie grumbled, ‘What is it?’

‘I’m really sorry. For two things. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry with you the other day. You may have started it, but I should have finished it.’ Kunie opened her mouth to argue, but Masami’s sudden hand on hers shut her mouth. ‘I’m also sorry that you have to go through all this. You don’t deserve it. I know what it’s like to be-’

Kunie pulled out strands of grass from the ground. ‘No, shut up right now. Whatever it is, you don’t know.’

‘How can you be so sure-’

‘You have no idea what it’s like!’ Those little pieces of grass became huge clumps. ‘You don’t know what it’s like to have everybody at school take your personal life and make it their business. You don’t know how it feels to become the school laughing stock. You don’t know what it’s like to receive comment after comment after fucking comment about your sex life. You know why? ‘Cause you’re nice and safe in your little closet.’

‘Closet? How did you...’

‘Come on, Masami. We both know you like Sahana.’

Masami blinked. ‘Huh? Sahana? The one I like is you, idiot.’ Her jaw tightened as she fought against the temptation to act as if she had just made a joke.

Kunie dropped the bunch of grass in her hand. ‘Seriously? I can’t handle having you lie to me about that shit.’

‘Why would I lie about that? Kunie, I love you.’

The expression on Kunie’s face fluctuated with frightening speed. First, her eyes were wide and her jaw agape, then her mouth curled into a smile with eyes that squinted as if holding back tears. Her eyebrows met and the smile morphed into a frown, her eyes full of fire. Finally, she looked at the ground with the eyes of someone who had never even heard of the word ‘confident.’ This last expression made Masami’s heart beat as fast as that of a scream queen in a horror movie. She could barely recognise the girl she loved.

‘Look, I don’t know if going out is such a good idea for us,’ Kunie said in a voice devoid of life. ‘Now that my secret’s out, I don’t really want to deal with relationship trouble on top of that. Plus, what do we even have in common? We’d be a disaster as a couple.’

‘I… guess so. And you like Sahana, anyway.’

‘The hell made you think that? I don’t see her that way, and even if I did, that would be even more of a disaster. She doesn’t care about me at all. She didn’t even comfort me when I got outed. Maybe if she wasn’t so self-absorbed I could have worked through this easier.’

Those words pulled Masami up until she was standing. ‘You know damn well that Sahana isn’t self-absorbed! Stop slandering her and blaming her for all your problems! I shouldn’t have even bothered trying to make amends with you since it’s clearly a one-way street.’

She ran back inside, breaking the red string I had so carefully placed around her finger. I gasped and tried to repair it as best I could but to no avail.

Kunie looked down at the dirt where she had pulled grass from, at the mess she had made.