#she literally passes out and collapses at one point. how is she still even remotely functional.

[autism-swagger]

I think the final couple of episodes of AOS season 3 are incredibly funny if only for the fact that Daisy is soooo fucking anemic and nobody acknowledges it at all.

Look at her. She has been sucked DRY. Somebody get her a cookie and some iron pills stat.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[agustdef]

That Couple

Pairing: Yugyeom x Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 1.9k

Warning: Mildly suggestive behavior. 

Rating: PG-13

My Lovely Beta: @hobeemin​

A/N: This is going to turn into a oneshot series. So... look out for that. LOL

“If you make me run through this again, we’re going to have a problem,” YN said right as Ariana Grande’s Positions began to play through the speakers.

The dancers behind her all nodded, but it was in the way they began dancing to the song that told her that they truly heard her. Every move was what it should have been with everyone’s own flair. They all moved where they should when they should and didn’t lose energy at any point as they performed. At a certain point, she stopped focusing on them and focused on herself as she danced with them.

Watching yourself through a mirror was a weird out of body experience, but over the years YN had gotten used to it and managed not to focus too much on her face as she watched. The mask that she wore also helped her out a great deal with the temptation that arose sometimes. Plus, she wanted to see if she herself was on par with what she expected from the others.

All that focus made the song pass quickly and then brought on the collapse of everyone, except her, onto the floor.

“And to think if you’d just done that six run throughs ago you’d already be off living your lives,” YN joked.

That earned some groans and curses from the girls, but they knew she was right. She’d only wanted about two hours to run through their performance for an upcoming concert and they’d done well until they got to Positions which was why she’d had them go over it more times than anything else. 

They probably hated her a little, but she wanted to ensure they were prepared. A K-Pop group’s first concert was one to remember for everyone and could change how people saw them if they gave great performances or phoned it in. And having worked with many groups that ended up disbanding or not reaching the heights they could always made YN work harder to ensure the next group or artist did as well as they could. 

And she thought that the girls she was working with were capable of greatness. Even as they crawled across the floor to grab their towels and water bottles.

YN smiled. “We’re done for the day, but I want y’all to do another run through before the day is over and twice tomorrow. Don’t repeat things, just go through the whole setlist to ensure that you have it. I know a lot of this is new choreography, so it takes a bit to sink in. But you’re doing really well.”

That seemed to give them a bit more energy and after a few more minutes of pulling it together, they packed up their things and left with promises to do as they were told. And with them and their managers gone it left YN on her own in the studio.

She didn’t mind it much and was happy to get some time to herself before she had other things to do. Especially since it had been so long since she’d had a moment to dance because she wanted to be silly for over a month. Work was a lot and she either created for someone else, taught, or danced in the background for something. By no means did she see that as a bad thing, because three years prior twenty-six-year-old Lisa struggled to keep consistent work, but it was all so tiring. By the end of most days, she ended up in bed or wanting to do anything but dance.

So, with her little window of time, she decided that was the time. YN redid the ponytail because she’d sweated and her hair got bigger, downed some water, and reapplied lotion to her elbows. The things were a darker brown than the rest of her from how often she hit them or did a move that had her pressing them into the floor. It was annoying, but not the end of the world.

Once ready she put her playlist on shuffle, turned the volume up, and got to it.

The first few songs were slower, which meant she had to adapt from all the more intense moves she’d done earlier. She was intentional and fluid with her moves, finding herself wrapped up in the music and truly just vibing. So, into it and watching herself that she ended up ripping off her mask and throwing it to the side, not even bothered by the sudden view of her full face.

However, despite the way those songs made her feel it wasn’t enough. YN needed more. She needed something that hit hard or something that allowed her to be a bit freer with what she was doing, so she stopped dancing and switched playlists to something that lacked the slower tempo songs. And the first song out of the gate rewarded her.

Ciara’s Goodies played and she danced the routine she’d learned as a kid for competitions. It was the first one she’d been allowed to choreograph herself and it had gotten her a high mark. Plus, it was just fun to fall back into something she knew so very well and thought was funny as hell.

From there it was more upbeat songs that she’d performed in the past or didn’t have a routine at all. It was just her moving however she wanted and she lived for it. 

About five songs into her second playlist the door to the room opened and she almost stopped until she noticed that it was just Monster Woo and his crew of dancers plus a few friends. She simply nodded at him and continued what she was doing. None of them interrupted her, in fact, they shouted greetings and cheered her on as she went.

Until Megan Thee Stallion’s Circles came on and then as if they’d practiced for that moment two of them - friends of hers - joined in to perform the dance they’d worked on the week the song had been dropped. It wasn’t something they taught or performed ever, just something that they did for fun.

YN was so into it and having so much fun that she didn’t notice more people enter the room, let alone who was amongst those people.

And she continued to not notice as the song ended because as each new one came on there was a different set of people joining her to dance along to them. Until Bruno Mar and Anderson .Paak’s Leave The Door Open came on and then they left her there. She hadn’t met with any of them to dance to it and though they seemed to move off to the side to do something they had they left her front and center.

The song had been her love for two weeks and though her first dance moves alongside it had been a slow dance with her boyfriend, they both came up with something for it together later so that’s what she went with but solo.

Sensual and smooth was what the song was, so she matched that and found an easy groove in it. She was so into it that she barely looked into the mirror and almost missed the approach of someone behind her. However, she saw a hat fly and her gaze met theirs in the mirror.

He saw her the moment she noticed him and smiled, something she returned despite her still dancing along. Not that he left her alone for long, just as the last line of the pre-chorus hit his arms were wrapped around her waist and he helped her spin to face him. 

Though YN felt a flutter in her stomach as she looked up at him and wanted to stay there for a while longer she didn’t. They moved into the next moves with ease and danced what they’d come up with in perfect harmony. Albeit while probably being a little too intimate with the moves.

Not that anyone complained.

“Get it Yugyeom!”

“Yes, YN! Yes.”

And other encouragements were yelled out as they danced and even after they finished. 

YN was used to them being like that when she did anything remotely sexy, especially when Monster Woo was in the area. The man enjoyed trying to make her blush and had succeeded a few times, though only usually when Yugyeom was present and dancing with her.

And that time was no different. The final position was similar to the move that Yugyeom had joined her with, but their faces were much closer. And since she could feel his breath on her face and could see the way he smiled at her she couldn’t help the way her cheeks burned. Though that kind of went out of the window once Yugyeom leaned down and kissed her lips. YN returned it with enthusiasm and only pulled away when she grew tired of the gagging noises.

After they were apart they moved to the side to let the others continue dancing to whatever played. Yugyeom laced their fingers together and didn’t let go even when they’d found a place to stand.

“I thought you would have been gone before we got here,” he said.

She shook her head. “No. Something got moved and so I don’t have anything until later and it’s just me recording the moves for another group plus a few errands.”

For a moment Yugyeom pouted, which was beyond cute, but it confused YN.

“What’s wrong?” 

“You left me alone in bed this morning. Didn’t even give me a kiss goodbye.”

The pouting intensified after that and YN laughed, throwing her head back a little. She’d been in a rush to get to work and he’d gotten to bed late so she’d let him sleep in. But she was being wrongly accused.

“Just because you weren’t awake for the kiss, does not mean the kiss didn’t happen. I gave your cute little lips multiple kisses before I left. You just didn’t wake up for any of them.”

That made him flustered, the pout vanishing as he fought down a smile and looked anywhere but at her. YN loved doing that to him, though she knew he would get his revenge on her later.

“That -” Yugyeom started only to be interrupted.

“So, you do have a thing for older women,” Jay Park said.

Just from hearing his voice, YN rolled her eyes, but then when she turned to face the little intruder she couldn’t help but do it again.

“It’s literally a two-year difference,” YN said.

Jay waved her off and focused on Yugyeom who’d gotten a little shyer about things when he was being confronted head on. It didn’t help that it was Jay and Loco who were staring him down.

“You could have just told us it was little YN, man. We know her. She’s cool people,” Loco said as he reached out to lightly poke YN’s cheek right where her dimple rested. A habit he’d gotten after he stopped gushing about how deep it was.

“I told you I was going to tell you at the end of the week. It’s not like I was keeping it a secret. We were just going to tell people outside of those who know at our own pace.”

“GOT7 knows? JYPE staff?” Jay asked.

Yugyeom nodded and that made Jay frown, but he didn’t say anything and before anyone could break the weird silence Blackpink’s Pretty Savage came on, and just like that YN was gone to dance again.

That left Yugyeom watching on again and YN threw him a wink every so often since they’d changed the choreography up quite a bit and that left for more sensual moves. 

[btsslowburnfic]

The Arrangement Ch. 19

Story summary: Desperately in need of money, you answered the questionable ad. AKA-Arranged marriage AU featuring Y/N and Yoongi

Chapter Summary: After the photoshoot you and Yoongi decompress

Previous Chapter here  AN: SO FLUFFY UGH

You slunk back to the elevator and just stood there for a second. What a weird day. You pulled out your phone to double check your work schedule and saw a message from Yoongi.

YG: I ordered pizza.

You smiled. 

YN: Oh yeah? Did you order enough to share? 

YG: *Eyeroll* 

YN: :D Where is this food? Apartment? Studio?

YG: Apartment. Photoshoots wear me out.

You pushed the button for the 18th floor. Other people got on and off as you made your way there; it was the end of the work day for most of the hourly staff. You finally arrived at your stop and headed left.

You opened the door and took off your shoes, immediately noticing the delicious odor of bread and hot cheese filling the air. You had been running around all day and just now realized, other than a few carrots, you hadn't eaten today. 

"Oh my God thank you so much." You declared as you walked into the kitchen. You eyed the box sitting on the counter and looked around for Yoongi. “Helllooooooo?”

“Good. I’m starving.” You saw him rise up like a reanimated corpse from the couch.

“You didn’t have to wait on me.” You reprimanded, even though you thought it was incredibly thoughtful. Yoongi just shrugged and walked into the kitchen.

You opened the box and handed him a plate. 

“I have no idea if you ‘ll like this.” He said as he took some pieces.

“I like food. My favorite food is the food in front of me.” You took the plate over to the table, going back for some water.

Yoongi followed suit, quieter than normal. 

“You ok?” You asked.

“Yeah, just tired. Photoshoots take so much more energy.” He collapsed down into the chair. 

The air was filled for silence for several minutes as the two of you stuffed your faces. Finally, you worked up the nerve to ask, “Sooooooo…...did you know Bongcha was asking you out or are you oblivious?”

Yoongi looked up, shaking the bangs out of his face. “I knew. But what should I say to her? "No I don’t want to go out with you" and ruin her day? Upset her at work? It would make things awkward for both of us. Nah. Just request another stylist for a few months.” 

You pursed your lips together in thought. “Why not just date her though? She’s cute. You guys get along. Why go through this whole elaborate contract scenario?” You gestured to yourself.

Yoongi sighed. Ugh he had been dreading you asking him about the contract. Things had been going so normal. He thought, stupidly, maybe he could just never think about it again. Of course with Namjoon and BPD up his ass he knew that was unlikely. He realized he had been quiet for too long.  “Look, If I actually dated someone I worked with and then it didn't work out, imagine the fallout. The scandal. The wasted time. Plus then I'd have to go on dates and stuff. I'm busy.”  

You rolled your eyes "We went to a diner the other night. And the grocery store." 

Yoongi blinked his eyes and stuffed more food in his mouth. “Not dates.”

You scowled. "You spent all Sunday driving a van and putting up with my family'

Yoongi chewed, taking as much time as possible to think of a response. “Yeah but I did that because I wanted to."

You rolled your eyes, “You're a weirdo "

"Says the girl who signed a contract to marry a guy she didn't know. And who doesn’t eat their pizza crust. Are you 5 years old?"

"Crust is gross. Anyways. I'm a very good judge of character, I will have you know." You pouted at having been admonished over your crust preferences.

"That's true. You could tell Namjoon was an asshole within 30 seconds I bet." He jested. 

"Haha yeah. I could tell he was  rich and full of himself by his demeanor and then when he opened his mouth, he confirmed the asshole part. And, I knew Alice was awesome within like 2 seconds.” 

Yoongi pushed his plate over a bit and interlaced his fingers. Resting his chin on them, he asked, “OK. So what was your first impression of me?” 

You laughed as you recalled sprinting in your work clothes.  “That you were busy. Very busy. And a little bit short on patience, but I thought that's because you were in a hurry.” 

“Sounds about right.” He took a sip of his water. 

“The second time I met you, you were putting on an act for Namjoon. Still not sure why... " You eyed him suspiciously. “You guys have a fucked up dynamic "

"You are right all-around there. Cheers." He lifted his glass in your direction."You did a great job today."

You scoffed, "I literally just pointed at things and handed you stuff.”

“Hey I've been to shoots before, you haven't. Today went much smoother than usual. “

“Really?” You rocked back in your seat.

“Yep.” He stood up and extended his hand." Do you want more? "

"Yes please. Thanks again for ordering. I didn't realize how hungry I was til I got home.” 

“‘Same.” He took the plates to the kitchen and returned with more food. Sitting them down on the table. He pulled his laptop over and looked over some things as you guys sat in silence for a few minutes. You scrolled through your phone, returning some texts from Jimin and your brother. 

"Do you want to go watch something?" he asked, taking you by surprise. 

You raised your eyebrows, “You're not going to work?" 

"I told you, photoshoots wear me out. I'm done for today."

"Yeah sure," you stood up and grabbed the plates. "I'll clean up the leftovers and get changed. Pick whatever."

You travelled up to the loft area about ten minutes later, much more comfortable in your leggings and oversized sweatshirt. 

Yoongi was waiting on the couch, the remote in his hand as he scrolled through the menu. You plopped down on the other end, covering your mouth as you yawned.

“Grab a pillow. You know you’re going to fall asleep.” He said without looking over.

“No I won’t,” You protested through another yawn.

He shot you a look that told you he knew you were full of shit and got up. He returned a minute later, throwing a pillow at the back of your head.

“Hey.”

“You’re welcome.” He sat back down, adjusting himself into a comfortable position.

You grumbled a thank you as you balled the pillow into a couch-compatible shape and leaned up against it. You pulled back for a second. It smelled just like Yoongi. This was his pillow. You looked over, his eyes were still scanning the screen.

“Since you’re going to fall asleep in ten minutes I’m putting on my favorite documentary.” He said matter-of factly.

“I will last more than ten minutes.” You declared. You heard a small snort come out of his mouth as he dimmed the lights and pressed play. You started to watch the movie and tried to pay attention, but your heartbeat was racing. You kept replaying earlier conversations in your head and also smelling the pillow. You felt like a pervert. The man across the couch was completely oblivious. You stared at him for a few seconds and realized that yes, you did like him. Well Shit. You didn’t have too much time to ruminate on this as your eyelids began to grow heavy. Soon you were passed out, just as Yoongi predicted.

Ten minutes into the NBA show he looked over, a knowing smile crept onto his face. You were out.

He took a deep breath. What the fuck was he doing? He tried not to think about it too much. Every time he thought about you and the contract it left him feeling weird. The thought that you were getting paid to like him and to hang out with him, didn’t sit well at all. But he knew there was so much more to it than that. He picked up his notepad and wrote a few lyrics, the movie playing for background noise at this point. 

After several minutes he looked at his writing. Satisfied, he stood up and slipped the notebook into a desk. He didn’t think you would snoop, but better safe than sorry. He looked back at the couch and smirked. He thought it was hilarious you thought you would stay awake when he knew better. He went over to the stuffed animal line and pulled out a Snorlax. Appropriate, he thought as he sat it down on top of your side. He snapped a picture. Sweet revenge. Stretching, he decided to head to bed himself; only slightly lamenting that he had given you his favorite pillow and now he would have to use the flatter one. NEXT CHAPTER

@lidda  @anpanman-sonyeondan   @firefairy1  @cuteipat  @sugaslittlekookies  @janeelizabeth1216 @deeepvibes @gxldenhunny @livelyjay @niniita-ah @bobbyboops @honeysunandsoil @deathkat657 @min-yus​ @or-worse-expelled7​

[anjuschiffer]

Amira Wayne - Chapter 5

I’ve officially ran out of prewritten chapters QuQ

Day 5 of @biodad-bruce-month event

Chapter 5: Overprotection

-

P.Tag: @theatreandcomicfreak @damianette-is-life @toodaloo-kangaroo @elijahcrevan

Tag: @vixen-uchiha @we-want-mini-mini @ramos123 @bluesimani @redscarlet95

-

MASTERLIST | FIRST | PREV | AO3

-

“I’m sending you to Paris.” Amira heard her father say out of the blue.

“Wha-what?” Amira sputtered out, rising from her seat, cushions tumbled to the floor.

“I’ll have all the necessary arrangements done by the end of this month, no, week.” Bruce said, searching his desk for some papers. 

“Dad, what are-”

“You’ll be living with Tom and his wife-”

“What do you-”

“I’ll also have to do the necessary paperwork for you to attend a school in Paris-”

“But I don't need to move to be safe. I’m perfectly-” Amira argued, standing in front of his desk, the Batman plushie in her hand.

“If I thought you were safe here, I wouldn’t have you-”

“I don’t want to-” Amira cut off again, trying to get her feelings across to her father.

“You’re going to go to Paris where it’s safe. Where no villain nor enemy will find you.” Bruce stated, almost glaring at Amira. 

“I. Don’t. Want. To.” Amira gritted, feeling her hand tightly squeeze the plushie in her hand. She just started to do well again. She finally had someone to talk to at school, even if Babs was years older than her. 

“This isn’t up for discussion Amira.” Bruce glared, his eyes narrowed. “You’re going to Paris where it’s safe, whether you like it or not. Am I clear?”

Amira felt herself shake, hating that she held no power to go against her own father. Amira looked at the Batman in her hand, scowling as she looked at it. Without a second thought, Amira ripped it in half and threw it to the floor. “Why the hell did I ever idolize you?” Amira growled, marching out of the study, ignoring her father’s yells for her to come back.

She almost slammed the doors into Dick’s face, but even when he asked her what happened, she simply glared at him with unshed tears before picking up her pace.

She shut her room door closed as she walked to her bed, or at least attempted to. Just two steps away from it, she collapsed to the floor, grasping the rug underneath her as she let her tears escape. 

She let herself scream into the void that was her room.

-

Amira looked at the boxes surrounding her and then at the empty room before her, feeling her panic rising as she started at the brightly lit attic. 

She couldn’t say goodbye to Dick...nor Wally...or Barbara. 

Even as she kept locked within her room that week, her mode of communicating with Dick was also cut off. 

She was made to leave the manor without a word that Friday morning, to board the jet without a word and be sent off without anything more than a hug from Alfred. 

Her father had told her that she would keep doing her class work remotely, seeing as it was the last semester of the school year and there was no point in making her completely withdraw. 

But come the next school year, she would be a student at College Francoise Dupont, the school across the street from where she and the Dupain-Chengs would reside. 

She knew her father was hurting, but this? This was too much. 

She headed up the skylight, thinking fresh air would help to calm her down, but was proved wrong when she saw the blue sky. 

How the hell was this supposed to feel like home when it felt nothing like Gotham?

Where were the gray skies? The arcs and cobblestone that hid malicious secrets? Where were the gargoyles that followed her every move? Her home?

Amira went back down, looking at the place she had to call her room. The tall ceiling loomed over her, as if laughing at her.

“How are you doing, Amira?” Tom asked her in French, Amira turning ever so slightly to look at the baker. Right, how did she forget? This was Tom’s hometown. Of course he would feel at home here in Paris while she didn’t.

“Doing alright?” Sabine asked, holding their daughter in her arms. She really forgot about her too, didn’t she?

Amira looked at the couple, letting a smile form on her lips. 

“I’m doing alright, Papa, Maman. If anything, just taking in the view.” Amira lied through her teeth. 

That’s right. She couldn’t make any trouble for her host parents. While she knew Tom since she was a toddler, she was still figuring out Sabine. 

Tom met the woman years ago and married her just two years ago. A year into their marriage, they had Bridgette. Of course, the Dupain-Chengs knew that Amira would once again use their surname while in Paris. It will be a bit confusing, but they knew it would be fine as long as the name was used for school purposes only. 

Documents for school were easier to forge than for those for the government, or so Bruce once told them. 

“Well, if you need anything,” Tom started. 

“We will be right downstairs.” Sabine finished. 

With that, the two went down the stairs, leaving Amira to unpack her things. 

So this was her new life. 

As she unpacked her things, she found Jason’s old journal with a worn out bookmark in her hands. She watched as her tears hit the surface of the journal.

“Jason...just what am I supposed to do?”

-

Dick couldn’t take it anymore, hell, he wanted to do this when he first heard about Amira leaving the country against her will. Of course, he couldn’t do anything when Alfred practically threatened him if Dick ever did what he was currently doing.

Barging into Bruce’s study, Dick didn’t care if Bruce was in the middle of a phone call. Ending the call, Dick made Bruce look at him.

“What the hell made you think sending Amira by herself to Paris was a good idea?” Dick growled, hating that Bruce remained indifferent. 

With a sigh, Bruce set down the phone.

“She’s not alone. She’s with Tom and his wife. They’ll take good care of her.”

“That isn’t the point here Bruce! You’ve literally sent Amira across the Atlantic, away from all the people she knew as family, just because it would give you a peace of mind?”

“It was necessary.”

“It was extreme, even for you!” Dick gritted. “Amira needs us to be by her side, not across an ocean, all by herself!” 

“If that's what you came here to talk about, I suggest you leave. I have an important call to-”

“Fine! Be that way! Dick yelled, slamming the door behind as he left the study.

He couldn’t believe it. He really couldn’t.

Sending Amira to a place she didn’t know, a place where she would have trouble with adjusting to all on her own? 

How could Bruce do this to her?

Once in his room, Dick huffed, pacing around his room in attempts to calm himself down. As he kept pacing around, he noticed his suitcase peering from under his bed.

That’s right. He was 17, almost 18 in a few months.

Who needed Bruce anyways?

-

Amira needed a break from unpacking, so taking her keys and her phone (that she managed to buy without her father knowing), Amira went off to explore. Of course, she told her ’parents’ before going off, thanking that they at least understood her, unlike her own father.

Amira sighed as she looked out towards the Seine, wondering why many tourists believed that this river lived up to its fame, the river making her remember one of her father’s stories about her mother.

Her mother and father had come here before, a year before she was born. Talia. That was her mother’s name. While Amira hated the fact that she learned her mother’s name 12 years too late, she was glad to finally have the name of the woman who brought her into this world. 

Even if the world was against her. 

The two were just two love birds, even if they only knew each other for a year. In that year, they came to the Seine together and placed a lock on that very bridge, thinking they too would end up together. Seems like the universe had other plans for the two. 

Amira kept walking around town, getting a feel for it, remembering landmarks in case she ever got lost and didn’t have her phone. 

As she passed by a park, she couldn’t help but notice the mob of girls looking at something...or rather, someone.

As she approached the mob, she finally saw what they were all desperately trying to get to see.

“Adrien!” A girl shouted, said boy turning to greet them, causing the girls to let out a deathly squeal, causing Amira to cover her ears.

Damn fangirls and their screams. Just when she thought she got used to them, she was always proven wrong. Then again, Dick’s fanclub wasn’t as rowdy as these girls. They at least respected Dick and his wishes of them not causing trouble for him.

Amira left the mob, wondering why the boy looked so familiar only to look up and see why. His damned face was all over the place.

A model...he was a model...

A decent looking model to be quite honest. But despite being a model, he had nothing compared to-

Amira caught herself mid sentence, wondering why she thought that...

Did she really miss him that much?

Not thinking much of it, she kept walking.

-

“What do you mean he isn’t home?” Bruce asked, looking up from his documents. He watched as Alfred remained unfazed by Bruce’s raise in tone.

“Master Dick told me to give you this if you should ever ask about his whereabouts.” Alfred handed over an envelope to Bruce. But Bruce simply let it hang, getting up to search for his missing son. “Master Bruce, I suggest you don’t-”

“We have patrol tonight and he should have been here by now, prepping for it. He should be-”

“-in Bludhaven by now.” Alfred completes, making Bruce stop.

“What?”

“Master Dick wanted to tell you that he was heading to Bludhaven.” Alfred said, laying down the envelope Dick had wanted to give to Bruce. “‘Crime never rests’ he said before leaving with nothing but a small suitcase. Although if you ask me, it seems like he’s taken the next step in his life. But what about you, Master Bruce?

Are you ready to take the next step?”

Bruce’s mouth formed a thin line, eyeing the envelope on the desk.

“I guess I better get used to doing patrols by myself then.”

-

Amira couldn’t believe her eyes. Who the hell would  just push an elderly old man as they’re crossing the street? Not even Gothamites did that (unless there was some type of crime going around).

“Are you alright sir?” She asked the elderly man, helping him up and handing him his cane. 

Yes, she was the daughter of a billionaire, but that didn’t stop Grandpere Alfred from making sure she was shaped into a decent human being. 

“Thank you, young lady.” The elderly man replied, shakily getting up. “I’m terribly sorry for making you-“

“No problem at all sir.” Amira told him with a small smile. “If anything, it gave me a slight feel of home.” Amira bid the old man goodbye, not realizing the perplexed look on his face. 

-

Bruce let out a long sigh as he rubbed his temples, trying to figure out why the universe was against him so much lately.

First, Dick leaves for Bludhaven without a single word. Then he wouldn’t pick up his phone whenever Bruce called, although he did at least read the messages Bruce would leave him.

Second, Amira also stopped picking up the phone as well. Whenever Bruce would call the bakery, Amira would pick up before hanging up promptly. Unlike Dick, Amira didn’t have a phone, so he couldn’t just leave her a message directly for her. He would have to relay it, something he didn’t want to do. 

And when he thought his week couldn’t get any worse, it did. 

He was at another charity event, when Killer Croc decided to attack. Stuck between a stone and a wall, Bruce was about to resort to possibly exposing himself when a girl crashed in, wearing a bat logo across her chest. 

While she was knocked out the minute she came to the scene, it gave Bruce a decent window to change into Batman.

And here he was, standing in an alley with a girl who’s red hair made him think he knew her behind the yellow mask and black cowl.

“What were you thinking?” Batman hissed, looking at the girl in front of him. “What made you think that wearing that outfit would-”

“This was the only way to get your attention.” The girl spoke, unfazed by his furrowed brows. “You need a partner and don’t say you don’t, because your recent fights tend to prove otherwise. The girl cut to the chase, placing her hand on top of her yellow utility belt. “Your attacks are sloppy and you’re biting off more than you can chew to make up for Nightwing’s sudden change of patrol.”

Batman frowned, wondering how much this girl knew about him and his activities.

“It wasn’t sudden. He was going to-”

“Because that clearly explains why Nightwing is only seen patrolling Bludhaven as of five days ago.” The girl says, waiting for Batman’s next excuse. When there was none, the girl continued. “I know why he moved. I know why you’re lagging behind. It’s what happened to Robin...isn’t it?”

The girl knew that it was a touchy subject, she knew and yet she still needed to voice it. She needed Batman to come back to his senses. Gotham needed him to come back.

“Robin-”

“Robin died in your last mission involving Joker.  It didn’t take long to connect the dots when all of the evidence was there. No Robin sighting in the past month, no Nightwing seen with you for the past two weeks and Nightwing suddenly appearing in Bludhaven this week? Not exactly being the most discreet here, B.”

“Listen here-” Batman started, only then realizing who this young woman was. How did he not notice her before? After all, she used to follow her father like a chick would follow its mother. “Barbara.” He didn’t miss the way she flinched, her eyes growing wide. “Vigilantism isn't a game.”

“How-”

“If your father found out-”

“He won’t.” Barbara declared. “He may be a detective, but he is my father. It shouldn’t be too hard to make him-”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, although I’m sure he would quickly find out about you doing this.” Batman said, starting the Batmobile. “I’m worried about how it will affect your relationship with your father. What would he say when you finally decide to tell him your…” Batman realising he never heard her alias. 

“Batgirl.” Barbara provided.

“What will he say when you finally tell him your Batgirl? That you’re working with Batman, a man he despises?”

“He doesn’t really despise you.” Barbara said, looking down at her feet. “If anything, he’s grateful that you're doing what you’re doing: keeping Gotham safe.” Batman looked at Barbara with calculating eyes before he stepped into the Batmobile.

“Get in. I’m taking you home.”

-

After dropping Barbara home, Bruce wasn’t expecting to find yet another unwanted visitor in the Cave.

“Hey, um..hi.” The boy said, Batman wondering why the Drakes’ kid was doing in his Cave. 

Sure, the two families have never talked to each other, but Bruce made it his business to investigate them thoroughly. “My name’s Tim. Tim Drake. I...I know you’re Bruce Wayne and I knew who Robin was too, but that’s not why I’m here!” Tim quickly added when he noticed Batman approach him with narrowed eyes. “I..I wanted to ask you something else.”

“Then speak.” Bruce growled, towering over the boy, but Tim didn’t back down from his glare.

“Where’s Amira, your daughter?”

-

Amira looked at the picture on her phone, not realizing how much she was squeezing it until her hand started to ache. Scowling, Amira threw her phone against her wall, yelling as she began to thrash her room. Thankfully, half of her things were still in boxes and the Dupain-Chengs were out for the day. 

It hasn’t even been two months since Amira arrived in Paris, not even one year since Jason’s death and yet...and yet! He dared to replace him! 

Amira recalled the headline on the Gotham Gazette’s latest issue.

FINALLY BACK! : ROBIN’S FIRST APPEARANCE AFTER TWO MONTHS OF SILENCE

As if that wasn’t enough, when she scrolled further down the article, she was met with another revelation. Batgirl.

She remembered the years of pleading with her father to let her join him, to let her help keep Gotham safe and each time she asked, her father dismissed her out of hand.

She knew how to operate the Batcomputer, she knew she could have worked perfectly with Jason, she knew how he operated, she knew she was ready...but he always shut her down.

And yet when this girl comes around, he quickly accepts her? Just like that?

This girl who came out of nowhere... This girl who probably knows next to nothing on how he operates? On what it meant to wear the infamous bat emblem on her person?

He lets her join him?

Amira stopped throwing her things, quickly going to pick them up and putting them back into place. 

Maybe this is why her father sent her to Paris, using his ‘concern for her safety’ as an excuse to kick her out of Gotham. To make her leave so he can replace her with someone else. If that was the case...then fine…

Let him keep replacing them. 

Let him do what he wants, because guess what?

She too is going to do what she wants, whether he likes it or not.

-

Months passed by, it finally being September, Amira finally having adapted to her new home. But just as she started to adapt to her new life, another thing was hurdled her way.

College Françoise Dupont. 

Her father insisted she attend this school, one of the few reminders that he had control over every aspect of her life.

Sighing, Amira made her way to school. She stared at the stairs that lead to the school, scoffing at the size of it. 

To be honest it looked like the size of her old school’s library. That or perhaps Amira just forgot how Gotham Academy’s library truly was in size. 

Knowing that she had no other choice, Amira walked into the school and hunted for her class, looking at her timetable and at the numbers of the doors within the school. 

Something she quickly realized was that she was right. This school was small. Too small for her liking.

She managed to find her class, located on the second floor of the building, a bit too close to the stairs if you asked her. 

Stepping into her classroom, she was met with several pairs of eyes. Ignoring them, Amira headed to the teacher, remembering everything she had researched before transferring to this school.

Caline Bustier - her main teacher and her teacher for French, literature, and poetry.

From what Amira could remember, Bustier is a supposed passionate teacher, eager to protect and nurture her students, hence why she has had the same class for the past several years. Apparently she begged the principal to let her keep teaching the same class year after year.

While yes, it did show her love for her students, Amira took it as a sign of fear. Fear of not being able to teach another group of students that weren’t the ones she had already taught before. Students that she knew how to control, not having to start from scratch to learn about their weaknesses and strengths. She feared failure, perhaps change.

“Hello, Miss Bustier. My name is Marinette-”

“So you’re Marinette!” Miss Bustier interrupted, causing Marinette to narrow her eyes and scrunch her nose in annoyance. “I’m so glad to have you in our class! Please take a seat!”

Marinette simply stood there, looking at her class and then at Miss Bustier. “I can sit anywhere?”

“Pardon?” Miss Bustier asked, tilting her head a bit. That’s when it hit her. “Oh! That’s right! You’ve recently transferred from-”

“Can I or can I not?” Marinette asked impatiently. 

“Y-Yes. You can sit anywhere you want.” Miss Bustier stammered, watching Marinette choose the seat in the front towards her left. 

Marinette proceeded to take out her notebook and go over her classes, taking mental notes on what supplies to buy and which she didn’t. 

Everything was going swell, the class slowly filling in until a certain brat entered the class. 

“Move aside! Your Queen is coming through.” Chloé announces as Sabrina made sure that her path was clear. 

Chloé Bourgeois, the daughter of Paris’ mayor. Nothing but a spoiled brat from Marinette’s research. As long as she steered away from Chloe, she was fine. 

With Chloé being the last person to enter, Miss Bustier started the class. 

-

Hell. It was utter hell. 

Marinette held the urge to drag her hands down her face at how boring French was. 

Despite already being 13 year olds, they were going over material that Marinette knew they covered during Ecole Primaire. Why was Miss Bustier still teaching this material?

With the sound of the bell, her class started to move around when Miss Bustier called out Ivan. 

Turning around, Marinette watched as Ivan was about to punch Kim. Within seconds, Marinette put herself between Ivan and Kim, staring at Ivan. 

“What is going on?” Marinette asked, hating herself that she still managed to get into anti-bullying mode thanks to being in the role for five straight years. 

“It's Kim.” Ivan growled, Marinette noticing Kim shift in his place. “I’m going to-“

“Punching him won’t do anything.” Marinette cut off, noticing that Miss Bustier still hadn’t bothered to come up to the two boys to see what was wrong. “If anything, it might prove you guilty rather than innocent.” 

Marinette watched as Ivan lowered his arm, only then Marinette noticing the paper in his hand. “Kim. What do you have to say for yourself?” 

“I didn’t do anything!” Kim cried out. “Ivan just suddenly wanted to hit me!“

Marinette glared at him as she took the info, gesturing Ivan to hand over the paper in his hand. Hesitantly, he did. 

Reading the paper, Marinette knew who started it. Turning to her teacher, she frowned. “Miss Bustier, I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with my old school, correct?”

“Yes.” Miss Bustier replied. “Gotham Academy, if I remember correctly.” Marinette ignored the waves of gasps that rippled through the class. 

Was her school that known? Or simply because Gotham was in the name?

“As you know, Gotham Academy is well known for its anti-bullying program, for I was the head student of that program for 5 years straight. So my question is, what haven’t you moved?”

“Pardon?”

“I said: why haven’t you moved? Instead of rushing here to see what actually happened here or to even dismantle the fight, you decided to just stand there and watch. You called out Kim. While I understand that you were worried about Kim, what about Ivan?”

“Ivan?” Miss Bustier repeated, wondering where exactly Marinette was going with this. “Ivan was going to hit Kim, so of course I was going to worry about Kim! As a teacher-“

“But what about Ivan?” Marinette asked again. How she hated when people didn’t answer her questions properly. “What were you planning to tell him? Or rather, what were you thinking when you saw Ivan raise his hand against Kim?”

“I...I was going to send him to the prin-“

“Then you failed him as a teacher.” Marinette cut off, walking up to Miss Bustier. “As a teacher, you’re supposed to be there for the students, meaning remaining neutral during arguments. As a neutral party, you have to look at both sides of the story.” Marinette slammed the crumbled piece of paper against her desk. “You were just about to make the situation worse by sending the victim to the principal rather than the person who started the problem.” 

Marinette went to grab her bag and stared at Miss Bustier. “If you were a teacher at my old school and someone reported this incident the way it almost happened, you would’ve had your teaching license suspended and sent to several anti bullying workshops. You would then be re-evaluated to see if you can teach again. If not, you would be fired then and there. So word of advice Miss Bustier, don’t let the spark turn into a flame when you have the chance to snuff it out.”

Marinette left the classroom, heading to her next class. Hopefully she would be able to convince her gym teacher to get her into the fencing club. She needed to blow off some steam. 

-

There went her chance at asking the teacher to join the fencing team. 

As soon as Marinette got to persuade the coach to teach her how to fence, a villain appeared, wrecking havoc with her...whatever it was she was using. 

Thanks to the attack, the students were sent home early, Marinette now in her room. She frowned as she paced around in her room, hating her situation. 

There was a villain. In Paris. Where her father couldn’t reach her. The irony. 

Marinette let out a dry chuckle, not believing this all. 

“Father is across the ocean, there’s a villain running loose in the streets and here I am! Missing the opportunity of a lifetime!”

She would have proven herself to her father. That she was up for crime fighting. 

But the universe just had to be against her...or so she thought. 

As she slumped into her computer chair, she noticed the black box with an ever so familiar red emblem on the top of the hexagon shaped lid. 

Something screamed at her to leave it alone while a piece of her whispered to open it. 

Prying the box open, Marinette watched as a red orb manifested in front of her, her eyes following it as it morphed into an odd creature. Making sure the creature was what emerged from the box, Marinette looked back down to the box, noticing a pair of earrings.

Ladybug themed earrings...o...okay…

“Hello!” The being spoke, Marinette quickly snapping from her trance. “I know this is all weird to you, but I can explain. My name is Tikki and I am a Kwami. To be more precise, the Kwami of creation.” 

Kwami of creation...that implies that there are others like this creature out there.

“Tikki...although I want to say that it’s a pleasure to meet you, I know there’s a reason behind you gracing me with your presence.” Tikki nodded, handing Marinette over the earrings.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I need you to take down Remediator.”

-

After Tikki laid down the groundwork on how her miraculous worked, Marinette got to work.

She managed to track down Remediator, surveying her action before deciding on a plan to take down the...akuma?

No, that was the name of the thing that possessed her teacher. Villain would be the better term. 

As she watched Remediator ‘fix’ people’s problems, Marinette couldn’t help but notice the heart located on Remediator’s chest fill up, almost as if it fed off - no.

It did feed off of the problems Remediator supposedly fixed. Now, how exactly was she-

“Get away from them!” someone shouted, Marinette looking to the direction of which the voice came from that was about to attack Remediator.

A blond boy cladded in black -black leather to be more precise- extended his bo staff to try and fling the ‘villain’ away from her new set of prey.

Sighing, Marinette sprung from her hiding spot and prevented the boy from hitting the ‘villain,’ earning a glare and a ‘hey’ from the boy.

“What were you thinking?” Marinette growled, crossing her arms. 

“Well hello to you too.” The boy said, eyeing Marinette’s odd choice of wearing a black slit miniskirt and short black cape over her red skin tight bodysuit. “To think such a bossy-” the boy promptly shut up when Marinette glared at him.

“I’m going to forget what you just said if you answer my previous question. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking of defeating the villain. Isn’t that our job?” The boy asked in response. 

“Yes, it’s our job to-”

“Then let’s go! The people-”

“The people are alright.” Marinette spoke, pinching the bridge of her nose. “If anything, the akumatized person isn’t really doing much.” Marinette filled in, watching the boy tilt his head. How did he not notice the victim actually helping solve people’s problem despite being dubbed a villain? “Are you being serious right now?” Marinette dragged her hands over her face. “Are you telling me you haven’t been trying to investigate the victim to see if they’re truly hurting anyone?”

When she saw the boy slowly shake his head, Marinette let out a heavy sigh. 

“What? I see a villain, I quickly head over and fight them off. It’s our job after all.”

“Our job is to protect the people, but that doesn’t mean we have to ruthlessly attack the victim or villain. Since we don’t know the full capacity of their powers, we have to proceed cautiously. We also have to make sure they destroy as little property as possible.” Marinette warned, the boy arching a brow. Just how much did he not realize? “We don’t know if the damage they cause is permanent or not...we don’t want innocent people to die, or do we?”

She watched as the boy’s eyes widened, only then his role finally sinking in. Marinette watched as the boy looked down at his hands, trembling more as he kept staring at them.

“So what are we supposed to do?” The boy asked Marinette, looking at her with fear in his eyes.

“De-escalate the situation.” Marinette said, only then realizing something. “What’s your name?”

“Adri-”

“Not your actual name you idiot. We mustn’t know each other's identities under any circumstance!” Marinette warned. “So, what’s your alias?” The boy hummed before he smiled.

“Chat. Chat Noir. What about you?”

“Ladybird.” Ladybird provided quickly, raising a brow when Chat Noir looked at her in...admiration? “What?”

“Not only did you already have your outfit down, but also your name. Have you been Ladybird for a while?”

“Nope. Been Ladybird for a few hours.” The two were snapped from their conversation when they heard a scream nearby. “Come on Chat, we have a victim to help.”

-

After an hour of trying to calm the victim down, but coming to no avail (since Ladybird couldn’t exactly bring her Marinette to her), the duo resorted to fighting the victim, finding her akuma to be trapped in a piece of paper tucked in her skirt pocket.

Ordering Chat to take Miss Bustier back to the school, Ladybird stood below the Eiffel Tower. 

“De-evilize.” Ladybird said as she captured the akuma, purifying it with her yo-yo and then releasing it. “Miraculous Ladybug!” Ladybird shouted as she then threw her yo-yo in the air as Tikki had told her, watching as millions of ladybugs erupted from her tiny yo-yo and spread throughout Paris, fixing any damage and reversing the victim’s effects on any person inflicted by the victim’s power.

“That was amazing!” A girl shouted from across the police tape, Ladybird turning to see her classmate...or rather her seat ‘buddy’. Alya is her name...if Marinette remembered correctly. “Say, can we know the name of the hero who just finished saving Paris?” Alya asked, smiling as she watched Ladybird approach her.

“The name’s Ladybird, but I am no hero. I’m just doing what I must to keep Paris safe.” With those words, Ladybird ran off, using her yo-yo to lift herself onto a building and disappear into the distance.

-

Stepping into her room, Amira finally let herself relax.

“Tikki, spots off.” Amira recited, watching her transformation wear off. Just as she was about to ask Tikki for her end of the deal, a voice spoke up.

“What is the meaning of this?” Amira whipped her head around, her eyes wide before narrowing upon seeing her father.

“What are you doing here?”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t find a way to keep knowing of your activities outside of Gotham?” Bruce asked, looking at her monitors at her desk. It was only then that Amira understood what he meant by that.

“You hacked into my devices from across the ocean?” Amira gritted. “Was isolating me not enough for you, so you had to resort towards invading my privacy too?” She didn’t get a response.

“When I heard that there was a villain in Paris-” Bruce continued, walking to her small window that was across from where he stood.

“Don’t-” a whine. “She wasn’t a villain! The true mastermind manipulated her emotions and took advantage of it to turn her-”

“That doesn’t matter.” Bruce stated. “She was still putting you in danger, whether directly or indirectly. But judging from your entrance and outfit, I’m going to guess that it was directly.”

“I was able to defend myself. I was able to defeat her.” Amira pointed out, not bringing up that thanks to her suit being magical, all of her injuries were healed once dropping her transformation. She didn’t want to give him any more flaws to tear apart. “Some random stranger had more confidence in me being able to take down a villain than you ever-”

“They were lucky that you knew what you were doing. That you had experience in martial arts and weaponry. Or did you forget who trained you?” Bruce reminded, making Amira shrink into herself, because...he had a point.

“But-”

“Not to mention how much of a deadweight your partner was.”

“He-”

“He relied on you to keep catching him, to keep directing him. All he did was follow your orders, never once thinking for himself or trying to guess your next step. What good is a partner if all they do is create more work for you?” Bruce asked, watching Amira shut up. “Did you really think this situation-”

“Yes.” Amira answered. “And I wasn’t wrong. I-” 

Amira was cut off by a video appearing on her main monitor’s screen. A video addressed to her...or rather Ladybird.

He introduced himself as Hawkmoth, declaring himself as Ladybird’s and Chat Noir’s enemy. Declaring that he was after their miraculous and wouldn’t stop until he had them. Once the video ended, Amira felt her father’s shadow loom over her.

“Hand them over.” 

“What?” Amira squeaked out, making sure to keep looking at her father. She couldn’t afford to hand them over. So to prevent that, she had to avoid looking at the box at her desk and try to not shield the earrings she was wearing. “No! I’m not going to hand them over just because you said so!”

“Amira, hand them over. If that man is after these miraculouses, then I need you to hand them over. I won’t allow him-”

“I vowed to protect them! To keep them away from the enemy that is Hawkmoth and he will not get his hands on them! Nor will I allow you to have them either.” Amira promised, taking a stance. “If you want them from me, you’ll have to-“ Amira called back her transformation, watching her father stare at her with wide eyes. “You will have to take them from my cold dead body! After all, you don’t need me, just like you didn’t need Jason! We are so easily replaceable after all.”

“Amira, what are you-”

At that moment, her ceiling began to rumble, causing the two of them to go on alert. Soon, someone crashed through her small skylight, cement falling into her room while dust filled in the remaining space. 

With the dust making her lose sight of her father, Amira kept her guard up when she quickly turned around to avoid being hit from behind.

“Amira! Where are you?” She heard her father ask, but she didn’t respond. Who knew if this was part of his plan. Who knew if this was his way of telling her he would get his way no matter what.

Amira dodged another attack to her side, Amira crouching to avoid it while also sweeping her leg under her opponent, only to find out he was able to fly. Looking up to the person before her, she froze. 

He was glowing green, also wearing a domino mask across his face.

“Sorry kid. But we were left with no choice but to take you by force.” 

“Wha-” Amira’s words were cut short when she felt someone else behind her.

The last thing Amira remembered was a beautiful woman giving her an apologetic look as Amira fell to the ground. Had she remained conscious for a while longer, she would’ve heard her father crying out her name, agony coating his voice.

NEXT

[translations-by-aiimee]

Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 28

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 28 - Immortal

In some remote mountainous areas in the south, Miao women used clay pots and menstrual blood to raise hundreds of insects. They sealed them, placed them in a damp place and cast curses on them. Once the day was done, the poisonous insects will have killed each other and the last one was embodied with Gu poison*. The curse made with Gu poison could make someone's love interest fall helplessly in love with them for the rest of his life, and it could also plague one's enemy with nightmares, madness, and even death. The women who concocted Gu poison were typically loners, often muttering to no one, avoided by the general public.

*(T/N: 蛊 - Gu poison was believed to be the combination of all the venoms from the insects that died and would be used for black magic in southern regions of China)

In Nanyang Black Magic, they would use the body of a baby that died recently, boiled out the toyol*, poured it on a puppet doused in human blood and placed it in the home. The imprisoned baby ghost would protect the house but the curse-caster will be punished. They would also carve birthdates into wood, causing the other to die.

*(T/N: 尸油 - literally 'corpse oil.' I'll spare you the graphic details but basically taking a dead body's chin and boiling it until oil drains out of it)

This black magic flourished in the Ming Dynasty. The Eastern Depot eunuchs* were in turmoil. Everyone was reporting each other, no one would speak to each other, eyes darting between each other daily. These curses were developed as a branch of Daoism to oppose political rivals. A-Yan said that the Daoist practices used to drive out ghosts and save people were declining, but this black magic has stuck around. It was one of the biggest spots in Daoist history.

*(T/N: 东厂 - a secret police & spy agency run by eunuchs meant to suppress political opposition towards the emperor)

Saturday morning was a beautiful day. The sun was shining but not to the point of being unbearably hot. The distant mountains stood silently under the blue sky. A black Audi passed quickly through the country’s tree-lined roads, raising a cloud of grit and dust. A white goose with its head held high on the roadside was startled by the car, flapping its wings and stretching its neck to hide behind a fence.

The car stopped at a small farmhouse in the northwest corner of the village.

In the courtyard, a tall Shuzi tree stretched out dense branches, looking extraordinarily vibrant. In contrast, the entire courtyard was strangely decrepit. A well was covered by a millstone and the stone-paced path was full of weeds. The doors of the three mud-brick houses were closed, with straw curtains covering the doors and windows covered with dust.

Everything was very different from a month ago. Lin Yan remembered that the last time he came here, there were hens and rabbits. The old lady in blue embroidered clothing was kneeling on the futon with her eyes closed. The small courtyard was filled with the mysterious atmosphere of the countryside. The current yard would give people the impression that the homeowner hadn't been home for years when, in fact, a fresh grave in the back of the mountain had only been built a month ago. Rural people were convinced that the houses inhabited by the living were blessed by the gods and sheltered from the elements for decades. Once the owner of the house dies, the gods will follow, so the empty house often collapsed and was destroyed in less than six months.

"When Second Immortal Gu was in the village, she would help children that fell sick with fever, and the adults that were dealing with evil spirits. Young men would ask her when they'd get married and, for the right price, she'd tell them." The village chief said with a cigarette in his mouth.

The village leader knew Yin Zhou’s mother well. He heard that Yin Zhou wanted to bring someone to pay tribute to Second Immortal Gu and waited at the entrance of the village to welcome them. It took ten minutes to drive from the village leader's house to Second Immortal Gu’s house. The village head smoked four cigarettes in a row. Yin Zhou squeezed his eyes shut while Lin Yan and the little Daoist priest twisted their heads out of the window every 30 seconds to gasp for a breath of fresh air. The village chief was the only one of them chatting in the smoky car. Lin Yan saw how the complaints of three people and a ghost just flew over his head.

If a ghost could complain.

Lin Yan found a roll of incense from the little Daoist's bag and lit it. He put the incense burner at the door of the mud-brick house and offered his respects.

"Last time, we left just before Second Immortal Gu had her accident. I should have come to offer some incense sooner, it's just things with school got busy and I haven't been able to make it until now." Lin Yan brushed the straw curtain and the accumulated dust fell on his face. "Cough, cough. Does - Does anyone take care of this place?"

"Of course not. You big city kids wouldn't know. Doing this line of work is only good for putting food on the table. Immortal Gu came out here in her twenties. In less than ten years, her husband and two sons had died and she was the only one left. She couldn't even save herself." The village leader stuffed his yellow striped shirt into his pants. "Don't feel bad. No immortal in this village could escape that fate."

"Come on, let's go, you guys are here to see her grave. We don't put up any gravestones here. We just build a stone platform, but the villagers will remember who it's for. I'll take you up there."

The sun was growing hotter. Several of them used broken branches to smack the grass in case of snakes while they hiked up the rugged mountain trail. A rural cemetery wasn't as neat as an urban cemetery. Each family claimed a spot, with every newly deceased buried next to the rest of their family. The grave was a prominent mound of dirt with a large stone on top. Some of the graves were too old to even make out the mound, the ground studded with small light blue flowers. A date palm tree grew wildly, and they needed to watch their step when walking so they wouldn't disturb the resting dead.

Second Immortal Gu's grave was off on its own. The mound was freshly dug. Other than a crooked wreath lying on it, it was indistinguishable from the older graves that had been abandoned for years.

The scene made Lin Yan feel incredibly guilty. He burned a large stack of paper dollars in front of the grave, playing with his branch while saying silently in his mind: Auntie, if you're still here, please come back and tell us who harmed you. We'll avenge your death.

The village chief took the cigarettes Lin Yan had bought him and squatted off in the distance to smoke. Lin Yan winked at the little Daoist priest and said softly, "Let's start?"

A-Yan nodded and took out a crumpled photo from his pocket that he had found in a frame in Immortal Gu's house. The immortal in the photo was still very young, wearing a floral cotton jacket and staring vacantly ahead.

"Now isn't a good time. The s-sun is too high. The mountains are filled with Yang energy, and the ghosts may not be able to be reached." A-Yan said. He jumped up and grabbed a twig from the date tree above his head. He hung a spirit summoning flag on it and patted the dust off his shoulders. "Here's a picture, here are the bones. Um, Lin Yan, I'm going to borrow your birthdate for this."

Before Lin Yan had time to ask, the little Daoist priest handed him a dagger. Unlike his usual mahogany sword, this one was actually made of metal. The handle seemed to be a few years old, and the tip of the blade gleaming a bright white in the sunlight.

"H-Hold this for a minute. You might feel a little uncomfortable, but don't let it go." A-Yan instructed: "I-I'll read one sentence and you read the next."

Yin Zhou chuckled but he felt that it probably wasn't the time to laugh so he quickly turned his laughter into a string of coughs.

Surprisingly, A-Yan never stuttered whenever he talked about Taoism and charms, Lin Yan muttered.

Time passed by and it was almost noon. The date trees in the mountains couldn't block the hot sun. After standing there for a long time, most of them were covered in a layer of sweat. The village leader couldn't bear the heat and left to join some nearby people to drink some tea. Lin Yan stood in front of the grave with the dagger in his hand. He rubbed the sweat on his cheeks off with his shoulder, hoping that this time it would be over quickly.

The little Daoist started reciting. His voice didn't sound like proper speech, but the slow rate of speech wasn't too difficult to follow. Lin Yan held the hilt of the dagger and along with the chant. Not even halfway through the incantation, Lin Yan already began to feel that something was wrong. The temperature around him began to drop, and the hot sweat condensed on his back. He kept shivering like he was suffering from heatstroke. A chill came from the handle of the dagger. First, the temperature seeped into his palm, and then his whole arm, up to his shoulders, through the bones in his spine to the back of his head in a numb wave. It was as if he wasn't holding a dagger but a frozen fish that had been left in the bottom tray of the freezer for a year.

The spirit summoning flag above his head began to move.

"It's cold." Lin Yan took a breath and scanned the silent mountains around him. "Have you reached the soul?"

"I t-think I found her." The little Daoist hesitated. "Huh. . . that's weird. . ."

After reciting two more incantations, the bone-chilling cold air had spread to his calves. Lin Yan's teeth chattered and he shivered out: "A-. . . A-Yan, are you sure this is okay. . . it's too. . . cold. . ."

The chanting continued, the little Daoist priest shot him a sideways glance, his eyes cold. Lin Yan can only brace himself to keep follow the mantra incantations, a heavy cold sweat forming on his forehead.

"Hold on for a little longer. The soul is bound to something, I want to break it free." A-Yan gritted his teeth, and a piece of talisman paper was slapped against the blade. All of a sudden, the cold washed over him like a tsunami. Lin Yan's whole body felt like it was being stabbed by needles, veins popping on his forehead from the pain.

"A-Yan, what are you doing?!" Yin Zhou knew something wasn't right when he saw Lin Yan's lips turn blue. "If you can't do it now, someone's going to get hurt. Lin Yan, use the ghost that's following you!"

"Almost there. Don't let go!" The little Daoist was flushed a sickly pale colour and he rapidly chanted the mantra. The spirit summoning flag above his head was being whipped by the wind. There was a ripping sound and the whole piece of cloth was torn in half and fluttered down onto the old grave in the distance.

"I-It's okay. . . A-Yan, go faster. . ." Lin Yan was so cold that he could barely get his tongue to work. He tried to move the hand with the dagger to it but he found that his skin was stuck to the metal and he couldn't budge it. He was shivering from his arms all the way down to his legs. Lin Yan staggered back and stepped on the bag they'd brought, almost falling backwards.

A force of strength supported his back. Xiao Yu's voice sounded right when he needed him, but his low voice didn't let him retort: "Let go."

Xiao Yu's hand covered the back of Lin Yan's hand. Compared to the temperature of the dagger, his palm was actually warm. It was just right to block the cold air that kept pouring into Lin Yan's arm. A-Yan's expression changed in an instant and he shouted loudly: "Back off, beast!"

"I'll fucking finish this. . ." Lin Yan abruptly closed his eyes and pressed his palm to the blade. All at once, the bone-chilling cold air felt like ten thousand needles running through his palm up to his arm. At the same time, there was a cold that grew behind him. He quickly opened his eyes but Second Immortal Gu hadn't appeared. On the contrary, Xiao Yu snapped Lin Yan's wrist with completely overwhelming strength, forcing the sharp weapon out of his hand.

The moment the dagger was taken out of Lin Yan's hand, he felt like he was immediately torn out of an ice block and thrown into a fire. The ritual was broken, the hot sunlight licked his back, making his whole body numbly feel like it was going to dissolve. However, he couldn't care less about his body's reaction. What happened next made Lin Yan and Yin Zhou - who was freaking out off to the side - shocked. They saw Xiao Yu holding the dagger inching towards A-Yan, frigid eyes filled with killing intent. When the palm of his hand touched the hilt of the knife, it sounded like searing flesh. But he didn't care. He grabbed A-Yan's collar with one hand, and violently plunged the dagger toward his left eye with the other!

Lin Yan's mind kicked into action. He subconsciously rushed over to hold Xiao Yu's waist, using all his strength to drag him back. However, something was wrong with the little Daoist priest, too. His usual cowardice was gone and his eyes burned with rage. He rolled away and broke free, rapidly taking out a handful of cinnabar and tossing it towards Xiao Yu. His voice changed because of the trembling: "An evil beast is an evil beast. You can't stay!"

"What the fuck is going on!" Yin Zhou couldn't see Xiao Yu. He could only see the little Daoist tumbling on the ground alone trying to avoid a shimmering dagger. Lin Yan's nerves were fried. While dragging Xiao Yu back, he roared towards Yin Zhou: "How the hell should I know? You grab A-Yan!"

He had never seen Xiao Yu so angry. The midday sun was burning and blinding. The ghost's whole body was emitting a faint greenish-black aura. The knuckles of both hands snapped open, sharp claw-like nails grabbing the back of the Daoist priest's head. Lin Yan thought he was seeing things and closed his eyes, but the scene stayed the same. The place where the ghost stood glowed a greenish-black and the place where the human stood was a dancing orange fire, intertwining with each other, but the orangish-yellow flames were gradually dying out. . .

Later, he would learn that people have yang energy and ghosts have yin energy. When the energy was extremely concentrated, he could directly perceive the yin and yang without his eyes confusing it in his mind. This was the foundation of excellent Taoism. He had inadvertently opened a long-closed door to the mystical arts.

However, the current situation was extremely dangerous. Xiao Yu held A-Yan’s neck with one hand and the dagger cut inch by inch into the little Daoist priest's arm blocking it. The hand holding the knife was searing black from the contact with the blade of the evil spirit's. A Yan's face grew purple, his eyes bulging. Lin Yan didn't dare to hesitate for a moment and scrambled over to protect A-Yan from behind. There was a clanging sound and the dagger rolled to the ground.

The little Daoist broke free from the evil spirit's hands, clutching his bleeding wound and groaning intermittently: "Lin Yan. . . Immortal Gu. . . Immortal Gu's spirit is trapped. . . I couldn't get her. . ."

Lin Yan supported the little Daoist's shoulders. His eyes gleamed, and the soft deer-like eyes were different from those when he had when he cast the spell. "The curse. . . Be careful." A-Yan whispered. Lin Yan hadn't gotten the chance to ask what was going on before his thin body couldn't support his own weight. His eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Lin Yan and Yin Zhou looked at each other, shocked by the outcome, unable to utter a word.

[omniswords]

#24 for felinette!!!!!!!! 🗣

24. Deep kisses where they have their hands tangled in each other’s hair to pull them closer.

leave me a pairing and a number and i’ll write you a kiss!

ma’am i stayed up until 4am writing this nonsense, you’re WELCOME.

still connected to #12 and #16 because we love fake not-dating-shenanigans 😏

He’s really got to stop ending up at functions like this. And this one has to be even worse than the New Year’s Eve party.

Félix has never been one for anniversaries—never really saw the significance of them. So you’ve gone around the sun with someone twenty-five goddamn times. Or without someone for six. So what? No reason to commemorate it with the nonsense of balloons and music and food and… other people.

He wouldn’t say he’s spent the majority of the Bourgeois’ 25th anniversary party sulking, although he’s pretty sure it’s the word other people might use to describe him. Especially Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeois themselves, who are apparently bickering over the placement of the baby grand piano as though something like that can be fixed in the middle of an event. And especially Chloé, who—perfectly on brand, even at age twenty—is fawning over her mother and staring  at him as if to say, don’t ruin this for me.

As though this is her thing to have ruined.

Besides. He’s not sulking. He’s just very much preferring to be literally anywhere else, the way anyone else with a brain might feel. In fact, the only part of this whole affair that’s been even remotely palatable is the fact that the Dupain-Cheng family is catering. And it’s not because of the food.

Well.

Not necessarily.

It’s because Marinette’s helping. And as much as he needs to keep the opinion to himself, she’s very much a sight for sore eyes in the Grand Paris. Dressed in a black-and-white dress she mentioned making herself, and with her hair in a high ponytail, she pays more attention to her parents and the platters on the table in front of her than to the overly dignified laughter around her.

Admittedly, they haven’t been able to interact much; they agreed on that much as recently as the night before, along with a promise to make up the lost quality time later. This is her summer job, after all, and she says that means something to her. Besides, he has to make himself a certain percent sociable—with the Bourgeois family, with the Tsurugis, even with the Rossis—so everyone and their cousin doesn’t write him off as the Fitzwilliam Darcy of the Agreste/Graham de Vanily family.

(He doesn’t see what the big deal of that is, though. In fact, Marinette would probably agree with him, with that silly little giggle of hers hiding behind her sketchbook, and he’d think, perhaps, that she’d make the perfect Elizabeth.)

Still, it doesn’t sit with him particularly well to ignore her or otherwise treat her just like “the help”—if there’s anything his parents taught him besides their version of love, it’s to thank and remember the names of every person regardless of position. And on top of that, she’s been stealing more than her fair share of glances over at him, as if to invite him over. As if, for a moment or two, she might need some reprieve of her own.

He won’t tell anyone what a sucker he is for the blue in her eyes. He’ll take that to his grave.

It’s just as Félix is getting to his feet and making his way to her table, though, that Lila Rossi decides to try and make herself known. Again. He sighs; he really thought she would have gotten the hint by now. But apparently Lila is nothing if not persistent, even years later, and the way she greets him and all but latches onto his arm is so disgustingly syrupy that he feels the sudden urge to run upstairs and brush his teeth. “Isn’t it lovely?” she says, her fingers curling impossibly tight into the sleeve of his button-up shirt. “Twenty-five years. Can you imagine being invested in someone for so long? It must be beautiful…”

Félix declines to answer, feels his own eyes going dark, and finds a strange solace in the way Marinette, out of the corner of his eye, stiffens and clenches her fist at her side.

“Can’t you picture it?” Lila’s going on as they approach the catering table—doesn’t she ever get tired of hearing herself talk?—and she attempts to slip her hand into his. Smoothly and without missing a beat, he swipes his hand away, sticking it in his pocket with a pointed look. Manners be damned; he’d rather choke on a macaron than hold Lila Rossi’s hand. A cloud passes over her face, subtle and on the edges of manipulative where Chloé would burst out, but otherwise she doesn’t seem fazed. She’s probably developed more resolve, or perhaps more poison, ever since Adrien made it more than clear to her that his interests lay elsewhere. “Haven’t you considered it, Félix? My family’s done some lovely work in England—they’re Italian ambassadors, did you know?”

“Yes,” Félix manages to deadpan, acutely aware of how Marinette turns away from them to unpack another box of ridiculous paper straws. “In fact, Miss Rossi, you’ve told me so frequently that I may very well develop that tinnitus you so often complained about before.” He tilts his head, deeply feels the shift in Marinette’s energy and how hard she must be trying to stifle her own laughter. “Remind me, have you gotten that checked out?”

Marinette has to dip behind the table; he has to try not to smile. If he can’t talk to her directly, he might as well amuse her.

“Oh!” Lila says. “You remembered. Yes, yes, of course I did. It took some extensive treatment, but the doctors say I should be cured by now. It’s miraculous, isn’t it?” She gives her hair a flip. “But really, Félix, you’ll consider what I’ve told you, won’t you? I hear your family’s in the film business, and—wouldn’t you know it, I’ve done quite a few photoshoots with your cousin. I’m sure he could put in a good word for me with your mother. Think about it, us starring opposite each other—”

Félix suppresses a sigh, honestly about to tell her that if she had any sense of his family, he would have known that his aunt was the actress. But before he can so much as open his mouth, Marinette clears her throat to get their attention. Her expression is sour, and her arms are folded. “If you’re not going to take any refreshments,” she chides, “I’m going to ask you make way for those who are. And by the way, it might help you to know that merit and tact get you much farther in life than empty flattery.” She clicks her tongue, tightens the apron at her waist, and turns on her heel. “You should try it sometime, Miss Rossi.”

He knows that expression. The Customer Service Smile, she branded it. It’s half-terrifying, seeing her actually unleash it. Half-terrifying, and half-vindicating.

From the corner of the hotel lobby, Chloé’s mouth falls open in elated shock. Adrien and Kagami pause their hushed conversation to look their way. And Lila turns a deep, angry scarlet. (Oh, Marinette’s gotten so good at getting to her. Perfect, perfect Elizabeth.) In seconds, she’s composed herself, thankfully all but unraveled herself from Félix, and she approaches Marinette’s parents—who are honestly lovely people, and don’t deserve whatever’s about to come to them. (Especially Mrs. Cheng. She’s snuck him into the house too many times.)

They don’t get it. Whatever words Lila’s gathering, whatever excuse me she’s trying to preface it with, Félix doesn’t let it out, and it’s certainly not for her sake or for the Bourgeois family. “Thank you,” he cuts in with a cordial smile, careful not to shake Mrs. Cheng’s hand while she’s handling food. “You’ve been doing wonderful work for this event. Might you permit Miss Dupain-Cheng a short break? I’m sure she could use one.”

It’s practically textbook. Compliment. Persuade. Twist the knife with a little kindness. Perhaps Lila Rossi hasn’t learned all the tricks just yet.

And he certainly won’t let her.

Marinette’s parents look to her, and she looks to Félix, and he raises an eyebrow, as if to say, You gave me an out. Now it’s my turn. She hesitates a moment, then gathers herself. “Actually,” she says, as if finding a second wind, “a break would be really nice. Papa, could you text me when you need me back?”

Her father lets her go—he’s always been good about giving her the things she needs, which is sometimes more than he could say about his own. None too quickly, she undoes her apron, takes a deep breath to center herself, and disappears into the carpeted corridor by the elevators. And Félix, with that twist-the-knife bow and a macaron in hand, dismisses himself from Lila Rossi and finds a new corner to occupy.

There. Now no one can say he doesn’t talk to anyone. And no one can say he sulks.

———

He makes it about three-fourths of the way through the macaron before he finds his out to the corridor. It’s fine; he knows he won’t be missed, and he made sure Lila was properly occupied when he slipped away. She can’t follow him if she doesn’t know where he’s going, after all.

Almost predictably, Marinette is still outside the elevators, pacing back and forth in front of them and only making way for the people coming out. She catches his eye and pauses mid-step, and then collapses by one of the carpeted staircases with her head in her hands. “That was stupid,” she mumbles. “I was stupid.”

Félix doesn’t give her what she’s probably looking for. Instead, he holds his hand out to her and says, “Come with me. It’s suffocating, being in there.”

To his relief, Marinette takes the out. Her hand feels so small and so soft in his as he helps her up, and they slip into one of the elevators; all at once, he’s grateful for the hotel room that accompanied his invitation. They don’t say much, don’t do much even though they finally have the privacy for it. In fact, Marinette doesn’t crack until the elevator door closes behind them and they’ve begun to stroll down the blissfully quiet hallway. “I was working,” she sighs. “And I get it, it wasn’t professional of me to say something like that on the job. Especially during someone’s entire anniversary.”

“On the contrary,” he says, his hand finding a home at the small of her back; he’s relieved that she doesn’t protest, and instead leans into the touch for comfort. “I’ve never heard someone vocalize a middle finger quite as subtly and as eloquently as you.”

“It was hypocritical, Fé,” she points out. “You know I used my connections to get into university, too.”

Félix gives her the type of look that he hopes says, are you kidding me. “You asked for letters of recommendation. Which, as you may recall, is standard for university applications?”

Marinette looks like she wants to find other points to argue, like she’s really racking her brain for it. Eventually she stops, and sighs, and unties and reties her hair. Which is killing him on the inside, but he doesn’t dare say so just yet. Not when she’s still got steam to blow. “I’m sorry,” she finally says. “I should have let you handle it. You can hold your own.”

“Oh, please. To me, she’s a nuisance at best. A sycophant and a sour taste in my mouth. To you, she’s been a terror.” He tosses her a smirk. “I’m impressed that you have the capacity to dislike someone so deeply and so honorably. I should’ve expected something like that from you.” He glances behind them, just to make sure they’re truly alone, before he slips an arm around her waist, pulls her close and murmurs against the shell of her ear. “Were you jealous, love?”

It works. He can practically feel out her goosebumps, the way her muscles relax, with every sense he has. “Félix…”

“Well?” He hardly moves away from her, noses right into the flyaway hairs her elastic didn’t catch, into the sugar-and-almond scent she’s been carrying all day. “Were you?”

Marinette doesn’t bother to look his way. She stares straight ahead, and folds her arms across her chest. “Why should I be jealous?” she says. “You’re mine.”

Dear God. If he wasn’t attracted to her before, he certainly is now. He can feel the flare of it in the pit of his stomach, and before even he knows it he’s kissing the comebacks off of her tongue, pressing her against the wall just a few doors down from his room. He sighs, all but covering her mouth with his, and his hands catch on her dress on the way to tugging her hair tie out and securing it around his wrist for safekeeping. He always knew that sleight of hand would prove useful someday. “Yours, huh?” he hums in between kisses. “Is that how you feel?”

“I’m not wrong,” Marinette argues back, tugging him back in by the lapels of his jacket, and he’s far too busy tangling his fingers in her hair and mouthing down her neck to dispute it. And even if he weren’t busy, he certainly wouldn’t want to. Not when she sounds like that.

He pauses to laugh into her ear, her hair spilling over her shoulders as his hands find a home at her waist. “Don’t you have guests to cater to?”

Her lips are as red as her cheeks, and as far as he’s concerned her eyes are hooded beyond redemption. “Don’t you have a couple to congratulate?”

“Why should I? I’ve got something worth celebrating right here.” He grins faintly, steals another searing kiss, runs his hands up and down her sides and jumps at the opportunity to slip tongue when she gasps. “And she looks so good in wrinkles and a peter pan collar.”

Marinette’s breath hitches.

Bingo. And here she probably thought he didn’t pay attention to her fashion rambles.

Her eyes are sparkling by the time he pulls back enough to look at her.  She looks him up and down, stops his hands, gives them a squeeze.

“Where’s your room?”

[thanksjro]

Dark Cybertron Chapter 3: This One’s All About Skywarp. Honest!

It’s a beautiful day during Cybertron’s apocalypse, and Starscream is talking to a corpse to work through his emotions. He goes through a very brief rundown of what happened last issue, I guess because Swerve’s too busy being in space to do the Story So Far, and caps it off with an apology to Metalhawk over killing him. Rattrap watches this go down in the background, because this is Skywarp’s toy tie-in issue.

After this very incriminating conversation, Starscream goes out to see to the massive crowd standing outside, including Scoops’ little Targetmaster buddies.

I don’t care for that man’s beard.

Starscream promises to go talk to the Titan, though he really doesn’t want to, and Rattrap catches up to him to touch base. The two of them go to see Megatron, who’s still trapped in the forcefield hamster ball Wheeljack stuffed inside his chest back in RID. Starscream teases Rattrap about trying to be conniving, comparing it to his own endeavors as the Decepticon SIC, and offers a bit of advice.

Implying that Starscream hasn’t been flying by the seat of his proverbial pants since he became a main character in Phase Two.

Starscream, having met his daily quota of rubbing his success in Megatron’s face, goes off to see what he can do about this Titan situation.

Over at the Titan itself, the Autobots and Decepticons are duking it out, with the man of the hour gracing us with his presence.

Outstanding, you funky little robot.

Arcee tries a little banter, but it falls flat, and instead she just decides to sword fight a cat. Bumblebee asks Soundwave just what the hell he thinks he’s doing, and Soundwave gives a complete non-answer in the form of Decepticon propaganda, because anything else would make things too easy. This is where Starscream shows up and has his little chat with the Titan.

Back over in prison, Rattrap’s getting the skinny on the dark prophecy Scoop introduced into the narrative last issue. Rattrap wants to know just how this information got passed around so well outside of jail, and Scoop suggests that there are people who perhaps have a vetted interest in what may or may not be happening with Starscream. Then Rattrap makes it weird by A) not being terribly concerned about the potential end of the world and B) being impressed by the idea that Starscream somehow planned said end of the world.

This Skywarp issue is really good.

Over with the Lost Light, Ultra Magnus has taken command, and the lads are about to make the quantum jump to chase after Jhiaxus. But wait! Something’s off! The ship’s moving in a way that it shouldn’t be! Very odd, that. Brainstorm calls with answers, asking Magnus to grab Getaway, for some friggin’ reason, and head down to the shuttle bay.

Getaway asks Magnus how it feels to be big man on campus, and Magnus seems to think it’s a bit overrated.

Wow, someone needs to go talk to Xaaron about maybe thinking through his debate topics before he posts them, so he doesn’t get pegged as a space racist. The Universal Killswitch happened, like, last week, my dude.

The two of them get to the shuttle bay to discover that Metroplex’s thumb- which they picked up back in Spotlight: Trailcutter- is floating, and more or less pushing the Lost Light off-course. Getaway is pretty jazzed to see this thing on the ship, sort of missing the bigger picture. Brainstorm hypothesizes that Metroplex is using his severed thumb to guide the Lost Light to him.

Not sure why Getaway needed to be here for this.

Back on Cybertron, Everyone watches as Starscream flies up to the Titan. Arcee is ready to blast him out of the sky with a gun as big as she is, but Bumblebee wants to see where this goes. This pisses Prowl the hell off, and he starts yelling, but Bumblebee tells him to shut up. Bumblebee tells a lot of people to shut up in “Dark Cybertron”.

So we’ve got a team-up going on between the Autobots and the Decepticons- Bumblebee says it isn’t, but it pretty much is. Soundwave and Prowl get into a bit of a scuff, as Starscream lands and asks the Titan to chat.

Yeah, that doesn’t really work out too well.

Starscream manages to escape the Titan death blast in his alt, as the poor bastards on the ground below begin to dissolve into black fizz.

But Skywarp’s okay, so it can’t be all bad!

Yeeeeah, Skywarp.

Prowl starts yelling at Bumblebee again, as if he can’t see that the friggin’ death wave the Titan shot out of its face is still heading for Iacon, Starscream just barely managing to stay ahead of it. He lands as it hits, screaming about how Cybertron is his and he’s not gonna let some murder energy to steal his thunder, bracing his arms out as if that’ll do anything. Everyone watching him do this has about the expression you’d expect from witnessing such madness.

As the Iaconian populace gets dusted, someone else wakes up from the dead. It’s Metalhawk, and it’s time for him to become a tool of the narrative.

Metalhawk launches into the air and lands on top of Starscream, interrupting his personal diatribe to gripe about how he killed him. Still, there are bigger fish to fry, as he kicks Starscream through a wall and walks into the room where they keep Megatron.

Metalhawk releases Megatron from his hamster ball prison and carries him away, despite Starscream maybe insinuating that Megatron is dead somehow? It’s not super clear. Anyway, Metalhawk must do some pretty intense arm exercises, because he carries Megatron out and shoots into the air, holding him one-handed to his side.

Eat your veggies, kids, and you too can kidnap an entire warlord.

As the city falls apart, Rattrap and Scoop enter the scene, the prison likely having collapsed in the aftershocks of the death wave. Good thing they’re giant robots who can’t be killed by mere crushing damage. Rattrap tries to connive, but Scoop is more concerned with the fact that many people are dying, because he’s a somewhat decent person. Some of these people have begun to turn on Starscream, who takes it about as well be you’d expect.

Back on the Lost Light, the lads have decided to go find Metroplex, and to hell with bringing Jhiaxus to justice. At least for now. Of course, Ratchet tries to argue that they should do what Orion wanted them to do, but Orion isn’t here right now, is he? And Orion isn’t the space pope at this present time, now is he? So yeah. Metroplex time. They quantum jump, ending up underwater, with said water swarming with robots. That might be an issue, especially since they don’t seem to be terribly friendly.

Back in the Crystal City with Shockwave, Metalhawk’s dropped off the package, and Shockwave reminds us that he installed a space bridge in Megatron’s torso. Scientists sure do like to shove random bullshit into Megatron’s torso.

Hey.

Let’s talk about the NAILs for a second.

This is Tappet. I’ve been calling him Hat Guy up until this point, but his name is Tappet.

Everything Tappet done in the last 20+ issues of RID can be explained without him being the subject of the sentence:

The Decepticons kicked Tappet’s ass. Prowl sent Tappet to prison. Metalhawk bailed Tappet out of prison. Metalhawk brought Sky-Byte to the trashcan fire to talk to Tappet and some other neutrals. Starscream takes off his top as Tappet watches.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Tappet doesn’t actually do anything. None of the NAILs actually do anything, other than die and fill out crowd shots. Sometimes they bitch about the current situation, but even then, a lot of the time, those more vocal NAILs were actually involved in the war at some point.

This is an issue, because we’ve been presented with this entirely new group that’s in direct opposition of the war caused by every character we’d met prior to The Death of Optimus Prime.

And they have zero agency within the story. Shit just happens around them and they react. In fact, one of the major point points of RID is whether or not the Autobots should let the NAILs have agency within the very government that rules them, and it is such a point of contention that it takes literal in-story months and several disasters for them to reach a consensus. A decision that barely involves input from Metalhawk, the guy who is a NAIL, and is meant to be their advocate. Metalhawk, who is supposed to be on the same level as Bumblebee in terms of sway in the narrative.

At first, he did- he was the subtly conniving bastard who would trip Bumblebee up in front of others to make him look bad, and then deny anything of the sort happened if questioned. It was an interesting dynamic with a character that was new to the continuity. Metalhawk was interesting.

Then Starscream got involved, and Metalhawk’s role was reduced to yes-man and character motivation to both of them, because conniving is Starscream’s thing, and obviously we can’t have two bastards gang up on poor, sweet lil’ Bumblebee.

Who had a remote control that could blow up people’s heads if they pissed him off.

You remember when Bumblebee was the kid appeal character? Because I do.

The point is, the NAILs exist, but their existence isn’t justified within the story. They’re set-dressing, not characters. And now Metalhawk in particular is a prop for Shockwave, and somehow I doubt the other guys are going to be doing a hell of a lot in this story.

I dunno, it just seems like a bit of a waste.

Anyway, Skywarp sure was present in his toy tie-in issue, huh? Remember when he did that thing? And the stuff? Ah man, that was so cool!

Yeah, someone probably crossed their I’s and dotted their T’s on this one, because I’m pretty friggin’ sure this wasn’t meant to be his, even if the exclusive cover says otherwise.

[winchest09]

Yesterday.

Title: Yesterday

Pairing: Dean Winchester x reader

Word Count: 3000

Summary: Yesterday, everything was how it should be. Yesterday, Dean was in his happy place. Yesterday, everything changed. 

Rating: 15

Warnings: Fluff, angst, all the angst, SPOILER, death, regrets, drama, accident. 

A/N: So this is my entry for @deanwanddamons​ 500 follower challenge! Congratulations babe once again! My prompt was “And you’re the place my life begins and you’ll be where it ends” this line is included in this fic. :) 

A/N 2: This also took a different turn to what I expected it to be and I sincerely  hope you enjoy it. 

*** Any mistakes are my own, my darling beta is feeling under the weather (Feel better babe!) Please do not repost my work anywhere however reblogs are fine and welcome :) I’ll give you a virtual hug if you did!

***

Main Masterlist

Let me know what you think!

——————————————

Yesterday, everything was how it should be. A fancy hotel room, a plush queen sized bed lined with eygption cotton sheets and his girl all curled up in his arms. He’d woken at the same time that he always did when she was laying next to him. Just in time to see the sunrise shine beautifully across Y/N’s face, highlighting her delicate features perfectly. For Dean, this was a sight that would always be his favourite. A sight that he was lucky enough to see every day when he awoke next to her. A sight that he would remember for the rest of his life. 

He took a deep, soft breath as he allowed his eyes to scan over Y/N’s face. He didn’t want to miss a single detail. From the way her lashes dusted across her cheeks as she slept to the way her lips looked as soft as a petal. He adored how her hair would fall gently over her eyes, giving him the perfect opportunity to reach out and brush it behind her ear. He loved the soft noises that would escape her lips as she moved around in slumber. He loved every single damn thing. 

He smiled gently when she moved closer towards him, her body subconsciously seeking him out and only resting when her hands came into contact with his chest. His smile grew wider as he leaned over her slightly, dipping down to bring his lips to her neck softly, his few day old stubble grazing her skin as she started to stir beneath him. 

He felt how her hands slowly came up to caress his bare back, her fingertips grazing his skin up and down as she allowed a contented sigh to pass her lips. Her eyes were still closed when Dean started to travel his kisses. He moved from her neck to the edge of her jaw, rolling himself over on top of her whilst supporting his weight with his forearms. He worked his way down to her chest, peppering kisses across her smooth skin as he travelled lower down her body, the cotton sheet draped over him. He heard how she sucked in a sharp breath as his mouth worshipped her, his lips stopping just shy of her navel to allow a wicked grin to spread across his face. 

Without warning, Dean sucked in a deep breath and blew the biggest and wettest raspberry on Y/N’s stomach. The shriek that left her mouth made him grin and brace for what was to come; her laughter. It filled his soul with such joy whenever she laughed, the sound was his favourite thing to listen too. She threw the sheet off of his back, her wide joyful eyes staring down at him as she tried to fight him playfully off of her. Skillfully, he worked his way back up her body, his fingers dancing along her ribs as he tickled her mercissly. Her laughter, her smiles, her beauty...

This was his happy place. 

-

Yesterday, Dean had stepped out of line. He’d hurt Y/N with his words, not intentionally, he’d never intentionally hurt her but he had ruined their joyus morning by allowing his own fears to drive his thoughts. After enjoying breakfast in bed, literally and figuratively, they had begun to pack their bags ready for the short drive back to reality. Y/N, being the switched on and dedicated hunter that she was, began to check her phone for anything that remotely seemed interesting to them in the surrounding area. She was always trying her best to help somebody, always wanting to do the best for people, always putting them first even if it meant putting her life on the line. She was selfless.

With her phone in hand, Dean watched from the edge of the bed as she bit gently down on her thumb nail, a sign that she was reading something interesting. He swallowed the fear that started to creep up from his gut, instead he tried to focus on packing the rest of his clothes back into his duffel. 

“Hey, there’s a case not too far from here. Sounds like ghouls,” Y/N announced, spinning on her feet to turn to look at him, “want to check it out?” she asked, a hopeful look on her face. 

“We’ll call one of the other hunters, set them on it,” he answered quickly, his focus not leaving the duffel in front of him as he placed it on his lap. He couldn’t handle seeing the dejected look on her face that he knew he’d put there. 

“But this is on our way back to the bunker,” she started, walking closer towards him to show him the article on her phone. “We could drop in, handle it and be home in 48 hours,” she continued but Dean just gently shook his head, refusing to look at the phone. 

“And there could be a hunter closer to it than us,” he countered, standing from the bed before he turned and zipped the duffel closed. He heard how she let out a little frustrated huff and he prepared himself for what was to come next, her inevitable argument in which she tries to convince him. 

“Come on, Dean. We’ve not been on a hunt, just me and you, in forever,” she said in a saddened tone, her phone sliding into the back of her jeans pocket as her eyes never left his.

“I said no, Y/N,”  he affirmed, turning around to face her. His tone was sharper than he had intended so he didn’t miss the small flinch she gave when his words hit her; they had definitely stung. 

She shook her head, a tiny frown creasing at her brow as she studied him for a slight moment, her eyes flicking between his. 

“What is with you lately?” she questioned, crossing her arms across her chest as she began to guard herself. Dean just shrugged, his shoulders shaking in a nonchalant manner to try and indicate that nothing was wrong. But Y/N wasn’t that dumb to fall for it and he knew it. “No, it’s something. Come to think of it, since we’ve been this,” she gestures back and forth from herself and Dean with her hand, “we’ve not been on one single hunt. It’s just been research and sending out other hunters to the jobs that I could easily do,” she recalled, her eyes boring up into his as she waited for his answer. 

“I think you’re overthinking it,” Dean blew her off, waving a hand around as he walked towards the bathroom. 

“No, I think there’s an issue here somewhere,” she stated, following him, her arms now loose at her sides. “Do you not want to hunt with me anymore?” she questioned him causing him to stop in his tracks. He turned to look at her, taking a moment to study her face as he swallowed hard. He didn’t have to give her his answer, the way her face fell and eyes watered told him she already knew. “Oh my god, you don’t want me to hunt anymore,” she whispered, her hand coming up to run through her hair. 

Dean panicked slightly, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to hunt with her anymore. It was that he didn’t want her to end up hurt or worse. He’d finally got a good thing in his life, and he wanted to cherish that until he couldn’t cherish it anymore. 

“We’ve got a bunker full of hunters, does it really matter if one of us is out the game? That one of us can have a chance at normal?” he voiced back at Y/N, stepping one foot closer to her as he tried to reach for her hands but she just pulled back, a tear threatening to fall down her cheek.

“Oh but it’s ok for you to continue to hunt?” she fired at Dean. 

“I’ve been doing this longer than you,” he countered, hoping his point would stand. 

“So?” she spat, the frown in her brow deepening as her hands came to her hips. 

“So, I know what’s best in this situation, feelings make you sloppy.” The words left his mouth before he could think. His green eyes went wide and the broken look written on her face made him feel sick to his stomach. 

“So, i’m sloppy now, is that it? Just because I’ve fallen into a bed with you?” she whispered, hurt lacing her words as they quavered slightly, her arms loosening at her sides. 

“No, Y/N,” he breathed, instantly regretting what he’d said. “Come on, I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.” He tried reaching for her once more but she pulled back, not wanting his comfort.  

“Here’s what I know,” she started, holding a finger in the air as her glassy Y/E/C eyes stared him down. “I know that I'm good at what I do. I know that I can hit a moving target with a kill shot, I know i’ve saved your ass more times than I can count and I know that I definitely don’t want a boyfriend who controls what I can and cannot do,” she barked, her voice strong as she backed off even more to grab at her bag from her side of the bed. 

“Y/N-” 

“Just don’t,” she interrupted him, storming past Dean as fast as she could with her bag in hand as she left the room, slamming the door as she went. 

He flinched at the sound, collapsing back down onto the mattress with his head in his hands as he thought over what had just happened. The perfect morning had been ruined because he wanted to keep her safe. 

-

Yesterday, he was driving 80mph down a highway, tears tickled his cheeks as he pushed the accelerator to the floor. He shouldn’t have let Y/N walk out of that room, he shouldn’t have let her out of his sight but his stubbornness prevented his feet from following her. He should have chased her down and told her that he was an idiot and that of course he wanted to hunt with her. He’d do anything he could to protect her. He should have protected her. 

 Dean slammed his way through the hospital doors, the metal bouncing off the walls due to the force of his entry. His panicked eyes were scanning everything in the room, looking for a sign to take him to reception, looking for the sign that would take him to her. He moved as fast as his legs would carry him, colliding himself with the desk causing the receptionist to jump back slightly in shock. He spoke quickly, reeling off Y/N’s name as his fingers gripped the edge of the desk, his knuckles going white. 

As soon as he was told that she was in ICU, he drowned out the rest of her words as he turned to rush towards the stairs. He took them two, three at a time, his hand gripping the railings to give him the extra pull he needed to allow him to get to her that little bit quicker. However, he wasn’t prepared for the sight he was about to see, the sight that would cripple him and take all air from his lungs. 

She lay in her hospital bed, her arms either side of her frame, her legs straight; unmoving. Her head was bandaged, bruising covering the side of her face, her mouth slightly agape due to the breathing apparatus that was assisting her. Her perfect petal like lips were cut and grazed, the hair that was loose from the bandage was matted with blood. A wave of nausea washed over him, this was his fault. This was all his fault. 

“Excuse me, Sir?” a deep voice sounded next to him. It took Dean a moment for him to realise that someone was trying to talk to him but as he turned his head to the side, he noticed the doctor that was standing next to him with a clipboard. “Are you immediate family to Miss Y/L/N?” 

“She’s...she’s my fiance,” he lied, thinking quickly on the spot. It wasn’t a complete lie, the thought had crossed his mind on more than one occasion.  “W-what’s happened? She’s going to be ok right?” he stammered, his head flicking from the doctor to motionless Y/N on her bed. Taking a deep breath, the doctor pulled him to one side, away from the room's window. 

“Sir, Miss Y/L/N was in a very serious accident. She’s suffered multiple fractures, a collapsed lung and a significant bleed on the brain,” he explained, looking down at his clipboard before looking back up to see a crestfallen Dean. 

“But she’s going to be ok,” Dean quavered, staring down the doctor who didn’t reply to him straight away, “tell me she’s going to be ok?!” he panicked, his voice rising. 

“The prognosis of this...it’s not good,” the doctor admitted softly, offering a sincere look to the eldest Winchester. “We’ve done all we can to make her comfortable but-”

“No,” Dean cut him off, his hands grabbing at his hair before he pointed at her room, his eyes glassy. “No, you need to fix this, she doesn’t deserve this!”

“Sir, I promise you we’ve done all we can,” the doctor told him before looking over at her room himself. “I’ll leave you two alone, i’ll be just down the corridor if you need me.”

All Dean could do was nod, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth as he built up the courage to walk through the door to her. He roughly wiped at the stray tears that were resting on his cheeks before he took a deep breath and entered her room. All that could be heard was the sound of the ventilator and the heart monitor beeping in the silence, the indicator that she was still with him. 

“Hey, baby,” he greeted, his voice slightly shaky as he shut the door behind him. “Now’s not the time to be sleeping you know? We’ve got everyone waiting on us back at the bunker,” he half chuckled, his nose sniffling as he took a seat next to Y/N’s bed. He couldn’t look directly at her just yet, the sight of her injuries were too much for him in that moment. Instead, he reached for her hand, his thumb caressing the few scrapes she had over her knuckles. A quick bleep from his pocket pulled his attention away from her for just a moment as he reached down to pull out his phone. 

“That’s Sam, he’s on his way to see you. You gotta wake up before he gets here otherwise he’ll be torturing you by reading lore books to you,” he croaked, his hand coming back to slip into hers. “You’ve got to prove all of these docs wrong.” His request was met with more silence, he watched for the slightest bit of movement, a twitch, a smile but there was nothing. His heart was becoming heavy, the regret of that afternoon was becoming too much for him to bear. 

“I should have followed you out that door, I should have stopped you from leaving. We should have just gone on that damn hunt, if we had, this...you...it wouldn’t have happened,” he choked out, one hand coming to wipe the tears from his face as he laid eyes on her. It should be him in that bed, not her. He brought Y/N’s hand to his lips before he gently kissed her knuckles, holding her hand close to the stubble on his cheek. 

"Hey, remember that time we went out in the middle of the night because you wanted to look up at the stars? I thought you were insane, it was freezing out. But you grabbed a couple of blankets, made some hot chocolate and we were out within the hour," he recalled, a small smile stretching the corner of his lips at the memory. "I’ll tell you a secret. That was the night I fell hard, the night I looked over and saw your smile under the stars." Dean took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as he went over the moment in his mind. "We stayed there talking until you had the idea to go and get a tattoo of a star to remember that moment," he breathed. "To this day no one else knows about that tattoo and that’s what i love, those little things that only i know, those little things that make you mine.”

He couldn’t help the sob that escaped his lips, his tears falling onto your entwined hands. He needed her to wake up, he needed her to be kicking his ass for leaving his pants on the floor or not putting his dishes in the sink. He needed his Y/N back. 

“If you can hear me, I need you to know that...I need you to know you’re it. Y/N, you’re it for me. You're the place my life begins and you're the place it ends," he wept, "there ain't no me if there ain't no you." He sniffed as he finally allowed his tears to fall freely, not wiping them away or intercepting them as he stood to lean over her, attempting to brush some of the stray bloody hairs out of her beautiful face. " I need you to stay with me, Y/N," he whispered as he looked down upon her. 

With her hand still in his, he swallowed hard as his eyes scanned over every single detail of her features once again. He’d give anything to kiss those lips, to hear her laugh just one more time. All he could do was hope, hope that she had heard his words, hope that she would pull through against all the odds. Shakily, he slowly leaned down and placed a long, soft kiss to her forehead. He poured all of his feelings into that kiss, wishing he could pass on his strength to her. Upon removing his lips, he replaced them with his own forehead, resting it against hers as he willed himself to speak the words he’d never had the courage to say. 

“I love you.” 

The steady beat of the heart monitor blurred into one long constant sound. It took a moment for Dean to register what was happening. He pulled his head off hers quickly as he looked at the monitor next to him. Y/N had flatlined. 

His whole world appeared to slow down, the doctors that were rushing in around him felt like they were going in slow motion. He was being pulled back and out of the room, not realising that he was screaming her name at the top of his lungs, his throat hoarse from his cries. He watched on desperately as the medical staff worked tirelessly to save her. He watched as they performed CPR. He watched as she slipped away from him. His green eyes were trained on the doctor that had stopped the chest compressions, the doctor that stood back to look at his watch, the doctor that called it. 

“Time of death, 11.52pm.” 

-

Yesterday, Y/N got knocked over by someone who was doing double the speed limit as she stepped out into the road. In that split moment, Dean’s life had been changed forever. He was so scared of losing her to the supernatural world that he’d forgotten about the dangers of normality. Now here he was, minutes after midnight the next day, on his knees outside of her room, tears streaming down his cheeks as his mind tried to process what had just happened as his eyes stayed focused on her bed. He hadn’t realised that Sam was by his side, his mouth moving frantically with worry, but no words were being heard by Dean. 

Yesterday morning, he was in his happy place, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Yesterday afternoon, he made the wrong decision and he had to watch her walk out of the door and unknowingly, out of his life. 

Yesterday came suddenly. 

——————————————

A/N: I hope you’ve enjoyed this little one shot! Please let me know your thoughts by comment, reblog or just HERE! :)

Also - my tag lists are open. Just let me know if you want to be added! Thanks for reading! xox

My Forever Babes:

@squirrel-moose-winchester​ / @snffbeebee​ / @cappsikle​​ / @couldabeenamermaid​ / @spaghettiwoes​ / @lynne1993​ / @maddiepants​ / @alwaysdreamingforthebest​ / @31shadesofbrown​ / @mrswhozeewhatsis​  / @thefaithfulwriter​​ / @spnbaby-67​​ / @not-quite-dead​ / @blackcherrywhiskey​​ / @helpmeluci​​ / @myownsnowflake​​ / @hobby27​​ / @big-sad-energy​ / @coffee-obsessed-writer​ / @spnhollis​​ / @zoerayne2426​​/ @ariasnyder​​ / @phantom-soilder​​ / @amandamdiehl​​ / @geeksareunique​​ / @keymology​​ / @markofdean79​​ / @flamencodiva​​ / @jesseswartzwelder​​ / @stoneyggirl​​ / @cpag7​​ / @heavensangel45135​​ / @dapresidentsshoelaces​​ / @donnaintx​​ / @deanwinchesterficsx​​ / @tranquility-or-chaos​​ / @katehuntington​​ / @miraclesoflove​​ / @shay-rav​​ / @pisces-cutie​​ / @chocolateheart​​ / @missafairy​​

Dean Queens:

@x-waywardaf-x​​ / @adoptdontshoppets​​ / @roonyxx​​ / @akshi8278​​ 

[nikkoliferous]

Now, About That Sceptre

Based on hair growth, if nothing else, it seems that a fair amount of time must have passed between Loki's appearance in the post-credits of Thor (2011) and his dramatic entrance via the Tesseract in Avengers Assemble. Despite the apparent time jump, Loki's physical well-being is still clearly... not great. His appearance has improved in some ways from the horror show above (the burns have healed, his mouth isn't full of blood), but he shows a number of signs of heat exhaustion, at a minimum (something especially relevant because, remember, Loki's a Frost Giant). He's visibly exhausted and disoriented, he nearly collapses on multiple occasions, he's sweaty and pale with dark and sunken eyes. This is not a healthy man. And while there was maybe an argument to be made for his prior physical distress being contributable to the effects of the wormhole, whatever's happening here is all Thanos.

Beyond his immediate physical state, he comes across as paranoid, afraid—desperately fighting to get through just this one moment, and then the next, and then the next. If he just holds it together a little bit longer, he'll be safe. He'll be able to rest. Watch how he stumbles. Observe his deathgrip on the sceptre and on the truck rail. Look at his desperate facial expression and body language. He's trembling.

Now we're getting into psychology, and well... Loki says some odd things throughout this film. The Loki of Thor (2011) was clearly dealing with a mental health crisis, but the Loki of Avengers Assemble seems—not to put too fine a point on it—crazy. And he's not just crazy. His words and his body seem to, at times, be in direct conflict with one another. He may talk down to the humans, but he appears to take little pleasure in actually hurting them. And yet he summons an army of aliens with the expressed purpose of doing just that. He's sassy and grandstanding while facing the Avengers, but on the occasions where he's violent with civilians, as well as whenever he's alone, he appears to dissociate from himself. Look at his face. This is not remotely fun for him. He looks dead inside.

Overall, Loki's body language and facial expressions often betray a Loki who is struggling to justify his actions. He seems, at times, almost as though he is speaking to himself as much as he is taunting the Avengers or humanity. Here are some quotes/scenes that grab my attention.

For a start, there are these exchanges with Fury shortly after he first arrives via the power of the Tesseract:

Fury: "This doesn't have to get any messier." Loki: "Of course it does. I've come too far for anything else."

"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose."

Loki: "I come with glad tidings of a world made free." Fury: "Free from what?" Loki: "Freedom. Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart, you will know peace."

He goes on to reiterate his bizarre speech about "freedom" again in Stuttgart.

"The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

This all sounds a lot like indoctrination to me, and it's worth noting that the Black Order—for whom Loki is ‘working’ in this movie—is literally a cult. In fact, they use very similar rhetoric at the beginning of Avengers: Infinity War. Compare this to Loki's rhetoric on the nature of freedom:

"Hear me... and rejoice. You have had the privilege of being saved by the Great Titan. You may think this is suffering. No. It is salvation. Universal scales tipped toward balance because of your sacrifice. Smile, for even in death you have become Children of Thanos."

And then there's Loki's outburst directed at Natasha after the Avengers have taken him prisoner for the first time and she's trying to get information out of him:

"You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors. But they are a part of you and they will never go away!"

Before this moment, he seems relatively calm and in control. Something changes here; he becomes disgusted and aggressive. His words could easily be applied to himself as well. Here Loki is on Midgard, pretending to have his own agenda. "Something that makes up for the horrors". Yet as much as Loki claims to be free of sentimentality, we as the audience know better. We can see it in his microexpressions and his body language. We know of his being psychically linked to The Other. We see the nature of Loki's interactions with them: the tears in his eyes, the threats and his attempts to suppress and hide his fear, the pain they're able to inflict on him with just a touch.

"If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."

There are also subtle indicators that Loki's memories might have been tampered with, such as his initial conversation with Thor.

"Our father—" "YOUR father. He did tell you of my true parentage, did he not?" "We were raised together! We played together, we fought together. Do you remember none of that?" "I remember a shadow. Living in the shade of your greatness. I remember you tossing me into an abyss."

Yes, of course, it's possible that this is hyperbole on Loki's part. Regardless, it's worth noting as part of a pattern of bizarre, cult-like behaviours that Loki displays throughout the movie. It becomes even more noteworthy in light of the revelation that Loki was being influenced by the mind stone all the while. The specific phrasing Marvel uses is, "fueling his hatred over his brother." Does that include distorting his perception of what's happened between them? It's not conclusive, but it's certainly possible.

Now, Loki does at times appear to be genuinely enjoying himself. I'm not denying that or sweeping it under the rug. But look at the context. Notice when he seems to be the most amused. It's when he's grandstanding. It's when he's the center of attention. When people run screaming from him. When he's being interrogated. It's not the violence that pleases him; it's the recognition. For the first time in his life, he's center stage. He feels powerful. And Loki will always take negative attention over no attention at all.

Simmer down there, you lovable maniac.

At the other end of the spectrum, however, we have moments like just before he stabs Thor, in which he looks at the destruction around him with legitimate panic and horror written on his face. As though he's awoken from a haze and is only just realising the extent of what he's done. (Side note: for the life of me, I'll never understand people who call Loki a psychopath. Every single time we've seen Loki hurt Thor, he does it literally with tears in his eyes. And yet Ragnarok would have us believe he's done so all throughout their childhood just for funsies).

Surely this isn't the expression of a man who wants all this death and destruction—who's carrying out his own will. And why should he? Even if he truly meant to/cared about ruling Midgard, there's little reward in ruling a world of corpses.

Which brings us to our ultimate conclusion. As mentioned above, there have long been theories—now confirmed canon—that Loki was under the influence of the sceptre AKA the mind stone throughout Avengers Assemble. An observation I had missed initially is that some fans desperate to cling to Loki's identity as a Villain™ have differentiated between the total mind control of Barton and Selvig and the 'influencing' of Loki's behaviour via the sceptre. But note that the same language is used for both instances:

"Gifted with a sceptre that acted as a mind control device, Loki would be able to influence others. Unbeknownst to him, the sceptre was also influencing him."

I do believe that the mind control over Loki was less effective; he clearly maintained some measure of autonomy, despite the sceptre's influence. But I still think it's important to note the consistency of language used. And in fact, it’s worth noting that his control over Barton and Selvig wasn’t absolute either. Barton admits he may have failed to kill Fury because of his connection to him; Selvig installs a failsafe for shutting down the portal.

We also know—thanks to yet another stupidly discarded deleted scene—that The Other can hear and communicate with Loki at all times. Look at the longing on Loki's face when Thor tries to reason with him. He wishes so badly that he could accept Thor's offer. But this is still a hostage situation. He's on permanent speakerphone, and he knows there's no safe escape route for him.

↩️ back to the compendium

[yentotajaan]

Repercussions: Prey

Much to Yen’to’s chagrin, Khan was already present in tea house library, reeking of alcohol as usual, and talking with Alyona. He had hoped to have a few moments of quiet before the mission started. But... I am never that lucky, am I? He struggled to keep up between Khan’s boisterous blubbering and Aly’s rambling stream of thought. Temporary relief came with the arrival of Strega, followed shortly by Ramius. Hm... almost everyone from the first mission. I guess we are all gluttons for punishment. Without further ado, Khan slurred on with the briefing. I swear, he would die if he went longer than a bell without liqour.

A string of disappearances had begun over a sennight ago, across multiple places around Eorzea. It began with the odd farmer, begger, and street rat. However, more recently adventurers also started going missing; some while looking into the mystery yet others were simply random. The Alliance of Free Companies was stretched thin and could not spare enough effort for the investigation, and so had put out a request for adventurers discover the cause so they can then send in soldiers as needed. A bit grander than I expected, but beats trying to pretend to be a prisoner. This should be rather straightforward. The only clue was that some recent disappearances had all occurred at a remote village in the middle of nowhere - specifically a chapel where adventurers had stopped for rest. With missing person poster bills in hand, the small band headed off.

Upon arriving at the village, Yen’to noted that it was even more destitute than expected. Some building were still in ruin from the Calamity, and recovery efforts looked haphazard at best. As they wandered through the streets, most of the residents averted their gaze. The party did, however, manage to get the attention of a rambunctiously playing child. Her mother came up shortly after, a bit of bluffing from Ramius managed to squeeze out enough information that confirmed the church should be their next destination. Gods, by her demeanor one would think talking to us was almost a death sentence. Do they not expect us to stay long?

One of the nuns outside stopped the group as they approached, cautiously asking what they needed. Apparently for Strega, she needed to use the little ladies room. Seriously? That is what is important right now?! Ramius quickly course corrected, finally getting the nun to direct them inside to talk with the bishop (alongside other relief). After casually making their way inside the small church, the group let Yen’to take the lead this time while Ramius and Strega watched the door. What makes them think I am good at bluffing? My lying performance at the Castrum job was horrible! Well... can’t back out now without looking suspicious. Strega reiterated the point about needing the little ladies room.

The bishop was much less hesitant than the other townsfolk. But his words were tinged with sadness, regret, and... something else. The tone was setting Yen’to’s nerves on edge. His anxiety quickly spiked when the bishop talked of visitors in black and red uniforms delivered supplies. Wait... black and red? Aren’t those Garl—? Yen’to’s thoughts were cut short when the bishop slipped on gas filtering mask and pulled a nearby lever. He  barely managed to take a few steps before collapsing to the floor in a deep stupor. Going... to.... kill... Khan...

With a start, Yen’to found himself awakened in a place that looked somewhat like the Shroud, but felt... off. The others were all there too, no worse for wear - even Strega’s bladder. Strangely for being captured, they all had their armor and equipment, and were not shackled. Grunting as he clambered noisily to his feet, Yen’to was eventually able to get a better look around. The ground was covered in spotty grass, and the trees were sparse. Wait... this is not really the Shroud. Where in the hells are we? As Yen’to looked up to the sky, instead he saw a cermet ceiling. As if in answer to his question, a voice blared over a loudspeaker. A chillingly familiar voice.

By the Twelve - is that Tribunus Lucian? From the Castrum we blew up nearly with him in it?! Aly, Strega, Yen’to, and Ramius all exchanged looks with each other, recognition occurring nearly simultaneously. Lucian claimed that the current batch of participants was poor sport, and they needed to do better or he would attend to the combat himself. Combat? What combat? The group barely had time to collect their thoughts before the answer became clear, and were under assault by a hail of arrows.

After running for the nearest cover, a voice in the distance rang out, “You lot need to hurry up and die, or we won’t get to go home!” Ramius called out to them to stand down. The men claimed to be from Ala Mhigo, and that they were all trapped here unless they killed enough others.  Mad with desperation, the archer would have none of it, and ordered everyone to attack.

Ramius was the quickest to respond, shooting the archer clean through the head with his machinist rifle. Yen’to readily subdued the swordsman, knocking the man’s shield aside with his giant axe before following up with a nonfatal blow to the head that knocked him unconscious. Aly had it worst, taking a spear to her shoulder as she desperately tried talking her opponent into surrendering. Strega somehow simply convinced her opponent into giving up, and the lancer followed suit and stepped back away from Aly after seeing his allies defeated. How does she do that every time? At least only one of them was killed... none of us wanted to be fighting Ala Mhigans in a Garlean facility.

A back and forth exchange followed the cease fire, with the Ala Mhigans claiming that escape without following the rules was impossible. They had even tried teaming up with others before, but it all ended with backstabbing and betrayal as everyone eventually splintered off to fend for themselves. They almost seemed ready to join Yen’to’s not-so-merry band before a burst of magitek armor gunfire came from behind and blasted the remaining Ala Mhigans to shreds.

Upon turning around, the sight of Lucian in a flying suit magitek armor sent a chill down Yen’to’s spine. He cackled maniacally upon seeing the group, instantly recognizing them from the Castrum disaster. Rather than angry, he appeared murderously gleeful at the prospect of hunting foes who had bested him before. Ramius was not one for monologuing, and unleashed a barrage of bullets, which prompted Lucian to respond with bursts from his magitek cannon that sent Yen’to flying. Gods damn it-- every time!

Lucian did not want to end the hunt so soon, so he moved out of range and demanded they give him a good show. Almost in sync, the sound a lift engaging caught Yen’to’s ears - as well as the baying of war hounds. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the Ala Mhigans still clinging to life and murmuring something to Strega before finally passing from his wounds. Strega had an eerily neutral expression on her face as she calmly repeated the words - ‘find the waterfall and the red marks upon it’.

With a direction now in mind, the party scrambled upriver as the sounds of hounds closed in behind them. Yen’to could also make out the sounds of cannon fire and explosions. Is he.... is he hunting his own hunting dogs? The Garlean is insane! With Lucian temporarily distracted, the group managed to make their way to a small waterfall. Behind it, Ramius spotted a boulder with red markings -- blood. Working together, they managed to pull it aside and scramble into a small cave before rolling the boulder back in place just as Lucian came flying, screaming insanely about how he would eventually find them.

Yen’to and Aly collapsed onto the cold, stony floor. Strega unfurled blanket and began preparing some healing solutions while Ramius kept an eye out through a crack in the entrance. Yen’to was not paying too much attention to what Strega was going, his eyes instead wandering to take stock of their safe haven. There were strange carvings on the wall, similar to carvings around Ala Mhigo. With a yelp of pain, Yen’to was brought back into focus as Strega’s magitek contraption stabbed something into him. A little warning would have been nice! But... the pain is starting to subside. Strega treated Aly in a similar manner, closing up the wound caused earlier by the spear.

While recovering from their injuries, they heard a voice approaching their location. As it got closer, they could make out a technician making notes and observations of the artificial battlefield’s carnage. A brief and hushed discussion ensured, and they agreed on a plan to move the rock and take the technician by surprise. The boulder was moved ever so carefully out of the way, and one by one they slipped through to position themselves to ambush the Garlean.

Ramius was quickest on the draw, literally, and had the man at gunpoint before he knew what was happening. Judging from the face and sounds he just made, it is a good thing he is wearing dark pants. The man begged to be let go, that he was just doing his job and that documenting the deaths of savages was nothing personal. His choice words did not help his case, but they all managed to hold their tempers long enough to get some concessions out of him.

As was plain by now, the Garleans were to blame for the kidnappings. Tribunus Lucian was taking random subjects for testing, but also apparently to satisfy his personal desire for hunting. They delivered food and supplies to the ruined village as a front for their activities. Lucian had been both impressed and perturbed that their infiltration mission had ruined his Castrum. Aly’s enthusiastic comment about finally having a recurring villain to fight did nothing to help Yen’to’s nerves. This is not some story book! I swear to the Twelve, if I die here I am killing Khan!

They debated amongst themselves on the best course of action. Strega wanted to sabotage the place. Aly wanted to rescue everyone and Ramius wanted to blow it out of existence. Yen’to simply wanted to get out alive. In the end, they were running out of time and had little choice but to force the technician to fly them back to the village so that they could then inform the Alliance to rescue the trapped and unwilling combatants.

The scene upon arriving back at the village was.... surprising, to say the least. Khan was kicking a poor tied up Garlean soldier, demanding to know where his charges had disappeared off to. Various soldiers from the Maelstrom, Twin Adders, and Immortal Flames were interrogating other groups of tied up prisoners. Yen’to was almost impressed at Khan actually doing something responsible. So he can actually get things done. I guess that is why he is able to come across all these mission postings. Well, that, and he keeps hiring us to actually complete them for him.

The haggard, exhausted team dutifully informed Khan and the Alliance of all that occurred. They were assured that the installation would be destroyed that and all prisoners would be rescued from the cruel experiment. Relieved, but exhausted, Yen’to began the long trip back home. Strega began the search for the little ladies room.

Somehow, no matter how wrong these missions go... they are still better than my shifts on Tea Time night

https://yentotajaan.tumblr.com/post/634247844314906624/yento-arrived-at-the-long-forgotten-village-in

@tough-bit-of-fluff

@ramius-xiv

[candycanes19]

Playing in the Dark with No Escape  *non con*

Fluffy and I know considering this is a dark fic.  

You found out through Piper that Daniel was committed into a mental institution that he could not leave or get someone to help him escape. He was a danger to himself and others and would live his life there.

Part of you was sad for him but knew deep down because he was Rhys’ father but even that was negotiable.

Life was still a struggle with being a single parent but the support group was awesome and your job was super understanding. Kasey helped out when she could and of course your relationship with Charlie was getting more serious.

****************************

This particular evening you were just chilling alone in your living room. Rhys was asleep after being particularly fussy. You were thrilled when he finally cried himself to sleep. You thought you were going to lose it so when he finally passed out you walked quietly to the sofa and collapsed. You had found your book and grabbed and started reading. You wanted complete quiet after Rhys cried and fussed for almost two hours. Reading was the best medicine right now.

Your quiet was interrupted by knocking on your door and you groaned, “Ugh no I am not in the mood for company or other people near me” you said getting up to see who was at your door.

You looked through the peephole and someone was there with a massive bouquet of red roses. You opened the door, “Hello” you said.

“Hi, I have a delivery for a Miss (L/N)” the delivery man said, handing you the bouquet. It was gorgeous.

“Have a good day, maam” and he left and you closed the door and went to read who in the world sent you flowers.

You took out the card with your name on it and opened it up. ‘(Y/N), I am so glad to have you in my life. I know you need to take things slow and I get that but I am hoping that you would like to go on a date with me this Friday. I will take care of babysitters. All you need to do is be the wonderful woman that you are and that I am falling in love with more and more each day I get to know you. Charlie’

You smiled at the sweet note and went to sit down and call him.

After a couple of rings, Charlie answered, “Hi (Y/N), how are you?”

“Thank you so much for the roses. That was such a sweet gesture. And yes I would love to go on a date with you. And you really will have a babysitter for me?”

“Yeah I think I can work that out just for you. What about dinner and a movie this Saturday night?” he asked.

“Sure I would love that.” you smile at the phone.

“Awesome and hey I heard Rhys crying earlier. Is everything ok? Do you need anything?”

“I was about to lose it because he was being very fussy and did not want to sleep but he finally cried himself to sleep and I was enjoying the quiet. But if you want to take a few steps to my place and come and be quiet with me that would be nice.” you suggest.

“Give me just a minute and we can be quiet together” Charlie smiled at his phone.

You both hung up and literally not even five seconds your door was opened by Charlie and he shut the door and walked over to you on the sofa.

“Hi” he whispered as he sat next to you.

“Hi” you quietly said back smiling. Charlie got comfortable and you leaned into him and he put his arm around you. You snuggled against him and he made you feel safe.

“So how does this quiet thing work, exactly when what I want to do is kiss you everywhere and make some noise” Charlie joked as he kissed the top of your head.

“Just us sitting like this is perfect and that is how you do the quiet thing. We can watch a movie or something on the TV, if you want?”

Charlie leaned over and grabbed the remote and turned on the tv and quickly turned the sound down and found a movie that you both agreed on to watch.

You wake up to Rhys crying but you realize you are all snuggled in your own bed. Obviously you had fallen asleep and Charlie had put you to bed. He really was a great guy but that thought was pushed aside as you realized your son needed you. You got and and saw a note stuck to your door from Charlie.

‘Hey you fell asleep and I know you were exhausted. Hope you did not mind but I couldn't help but tuck you into bed. You looked so beautiful and I promise all I did was kiss your forehead and then left. Xoxox, Charlie’

You smiled after reading the note and then walked into Rhys’ room. “Hey baby yes sorry mommy is tired but I am here.” you pick him up and he nuzzles your breasts, “Is someone hungry?” you take him over to your rocking chair and get situated and lift up your shirt and Rhys latches onto your breast greedily.

Once Rhys finishes, you fix your shirt and then grab a burp cloth and wander around his nursery to get him to give you a good burp.

“Come on baby boy give momma one so I can eat. I am starving. I see why people have two parents to help but I will make it.” you say to yourself just as Rhys burps and you are relieved. You change him and then take him into the kitchen and set him in his bassinet so you can make yourself something to eat.

As you enjoy your breakfast you watch Rhys and smile as he chews on some baby toy someone gave you at your baby shower. You were so surprised at your job. They had organized with the help of Kasey and given you so much stuff to help you with Rhys. Charlie had even made time out of his crazy schedule to come. That had really made it even more special. He was really starting to grow on you and you were starting to wonder did you deserve such a great man in your life. Deep down you really enjoyed when Charlie would just show up at your job and bring you lunch or now when he just showed up with the key you gave him to just sit with you. Or to just let you cry or talk about anything.

After breakfast you cleaned up and then took Rhys into your room and settled him down so you could get a shower and dressed.

Finally you were ready for your day and decided to take Rhys for a walk in the park because it was a nice sunny day.

As you were closing your door to your apartment, Charlie happened to come off the elevator and see you, “Hi” he said.

“Hi Charlie, we decided because it is a nice day we are going for a walk around Central Park.”

“Give me a minute and I will go with you. If that is okay?” he asks.

“I think we would like that a lot, Charlie” you smile. He smiles and quickly goes to his apartment and then returns to you.

“Shall we?” and the three of you head back to the elevator and off to Central Park for a nice walk.

Charlie takes over pushing Rhys’ stroller and you walk beside him. Charlie reaches for your hand at one point and you let him take it. You like having Charlie around even though something always makes you wonder. Will he change and or hurt you? You hate questioning yourself but that was a bit how Daniel acted at first and then poof psycho Daniel took over.

As you are still questioning yourself you hear your name, “(Y/N), hey lets go over here and sit and relax” Charlie says and you agree.

Sitting on the bench next to Charlie is nice. You had Rhys in your lap he was dozing off in your arms so you put him back in his stroller.

“He looks so much like you, (Y/N)” Charlie exclaimed.

“You think so? I unfortunately see his father in him and that scares me sometimes.” you explain.

“Yes he looks just like his beautiful mother. And he is so lucky to have you and you will raise him right, I feel it” Charlie says leaning in close to kiss you. You enjoy the feeling of his lips on yours. You sigh and he deepens the kiss which is nice.

After his lips part from yours you look up at him, “I know what you have told me and I am scared but I think I am falling in love with you too, Charlie.”

He smiles at you, “You just made me the happiest guy in the world telling me you love me. You know I love you too and for the record, I said it first but you have special circumstances about saying it second. I am really happy, (Y/N). So fucking happy!”

You giggle at him, “Hey watch your language around my baby.”

“Oh fu…...I mean freaking heck.” Charlie joked and kissed you again.

“That’s better Mr. Barber” you laughed at him and you both smiled.

[dawnwriterimagines]

Three Heroes: Various!BNHA x Reader (Part 8)

This is a Todoroki x Bakugo x Reader x Midoriya fanfic, inspired by the My Hero Academia movie: Two Heroes, due to the readers presence the storyline will be adjusted.

Warning(s): Blood, Violence, Angst, Fluff, Poly!Relationship, Swearing, mature content, etc.

--

As All Might held his daughter in the crushing debris of metal, your glowing eyes flickering with light, illuminating the small space between you both. Your head on his chest, your hands now limp at your sides and blood slowly dripping from between your lips.

Toshinori sniffled, letting out a small sob as he held you tight, wishing there was something he could do. But, he knew, despite all the power he held, it didn't change the fact that you were dying in his arms.

He thought at one point he's always be able to protect you, to shelter you from the world, that's what he was right, a symbol of peace? And yet, he felt anything but peace in this moment.

He wished he could start over. Not just from this moment but from the beginning, from the moment he held you in his arms as you gurgled with bubbling happiness in his face, as a baby. Your first day at Preschool, where he as forced to miss watching you take your first steps in a school because of his hero work. Your first few birthdays, where you sat at the house, with only the maid to keep you company, even Aizama and Mic had made it before he did. But, they were the only ones who had shown. And still, all the times he was late, had missed a special moment, you laughed and cheered for him, calling him your hero and acting like you never shed a tear those days, never been upset with him, never wanted to tell him how you felt. He always said he was sorry, he always apologized and made things better by just being there for you, but those apologies didn't mean anything if he just did it again and again and again...

It was only now, as you were squeezed to his chest, compressed together by blocks of metal, your heart slowly giving out in your chest, that he realized he had taken you for granted all these years. And now, having risked your life and soul for him and so many others, he could only do what always did, he apologized.

"I'm sorry," he cried into your hair, his large hand shakily running through your (h/c) locks. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, my baby. I'm so sorry."

It was your 9th birthday.

He had your present in his hand, his feet moving faster than he probably ever had them. He was already running late, he had contacted all the friends you knew, all the classmates you were friendly with. Probably your entire school had been invited, he just wanted this day to be perfect for you.

He ran through the streets, passing by like a blur, leaping into the sky ever few seconds to spread his distance farther. He was almost home, the an was already so close to setting and he may have already missed you blowing out your candles. But, he would make it for your present opening, he had too.

But, that's when there was an explosion beside him, just as he was about to leap into the sky, one more and he'd have been home. But, he raises a brow as a villain runs from the burning bank, through the streets, his eyes wide as he looks behind him to see All Might. He runs faster, his body mutilating into a giant beast and taking the bag of loot in his bare, canine teeth.

"Stop! Villain!" All Might grin's, his finger pointing towards the thief in front of him, however, behind the grin he sweats profusely, knowing he'll probably miss his daughters birthday entirely.

The police show, acknowledging him for his work, taking the petty villain off to give him trial for his crimes. All Might is quickly rummaged by reporters from the scene, a camera, a news camera being pushed into his face and his grin almost fades. He was on the news, you could be watching it right now, having figured out he had missed such a big moment for you because of a pathetic villain that any other hero could've taken on. "E-excuse me, citizens! I must get going!" He doesn't leave any time for questioning after that and bounds away.

When he enters the house, a large smile on his face, he holds out the gift in his hand as he closes the front door behind him with a kick of his heel. "Do not wait any longer for I..." for once, he doesn't finish. His eyes widening and his grin nearly drops entirely as he sees what's in front of him. "Where's...where's everybody, darling?" He asks you, you were sitting on the couch, your cake on the table in front of you, yellow frosting decorating the sides and a picture of her father himself and her, both smiling widely with silly faces from he carnival last year. You were alone, small lights decorating the room, large balloons with the large words, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, (Y/N)! decorating the room. He had set up purple and yellow wallpaper around the house, confetti around the windows and floors to celebrate so you could pull them yourself after blowing out your candles. Your father had decorated himself, trying to make this day as special as he could, he realized halfway he really had no idea what he was doing. He really had never done this for you, without help, making him feel worse.

But, no one had showed, your nanny, the usual maid had been off for the weekend, how could he have forgotten? You never really brought friends to the house, he never had realized you didn't have any, none that really liked you any way. Him calling the school, inviting your classmates, they didn't even know who he was talking about, his classmates had avoided you and neglected talking to you since you've started your schooling. But, he would've never known, he's never asked, he just assumed...you were such a loving little girl, you've always talked so fondly of your classes, your peers. Only because you saw the good instead of the bad, despite how horribly you felt.

All Might walked forwards, his daughter having his back to him as the TV screen flickered with the news, he looks up, paling as he sees himself, talking from his latest rescue. This was his third time today, he was grinning widely, already late to attend his daughters party as he talked with the reporters. All Might quickly took the remote in his hand and turned the TV off, he let out the breath he had been holding, his brows furrow in disappointment of himself. He walks in front of you, his eyes saddening as he sees the small sniffles you make as tears slowly run down your flushed face. Your fork poking into your cake as you push it around, your appetite almost nonexistent in your sadness. As he takes away your plate slowly, he leans down on his knees in front of you, "Hey, darling, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I'm late," he apologized, stroking the side of your face, wiping the tears in your eyes. "I forgot--" he began, you interrupt him, shaking your head as you cry.

"You always forget! You always forget about me!" You gasp in a sob, bringing up your hands to wipe your tears. "You always remember everyone else but me!" You jump off the couch, running past him as he tries to stop you, you're materializing right through his hand and he gasps before watching you sprint off to your room. "Why can't you just be here, like you are for everyone else!?"

He can't help but look after you in shock, he had ruined the night entirely for you. You had even waited up for him, he turned his head, his heart throbbing harder as he notices the slice of cake with his name on it, literally. Having cut out a slice with your own name from the cake and his, you had specifically wanted a cake that would celebrate both of you, despite his birthday being months away. He took the plate from the table, feeling his form fade away, Toshinori Yagi taking the place of All Might. He hangs his head, looking down at the cake in his hands, he hadn't meant for this night to go this way, he didn't want to ruin this.

He quickly stands to his feet, taking the gift at his side, he needed to make this right, he may have messed up but he could do this over. He runs towards the stairs, nearly soaring up the steps in one leap, his knuckles knocking against your door once before it opens. He's surprised to say the least, he expected to be waiting outside your door all night. "(Y/n),"I didn't mean to make you upset, princess. I'm sorry I'm late, but I can make it up to you! I'll take you to the spring carnival, it's uptown and we can go on all the rides you want," he then reached into his pocket, pulling out two crinkled tickets, "Here, ya see, we can even get you're favorite, Kakigõri, it's on the way. I know you love it," he could see your eye's light up. He remembered now, you only liked it so much because it meant he spent the whole day with you, no interruptions.

You were hiding behind the door, he was on his knees in front of you but he still towered over your short frame. He smiled at you, reaching out to you, his gift in his hand, it was almost your size, "Just open it. I know you'll like it," he promised, sitting down on the ground, he hoped you'd take it. But, instead of taking the present from him, you passed it entirely, he was immediately worried but his eye's went wide as you collapsed in his chest. Wrapping your tiny arm's around his torso, your wet cheeks soaking through his T-Shirt, sniffling as your fingers took handfuls of his shirt.

"I was scared y-you'd get hurt!" Your voice shook as your grip on his shirt grew desperate. "I thought--I thought I'd be alone! I didn't wanna be alone!" You sobbed as your father set the gift down, holding you close as he set you out in his lap. Never having had you break down like this, you've always kept a smile on your face, sweet and forgiving as usual. But, he's never seen you like this, "I hate being alone, daddy!" She shook her head, screaming into his chest. "I don't wanna be alone anymore!" She admitted.

He's never felt worse. Never felt like such a failure. You've felt this way all this time? He hugged you, letting you sob your heart out, he felt like doing the same but he didn't for you, he needed to be strong for you. He always felt like he had too, when all you've ever wanted from him was to just be there, not just when it counted but when it didn't.

"I love you, you know that, right?" He didn't know why he felt he had to ask, but he did.

"Yes. And I love you, you believe me, right daddy?" Why would he ever question that? He knew your heart was bigger than the oceans themselves, so why would you ask that? The thought bugs him the entire night, even as you open the present he bought you, hugging the plush stuffed animal in your hands. A wide smile on your face like nothing had happened, your tears had dried but he couldn't help the guilt that consumed him when he saw how tight you held it, how much it meant to you. What was the last birthday he had actually been present for?

He didn't understand then, why you would think your love for him was something he could ever question. He understands now, as heart wrenching as it was, that you weren't questioning your love for him, you were questioning his love for you. Did your father love you enough to know that you loved him? He'd stay with you, right? Even if he didn't love you as much as he loved the rest of the world?

●

"Detroit..." he hears.

"SMASH!"

The holding breaks apart, metal flying, debris hitting the ground in copious amounts as everyone tries to cover themselves from the damage.

All Might can see his successor, Young Midoriya, his fist outstretched, having released his punch to free him and you. Before he can react, Izuku is hit out of the sky, a metal scrap coming down to hit him and All Might, sending them all hurtling out of the air.

All Might quickly sits up, hauling the piece of metal off of his back and away from Midoriya, he's standing over you, your head turned to the side as you struggle to breathe as blood fills your throat. Your father drops to his knees once more, sitting you up as your eye's water as you shake in agony, his hand coming up to caress the side of your face. "It's ok, you're gonna be ok," he strokes your hair, for once the symbol of peace is struggling to smile. Izuku regains his senses behind him, before gasping and letting out a distressed sound as he crawls over quickly.

"(Y/n)! No! (Y/n)," Izuku covers his mouth, his eyes blurring with tears as he watches the strand of blood the leaks from the corner of your mouth. The skin around your chest darkened, a bruising purple and blue fading beneath your dress and towards your collarbone. The brooch he had given you, now cracked, shattered to pieces, it seemed to have lost all of its ruby color almost as if blood had drained from it. It was like your heart. Having been destroyed to pieces.

"(Y/n)?" Izuku looks up, seeing Bakugo and Shouto running towards them. Bakugo having yelled with such worry, he had to look up to make sure it was him, he's never heard Kacchan sound like that. But, he knew he was just as scared as the rest of us, you were dying in your father's arms. "(Y/n)!" They're stopped before they can reach, metal flying from the sky and swinging at them. "Dammit!"

The villain from above begins to speak, a chuckle bursting from his mouth, laughing menacingly although he was slumped against his mountain of metal. "Just like everyone...you're not as immortal as you think you are, All Might! You were dumb enough to think that no one would figure it out!" He throws his head back, cackling. "I admit, I would've kept her for myself. If an enemy of yours hadn't tipped me off, I would've! But, this, now this is perfect! I get to see you crumble as you watch the last of your family die with you, I won't lie, I am more than pleased with myself as I know...All for One will be," the name was said low, but it was enough for All Might to look up, his eyes wide in horror and disbelief.

"All for One is behind this?!" He seethed.

"When I asked why he bothered he was happy to explain his interest!" The villain continued as he had your father's attention now, "To think, All Might would've been so easily conquered. To think, all I had to do was..." he reached out his hand a ball of metal in his grasp. He began to crush it within his fist, making All Might sneer and glare at him, while the villain let it fall to the earth below, it seemed to shatter. "A heart so fragile, is not meant for the violence of battle. I could've protected her from that, I could've saved her from this fate," Wolfram shook his head as if in some way, upset, before smirking. "But, I can still spare her the time to get rid of her old man right? Now come, symbol of peace! Come to meet your death!" His hands came up, metal flying into the air to conjoin together. As he does so, he smirks darkly, "Revel in the last few moments you have, together," he says, preparing himself.

"Dad?"

All Might looks down at you, you're eyes bloodshot and leaking with tears, he tries to smile as he holds you close. "(Y/n)," he breathes.

You tried to suck in a breath, gasping. "Am I...am I gonna die?"

He couldn't help the tears that escaped him, pulling you to his chest as you whimpered. "No, no, why would you--why...why would think that? You're gonna be ok. We're gonna get you help. We're gonna go home and I'll get your favorite ok? Kakigõri, remember? We used to get it everytime I..." he doesn't finish, his eyes widening. He only gets it everytime he wants to make something up to you, he always buys it when you're sad, it's mostly because of him or school. But, it always meant he'd stay with you at least until he had to go. "Everything's going to be ok. Remember, remember I said, I said I'd take you with me around the world, didn't I say that? When you got your license, I'll take you everywhere, I could show you every country, we'd save so many, together. You're gonna be great," he said, pulling away so he could see your face which was stained with tears and your eye's were closing. "You're gonna be amazing. A better hero, than I..." he tool in a breath as he watched your eye's glaze over as you smiled weakly, your tears endless. "Than i...Than I...ever was. Darling. (Y/n)..." He feels his heart give way as he watches painfully as your beautiful eyes lose their light, your chest going still and your head going limp to the side. He slowly, agonizingly takes your face in his hands, "(y/n)?" His voice shakes and crumbles as he comes to a terrifying truth.

It's like watching the world collapse while he stood safely at the side, watching helplessly as it takes everything you love along with it.

Toshinori shook violently and everything stopped, everything ceased to be, he felt darkness swell like a rain cloud over his head as you took all the light in the world with you.

He held you tight, fearful of letting you go, but then he threw his head back and sucked in a breath, his eyes closing as his heart broke into pieces.

Toshinori screamed.

[sunevial]

New Beginnings

I really hesitate to call this a ‘commission’ because @dracodemortem​ just decided to chuck fifty bucks at me back in January with the express purpose of ‘someday write about the space lesbians’...and it’s now March. 

With that being said, I do have commissions open here if you’re interested. 

Anyways, this is meant to be a continuation of this piece, aka, I write so much fluff I might as well just turn this into a pillow.

---

“Go planet hopping on your own,” they said.

“The gate’s impossible to miss,” they said.

“You definitely won’t embarrass yourself by looking and acting like an out-of-place tourist with the first person you happen to meet,” they said.

So yeah, Josie was a fucking liar.

Internally sighing away about seven different layers of embarrassment away, Venny brightened her smile and followed her new ‘friend’ down the sidewalk, both suitcases firmly in hand. Sure, she had absolutely no idea who this blue and lavender haired stranger actually was, other than she apparently liked science magazines in paper form and was probably annoyed that her quiet reading time had been interrupted by a loud and obnoxious interplanetary traveller. Even so, Sol seemed nice and forthright and probably not a serial murderer. If she assumed that of everyone she met, well, that would be just ridiculous.

This was supposed to be a fresh start, after all, her first real change of pace since she graduated college. Sure, it was a bit on the drastic side to be moving to a planet she had never set foot on before, but hey, rent was far cheaper here than at home. Besides, she had always wanted to travel outside of Ylxret, and if it was on company dime, even better. 

“Need any help?” said probably-not-a-serial-murderer asked, craning her neck over a shoulder. In the time Venny had been off in her wandering thoughts, and admittedly struggling with navigating two suitcases, Sol was already five to six paces ahead of her. “I’ve got two free hands, you know.”

Venny laughed a touch, putting on the most apologetic smile she could muster up as she picked up the pace until they were in step again. “I’m good, I’m good, just getting used to wheels on concrete sidewalks since, well, hover technology doesn’t work well here.”

An eyebrow raised over a stunningly purple eye. “You could just say yes.”

“I mean, I could, but that would mean further admitting that I have no idea what I’m doing and I want at least some of my dignity to not be in utter shambles.”

“That rough of a day, huh?”

“You could say that,” Venny said with a deep, defeated sigh.

“Do you want me to take one of the suitcases?”

“Yes please.”

With a slightly amused chuckle, Sol grabbed the handle right from her hand with an unusual amount of grace. Instead of pulling this sorry excuse for luggage along the broken concrete, however, she collapsed the handle into the body and put her hands back into her pockets. Pursing her lips together, she whistled, short and sharp, and kept on walking without a care in the world. As the sound dissipated, a breeze kicked up around the other woman’s feet, and the suitcase slowly floated upwards as if its hovering mechanism had been switched on. 

Venny could feel her eyes widening even as she tried to keep a more socially acceptable excitement plastered across her face. Magic was accepted as a natural law of the three planets, studied as a form of natural science alongside biology and chemistry and physics, but seeing it in practice was still rare on Ylxret. It was theoretical, something that was put into place ‘elsewhere’ since it was functionally impossible to use on her home planet. Well, she was now ‘elsewhere’, and Sol had used it with about as much care as someone flipping on a light switch.

This sure wasn’t home alright.

“Okay, that’s pretty cool,” Venny said with a grin that was probably a touch too wide. 

Sol shrugged, her muscles relatively relaxed and expression neutral. “It’s just air magic. Nothing too fancy.”

“Maybe for you, but magic isn’t exactly…common where I’m from. It’s all theoretical.”

“It’s not exactly common here either,” she replied, quickly glancing around the park with her heterochromatic eyes. “Though most people just see it as a nuisance over an ‘important and fundamental’ science.”

“What is it to you?”

“Well, currently how I’m making up for shitty sidewalk maintenance.”

Venny let out a loud and sharp laugh, quickly covering her mouth as the sound echoed much further than she anticipated. “Can’t argue with that.”

Chuckling ever so slightly, Sol’s eyes drifted back over the park and to a couple of buildings over the next line of trees. “So, what brings you here? Work, leisure, bit of both?”

She thought for a moment, taking in the well manicured trees and green lawns and large swaths of blooming flowers. Most of the greenery back home was inside state-of-the-art greenhouses, cultivated either for study or food production; it was so unusual to see so much plant life maintained for recreational use alone. “Does moving here as part of a company transfer count as both?”

Now it was Sol’s turn to think. “I’d say so,” she replied as the two of them passed under the last couple of trees. The rundown park pavement quickly smoothed out as they hit the main city streets, making wheeling a suitcase only slightly annoying as opposed to practically impossible. “What company?”

“Electrica.” She was met with an even more of a blank stare. “Cybersecurity. Technically, I’m just a contractor for them, but they partnered with my firm back on Ylxret, and I’m here to work on a couple of projects that can’t be done remotely. Mostly testing how resistant their work is to outside interference.”

“So you’re here to break stuff?”

She giggled. “Either break it or make it play electro-pop music.”

“I don’t know if I should feel sorry for your coworkers or not,” Sol said with a snort, shaking her head and letting out a long sigh. “That’s a pretty big first time planet hopping..”

“Yeah, just a bit,” she said with a guilty laugh, idly twirling one of her hair twists. “I…think it’s fine I missed the gate? I did all the paperwork ahead of time, I wasn’t planning on meeting anyone there, I don’t have anything explosive or illegal on me. Or at least I don’t think I do.”

“Isn’t it primarily nuclear batteries and that weird fruit that’s super invasive if it gets literally anywhere?”

“Spotted apple nuts?”

“Yeah that thing.”

“Not a fan of them anyways. Too sweet and smells like window cleaner,” Venny said, shriveling up her face in disgust. Even so, at this point, she’d take a slice of that awful stuff if it meant getting something to eat. Between grabbing documents and packing some last minute gifts and giving a million and one goodbyes, food had been the last thing on her mind for the past several hours. That, of course, was a terrible decision, but that wasn’t 9:00 am Venny’s problem. “I like regular apples and regular nuts, but that fruit is an abomination and everyone knows it.”

Sol shrugged, coming to a stop outside an apartment complex. It was well kept, the stone and metal painted in shades of blue and light gray, though it wasn’t nearly as tall as some of the buildings further on the horizon. ‘Windbreak Apartment Complex’  was printed just above the doors. “I’ll take your word for it,” she said, eyes traveling up the building. A low whistle and the gentle breeze died down, setting the suitcase onto the ground with a gentle thump. “And here we are.”

“Oh, wow, that wasn’t far at all,” Venny replied, quickly scooping up her luggage and putting on her most sincere smile. “Thank you so much for all of this, I feel really bad about interrupting your reading.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sol said with a shrug, grabbing the glass door and motioning inside. “Take care.”

“You too!” she said, eventually managing to squeeze everything through the door and into the main lobby. A quick glance back to try and wave a goodbye was met only with a slowly closing metal door and a couple of passersby on the street. First person she actually met on an entirely new planet, and she was already lost in the neverending crowd of a large city. Ah well, there would always be next time. It’s not like she had contact information to give out anyways; her com link wasn’t built for text messages or cellular calls.

One conversation with both the building manager and the landlady later, as well as some rather annoying paperwork, Venny had a key in her hand. It was a little quaint how people here still relied on paper documents and physical keys. Incredibly inefficient, sure, but there was a charm to the time it took. Up two floors in the elevator, down a hallway or two lit with harsh white lights, and she finally stood in front of apartment 305. Here it was, home sweet home for the foreseeable future.

This was real.

She was on Toven.

Millions upon millions of miles away from everyone and everything she knew.

Shaking away those inner anxieties, she unlocked the door and stepped into her new home. The inside was understandably sparse; furniture wasn’t set to arrive for another couple of days. Immediately in view were white walls, a small kitchen with linoleum floor, a couple of wooden cabinets and good appliances, and a small carpeted living room. Off to the side was the bathroom, a closet or two, and a single bedroom. Venny quickly wheeled in her suitcases, dropped her backpack on the floor, and flopped down onto the carpet.

Alright.

She couldn’t unpack, given there was no place to put the things she needed to unpack. Contacting home was an option, but that required a router that she didn’t have and wouldn’t have until tomorrow, which also limited options for Internet-based entertainment. Grocery shopping was probably the best idea, given that she desperately needed food both in her stomach and in her apartment, not to mention a boatload of dishes and cutlery and pots and pans.

A knock came from outside.

Or she could answer the door.

Peeling herself off the surprisingly soft carpet, Venny peeked out into the hallway. Standing there was a young woman with soft pink hair and black lipstick, her already short frame almost swallowed up in a large dark gray sweater. A large, welcoming smile was plastered across her face, though it was barely seen behind the box in her hands. “Hi, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Her voice was light and airy, almost musical.

“You’re fine, I was just trying to figure out what to do in my very empty living room,” Venny said with a laugh. 

She laughed in a bit of sympathy, shifting her weight until the box sat easier in her arms. “Have you tried making snow angels on the carpet? Can’t do those once you’ve got a couch.”

“That. Is absolutely brilliant and I want to do it now.” 

“Well, then I won’t be here too much longer,” she said, setting the box on the floor and putting her hands behind her back. At a quick glance, it seemed to be filled to the absolute brim with pictures set into frames, some assorted pillows, and a plush corgi-like dog. 

“It’s fine, I don’t mind the company. Not used to everything being this quiet,” Venny said, running a hand through her hair twists. “Oh, I’m Venny by the way.”

“Clarissa, it’s nice to meet you, just across the hall in 306,” she replied. “Um, so, there’s no way I can say this without sounding a little creepy, but you know, word gets around that someone new is moving in, and, so, um, first welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Thanks!” Venny said with a small laugh. “And don’t worry, you’re not being creepy.”

“No, that’s not the creepy part,” Clarissa said, blushing a little and tapping the ground with her foot. “See, moving is hard and stressful and being in a new place with nothing kind of sucks, so my roommate and I do a thing for the new people on our floor where we, uh, put together a kind of care package. So, I asked around and got you some stuff to decorate the place with until more of your stuff gets here.”

She blinked a couple of times. “So…this is all for me?”

Any of the earlier embarrassment seemed to melt away in an instant. “Yup.”

“Are…are you sure?” she asked, kneeling down and hesitantly picking up the box. It was quite a bit heavier than she initially thought, which meant that Clarissa was a lot stronger than what was otherwise suggested. “I mean, this is so nice and I really appreciate it, but this is a lot.”

“Maybe, but you picked it up. Now it’s yours,” Clarissa said with a cheeky grin and a face that said ‘I dare you’.

Well, if there was one thing Venny Devesket was, it was not a coward.

She returned the smile with a smirk of her own. “I don’t think that’s how it works.” 

“Don’t fight Clarissa, you can’t win,” a familiar voice called from down the call. Peeking around the corner was a head full of blue and lavender hair, a knowing smile on her face and a number of grocery bags floating just off the ground. “She’s five feet, two inches of pure, unadulterated stubbornness and mandated hospitality, so just take the box and say thank you.”

“Sol!” Venny exclaimed, looking between the two women with wide eyes and a growing realization that she had been played like a fiddle. “So, wait, you’re…you said this place was on your way home, not that this place was your home.”  

Sol chuckled, leaning her back against the corridor wall. “Yeah, I kind of lied about that,” she said, floating the small collection of bags right up to the door. Inside was a number of quick, microwavable meals, some fresh produce, a handful of spices, and a couple other odds and ends. “Here’s the other half of your care package. Hope you don’t mind Fuji, they were the only ones on sale.”

Sure enough, a bushel of beautifully red apples rested at the top of a bag.

Venny just stared dumbfounded for a moment before erupting into uncontrollable, inconsolable laughter.

[chemicalmagecraft]

The Gamer Hero, Deku Chapter 28

A/N: Sorry about the wait. I made a new fanfic (btw if you like ATLA but think it needed more deadly airbending ninjas check out A Black Wind Howls) aaand then college started back up...

xoxoxo

I opened my eyes and deactivated my Quirks and skills, stepping on the perfectly generic object with one foot and jumping off a moment before it fully dissolved. "That was way smoother than it had any right to be," I muttered as I checked the time. About an hour had passed since I entered my mindscape. Huh. It felt like it was longer than that. Maybe time passes faster in the mindscape? I checked the text boxes that had popped up while I was meditating. It looked like the menus I'd tried to open when in my mindscape had opened in reality, for one... I closed them and looked at the ones that were left over.

Your WIS has increased by one! (x4)

Your DEX has increased by one!

Your CON has increased by one!

Shock Sphere (Active) LV1 EXP 1.49% MP 100

That was surprisingly good for an hour of meditation. Especially because neither of my stat boosts were set to WIS. I guess stumbling around in one's own mindscape is a great method of self-discovery. For one thing I decided I should probably stop raising All Might on such a high pedestal. Maybe I'd ask him if I could call him Yagi-sensei?

I shrugged. "I wish I could talk to the past bearers in the real world, though. They were really nice. Plus having seven seasoned heroes that I can ask for advice at any time would be really handy. Too bad I can't just invite them to my party." I thought about that for a minute. "Actually, can I do that?" I recited the party invitations and crossed my fingers. One by one they appeared in my party window and I opened up the voice chat.

"So is this how your party ability works?" Kaizen asked.

"Honestly I didn't think that would work," I said, "but I'm really glad it did."

"We're glad it worked too, kid!" Daigoro added.

I laughed. "Thanks! There are probably going to be times when I can't talk and have to use the text chat, and other times where I'll have to disband the party temporarily, but you guys don't mind keeping me company, do you?"

I heard Shimura chuckle. "I don't mind at all. And I'm sure the others don't either."

"I'd be glad to keep you company," Honenuki said.

"Better than playing another of Ichigo's stupid games," Hikiishi added.

"Hey!" Ichigo said indignantly.

"They are fun, but it does get old sometimes..." Sokolov muttered.

"Not you too!"

I laughed. This was going to be great.

xoxoxo

Bakugou Katsuki: youre real fuckin blase bout the voices in your head deku

Shigaraki Ichigo: To be fair we are actual people and we can only be voices in his head using his Quirk.

I'd decided that, because Kacchan already knew about One For All, I would tell him about the past bearers. I did it on the morning of the day that we were going back to Yuuei. He was surprised, but almost immediately shrugged and said, "You know what, this might as well fucking happen." Currently we were on the train to Yuuei.

Hikiishi Jiroku: if you think about it, we're like ghosts haunting your friend.

Bakugou Katsuki: oh like thats so much better

I saw a young girl with bright eyes staring at us out of the corner of my eye. "Mommy, it's the magic people!" she shouted to a woman next to her that I assumed was her mother.

"Don't bother them, Chi-chan," the woman said.

"Are you talking about us?" I asked the girl.

She gasped. There were stars in her eyes. Literally. "Yeah! I watched you guys on the sports festival! Your fight was awesome!"

Kacchan smirked at the girl. "You know it, kid."

She bounced on her feet. "Yeah! You guys were all like bam, pow, woosh!" The rest of the people on the train were starting to look at us. The girl pouted. "I wanna be a cool hero like you guys, but my Quirk is dumb..."

"I'm sure your Quirk is great!" I objected.

"All I can do is make my eyes glow."

"Well I mean for one thing you can probably use it to see in the dark." Kacchan said.

"That's the only way I can use it, though!"

"I wouldn't be too sure," I said. "Can you control how bright it is?"

She nodded. "It's hard, but if I try really hard I can make it as bright as a flashlight for a bit."

I put my hand on my chin. "I'd bet that even All Might would be thrown off if someone he was fighting randomly shined a flashlight in his eyes. And if you practice really hard you should be able to make them even brighter." I poked Kacchan. "Believe it or not, when his Quirk first came in all he could do was make little pops."

"Just make sure not to hurt yourself practicing," Kacchan reminded her. "Quirk strain is not fun. I mean, mine was probably a lot fu- a lot worse than yours would be because it's caused by explosions and not glowing, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be careful."

The girl nodded excitedly.

"And be careful in general," I said. "Hero work is dangerous. I suggest you learn martial arts or something like that if you really want to be a hero."

"Like you're one to fuc-" Kacchan caught himself before swearing. "Like you're one to talk, Deku."

"Fair enough. You should also try to learn some magic. It's a lot more versatile than Quirks, plus you can probably enhance your Quirk with magic." I winked. "Just be mindful of property damage."

She beamed at us. "Yeah! I will!"

Her mother smiled. "Thank you. She loves heroes."

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. "It's actually pretty flattering."

"Yeah, I got my first fan!" Kacchan said. He reached over to give the girl a high five. She looked really grateful, so I gave her a high five too.

"Thank you both sooo much!"

xoxoxo

"Damn, this is some heavy rain," Kacchan muttered from under his umbrella while we were walking to Yuuei.

"What bad luck, huh?" I said. I also had an umbrella, but at the same time the water was subtly avoiding me so I didn't even get slightly wet. Having so many elementals can be very convenient.

"What are you two doing, you're going to be late!" Iida shouted at us from behind. He was wearing a poncho and jogging.

"What the fuck are you doing, Glasses!?" Kacchan shouted. "This is not the fucking weather for a nice morning jog!"

"There is no wrong weather for a nice morning jog!" Iida shouted as he passed us.

We managed to catch up to him in the entrance hall. "I heard about your brother, Iida," Kacchan told him while he was putting his boots in his locker. "If you need to talk to someone about it... well you probably shouldn't talk to me, but I speak from experience when I say that Inui-sensei is very willing to help."

"Inui-sensei?" I inquired.

Kacchan grunted, blushing slightly. "Hound Dog," he muttered.

"I appreciate your words, but I don't need to talk about it," Iida said as he closed his locker door.

"Iida, it's okay to not be okay," I said. "It doesn't make you any less strong. Even All Might has his bad days."

"Thank you, Midoriya," Iida said as he started to walk away. "But I'm okay. I promise."

I frowned at his title.

I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

LV 36

Iida Tenya

"I'm gonna have to press X to doubt that one," I said after he was gone.

"Deku I know you have that whole gamer hero thing going on but that joke was so fucking terrible I think I'm legally obligated to give you a wedgie," Kacchan told me.

"Please don't."

xoxoxo

"I have a few announcements before today's business," Aizawa-sensei said, acting like normal and not at all mentioning the fact that he was wearing, with the exception of the same scarf and possibly the goggles hidden under it, an entirely new hero costume. He kept the original color scheme, but his outfit looked like it was inspired by a more close combat-oriented fantasy wizard that wouldn't look out of place in a JRPG at all, complete with a wizard hat and a collapsible bo staff holstered on his belt that Observe told me was made with an experimental design that let it more effectively channel magic. He was also clean-shaven for once, though he still had the dark bags under his eyes. It made that scar he got from the USJ incident stand out a little more.

"First," he pointed to Shinsou, who was standing awkwardly next to him, "we have a new student. Make him feel welcome or whatever. Now sit down, Shinsou. There's an empty seat behind Midoriya."

"Congratulations, Shinsou!" I told him with a smile when he sat down. "I knew you'd get in!"

"Thanks," he said, then looked at Aizawa-sensei. "Was he always wearing that weird martial artist wizard outfit?"

"No, that's new. Scarf's the same, though."

"I thought so."

"If you're all done talking," Aizawa-sensei said menacingly. "We're having a very important hero informatics lesson today." He grinned evilly. "Pay attention, because this could affect your entire hero career." A terrified murmur broke out in the classroom.

"This is not what I was hoping for my first day..." Shinsou muttered.

Kacchan, who was sitting in front of me, looked back at him. "Eh, don't worry. Aizawa-sensei's just a fucking drama queen like that. Watch, he's gonna say that this is just us picking our hero names." He pointed at Aizawa-sensei.

"You'll be picking code names today," he confirmed, as if on cue. The class cheered, causing him to glare at us with his Quirk activated. His hat floated slightly before he turned it back off. "This isn't just for fun. You'll be going on a work study soon, so naturally you'll be needing a hero name to go by. Are there any questions?"

Kaminari raised his hand. "Why are you wearing a wizard outfit?"

"Are there any questions about the work study?" Aizawa-sensei glared at him.

"Is there any reason behind the work study?" Shinsou asked.

"It's meant to give you guys hands-on experience with hero work. Also, more than a few of you have already gotten a lot of draft picks from hero organizations already. Usually those offers are given to second and third years, who are more experienced, but there have been several unique circumstances for your class." He pressed a button on his remote, bringing up a list on the smartboard. "These are the offers that were extended to 1-A."

"Oh wow," I thought. My name was on the top of the board and I had almost five thousand offers!

"Congrats, Midoriya!" Shimura shouted through the party chat.

"Yeah, that's something to be proud of, I'm assuming..." Ichigo added.

"Good job, kid," Hikiishi said.

I sniffed and wiped the tears off my face... and desk... I thanked them over the text chat and looked at the rest of the board. Kacchan was below me at a little over four thousand offers. Aoyama, Todoroki, and Uraraka were next below us at around two thousand each. Iida, Tokoyami, and Kaminari had offers in the hundreds. Sero, Yaoyorozu, and even Shinsou had a few too.

"Don't worry, those of you who didn't get any offers," Aizawa said. "There are hero organizations that work with Yuuei to give students who don't have any offers work studies. And as I said, usually only second and third years get offers. So I'm sure you'll get at least a few by next semester."

"And that's what the hero names are for!" Hagakure blurted out.

Aizawa nodded. "That's right. Technically you can change your hero name at any time, but once you start getting popular chances are the public is going to call you the same name even if you change your name, unless it's accompanied by serious rebranding or something like that."

"Oh, is that what the wizard outfit is for?" Ashido asked.

Aizawa glared at her for a prolonged period of time. "No. Comment. Because having a good hero name before you even debut is so important..."

Midnight-sensei strutted through the door and stood next to Aizawa. "Yuuei strongly encourages the teachers of the hero course to organize a workshop session for their students before their work studies so they don't call themselves something dumb like, oh, I don't know... Eraserhead?"

"Fuck you, Nemuri," Aizawa muttered, causing Midnight to wink and stick her tongue out at him. He sighed and pulled a folding chair and some small dry erase boards out from behind his podium. "Midnight here is going to make sure the names we pick are all right. The annoying thing with hero names is that whatever you pick tends to end up reflecting on your hero career, so choose carefully."

"Wait, are you picking out a hero name, too?" Kaminari asked.

Aizawa grunted and started handing out the dry erase boards. "Against my better judgement I decided, for multiple reasons actually, to adopt a more public hero persona," he explained.

"WHAAAT!?" almost the entire class shouted at once.

"Yeah, yeah. 'Course, I need a new name for it, and the timing lined up so I unfortunately had the 'brilliant' idea of participating in this exercise with you guys, for solidarity or whatever." When he was done with the dry erase boards he put his folding chair next to Uraraka and sat down. "So for the next however long, just think of me like a fellow student. Plus Ultra or whatever."

I uncapped my dry erase marker and stared at the board. What kind of hero did I want to be? What kind of name did I want to have? I had a flash of inspiration, but... I sent Kacchan a message with my Quirk. I wanted his opinion on it.

He turned back to me. "Really?" he asked. I nodded. "Well I can see where you're coming from with that," he shrugged. "If ya really want to, go for it."

I wrote down my idea and waited for everyone else to be done. Kacchan looked like he was having a bit of trouble, but shooed me off when I asked if he needed help.

"And now you'll be presenting your hero names, starting with who's done!" Midnight said after more than a few of my classmates had put down their markers. Nobody said anything, but the air tensed when she said that. "Of course you have to present them!" she said with a grin. "If you can't stand proud and present your name to your own peers, how are you going to stick to it in the face of the public?"

Okay that made me a little nervous, but I shook it off. I was about to volunteer myself for the first presentation, but Aoyama and Aizawa both stood up before I could.

"I shall go first!" Aoyama glittered as Aizawa muttered, "Let's get this over with."

Aizawa sighed. "After you, kid."

"Thank you, my wonderful teacher!" He strutted up to the podium and stylishly revealed the name he wrote on his board. "'Shining Hero: I Can Not Stop Twinkling!' That means that you can't stop my sparkles!" As he said that, literal sparkles bloomed into existence around him. Honestly that was about what I was expecting from him.

"I like it, buuut maybe take out the 'I' and shorten 'Can Not' to 'Can't?'" Midnight suggested.

"Yes! That's perfect, mademoiselle!" Aoyama beamed.

"That's a good name?" Shinsou snarked under his breath.

"I don't know," I said, "I think it's kind of a nice name."

"Because you're a fucking sap," Kacchan added.

I shrugged. "Maybe a little."

Aizawa sighed. "Well, I guess that means I'm next." He walked up to the podium unenthusiastically and lifted up his board. "Magician Hero: Grimalkin," he read, blushing slightly. He'd put a cute little cat paw print on the end where a period would be.

"Ah, like the witch's familiar from Macbeth!" Yaoyorozu said.

Aizawa nodded. "Yes, exactly."

"I love it!" Midnight shouted. "Cute, but still bold!"

"Thanks," Aizawa muttered as he walked away from the podium.

"Now, do we have any more volunteers?" Midnight asked.

Kacchan got up. "I might as well get this over with too." He presented his name. "The Explosion Hero: Grenadier."

"Excellent! It's simple, striking, and goes with your hero outfit's theme!" Midnight commented.

"Thanks, teach." Kacchan said. "I figured it'd be way better than my first idea."

"What would that be?"

"King Explosion Murder."

Midnight winced. "Yeah, Grenadier's a lot better. Next!"

Shinsou nodded and got up to the podium. "I'm afraid it might be a little dark, but... Control Hero: Mindjack."

Midnight nodded with a grin. "I can see your concerns, but it's perfectly fine. Better than King Explosion Murder, at least."

"You're welcome for the example, I guess," Kacchan grumbled.

"Now, who wants to go next?" Midnight asked.

I stood up. "I'd like to," I said. I walked up to the podium, took a deep breath, and showed the class my dry erase board. "The name I decided on is the Gamer Hero: Deku."

xoxoxo

A/N: The naming session went about the same as it did in canon from that point onward, just without Midoriya, Bakugou, and the grape.

Originally I was going to make this chapter longer but then I realized that ending the chapter on the first time the name of the fic is cool.

Elemental list: Midoriya: Halitus, Dune, Rayne, Blaise, Juniper, Mifuyu, Raimon, Iggy, Sonia, and Claude Bakugou: Pyra and Leaf Tokoyami: Corvo Uraraka: Nebula and Ion Hagakure: Lucy Tsu: Bubbles Aizawa: Charlie and Cassiopeia All Might: Seth O'Scope

[tinypeckers]

Period Posse III

Words: 4,588

Relationships: Meg Turney/Gavin Free/Lindsay Jones/Michael Jones

Summary: If there's something strange, in your underwear Who you gonna call? (Period posse!) If you're feeling weird And you don't feel good Who you gonna call? (Period posse!)I ain't afraid of no blood I ain't afraid of no blood

(Or the third instalment of my hormone-induced therapy)

For Lindsay the morning brought with it a bright light, the soft whistle of Gavin’s breath and a swamp in the crotch of her sleep shorts. She lay in bed for just a moment trying to gauge the temperature of the rest of her body in order to answer the lifelong question: was it sweat or blood? Sneaking a hand underneath her armpit to find that it was quite dry, Lindsay sighed and came to a conclusion: blood. She should have guessed sooner for Meg had been blessed with the gift of Mother Nature the day before and cursed Lindsay out for managing to avoid it. Lindsay let her eyes fall closed. She knew she should really get up and sort it out but who knew how long the blood had been pooling there? It could stand to wait another half an hour at least.

 It seemed that Michael, however, could not wait another half an hour. He stirred from beside Lindsay and sat up in their bed. She was thankful that his bed hair blocked the light but the hand that landed heavily upon her hip was not quite as welcome.

“Mornin’ sunshine,” Michael muttered as he threw the duvet off of himself and exposed Lindsay’s arm to the elements. She grumbled at him and tugged the duvet back, nuzzling her face into the warm spot Michael’s head had come from. Michael’s voice was raspy as he laughed at her. He swung his legs off of the bed and hoisted himself onto the ground. Lindsay kept her eyes stubbornly closed as she heard him cross their room to the adjoining bathroom.

“If you want to join me at the gym, you betta get up now or I’m leaving you behind.” Michael pulled the door closed.

 Lindsay groaned. Of course, today was gym day. She wanted nothing more than to roll over, nuzzle into the back of Gavin’s neck and stay there until the sun set that evening but Lindsay heard the rational voice in her head tell her to just get up and get on with it. She shifted slightly and felt the pool in her pants trickle just a little bit further. She sighed. The voice won out and Lindsay found herself following in Michael’s footsteps - quite literally as her toes curled in the slight indents his feet had left in their overly thick carpet - to the bathroom. Each step had her shorts sticking to her inner thigh and Lindsay cringed. She did not bother to knock on the door as she barged her way into the bathroom, tugged her shorts and knickers down and plonked herself onto the toilet.

 “Oh gross, I don’t need to see that.” Michael pulled the shower curtain across and turned on the shower. Lindsay rolled her eyes and looked down at the mess in her pants.

“It’s just blood, Michael,” Lindsay said as she pinched the edge of her shorts between two fingers and eased it off in a way that meant she touched as little blood as possible.

“It’s vagina blood,” The shampoo bottle wheezed as he squeezed the last of its contents into his hand, “it’s disgusting.”

Lindsay’s mind thought up a variety of reasonable, mature arguments as to why Michael’s comment was completely irrelevant and rude and yet, as she held her soiled pants and underwear, she realised that there was only one true act of revenge against his immaturity.

 Michael screeched as Lindsay’s underwear slapped against the back of his neck and tumbled to the shower floor with a wet plop. He leapt away from it and crashed into the wall, the knobs of the shower jamming painfully into his back.

“Oh my god, it’s on my back, why the fuck would you do that Lindsay?”

Lindsay held onto the seat as she cackled from the toilet. She could hear Michael furiously scrub at his back with a pouf. Tears formed in the corner of Lindsay’s eyes as the bathroom door flew open.

 Gavin stood with the bedroom’s TV remote jutted outward, pointed at Lindsay, while Meg stood on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder.

“Boi? Are you okay boi?” Gavin’s hand shook. His eyes respectively never strayed from above her shoulders. Meg ducked under his arm and noticed Lindsay’s lack of pants. She peered at their open laundry hamper only to see her own underwear that she’d dumped there last night at the very top. The clothes Michael had worn to bed were carelessly slung on the floor at Lindsay’s feet. Meg caught the evil glint in Lindsay’s eye as Michael yanked open the shower curtain. Michael’s face was as red as Lindsay’s shorts and underwear as they hung from the tip of his finger.

“No, I’m not okay Gavin. Lindsay just slung these in here!”

Michael lobbed them into the hamper. Gavin fought down a retch as Meg doubled over, trying to stifle her glee as Michael glared down at her.

 “You’re a dirty cow you are, Lindsay,” Gavin cupped a hand over his mouth. Lindsay raised her eyebrow at him and nodded toward the hamper.

“Do you want me to throw them at you next, Gavin?”

Gavin shook his head and backed out of the bathroom. Meg crouched on the floor, clutching her stomach and clinging to the door frame to keep herself up right. Michael placed his hands upon his hips and tried to look as infuriated and scary as he possibly could while naked. It only served to make the two girls laugh harder. Michael growled and yanked the shower curtain closed again. Meg caught Lindsay’s gaze and wiped at her eyes. She tried to stand but quickly ducked back down again, wincing as she clutched at her stomach. Lindsay smiled down at her.

 “Pass me the spare underwear and I’ll pick you up some paracetamol on the way back from the gym,” Lindsay said. Meg reached to the nearby set of drawers and rifled through expired make up and leaking nail polish bottles to find the underwear in question. She smiled as she pulled out a pair of Michael’s worn-out MeUndies and chucked them to Lindsay.

“If you think you’re coming to the gym with me now, you’re an idiot,” Michael threatened from inside the shower. Lindsay rolled her eyes as she slipped the underwear over her ankles then thought better of it and threw them onto the sink.

“Michael, you’ve got to be nice to me. I’m on my period,” Lindsay said.

“You chucked your bloody underwear at me!”

Meg shook her head at them both. She waited for Lindsay to wipe and stand up before she took her spot on the toilet for herself. Lindsay took off her sleep shirt, threw it into the hamper and opened the shower curtain to climb in with Michael. He shied away from her, hands held up in surrender as she placed one hand on her hip.

“I’ll make it up to you,” Lindsay grinned. Michael chewed on his lower lip and shrugged.

 Gavin looked up from where he’d collapsed outside the door when the toilet flushed. Meg offered him her hand and they both almost stumbled back into the bathroom as she hoisted him up. Gavin caught Meg by her hips with a little squeeze although his grip loosened and his thumb rubbed her side gently in an effort to soothe when she winced.

“You alright love?”

Meg nodded as Gavin pressed his lips into her hair. She closed her eyes and pressed herself against him. Gavin was like her own personal heater and the warmth was a godsend against her stomach. She glanced at the hot water bottle on their bedside table. She’d neglected to use it the night before, swearing that her cramps weren’t so bad, but it looked like today she’d have to sellotape it to herself. Gavin ran his fingers through her hair.

 The bathroom door opened once more and Michael and Lindsay stepped out together, tied to one another by one towel that they each held at their hips. Gavin frowned at them over Meg’s head. Michael looked them over and shuffled toward the pair.

“Is Meg okay?”

With his free hand, Michael stroked Meg’s arm with the back of his knuckles. He half-smiled when she seemed to chirp like a bird. Lindsay tugged at the towel.

“C’mon Michael, the sooner we go to the gym the sooner we can get some supplies.”

“Supplies?” The word had barely left Michael’s mouth before he realised what she’d meant. Michael looked to Gavin for help, “if the period posse is getting back together than Gavin has to come and suffer with me.”

 Gavin opened his mouth to protest but Meg lifted her head and pouted at Michael for him.

“You’d leave me here? All alone? While I’m on my period?”

Michael felt like he’d been stabbed in the heart when he saw that Meg’s eyes had started to water, tears he knew were most likely false but still upset him all the same.

“Yeah Michael, you’d leave Meg here - all alone, while she’s on her period?” Gavin’s triumphant smirk was even more painful for Michael to endure. He sighed heavily.

“Fine, Linds and I will go to the gym and then we’ll go to the store while you stay here and look after Meg.” Michael tore his gaze away from Gavin’s smug face but then smirked himself, “but while you’re here you’ve got to do the laundry.”

 Gavin huffed like a child. He wanted to tell Michael that he could go and stuff that idea up his ass but quickly realised that, while it was quite gross, after he’d got laundry over and done with he could essentially kick his feet up and cuddle with Meg while Michael had to traipse around the store at Lindsay’s beck and call. He was definitely getting off easy.

“Fine, Michael but you’re doing laundry next month.”

“Deal,” Michael held out his hand for Gavin to shake. Gavin reached out and took it. They shook once and, before Gavin could pull away and resume coddling Meg, Michael used his grip to his advantage and pulled Gavin closer to him so that he could plant a kiss on his cheek. Meg squeaked as she was squished between them. Lindsay tutted as her and Michael’s towel fell to the ground. She had already put a tampon in and pulled on the MeUndies but Michael stood stark naked in the middle of their bedroom. She picked up the towel and whipped him with it.

“C’mon Michael, the faster we get to the gym the faster I can get home and eat litres of ice cream.”

 Meg and Gavin waved them off from the couch about twenty minutes later. Gavin had already stripped the bed, with a bit of Lindsay’s help, and thrown it all into the washing machine. Meg’s head was cushioned on his lap as they watched a random vlog Meg had thrown on from one of her favourite youtubers. Gavin let his head fall against the back of the sofa as he played with her hair. Yes, he thought, he had bagged himself the better end of the deal and now all he had to do was wait until Michael and Lindsay go back.

“Gavin,” Meg muttered from his lap. Gavin looked down at her. “Gavin, can you go and get the hot water bottle? I forgot it.”

Gavin let out a short puff of breath. Still, he smiled down at her and nodded.

“Course love, anything else I can get you?”

“No, that’s all I want,” Meg said.

 Gavin eased her head off of his lap and slid a pillow underneath it instead. He passed in front of the TV and rushed up the stairs. The hot water bottle was where Meg had left it the night before, on the bedside table, and Gavin snatched it and hurried back down the stairs. He took it to the kitchen to heat it up. While he waited for it to be ready, Gavin reached into the cupboard for some of the biscuits he’d brought back from his last trip to England. He knew Meg’s favourites were the rich teas and so he grabbed the packet and poured quite a few of them onto a little plate. Gavin grinned to himself as he took the plate and the now very hot hot water bottle back to the living room. Meg’s head lifted as she heard her boyfriend approach. She licked her lips when she saw the biscuits, hurrying to sit up and patting her lap to signal where she wanted the plate. Gavin dropped the hot water bottle onto her lap first, waited until she’d got comfortable and then handed her the biscuits. He sat down beside her and relaxed back against the couch.

 His eyes had just fluttered closed when he felt Meg poke his side. He opened one eye to see her smile sheepishly at him, half of a rich tea biscuit hanging out of her mouth.

“Gavin,” she said. “I think I need some british tea to go with my british biscuits.”

Ah, Gavin sighed. Of course, he’d forgotten the tea. He wanted to slap himself for his own stupidity - he would never have accepted a biscuit without some tea himself so why should he have expected Meg to?

“Of course, love. Would you like milk and sugar in it as well?”

Meg nodded. She watched Gavin get up and leave with a sly little grin. She had never seen Gavin so complacent to do her bidding and was sure that on any other week he would have told her to bugger off and get her own. Meg broke off a bit of a rich tea and nibbled on the edges as she listened to the kettle boil in the other room.

 Lindsay’s head fell onto the back of her neck as she trudged after Michael. Her entire body was hot, wet and uncomfortable. She didn’t regret going to the gym, not one bit, as the work out had at the very least helped to ease her cramps. She just couldn’t stand the sticky feeling.

“You know I can’t tell whether its sweat or I’m leaking through,” Lindsay said. She tugged at the material stuck between her thighs and grimaced when it peeled off of her skin.

“I didn’t need to know that, hun.”

Michael held the door to the hallway open for her. Lindsay scowled at him and bopped him on the shoulder with her almost empty water bottle.

“Sympathise with me, I’m-”

“On your period, I know. Now the whole gym knows,” Michael said. He smiled at another member as he shuffled past the pair. Michael wasn’t sure whether the blush on his cheeks was from exertion or embarrassment. Lindsay shrugged. It was just natural, after all.

 They were out of the gym in record time and now Michael sighed as they pulled into the parking lot of Wal-Mart. He looked expectantly at Lindsay.

“Have you got the list?”

Lindsay frowned. List? She shook her head at Michael and he pulled out his phone. She watched as he typed out a text and sent it. Lindsay’s own phone beeped and she wrestled it from her pocket to see that Michael had text their group chat.

“Really, you couldn’t just ask Gavin or Meg individually?”

“Nah, the chat was at the top of my texts.”

Michael looked down at his phone as Meg replied. The list she sent required him to scroll and he wondered if she’d really typed it all that fast or had been waiting for him to ask what she wanted. Lindsay smiled down as she read all that Meg had asked for, silently agreeing with her girlfriend’s choices.

“Come on then. We better get a move on if we want to complete this by sunset,” Michael said.

 Gavin frowned down at his phone when he saw the list Meg had typed out. He skim read most of it, now familiar with the usual ask of chick flicks and chocolate, but rolled his eyes as he reached the bottom. Meg had added a request for him.

“You could have just asked me in person, you know,” Gavin yelled through the kitchen door.

His phone blipped again and he saw that Meg had text him personally this time. It simply said that he was too far away to yell. Gavin sighed. He flipped back to their group chat and read the request again, reaching into his cupboard for more biscuits. In the hour Michael and Lindsay had been at the gym Meg had depleted his rich tea reserves, drank 2 cups of tea and had had Gavin change the video on the TV five times. Now she had asked for his chocolate hobnobs, his favourites, and Gavin pouted as he poured six of them onto the plate. He twisted the top of the now half empty packet and threw them back into the cupboard. He looked at his phone and decided to send a text for himself.

 My Boi

Yesterday 12:29

 Asshole, get toilet paper. Meg used

it all.

Today 9:43

Get me some chocolate hobnobs please.

 Gavin rolled his eyes when he received another text from Meg that told him to hurry up. He refrained from telling her he couldn’t get their kettle to boil any faster. Her text did remind him to chuck some hot chocolate powder into her mug though. She had decided to change up her hot beverage for the time being. Gavin glanced at his phone as it blipped again.

 My Boi

Yesterday 12:29

 Asshole, get toilet paper. Meg used

it all.

Today 09:43

Get me some chocolate hobnobs please.

Read 09:43

Are you on your period too?

Michaaaaaaael, please! Meg ate them.

 Michael sighed and slipped his phone into his pocket. He looked down into his cart and shook his head. It was already half full, the tampons he’d made Lindsay get first now buried under chocolate, chips, new underwear and a nerf gun for no apparent reason.

“Remind me we need to get Gavin some hobnobs as well,” Michael said to Lindsay as he followed her down the candy aisle. She stopped and he ran into her with the cart.

“Did you just ask me to remind you to get Gavin’s knob?”

“No, dumbass. The biscuit that isn’t really a biscuit and is smothered in chocolate. Apparently Meg has eaten all of his,” Michael said. He stepped around the cart and Lindsay to grab himself some sour patch kids. If Gavin got to benefit from this shopping trip, so did he. Lindsay’s mouth formed a little ‘o’ and then she smiled to herself. Michael shook his head at her.

“Right come on, let’s grab Gavin’s hobnobs, the ice cream, and the chick flick and then we can be out of here,” Michael said. Lindsay nodded and held onto the cart as he led her into the next aisle.

 Michael found that Lindsay was a much better shopping partner than Gavin had been. She didn’t whine or complain too much. They seemed to fly through the aisles, at least they did until they reached the DVD section. Michael glanced at all of the chick flicks on sale. By now he recognised all of their covers and they must have owned most of the selection already. He looked to his wife to ask which one she fancied only to find her holding a case in her hand. He pulled the cart toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“A Dog’s Purpose, really?”

Lindsay looked up. She sniffled and her hands shook around the case. Michael had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing at her. Lindsay used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears that had started to form in the corners of her eyes. She took a deep breath.

“Yes, Michael. Really.”

Lindsay chucked the DVD into the cart. She hip-checked Michael out of the way to continue their shopping. With his back to her, Michael laughed.

 Gavin watched in disgust as Meg licked the chocolate from the hob nob. He could see the treat melting on her tongue and had to tear his gaze away to look at the TV instead.

“You know,” Meg drawled around a mouthful of biscuit, “I think these are becoming my favourite.”

Her eyes darted to Gavin and caught the mournful look on his face before he schooled it back to a well-rehearsed neutral, calm expression. He squeezed her thigh and nodded.

“That’s nice, love,” he said.

Meg nuzzled into his shoulder. She looked down at her near empty plate and held it up so that Gavin could see it too. She didn’t miss the way he purposefully swallowed.

“I fancy more…” Meg twirled her hair around her finger. Gavin held in a sigh.

“Sure, more hobnobs? Anything else?”

Meg chewed upon her lower lip. She looked at the mess on the coffee table before them: empty chocolate wrappers, empty chip bags, a half-used box of tissues, an array of chick flicks she didn’t want to watch and of course, two different mugs because she couldn’t drink hot chocolate from the same mug she’d drank tea from.

 “Milka!” Meg snapped her fingers together as though she’d come to some great conclusion.

Gavin frowned at her. Milka? He wasn’t even sure they sold Milka in America.

“I don’t think we have any, love.” Gavin reached out to rub Meg’s thigh but his hand froze in mid-air at the sight of Meg’s face. Gavin shot up off of the couch, “but I’ll have a look don’t worry!”

Meg’s thunderous gaze softened a little as she watched her boyfriend scurry from the room. She felt like she could taste the chocolate on the roof of her mouth. From the other room, Gavin called out:

“Would Hershey’s be okay?”

“Did I ask for Hershey’s?” Meg snapped back. Hershey’s wasn’t the same.

“Sorry, no, sorry – I’ll have another look,” Gavin replied.

 My Boi

Yesterday 12:29

 Asshole, get toilet paper. Meg used

it all.

 Get me some chocolate hobnobs please.

Are you on your period too?

Michaaaaaaael, please! Meg ate them.

Read 09:46

Today 10:32

 MILKA

GET MILKA NOW

MEG IS GONNA KILL ME MICHAEL

MICHAEL PLEASE

 Michael’s phone went crazy just as they left the Wal-Mart. He frowned down at his phone as Gavin sent message after message. He stopped in his tracks. Lindsay manoeuvred the cart around him and rose one of her eyebrows at him. She tried to peer over his shoulder but Michael waved her off.

“Babe, go and unload those into the car and I’ll be back in a minute.”

“What, why? Does Gavin have another request for you?” Lindsay mocked. Michael had already whipped around and rushed back into the store. Lindsay barely caught the keys he threw at her as he rushed by. She glanced down at their cart and sighed. She definitely regretted the amount of things she’d guilt tripped Michael into buying now.

 It took them at least three trips to get everything that they had bought into their house. Lindsay only accompanied Michael for one, the first, before she’d joined Gavin and Meg on the couch. Michael slapped his hands onto the counter, surveying their supplies. At the store he had so thoughtfully packed them into specific bags but now he couldn’t tell which bag held the tampons and which had the quickly melting ice cream. He pulled at each of them, spying his sour patch kids and snatching them before anyone else could. He ripped the bag open, took a piece of candy and shoved it into his mouth to suck on. Then he set about the task of sorting everything out so that he could, at long last, join his partners in the living room to sit.

 Gavin looked up when he heard muffled swears coming from the door. Michael edged his way into the room. From his left arm hung one of the bags that suspiciously bulged while his right precariously balanced a plate of chocolate hobnobs. In each hand he held a mug filled to the brim that he was desperately trying not to spill. His teeth clung to a pack of sour patch kids. Gavin smiled as Michael neared the couch. He didn’t lift a finger to help his boyfriend as he crouched and placed the mugs on the table. Lindsay and Meg also watched on in admiration until Michael spat his candy packet onto the coffee table. He glared at his partners.

“Thanks for the help, guys.”

The plate of hobnobs clattered onto the wood. Meg eagerly reached for it but Michael slapped her hand away. She cupped it to her chest, effectively chastised.

 “Those are not for you – neither are the cups of tea and coffee,” Michael declared to his confused audience. “The Period Posse has gone on strike and, as a reward for putting up with you two, I have made us drinks and brought us some snacks. Meg, Lindsay, you’ll find everything you could ever need in the bag.”

Michael ignored the indignant cries of the girls. He slid onto the sofa beside Gavin and pulled the slighter man into his lap. Meg fell against the two men as her impromptu pillow was taken from her. Her exaggerated pout went ignored as Michael kissed his boyfriend’s cheek. Meg resigned herself to searching the bag. She held in her squeak of delight when she found her coveted Milka. Lindsay took her own snacks from the bag, enviously watching as Gavin dipped his biscuits into his tea. The copy of a Dog’s purpose tumbled onto the table.

 Lindsay stood, snatching the DVD (Michael still refused to buy chick flicks on blu-ray) and marched herself to the TV. She took her sweet time putting it on, making sure to be as loud as possible. She glanced over her shoulder to ensure that she had been noticed, only to be met with Michael’s smug smirk while Gavin nibbled the edge of his biscuit. Meg’s eyes were closed, her tongue massaging the square of milka that melted in her mouth. Lindsay huffed. Before she returned to the sofa, however, she remembered something that she had made the previous month. Her own smirk mirrored Michael’s as she skipped from the room.

 Michael startled as something was manhandled onto his head. He looked up, only to have his vision obscured by the brim of a hat. With the hand that wasn’t moulded around Gavin’s thigh, he pinched the brim and flipped the hat off. Spinning it around, he couldn’t stop the grin that tugged at his lips.

“A period posse hat? Really?”

Lindsay grinned to herself as she took her rightful place back by Meg. She started the movie in silence, nuzzling against her girlfriend. Michael shook his head and placed the hat back upon it. Gavin frowned up at his own hat. He let out a squawk when Michael pulled it down over his face. Gavin flicked it back up and stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend. Michael sighed. He guessed that this made it official then, his and Gavin’s role around ‘that time of the month’. Perhaps next time he and Gavin could ask for matching t-shirts too, he thought.