#sir this is not how youre supposed to look at your arch-nemesis

[howdaretrashships]

Li Lianhua being fond of Di Feisheng in the Yipin Tomb arc.

Bonus: A'Fei is just as fond.

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 2x10 ‘The Deserter’ Reaction

aka the Rex Chest Episode

The way Grievous says ‘Kenobiiiii’ will never fail to make me laugh

“Any sign of Grievous?” the gesture that goes with this is just, oh Rex

Jesse? Is that Jesse? 

That little smirk from Rex. He knows that Obi-Wan wants first dibs on fighting his frenemy

Cody: “Rex is a smart man.” Obi-Wan: “Indeed. Always thinking on his feet.” Rex: *immediately gets shot*

Also the little glances they exchange during this

Oof that’s gotta hurt. Sniper shot straight to the plastoid covered chest. Poor Rex lying there like a busted pretzel.

Kix, was that you?

I’m guessing the yellow clone is Crys? Why is he yellow instead of 212th gold?

Why does Obi-Wan say “We’ve picked up the scent.” straight down the barrel of the camera? What is this 4th wall break?

Hello Kix!

Jesse got the braincell today. Also Kix’s decidedly confused “Sir” to Jesse was adorable. Wookieepedia lists Jesse as a Lieutenant and with Rex down I’m assuming that means he’s in charge now.

Why are the Twi'lek’s french?

Jesse saying ma’am is sending me

Well Suu is a certified badass. Absolutely no messing with her. 

REX CHEST?!

AND REX WHUMP?!!

Omg his chest and neck and that jaw and those arms and he hurts so prettily and omg I am unwell and cannot be saved help me

I’m guessing the other clone with the tattoo over his left eye is Hardcase? Hi Hardcase! Is he the one with ADHD? I love him already.

Rex flopping around like a fish out of water lmao

Oof that is a nasty bruise on his back. Also his back. And shoulders. And arms. Omg.

Kix telling Rex he outranks him lmao

Rex thighs?! Rex are you wearing nothing but your lower blacks?! That look decidedly grey but anyway. Also, where is the clone bulge? We were robbed.

“You look like my daddy.” FORESHADOWING CLAXON

The way that Kix and Hardcase looked at Rex like, “is this yours?”

There was so much in that “Mmmm” from Suu lol she is so unimpressed

Jesse being told he’s in command while holding a platter of fruit and nodding like a butler at Rex CACKLING

Rex, where are your nipples? Do clones not have nipples? What did the Kaminoans have against nipples? Did we seriously not get clone nipples? Were animated male nipples too much for Lucasfilm and Cartoon Network in the year of our lord 2010? Why are your nipples just slightly darker vague blotches Rex?

Omg Obi-Wan you completely and utterly over the top dramatic bitch (affectionate). Look at him all backlight by the moon looking all dark and mysterious as he hunts down his favourite arch nemesis. 

REX ARMS

Jesus H Christ. My God. Just look at them. Holy fuck. SIR

Also this bit with the farm animal waking him up was hilarious. His wide eyed look of alarm when it was snuffling and licking his face, poor Rex.

Also, Rex Hands? They’re so big. And his fingers are so long. Oh my. Oh no. My brain has already run away with itself.

I may have paused it at the wrong moment but his forearms look hilariously weedy in comparison with the absolute bulging units that are his biceps. 

I know this is supposed to be faux sinister and spooky but do all clones have such lovely beautiful long fingers?

Rex’s spidey senses activated

Cut? Sir? Daddy? Hello? Are all clones just a bulging mass of ripped muscle?

And here we have our philosophical argument for the episode

“Then our children and their children will be forced to live under an evil I can’t well imagine.” Oh no. Oh, Rex. If only you knew.

That was one awkward conversation to have at the family dinner table

Cut was at the Battle of Geonosis? Hmmm I wonder what batch that makes him and how old he is. Especially if Cody wasn’t at the Battle of Geonosis, which we found out in a previous episode. 

Another awkward conversation to have while your kids and wife are just sitting there watching?

Obi-Wan, you are such an overly dramatic bitch. It is hilarious. I love it. A giant Force leap off a tank with multiple somersaults ending in a superhero pose? Really? Also, that poor clone that basically fell out of the exploded tank and was dangling off a bit of it at the end.

Did that clone just shoot an incoming missile out of the air?!

Kids playing outside by themselves? This can only go well. I didn’t realise it at the time but episode 1x2 “Cut and Run” of The Bad Batch did exactly the same thing.

Oop that’s gone well. 

Well Cut clearly hasn’t lost any of his skills from being a clone

Protective Dad Mode Engaged

Also, why is Protective Dad Mode always so damn hot. Hunter does the exact same thing.

Jesse, Hardcase and Kix just absolutely dismantling droids on their speeders

“Always something.” lmao

Cut punching the commando droid and immediately regretting it

So Rex is still just as deadly even with the use of only one arm. 

Poor Rex getting strangled by a commando droid after falling through the floor. Also Cut shooting the droid that was choking Rex was a decidedly badass moment. Thought it did remind me of when Cody basically did the same thing for Crosshair in episode 2x3 ‘The Solitary Clone’ of TBB.

Grievous, did you just try to use a tactical dramatic cape drop on the master of dramatic cape drops himself?

Lol Obi-Wan’s little reach for Grievous. Nooooo come back and fight meeeeee.

Obi-Wan is so pissed that he didn’t get to capture his favourite arch nemesis. He’s having a little sulk. Cody is probably so tired of this shit.

That’s growth right there. Character development time for Rex.

Naw look at Rex riding off into the sunset. Cowboy Rex anyone?

[fallen-symphony]

Who do you guys like the most on your team? Who do you hate the most on the enemy team?

"An interesting question... Although I'm not one for relationships since I'm a superior being... I must admit that Obake's intellect and Motivations truly seem to resonate with me. He's like a more intelligent Dr. Regal.

"As for who I hate on the enemy team... Probably my stupid brothers... Especially RiFT. So much power, yet he uses it to serve lower beings. What an insult..."

"Glad to know we can get along, Slur. I have always found you fascinating... But as a brilliant mind who loves potential, Eggman Nega is a man after my own heart."

"The feeling is mutual, Obake. I do have respect for Dr. Starline and the Analog Man as well."

"Oh, it's such an honor to hear you say that, Mr. Eggman Nega, sir. Know that you are my favorite here as well."

"As for who I hate... Though I haven't met them in person, that Peni Parker and her robot, SP//Dr remind me too much of Hiro and Baymax, which remind me of my past Failure! If I can't get my revenge on Hiro, then Peni will be the next Best thing..."

"I feel the same way about that key wielding Sonic that showed up not too long ago! Dimensional variant or not, he's still a Sonic, and Sonic ruined my plans many times! I want to destroy him personally...!"

"Hey! You lay off him, Egghead! That Sonic is mine, ya hear me!? I'm the one who's gonna destroy him! I hate him and every other Sonic out there! I'll destroy them all until the only one left is me!"

"You tell 'em, Scourgey! Now, tell them how I'm your favorite person here!"

"If by that, you mean my LEAST favorite person here, then yes, that's you, Rosy."

"Awww! You say the meanest things, Scourgey! You're one of my favorite people here, too..."

"But her... This one right here... She's my girl..."

"Aw, thank you, Rosy. I like you, too. Such an adorable little psychopath ready to smash some heads... It's like having a little sister... But of course, my favorite has to be Dark Mega for obvious reasons."

"You're my favorite, too, Dark Empress! A beautiful Darkloid queen like you has stolen my heart..."

"As much as that Empress chick terrifies me almost as much as Rosy does... Gotta agree with her. Dark Megz is my favorite member here. We both got beef with our goodie-goodie two shoes doppelgangers, and we both want to live in a world of chaos."

"Yeah... I'm disliking that Megaman more and more each day. He gets to keep his Lan, while I was rejected by mine when I became the ruler of the Darkloids."

"I feel the same way about Roll. She gets to keep her Mayl, but mine wouldn't accept the new me..."

"Can I help you smash that good Roll that makes you look bad, best friend?! Can I, can I, can I?!"

"Sure... As long as I get to land the last blow."

"Deal!"

"Obake and Eggman Nega are inspirational. Their genius far exceeds mine, and I have much to learn from them. I don't have any personal beef with anyone on the enemy team... Yet... But that ARiA and her army of Guardiangemon might be a problem."

"CHYA HA HA HA HA HA!!! My favorite person here is obviously the Great Lord Brevon! No one can compare to his greatness...!

"As for who I hate the most, obviously it's that blasted Commander Torque! He and Squid Head have been getting in Lord Brevon's way far too many times! I promise to destroy them!"

"I can always count on you to praise me, General Serpentine. I, too, can't stand Commander Torque. That blasted dragon girl might not be with him now, but he can still be a problem... Especially with that new squad of his."

"My favorite member is Ophelia! Even if it's not official, she's awesome!

"And my favorite member on the other team is my beloved Nana..."

"You're supposed to be talking about the enemy members you hate, lover boy. Anyway, probably no surprise to anyone, but Mr. Tinker is my arch nemesis on the enemy team. I got over the grudge of him 'murdering' Dr. Eggman ever since meeting the superior Eggman Nega. That doesn't mean I don't want to show him up. What about you, Sync?"

"..."

"Gee, nice choices there, chatterbox."

"I think we can all assume he hates everyone equally, teammate and enemy alike. Anyway, it seems we reached our limit, time-wise. We need to get back to our plans of taking over the Multiverse."

[glitzybunny]

A Mock of Morality

or “You are my hero” (which was part of the prompt I think, or something close to that sdjhbgshjkdf)

Can’t really decide on a name for this short little thing dfkjhbgfdhbjg

Um parts of this are really vague but I would like to reiterate that it wasn’t supposed to be anymore than like something even shorter than this thing and was supposed to be for practice, however, I got carried away-

Well uhhhh here pffff AAAAAA

--- The battle was finally over.

What had felt like a centuries-long feud between the utmost good and the utmost evil had finally ended.

“How do you yield?” the villain stood over the hero’s limp and almost lifeless body laying flat on the ground, their face muddled in the dirt and ash, eyes closed. The villain, almost confused by the lack of response, nudges the hero with the tip of their long pointed boots. “Hello? I said, How. Do. You. Yield.” they said in a frustrated tone. Still no response.

The villain let out a long, drawn-out breath, pulling their face down in annoyance, “Come now, you’re better than that; don’t just leave me hanging here! This is history in the making!” the villain yelled in a mock of manic enthusiasm and hysterics, throwing his arms in the air, laughing crazily like no tomorrow.

As his laughter slowly pittered out, the villain looks down at the hero. He had still not moved a muscle; the villain’s eyes, once brimmed with mischief, were now filling with a touch of concern.

“I know you’re there...”

He crouches down, turns the hero over, and gently moves the hero’s head to face him with one of his hands, and they drop their sword in the other, checking the hero’s pulse.

‘Hmm, good... He seems to be alright.’ he lets out a relieved sigh. ‘Just unconscious, they’re probably going to suffer from a nasty concussion once they wake up,’ the villain thought as they rubbed off the blood that had stained the hero’s cheek.

The villain looks around the surrounding area, the now abandoned part of the city covered in a flurry of flame, ash and rubble. The scent of burnt wood and the sound of distant police cars honestly gave them a sense of serenity and calm.

It looks like no one is around; better be quick before that changes.

The villain carefully puts his arms under the hero’s own arms and legs, picking them up into a bridal carry—time to get a move on.

The villain wasn’t sure what he was doing at this point; it was quite a feat to be able to defeat the hero like this. Despite officially achieving what could only be called ‘every villain’s best dream’, they didn’t really want to finish the job.

A part of them had become acquainted and fallen in love with the routine of creating ridiculous plans in order to face off against this world’s most powerful. To watch the effort of his arch nemesis go through the effort to take him down to save whatever place that had inevitably just been caught in the crossfire to face each other off.

Even though the villain had lost, a part of him was filled with joy; a part of him felt like he was the one that truly won. But now, now is a different story.

Now by the actual definition, he had won. But it didn’t feel right.

“You’re lucky that it’s just me and no one else. Had it been some other conniving maniacal villain, you may not have secretly made it out alive… hmm...” He quietly breathed out.

The hero quietly stirred in his arms. “Shhh shhh shhh, don’t worry, I’m getting there, hush now”, the villain cooed at him. A fancy limo with the villain’s signature dark red and purple hues pulled up before them.

“Sir! Congratulations on your big success!” They take a small party popper out of the front pocket of their suit and pop it, getting confetti all over the front passenger seat. ”I never doubted you for a second, boss! I knew that this was gonna be the one!” the villain’s enthusiastic henchmen exclaimed and whistled in delight; however, their expression dropped into confusion when they realised what, and more importantly, who, the villain was carrying.

The villain quietly and cautiously attempts to open the door with the hero in his arms, shifting slowly into the back seat so as not to further harm or wake the passed-out heroine. Not yet saying a word. He lays the hero onto the seat, letting his head rest on their lap.

The curious henchman looks into the rear-view mirror as the villain dramatically moves his finger to his lips. “Shhhh~” He exaggerates whilst winking at the henchman. The loyal henchman turns back toward the road and shrugs as she shifts out of park and goes into drive.

The villain supposed that they were probably to be asked many questions once they arrived safely at their destination.

-

The hero had finally arisen from his slumber, or maybe more so, from his small coma; for he had nearly been out for a week.

He was unaware of where he was or what he was doing here, but it was not because he hadn’t been here before.

The villain strolls in, full of enthusiasm, dressed head to toe in his best outfit. However, every outfit they had was really his best outfit. Despite the gusto, he had held quite a sombre expression.

He put his head in his hands, letting out the loudest sigh known to man; once he did so, he removed his hands, and he had wholly wiped any trace of sadness and concern on his face off like it was never there.

The villain slowly turns to the bed and jumps in shock. “Ah! You’re finally awake! I thought you were about to cross the border into the heavens. I’m glad you’re alright, sweetness~” he stifled a giggle, giving the hero a weirdly soft look. The hero looked around the room, confused.

“Oh, you might be wondering what you’re doing here in my guest chamber, I suppose.” The villain hummed. “Well, you see, I thought I would take matters into my hands and decided to take care of you instead of some petty old hospital.” He crossed his arms, distaste for hospitals marking his words. “They probably would have given you special treatment, but I think my treatment is a WHOLE lot more special~ Don’t you think?” He waited for the hero’s response.

“…Who… Who are you?” the hero said with a shake in his voice.

“I beg y- excuse me? Who am I? WHO AM I??? HOW DARE YO-” a tear drips down the hero’s cheek.

“I’m… I’m really sorry; it’s just- I’m having trouble even remembering who I am… Who- who am I? Are you my partner or something?” More tears streamed from his eyes; he felt so embarrassed and lost.

Was he joking? Did… Did the hero really lose all his memory after the battle?

What… What does a villain even do in this situation? What would anyone say in this situation?

The villain was at a loss for words. He adjusted his glasses as he walked over to what was supposed to be his arch-nemesis and sat next to him on the bed. “I-” the villain thought about his words carefully. What he says next could ultimately change everything if he so wished.

He could recruit them, but who would they fight? Would it be right to even lie to them like that? Why was he even questioning the morality of the situation? He was the villain, for crying out loud! He could be a non-stop evil machine! He could achieve even more than he already has. He could do anything he ever wanted!

But what did he even want?

“I guess you’re concussion has struck your memory… And here I thought you were completely alright or at least going to be… This is all my fault” All the sombre and sadness rushed right back.

“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault-” the once hero moved closer and softly rubbed the back of the villain’s back in small circles. The villain laughed at the comment.

“I see it hasn’t kicked your naivety. I liked that about you” they gave him a quick look before ultimately looking away. “You have no idea who I am or what I am capable of, not anymore, at least...” there was a long silence. A silence of contemplation. A silence of indecision. A silence of confusion and a flurry of mixed emotions.

“Perhaps we can get your memory back in due time, for now. Let’s get you some food. You’re probably starving! And very dehydrated!” the villain stands abruptly, making pace to the door. “Are you alright to get up?” The villain looks at him, and the hero thinks about it for a second.

“I think I’ll be alright, yes… But you didn’t answer my question. Who am I?” He replies, now sitting upright.

The villain stifles another laugh and beams a smile. “You are my hero.”

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #1109: Rivalry Beach (King of Fighters)

12:19 p.m. Southtown's South Beach............

Krohnen: (Walks up to his Arch Nemesis, K' Dash) Well well well. If it isn't one of Ikari Warriors' Lapdogs, K'Dash.

K': Krohnen. You're looking more of a whiney shit-stain than usual I see.

Krohnen: ('Tch') This is rich coming from a lazy ass failure who's still second fiddle to that Kusanagi prick.

K': At least I know how to keep my flames in check. Unlike a blue haired punk in front of me who still don't know his own place.

Krohnen: (Already Fuming in Anger as He Turns his Arm into a Drill and Points it at K') I KNOW how to control my own powers just fine, shithead! And I'll be more than happy to give you full course test drive if you keep fucking with me!

K': (Grits his Teeth at Krohnen) Try landing a hit on me. (Balled his Gloved Fist as it Lit Up into Flames) And it'll be that mistake you do in your miserable life.

While the boys are busy glaring and threatening one another, their respective friends group begins to interact with one another as well.

Angel: ('Sigh') Ay dios mio.....Those two are never gonna get along, aren't that?

Kula: (Turns Away While Puffing her Own Cheeks) ('Hmph') No surprise there. You and pinhead are biggest jerks in the entire planet after all.

Angel: (Turns to Kula with a Pouty Look) Hey now. I'm way more nicer than my cookie is.

Kula: (Glares at Angel) Then why do keep making fun of me every time see each other!?

Angel: Cuz you're an easy target for me to mess with! (Forms a Teasing Smirk on her Face) And besides, I can't think of any other way to spent ny time here than to put a whiney, snot-nosed ice brat like you in your place.

Kula: (Fuming With Anger of her Own) GO AHEAD AND TRY IT THEN, YOU HUSSY! See if I won't freeze you solid if you do!

Kula begins to blow raspberries at the silver haired young haired who in return, snickers at the childish threat.

Rock: (Causally Talking to the King of Dinosaurs) Hey, how's life been treating you?

K.O.D: Rawr!

Rock: Huh. You don't say? How's that been going for her?

K.O.D: Rawr Raaawr Rarawwwr!

Rock: (Happily Nodded) Good, good. I'm glad Jenet and her crew aren't getting themselves in trouble for once. You think it'll last?

K.O.D.: (Shrugs) Rawr rawr.

Rock: ('Sigh') Yeah, I don't think it will either.....

Shingo: (Bows to Antonov with his Girlfriend, Leona, Standing Next to Him) We are so sorry for disturbing your time here, Mr. Antonov sir.

Leona: Had we known Krohnen would try and antagonize K', we would've never agreed to come here.

Antonov: (Smiles Brightly) Oh it's quite alright, you two. I'm just happy to see my boy Krohnen rekindle his long awaited rivalry with that friend of yours.

Shingo: (Smiles Sheepishly) Yeah......rivalry.....

Leona: (Rolls her Eyes) If you could call it that......

Misha: (Rusjes Over to the Trio) MR. SHINGOOOO! Sorry for wasting your time for at the moment, but....(Shows Shingo an Opened Book of Some Kind) Would you and Ms. Leona sign my Book for Fighters please?

Shingo: You....(Eyes Begins to Sparkle in Awe) Want my autograph?

Leona: And mines as well?

Antonov: (Chuckles Lightly Places his Hand onto Misha's Shoulder) Yes, our little Misha here has been a fan of you two for quite sometime now.

Misha: (Happily Nodded) Mmhmm. You guys are the coolest! (Turns to Leona) You're use your hands pierce through anything in a stealthy, flashy fashion while looking pretty.

Leona: (Blushes a Little) P-Pretty?....

Misha: (Turns to Shingo) And you always give it your all out there despite not having fire powers like that Kyo guy. Plus, you're really strong too! Not as powerfully strong as Mr. Antonov, of course, but you're definitely getting there!

Leona: (Smiles a Bit) Well, I suppose it would be rude of us to turn down a fan's request, don't you think, Shingo? (Turns to Shingo as She Hears the Sound of Sniffing) Shingo-Kun?

Shingo: (Already Has Tears in his Eyes) I-I-I...('Sniff') I have fans.....('Sniff') (Turns to Leona) Leona, I have fans now.....

Leona: (Happily Gives her Boyfriend a Hug) I know you do, darling. I'm very happy for you. (Turns to Antonov and Misha Woth a Sheepish Smile) Apologies. The emotions are getting the better of my boyfriend at the moment, so it'll might take us a bit of a while before we sign anything.

Misha: It's okay! I don't mind waiting.

Antonov: ('Sigh') I remember the day I first started to gain fans of my own.....(Eyes Begins to Water as Well) It was the best moment of privilege life!~ (Covers his Face Up While Crying)

Misha: (Pats on his Idol's Back to Help Calm Him Down) There there.

Meanwhile......

Mary and Ramon watches their respective groups' interactions with one another (Or more specifically, K', Kula, Krohnen, Angel's interactions) in the mid distance.

Mary: (Already Has a Deadpinned Look on her Face) Honestly. It hasn't even pass thirty minutes yet, and they're already at each other's throat.....

Ramon: ('Sigh') Can't say I'm surprised by the outcome really. I don't think I've ever seen a history more messy than those four.

Mary: (Shrugs) Eh. I've seen messier. (Turns to Ramon) So how are you following enjoying the wrestling limelight so far?

Ramon: (Smiles Brightly)I'm enjoying it quite well so far. I've met a lot of new faces: some friendly, some non sp friendly, and most of which are all so gorgeous looking~ (Let's Out a Flirtatious Purr)

Mary: (Playfully Rolls her Eyes) Of course they are....You still thinking about a certain redhead?

Ramon: Who? Vanessa? No, i haven't thought much about her as of late to tell you the truth

Mary: (Eyes Widened a Bit in Genuine Surprise) Wait, really? Not even a little bit.

Ramon: (Shrugs) Si, but not as much as i used to in the past. I have a sea of hermosos peces awaiting for my ferocious performance to worry about at the moment. And besides, isn't she still in cahoots with that King woman?

Mary: (Happily Nodded With an Excited Grin on her Face) Oh yeah, big time!~ Those two are a match made in heaven. (Searches For Something on her Phone) Vanessa been sending me pictures of her and Kingy as of late and look hella cute togethe-

Krohnen: (In the Distance) YOU BITCH!

'THUD'

Crowd: (Starts Chanting) Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Mary: .................They're fighting right now, aren't they?

Ramon: (Turns to See K and Krohnen Beating Each Other Up) To the surprise of no one unfortunately.

K': (Choking the Day Lights Out of Krohnen In the Distance) I'll show you who's a bitch, you insufferable defect!

Angel: (Slapping Hands With Kula) Quit breathing the same air as me, loser!

Kula: You quit breathing my air, you big fat meanie! ('Smack') Ow! You hit too hard!

Angel: Says the walking crybaby! ('Smack') Oi!

Rock: Mary, could you and Mr Ramon come over here before K' kill this guy?

Krohnen: Hell no! I ain't going down with a fight!

'Smack'

K': Argh! Damnit! That was my favorite pair of shades you just broke!

Krohnen: Goodie for you, dumbass!

K': You piece of shit, COME HERE! (Went Back to Choking Krohnen)

Mary: ('Sighs Heavily') We're coming, Rock! (Pinches her Nose in Annoyance) I finally have the day to relax here and they go on and start doing THIS crap.....

Ramon: (Shrugs Sheepishly) At....least they're not using their powers.....

Kula: THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA FREEZE YOU SOLID!

Angel: DO IT, EL MARICA!! SIN BOLAS!!

Mary: (Turns to Ramon) You were saying?

Ramon: My words are a blessing and a curse in disguise. Vamanos!

Ramon and Blue Nary quickly rushes over to the scene to stop the two former NESTS agents from fighting one another before everything escalates quickly.

@thelexhex

@tampire

@cyber-wildcat

@albion-93

@helsic

@caleb13frede

[slytherinbae88]

Boss | T.H

Pairing: mob!Tom x reader

Warnings: swearing, mention of guns, Tom being an overall dick

Word count: 1k+

Summery: You get to your job interview but it wasn't with who you expected, and you make a new friend along the way.

Series masterlist

————————————

“You’re late”

He was here to interview you right now. You thought because of the high crime rate he would have at lease sent an intern to do the interviews today.

“Yes sir, I am so sorry traffic was bad” you replied.

Shit, you forgot the one basic rule Caroline told you about; don’t speak unless told to. And now he was going to do something about that.

“Okay, I’m Tom but you will address me as sir. Take a seat.” Tom said as he motioned his hand towards the chair in front of him.

You weren’t going to lie his stare sent a shiver down your spine. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea. You thought to yourself, oh well, yes you were scared but you weren’t going to show it you weren’t going to chicken out of this one.

“Name?” He broke you out of your trance only to look up to put you in another one. He was wearing a grey suit which was currently unbuttoned at the top and you could see his burgundy t/shirt peeking through the top.

He was trying to be formal but with a twinge of comfort and practicality. Caroline seriously needed to tell you more in-tell before signing you up for a job interv-

“I said, name?!” He repeated and you hadn’t even realised you didn’t answer.

“Y/n,- sir” you replied a little embarrassed to have to make him say it twice. If anything he could pull out a gun and shoot you right here and now.

It was all a little overwhelming if you were honest.

“Okay, let’s get started shall we?” Tom said a little less frustrated after he finally got your name and write something down on his clipboard. You weren’t sure if it was a bad thing or a good thing.

“Yes, sir” you answered swiftly eager to get started with the interview.

“Caroline has told me all about you...” he said drifting off as he finished his sentence. When he saw your face fall he said “ all good things, all good things” you were slightly reassured that your roommate had told him good things about you. Well that’s what you thought at least.

“Right, why do you think you will be a good assistant?” Tom said loud and proud. It was as if he wanted the rest of the building to know he was interviewing you.

Tom on the other hand did not give a shit about who he hired as long as they could get him a croissant and a tea in the morning then plan out his day so that he would know what to do and what day he has off work.

Generally it would be Harrison’s job to interview people but he had been upstairs trying to bargain with James, the arch nemesis of ‘Holland & Osterfield industries’ to stop him from blackmailing all of the new interns on to going and working for him.

James had wanted Tom dead since his dad first handed the company down to him so that he could retire. This meant Tom took over the mob and Harrison took over his dads half of the company.

“ I think I could possibly bring a lot to the table here Mr Holla- sir. I am quiet and observant- by observant I mean I will see if you have say a tea and then remember you like tea not like observant were I eavesdrop or anything like that I will totally respect your privacy Mr Holland sir” now yo we’re just rambling and you were starting to sound a little weak if you were honest with yourself so you just stopped talking.

“ alright I suppose I’ll get back to you as I have something to do and can’t be bothered to be here anymore. I’ll email you or Harrison will goodbye Miss y/l/n” Tom politely excused you from the desk you were sat at.

Texting Caroline to come back to pick you up and she didn’t respond so you decided to start walking home, probably another hook up, you thought as you strolled peacefully down the pathway.

******

You were still about a mile away from your campus when you heard a horn honking BEEP BEEP so you looked left to see Harrison in his car.

“Hello, darling Tom told me about your interview” he said with a smirk.

Oh shit he told him about the rambling and how I didn’t address him properly and had to change it. Crap crap crap. You mentally sloped yourself for how it went.

“ he told me you didn’t get in any sort of car on your way out, I’m here to escort you home” he said politely waiting for you to respond.

How did Tom know you weren’t getting in a car, we’re they silently planning on getting Harrison to get you in his car then take you to the woods and kill you? Well you only live once.

“Thank you, for the ride Sir, I honk it might rain and I am really not looking forward to getting soa-“ he interrupted you.

“Don’t call me ‘sir’ makes me feel old Harrison is just fine” he told you heart fully.

“But Mr Holland sa-“ he interrupted you again, damn he sure does like to interrupt people a lot.

“Ohhh, he’s a cold hearted dick. You’ll get used to him so just call me Harrison yeah?”

“Okay Harrison” and with that you offered to buy him a drink or something but his simple response was ‘ oh it’s fine if I wanted a drink darling I would have just bought the shop’ and you both laughed like it was normal for a man in his early twenties to be able to buy a coffee house.

He brought you back to your apartment and to be honest you weren’t ready to go home you having quite the fun with Harrison.

“Well, I guess this is me” you said dissatisfied with having to go.

“I’ll see you Monday y/n, yeah?” Harrison questioned, but you didn’t quite know the answer you didn’t get a chance to read your emails, because Tom said he would email you, so you in were an awkward situation.

“Hum, I’m not sure, Mr Holland hasn’t emailed me yet.” You answered thinking that, that was the appropriate answer.

“I don’t think you understand, he doesn’t hire, I do and I think you would be a great addition to our team.” He told you. A little dumbfounded you had no idea how to not be excited.

“Uh, thank you! I-I mean thanks that’s amazing thank you Mr Oste- Harrison.” You replied still remembering that you were on a first name basis with him.

“Okay y/n I’ll ask again, I’ll see you Monday yeah?” He asked the same question as he did before.

“Yes, Harrison I will see you Monday” you said as you exited his car and got into you apartment building, going to the elevator. You got to your floor, opening the door and slumping down on your sofa.

This is going to be a rollercoaster.

————————————————————

Taglist:

@icant-hangout-imdrumming @thenoddingbunny-blog @my-love-of-books @theamazingtomholland @thebadassbitchqueen @gypsystuf @osterfieldshollandgirl @alwayssandy @lolooo22 @thehumanistsdiary @joselyn001 @xinsonyax @kassey @fabs2 @piscesparker @ilovec-dizzle @mathletemadison

[tydy-the-megnet]

The Prince's Cat

Insp.

...

"Another day, another failure, eh Chloe?" Alya laughed at the ruffled demeanor of the Lady Chloe. Her handmaiden Sabrina was diligently working away at her, trying to straighten her up as they rode by wagon to Chloe's estate.

Another failure indeed, it seemed to Alya. But one thing Alya both admired and loathed about Chloe was her unwavering determination to be wed to Adrien Agreste, a prince famous for his good beauty and infamous for his ill humor.

"Quiet, you." The blonde lady said, "I'll catch that infernal cat someday."

The cat in question was, of course, Chat Noir, one of the most infamous cats in all of Paris. The small black cat was rumored to be the companion of Prince Adrien, a man after whom many young maidens longed.

Young maidens such as Alya's best friend, Marinette, and their arch nemesis, Lady Chloe.

The cat was infamous for that reason. Hanging from his feline neck was a key. Not a real key; actually, the diminutive beast wore a bell that jingled merrily whenever he gave potential brides the runaround. And give them the runaround he did.

The rule was unofficial but no less rigid, and it was told as follows: "Only the fairest Lady, capable in mind and body enough to retrieve the bell hung around Chat Noir's neck and let its ring announce her love for the prince would be considered the Prince's Bride."

No one knew how the rule came to be, only that one day the prince's appointed knight, Sir Lahiffe, had brought it to their attention. When Adrien himself acknowledged the absurd rule, women from all over Paris clamored over themselves at a chance to be wed to the most eligible Parisian bachelor.

But the agile critter was far too evasive to be caught by any hand. And each attempt inevitably ended in failure. Some women have up, trying to dissuade the rumors by insisting it wasn't really Adrien's cat (the two had never even been seen in the same place, and what prince would let an apparently beloved companion roam about the streets of Paris?) While some would try taking other cats with other bells to the prince's abode (really, how can he tell them apart? They're all the same, right?), but none of their plots and schemes ever succeeded and it became truly evident that the only way to court Adrien was by getting a little golden bell from a little black cat.

"I still think you should give it a shot yourself, Marinette. Your pretty quick on your feet."

A humble baker's daughter and Alya's best friend, Marinette had confided her own desire for Adrien many times for as long as they'd known one another.

"Yeah, when I'm not tripping on air or spilling batter over myself."

Despite all of Alya's enthusiastic encouragement, Marinette never vied for the cat's bell.

Alya insisted that Marinette had as much chance as any other spry woman, but Marinette would simply reply, "Perhaps I'll call after that bard instead." Alya didnt understand why she would settle.

But at night, when the city of Paris grew quiet and serene, and Marinette family's shop slept like any other, Marinette climbed out onto her roof with a bowl of cream and scraps of meat, awaiting her own nighttime caller.

Faithfully, a sly black cat padded up to the girl from the northern corner, where it no doubt climbed the sycamore tree that grew there. And just as it always did, the cat leaned its furry head down to lap up the cream and take the scraps from her hand. His meal ended with Marinette gently petting him as he ate silently, and when the food was gone the cat slunk to Marinette's side.

He never touched her, save the occasional licks to her hands, but he would always sit calmly by her side. Still as a statue, silently offering her the golden bell that hung from his neck.

Yet Marinette, in her own self-doubt over, never took it.

"Why do you do this?" Marinette asked one chilly night as she sat upon her roof with her feline friend, "Why do come to me, when they're are plenty of ladies who have far more to offer than I?"

"Because they don't offer," came the unexpected reply.

With a a rather doggish howl, Marinette leapt to her feet -- and nearly went tumbling down the shingles as she did -- only to look around and see no one.

No one but the small tom cat with a cheshire grin and shining green eyes.

"Did," Marinette brought her hand to rest over her heart as she curiously inquired, "Did you just speak to me?"

"Meow." The cat said. And Marinette started to settle down again, ready to believe she'd imagined the whole thing. But then she realized that the sly creature had not mowed, it had said the word 'meow.' As if it were a human trying to speak like a cat.

How peculiar, she thought.

"So you can speak, then?" She supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing. She would almost expect a talking cat to be rather rare and valuable, but she would equally expect a prince to have such a rare and valuable cat she supposed. "Why are you only speaking now?"

"Well," began he, "You've never really spoken to me before. Not in a way that required more than a pleasant ear."

She thought back to all the times she had spent with the animal. From the first time the cat had shown up -- she had been upset from an incident with a painter and the noble thing had offered her silent comfort -- she had never really held a conversation with it. She always chose to either ramble about her day, or her family, or herself... or Prince Adrien.

A luminescent fluster worked its way onto Marinette's cheeks, "Well, I hadn't known you could you could offer it, you manipulative minx."

"Ah, M'Lady," the cat purred, adopting a sly look as it trudged forward to lick at her hands, "You wouldn't want to insult me, would you? What about your Sweet Prince?"

Under the moonlight and through a cat's eyes, the maiden's blush seemed all the brighter.

"You'd better not tell him any of this, or else I won't have any dinner for you next time."

"Very well, M'Lady. Though, if you'd be so kind as to answer one question I've had since the first time you've mentioned him?"

She sighed, "Very well, one question."

"If you truly love Adrien as you say you do, why do you not take my bell?"

The girl stared at Chat Noir, who gave her a very slow, leisurely blink as he patiently waited for her response.

"Cats are very curious creatures, you know."

So Marinette told the cat of what she admired of Adrien, from his fencing skill to his gentle demeanor to his noble attitude, and Chat Noir listened silently, slouching beside her.

And as she finished, she added, "But I? I am a simple baker's daughter. I've nothing to offer him just as I've nothing to offer you."

"You offer me a sweet meal every night." He said simply.

Marinette laughed, "Yes! I'll offer dowry of cream and beef! That will surely be worthy of the king's only son."

"The king cares not much for Adrien," the beast said sadly, slouching further onto the roof tiles, "And he cares not much for his bride, either. Only that he finds one."

Marinette bit her lip, empathy bringing tears to her own eyes, "But I won't be enough for him. I'm clumsy and plain and--"

"Marinette," came the cat's voice, interrupting her. He stood proudly and swaggered to her front, his bell tinkling softly, "Take my bell. I assure you, I believe you're far more deserving than you make yourself out to be.

"You're kind, clever, and beautiful. You never once tried to chase me like those ruffians, instead you befriended me. You gave me food, and let me stay here with you, even bringing me blankets in the winter or cool water in the summer. If you would do all of this for a simple cat, I'm sure whatever you'd do for Adrien would be far more enchanting. And I know he would do just as much for you, if you'd let him."

The cheshire grin was back, "Verily, M'Lady, I think you're purrfect."

The maiden blinked, the shimmering tears receding for a moment, "Was... did you just tell a pun?"

"Yes. I rather claw-ver one, too."

Something clicked in Marinette's head, "Oh, Adrien's humor is just as dreadful as yours, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid Adrien rarely goes this long without making a joke." Chat Noir chuckled when Marinette hung her head with a dramatic sigh, "But you love him anyway, don't you M'Lady?"

And with he resigned nod, Chat Noir padded to her lap. "Please take the bell and be Adrien's bride."

Hesitantly, Marinette took the ornament from his neck, and Chat Noir slinked back to admire her.

She stared at it, her doubts not abating. "What if he disagrees with you?"

"Impawsible." He replied.

"Are you so sure?"

Then Marinette gasped as, right before her eyes, the prince's cat leaned up, kneeling on hind legs that shouldn't have bent that way. The small, slinky body grew, the cat's shining green eyes never leaving her own deep blue ones. Slick fur gave way to silk, and paws gave way to hands. The face changed, shifting and shifting until the remarkably human face of Prince Adrien Agreste of France was there, kneeling before the humble baker's daughter.

"My Lady," he spoke with conviction, his deeper human voice sending chills down her spine, "I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

[rosesanthology]

Escape Plan | Matsukawa Issei x F!Reader [mafia!AU]

This took me SO MUCH TIME to write aaaaaah it's not surprising that it's so long :0 i just have many many feelings for Matsukawa Issei ALSO im begging y'all to listen to the playlist before/as you read please !!

Im kinda pissed that i cant add a "read more" option since im on mobile tho :\

(Also ngl at first i planned to get one of the 2 shot but i didn't have the heart to go thru with it)

Warnings : Fluff, it starts with humor but at some point it gets angsty ???? Idk y'all tell me

- Au that could be considered as a ennemies-to-lovers type of situation

[Tags] : @raevaioli and @haikoo like i cannot stress this enough @haikoo this your main manz

- if you could only use one sentence to describe your job to a Karen it would be : stealing from the rich in order to trick other rich people

- you had been what the people would call a spy for most of your life now, the Tokyo based Nekoma Organisation being something close to a family

- you worked with both of your very good friends, Kuroo Testurou and Kozume Kenma

- Kuroo, the leader of your little squad, had been the first one to open up to you when you joined

- he was a gifted chemistry genius and you were sure he could make any poison or soporific out of the most random stuff

- he also had insane combat and physical abilities which made him fit to act in a lab as well as on mission grounds

- Kenma was a little more reserved at first, he was the same age as you but still was really reluctant to accept you as one of his own at first

- when he saw how much Kuroo trusted you and how interested you were in his work he slowly but surely found himself caring for you

- to put it simply Kenma, better known as "apple pi" was a hacker. His job ranged from creating computer viruses to full on enabling the security of whole museums

- despite his cute appearance and shy demeanor he was probably the scariest of you three

- finally, you Y/L L/N was the infiltration and weapons expert of the group, you could weild literally anything from guns, to swords to,,,,,metal rods (but you don't wanna talk about this one) and you were of great help when deciding which infiltration angle was the best in missions

- Kuroo, under the orders of Boss Nekomata, quickly taught you the dangers and ways of the job during your first months working with them, the organisation specializing in outsmarting rich bastards and stealing their precious ressources in order to make "better use of them"

- if they were hoarding a particularly efficient brand of medicine, your goal was to steal it all, and sell it to people in need for free or a low price

- if they were in possession of some important object like let's say,,,,,the construction plans for the emperor's new vacation house, you stole it, made copies to sell at a high price to the highest bidder and your good affiliate, the Fukurodani Corporation would keep an eye on the original as part of their personnal collection, you were fine with that

- yeah they were others organisations like that in Tokyo, your friends from the Fukurodani Corp of course but also the Shiratorizawa elite crime group with who you had worked a couple times before

- ah and there was the Yakuzas too....honestly they were the only group in Tokyo with whom you were still on dangerous terms with

- they didn't like Nekoma in their affairs and you didn't like them in yours, but you tolerated each other

- your boss had established a truce with the representant of the big Yakuza group of your area, Kondo "the viper" Takara, a truly scary woman who had blasted her way to the one of the top positions of the hierarchy

- she even had a cool nickname ヾ(｀ε´)ノ

- but you knew better than to mess with them

- all in all y'all kept doing your jobs well, not bothering anybody

- except for one remaining rivalry with some Miyagi group

- the Aoba Johsai Institution.

- well, rivalry would be a strong word because you kinda got along with that Iwaizumi guy, he was a great hand to hand combat fighter and you respected that

- the others however ? Trash. 👁3👁

- they seem to act like Tokyo will be their territory in the next 5 seconds flat like ??

- THEY DON'T EVEN GO THERE ????

- "they be acting like they can just swoop in and eat OUR rich" you had told Kuroo and Kenma one day over ramen

- spoiler alert : it was a bad idea cause Kuroo snorted and almost made the noodles go up his nose

- no but seriously they always seemed to take advantage of YOUR missions to attract attention

- how did they even know which missions you were on anyway ??? (Kenma and Kunimi are actually good friends cause they play video games together but he'd never tell you that)

- it's like that one time you infiltrated a business company's heir's residence and then you came across a dude named Hanamaki and you had the HARDEST time whisper shouting to him how blowing up the whole place was a bad idea to retrieve one (1) diamond

- at the end you felt so tired that you gave it to him anyway ಥ_ಥ ("just take it ffs" "really ??" "Don't make me regret this")

- they also had the single worst person ever on one of their teams.

- Matsukawa Issei

- just thinking about it made you want to take your metal bat and break something in your shared room with your two other friends

- seriously that guy was like the epitome of clownery

- he's also supposed to be his team's gun expert except that's not the best task for someone who refuses to take anything with him but his freaking FISTS

- the first time you had met y'all ended up being on the same case to assassinate some guy who had kidnapped some cute freckled kid from a place in Miyagi called Karasuno

- EXCEPT HE WAS IN TOKYO SO IT WAS YOUR DUTY !!! NOT HIS !!!!

- you had Kenma on the earbud telling you about the guy's position in the club you were currently one street away from. You were posted on the rooftop of a building with a sniper rifle ready to get done with it and go save the kid but GUESS WHO COMES IN FISTS SWINGING WHEN YOU LITERALLY HAD THE TARGET IN SIGHT

- and he had the nerve to look straight toward your rifle's aim and flip you off while smirking

- sir you're about to catch these hands🚶🏽

- he had knocked him out alright and he got the young boy out but you were NOT ready to let that slide so you quickly got down and crossed path with him at the back exit of the club

- "what exactly do you think you were doing in there ?" Listen. You may have sounded confident enough saying that but you had NO idea that this dude was like a whole ass giraffe

- and he knew he was tall so he had the audacity to say

- "sorry can't hear you so well from down there midget, i was just doing my job (▰˘◡˘▰)" if it weren't for the karasuno boy being right there you would have stabbed his kneecaps on sight

- anyway after that y'all just seemed to run into each other wayyyy too often

- insults were shared just as often tho

- "well butter my buns and call me betty broker if it isn't my sweet little midget shooting people !"

- "stfu before i choke you"

- "kinky but can you reach my neck ?"

- "you've sunk low enough"

-so yeah f u n  t i m e s

- aside from that, business was going great but Kuroo had had news of a very important mission for you but he insisted on letting Boss Nekomata tell you about it himself for some reason

- he'd never done that :(

- you were kinda hurt that your best friend was hiding stuff from you tbh :(

- and Kenma did not seem to know more than you for now

- so you spent a whole week just mopping around

- sometimes you would go and poke fun and the newbie Lev Haiba but it wasn't the same

- Kuroo and Kenma kept working on missions while you were left waiting for that one assignment that Nekomata seemed to keep you for

- until today when Kuroo finally told you that the boss was requesting you in his office

- ngl you were EXCITED

- maybe you would have to zipline down the Tokyo tower (σ≧▽≦)σ maybe he was going to let you take a chainsaw with you this time (σ≧▽≦)σ

- maybe he- "oh" you deadpanned, stepping foot into the office and seeing none other than your arch nemesis, Matsukawa Issei in all his pisces clown glory

- "why tf are you there shitty eyebrows"

- "i had a good day too Y/N ! thanks for asking :D" today was the day. You were 100% ready to kill him and the knife that was attached to your thigh strap seemed like such a good option rn-

- "stop it you two. Y/N take a sit" Nekomata gestured, as you didn't hesitate to listen to your superior even fully aware of Mattsun's eyes annoyingly following your every movement

-"Okay so. Y/N i know you may be wondering why Matsukawa's here but to put it simply we've been informed that a rich family have gotten their hands on one of Aoba Johsai's rarest item : a gold engraved katana that belonged to their first boss"

- "so what do you need us for ?" You didn't mean to use "us" but you knew better than to piss off your boss, he was like a parental figure come on

- "i need you guys to infiltrate an auction held by said family and steal it back in the span of one week. It's up to you to work together or not but keep in mind that our arrangement states that we're autorised to make copies of the katana for future sells."

- you guys nodded, after all you were professionnals before everything and you were about to leave when Nekomata put something on the table

- "here are the keys to your appartment near the auction site it'll be your hideout !"

-.....now this had to be a cruel joke-

- "id rather sleep under a bridge then live with her for a whole week"

- "wow this is the first time we agree on something Mattsun" the oh so familiar nickname dripped in venom as you said it, unsure of what was supposed to happen

- "oh yes you could but i suppose that you don't have the supplies and tools that you will definitely need during that mission :)"

- you locked eyes with the brunette for a minute before reluctantly stomping to the table and grabbing hold of the keys and adress written on a paper, storming out of the door,  letting out a loose "come on shitty eyebrows we have data to collect" to your new....partner ? Ugh it was about to be a long week

-  it turns out the appartment was a lot smaller than you hoped for, with two single person beds, a computer post and different storing purposed furniture

- it was a common thing however, because the last thing an undercover spy would want is to draw attention with a flashy hideout

- the first step was to gather information on who would be at the auction which shouldnt be too hard

- "hey ill take the lead and contact my friend so that he can determine who is going to be here" you said as you sat on the chair in front of the computer

- "mm yeah you do that ill check what kind of weapons have been provided to us" Mattsun had no difficulty finding them as the drawers well full of them....this was very promising

- Kenma had just sent you the list of people that had been invited to the event, and you recognised many names as being members of the powerful Yakuza group lead by Konda Takara, of course.....the infamous viper herself

- you called out to Mattsun to show him and briefly explained what they were up too and how they usually fonctionned

- the auction was to take place the last 3 days after an opening party, leaving the rest of the week for preparations

- they usually took their time in comitting their crimes so you thought that stopping them mid plan by taking advantage of it was the best way to get the sword

- Mattsun didn't have anything to say for the moment, seemingly thoughtful about the whole situation

- "just so you know" you started, already regretting the decision of talking in your head, "i don't plan on being friends with you anytime soon but i feel like for this we should at least try not to rip each other's hair out"

- "i never planned on that second option"

- "huh ?"

- "i hope you know that we've never had a single conversation without insults of some kind before so for the sake of both of us it would be better to actually get to know each other since we're supposed to work together"

- you hated to admit it

- but he was right

- however you didn't comment on it, opting for throwing him a dry "let's sleep" before plopping yourself on your own bed on the other side of the room

- this is about to be one hell of a week

-3 days had passed in the crammed appartement both you and Mattsun struggling to inform yourself on each specific individual that was going to be present at the auction

- right now, you were both sitting on the floor, wearing simple oversized shirts and pyjama pants and shorts, cheese pizza box laying on top of the document covered surface

- "Mattsun, pass me the paper about Okuda Takeda please" :000

- Matsukawa froze, because he knew that in 2 days of living together y'all had establised that you wouldn't be at each other's throats

- but hearing you using his nickname unironically and saying please ???? That was still something he had to get used to

- "what are you staring at ? Give me the paper shitty eyebrows >:[" ah there she was

- "thats my girl" he thought, handing you the document and resuming his own reading

- here's the catch : Mattsun was head over heels in love with you since like day 1 that Hanamaki told him about this pretty girl who let him take the diamond from his mission. He tried to repress his feelings as he had noticed that you seemed way closer with your friend Kuroo who he had seen on missions with you

- maybe you liked him

- he would understand, he seemed way more confident than him and he was also probably way smarter since he was a genius and all

- also the way you were always soft to him and not Matsukawa kinda got to him

- he wanted you to hug HIM after a mission too and NOT insult him

- but he judged it for the better as he still got to be close to you in his own way with the playful fights you always seemed to pick with him

- it was easier than confronting his feelings or rejection

- this mission proved to make things so much harder for him tho

- like yeah he saw you being a badass plenty of other times but now ?

- he got to see you being all clingy and grumpy in the morning (he never knew being called a dumbass while you were falling back asleep on his shoulder was his thing but hey) , got to see your nose scrunch up when you were focusing on mapping out the position of the vent system of the venue

- he could go on for hours about how much he loved you and your plan was not making it easy.....profiting off the yakuzas' plan took way too much waiting and he understood that you wanted it to go as well as possible but he just couldn't keep living like this until then

- it felt like torture

- and he did not want to see you in that gorgeous dress that you were supposed to wear at the auction during the infiltration

- he knew that a couple more days could drive him crazy and make him do dumb shit like kissing you

- he had thought about that a lot of times but never brought himself to do it because je knew it was pointless

- he had to take action now

- the night of the opening ceremony, the day before the Yakuzas would start their scheme

- both of you were laying in your beds, awake, that was a habit you had developped over the past nights, you were just, aware of each other's presence and then sometime you would ask him something about his life, his friends, himself

- it made his heart beat too fast everytime and he could feel himself falling even more by the second when he heard you giggling talking about the time you pulled a prank on your friend Yaku with Kuroo

- he knew that you were already very sleepy from the way you were slurring your words

- "Y/N do you hate me ?" He said, abruptly and he heard a strangled laugh coming from you followed up by the question

- "what's that for dummy ?"

- "please answer" he asked in a whisper, sounding almost desperate

- you took a second to think about it

-you had grown quite close to your tall partner in such a short period of time, even letting your guard down and stopping from being so defensive

- "i don't hate you....i could never" you said the last part more to yourself tho but Matsukawa didn't miss it, he wished he did as he heard the soft sighs coming from your now sleeping form

- his heart ached as he got up, putting on his black coat over his mathing turtleneck shirt, taking his gun and spare map of the auction venue

- you were totally going to hate him now....

- and then he left for the opening party

- the rain was pouring outside

- for some reason you couldn't sleep well that night

- that only happened whenever Kuroo was out on a mission at night or Kenma was working in his office

- you hated sleeping alone, you couldn't do it

- being alone was the one thing you dreaded the most in your life, death was nothing if nobody knew where you were, if nobody aknowledged your existence you weren't alive

- but Mattsun was there and you trusted him.

- yeah you were kind of an ass to him during like 90% of your interactions with him but you just didn't know how to talk to him ??? He was so strong and good at what he did so you couldn't help but feel admiration but also intimidation

- yet you've felt probably more comfortable with him than anyone in your life (yes even Kuroo and Kenma weirdly enough)

- it was a nice feeling

- maybe it was because you saw him differently than them...

- but anyway

- you felt like yourself around him

- and yet

- why couldn't you sleep ?

- "Mattsun ?" You called out to him, voice cracked from not having used it for a while

- no answer

- maybe he didn't hear you over the rain....?

- you had a bad feeling about this

- "Mattsun ?" You called out a little louder, sitting up

- yep definitely

- you turned on the light and to your surprise, Matsukawa was nowhere in sight

- your heart sunk at the realization

- you were alone

- what about the plan ? Ah its true that he never said anything about it

- did he not trust you enough with it ? Did he think you were too assertive ?

- you wanted to cry but it seemed as if your brain wasn't working, your body rushing on its own to check the date and time on your phone : past 10pm on thursday night.....

- the opening party !

- "shit shit shit he must have gone there to take them by surprise wtf is he thinking doing this alone?" You thought aloud, maybe it would trick your body into not being scared

- at this point you were terrified, rushing to get the red dress on as well as putting your 2 guns under each of your thigh straps

- is he alone ? Surrounded by highly trained and dangerous Yakuzas ? What if....you were too late ?

- you didn't have time to think too much about it as you knew that this kind of thoughts led nowhere.

- you had to infiltrate that party the fastest you've ever done in your life and see for yourself, luckily, the venue was only a few crossroads away from your appartment

- truth was Mattsun's plan was not so bad

- after all you had insisted on making him find info on every staff member there too so it's thanks to you if he just so happened to know what type of guy that one waitress liked in order to flirt with her and convince her that he had forgotten his watch in one of the closed off aeras of the venue

- the place was absolutly gigantic, after all it was a mansion bought will illegal money

- he hated this, he just wanted to get it over with, retrieve the sword, gtfo and go back to Miyagi forever so that he wouldn't feel the pain of the illusion of being by your side when you were clearly far ahead of him

- you'd always been anyway

- he had finally reached the generator room and opened the vents with much difficulty as the room was a mess of cardboard boxes and storage shelves

- he was just going to cut the power, which would take about 15 minutes to get back, allowing him to go thru the vents to the main hall that was right thru the wall to his side, retrieve the sword and just make a run for it

- hopefully the rain would cover most of the sound he made so that was even better

- see that would have been great if he hadn't felt the icy cold metal of a gun at the nape of his neck as he was fiddling with the generator

- he had been caught.

- it was the end.

- shit he fucked the whole mission over and now even you didn't have a chance to-

- "what exactly do you think you're doing Mattsun ?" You said coldly even tho the hurt in your tone didnt go unnoticed by the taller man

- "haha Y/N whatchu doing here on this fine night ? You look stunning btw"

- "Cut the crap shitty eyebrows i asked you a question"

- you finally lowered your gun allowing your harsh glare to show how upset you truly were

- damn, Matsukawa really felt shitty :\

- he'd never seen you like that- well not soaked from the rain but....so vulnerable to him

- all your feelings talks happened in the dark of night in your hideout, he'd never seen your face look so pained before

- "I did what was best for both us..."

- "bullshit." He wasn't sure that he believed himself either to be honest

- "what the fuck are you even doing anyway ? I thought you and i were in this mission together ?? Did nothing matter to you ? I finally think that i found someone who i could trust other than my fucking family and that's what you do ? Ditch me for your own profit ?? You did what was best for your damn self Matsukawa"

- you were upset. He got it really, his insecurities had gotten the best of him like they often did....except he didn't have the strength to confront them, to confront you about it. So he got it and he didn't retaliate.

- "so what ?? You're not even going to say anything ?? Not even TRY to fucking apologize ? Do you really don't care ?" You searched for his eyes, but little did you know that he just....couldn't talk nor maintain eye contact with you right now

- "Mattsun...i thought you and i had...something ? I don't know maybe i hallucinated or some shit but i thought we were at least friends you know ? D-did you ever tolerate me at all ?"

- your voice cracked, it got lower and it cracked, and at that moment he was sure his heart broke right at this instant too

- he wanted to tell you that that was the farthest thing from the truth

- he wanted to tell you that he loved you

- but you were too far. Once again, you were miles ahead of him, more than ever

- and the sound of voices coming from the corridor did NOT HELP

- you could not afford being found here so with the professionalism left in you, you pushed your feelings away and pulled Mattsun behind a shelf, crouching and waiting

- you were so close he could feel you shivering from the cold and he felt so so bad

- but now was not really the moment

- "didn't you hear shouting ?" Shit. Maybe you should have waited until getting out of here for your heart to heart because this guard was definitely not trippin

- there were 2, luckily they didn't have the idea to split up to search the room, all you had to do was move low and close to the walls in order reach the door and well....the katana literally could not matter less to any of y'all rn

- at this moment you really regretted going out in such a hurry completly forgetting to contact Kenma, he could have hacked into the camera system and told you were they were so easily.....

- anyway, despite that you guys were stealthy enough to get out if the room

- now the problem was getting out of here.....

- you held Mattsun's wrist loosely as you ran thru the corridor of the building, thunder raging and labored breathing filling the silence

- "Y/N we could get out from the rooftop !" Right....if you could only get there then maybe you could just parcour your way out of this by getting on other rooftops....damn you were glad Matsukawa always thought of every escape plan possible

- you didn't really mean what you said earlier

- yes, you were disappointed but, you were also scared for his dumbass

- and rn may not be the best moment to realize it as you were most likely in a life of death situation but....you loved him

- fuck you loved him so much that you were running in a goddamn dress right now

- "i truly hoped it wasn't you" said a voice from the end of the lobby

- of course it just had to be the Yakuza boss you dreaded so much

- Kondo was just standing there, arms crossed but you knew better than to take her lightly

- "did you come to retrieve it ?" Its funny how her voice seemed to dominate even the full on storm outside, the occasional lightning bolt shining light from the huge windows into the corridor

- "No....let us pass please we just want to leave" Mattsun felt how tensed you were and immediatly rested his hand on his gun handle under his coat

- "yeah sure sweetheart but only if you tell your guard dog to calm down unless he wants me to cut his fingers clean off" she threatened nonchalantly as her hand met the handle of her own katana strapped to her belt

- Matsukawa was deadass glaring at her so hard you didn't recognise him

- he honestly looked like he could take her on but...you didn't feel like testing this theory tonight

- "hey hey, it's alright" you soothed him, putting your hand on his arm and squeezing slightly

- it seemed to work because he quickly let go of his gun even tho he was still glaring

- "let us go" he said firmly

- she pushed herself out of the way and motionned with her arm as if to say "go on~" in the most theatrical way

- you passed her without issues and soon found yourself on the roofs as planned in Mattsun's escape route and made it safely to the streets, rain still pouring

- you were finally letting out a breathe you didn't know you were holding all this time

- you were alive and most importantly, so was he

- you turned around and were ready to say something when he cut you off by grabbing your arms and pulling you into a kiss

- it was short but it managed to get his point across very well as well as warm you up when he wrapped his arms around your waist, resting his forehead against yours

- "i love you Y/N....i swear i didn't mean to hurt you and put you in danger like that....if i knew i would have done things differently i-"

- "i love you too Mattsun and it's never been a problem to me, i've done way more dangerous things in my life than rescue my boyfriend from getting killed dummy"

- in the end, you weren't alone

- somehow he had become, your escape plan from it

[talesofhavekostca-blog]

OPERATION: STRAWBERRY PUSSY BLAST

Jack Burroughs

January, 3rd 2015

Havekost, CA

“Cuthbert The Carnivorous Cunt-Louse did it again.”, said Jake while opening the trunk of his warhorse, showing me the large bag of marijuana. It is a clear five-gallon garbage bag. Inside were smaller bags of weighed out weed. Anywhere from ounces to dime bags.

“My God, I’ve never seen so much weed in one place before.” I say before looking around the school parking lot,” How did you fit it into your car, Jake?”

“Easy, gumption and my ever-growing need to make that money, Jack”

“Yeah, but aren’t you super-rich?”

“Bitch I’m gonna be richer than that.” He laughs and hands me an ounce. “Here, this is for letting you leave the concert while you were tripping. I’m really sorry we lost you, man, but I ended up hooking up with twins. You know the Breenes?”

“Wait, aren’t they a brother and sister?”

“Jack, did you forget I was bi?”

I pause and go,” I guess it has been a while since I saw you making out with some jock.”

“Ahh yes, the good ole’ days. Anyway, while you were tripping balls with furries, I was getting it on. I’m, again, sorry Jesus and I lost track of you.”

I light up a cigarette and shrug, “So what if I lost my girlfriend and ended up stranded in a diner for several hours and was taped by the local news helicopter taking a piss in the woods while a furry orgy happened behind me. It’s cool that you let me walk off with a homeless man while you and Jesus did random shit.”

“You sound bitter, Jack.” He smiles and hands me another ounce. “Are you still grounded?”

“OF COURSE I AM, THIS JUST HAPPENED A WEEK AGO. My grandparents saw me on the news and now they think I like people in animal costumes! “

“Well...This is something you can tell your grandkids, at least.”

“...I guess.” I look at the weed in my hands and I open the bag and I smell it. “Oh my god. This smells amazing, what is this?”

“Oh, get this, it's called ‘Strawberry Pussy Blast’.”

“What? No way, that’s fucking great.” We laugh and I throw down my spent cigarette and we head to class. I hide the two ounces in my bag, which I then hide in my locker.

***

First-class of the day and its Mr. Perry’s Homeroom class and I’m doodling and everyone is still looking over and snickering at me. The kid next to me, Clarence, has his shirt over his nose due to my smoking and I feel bad as he’s nice but on the other hand I just want to tell him to quit being such a pussy.

Mr. Perry is sitting at his desk, reading a book about superheroes during the war. He thoughtfully strokes his beard and sips his coffee. He is my Arch-Nemesis. Well, besides Anxiety, Depression, my seeming forever-virginity and I guess my addiction to Shirley Temples.   I have pranked Perry so many times, as of this moment I have tied him to a chair, crashed his birthday party that his wife threw and kidnapped him for a better grade and we ended up bonding over history and goth music. He didn’t press charges because I accidentally helped him get out of a dinner with his in-laws, you know, because he was in my attic.

Jake is behind me doodling as well and I look over occasionally and I see that he’s drawing The Masked Avengement, who is some guy who’s running around the city, claiming he’s a superhero but apparently he’s been fighting random homeless people on video for money. His ‘sidekick’ Owly is even worse, I hear he sells PCP to girl scouts. These guys are our local legends and I’ve seen a kid dressed up as Owly, and I fucking laughed.

The intercom squelches and whines, “Jake Stone and Jack Burroughs, to the principal’s office. Jake Stone and Jack Burroughs, to the principal's office.” 

Perry looks up and makes eye contact with me and points to the door and I pull Jake’s arm for him to come with and he whines saying, “But I haven’t finished the crack pipe!”

***

 When we walk inside, The Principal is waiting for us. He looks grandfatherly, but like, the kind of grandfather that used to be a nazi and probably molests himself while dressed as a clown.  “Ah, gentlemen, I've been waiting for you. Please have a seat.” 

We do and after a few seconds, he gets up and opens the closet. He pulls out the five-gallon clear bag of weed Jake had in his car.

Oh shit.

“DID YOU BREAK INTO MY CAR?!”

“No, Bruce the security guard did after he saw you hand Mr. Burroughs some weed.” 

He opens the bag and takes out a dime bag and sits back down at his desk. He then opens a drawer and pulls out a bong that is shiny and orange. He fills it up with water and weed and takes a hit. He coughs while blowing out smoke. He then presses an intercom button and says, “Ms. Abner will you come in here. I have some chronic.” and she says, “Yes sir, right away.” and comes into the office and Ms. Abner looks like the kind of lady who’d play the organ at church, but badly, and would leave her estate to her cats. She takes a hit and coughs and she says “Oh, oh my.” and coughs some more and the Principal says “Quit being a bitch, Martha.” 

Jake and I are surprised and uncomfortable. He takes another hit and says, “This weed is so good, I might not expel you from school. Now listen clearly, you can keep the two ounces you have in your locker, Mr. Burroughs. You two have bought our new computer lab with this...donation if you will.”

“Wait, you’re selling weed for the school?” I say, still in shock.

“Well, we have to get funding somehow. So for the last decade, we take the weed stupid kids as yourself bring to school to sell and sell it ourselves. It's pretty brilliant. Wouldn’t you agree, Ms. Abner?”

“Yes, sir,” Ms.Abner says while opening a bag of Cheetos and eating some. Her eyes are red. 

“YOU BASTARDS WILL PAY!” Jake roars and I hold him back and The Principal just smiles and laughs and then asks, “Burroughs, what is this strain called?”

I tell him before leaving as I pull Jake away, “Strawberry Pussy Blast.”

I hear nothing but laughter as we walk away.

***

Jake and I are in front of the Principal’s house, the lights are off and I’m nervous and Jake is applying war paint on his face and I’m cold. Its 10PM and I’m not supposed to be outside. 

“What’s the gameplan, Jake?”

“We’re going to find dirt on this bastard, anything.”

We check the backdoor and its unlocked. We go inside and the house smells like old hard candy and cat litter and clown makeup. We search high and low but find nothing. I find old playboys, handcuffs, zip ties and superglue in a bag but that’s it.

Then we hear noises from the basement. Jake looks at me and I shrug and we walk to the door and the noises get louder and I can tell there are at least two people downstairs. 

We tiptoe down quietly and we hide behind old newspapers and a dresser, and from we are standing we can see the Principal in Mormon underwear, tied to a rack while Ms.Abner is dressed as a nazi, whipping him and I’m not even a little surprised.

Well, I’m surprised he doesn’t have makeup on.

Jake starts filming on his phone and Ms. Abner really goes to town on The Principal. She screams at him in German and he’s crying saying he’s been a good boy and after a particularly brutal slap, he pisses himself and I stifle a giggle.  Ms. Abner then grabs a bucket of ice-cream and pulls out a handful and rubs it all over the Principal’s face. He keeps screaming between bites and breaths, “Thank you, Mommy, thank you, Mommy. Gimme More.”

I fucking die at this point and Ms.Abner looks behind her and sees Jake and I. Ms. Abner faints and falls over and I laugh harder.

“What are you boys doing?!” The Principal is shocked and ashamed and is trying to get out of his ties but he’s stuck and helpless.

“Mr. Principal, I see we meet again. Now, I know you’re doing a good service. But you stole what is rightfully mine. If you don’t tell me where the weed is, I will ruin you. Do you understand?” Jake holds up his phone and plays the video. The Principal is crying and he keeps apologizing and says the weed is in the closet, by the clown costume. 

I FUCKING KNEW IT.

We grab the weed and leave him on the rack. Ms. Abner, still very much asleep and looking the most peaceful a woman dressed as a nazi can be, murmurs random things. We leave the house and Jake posts the video to the internet later. It goes viral on shock sites by the morning. The next day at class, we see that the Principal and Ms. Abner have been fired and everybody's watching the video and laughing.

Jake turns to me and says “Operation: Strawberry Pussy Blast was a success!” as we sit down in class. Perry looks up and looks at us and Jake winks and shoots him a few times with finger guns.

 No teacher bothers us again for the rest of the year.

[doctortreklock]

The Choice of a Second Chance - March 11, 2019

Part of my Resolution19. Read it on AO3.

Prompt: "You've been struggling to make things right / That’s how a superhero learns to fly" (and really the whole song, “Superheroes” by The Script, x)

Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Words: 1499

"Sir, Mr. Justin Hammer is here to see you." Jarvis's smooth voice cut through the eighties' power ballad shaking the walls of the workshop.

Tony didn't look up from the holograms in front of him. He frowned and spun one drawing before chucking it wholesale into the recycling bin. "What's that bastard doing in my tower? And at this time of night? Can't he wait until business hours to annoy me?"

"It is 5:38 in the morning, sir," Jarvis's voice was dry. "Shall I invite him up?"

Tony gave a theatrical sigh and shut down his projections. "Why don't you. I'll talk to him upstairs."

Hammer was already pacing nervously in front of the bar by the time Tony made it up there. He went straight for the bar, pouring himself a coke with lime and plastering on a plastic smile. "What do you want, Hammer?"

The other man looked positively nervous. "I...Stark, I'd like to start by apologizing for all of...that. From before."

Tony helped himself to a swizzle stick and chewed on the end for a moment, taken aback by the apology. He slowly walked around the end of the bar and leaned against it, holding the thin straw between two fingers and taking a deep drink of his coke. He studied Hammer. The man looked positively disheveled. His hair was in disarray, his shirt was missing two buttons, his vest was stained, and his jacket and tie were missing. There was a distinct pinched, strained look to his eyes that Tony recognized from his own days of barely holding himself together.

He sighed and set the glass down heavily on the bar, discarding the straw. "Why are you here, Hammer?"

"I need your help."

Tony couldn't stifle his snort at that. "Right. You team up with the bad guys, you destroy my Expo, and you want my help."

Hammer gritted his teeth. "Yes."

"Alright, I'll bite." Tony leaned back with his elbow on the bar. "What's going on?"

He was almost wringing his hands, Tony marveled. "There was an accident last night. In one of the R&D labs." Tony's eyes snapped from Hammer's hands to his face. R&D accident... "There was a small explosion, electrical current went wild. There wasn't much staff there, but they were all in a Faraday cage, so I was the only one affected."

Tony slowly pulled his elbow down. "What happened, Hammer?"

"This." Hammer threw his hand out to the side. Tony flinched, but the expected thud of Hammer's hand hitting the wood of the bar never came. Instead, his arm ended abruptly at the wrist, his hand completely encased in the bar.

Tony stared for a moment, trying to process what his eyes were seeing. His gaze flitted across the seam between arm and wood, mental calculations spinning. He whistled. "I think you need a drink." He started around to the other side of the bar. "I'm assuming you haven't slept since. Though if there was ever an excuse to day drink... If you can even hold a drink, I mean. Is it all the time or can you shut it off? Well, I suppose you have to be able to shut it off, at least subconsciously, or you wouldn't be standing on the 53rd floor right now. Or did it not get all of you? Or--"

"Stark." Hammer's voice was tired. "Scotch sounds marvelous right now."

Tony's mouth shut with a click. "Right." He poured Hammer a generous glass and slid it down the bar in front of him, then topped up his own coke. "Cheers."

"Thanks." Hammer picked up the glass with the same hand that had been embedded six inches deep in cherry just moments before. He took a larger sip than was strictly polite, considering the age of the liquor in his glass.

Hammer kept his eyes down, watching the pre-dawn light filter through the glass. Tony watched Hammer. "Why are you here?" he asked quietly.

Hammer glanced up at Tony. "I don't want to team up with the bad guys this time," he admitted.

"So don't," Tony said easily, sipping at his own glass. "Keep closer tabs on your contractors. Or don't use your powers at all; ignore them and hope they go away. Or" - his gaze flitted away and then back - "team up with us this time."

"The Avengers?" Hammer seemed stunned by the idea.

"Yeah," Tony replied casually. "My own personal boy-band. Not that you'd hear Cap admitting that, though."

"I just," Hammer hesitated. "I don't know how this works."

Tony frowned. "What, your electrical atomic energy field thing? Because I thought you had a pretty decent handle on it with--"

"No, the whole...y'know, helping people, superhero thing. I'm not a good person, Tony," he confessed quietly to his scotch.

Tony sipped his coke and studied him, waiting for Hammer to glance up. When he did, his eyes were desperate. Tony met his gaze evenly. "Yeah, you are, Justin. You just don't realize it yet."

Hammer laughed shakily. "Yeah? What makes you think that?"

"Because you're here, aren't you?" When Hammer only shook his head at that, Tony continued. "What? You think any of us are perfect?" He gestured expansively. "We've got enough issues between us to fill a library. There are about eight different kinds of PTSD among the six of us, and we're trying to wipe out so much red in our ledgers that we'll be on the side of the angels 'til Judgement Day."

"But you've all done so much good," Hammer protested, meeting Tony's eyes. "The Avengers saved New York."

"And the rest of the world," Tony interjected cheerily.

"Exactly! I just..." Hammer sighed. "I just get people hurt." He threw back the rest of his scotch and set the empty glass on the bar with a thud. "I don't know how to be a hero, Tony," he told his glass.

With a soft click, Tony set his half-glass of soda down on the bar next to its fellow. He softened his tone. "Justin. The Hulk took out half of Harlem. Thor's brother tried to take over the world with an alien army. Hawkeye and the Widow were assassins before they were SHIELD agents. I'm the Merchant of Death - half the terrorists in the world have weapons I designed. Cap--" He frowned. "--well, actually I don't think Cap's got the same kind of karmic debt as the rest of us, but everyone he knew is dead, so he must have done something terrible in a previous life." He earned himself a faint huff of laughter at that. "Point is," he looked Hammer square in the eyes, "the only thing that makes us heroes is that we want to be."

Hammer looked like he desperately wanted that to be true and started to say something. But then he paused and considered Tony with narrowed eyes. "Why are you giving me the hard sell, Stark?"

Tony scooped his coke back up off the bar and took another drink. "What, I can't just be looking out for a fellow businessman?"

"No," Hammer replied flatly.

Tony shrugged. "We're not that different, you and I. I'm what you could be if your designs weren't crap."

"There's nothing wrong with my designs," Hammer snapped hotly. "Not all of us had the benefit of starting with a well-established weapons company, Stark. Some of us had to start from scratch."

"And that's why," Tony said, gestured toward Hammer with his glass.

"What?" Hammer said, confused, as if Tony had gotten him so wound up, he had forgotten the original point of the conversation. Quite a feat, if Tony had to say so himself.

"That's why I'm giving you the hard sell. You're scrappy."

That earned him a scowl.

"Plus," Tony continued lightly, "I've read a lot of comic books. If I let you go, this will become part of your supervillain origin story, and I am not having an arch-nemesis named Sparky."

Hammer looked floored. He blinked at Tony a few times, then managed, "My supervillain name would not be Sparky."

"No?" Tony asked curiously, sipping his coke again. "How about Electro Boy?"

"I'm holding out for Doctor Electron, at least."

"You don't have a doctorate," Tony pointed out.

"I'd get one just for the title," Hammer responded. "Master Electron doesn't have quite the same ring to it."

"So you'll team up with the good guys this time?" Tony asked, holding his breath while trying not to look like he was waiting for the answer.

Hammer hesitated. "I've got a couple issues of my own and some red in my ledger," he warned.

"You'll fit right in," Tony promised.

"Yes," Hammer said. Then he smirked. "If nothing else, I'll know how you guys operate when I roll out Doctor Electron."

Tony threw back his head and laughed.

As if on cue, that's when the first true sunbeams filtered through the Manhattan skyline to light up the top of Avengers Tower.

[killervibe]

The (God)Parent Trap

Killervibefanficweek18 Day 2: Undercover Missions!

Notes: This is a future fic that really took a life of its own!! It’s fluffy and I had a lot of fun writing it, enjoy!! <3

The (God)Parent Trap

Cisco knew this was a bad idea the moment this club’s DJ decided Rebecca Black’s Friday was worthy of being played.

Cisco shot Caitlin an agonized look.

Caitlin winced sympathetically, and opened her clutch for her phone. “I’m going to text Barry to let him know we made it in. You can try to fix the music.”

Cisco straightened his tie and marched over to the DJ’s booth with the determination of a soldier. “Oh, I’m three steps ahead of you,” he called over his shoulder, and grinned at the fond yet exasperated look on her face.

The DJ is a lanky, nerdy thing, very much similar to old pictures of Barry Iris showed Cisco from their days in high school. He tapped the kid on the shoulder, waiting for him to stop bopping to this horrible excuse of a song and remove his headphones.

“I’m sorry, Friday? What year is this, 2011?”

“I think it’s pretty rocking.”

Cisco groaned. “Okay, how much are they paying you for this gig? Fifty? Eighty? One Hundred?” Cisco slid over several twenty from his pocket. “I will double whatever they’re offering if you play something better. I’m desperate.”

The boy looked at the cash longingly, but shook his head.

“Sorry Sir, this song was requested.”

“By who?” Cisco cried, trying to forget that this dude called him sir. He may not be twenty-three anymore, and he may be wearing an itchy fake mustache, but god forbid anyone actually starts treating Cisco like an old irrelevant man.

The DJ pointed out a bossy girl teetering in heels wearing a flower crown.

“Oh Lord, she’s just as crazy as her father,” Cisco muttered under his breath. Of course it had to be Yelena, Dr. Sinister’s fourteen year old daughter.

Cisco rolled his eyes and left the DJ to his horrible life choices, maneuvering around the cheering pre-adolescent children on the dance floor as they slosh their orange crush over the rims of their red solo cups.

“It’s no use,” Cisco grumbled to Caitlin, who was leaning against the wall as Friday faded out and Miley Cyrus circa 2008 started next. He grabbed two drinks from a passing caterer tray. 

He peered into the first glass.

“Shirley Temple?” Cisco guessed, handing the pink concoction to Caitlin.

“Thanks,” she said. She took a careful sip, grimaced, then rolled her eyes at finding Cisco covering his ears like a child.  

“What do you expect?”  She said, and Cisco let out a long tired sigh. He hates when she excuses crazy situations they get themselves into with logic.  “This is a teenage dance hall converted into a makeshift club for the birthday party of a 14 year old who happens to be best friends with the daughter of Barry’s newest arch nemesis.”

“What I expect is to not have to fear that my brain will bleed out of my ears before the end of the day!”

“You’re being so dramatic,” Caitlin laughed, “As if you don’t love Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.”

Cisco scoffed, offended. “I’m sorry but Poker Face cannot even compare to Fly On The Wall and you know it.”

A teenager came up to them then. “Excuse me, are you two the chaperones?”

Caitlin bended down, “Yes! My name is Katherine Rodriguez and this is my husband, Arlo. We’re Sonya’s parents.”

The kid gave Caitlin and Cisco a once over. “You two don’t look anything like her.”

They shoot each other a quick look before both replying at the same time.

“She looks like her grandmother.”

“She’s adopted.”

Caitlin stepped on Cisco’s foot. “Uh, what we mean is we adopted Sonya when she was three but we were told she looks like her maternal grandmother.”

The girl snapped her gum, “Yeah, whatever. We’re, like, not friends or anything.”

Cisco tilted his head to the side and squinted. “Is there a point to this or…”

The girl seemed to remember the reason why she came and perked up, “Oh this is, like, tbh, really awkward now, but I just wanted to let you know that I caught her picking on Yelena. Maybe you should go and see what’s going on.”

Yelena Sinister. Dr. Sinister’s daughter. Perfect. The plan was working.

Caitlin tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and blinked innocently. Cisco snorts. Is that how Caitlin thought it looked to be motherly? He’d tease her later about it if he didn’t find it so weirdly endearing. “Oh, I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Caitlin said, placatingly.

The kid looked skeptical, but put her hands up as if to say Oh well I tried  and turned back to the buffet table.

“Arlo?” Cisco exclaimed, scandalized, once the girl was out of earshot.  

“It rhymes with Cisco!” Caitlin defended, peering over the crowd for Nora. “It should be any moment now.”

“Are you sure she knows what she’s doing?” Cisco asked.

Caitlin nodded, “It’s Nora. She practically begged us to let her do it. Besides, you know she’d do anything to help her dad with a mission. Even if it means crashing a lame party and going by the terrible fake name Sonya.”

Cisco stopped sipping his club soda to retort, “Like Sonya is so much worse than Arlo.”

Cisco could feel they were just about to get into an epic bickering match over names when a man about five years older than Cisco comes towards them. 

“Excuse me,” The man interrupted politely.

He was tall and somewhat handsome, but very obviously not naturally blonde. However, Cisco supposed it wasn’t fair to judge. Caitlin was sporting a ginger wig, like she was channeling a young Molly Ringwald and Cisco’s own fake mustache and goatee Iris forced onto him made him laugh so hard the first time he saw himself in a mirror, they almost flew off his face.

“Are you the other chaperone?”

The question was pointed at Cisco.

“Yes, I’m Arlo,” Cisco introduced himself, and he really did have to fake the smile. He shook his hand, “And this is my wife, Katherine.”

“Oh!” The man flushed pink and began to stutter. “Oh, we met before.”

Caitlin began to flush too, and Cisco sensed he was missing something.

“Really...When was this?” Cisco asked.

“I believe you were with the DJ. You know, it’s so refreshing to hear our children listen to appropriate songs, thank you for reminding the DJ of that.”

Caitlin hid her laugh in a cough as Cisco’s fake smile turned into a pained expression.

“Well, yes. That’s my job, protecting the children,” Cisco said smoothly.

The man turned to Caitlin.

“I’m so terribly sorry, Katherine. I didn’t know you were married or else I never would’ve said those things.”

Cisco raised an eyebrow, “I’m sorry, what? Wait...Were you flirting with my wife?”

Cisco found himself getting ticked off, and it was weird, how he didn’t even have to pretend to feel vindictive. How he had no real claim at all over Caitlin but he still wanted to put his arm around her waist and drag her the hell away from this man.

Cisco didn’t like the way he looked at her. Cisco didn’t like the way she looked at him either, especially with her all flustered like this.  

Caitlin put her hand on Cisco’s arm, sensing his discomfort. “I thought Eric was being friendly, I swear. It didn’t click until just now.”

Caitlin’s explanation felt sincere, and Cisco felt himself unwind when Caitlin kissed his cheek, for show, obviously, but still, it was a nice gesture for him...Or was it for Arlo? Cisco was starting to get confused.

For what it’s worth, the man truly did seem like he wanted a hole to swallow him up.

“I’m so sorry I flirted with your wife, man. I was just saying she looks so young to have a teenage daughter.” Eric paused to look at Cisco, “I mean, so do you. Also, I couldn’t help but notice neither of you wear wedding rings.”

Oh damn. Cisco knew they forgot something.

Caitlin smiled tightly. “We’re both allergic to gold, not that it’s any of your business.”

“Of course. Again, my apologies. Anyway, whose parents are you again?”

“Sonya.”

“How old is she?”

Cisco and Caitlin both spoke at the same time. Again.

“Eleven.”

“Fourteen.”

This was why Cisco and Caitlin hated working undercover.They sucked. 

All three chuckled awkwardly.

Cisco cleared his throat, “We adopted Sonya when she was three...” He began, and Caitlin continued on for him when he began to falter.

“Exactly, so she’s really fourteen in age but we’ve only had her for eleven.”

They linked their arms together, smiling charmingly.

Speaking of their fake daughter, Cisco was hoping Nora picked up the pace so they could call Dr. Sinister already and get him out of his lair. Barry must’ve been staked out there for over two hours now.

Nosy Eric, as Cisco began to call him in his head, even though he probably doesn’t deserve it, frowned. “My daughter never mentioned her before. How does she know Vanessa?”

“Who?” Cisco frowned.

“Vanessa? My daughter.” Eric began to grow impatient, “The birthday girl.”

“Oh, right, I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over this wholesome music!” Cisco replied, snidely.

Caitlin jabbed an elbow into Cisco’s rib. “Sonya was invited by Yelena. They go to piano lessons together.”

“I see. Wait a minute...Yelena doesn’t go to piano lessons. She does ballet.”

Thankfully, Nora swooped in and saved them when a loud crash followed by shrieking caused everyone to swerve their heads to see what the commotion was.

Cisco, Caitlin and Eric ran over to the dessert table where Nora was bent over, hands on her knees, laughing her ass off at Yelena who was on the floor, covered head to toe with hot melted chocolate from Vanessa’s chocolate fountain.

“You little bitch!” Yelena cried, slipping in the gooey mess as Vanessa stood several feet away completely stunned.

“Language!” Eric scolded at her, but it became very clear he agreed. 

The snitch that advised Caitlin and Cisco crossed her arms over her chest and sighed loudly, “I warned you.”

All of their friends were pointing and laughing, which would’ve made Cisco feel a little bad if she wasn’t the spoiled brat spawn of one of Earth’s most despicable metahumans. 

It was time to spring to action.

Cisco offered Yelena a hand as Eric began to scream at Caitlin about Nora ruining his daughter’s party.

“Your daughter did this?! I thought you said they were friends!” Eric accused, snapping at the teens to put their phones away.

“I can’t believe Sonya did this, I’m so sorry,” Caitlin apologized profusely, pretending to be aghast.

Cisco looked at his goddaughter straight in the eye and mentally psyched himself to sound as fatherly and as angry as possible when all he wanted to do was laugh. She quirked an eyebrow challengingly with a mischievous smirk.

“Sonya Isabella Rodriguez how dare you,” he scolded, “Your mother and I raised you so much better than this. Have you not one ounce of shame? This behaviour of yours is out of hand!”

Nora pinched her fingers together discreetly, telling him to tone it down a notch.

“But Daaaaaaaaad!” Nora whined, “You would’ve done it too if you knew what she’s like!”

“I don’t care,” Cisco said, “You’re coming home immediately. Apologize to this poor girl right away. Also you’re grounded.”

Caitlin rushed to the table to get napkins and wiped off the chocolate from Yelena’s hands.

“Here,” she said, whipping he phone out where it was conveniently left at the dial page. “Call your parents, honey. They’ll pick you up.”

Smart move, Cisco thought. Now Caitlin will have Dr. Sinister’s cell phone number, a valuable asset for tracking him in the future, and potentially finding out where else he goes.

Teary-eyed and humiliated, Yelena took Caitlin’s phone gingerly and called her father. She began wailing into the phone, and Cisco continued to fake berate Nora until she hung up.

“My daddy is coming right away to pick me up,” Yelena sniffed, picking her wilted flower crown from off the sticky floor.

Cisco shuffled Nora towards her. “Yelena, Sonya has something she’d like to say.”

Caitlin grabbed her cell back,  texting Barry that Dr. Sinister should be leaving any minute, and that he should go ahead the moment the coast is clear.

Yelena shot Cisco a death glare she definitely learned from her father. “Your daughter is a fake ass wannabe weirdo who doesn’t even go to our middle school! I never invited you! Nobody knows who you are! How dare you crash Vanessa’s party!”

Nora’s jaw dropped, “Yeah, well you’re a prissy princess daddy’s girl! Even worse, your dad is a total psycho!”

Yelena gasped, then lunged at Nora, slapping her right across the face.

Cisco sent Caitlin a panicked look. Name calling and slapping fights that could end up exposing their fake identities during their undercover mission was not part of the plan.

“Okaaay! That’s enough! We’re going home now!” Cisco said in a rush, dragging Nora away by the collar of her skater dress. Quickly, Nora sped the three off to the dance hall’s lobby where Cisco opened a breach and they all quickly jumped through it and into Star Labs.

~.~

Iris startled at the control board of the cortex. She surveyed the three of them catching their breath and narrowed her eyes. 

“Why is there chocolate all over my eleven year old daughter’s hair?”

Nora threw both her hands up in the air, “You were the one who said Uncle Cisco and Aunt Caitlin needed me to get into the party!” 

Iris opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “Well... Yes, but it was their job to end the party and get Dr. Sinister out of his lair! Not yours.”

“Hey,” Said Cisco, putting a hand on Nora’s shoulder. “We were the ones that let   Nora get involved in the mission, and she did an excellent job, if not slightly carried away at the end, but who could blame her.”

Iris massaged her temples, “You couldn’t have pulled the fire alarm or something?”

Caitlin shrugged sheepishly, “...We didn’t think of that.”

“Sweetie, come here,” Iris said to Nora, but at that moment Barry’s voice crackled over the intercom system, requesting Iris and Cisco for help.

 He must have found something in Dr. Sinister’s lair.

“Ah crap,” Iris sighed, “Caitlin, do you mind?”

Caitlin shook her head and beckoned Nora over to the Med Bay, “Here, let’s get you cleaned up.”

She made Nora sit on the examining table and wet some paper towels to wipe the chocolate out of her hair.

“That was fun,” Nora said happily.

“I”m glad you thought so, but I’m sorry you got hit. Does it hurt?”

“Not really,” Nora reached towards Caitlin’s head to take off the red wig. “You looked like Kim Possible.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Caitlin smiled.

“Aunt Caitlin, can I ask you a question?”

Caitlin turned off the water faucet, and turned towards her, all ears.

“Sure,” Caitlin replied.

“I saw that guy talking to you. Why didn’t you get his number?”

Caitlin raised an eyebrow at the little speedster. This wasn’t what she had in mind when Nora asked to chat. 

“It would’ve blown the cover. I was pretending to be married to Uncle Cisco, remember?”

“But you’re not in real life!”  Nora objected.

Caitlin handed her a junior sized Star Labs sweatshirt and sweatpants to change into. Nora hopped off the table to get dressed.

“Yes,” Caitlin agreed, “But that man didn’t know that. I didn’t want his number anyway.”

“Why not?” Nora asked innocently.

“I just didn’t.” 

“So if you’re not with anyone, and you’re not really with Uncle Cisco, then why haven’t you or Uncle Cisco ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

Caitlin paused, taken aback. It was true that she had been single for a long time, but coincidentally, Caitlin had never been more content in her life than she was now. She had her life back in order, she had struck up an unlikely friendship with her alter ego, who had been less Killer and more Frost for several peaceful years. She made amends with her mother and was in fact really proud of her work with Barry, Star Labs and her personal research.

 “I can’t speak for Uncle Cisco but I’m happy with my life as is. I don’t need anyone new.” Caitlin looked out the window at Cisco, giving Barry directions of what kind of tech to look for in Dr. Sinister’s lab and sighed wistfully.She was right. She didn’t need anyone new. It was an old friend that she had wrapped around her finger.  

Nora followed her gaze.

“You looked awfully happy pretending to be Mrs. Rodriguez, though,” Nora pointed out.

Caitlin blushed. It wasn’t lost on her that there was a lot of truth to that statement. “I was playing pretend,” Caitlin insisted, knowing how weak that sounded..

Nora put a hand on her hip sassily, pursing her lips a lot like her mother.

“Were you, though?” She pressed.

Caitlin ruffled the damp hair of Nora’s head, shutting down the conversation all together. She loved the kid, but she sure was Barry Allen’s daughter, meddling in personal affairs.  “You’re all good to go. Why don’t you run home to your brother. I’m sure he misses you.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Caitlin opened a drawer and handed her a lollipop. Nora rolled her eyes. “I’m too old for these.”

Cisco peeked his head in at that moment, his faux facial hair all gone, “No no,” He admonished, “You’re never too old for candy.”

He snatched Nora’s lollipop out of her hand, unwrapped the plastic and plopped it in his mouth. “Your loss my gain,” he said, muffled around the candy.

“Just think about what I said,” Nora told Caitlin, then sped out the building.

Cisco leaned forward. “What was she talking about?”

Caitlin fiddled with her medicine drawers. “Um,” she said lightly, shaking her head like it was no big deal, “Just about us being Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez. She didn’t quite believe that we were acting.”

Cisco sat in down heavily in Caitlin’s office chair. “But you told her we were…” 

“Of course.” 

Cisco sighed. “Right.” 

Caitlin turned around, curious at Cisco’s tone of voice. “Why, you wish we weren’t?” She felt overly conscious about the way her heart  sudden quickened in pace.

Cisco made a contemplative humming noise, “Weeeellll,” he dragged out the word, avoiding Caitlin’s gaze. He toyed his dress shoes into the floor as he swiveled left-right-left in her chair and removed the candy from his mouth. 

“Arlo might’ve been a little jealous that a man was interested in his wife. It made him feel a bit stupid. Arlo has this amazing beautiful woman and he never really tells her enough what she means to him, he always kind of assumed she knew.”

“Ah,” Caitlin responded. Cisco glanced up at her, vulnerability written all over his face. “What does Katherine think?”

Caitlin lifted a shoulder, nonchalant. “Katherine was too wrapped up in her feelings about Arlo to even notice that another man was interested. Katherine felt silly that she lost her touch. And then she felt not so silly, because who was she trying to impress, if Arlo cared about her so deeply without her even having to try?”

“Really?” 

They weren’t joking anymore. 

Caitlin nodded. “Yeah.” 

“I do,” Cisco breathed. “Care about you deeply. So much. For so long.”

Caitlin felt like she might die. In a really good way. In a ‘I ate three belly burgers and had one milkshake too many but I’m so very happy’ way.

“Is this Arlo talking or Cisco?” Caitlin teased, holding her breath.

Cisco stood up and grabbed Caitlin’s hand, tugging her towards him. “It’s Cisco,” He said softly, seriously. “It’s me. I’d be lying if I said you’re not who I want. Who I think about all the time. Who I’d want to be my partner in crime not just when we fight crime.”

Caitlin squeezed their joint hands. “That’s a relief. Caitlin feels the same way.”

Cisco moved closer, following Caitlin with his eyes, beaming. He leaned in just as Caitlin placed her hands on his waist when Nora zipped back into the Med Bay with her twin brother in tow, scaring the two half to death.

They jumped into each other’s arms as Nora crowed in victory. “Thank you speedforce!” She exclaimed, “I did it! You owe me ten bucks!”

“Congratulations,” Don cheered as unenthusiastically as a kid could sound. “No offense, but I thought it was never going to happen.” He handed Nora a crumpled Hamilton.

“See, I told you it would work!” She stuck her tongue out at Don smugly.

Suddenly all the puzzle pieces clicked. “Wait a minute…” Cisco said, shaking his head at Nora, impressed. “We’ve been bamboozled! You were the one that put the idea that we should be your fake parents in our heads! You set us up!”

“To be fair,” Nora pointed out, “You are our godparents, so it’s not like it’s that unrealistic.”  

Caitlin tilted her head, thinking that reasoning over. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Who cares!” Nora cried, “You’re together now!” 

“Okay, thank you, we owe you. Now let us have our moment!” Cisco said, ushering the Tornado Twins away. 

They zoomed off, and Cisco could hear Iris yelling after them as he pulled the curtain around the bed. 

“Now,” Cisco said, winking, “Where were--Mmmph!”  

 Caitlin cut Cisco off, finally bestowing him their long awaited kiss. 

[stereksummerexchange]

Don't Give Me That Look

@teenwolfficrec | AO3

by @kiti-the-warrior-poet

When Police Officer Derek Hale agreed to help his boyfriend Stiles Stilinski earn some extra credit by participating in an FBI training exercise things do not go as planned.

“I can’t believe you dragged me into this,” Derek growled at Stiles his eyebrows drawing together and eyes narrowing.

Stiles narrows his eyes in return, “Don’t give me that look! It wasn’t my fault!” Stiles would have punctuated his statement by poking Derek in the chest, but the fact that his hands are currently tied behind his back is really limiting his options in the body language department.

Derek laughs at that and raises an eyebrow as though to say “and whose fault is it?”

“Okay, so this is slightly my fault, but how was I supposed to know that when the FBI invited us to participate in this training exercise that they meant that we were going to be playing the hostages?”

“Because, Dumb Ass,” a third voice belonging to Arnold Delaware, Stiles’ arch nemesis, interrupts, “you’re only a freshman, why the hell would the FBI let you and your civilian boyfriend anywhere near an actual training exercise?!”

Stiles cracks his neck left and then right and shakes out his shoulders before responding. “First of all, Derek is the only one allowed to call me Dumb Ass, second of all, Derek is not a civilian, he’s an officer of the law, and third of all, my freshman ass beat your senior ass in all of the senior level classes that we’re in together this year.”

“Stiles,” Derek says as he kicks at Stiles’ ankle trying to regain his attention, “I thought you said that McCall told you that this was a training exercise for the new S.O. unit.”

“He did. Wait, shouldn’t we be the bad guys then if we aren’t going to be leading the exercise?”

“My thoughts exactly,” Derek agrees, nodding his head.  “I say we put this Delaware guy in his place and then call McCall to double check with him that we’re actually at the training for the S.O. unit.”

“Two steps ahead of you babe!” Stiles grins, pulling his hands out from behind his back, twirling the handcuffs around the index finger of his right hand.

“What the?! HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF THOSE!?!” Delaware shouts, but before he can make a move towards Stiles he notices that Derek is up out of his chair and moving toward him.  Delaware’s momentary distraction, a la Derek, is all the opening that Stiles needs.  He snaps his fingers and the room goes dark, when he snaps his fingers again Delaware is tied to Stiles’ chair with his hands behind his back and a gag in his mouth.

It’s obvious that Delaware is trying to speak behind his gag, but Stiles ignores him in favor of pulling out his phone and making a call to Rafael McCall.

“Stilinski,” answers the voice on the other line, “took you long enough.  Did Hale not think that you should break the rules of the exercise?”

Derek grabs the phone from Stiles’ hand and puts the call on speaker.  “You know I heard that.”

Stiles grabs the phone back and swats Derek on the chest, “You know he knows that you heard that, it’s why he said it,” he directs at Derek.  “Derek and I spent the first ten minutes of the exercise having a silent staring contest before he broke and blamed me for us being held hostage, again, even if it was only for pretend this time.  The point is, we called to make sure we were at the right training and that we understood the objective correctly.”

“Well,” Agent McCall starts, “your little staring contest cost you some valuable time, though I’m sure you’ll recover quickly.  Yes, you’re at the right training.  The agents in attendance have all been through the prescreening process for acceptance into the Supernatural Occurrences unit.  This is their final test.  Stilinski, you and Hale are posing as the enemy combatants.  Introduce them to the Supernatural boys.”

“Got it!”

“Yes sir, understood.”

McCall barks out a simple, “Call me when you’re done,” and then the line goes dead.

“So,” Stiles asks as he puts his phone back in his pocket, “are we thinking united front or divide and conquer?”

“How about a little of both?” Derek suggests.

Stiles shrugs, “Works for me.”

As Stiles and Derek prepare to leave the room Stiles’ eyes begin to glow white and sparks of electricity begin to dance along his fingertips, and Derek’s eyes begin to glow an electric blue, his fangs drop and his claws extend as he lets the beta shift take over.  Derek takes point as they leave the room using his supernaturally enhanced senses to find their first target.  He leads Stiles down a flight of stairs and through a dark hallway into what appears to be an abandoned kitchen.

Derek stops just inside the doorway and cocks his head to listen, not unlike a dog, before he holds up four fingers indicating that he can hear four heart beats on the other side of the island taking up over half of the kitchen.  Derek signals Stiles to go around the island on the left as he heads around it from the right.  Just before the four FBI agents move to take out Stiles and Derek every appliance in the kitchen whirs to life and cabinet doors start flying open and slamming shut.  Derek and Stiles have two paintball guns each and all four agents have been delivered kill shots before they even realize what hit them.

“Are you a werewolf?“  The question comes from an Agent Diaz who Stiles recognizes from the time she spoke in one of his classes.  When Derek nods the affirmative Diaz elbows her neighbor and says, "Pay up Todd, I told you werewolves were real!”

“Yeah, and I told you there was no way Stilinski here was human, so we’re even.  Actually, what are you kid?"  Agent Todd asks, "Are you some sort of vampire or something?”

Stiles can’t help himself, he burst out laughing, “No, I was possessed by an ancient evil fox spirit once though.  I actually am human though.  I’m just a little more in tune with nature than most people.  Most people in the Supernatural world refer to me as a Spark.”

“So what I’m hearing is Todd still owes me twenty bucks,” Diaz says grinning as Agent Todd begins to dig out his wallet.

Derek walks up to Stiles and juts his chin out in the direction of the other two agents, “Those two are being awfully quiet.”

“Yeah,” Stiles agrees, “they are.”  Stiles lets his powers go dormant again and approaches the other two agents as his eyes return to their natural brown.  “I think they passed out, are their heartbeats regular Derek?”

“Their heart rates are fine, they still need to be checked out though.”

“Okay.  Diaz, you and Todd take these two to the medic tent outside.  Derek and I still have two more four man teams to find before the exercise is over.”

As Diaz and Todd begin the process of waking the other two members of their team Stiles and Derek decide to divide and conquer this time.  Derek heads back upstairs after the group that managed to take out all of Delaware’s men on the ground floor.  While Stiles heads further into the building using his spark to light his way.

Derek finds the group that he’s after in the room where he and Stiles left Delaware tied up in a chair.  Someone has removed Delaware’s gag and he is yelling about monsters and how this whole exercise was a set up from the beginning to kill off agents that had pissed off Agent McCall.  Derek delivers four kill shots before any of the agents even realize that he’s in the room with them.  This time only one agent passes out.  Derek instructs the three agents still standing to escort both Mr. Delaware and the unconscious agent to the medic tent, and then Derek heads to the basement where he knows Stiles has been herding the final four-man group.

When Derek enters the basement he sees that the final four agents have Stiles surrounded and that Stiles appears to be unarmed.  One of the agents fires a shot at Stiles, but the paintball explodes in the air three feet away from Stiles’ face.  The agent who fired the shot takes a step back and then Derek opens fire.  Derek only manages to deliver one kill shot before he is suddenly face-to-face with an Alpha in her beta shift.  Derek doesn’t let that stop him though.  After all, Derek Hale has faced down much worse than an Alpha werewolf.

“Stiles, catch!” Derek calls out as he throws his paintball guns in the air.  The paintball guns fly into the air towards Stiles and Derek lets his full shift take over.  Stiles has delivered kill shots to the last two human agents before Derek’s front paws even hit the ground, and the Alpha is so thrown off by witnessing a full shift that Stiles is able to walk right up behind him and shoot him in the back.

“All right, show off,” Stiles says, “go find your backpack so you can change back and I’ll take these four up to join the other new recruits.  You can call Rafe after you get dressed and then join us.”

Derek nips at Stiles’ fingers and licks his hand before running off to retrieve his extra clothes and shift back to his human form.

Twenty minutes later Agent Rafael McCall has gathered all nine of the agents who made it through the exercise without passing out along with Stiles and Derek into a conference room.  Each individual is handed a folder with their name on it and told to take a seat.

“As most of you know, my name is Agent McCall.  What you might not know is that I am the head of the Supernatural Occurrences unit of the FBI.  The exercise that you participated in today was the final test for admittance into the S.O. unit.  Congratulations, if you are in this room you are now a member of the S.O. unit of the FBI.  You will find your new job description in the packet in front of you along with the address of your new office.  I expect to see all of you bright and early on Monday morning,” and with that Rafael left the room.

Stiles turns to Derek with a smile that could light the whole world, “You still mad I dragged you into this?”

Derek just rolls his eyes and shuts his boyfriend up with a kiss.

[after-midnightmunchies-moved]

Single Riders

(I’m sorry that this is so late!!)

My piece for @cloraholic as part of the Voltron Positivity Exchange! They requested Klance and Shallura, so I threw in a little bit of both! I hope it doesn’t disappoint!!

AO3 Link

“Why is the ferris wheel here only a two seater?” Keith grumbled, trudging behind his brother and his brother’s girlfriend like the third wheel that he was. “And why do we have to ride it?”

“Aww, come on, Keith! Try to have a little fun!” Shiro nudged him with his elbow, shooting him a pitiful pout behind Allura’s back. “Besides, you might just get a whole car to yourself! How sweet would that be?”

“I just came for the shooting games and diabetes-inducing junk food.” The teen crossed his arms stubbornly, but kept pace with his companions. They were his ride, after all – he couldn’t afford to lose them in the crowd.

“We promise that we’ll stop by the games after the ride,” Allura conceded gently, lacing her fingers with Shiro’s as she tugged him playfully into the line.

It took nearly twenty minutes for them to reach the front, during which Keith adamantly ignored the calls for other “single riders.” Just as his patience began to crumble, they reached the front, where he was immediately stopped from boarding after Shiro and Allura entered their car.

“Do you have a partner, sir?” the young woman manning the ride asked monotonously.

“No, ma’am, I’d rather just ride by myself, if that’s alright.” He hoped that flattery would spare him an annoying five-minute ride with a total stranger.

He was wrong.

Rather than address his request, the woman responded by calling into the line, “Are there any single riders?”

A hand sprung up from the crowd before anyone else could answer. Its owner maneuvered his way carefully to the front before pausing beside Keith, leaning against the railing of the line dividers to shoot a smoldering look at the ride operator.

“I’m totally single if you want me to be, babe.”

The woman only rolled her eyes, gesturing for him to board the car. The ride couldn’t move until they got on.

It was then that the young man noticed Keith, eyes lighting up almost challengingly. “Well, if it isn’t Kogane, my arch nemesis.”

Keith furrowed his brows, eyes raking up and down the figure in front of him. “Do I know you?”

The brunet’s face immediately fell. “What? Of course you do! We’re in the same class! Does the name ‘Lance Mcclain,’ ring any bells?”

The ride operator released an exasperated sigh. “Yeah, yeah, you’re life-long rivals. Can you continue this conversation in your car, please? I have a ride to man.”

Keith simply shrugged and slid into his seat, willing it to just be over. He spotted Shiro with his arm around Allura, the two exchanging pleasant conversation just above him and blissfully unaware of his predicament.

Lance argued with the operator for a few seconds before a larger guy, whom Keith vaguely recognized from class, walked up and shoved him into the car.

“You’ll thank me for this later!” he called with a smug grin. He then waved to Keith almost as an afterthought.

The ride slowly began its course of motion again, their car inching its way to the top. Lance was silent on the other side, almost brooding. Keith tried to ignore his sulking, but quickly became annoyed by the heavy aura.

“Are you upset because I didn’t recognize you?”

“No!” Lance shot back almost too quickly. His arms were crossed defensively and his lower lip poked out childishly. “I’m just upset that I couldn’t ride with my friends.”

“Right, well I’m sure they’ll miss your company just as much.”

Lance stuck his tongue out at the sarcastic tone, allowing his arms to rest at his sides as he relaxed. “What about you?”

Keith raised a brow at the unexpected shift in the conversation. “What about me?”

“Who are you here with? Loner or not, you can’t expect me to believe that you’d come to the carnival alone and choose to ride the ferris wheel, of all things.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I’m with the happy couple sucking each other’s faces off in the car ahead of us.”

It was a gross exaggeration, of course, but Lance turned to look, anyway. “Wait, that’s Shiro and Allura! How do you even know them? They’re school royalty!”

Allura actually was princess to a small kingdom off the coast of Africa, but she’d moved to America over a year ago with her advisor to attend school. Shiro, being top of his class and the school’s official ambassador, had been assigned to show her around and ensure that she was settled in. They had instantly hit it off, and immediately became the school’s “it” couple when they went public with their relationship a few months ago. As for how Keith fit into all of this…

“Shiro’s my half-brother.”

Lance’s eyes widened in awe. “Holy shit, dude, that makes you royalty adjacent!”

Keith shrugged. “I guess. Honestly, I couldn’t care less.”

A scandalized gasp slipped from Lance’s mouth. “Bite your tongue! How could you say such a thing?”

“By opening my mouth and letting the words out?”

Lance shook his head almost fondly. “You are an enigma, Keith Kogane.”

“That’s rich coming from you, Lance McClain. Shiro might have you beat in academics, but you’re at the top of the food chain when it comes to people.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re at every party, you know all of the gossip, you have a seat at every table! There’s no one that you can’t get along with! You even called me your rival a few moments ago, but we’re here having a pleasant conversation.”

They were stalled at the very top now, the ride having stopped to unload a car down below. Nearly eight stories up, they could easily see the farthest reaches of the carnival grounds, people milling about below like colorful little air molecules.

Keith’s observation had launched them into silence again, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable as the last time had been. Keith opted to gaze out at the lights below, the wind whipping his hair about his face wildly. He peered over at Lance to see him doing the same.

“Thinking about anything in particular?” the brunet asked after awhile.

“Trying to figure out which stuffed animal to win at the water shooting game,” Keith replied only half-jokingly.

Lance snorted. “Please, there’s no way you’re winning anything from that booth.”

Keith raised a brow, giving Lance a look of concern. “Why’s that? Is it rigged?”

“No,” his companion shrugged, a smirk slowly settling onto his face. “It’s been dominated by me, and there’s no way in hell that you’re going to dethrone me, so you might as well just pick another game!”

“Oh, so it’s like that? Well then bring it on, McClain!”

“You really want to do this, Kogane? I’ve never lost in that game and I don’t intend to start today. They don’t call me ‘The Sharpshooter’ for nothing!”

“I’ve never heard anyone call you that, ever,” Keith deadpanned, crossing his arms assuredly.

“Well meet me at the game booth after this and I’ll show you,” he winked, and Keith almost laughed at how cliché it all sounded.

“This sounds like something straight out of one of my brother’s secret manga… that totally aren’t his, by the way, I definitely didn’t just say that.”

Lance snickered, leaning back into his seat casually. “Please, as if anyone would even believe me if I told them that the Takashi Shirogane secretly owns and reads manga.”

Keith found himself chuckling, too. “It does seem pretty outrageous.”

Conversation began to flow more smoothly for them as they relaxed in each other’s company. The prospect of a competition to come delayed any hostility between them, making room for friendlier conversation to take place.

“So you have six siblings?” Keith asked incredulously. “And you’re in the middle? How do you even manage that?”

“Let’s just say that I have a particular set of skills.”

“Okay, Liam Neeson, remind me to call you if I ever get kidnapped,” Keith teased with a roll of his eyes.

Lance only beamed in response, delighted that his companion had caught the reference. They continued to chat about movies and quotes and franchises, easily losing themselves to the conversation.

It wasn’t until Lance received a text from Hunk that they realized that something was wrong.

Dude, are you okay up there??? It’s been over an hour! The operator said that the ride got stuck and you’re too far up for them to evacuate you.

Lance paled, alerting Keith of their predicament by silently passing his phone over to him. Another text lit the screen up as the phone was handed back to him.

I thought you would’ve texted me by now! Is everything okay? Do Pidge and I need to MacGyver a ladder and get you out of there??

As Lance typed a hasty “no” to his friends, Keith notified Shiro of the delay. It seemed his brother hadn’t paid it any mind, either, replying that he and Allura had been talking for the entire time and didn’t realize it.

“Right, ‘talking,’” Lance joked as he read the text upside down, using air quotes to exaggerate his skepticism. “I sure as hell wouldn’t have been talking this entire time if I’d been stuck with a girlfriend as gorgeous as Allura.”

Keith didn’t know why that comment stung him so much. Lance was a notorious player at school. He shouldn’t have expected anything to change after one hour of decent conversation with him.

Lance seemed to have picked up on the shift in aura, smile fading. “Keith, is something wrong?”

It took Lance stroking a thumb over his cheek to make him realize that he’d unwillingly shed a tear. He quickly turned away, mumbling a “shit” as he dried his eyes with his sleeve.

“I’m fine,” he finally bit back with a sniffle, straightening his posture.

“You were fine a moment ago,” Lance pointed out, voice soft. “Something happened to upset you. Was it something I said?”

‘Yes, you moron,’ Keith wanted to shout back, but he held his tongue and shook his head.

“Was it something Shiro texted?”

“Just let it go, Lance.”

“I can’t do that, I’m not Queen Elsa. Tell me what’s on your mind, Keith.”

“I’d rather not. Don’t worry about it.” Before Lance could ask again, he quickly added, “Can we just change the subject, please?”

“Uhh, sure,” Lance rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he scrambled for a new topic. “You mentioned that your brother reads manga, but what are you into?”

Keith exhaled at the easy topic, allowing himself to flow back into the rhythm of conversation.

Another hour passed uneventfully, the two exchanging stories that they never imagined they’d ever share with the other. Their banter flowed as if they were life-long friends.

“Hey, we should take a selfie up here,” Lance suddenly suggested, pulling his phone out of his pocket again.

Keith furrowed his brows. “Why?”

“So we can always remember this moment,” Lance scoffed, like it was supposed to be obvious. He already had his camera trained on himself, adjusting the lighting to accommodate for the setting sun. Not listening to Keith’s mumbled protests, he maneuvered himself to sit beside him, squishing into the bench.

“Smile,” the brunet beamed, taking a few photos in quick succession. His face fell, however, when he checked the pictures and found Keith pouting beside him.

“Don’t get me wrong, I like the smolder action you’ve got going on here, but can you at least pretend that you enjoy my company?” Lance teased, nudging Keith’s shoulder and holding his phone up for another shot.

“Sorry, I just… I’m not good at taking pictures. I’ve been told I’m not very photogenic.”

“Pssh, who even told you that?” Lance snorted, seemingly offended on his behalf. “You have the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen! And your eyelashes are ridiculously thick, like are you sure you don’t use mascara? And your face is so flawless! I use face masks and my pores are still larger than yours! You’re effortlessly beautiful and honestly, I’m pretty jealous.”

Keith couldn’t help but blush at the compliments, hiding his face in Lance’s shoulder as the brunet snapped another burst of photos with an amused chuckle. “Stop!”

“Not until I get a really sweet picture! I’m talking cavity-inducing.”

Keith sighed, knowing that there was no way out of it. He couldn’t deny that Lance’s persistence and kind words strummed his heartstrings in a manner that no one ever had before. He felt the blush ignite his cheeks again.

“Fine, but I’ll need you to make me laugh.”

“Challenge accepted.”

Keith immediately regretted his words when Lance’s right hand snuck inside his jacket and began poking at his stomach, causing him to recoil into a fit of giggles.

“You are ticklish!” he cheered, thumb tapping the shutter excitedly. “Thank goodness! This would’ve been really weird if you weren’t.”

Keith slowly got his breaths back under control as Lance’s hand retreated. “You… jerk…”

Rather than shoot an insult back, the brunet simply stated, “I’ve never heard you laugh so genuinely before.” His eyes were trained on the photos, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

“Well you’ve never tickled me before,” Keith snorted, crossing his arms.

“Is that you giving me permission to do it again?”

“Don’t you dare!”

Lance’s hand was already snaking back into his jacket, fingers jabbing into his side playfully. Not willing to go down without a fight, Keith shoved his hands into Lance’s jacket, poking at his ribs and underarms. Their banter quickly derailed into a tickle war, their car shaking as they jerked about the confined space.

“Hey!” a voice called from below them. Keith peered over the edge, flushed and out of breath again, to catch Shiro’s wide eyes staring up at him skeptically. “What are you two doing up there?”

Lance poked his head over the edge to shoot Shiro an innocent look. “Don’t worry, your highness, your little bro is in good hands!”

Keith punched him lightly in the shoulder, and Lance held his hands up, retreating to his side of the car. Keith shot Shiro a sheepish look before sliding back into his seat fully.

“I’ll admit, it probably looked suspicious from their perspective,” Lance chuckled, stretching his legs across the small bench as best as he could. He was scrolling through the pictures again, selecting the best ones to show Keith. “Do you mind if I post a couple of these?”

Keith shrugged. “It’s up to you.”

“I’ll have to tag you, then.” Lance suddenly gasped, wide eyes locking onto Keith’s stunned face. “Wait a minute, are you even on Instagram?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Of course I am.”

“Then how am I not following you?!”

Another shrug as he dug into his pocket for his own phone. “I’m not exactly active…”

Lance snatched the phone from his hands before he could pull the app up. “Just give me a second to fix that…”

Twelve minutes and fifteen new posts later, Keith suddenly had sixty new followers, most of whom were demanding to know about his apparent “relationship” with Lance.

When Keith checked the posts, it was easy to understand the misunderstanding – half of the photos were selfies of Lance, the others the pictures that he’d taken of the two of them laughing, the setting sun casting an intimate glow across their faces.

“I… don’t know how to respond to this,” Keith admitted, showing the messages to the brunet responsible. “Are we even friends?”

Lance furrowed his brows, catching Keith off guard with the serious look. “After all of this? I’d like to think that we’re just a little bit more than that…”

The sudden confession completely blindsided the raven-haired teen, his blush returning full-force. “You say that now, but what about when we’re no longer trapped in a ferris wheel car together? When we’re back on the ground and you’re with your friends and I’m…”

Alone.

Lance seemed to fill the blank in, too, taking Keith’s hands into his own gently. “Keith, I… don’t want to leave you alone. Wait, shit, that came out wrong, let me try again. I don’t want to abandon you, not that, you know, you’d be completely alone because you have Shiro and Allura, but not in that way, and feel free to stop me anyti–”

Keith silenced his ramblings with a chaste kiss, drawing back as quickly as their lips met with a bright blush. “I really hope I read that right,” he mumbled, avoiding Lance’s stunned gaze.

When Lance shook the initial shock off, he smirked, squeezing Keith’s hands. “You read my mind completely, babe.” He leaned in to meet the other teen halfway this time, the kiss lasting a few seconds longer as the reality of their confessions set in.

“Wow,” Keith murmured dazedly when they parted.

“Yeah, wow,” Lance breathed, a satisfied look overtaking his features.

They didn’t even notice when the ride started moving again until they were jolted to a stop halfway down for the first of the remaining passengers to get off.

“Oh, we’re moving again,” Keith stated with a small frown, leaning over the edge to determine the remaining height. His eyes caught Shiro’s and he immediately retreated again, planning on crossing that bridge when it eventually came.

“Don’t worry, Mullet, I’m not going anywhere. I still have to cream your ass at that water shooting game.”

“Oh please, you’re so going down, McClain! But don’t worry, I’ll let you pick the stuffed animal after my victory.”

Needless to say, Shiro and Allura and Hunk and Pidge were beyond confused when the two raced past them hand-in-hand, shouting playful insults at each other along the way.

“Well, I guess that worked out better than we could’ve hoped!” Allura smirked once she’d recovered from her shock. She leaned onto Shiro’s shoulder, her boyfriend automatically wrapping his arm around her in response.

The others could only nod with fond smiles before following slowly after their idiotic friends. After all, congratulations were in order.

[beccas-a-cipher]

A Magiclica At Last

Originally posted: 37 August, 2018

Kaiston was my OTP and I’m hoping it’s still alive by the time this plot is over

Still wondering is Kai will have consequences for being exposed to the White Stone as a Spero/Cipher because I feel like that was kind of brushed under the carpet

This comes directly from season 1 episode 22, versus most of these that are supposed to be general events and don't directly correlate to an episode.

Kai groaned again as another wave of insufferable pain washed through his body.

Everything is going wrong... he thought to himself.

There had just been an explosion somewhere nearby, no doubt the Spero putting their plan into action. He cursed himself for falling ill at the perfectly wrong moment.

"Chase, you go see what that was about. Ivy, can you keep working on that remedy?" Quinston sprung into leader mode.

Chase nodded and in a flash of yellow was gone.

"Q-Quinston, I'll be fine-" Kai sucked in air as another spike shot through his entire body. "You need to stop them, before they get the White Stone-"

The green-eyed Magiclica dropped to his knee beside the Spero boy. His eyes were filled with concern, telling Kai he was his biggest priority when he shouldn't be.

"No. You're most certainly not fine. And I'm going to stay here, with you, until you're better and not in any sort of pain, okay?" He gently grabbed Kai's hand, sending pins and needles up his arm, although he didn't show it.

Another wave started. Kai moaned in agony and scrunched his entire face. He needs to go...

"Any time now, Ivy!" Quinston called, panic slowly starting to creep into his voice.

"Working on it!" She replied, mixing a potion as fast as she could. Ivy whipped around and kneeled next to Kai, gently holding a beaker to his lips. Kai disliked his position at the moment, but considering his predicament he decided to just drink what was given to him.

"Anything?" Quinston asked. Kai still felt the dull thud of pain in his entire being, but it wasn't quite so unbearable as before.

"A little..." he sighed. "Thanks... Ivy, right?" He looked up and gave the Magiclica girl a quick smile. She hesitantly waved back. I wouldn't blame her.

"What happened?" Quinston demanded, worry woven into his voice.

Kai sighed. "Something's combating the demone scuro in my body-" they both gasped. Kai shrugged. "It's how a Spero gets their powers. Normally it doesn't effect us too much, except when we over-exert our powers. But I..." he cut himself off, not sure how to explain that the Spero has gotten this close to the White Stone, so much that he had actually touched the artifact.

"You what?" Ivy continued. Kai grimaced.

"The first time Ichiro took Melissa-"

"When they used you as a distraction," Quinston added.

Ivy growled. "Yeah, thanks for that. You nearly got me expelled!" She pointed an accusing finger at the Spero.

Kai grimaced. "Yeah, sorry about that... I didn't want to, I swear! Anyway, when that happened, the Spero actually got through the security and to where the White Stone was stored."

Ivy gasped again while Quinston mouthed something monosyllabic.

"I-Ichiro threatened Melissa that he would hurt her friends if she didn't break the ward. He asked me to bring her to the podium, a-and... I may or may not have touched the Stone once the ward was broken," the sky-eyed boy finished. The Magiclicas were silent for a moment.

"So... you actually touched the White Stone," Ivy repeated. Kai nodded.

"Do you know what this means? Magiclicas first came into existence when they touched the White Stone! That's how they gained their special powers!"

"Yeah, and now its powers don't like my powers," Kai snapped. The dull thud of pain was starting to come back, and he knew he didn't have much more time before he would he in trouble.

Quinston's expression grew concerned and Ivy's confused as they watched Kai squeeze his eyes right and fall back to a kneeling position.

"I-it's w-wearing off..." He panted, the exertion to right the pain kicking in again.

"Hold on, Kai, we'll get you some more potion. Ivy think you can-"

"That was the last of the lavender in this garden. The plant was already dying that I got it from. That might be why this lasted so short," Ivy stated grimly.

Kai grimaced as the pain washed over him again. Quinston was truly starting to panic, although Kai thought it was a stupid waste of energy over him.

"G-go s-stop the S-Spero! I don't matter! T-The Stone does!" The sky-eyed boy pleaded to the green-eyed.

Quinston shook his head. "I said I'm staying with you. Ivy, see if there's anything you can do to help out there, alright? I'll take care of this,"

Ivy hesitated. "You sure?"

"Positive."

She nodded. "I'll be back when I can to help out." Then she was parting the plants with her powers and running through the tunnel.

"Why?" Kai asked finally. Why me? Why do you care so darn much about ME? I should be your arch nemesis; not the guy you throw your life away for. This isn't right, but it feels like it. These were the type of thoughts that went through his head every time he was with the green-eyed wonder that was before him.

Quinston chuckled. "You know, if there's one thing that I've learned in this school year, it's that the COM and all this about Magiclicas being better than Ciphers and that the Spero are bad people, it can all go be buried in a hole because none of it is true. The White Stone can be thrown in there too for all I care." He was kneeling in front of Kai now, once again holding the tan boy's hands and making a rush of feelings and emotions flow throughout his body.

We shouldn't be doing this, Kai hated his mind's rationality at the moment. He needs to help his people, not me.

Oh why can't I get what he's trying to say through my thick skull without any self-doubt.

Suddenly a new wave of insanity struck Kai. He heard himself scream and Quinston desperately asking what happened. Kai has the last thought to try and reassure his crush he would be fine before he totally blacked out.

It was quiet when Kai came to. There was no screaming or explosions in the distance, no night creatures or falling leaves to make the night seem alive. He opened his eyes to find himself in a tall, open room with a few other empty beds in it and a plant in the corner. He slowly swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"H-Hello...?" Kai called nervously. This certainly wasn't the Spero hideout, and if he wasn't there, then where was he? And what trouble was he going to get into for being here?

A door opened on the side of the room. Kai jumped as a man in a white collared shirt and a tie walked in, reading his clipboard intently. Kai froze.

Maybe if I don't move, he won't see me.

Unfortunately, that didn't work. The man happened to look up and made eye contact with the Spero.

"You're up," he noted. Kai stiffly waved.

The man sighed and chuckled. "Good, good. I'm sure you're confused as to where you are?"

Kai made a gesture with his hand. "I was just thinking about that, yes."

"You're in the Everston infirmary," the man stated. Kai stiffened.

I'm so screwed.

"You somehow managed to get possessed by a demone scuro in the woods. Although the effects on a Cipher are mostly unknown, on a Magiclica they're known to drive a person insane. You're lucky Mister O'Kouzlo found you when he did," the man continued. Kai was confused. I'm technically a Cipher though?

"Um, sir, I think you might be mistaken. I'm not a Magiclica..." Kai trailed off, knowing he was probably busted and about to be arrested and was going to live out the rest of his life in prison.

The man had an odd smirk on his face. "Are you sure? Because from all the readings we could get while you were out, it says you're a Magiclica," he said with a hint of humor. "That's why the demone scuro was causing you so much pain, correct? Luckily I know how to deal with them and was able to purge it from your body. You're... free now." The man winked before walking through a portal that just appeared and warping away.

Meanwhile, Kai was both shocked and shook. That man clearly knew what Kai really was. But he didn't call me out? Kai had a feeling Quinston had something to do with this. The thought of him made butterflies erupt in his stomach, much to his annoyance. He was also starving, so it really wasn't a great combination.

At the end of the bed was a table that conveniently had a maroon hoodie and a pair of basic jeans that were much more appropriate for going out than in a Spero uniform or anything else that was probably around here. Once Kai was changed he threw the old uniform in a trash can and hoped it was sent to the incinerator before leaving the infirmary and entering the main hall of Everston. He had only been here a few times, and never on any truthful intentions.

A bell rang throughout the school, and in a matter of seconds Kai was swarmed by kids his age in Everston uniforms leaving their classrooms and heading for the exit doors. It felt odd to be here without any wrong to do, surrounded by kids who were too busy trying to go home than to worry if this boy that wasn't dressed like them was actually a Spero.

Something tugged the back of Kai's mind. He glanced down to find his hand glowing four different colors: red, yellow, blue, and green- but not in a way he had ever seen before.

"What the-" he breathed and waved his hand around randomly. The tug at the back of his mind was stronger now, telling him to turn around and see wha my was behind him.

So Kai did, and somehow managed to meet the green eyes that made his heart go on overdrive.

Kai and Quinston stared at each other, before the brunette Magiclica pushed his way through the crowd and immediately threw his arms around the redhead.

"KAI! You're alright! I was so worried about you," Quinston breathed, gently cupping Kai's face with his smooth touch that brought fire to Kai's face.

"Q-Quinston, we're in public," the sky-eyed boy said with a laugh.

The green-eyed boy laughed." "Who cares? I'm just glad you're here, with me," he glanced down, a smile painted across his lips and a blush across his cheeks (as if Kai wasn't a red mess already.)

Kai was the first to break away. "What happened? I-I shouldn't be here, I'm going to get caught-"

Quinston hushed him. "It's alright. Mister Foley, one of the teachers here, he helped out on that night. He tried helping Melissa when the Spero were about to find her and he cured you. He knows everything, but he's going to keep it all a secret."

Kai blinked. "Everything? Are you sure that's a-"

"I doesn't matter anyway. You're not a Spero anymore, if you don't want to be. He got rid the the demone scuro that was conflicting with the White Stone. If that's the only thing that was keeping you, you can cut the ties, right here, right now." Quinston sounded so sure of everything like he always did. Maybe it was just a Magiclica thing, Kai thought, or it maybe it was something special that only Quinston possessed to make everything seem like it was going to be fine.

Kai took a deep breath. "You know, I think that's something I'd really like." He and Quinston shared a smile and a look, both thinking and feeling the same thing: that they were going to be okay and figure this out, together.

—————————

Word count: 2050

[phantastic-wolfies]

July 31st, 1996

Hey guys, this is just something I randomly thought of. I just wanted to try it out so here it is! It changes the ending of the overall Harry Potter book series but it’s fanfiction. And it’s supposed to be different.

Also, I know that July 31st, 1996 isn’t on a Saturday, but let’s pretend it’s on a Saturday. 

Harry x Draco

Today is the day of Harry Potter’s birthday. Today is also the day Harry agreed to date me. Today would also be the day of our third anniversary. Today is also precisely a year after something fucking shit happened to him. And today is the day that my hatred for Lucius Malfoy, my father, grows stronger. 

Exactly the same date last year, Harry and I were celebrating our second anniversary together as a couple. 

Third Person POV

It was an early autumn morning. The sky, slightly cloudy and gloomy like usual. Draco, with a small smile on his face, woke up from his deep slumber. He knew immediately why he was happier and chirpier than usual. His lover, Harry, would be spending the entire day with him. 

Draco climbed out of his warm green bedsheets and got dressed to go out to Hogsmeade. He planned for his birthday boy to celebrate his Breakfast and Lunch at Hogsmeade with him. 

Once he left the Slytherin common room, his palms began to sweat. His forehead creased in anxiousness, and his thoughts were wired with nerve-wracking thoughts about the day ahead. 

What if Harry doesn’t show up at the school entrance?

What if he doesn’t love me anymore?

Draco shook his head, he couldn’t let these thoughts stop him. 

As he waited for Harry to arrive, his fingers began to involuntarily twitch. Although Harry was only running two minutes late, Draco was already feeling somewhat sad. 

But finally, Harry arrived. His dark brown locks looked as though they had been run through by his fingers. His green eyes shimmered in the slither of sunlight that shone. His cheeks were tinted a slight pink from the autumnal winds. He looked beautiful in Draco’s eyes. But Draco would never admit that to anyone else but Harry.  

“Harry. You came” Draco said, relieved. 

“Of course, I’d never miss this day for anything” Harry replied before reaching down to hold Draco’s hand. 

The two strolled together, chatting and laughing before they finally reached Hogsmeade.

Hogsmeade looked absolutely fantastic in Autumn. The red, orange and yellow leaves dusted the cobblestone floor as if it was placed there intentionally. Draco pulled Harry towards the Three Broomsticks, the only place in Hogsmeade that they went to on every visit. 

Once they settled down, they ordered two butterbeers and a large English Breakfast to share. 

“Happy Birthday my love, I hope you enjoy this beautiful day,” Draco whispered to Harry. Harry blushed, his cheeks were tinted a darker shade of red than before. Harry was the only person in the entire world who saw Draco’s sweet and loving side. To the rest of the world, Draco was a cold hearted Slytherin who was a total jerk. 

Once they had finished their meal, they walked around Hogsmeade together. Hand in Hand. They visited the little stores and bought some sweets before finally buying the largest chocolate cake they could find. 

The two started walking back towards the school. Draco had told Harry that he had a surprise for him. 

Harry was so excited. His heart thumped like crazy, he still couldn’t believe Draco had planned such an amazing day so far.

Once they had reached the school, Draco immediately pulled Harry to the courtyard. From then on, they spent the afternoon flying on their broomsticks. They flew and raced each other for hours until finally, they fell together in a pile of autumn leaves.

“Draco, I don’t know how I can top this for your birthday next year. Today was absolutely amazing. Thank you. I love you,” Harry whispered to Draco. Draco looked up to Harry, seeing content, happiness and love in his eyes. Draco reached over and pecked Harry on the cheek. Harry turned away, smiling slightly, cheeks pink.

“You don’t have to top this for my birthday. Spending private time with you is all I could ever want. I love you too.” Draco whispered back.

They lied down together till the sun started to dust the sky in beautiful shades of pink and purple. Orange and Yellow. Red and Blue. The beauty of it all overwhelmed Harry and Draco. It made them feel at home, safe, loved.

Finally, the sun had set entirely. The sky was a bluey black. The evening turned chilly. The two kissed and said goodbye, only to meet that night at the Malfoy Mansion.

 Lucius Malfoy invited Harry and Draco over for dinner. The two dressed up smartly, looking pristine and proper. Then, they headed for the Malfoy mansion.

Harry was extremely nervous. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears. He could feel the adrenaline running through his veins. His palms sweat profusely. His eyebrows creased.  This was his first time meeting Lucius Malfoy. Not only is Lucius his enemy, but Lucius is also Draco’s intimidating father. And Harry only wanted to impress.

Once Harry and Draco arrived at the mansion, Draco’s house elves immediately invited them in. 

They started the night off with them, sitting down at the dinner table, enjoying a delicious meal. The roasted chicken, the tomato soup, the Greek salad, everything made Harry’s mouth water. 

Once they finished eating, they all moved to the living room to enjoy a chocolate frog cheesecake. 

But from then on out, Harry’s night turned upside down. He knew he shouldn’t have agreed to go to the Malfoy mansion. Draco might be a good person, but his father was renowned for being evil. 

What happened first was nothing. A simple yet urgent call that urged Narcissa to go across the house to answer. 

What happened after Narcissa left was intentional on Lucius’ part. obviously. 

“Draco, go get me a glass of wine from the cellar at the back of the house. There should be one bottle left of the Cabernet Sauvignon. That wine is delicious with chocolate”, Lucius asked sternly, looking at Draco with his gloomy grey eyes.

“Father, why can’t you get one of the house elves to get the bloody wine for you?”, Draco whined. 

“Because I trust YOU to get me the wine” Lucius replied, he glared at Draco, almost as if they were having a silent conversation. 

Draco quickly pecked Harry on the cheek before storming off to find his father the wine. 

“Now, Harry. I’ll just get straight to the point. I don’t like you. I don’t like my son dating you. Actually, I’m quite repulsed by you two. The son of a death eater, dating his arch nemesis, the famous POTTER? We both know Draco will become a death eater one day. And on that day, we’ll make sure he betrays your love. But, I’m feeling particularly nice today. So I’ll tell you the easy way to get out of this emotional mess. Break up with Draco”, Lucius told Harry. Harry was bewildered. 

“Sir, I will not break up with Draco even if it means I get heart broken in the near future. I love him too much.” Harry replied, reigning in his anger for Lucius. 

“Harry, you don’t get a choice in this matter. I prohibit you from seeing my son. I have eyes and ears absolutely everywhere. If you see my son after today, you will be kidnapped and tortured in front of Draco”.

Harry nodded his head numbly. His head drooped in sadness. He couldn’t allow himself to see Draco again. For he knew Draco would risk his life to save Harry. And Harry couldn’t, wouldn’t, allow that to happen. 

When Draco came back, Harry had already disappeared. Lucius only told Draco a destination to go to before midnight. 

Draco arrived at 11:45, on top of a hill looking towards the ocean. 

Harry was sitting at the edge, watching the moon and the stars glimmer in the sky. The dark blue ocean shimmered with sparkles that were reflected from the sky. 

“HARRY! Why did you want to meet me here?” Draco asked, his heart was blaring in his ears, his breath was frantic. 

Harry ran over to Draco, pulling him close to his chest.  “Draco.. I love you so much. You made my birthday the greatest day I’ve ever had. I love you so damn much”. Tears pooled in Harry’s green eyes.  “Harry... You’re scaring me. What’s wrong? What did my father say to you?” Draco asked quietly. Staring at Harry so intensely that Harry felt his heart break under Draco’s stare. 

“Nothing Draco. He did nothing” Harry replied quickly. Draco didn’t believe him. But he pulled Harry down to sit next to him anyways.  Harry, however, didn’t oblige. He walked backwards towards the edge of the cliff. 

“Draco, move on. I love you. Don’t be sad.”  And Harry tipped backwards, a hand on his heart and a face on his mind. 

Draco screamed. And cried. And punched the cliff. His head kept replaying Harry, tipping backwards into the waves that crashed onto the cliff. The image burned his soul. He felt his heart shattering every time the image rewound itself. 

He stayed on the cliff till dawn. Snape found Draco and brought him back to Hogwarts.

My heart aches every time I think about that day.  God how I wish I could kill my father.  Harry deserves justice. And he’ll get it. Soon. 

I’m kinda not happy with the ending... like the draco ending... 

[metatron-the-transformer]

Closer

Chapter 2: The Green-Eyed Monster

Read it on AO3

Cas disconnected, pulling a spreadsheet up on his monitor. Once the giddiness of his conversation with Dean ended he sighed and chided himself. It was a dangerous game he was playing. What if Dean didn’t feel the same way? What if he did? This hadn’t been thought through. Dean was the most important person in his life. He could lose his best friend. He sobered, thinking about it.

“Novak.” Adler thread his way through the open space, rheumy eyes zeroing in on Cas from a distance.

“Sir.” Cas palmed his headset off, standing so quickly that his chair shot back into the path of a woman walking the narrow hallway. Hannah.

Cas liked her because she was sweet and funny and told him that workplace romances were awful, yet helped him put that CD on Dean’s desk. When Hannah realized that he only had eyes for Dean, she became friendlier. Coming to his desk when she could have called. She laughed louder, smiler brighter and shouldered him gently when he said something funny. He had somehow freed her up to befriend him, but he wasn’t quite sure how. She caught the chair deftly, moving it back into the cubicle without missing a step. She breezed past giving him a secret smile. It was nice.

“Nice,” Adler sidled up next to him, watching Hannah’s retreat appreciatively. Her hips swayed when she walked. Adler wiggled his brows at the innuendo. “Am I right?”

He made a vaguely agreeable sound. Adler didn’t need to know that he wasn’t interested. At least not in the way his boss’ leer indicated. Looking up at him, Cas felt the sudden urge to wash his hands. Maybe a shower.

“Abaddon Knight needs you up in accounting.” Adler rolled his eyes, exasperated as if to say Women. What can you do? “She needs help with a time sheet, or a crash, or something or other. Hell, I don’t know. Just go up and make nice with her.”

“I’ll head up now,” he answered, a tad too eagerly. Normally he wouldn’t be in a rush to go see Abby. She was off putting and maybe even a little frightening, but he needed to get away from his desk, shake off the anxious energy that thoughts of Dean generated. He leaned over his desk, moving to shut off his monitor, but not before the screensaver blinked into life, a carousel of images drifting by. A grime-covered Dean grinning out from under the Impala’s hood at Bobby’s. Dean grinning around a forkful of pie, Dean beating the crap out of him at pool. His heart gave a pleasant lurch and he forgot all about the creepiness that was Mr. Adler. He pressed the button and the screen went black.

The elevator doors opened revealing Garth. Tall and lanky and the friendliest guy Cas had ever met. He was looking uncharacteristically fed up but brightened when he saw Cas step in.

“Dude, this place gets crazier everyday.”

“Hey, Garth. What’s up?”

“I was just down on four. Dean plowed into me on the way to the elevators.”

“Dean?” Cas shifted uncomfortably. “Was he okay?”

“If running red-faced through the halls and muttering to yourself counts as okay.”

“Where was he going?”

“I don’t know. To a fire? From a fire?” He rubbed at his bony shoulder, messaging it like it was the point of impact. Garth glanced at him, looked away. “I'm kind of hard to miss, you know?”

The doors opened, and Cas hesitated at the threshold before walking out. Dean was normally a pretty cool cucumber. Maybe he should stop by his floor, just to make sure everything was okay. A seed of worry sat in the pit of his stomach. The thought that maybe he’d made a misstep with his best friend caused it to grow. He’d go to him. Right after seeing Abby.

“Finally,” Abby said in greeting. She spun around in her chair in a reasonable imitation of an evil corporate nemesis. Her fingers were steepled under her chin, red lacquered nails flashing as they caught the light. He stepped into the office, looking around. He noticed that bits of her personality lay around the small cramped room. A polished stone mortar and pestle sat on a book shelf, a glass jar of what might have been fresh lavender displayed on the window sill. On the edge of her desk a crystal ball paperweight did nothing to dispel breakroom whispers that the woman had sacrificed a virgin to get her supervisor’s position.

She held his gaze, then seemed to remember herself and visibly softened, smiling tightly through blood red lips. “Thank you for coming up, Cas.”

Goosebumps prickled on his forearms. The temperature was noticeably colder in her office. A black leather jacket draped like a torso over the back of her Herman Miller chair. Studying her, she seemed not only unaffected by the chilly room, but a little heat-flushed. Cas fought an almost overwhelming urge to turn around and leave, but he stood his ground. She was just a weird supervisor. A weird, creepy, chills-down-your-spine supervisor. He swallowed, his throat clicking drily. He mentally pat himself on the back when his voice came out evenly.

“Not a problem.”

But was a problem. It was hard to corrupt a file by accident, yet Abby swore that she didn’t know how she did it. He spent the next fifteen minutes unraveling the Gordian knot of system errors that she caused and with apparently nothing else to do, she pulled up another chair and sat with Cas and talked. About everything, and everyone. Who was dating whom, who was breaking up with whom and who was apparently cheating on whom. He listened with only half an ear, wondering if she knew that supervisors weren’t supposed to be dishing the dirt.

“You’re lucky though, being…” she made a twirling finger motion at her temple. “You know.”

“No, I don’t.” Unfortunately, he was afraid he did, but he’d play her game. “Being what?”

“I just meant--well,” she arched one perfectly threaded eyebrow. “There’s just not many of your type around here.”

The room warmed, or maybe it was just him. “I’m gay, Abby. Not AB negative.”

“It’s too bad really,” she sighed, wrinkling her nose the way he imagined a demonic rabbit might. “You’re cute, in a sort of...deliberately sloppy way. It’s sweet.”

“Thank you.” Cas moved on to rebooting her laptop. He waited impatiently while the system thought about it. Abby leaned back in her chair, it creaked under the sound of her tuneless humming.

“Maybe it’s a gay thing,” she mused. “All the straight guys I know tend to be assholes.”

Cas bit down on the opinion that her problem might not be all the straight guys. Instead, he opted for “You have malware on this thing.” He tapped the keyboard through a series of executions while she shrugged noncommittally and stifled a yawn. He was ninety nine percent sure that she had no idea what malware was. She went on, as if repairing her computer problems was no longer her issue.

“Men are just so...crass.” Her tone changed, like thunder clouds gathering over a summer picnic. She directed a dark glare at him. “Like that Dean Winchester.”

“Dean?” The beginnings of a tic formed at the corner of his right eye at the sound of Dean’s name coming out of her mouth. He had made a mistake. He thought back to that moment when he hesitated at the elevator. No, better yet, the moment when Adler sent him to make this fool’s errand. He should be laughing with Dean over the CD prank, not sitting in Abby’s office, two seconds away from straddling her chair, placing his hands around her neck and throttling the life out of her.

“Do you know what he did today? He pranked called me. Here. At work. Asked me to--he asked me to do things to him.”

“That doesn’t sound like Dean.” he replied evenly.

“Oh, believe it.” she smiled, coyly swiping a lock of crimson hair out of her face. “You don’t know what he's like. Did you know that I actually dated him? It was before the promotion of course.”

Cas did know that Dean had dated Abby. He was reluctant to admit that it might have been part of the reason he disliked her so. But he also knew that he had no claim on the man. Still, he had commiserated with Dean, and watched while he spent three almost unbearable weeks trying to find a face-saving way to break it off with her after the first date. Dating Abby had turned out to be like making a deal with the devil. She made Fatal Attraction look like a romantic comedy.

“The man couldn't keep it in his pants. Ten minutes into our date he'd beg off saying that his friend was sick, or stranded or some nonsense,” Abby waved the idea away like a bad odor. “Friend my ass. A man like that has no friends, unless they’re friends with benefits. You should have seen the look on his face when he talked about her. I’ve never seen someone so...so...whipped. Whoever she was, he was ga-ga over her, the dumb lovestruck bastard.”

“That’s enough!” he boomed, voice filling the little room. On the window sill, a single lavender leaf jolted from its cluster, juddering to the bottom of the glass jar like a Plinko chip.

“Huh?” Abby looked up at him like it was the first time she was really seeing him.

“I mean,” he shut his eyes, bringing his breathing back under control. “I just meant that your laptop is ready.”

“You know,” she stared at him, tiny cold eyes, sizing him up. “What they say about you people is true. Straight women just open up to gay men. You’re like a...fag hag version of truth serum or something.” She flashed another grin at him, teeth shark-like. “You and I should hang out.”

He looked at his wrist to check the time. He wasn’t wearing a watch. He didn’t own a watch, but that detail seemed to have escaped him. “I need to get going. Please give I.T. a call if you have any more problems.”

He said that last part by rote. He walked out of the office without another word, hoping to Christ that she wouldn’t call him. He made his way back to the bank of elevators, pressing the down button. He paced the floor, thinking about all the times when Dean showed up at his doorstep, shell shocked and confessing that he had used Cas as an excuse to end one of his dates early. Thinking back, it seemed like every time Dean went out with Abby he found Dean standing at his door right after.

Anger, sadness, and fear roiled in thick bright colors in his mind’s eye. Layer upon layer a red, blue, black color palette of emotions swirled and churned, felt deep in his belly, rising and looking for a way out. With effort he calmed himself, breathing and sorting his feelings until he could identify the monstrous emotion they melded into. Another color. Green.

Jealousy.

He stalked over to the panel of buttons breathing heavily, finger jamming the button again.

“You should have seen the look on his face when he talked about her. I’ve never seen someone so...so...whipped. Whoever she was, he was ga-ga over her, the dumb lovestruck bastard.”

Abby didn’t know what she was talking about. There was no her.

“...he'd beg off saying that his friend was sick, or stranded or some nonsense…”

Who was this her?

“Friend my ass. A man like that has no friends, unless they’re friends with benefits.”

He stopped, chest heaving. Cas was dimly aware that he was standing there, finger poised over the down button, ready to kick the object’s illuminated little ass. Then like the wheels of a seldom-oiled machine, the rusted cog’s of Abby’s words jerked and clunked into place, the motion pulling what was so obvious into sudden, crystal clear focus. Oh my God.

Me. He’s ga-ga over me.

The elevator pinged. He heard the telltale rattle of the car reaching his floor, then a whoosh of the elevator doors opening. Peering into the recess of the elevator, he moved to step in.

Dean Winchester’s surprised green eyes blinked back at him. He was holding the CD, smiling sheepishly.

“What’s the word, Cas?”