#so I’m assuming the card history stays for some time and then they take the tip

[alolanrain]

More ash/Raihan hc’s bc I love them. (And also bc I’m hyper fixated on my CoD OC rn and feel a tad guilty)

\: HC

- : addition to above hc

\- !au: piggybacking off more into an au.

(Reminder that the Ash and Raihan I write are respectively usually around 20-22 and 24-24 following the rule if the anime had actually let Ash age through the regions)

\ while Raihan would be classified as a language and historical base learner, Ash is more arts and physical education. They balance each other out quite well for being opposites.

\ Ash surprisingly doesn’t get jealous easy, neither does Raihan a lot of the time-it only flares when people just won’t take the word No and leave each other be. That’s when emotions quickly rise and tempters flare.

\ when Ash is working on his plants around the house Raihan will try his best to do some paperwork in the kitchen or in the adjacent living room. The two could be on opposite sides of the spacious open room and still cherish the quite time spent with one other in blissful peace.

\ people naturally assume both would travel a lot in their down time, and they kind of do but not as much as people suspect. They take about one or two big trips during their lapsed downtimes between leagues but other than that Raihan and Ash tend to try and stay home. Content and satisfied with each others.

\ Raihan is more into online gaming because he grew up with electronics more than Ash ever did and constantly beats Ash but he can’t do card games for shit and Ash wipes his ass every time.

\-Ta!au: Rowan and Ingo invite Raihan to Sinnoh every once in a while after meeting the boy-he’s the closest thing Ash is ever going to get for a permanent relationship so their more outgoing to the galarian than the rest of the people Ash had brought home every once in a while—and try to teach him how to play cards behind Ash’s back. Raihan still utterly fails to wing against the Kantonian but he can now even beat Opal, Kabu, and Melony at cards.

\-Non-HOA!au: they host game night after finally settling into their new house and their neighbors hate it. Despite living in the end of the street on a much larger plot of land than the rest of them, Ash and Raihans house is loud from five in the evening to sometimes three in the morning over game night.

- both know this so they always try and score for a Friday or a weekend that works with all their friends than doing game night during the week. Sometimes it’s impossible and they elect to just skip game night but that tends to make the next time a bit more rowdy.

\ it just naturally came to be that Ash and Raihan tend to end up in the couch before going to bed every night. Sometimes Ash would be lying back while reading reports, his back sore but not killing him-yet, and Raihan would come and act like a weighted blanket. Basically purring in content as Ash rubs the shaved part of his head, his neck, and Raihans shoulders but never his actual hair.

- sometimes Raihan would get home early before Ash and would be found reading on his recliner with his old man glasses. Either a history book or one of poetry in his hands. This leads to Ash climbing up into Raihan and forcing the other to recline the chair back to comfortably fit each other in a small space. Raihan starts to read aloud what ever it is, knowing that his voice would end up soothing Ash and the Champion takes a brief nap before dinner.

- if it’s raining and Flygon doesn’t beg for their daily walk than Raihan tends to read in bed than his recliner in the living room. Reading silently, propped up by a few of the many extra pillows that fall off the bed every night, until Ash grumbled and wiggles out from what ever cocoon of warmth he wrapped himself into. Either propping himself up to lean against Raihans arm or still laying down but just pressing his head against Raihans hip/leg.

\ dates are simple and nothing really extravagant. Farmer markets are their favorite places, especially in the morning with the early sun despite both having a habit of wanting to stay inside. At least they can make the excuse that their going to grab groceries and terrorize Milo.

[carnelianwings]

Went to BCS Sacramento, did well on Day 1 (by my standards), and shockingly well on Day 2.

Tucking the rest behind the cut, I’m going to assume my opponents (especially from Day 2) aren’t here (because whoooooo boy I was seeing salt on Twitter due to how I got the wins - totally legal by the rules, it was just 95% luck 😅)

Day 1 was Standard, which is the usual format I play the most of these days (since we usually have enough for shop tournament), so with 435 people I just hoped for “going positive” and calling it a day. Which I did, with a 4-3 result on Lianorn. Highlights included hitting the full combo with the insane double Rosarium Fairy + Luster Impact + Magnolia Order, set up via Vivace Persona > Gun Cycler RC skill > Broccolly on place > draw into second Fairy. Also completely broke a Luticia player on Round 7 when they did Luticia Persona restand … when I had an absolutely massive hand to defend it all.

Day 2 though …

First opponent was clearly me just getting paired well over my head against a previous BCS Champion and Worlds player, so literally “Oh shit I just got paired into this absolute tryhard, one of the best players in the game, and all I can do is pray I built this Narukami deck well enough and to the luck gods I will see what I need to win.” I knew this because you can set banners for your BushiNavi profile, and this guy had the Worlds 2023 participant banner so basically I had a “… oh fuck I just got Round 1 paired into someone who’s the equivalent of a Top 100 player in Vanguard Zero”-moment.

But the funny thing about that situation is I’ve had that happen to me in Vanguard Zero before not once, but more like a dozen times, especially when I was grinding for a rank reward alt art I really liked (Starcall Trumpeter, Thing Saver, Percival, Altmile, and Blaster Blade Exceed seasons all come to mind) so I was like “Wait. I’ve done this before. And I’ve won before when it happened, by staying calm, remembering my plays, and having a bit of luck on my side. I can do this.”

So I did that. And oh boy did the luck come through - I take first, find my G3s for the Zorras History Collection Stride, boom, third check, Dragveda comes through. Push to 4, force out some PGs, double triple drive gives me the cards I need to survive the clap back, opponent leaves a G2 with Resist on the board (hoping to stop V-Chou-Oh restand). Reride Sweep Command, take my 3rd Accel II circle, throw down Meteor Flare to kill the Resist, retire it, Stride Exterminate for 6 attacks at +20k to front row for game.

Round 2 I lose to Granblue - that was a brickfest on my part, went 2nd, had to G Assist Turn 1 for a G1, couldn’t find a single Vanquisher for the Stunverse-Zorras double Stride play, ran out of Soul because I couldn’t find a reride, couldn’t do Exterminate or even just Stunverse. Which I freely accepted - it’s a risk I was taking by running only 8 G1 units in that deck, 1 of which is a 1-of Honoly.

Round 3, I somehow get paired into another more experienced player - I knew this, because this guy shows up, all business, zero small talk, no playmat, just sits down and sets up, 100% methodically. All he says before we start is “Yeah this deck has some ratio issues”, and all I say is “Yeah, mine does too” followed by a “good luck” right before we start the match (I consider it common courtesy just from my old chess club days). Turns out it’s Dimension Police, probably Dailiner, and I’m like sweating. Deck does 2 and only 2 things: make huge-ass Vanguard columns, and Sentinel crush. I’m Narukami. I can get the big hand, but I’m not necessarily built for dealing with that kind of offensive output. But I’m spared - opponent mega-bricks on Turn 1, rides the 6k Commander Laurel for G1, fails G-Assist on G2, gets wrecked by my Zorras Stride on Turn 3, he finds a G2 and Rides up but by that point it’s too late. Second Stride Exterminate, opponent defends with the -2 crit off a heal guard … except I drive check crit (goes to Esperaridea, I almost always throw it on him), blank, and … Dragveda. At which point it was game over because I throw power to Esperaridea, restand Exterminate, attack again for another triple drive. (Actually funny that round because my opponent was like “Wait Esperaridea restand is 1/Turn?” and I confirm it is, but on the inside I’m like “… it’s heavily used in Standard in Shiranui and basically in every P-Narukami deck but you didn’t know that while being this tryhard about this game?”)

Round 4 I get demolished by Bermuda Highlander … which I kind of expected to happen because while I get a lot of practice into it, I have a hard time building enough hand fast enough to deal with all the multi-attacks but at least I did kind of make my opponent work for it.

Round 5 I get matched against this mega salty (disrespectful) guy who just kept complaining about how he was stuck down here (X-2 bracket at this point) while his friends were at the tables higher up than him, wouldn’t stop complaining about it, and was like “I didn’t bring a Standard deck with me for side events so I can’t drop”. Then has the gall to say, after I defensive 6th damage OT (Dragveda bless you thank you for saving my ass) he was all “unless I see defensive OT I’m dead this turn, so I may as well flip the top card over and see” as I’m getting ready to discard for Exterminate Stride and I tell him he can if he wants to but we can’t continue after if he does. He flips heal, followed by OT, flips them both back over and says “let’s play it out” and I refuse (was about to call a judge on this guy too).

This is why I refuse to give up until 6th damage hits damage zone, because had he flipped heal-OT I would’ve lost on the following turn (I just didn’t have the hand for it). I’ve also pulled heal-OT (or vice versa) at locals twice before (hilariously against the same player both times - he still remembers it 😂) so I know while it’s unlikely it’s possible, especially with a deck that can compress (like Granblue).

Round 6, I got the default win after my opponent no showed (I got confirmation my opponent dropped after pairings went up, so I can only assume my opponent was friends with someone else I’d played earlier that day and knew they were getting paired into a very lucky Narukami player and didn’t want to play it out).

Round 7 was actually the most back and forth match I had all day, Chaos-Messiah, actually went “… oh shit” internally after I won dice roll and chose first. Opponent survived double Exterminate, went into Integral Messiah to force me to shuffle hand back into deck (hilariously enough I think that ended up helping me in the long run), but passed turn on a board. I’d managed to get a Stride crit back into hand off the draw 5 (along with 2 heal guards and Dragveda), so I Stunversed him to recover some hand. Survived the next turn (Dragveda saved my ass again as a 50k shield), went into V Max despite having only 1 CB for game despite having GB8 already at the start of the turn - I didn’t want to go into GB8 because that would’ve meant Binding both of my Esperarideas on the board (and they’d been putting in work forcing my opponent to guard and giving me 5 attacks/turn). I had to scramble all of my knowledge from playing against our Chaos Breaker main at locals (a match up I’m 0-2 against, because I kept decking out against it) to keep up with my opponent, and in the end he decked himself out when I managed to land a hit when he had just 2 cards left in deck. Most stressful game all day, and my opponent making me shuffle back my encyclopedia of a hand with Integral Messiah actually made it so I’d have more cards than him in deck.

Then I learned X-2 had a shot at Top 16 and I was like “Uhhhh what????” but I ended up bubbling out on tie breakers and didn’t make it - not that it mattered because, uhhhh holy shit??????? 5-2 at my first solo tournament??? When the last time I played this deck I had a personal 2-5 for BSF Ontario TriReg??? At the format that has the highest burden of knowledge for card interactions and pool?????? And all I had to go off of was just … whatever I remembered from the anime, from playing Vanguard Zero (which changed some card effects) and whatever I got to see at my very small locals???

Also my favorite “spice tech from Standard” Meteor Flare keeps coming up - the +10k for no opponent rear guards comes up absurdly often (most people just try to clear board to avoid letting me bind their stuff) and the Continuous ability deny actually came up today. I’d originally put it in when Bushi changed how Resist worked, so I teched in 2 copies just so I could shut off Resist because it’s typically a Continuous ability the rear guard grants itself.

All in all, a rather fun experience, made a new friend, said we’d meet up again at Pasadena. Said friend was like “Damn you’ve inspired me to play Premium now” when he learned this was my first solo tournament after doing BSF Ontario with 2 others from my locals. Also actually felt validated in that deck choice and that “Yeah, I really can do this as a player making the jump from Vanguard Zero to physical TCG and the skills I learned from Zero are still relevant and valuable.”

Also as for winning off OT not once, but twice? It’s a card in the game that you can only run one of, if you see it great, if you don’t, well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. I do find it kind of amusing both times it was against a Star/Brandt Gate deck, because I know if it had been the other way around they would’ve been like “Welp sucks to be you” because Eldobreath is just as good as Dragveda for how easily it can just win you the game right then and there, and is largely considered to be one of the two best OTs in the game (the other being, of course, Dragveda). Card games in general, whether it’s a TCG like Vanguard or a regular card game like poker or blackjack, have always had an element of chance involved, and part of that has always been risk assessment. If I have the means to guard a Vanguard drive check and I choose not to, I (personally) accept that if the consequence is my opponent sees their “I Win” button, and I lose because they flipped it, then the fault lies not with my opponent, but myself. And that, in my opinion, is a skill, and I think it’s a skill lot of people don’t realize is a part of the game.

[dancingdanvers1]

“Yeah? I’m glad you find it interesting. I could teach you lots of things, Asher. I’m not calling myself especially bright but I have my specialist subjects.” Though a second later she laughed softly. “Though city histories isn’t normally one of them, this time I just got lucky.” As his smile disappears her own stays perfectly fixed on her lips, eyes sparkling with confidence, what he needed clearly was someone to drive the interaction. After all if it had been up to him it would have ended as soon as she’d swiped her card for the Diet Coke that now sat slowly dripping condensation in between the two of them on the counter. 

“Taking a spill in the surf? Is that like surfer lingo for falling off the board, because if it is, I’m into it.” That beach bum life was a whole different world to her, sure she loved to lie out in the sun but mostly by the pool. The beach had far too much sand for it’s own good, sand ended up in places you didn’t want it, that hardly made for a relaxing afternoon. Plus it wreaked havoc on her hair making it sixty different shades of tangled. Even her best conditioner in conjunction with a tangle teaser wouldn’t narrow down the time she had to spend on getting it back to its shiny tresses. “Hey, it’s more than I’ve ever managed to do. Well it’s more than I’ve ever tried actually. So you’re on a winning streak.” She beamed, finger running up the side of the can intercepting a water droplet that was coming from the rim. 

“You want to see some photos of me doing it? I can guarantee you they’ll be better than anything you’ve come across on a random instagram feed.” Ballet was one of her favourite subjects and since it was safe to assume Asher had no idea about her current controversy, she was free to show off her passion without judgment. “Something like that, it’s like when the magic of the dancing takes over, any pain just melts away. It’s only when you stop that you realise just how much damage it’s doing.” Turning her phone screen towards him she flipped through a couple of photos, one, and then another. “Steele yourself, the next one is of my feet after a show once.” Sloane murmured before finally landing on a third. 

Asher can appreciate the way Sloane answers his question. Rather than tease him for something that is considered simple knowledge, and now he's learned a bit of L.A. history. Interesting considering he lived there for a few months and yeah, he saw the Hollywood sign in the distance. He just thought of it to be something different. Like how Scottsdale is near Phoenix, but it isn't the city. "That's… really interesting though." His chuckle is a nervous one, but she at least makes him feel comfortable with her smile. Then there is an implication to what Sloane then says causes him to look at her curiously while trying to decipher it, and what she may be getting at, it sweeps his smile away.

Fortunately, she moves onto the next topic with ease, allowing Asher the relief of not having to ask. He can just wonder, and he is quite content with that. It's better than making an ass out of himself by assuming and asking, only to be fiercely reminded that his imagination has run too wild - as it oftentimes does. "That's a very generous way of looking at it. Guess I can understand what you mean - but hey, I have caught a few waves without taking a spill in the surf. Can count the number of them on one hand, but sometimes falling is the best part." With the rush of seafoam brushing by overhead, and the salt water pushed into his nose and burning his eyes, it is all more exhilarating than skating on land.

"On pointe! Okay, that's what it's called! But, uh… yeah. You see pictures on social media. Looks like a lot of hurt to go through for something. I guess if you love it, you grit your teeth and push through it?" Like he's scraped his knees and palms on the asphalt falling off his board. @dancingdanvers

[everafterfics]

Your World or Mine [Part 4] [Viktor x Reader]

I finally finished another update! Theres only one more part left so stay tuned.

Synopsis: You get accidentally teleported to Piltover from Earth. The Hextech scientists try their best to get you back home.

Warnings: None

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 5]

You awoke the next morning in a sour mood. Jayce was unfortunately right that there was much to consider about staying in Piltover. You didn’t know about the city’s history, what the financial system was, how you would even live here on your own. Right now you were living off the generosity of Jayce and Viktor, but if you decided to stay you couldn’t in good conscious continue to do that. 

You picked yourself up and got dressed for the day. If you wanted to make a more informed decision you’d have to do some research of your own. So when you went to the lab you approached Sky. 

“Morning Sky.”

“Good morning y/n.” She replied with a smile.

“This place a has a library right?” You asked.

“Mhmm. Would you like me to show it to you?” 

“If you have time I’d love that.” You smiled in reply. 

“Of course. If you give me a few minutes I’ll be able to take you.” 

“Thank you so much Sky.” You said as she made her way over to Jayce, presumably to tell him where she was headed.

“Miss Y/N, would you come here for a moment?” Viktor said from across the room, catching you off guard. You had assumed that he would still be afraid to speak to you after yesterday. Perhaps Jayce had spoken with him last night and cleared the air. Whatever happened you were glad that things weren’t going to be awkward between the two of you.

“You’re going to the library?” He asked once you had reached his desk.

“Yeah. I want to do some research on Piltover, to learn more about the city while I’m here.” You explained.

“Ah I see. I did not take you for an academic.” He admitted.

You didn’t take offense at his comment. “I do enjoy learning, just not for the sake of grades. I did go to college you know.” 

“Right, you mentioned that briefly.” Viktor got up and walked to a bag nearby. He shuffled through it for a moment before pulling out a card. When he returned to your side he held it out to you. “Here, take my library card. That way if you don’t finish your research you can take the books back to your room with you.”

You took the small piece of plastic from his hand. “Thank you. I’ll make sure to keep it safe.”

Viktor smiled in response and sat back down at his desk to resume his work.

“Y/N? Are you ready to go?” Sky asked X she approached you.

“Yeah.” You responded. 

Sky led you from the lab and to the overwhelmingly large library that the academy housed. The vaulted ceiling allowed for towering bookcases to hold hundreds of books. You could even see a secondary floor attached via a balcony along the back end of the room. You gulped at the sight of everything. You had no idea just how enormous the place would be.

“Where were you looking to start?” Sky broke you from your trance like stare.

“Oh! I was looking for Piltover history.” 

“I believe that’s this way.” Sky began to lead you to the back of the library, but spared no time making conversation with you. She gave you a soft smile and asked, “You took what Jayce said last night to heart huh?”

���Yeah. He did make me realize that I don’t know all that much about this world. That’s why I want to learn more. So when the time does come, and I have a choice to stay or not, I can make an informed decision.”

“That’s a smart move.” Sky admitted. She rounded the corner down an aisle of books and began to scan the titles. She pulled one out. It was thick and worn, many students must have used it before you. “This is the textbook that the academies history classes use. It should be of a lot of help. This whole row has histories from all over Runeterra as well so there should be plenty to read.” 

You took the heavy book from Sky and looked around for a moment. Once you saw a table at the end of the aisle you knew where you’d be spending the rest of the morning. “Thank you for your help. I’m probably going to spend the rest of the morning here. Or check out a couple of books to bring back to my room. Either way I don’t think I’ll be going back to the lab very soon, so give the boys my regards.”

“You’re going to check them out? Would you like to borrow my library card?.” Sky cocked her head curiously.

“Oh Viktor is letting me borrow his, thanks though.” You noticed Sky’s smile waver for a moment but decided not to mention it.

“Oh. Well good luck with your studies. I hope everything goes well.” Sky departed soon after saying her farewell. You could tell something was bothering her and you had a sinking feeling in your stomach. Was she jealous of the attention you were getting from Viktor?

Setting that thought aside for now, you sat down at the table at the end of the aisle and opened the large book to its first page. You didn’t plan to read the whole thing, just skim the pages and actually read what seemed like major historical points. The morning sun quickly moved overhead, and when your stomach insisted it was time for lunch you had barely made it even a quarter way through the large book.

You closed the textbook with a sigh and stretched out your back. ‘Maybe it’s time to check this out and do the rest of my research in my room after lunch.’ You thought to yourself. As if agreeing with your own mind, you nodded. Though there were a couple more books you wanted to find before leaving the library.

You looked carefully up the history aisle for anything that may involve the Undercity. You did assume the large textbook would have something about it, but having its own text would be more comprehensive. Unfortunately there was only a small, flimsy book on the Undercity. You debated if it would even have any worthwhile information in it. Ultimately you decided to grab it anyway.

The next book you wanted to find was for your own personal project. You had an idea for Viktors portrait, but it required additional information that you didn’t have. “Excuse me?” You approached a librarian to ask where to go.

“Yes dear?” Her older voice was sweet to your ears, much akin to how your grandmother might have spoken to you.

“Could you point me in the direction of books on flower languages?”

“Flower languages? I haven’t heard of anybody interested in that in quite some time.” She gave a soft chuckle alongside a warm smile, “Do you have someone special that you need it for?”

“It’s for a project actually, well more of a thank you gift I suppose. I’d like to add flowers to a portrait I’m drawing but I want to make sure they mean something.” You admit to her.

She nods in understanding. “Follow me this way dear. I’ll show you where to look.”

There were a surprising amount of books on the subject. Before picking any out you quickly thank the elder librarian. She gave you a quick smile in return before heading back to her own daily tasks. 

You skimmed through a couple of books until you found some flowers that you wanted to use. Having finally collected all of the books you wanted to borrow, you headed towards the front of the library to check them out.

You placed the books down with a loud thunk! The librarian at the main desk looked up at you with an aggravated gaze. She was much younger than the elder woman from earlier and her demeanor was much colder. She placed aside the book she was reading and sighed. “Checking the books back in or checking them out?”

“C-checking them out…ma’am.” You didn’t know why you added the ma’am onto the end, but the narrowing of the librarians eyes made it clear that it was the wrong decision.

She took the book from the top of the pile and opened it. She then removed a small card from the front pocket of the book. Her cold eyes met yours once again, “Library card?” 

“Oh! Right.” You pulled out Viktors card and handed it to her. She scanned it for a moment.

Her eyes flitted between you and the card. “You’re Viktor?” She asked with a judgmental bitterness to her voice.

“He’s letting me borrow his card while I’m visiting.” You never realized that checking books out could be this stressful. The librarian looked at you for a moment before humming in disapproval. Nevertheless, she wrote Viktors name down on the card of the book before placing it aside to file later. She then stamped a return date onto the pocket of the book. She did the same with each of your other books before pushing them back towards you.

“Have them back by the date on the pocket. Have a nice day.” Her sentiment did not have the same tone behind it that you’d have expected. Still, you smiled at her and retrieved your pile of books before turning to leave.

You stopped briefly at your room to drop off the books before heading to the lab to see if anybody wanted to join you for lunch. When you entered, everyone was hard at work as expected. Jayce was alone at his desk and Sky was hovering over Viktors shoulder. You suddenly recalled how Sky seemed bothered earlier. You took a moment to really observe her… how closely she leaned when Viktor asked for her assistance… the warm smile she wore when he thanked her… Yup, she was definitely crushing on him. And judging by the slight twinge in your stomach you may have been a bit jealous of her.

“Y/N! How’s the research going?” Jayce asked when he noticed your presence. His voice immediately drawing your attention away from the feeling in your gut.

“Its getting there. I thought it might be time for a lunch break though.” You said as you stepped closer to him.

He stretched out his back and gave a long sigh of relief. “Yeah, it is about that time isn’t it?” Jayce stood and walked over to Viktor, you followed like a lost puppy. He placed a hand on his partners shoulder, the sudden contact causing him to flinch in surprise. “Hey Viktor, wanna break for lunch?”

Viktor opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when he saw you beside Jayce. He released a small breath and spoke, “Perhaps some food would do me good.” 

Jayce patted his partner on the back. “Alright! Sky you want to come too?”

“Sure.” She nodded. She glanced towards you and you averted your eyes from her.

On your way to the academies cafeteria Viktor walked beside you, while Sky strolled with Jayce ahead of you. You noticed her look over her shoulder a couple of times while you walked.

“Oh! Here’s your library card back.” You pulled out the small plastic card and handed it to Viktor.

“Ah right. Thank you. You found everything you needed then?” He replied.

“Mostly. I was hoping for a bit more information on the Undercity, but there really wasn’t much there.” 

Viktor pursed his lips for a moment. “No there wouldn’t be much.” He sighed. “Piltover does not exactly like to indulge in anything about the Undercity. If you’re curious though I could answer questions for you.”

“Really?” Your eyes lit up at his offer. “I mean, I’ll finish the books I have first to see what questions I might have.”

“Of course.” He smiled at you.

The four of you arrived at the Academy dining hall and sat down at a table with the food you’d picked out. 

“It’s good to have you leave the lab for once.” Jayce said with a joking tone towards his partner.

“Yes, well a bit of nutrients will be good for my brain. Although you need it more than I do.” Viktor shot back without a second thought. You snorted with laughter, it was short and quick but Viktor still cracked a smile at the corner of his lips.

“Oh ha ha.” Jayce replied sarcastically. “I’m just as smart as you Viktor. Or did you forget that we are partners and not rivals?”

“What is a little rivalry if not a proper motivator for innovation?” Viktor smirked at his partner, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

“Boys, boys, you’re both pretty.” You quoted a movie from your world but forgot that they wouldn’t get the reference, as evidenced by the blush on both Viktor and Jayces faces and the dumbstruck look they were giving you. You glanced at Sky to see her shocked face as well and a wave of embarrassment hit you. “Sorry! That was a quote from a movie! It was meant to be like a joke in a way… anyway…” Jayce and Viktor gave each other a confused look while you took a bite of the sandwich in front of you.

Jayce cleared his throat. “So, how was the library?”

“You asked me that already.” You lightly laughed. “I did get the books I needed for my research on Piltover though. But there was this one librarian at the checkout counter that was…”

“Rude?” Viktor finished your thought.

“Yeah. Is she always like that?”

“Eh, yes most of the time she is. I would not take it personally. I believe she just hates being torn away from whatever she is reading.” 

“You can relate I’m sure.” Jayce muttered. Viktor promptly shoved his elbow into Jayces side.

The rest of lunch went on like that. Viktor and Jayce making small remarks to rile each other up, all in good fun of course, and you and Sky watching on and occasionally chiming in. Eventually you parted ways until dinner, ready to get back to your research.

Life went on like that for a few weeks. Researching Piltover, working on the portrait for Viktor, breaking for meals. Your life on Runeterra was becoming routine, but unlike your routine on Earth, you didn’t mind. Your research was fruitful and you felt like you were close to making a decision on whether or not to stay and what that would mean for your future. Not long after you felt comfortable in your choice, the time came where your portrait for Viktor was completed. If only your nerves didn’t keep you from actually presenting it to him. 

You paced your room desperately attempting to work up the courage to go to the lab and present your gift. Surely at this hour Viktor would be alone. It would be the perfect time…

You slammed your hands onto your desk on either side of the portrait. Air filled your lungs as you took a very deep breath. “Alright!” You psyched yourself up and picked up the picture. It was no larger than your sketchbook, but was not lacking in fine details. Each flower was intricately drawn and shaded around the carefully observed illustration of Viktor. His visage was hopeful, an expression you wished he would have more often. Littered through the flowers were small cogs and nuts, a small touch that you thought was a perfect way to represent his engineering. For being so out of practice with your artwork you couldn’t help but feel proud of what you’d drawn. You held the portrait close to your chest and closed your eyes for a moment. “I hope he likes it” You whispered a small prayer to yourself. 

The closer you got to the lab, the louder your heart beat in your chest. Was this how Viktor felt before he gave you that cat plush? You can’t imagine someone like him would ever feel so scared to give a simple gift. You reached the doors to the lab. How long did you stand there… waiting… hoping something would force you inside? You could hear Viktor inside, perhaps pacing the room. The sound of his crutch against the floor echoed even outside the door.

Finally you let out the breath that you didn’t realize you were holding. You squeezed your eyes tightly and pushed through the doors. “Viktor!” You didn’t mean to shout out his name but it came out that way. You were right about him pacing and he stopped dead at the sound of your voice.

“Y/N? Is something wrong?” Viktor started to walk towards you but you held a hand up to stop him.

“No, nothing is wrong. But I have something I want to share with you… well, give to you.” You walked up to Viktor and held out the portrait with shaking hands.

“What’s this?” Viktor blinked in surprise before taking the paper from you. He scanned over the image in his hands, taking in every pencil stroke. 

“I wanted to thank you for everything. I don’t have any money so I couldn’t exactly buy you anything, so I thought I’d make you something instead. You don’t have to accept it if you don’t want to, or even say that you like it-“

“Y/N, this is- it’s just-“ Viktor cut you off but he was finding it hard to find the correct words. “I’ve never had someone draw me before. Do these flowers mean something specific?”

You nervously rubbed at the back of your neck. A deep blush rose on your cheeks. “Y-yeah. I looked up different flower meanings so the portrait was more… personal. This one here is Coriander, it stands for hidden worth. Those there are Lotuses, they stand for enlightenment. And those flowers in the back are red Carnations…they mean “My Heart Aches”” Viktor looked at you through sad eyes at the mention of the last flower. “I’m sorry about that last one, it’s just… I haven’t stopped thinking about your illness. It hurts my heart to know that there’s nothing that can be done to help you. I sincerely wish I could do something!”

Viktor let his crutch fall to the floor and embraced you in a tight hug, but was careful not to damage his portrait. “There’s nothing to be sorry about. I appreciate all of the thought and work that you put into this portrait. I will cherish it always.”

The sudden contact left you in awe. It took a moment before you even reacted. “I-I’m glad you like it!” You managed to stutter out.

You started to move your arms, but Viktor released you before you got the chance to hug him back. He looked at you for a moment, studying your features, maybe even taking in your reaction, it was hard for you to tell. You cracked a smile and quickly bent down to retrieve his crutch. He gently took it from you, letting his hands linger on yours. His eyes met yours with such a soft and tender look that your heart skipped a beat. “Y/N…” Viktor started to speak but you pulled away and cut him off.

“I’m glad you like the gift but I’m a bit tired. I should probably go back to my room now.” You blurted out and quickly made your way to the door. “Don’t stay up too late!” 

Your feet carried you as fast as they could back to your room, while you silently scolded yourself for running away. Once back you slammed your door behind you and begrudgingly sulked over to your bed. You let yourself fall onto it, burying your face in the pillows. “I’m so stupid! He was about to say something and I panicked! What is wrong with me?!” You rolled onto your side and sighed letting yourself drift off to sleep.

You were awoken the next morning by a banging on your door. It was loud, almost panicked. Groggily you crawled out of bed. “Just a minute!” You called out. That seemed to hush the banging and gave you time to throw some semblance of proper clothing on.

You opened the door and standing in front of you was Jayce. He looked wrought with worry. “Y/N, gather your things and meet me in the lab. We finished the portal. It’s time to get you home.” Jayce didn’t give you any time to respond before he left. Something was definitely wrong. 

You started packing your belongings back into your purse. You placed the plush Viktor had gotten you in last letting it’s little head stick out of the top. You looked at your wardrobe and stopped for a moment. ‘Why did it seem like Jayce wasn’t giving me a choice?’ You thought to yourself. He had told you that you’d have the choice to stay or not, you even spent the time learning about Piltover and the Undercity. You were prepared to make a decision, yet Jayce was telling you to pack your things to leave. ‘Why would he change his mind? Did you do something wrong?’ You opted to leave your clothes in the wardrobe and left for the lab with only your purse in hand.

You pushed your way through the doors to the lab. The loud sound of the doors hitting the walls with an unintentional amount of force captured Jayce and Viktors attention. “You’re not taking your clothes with you?” Jayce asked when he saw you pretty much empty handed.

“I thought we would discuss what’s going on before I made any decisions.” You responded.

Jayce hesitated for a moment. He made his way over to you and led you back towards his desk and prompted you to sit down.  “Y/N, I know I promised that I wouldn’t force your decision.” He took a long breath before continuing. “But things are getting hostile here. There was a large attack on an incoming shipment into the city. The council thinks we may be heading for something even worse. I can’t in good conscience let you stay.”

You stared at him for a moment. Then you turned towards Viktor for some form of reassurance. He simply turned away from your gaze. It felt like a dagger to your heart.

You shot up from your seat. “You cant be serious?! Really? Neither of you want me to stay?” Your voice cracked with the rising emotions within you.

“It is for your own safety. Please, Miss Y/N, don’t make this more difficult than it already is.” Viktor spoke up, but he still refused to look at you.

Your breathing began to hasten and tears welled at the edge of your eyes. Jayce placed a hand on your shoulder to steady you. “We’ve tested the portal and it is safe. All we need is a strand of your hair to lock on to your sister.” 

You shoved away from him and took a couple of steps before stopping. “So thats it? No discussion? No input of my feelings about all of this?” You didn’t look at either of them, you only hoped that they would say something. Unfortunately no words came from either man. “Fine.” You sniffled. You grabbed a strand of your hair and pulled on it, wincing at the pain. Then you turned towards Jayce and held it out to him. “Here’s your DNA sample. Lets get this over with.”

Jayce placed the hair into a compartment on the portal gun and placed a Hexgem into it. The gun sparked to life with glowing runes. Jayce pulled the trigger and a beam on light shot out, opening a portal in front of him.

You stood in front of the portal, gazing into it, hoping that either one of them would tell you to stay. No such luck it would seem. You took a step forward.

“Wait!” You heard Viktor shout. Your breath shuttered and you silently thanked a higher power that he said something. Viktor was soon by your side, closer than you’d anticipated when you turned to face him. He let go of his crutch and much like the night before, embraced you in a warm hug. “I am sorry about all of this. I wish you didn’t have to leave in this way, but understand it is because we care about you.” 

Tears fell from your eyes, “That doesn’t make this any easier.” 

“I know.” He muttered to you.

“Viktor?” You whispered.

“Hm?” He pulled away only to gaze softly at you.

“What were you going to say to me last night?” Your conversation remained hushed, away from Jayces prying ears.

Viktor hesitated for a moment before speaking. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Oh.” Your disappointment made Viktor frown. “You’re not mad at me right? For running away that is?”

Viktor shook his head. “Of course not.”

You sighed in relief. You placed a hand on Viktors arm and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Stay safe Viktor.”

He nodded back at you. “I will.”

With that final sentiment you took another step towards the portal. “Oh! And Jayce, you stay safe too.” You almost forgot to wish him well. “I’ll miss you both, and Sky too. Tell her I said goodbye!” You rushed through the portal before either of them could say anything else.

Your sister screamed when you exited the other side of the portal into your shared apartment. “You’re alive!” She exclaimed.

“Of course Im alive! You thought I was dead?!” You rebutted as the portal closed behind you.

“You have been missing for like a month! The cops couldn’t find you anywhere and nobody knew what happened. We all expected the worst. Where were you? What was that portal you stepped out of?” Her statements were of concern but she still sounded angry with you.

“Its kind of a long story.” You slowly made your way toward your bedroom. “I kind of need to rest first though. I’ll tell you later.” You ducked inside of your room and locked the door behind you. Your sister didn’t let up at yelling at you through the door. You tried your best to ignore her as you threw your purse onto your bed before flopping down on it yourself, thankful that she didn’t get rid of any of your things despite you being missing for over a month.

You buried your head into your pillows as began to cry. ‘How could they just make me leave like that? I wanted to stay!’ You sniffled and looked to your purse. The cat plush stared back at you, a reminder of your time in Piltover and of Viktor. You took your purse and pulled out the plush, but something else fell out with it.

You gasped when you saw it… another portal gun! Viktor must have slipped it into your bag before you left. Your excitement was short lived when you realized that you’d need a hexgem and some DNA in order to get it to work. ‘Viktor wouldn’t just slip this into my bag with no way to use it’ you thought as you shook your head in hopes to make sense of everything.

You dumped your purse upside down onto the bed. Sure enough the small blue Hexgem you needed fell out and rolled until it hit a folded up piece of paper. You picked up both and unfolded the small note. The handwriting was hard to decipher at first, it was quickly scribbled and messy. 

Y/N,

I knew something like this would happen and I am sorry that you are being forced to leave. I made an extra portal device so that you can return in the future, it has been preloaded with a strand of my hair as the DNA lock.

Please don’t be angry with either of us, we just want you to be safe. For this reason I beg you to wait a while before returning. Hopefully the danger Jayce believes the Undercity poses will be worked out and under control quickly.

I look forward to seeing you again,

Viktor

You couldn’t help the tears from streaming down your face as you read the note. Hope welled in your chest that you would see him again. That you could return to Piltover. All you had to do now was be patient, but for how long was the question.

[The Portrait of Viktor]

[bts-sierra]

Stupid Mistake

Jungkook x Reader

Requested: Prompt #17 "Look at me"

Genre: [mostly] Angst, Fluff

Word Count: 1.4k

Masterlist

Requests are open | Please refer to my Prompt List

You scurry past the crowd of students, heading straight back to your apartment, just in time for lunch.

Usually, you’re welcomed by Jungkook walking around, munching down a bowl of cereal for lunch or, a half asleep Jungkook on the couch while Netflix continues to play on the TV. However, this afternoon, you found yourself in an empty apartment.

After devouring a wrap, you grab your laptop and begin working on your assignments, unknown motivation driving you to stay on top of your classes for once.

Soon the sun began to set, and it sucked that the only person you liked hanging out with was MIA, especially when you wanted to take a break.

“Hey, want to grab dinner?” you text him.

An hour later and still no response. You hated prying and so you order in some pizza, enough for the both of you just in case he wanted some too.

You hear a noise at the door; assuming it was the delivery, you rush over with your card. Instead, the door opens before you and you’re met with a disheveled Jungkook. He smelled like sweat and perfume, residual lipstick stains his mouth down to his collarbone.

He was always a sight for sore eyes unlike in this moment. Your expression fell as you brought yourself to look at him. He forces a faint smile as he pushes past you to the bathroom.

You shouldn’t care, this wasn’t the first time he returned home from another girl. Except, this was the first time in a long time, and you couldn’t help the way you felt.

Later that evening, he’s in the kitchen, hovering in front of the fridge looking for dinner options. Your sense of familiarity kicks in when your attention shifts to his tousled hair, still wet, and the smell of fresh laundry detergent.

“I ordered some pizza if you’d like some,” you offer as you shove the box across the coffee table.

“I’m good, thanks. Just going to go get some sleep.”

He shuts the fridge door and makes his way back to his room. You wait for the door to click shut behind him before you burry your face in the blanket, trying to calm your racing mind as the TV continues to play an episode of your favorite show.

Next morning, you awaken on the couch to a soundless Jungkook putting on his shoes. You prop yourself up, making your way over to the bathroom.

“Hey, did you manage to eat something?” you stop to check in on him.

“Yeah, you don’t really have to worry about me.”

Ouch. You always worried about him though. The door falls shut, and he’s disappeared off to God knows where yet again.

You drag yourself to get ready for the day, attempting to look the slightest bit put together.

The rest of the week passes by with minimal interaction between you both. You didn’t intend to actively avoid him, but you couldn’t help it when all you could think about was the way he looked at you that evening; like he felt sorry for you.

You decide to call it a day, packing your bag before heading out of the library. On your way out, you bump into the cute guy from the bar, who was also Jungkook’s project partner from Art History, you recall.

The guy could hold a pleasant conversation; you’ll give him that. And from what you can remember of last weekend, he was also a decent kisser.

“Any plans later tonight?”

“Uh, not really. I’m worn out from what a busy week it’s been trying to catch up on homework so I’m probably going to stay in,” you reply.

He leans into you, his face way too close to yours. “You could come out. Come on, it’ll be fun, I promise. I’ll make sure it was better than the last time,” he whispers.

Fuck boys. You hated when they’d play these stupid games. They make out with you once and think they’re entitled to you.

You step away, trying to create some distance. You were uncomfortable around most guys that weren’t Jungkook. And just like that, you’re suddenly reminded of the way Jungkook’s hand dug into your hip that night, but you didn’t think too much of it in your drunken state. The girl that had her gaze set on Jungkook was the only vivid image from that night before you were too many shots in.

You snap back to reality when he takes a step closer. Your eyes glance past him, hoping for a way to make it out of this situation. That’s when you catch sight of Jungkook, the boy who always makes your heart jackhammer; he was your very own Lola bunny. But you would do everything to bury your feelings if that meant you got to keep him as your best friend.

He was making his way over to you with a cup of coffee in his hands, his smile slowly falling as he takes notice of the guy positioned in front of you.

He continues to make his way over, thrusting the cup of tea in your hand, letting his own linger over it still. The coffee was still warm, unlike his hand.

“Here you are, we’re getting late for our movie,” he states.

You try to hide your look of confusion as best as you can.

“Ah, I thought you were staying in?” The other boy asks.

“Yeah, she is. We’re doing a movie marathon at home,” Jungkook chimes in.

“Alright, well, if you change your mind, you’ll know where I’ll be,” he says before excusing himself.

Jungkook’s hand is still placed over yours as he walks to his car, not uttering a word until he finally let’s go to open the door for you. A habit that you’d always appreciated.

He gets in and shifts the gear into drive before taking off, aimlessly driving through the city instead of home, like he does when he’s upset about something.

You finally speak. “Listen, are we okay? Are you okay?”

“Were you seriously considering going out with him again tonight?” His question takes you by surprise.

“What? No, I-” you trail off.

“I feel like last weekend was a stupid mistake,” you finally state.

Jungkook scoffs. “Sure seemed like it.”

He’s. so. infuriating. You couldn’t bring yourself to face him as tears threaten to fall from your lids, the frustration from the week catching up to you.

Jungkook finally parks the car, turning towards you.

“Y/n, hey, sorry. Please don’t. I didn’t mean it like that.”

There it was; his voice could soothe a million souls. But you hated how he sounds so concerned, so affectionate. It was so misleading.

“I just didn’t want to see you get hurt, I know what sort of a guy he is, and you don’t deserve that.”

Why? Why’d he have to say that?

“I was just looking out for you…” he concludes.

“Well, why didn’t you do something about it then, huh?” You only half-yell.

“I did try. I tried to keep you with me the entire night. But you seemed so giddy, like you just wanted to have fun that I didn’t want to get in the way,” he sighs.

“You shouldn’t have, I wish you’d told me,” you whisper. “It was just a stupid kiss.”

“Not to me it wasn’t.”

What was he saying?

He slowly places his hands on your cheeks, his thumb wiping away your tears. His touch was always so soft, so meaningful.

“Right. That’s why you got back home that evening with lipstick stains all over?”

You move your face away from his hands, staring off at the blurred streetlights.

“Hey, no. Look at me.” He brings his hand to tilt your chin towards him. “That was a dumb decision that I realized the moment things started to happen and I left.”

“But why?” was all you could manage to say.

“Because I know what you deserve, and it should be me. But I was too afraid to tell you that night despite knowing how you felt.”

“What do you mean?” You ask, confused yet again.

“Before anything had happened yet, you’d pointed out some girl that was trying to get my attention. You said you didn’t like that, that only you should have my attention like that but that you knew how I’d rather give her my attention. But that was far from the truth.”

You could feel your face turn red and hot.

“And you still thought you would get in the-”

You’re cut off when his hands wrap around the side of your neck, his thumb lightly caressing your jaw as he pulls you in for a kiss. He presses himself further into you as his lips move over yours hurriedly like you were going to slip away and escape any moment now.

“You’re an idiot,” you say pulling away.

“I know,” he says before pulling you back in for another kiss.

[shabre-legacy]

Corso’s first Flare run

The pounding of feet echoed through the Siren as leikael raced through the hall and slid into the galley. Bowdarr and Corso were there playing cards and eating something. She didn’t bother to pay attention to what. It hadn’t been more than a few weeks since Bowdarr had joined the crew and she still didn’t feel great about taking him into potential combat. He was still underweight, she knew that from the frequent meddroid scans she made him get. She kept telling him once she was sure he’d recovered fully, they’d only happen if he got seriously hurt, and she meant it. But Drooga wasn’t kind and she could see that he still carried some of the physical damage that the poisons and starvation had caused. He wasn’t at his full strength yet, but for this, it didn’t matter. There wasn’t time to wait for him to get better, they’d just have to hope that they were able to handle whatever was coming. They wouldn’t be alone though. At least she didn’t think so. “Hey boys, gear up and hit the bridge. We got us a Flare run and it sounds like it’s gonna be a rough one. Move it!” She didn’t wait for a reply before grabbing her own gear and heading up to the bridge just as they prepared to drop out of hyperspace. 

As she reached the bridge, she was pleased to see that both of them were there, even if Corso was still buckling the last pieces of his heavy armor. She stepped close and swatted his hands away as she did the buckles herself. She had enough practice helping her father and some of the other members of the old crew. “So, not to sound too ignorant of the galaxy, but what exactly is a Flare run. Like to know what we’re running into.” 

She grins and is about to answer when Bowdarr rumbles. They’d had a conversation his first night on the ship. She’d told him her own history and they bonded over terrible memories. Though their exact paths and timelines had differed, they’d found some overlap and it set a good place to begin. 

She turned that grin to him “Karking right it’s a Solar Flare run!” she answered “got a call just before I jumped us. We’ll be hitting an imp ship, 2 pirate crews should already be taking it by the time we arrive.”

“Solar Flare? From the context, I’m assuming you’re not referring to actual solar flares.”

The ship dropped out of hyperspace and Leikael slid into the pilots seat. “Corso, you did that whole mercenary soldier thing, still remember communications and procedure approaching a space battle?”

The tone in his voice, he sounded almost insulted, “Of course” 

“Good, You’re on comms.” 

Corso slid into the comms chair as Bowdarr took the guns, they didn’t need them. The pirates they were helping had already taken down the ships defenses and were starting to board. They approached and Leikael slid the ship smoothly into one of the hangers. Her boys barely a step behind as they ran to the door and she stopped them, raising her hand, she opened one of the hidden hides and pulled out three small flareguns and extra flare packs and handed them to Corso and Bowdarr. 

“Alright, I’m assuming that neither of you have been on one of these before, so these fire a green short range flare. The crews have their own colors. Watch for the flares and fire your own whenever you go around a corner. It lets us know who we are when we don’t share a uniform or know everyone involved. Friendly fire is expected, but we try to avoid it. Shoot imps, not pirates and stay close.” 

“Ya gonna bother tellin’ us what’s goin’ on yet.”

Leikael laughs as she loads them up with the short flares and rushes them out of the ship. “Risha, anybody I send up gets tucked into the cargo hold for now, and be ready to go on my cue.” She calls out as she hits the door controls for the ship and answering Corso. “If you haven’t figured it out, by the time we get back, I’ll explain it pretty boy.” She fires off a green flare over the heads of the slavers, followed quickly by several shots as she comes out shooting. The three hit the ship and head in running, Leikael laughs as she gives Flashy a twirl and fires off several more quick shots, clearing the way deeper into the ship and sending a flare ahead as they turn the corner. 

They move in an erratic pattern across the ship. Not seeking control of it, but the systematic death or surrender of every crew member, hired gun and imperial overseer in the place. As they move, Leikael makes calls and despite Corso and to a lesser extent Bowdarr’s confusion, they follow without question. She long since earned the trust of the two men and their loyalty. Occasionally another flare flies in front of them, and if there’s time Leikael answers with a flare from their group.  Pirates run past them on the tail of those flares and if it weren’t for Leikael’s timely orders, they probably would have fired on the angry crews charging in their direction, weapons drawn. The ship is chaos and the crew doesn’t stand a chance. Before long, they hear an announcement over the ship’s system that the ship is under control of the pirates. It’s followed up by an announcement to begin searching and that the transport is aboard. 

Corso frowns as soon as the Siren is mentioned. “Captain, should we retreat to protect the ship.”

Leikael laughs, “nope, no need. We just gotta make sure that we search this section find any spaces where the crew is hiding slaves.”

“Captain?”

“I’ll explain later. This ship isn’t safe enough for that.” 

Leikael blasts open a door and softens immediately. “Bowdarr, I’ll let you lead here buddy.” She steps aside as Corso and Bowdarr look in to see a cage with three young wookiees crammed inside. Bowdarr makes a quiet sound of distress before rushing forward and ripping the cage open, his greater strength making it easy for him.

The baby wookies rush to him as soon as he starts speaking to them and he keeps them close. 

“It’s ok, Bowie, take them back to the ship. Me and Corso will finish searching the ship and meet you back there.” 

She turns and leads Corso back through the ship. “This is a slavers ship. We’re transporting the captured slaves to a location where they’ll be safe and get help to restart their lives. Get back to family and home, or start over new. Depends on what they need.” 

Corso nods and keeps his blaster up. It’s a much better idea than he was afraid of and he’s glad to help with this. 

It takes a while for the various crews to communicate and verify that the ship had been searched entirely. It seems like a low count for this trip, only ten had been found, they had probably just made a sale and the pirates seemed determined to bring everything together and find where that had been, but they would call another transport when they did. For now, Leikael has her job and leads Corso back to her ship, she sends him to the bridge while she goes and talks to the rescued people and explains what was going on. Eventually, she drags herself back to the bridge and collapses into her chair as Corso swings around to face her. 

“So…Solar Flare?”

Leikael leans back and kicks her feet up. “Loose association of pirates, smugglers and paper pushers who don’t like the slave trade. There’s only so much that can legally be done and most of us, the pirates and smugglers anyways, are already outside the law. So we take down the ships, we kill the crews, we take the slaves, make sure they know they’re free and help them to safe houses and refugee camps where we have people who can help them. It’s not a perfect system. But it helps. For this run, there’s a camp on one of the few parts of Kyshyyyk that’s relatively safe and close to the ground. It’s only transitional, most everyone will stay there a night or two before a ship arrives to take them somewhere better and with more ability to help them get their lives back. But the baby wookiees will go back to their families right away.”

She smiles at the thought, usually things were so messed up, that she didn’t get to see the families brought back together. This was a rare treat. 

“Doing good work then. I can deal with that. Something worth fighting for.” Corso nods to himself. A good reason to lift his blaster, something more than just because the Captain said so, though that’s a good enough reason itself. “Wish you had told me sooner, but thanks for taking me along.”

“Anytime pretty boy. That aim of yours is great to have around when blasters are everywhere.” 

She looks away from his kind, but intense look quickly, a faint spot of pink appearing on her green cheeks. 

Corso grins at her comment. It’s not much, but he’ll take it. “Let’s get these people to Kashyyyk then, so they can start enjoying their freedom and the small wookiees can get back where they belong.”

Leikael nods, “Hit it, pretty boy.”

Corso laughs as he punches the coordinates into the navicomputer from the copilot's chair and sends the ship into hyperspace, away from the remains of the larger ship and towards the green planet.

[findingjoynweirdstuff]

Dream SMP Recap (May 31/2021) - Deck of Cards With a Green Smile on Them

Wilbur and Tommy visit Las Nevadas to have some words with Quackity. 

---

VOD LINKS:

Punz

Ponk

Foolish

Tommyinnit

Wilbur Soot

Captain Puffy

---

- Punz mines out an entire chunk of the server

- Wilbur and Tommy meet at L’manhole. Tommy brings Wilbur to the quarry and shows him the Tommyboxes full of stone

- Tommy and Wilbur walk down the Prime Path and Wilbur notices all the new changes in the builds, including that Purpled’s UFO has been destroyed. Wilbur claims that someone’s being “a copycat” with TNT, figuring out exactly how it was destroyed

(Wilbur is also repeatedly puzzled by the appearance of Oogway throughout the server)

- Wilbur tells Tommy that he received a book: “PROJECT NEVADAS.” It rings a bell, and Tommy says it’s Quackity’s new place that he’s been staying out of

- Wilbur tells Tommy that the book says to come to Nevadas (not saying what it actually reads), and Tommy leads Wilbur there

- The last time Wilbur saw Quackity, they were fighting together for L’manburg -- but he gets the impression, judging by everyone else aside from Jack Manifold, Tommy and Phil, that everyone probably dislikes him. He assumes Quackity won’t have the best impression of him

- Tommy’s never been to Las Nevadas, but the person who told him about it said it was just a little town. They’re awestruck by it as they arrive

- Quackity comes up to meet them, surprised to see Wilbur alive. Tommy asks what happened to his face, but also notices that his piss neck is gone

- Wilbur says he’s glad to see Quackity out of the presidential outfit, and he never thought Quackity was fit for the Vice President role anyway. Quackity tells them that he owns this entire place

Wilbur: “Oh, so you’re -- you’re like a -- a President, then!”

Quackity: “I’m the President, man!”

Wilbur: “...You’re the President.”

- He shows Quackity the book and accepts Quackity’s “invitation” to work alongside him. Tommy asks to move in as well

Quackity: “Wilbur...That was not an invitation, I’m sorry Wilbur...That’s not an invitation. Wilbur, my nation will not be subject to your unpredictability.”

- Wilbur tells Quackity that while he may have been unpredictable in the past, he’s turned over a new leaf and doesn’t lie anymore, he’s forgotten everything he knew about TNT

Wilbur: “Quackity, look me in the eyes...I am your servant. I am at your service, I have run countries, I’ve won elections, I’ve done everything you would need in a leadership role, Quackity! Even not in leadership -- I can be, you know, assistant to the President! Just, I...Quackity, this is everything I’ve dreamt of in a solid marble and quartz...Quackity, you’re making a mistake, man, you need to let me in--”

Tommy: “Wil, this is so cool!”

Wilbur: “TOMMY, SHUT UP! I mean -- Tommy, come over here.”

- Quackity tells him he’s not going to let the same thing that happened to L’manburg happen to Las Nevadas. Tommy points out that it looks like they’re kissing. 

- Wilbur walks around the sandy area asking what Quackity owns, and Quackity owns all of it. Quackity still means to discuss things with Tommy. Wilbur makes his way to the forest next to Las Nevadas

Wilbur: “What’s the point in capitalism without healthy competition?”

- Quackity asks what Wilbur’s about to do. Wilbur leads them over to a nearby spot and welcomes Tommy to their new “headquarters” as they “break ground” there.

- Tommy doesn’t want to start a new country, preferring Las Nevadas. He also repeats that Wilbur and Quackity looked like they were kissing and he feels like he’s getting third-wheeled

- Quackity and Tommy talk one-on-one and Quackity reminds Tommy about how they spoke about the hotel and possibly working together. Tommy brings up Quackity’s eye again, remembering how Quackity has had many “conditions” for a long time

Quackity: “You ever hear about the Butcher Army, Tommy? One day, we were going to execute Technoblade, and we got in a...we got a fight. And this is how this thing showed up on my face.”

- Tommy is surprised that he went to kill Technoblade and asks when this was, if this was during his exile

Tommy: “You’re meaning to tell me that you put in all of the effort to kill Techno instead of helping me?”

- Quackity says he’d be happy to sit down and discuss it, that he’s not Tommy’s enemy. He gives Tommy the choice: Tommy is welcome to join him, even if Wilbur isn’t. He can offer Tommy a management position, a job

- Tommy goes to speak with Wilbur and leaves Quackity, noticing what Wilbur’s built

Wilbur: “It’s a penis of safety!”

- Wilbur asks Tommy to work with him. He won’t stop Tommy, but Tommy is all Wilbur’s got. Jack Manifold’s busy and Phil has ideas about authoritarianism Wilbur disagrees with

Wilbur: “Tommy, I don’t want to make a country. I’m past that, man. I want to make an HQ. I want to make a place where we can be safe for once. Tommy, it’s been so long since we’ve been safe. And man, you deserve it. You’ve been through so much, done so much. Tommy, you’ve changed the world, and all you have to show for it is some scars and some trauma. Tommy, you deserve this safety and this sanctuary, and that’s what I want to make with you, and you won’t get it over there. You know what they say about casinos? It’s all lights and it’s all plastic, it’s all glitter, that there’s nothing of substance. Do you know what has substance, Tommy? Family. Blood. Please stay with me, Tommy.”

- He tells Tommy he needs to make a choice now. 

Wilbur: “I’m not gonna hold you back. If you pick Las Nevadas, what am I gonna do, man? What am I gonna do? I’d never hurt you. I’d never want anything bad for you, Tommy. You can go with whatever you want, but...Just know what you’ll be doing to me. That’s all I wanna say, man.”

Tommy: “There was a time when you weren’t here on this server, this SMP, when I went against...put a lot of things to the side that I shouldn’t have. I prioritized a lot of things -- I put revenge over humanity, humaneness. I guess all I’m seeking now is just someone that’s gonna be honest with me and a place that I can feel safe. I...I betrayed Technoblade, and I just couldn’t admit it. And I did the wrong thing with Tubbo, but...”

Wilbur: “This can be a safe place for them.”

- Tommy agrees to stay here, but dislikes that Wilbur has built the penis into a wall. The two start building a penis in the lake and Quackity comes over. 

Quackity: “History repeats itself, Tommy. You’re just letting this guy use you. You’re letting him emotionally manipulate you.”

- He and Wilbur start talking over each other, bickering

Quackity: “WHO DESTROYED L’MANBURG, TOMMY? THINK ABOUT THAT. THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A SECOND.”

Wilbur: “WHO RAN AGAINST YOU? WHO LAUGHED AS WE WERE EXILED? WHO CHEERED AS WE WERE THROWN OUT OF OUR NATION THAT WE BUILT? THAT WE BUILT?”

Quackity: “Who wanted a better outcome for L’manburg, Tommy? Who did? Who wanted to run a ‘democratic election’ with just one party? He’s right up there, Tommy! He’s right up there above you--”

Wilbur: “Remember the pit, Tommy. Remember what happened in the pit. Don’t. Trust. People. Who would’ve fought you in the pit.”

- They continue arguing. 

- Tommy gets a chance to speak and says none of that made him feel safe. Quackity apologizes and offers them a tour of Las Nevadas. They head over and Wilbur apologizes as well

- Quackity shows them around, including the restaurant that they’ll need to hire people for (the villager is no longer there). Wilbur tells Tommy he’d be fine with Tommy working here as long as he’d still hang out with Wilbur too

- They start going to the casino (Wilbur and Quackity both hurry to block off the strip club) and Quackity brings them into the gambling hall, giving them diamonds to try out the machine with

- After using the diamonds, Tommy puts Linda the shovel into the machine and loses the shovel in the machine. Quackity takes them out of the building and to the top of the Needle. Tommy remarks that it would be a good place to jump off of

- Quackity turns to Wilbur and asks how he’s alive. Wilbur explains that he was swapped with Ghostbur

- Quackity remembers the last conversation he and Wilbur had together, just after the elections. The conversation they had after the debates. (Wilbur looks at the “PROJECT NEVADAS” book again) 

Quackity wants to “pick Wilbur’s brain” again

- Wilbur’s lost everything. He’s lost decades, he’s lost most of the people who cared about him and many don’t even know he’s back yet

Wilbur: “Life is paved with the mistakes you make, and it’s not about when you made the mistakes or what you did, it’s about how you can improve from them, and...I guess that’s what I’m trying to do.”

- Wilbur’s seen Jack Manifold, Phil, Ranboo, Tommy and now Quackity so far, but there are a lot of other people who he’d like to talk to and apologize to and thank them

- Tommy tells Quackity he doesn’t want to sit back and run a food stand. Wilbur gets things done. Quackity respects his decision, but this is something else, not another L’manburg

- Quackity asks Wilbur about the revival again, and Wilbur admits that it was Dream who brought him back. Wilbur has many people he wants to thank and say sorry to, and Dream is one of them, as he saved Wilbur’s life. Dream is his hero.

- Quackity asks when this happened, and Wilbur says it’s been a while since, that hopefully Ghostbur isn’t too lonely in Limbo

Quackity: [About Dream] “He’s not been lonely. Wilbur, Wilbur, I think his loneliness is the last of his concerns. I’ve been keeping him company, uh...as he’s been there. I’ve been visiting him quite frequently.”

Wilbur: “What, Dream or Ghostbur? I’m talking about Ghostbur.”

Quackity: “I’m talking about Dream.”

Wilbur: “Oh, gosh! You’ve been visiting him? Oh, he must love that!”

Quackity: “Yeah, no, he likes the company. He likes the company for sure. Uh...it’s a cool little thing, uh...Tommy, you know about this, right?”

Tommy: “Yeah, yeah, Wilbur -- that’s how I got to go and see Dream."

- Tommy tells Wilbur that Dream killed him, to which Quackity says Sam’s bettered the security system (Wilbur’s surprised to hear the prison has a warden and a system to visit) 

Tommy: “Why would anyone want to go to the prison? You’ve been going, Big Q, to torture the shit out of him, I’ve heard...”

Quackity: “Tommy, what? Tommy...Tommy, where did you -- where did you get that from? What are you talking about?”

Tommy: “Well that’s how -- I assumed, ‘cause of the scar, you’ve been going to beat the shit out of him?”

Quackity: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, don’t say that -- not even as a joke, Tommy, come on.”

- Wilbur says goodbye to Quackity (he has “work to do”) and leaves with Tommy. He’s overjoyed that he can meet Dream through the visitation system, while Tommy protests

- Wilbur throws Tommy the “PROJECT NEVADAS” book, saying that Quackity was writing about the old Wilbur, that Tommy made the right choice in not joining him. 

- Wilbur promises Tommy that going to visit Dream to thank him isn’t a bad decision. He wants to tie up loose ends. Dying is a big deal. This is like a funeral, saying goodbye

Wilbur: “Tommy, all I’m saying is, you know...what could go wrong in a prison?”

- Wilbur leaves. 

- Tommy asks Quackity for an Ender Chest

- He listens to “Cat,” alone in the rain, on a small wooden bench by the lake.

---

Upcoming Events:

- The final Egg lore stream

- Puffy’s lore

- Tales From the SMP: “Space Race”

- Ponk’s lore stream

- Dream’s lore video

- Sapnap’s possible lore stream

- Awesamdude lore stream

[awormonastring]

Office Hours- Professor Aizawa x Student

Summary: Life as a college student left you bored. Your history professor, Aizawa Shouta gives you just what you need, but you get a little too close.

Word count: 6077

CW: Professor x Student Relationship 

ao3

College life was basic. Wake up, go to school, come home, do homework, sleep. It was a basic cycle, but you made the most out of it by getting good grades. Except recently, something was up. It was your third year of college and you still didn’t have a major. With all your friends being in the process of getting ready to graduate, you were still left confused. This made you feel alone and unfulfilled. Ultimately, you just felt unmotivated with school. What’s the point of trying if you’re just going nowhere? So you started to miss more of your classes, assignments, which led to your grades plummeting. Your history class was a class you genuinely enjoyed but you just never felt like going. To avoid getting kicked out from school (which would upset your parents), you decided to just show up to your classes.

You forced yourself to wake up early, with your class starting at 10am, and decided to do your makeup and actually make an effort to get ready (just as a little motivation boost). You headed to your 10am science class and actually made it on time, which made you feel proud. After about 2 hours your class ended and you had about an hour long break until your last class of the day which was your history class. You decided to get some coffee to wake you up a bit since you felt extremely tired. A part of you still felt unmotivated, but you convinced yourself to push through.

It was 2pm and you were now in your last class of the day. You kept on giving yourself little motivators to make yourself pay attention and try:

“C’mon Y/N. It’s the last class of the day. After this you can go home and reward yourself with a nap. It’ll go by quickly. You like this subject plus this professor is good looking. At least let that motivate you” the little voice in your head said.

Sitting next to the door, you were the first one who knew when your professor was here. You could hear his footsteps and smell his cologne that left an invisible trail leading to the door. He walked into the room holding a coffee cup and black messenger bag. His long black hair was tied back into a low bun. He wore a light blue dress shirt, dark grey pants, and dark brown shoes. Damn, he actually was really good looking. It was something you never noticed since you were always just focused on your work and left class as soon as it ended. You didn’t even know his name. It started with an “A” but you weren’t really sure what it was. To your luck, one of your classmates raised his hand to ask a question. Professor Aizawa was his name. The name easily flowed off your tongue as you mouthed it. Getting your attention, pieces of paper being passed your way.

Oh shit.

It turns out that today your first paper of the semester was due, and you had no idea. As Professor Aizawa came by to collect the papers, he could sense your gloomy energy.

“Y/N,” he spoke which caused your head to look up at him, “Can you stay after class? I have to talk to you about something?”

“Yeah.” You responded. Great. Was he going to drop you from the class for missing too many days? Probably. The duration of the class consisted of you bouncing your leg, clicking your pen, wallowing in anxiousness. You know you were probably bothering the rest of your classmates, but you weren’t a person of confrontation. Class finally ended. You waited for the rest of your classmates to leave before approaching Professor Aizawa’s desk.

Waiting with sweaty palms, Professor Aizawa looked up at you while he was in the middle of writing. He placed the tip of his pen to his mouth, thinking about what to say.

“Y/N. I’ve recently noticed that you haven’t been showing up to class.” You could sense the disappointment in his face, which was weird. Why was he so disappointed about you not showing up to class? He’s never even spoken to you, let alone even acknowledged you until now. After taking a long inhale, you respond.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, I just… I’m just going through one of those times. There’s just a lot going on with me.”

“I understand. But you always have to make the most out of your education, you aren’t paying all this tuition for nothing,” He gently laughed, “Anyways, I wanted to let you know about your recent missing assignments but my next class is about to start. How about I give you my card and you come to my office hours. This is gonna be my last class so if you’re free in about an hour you can come and we can figure out what to do about these assignments.” He reaches into his bag and pulls out his card.

The card reads: Shouta Aizawa. Department of Social Sciences. Head of the History Department.

His phone number and email are also being shown. You looked up at him.

“Okay. Sounds good! I can wait an hour. Thank you.”

You left the classroom feeling a bit of a relief. You honestly expected him to just drop you from the class. But the way he was so nice with you made you feel relaxed. It made you feel like someone could see the better in you. You headed to the library to take a nap before this meeting.

-

-

-

Walking around the social science building, you had no idea where you were going. The fact that the social science building consisted of 3 levels definitely made things more complicated for you. His office was located in 118O. You weren’t anywhere near that. “142” the nearest room showed. You decided to just give up and figure everything out tomorrow.

From a short distance, you could see Professor Aizawa walking the other direction. You thought about following him but felt like you would seem creepy if you did that. He turned around and noticed you staring at him.

“Hello Y/N. Are you lost?” he remarked. God how weird did you look just standing there? Your face flushed red.

“Hi Professor Aizawa. I’m sorry. I was just trying to find your office but uh, this building is a lot bigger than I expected” You tried laughing to ease awkwardness.

“No worries. Just follow me. My office is a bit hard to find since it’s sort of isolated.” He walked a bit in front of you while telling you about his previous class and how half of the class didn’t show up. After about 5 minutes, the two of you arrived at his office. He reached into his pocket, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door. You were surprised to find that his office was extremely clean. From his appearance, you assumed his office was going to be a little messy. His office consisted of random diplomas, a stack of papers on his desk along with a computer, black couch, basically everything that would be in your typical office. He glanced at you, “Take a seat. Make yourself comfortable.” He sat at his computer, typing away.

You looked around at his office to find something to help start conversation since the silence in the room made you feel awkward. Except, he didn’t have any photos. No family, friends, nothing. It made you feel kind of bad for him. Imagine how lonely he must be.

Finally saying something, the professor started, “Looking at your current grade- well, you’re at a D+ right now. C’mon Y/N, I expected better of you. You started off my class doing exceptional work on all my assignments. But now, you are so behind.”

“I know. I just haven’t been doing good these past couple of weeks. It’s just a lot going on not even with my life ju-”

“It’s alright. If you want to explain what has been going on, I’m here to listen. I just want you to do better. I don’t like seeing my students struggle, especially if I know what they are capable of. You can talk to me about what you are going through, only if you’re comfortable” His eyes glued to his computer then made eye contact with you for a brief moment. After a few seconds, he ran his fingers, pushing the strands on his face back, going back to viewing the screen.

You felt conflicted. You wanted to tell him about what you were going through. But, you didn’t feel like your struggles were valid. Should you be given another shot at your assignments when you didn’t show up to class for almost a month? Nothing was going on in your life, so what could you even say?

You decided to just say what was on your mind. Being honest was the only chance you had at passing this class, especially since you wanted to transfer soon. You stopped playing with your fingers and fixed your posture.

“Well, recently I’ve just been overthinking. I’ve kind of lost all my motivation for school. I don’t even know why. I’m assuming it’s because I still don’t have a major while all my friends are already transferring, graduating, and planning out their futures. While I’m just stuck. I feel like I’m not going anywhere.” The man sitting across from you, with his full attention. You didn’t even know when he stopped paying attention to his computer. He responds.

“That’s completely understandable”

“What?” That caught you off guard. You were so used to most teachers invalidating their students’ feelings.

“I mean. I can absolutely see how that would affect your mindset for school. How about we figure out a plan to get you right back on track.” His hands clasped together showed that he was genuinely interested in helping you. Staring at his hands, you noticed his hands were really big, his veins immediately grabbing your attention. This caused your face to go red. You could tell he enjoyed working out in his free time.

“Sounds good.” you smiled. You were still confused as to why he was helping you but he was able to get your grade up plus he was attractive so it served as eye candy while he worked.

After countless questions about your interests, the two of you were able to figure out a potential major for you which made you feel a lot more motivated. You felt like you were finally moving forward rather than continuing to be stagnant. Two hours had now passed and you had to go home. As you packed your notebook and pencil bag, the man invited you to another potential meeting.

“Y/N if you ever need help with figuring out how to go about your major just let me know and we could help figure out a plan.” He stated. His eagerness to help you really meant a lot, so why not visit him again?

“Yeah. That actually sounds really good. I’d love to plan out my schedule.” You responded.

“Great! You can just come by whenever. No need to make an appointment… that is if you can find my office on your own.” He teased which caused you to jokingly roll your eyes. “Anyways, I’ll see you Y/N.”

“Thank you for your help Professor Aizawa!” You left his office and made your way home. Not only feeling accomplished but also feeling a weird feeling, almost like butterflies.

-

-

-

The next day, you decided to go by his office to see if he was there. You weren’t planning on having another meeting with Professor Aizawa since you didn’t want to seem weird, but you still wanted to see him since you only had class with him 2 days a week.

You walked into the Social Sciences building and headed to his office, only wanting to casually walk by to get a glance of the professor before heading home. Walking up the stairs, you made your way and pretended to casually stroll by… like you didn’t purposely walk across your campus just to get a glimpse of him. A part of you didn’t even know why you were even doing this. Another part of you just wanted to see what he was wearing, hear his voice, you wanted him to acknowledge you. These thoughts in your head turned into a full on day dream and you dozed off as you walked, not noticing that you had walked by without even looking into his office.

“Fuck” You thought. You missed your chance at seeing him. Should you walk back and potentially get caught walking around his office or should you just give up and go home?

You turned around and headed back towards his office. If he noticed you walking by his office again you could just say you forgot something. But why would he even ask? Your mind started to race with possible scenarios that could occur. Suddenly, you noticed a figure walking towards you. Of course, it was Professor Aizawa heading home.

“Hi Y/N. What are you doing here? There aren’t any classes going on right now?”

Embarrassment flowed throughout your whole body. You weren’t even sure of what to tell him since you were on the third floor of the Social Science Building where all the offices were located. Most of the professors had gone home. You cleared your throat.

“Um- I was just…” God what could you even say? “I just wanted to see if you were in your office- to see if we could plan out my schedule for next semester. You know since you said you could help me” You awkwardly laughed.

“Oh.”

“But I see you’re done for the day so we can just plan ano-”

“No it’s fine. I don’t mind staying later. I’m not busy this evening” He interrupted.

The two of you walked to his office. You felt a little guilty since you’re the reason that he has to stay on campus even longer.

“I’m sorry for making you stay later” You apologized.

“No don’t be sorry. I don’t mind at all. Listen. My job is to help my students. I enjoy this.”

You had no idea why that made your heart rate increase. Were you starting to develop feelings for your professor? You were so confused but you pushed it aside to take in the time you were spending. Admiring every feature of his face. From his man bun, to his 5 o’clock shadow, everything about Professor Aizawa captivated you.

After about an hour, you finally had all your classes for the next 2 semesters planned out. You planned on taking 12 units per semester which included general ed classes along with classes for your major. Grinning at your professor as you put away your paperwork into your backpack, you felt so much appreciation for him. In just 2 days, you were able to not only pick a major, but also plan out your semesters. And it was all thanks to your history professor.

“Thank you so much. I really appreciate you going all this way for me. I really don’t deserve all this honestly. But it means a lot that you are so willing to help me.”

“Don’t sweat it. Seeing you grow is enough of a reward to me. It’s why I do what I do.” He was packing his things as well.

“Well, I’ll see you in class! Thank you so much again for all your help,” waving goodbye as you walked out.

When you approached the door of the Social Science building you noticed that it was pouring rain outside. You had no idea it was even going to rain so you definitely were not prepared. Conveniently, you also planned to walk home since you couldn’t afford an uber home. You decided to try calling your mom, no answer. Friends? The two friends you had both worked. While you were waiting and trying to call your friends, Professor Aizawa approached the door to go to his car.

“Oh my bad.” He could sense that there was something wrong with you which caused him to make a second take to you. “You have a way home right?” Oh no. Were you better off lying to him or being honest?

“Um, yeah I wasn’t aware it was gonna rain today and I was planning on walking home. I don’t know why no one is answering to pick me up.”

“If you want I could give you a ride home. Just so you don’t have to walk home in the rain,” the keys wiggling between his fingers called your attention.

“Oh god haha. I feel bad.”

“I don’t mind. I’d rather drive you home then have you walking home by yourself in the rain.”

“If you can, I would appreciate it.”

“Alright. Let’s go.” He declared.

Walking to the parking lot while sharing an umbrella, you wondered what kind of car your professor would have. Your curiosity was put on hold when you heard a car ring. There it was. You weren’t someone who knew much about cars but the car had a small logo in front. The top of the license plate read: Mercedes Benz. The car shimmered with a clean grey tint. The car itself looked expensive. You both entered the car and headed to your home.

The car ride was about half an hour. It was also very silent. Professor Aizawa occasionally made small talk but due to the fact that it was pouring rain he became too focused on the road. The car was filled with the sound of the radio playing top hits. From time to time, you would glance at him. You noticed how mad he looked when he drove which made you flustered. His left thumb was placed on his lip as his right hand steered the wheel. Whenever someone cut him off, he would tug on his tie to let out his frustration. Furrowed eyebrows and random moments where he would clear his throat as if he was about to say something but never did. You noticed the details about the professor, such as when he would look back, he’d place his arm around your seat which always made you hold your breath with a clear blush on your face.

Professor Aizawa finally arrived at your house. You watched his hand as he moved the gear shift to ‘P.’ He rubbed his five o clock shadow before turning to you. You were lost in him.

“This is your house right?” He questioned which broke you from your trance.

“Oh! Yeah. This is my house. Thank you again for taking me home. I’ll try giving you gas money next time I see you”

“It’s alright. Don’t worry about it. Your house is on the way to mine so I don’t lose anything from taking you home. Let me know if you ever need me to drop you off again okay?”

“Sure thing. Thank you again Professor Aizawa!”

“Call me Aizawa. I’m not on the job right now so feel free to just call me Aizawa. Have a good one.” He laughed. You exited his car and walked to your door, noticing that he was waiting until you entered your home which made your heart warm.

When you entered your room, you immediately threw yourself on your bed. An exhale left you and had you feeling a sense of satisfaction. Your whole body felt warm and you weren’t sure why. You felt so many feelings. You constantly wanted to be around Aizawa. A part of you felt disappointed that he would never send you a text message everyday, let alone even feel the same way about you. The other part of you felt a sense of bliss that you were even in his car. Another part of you felt weird and wrong for having these wants and feelings towards your professor. You pressed your thighs together to give yourself the pleasure your teacher would never be able to, imagining his touch granting you all of your deepest desires as a melody of his name left your lips.

-

-

-

The next couple of weeks consisted of you going to Aizawa’s office after your classes. The first couple of days, you would make up random excuses to visit him like homework help, directions, small things like that. As time passed on, you just started to go with no excuse. The two of you would talk for hours about random things. He would even go as far as buy you food. The two of you would eat while laughing about life stories each of you would tell. He would take you home everyday, even teaching you how to drive. The man would constantly tease you for not knowing how to drive.

“So let me get this. You’re 21 and can’t drive?” The man laughed as he took the last bite of his burrito bowl.

“Yeah,” you mumbled, “you know I kinda have a fear of driving.”

“Want me to teach you?”

The more you hung out with him, the more you fell head over heels over him. You felt like your feelings were wrong. Was it bad to like someone 10 years older than you? Someone who already had his life figured out while you were still trying to figure out yours? These questions kept you up at night. The divide within your thoughts had you torn. No one could fulfill you like he could.

-

-

-

You entered his office one Thursday evening. It was the end of the week and the end of finals. You were completely exhausted. When you entered Aizawa’s office, things were different. The couch and your usual seat were gone. You stared at the professor in confusion.

“Oh… are you busy today?” You questioned.

“No. Oh! The chairs- I just needed to get my furniture cleaned since the semester is about to end but I guess they still haven’t finished cleaning.” He kept his eyes on the computer.

“Should I leave?” You were so confused. He was acting so weird.

“Why?” He continued typing, completely unfazed.

“Well there’s nowhere for me to sit…”

“Why don’t you just sit on the floor, princess” Immediately, a look of regret spread on his face. He was so focused typing he didn’t realize what he said, “Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to call you that.” Both of your faces were covered in a bright shade of red. You tried to ease the discomfort in the room. “Oh it’s okay I actually like it! It’s cute!” Too honest. That was probably the wrong thing to say. Aizawa moved his focus from his computer to you. His eyes could see the longing you felt for him. His eyes knew that you wanted him.

“Oh really?” He playfully said, “In that case, I don’t think a princess should be sitting on the ground like that.”

“Well there’s nowhere else to sit.” You could sense he was flirting with you. Did he want you as much as you wanted him, or was it all in your head?

“Well… why don’t you sit on my lap?” His voice mocked you. The energy in the room had completely shifted. It felt like pure ecstasy. Was this real? Or just another one of your dreams? One of those dreams of your professor that left you absolutely soaked every single time you woke up. There was no way this was reality.

Aizawa had rolled his chair back, waiting for you to join him. His hands hanging from the arm rests, the sleeves of his dress shirt were rolled up to his elbows which made your breathing faster. You wanted those hands on you so bad. The urge for pleasure ran all over your body.

“What the fuck” was all you could say. It caught you off guard that he would say something like that. You were so used to seeing him be professional that seeing this side of him threw you off, but you loved this new side of him. And you wanted to have some fun with him…

“Maybe if you would’ve had a chair I would’ve had an actual place to sit..but whatever I guess” You talked back. You knew this would bother him since he was so used to being in charge as a teacher.

“Ahhh so that’s how it’s going to be” which was followed by a sinister giggle and dark stare. Your body was entangled by Aizawa’s eyes. He didn’t even have to lift a finger and you were already walking towards him. He had you on an imaginary leash that you loved. When you were close enough he yanked your arm and placed you on his lap, looking away from him. You could feel yourself getting wet for him.

”Since you want to act like a little brat with me, how about I show you how things are done here? You must’ve gotten a little too comfortable with me so let me put you in your place, princess” He whispered into the crook of your neck, which released a whine in you.

“Look at how wet you are for me, all I have to do is whisper in your ear and you’re dripping for me, I can feel it,” He was right. Aizawa didn’t have to touch you and you were a mess for him. Even in class, whenever you noticed Aizawa glance at you, you would always tighten your thighs just to get some sort of small release. His whisper in your ear made you so weak and he knew that, “So why doesn’t my princess destress herself. I can't even imagine how stressful school must be for her.” His hands were wrapped around you, gently brushing against your bare inner thigh. You always wore skirts everyday in hopes that he could put his hands up your legs and it was finally happening.

“Hnnng” All you could do was whine. Nothing was being done, so how could you already feel so much?

“C’mon. Why don’t you grind on my thigh? I can tell by the way you’ve been looking at me that you’ve wanted this for so, so long. Go on- Here why don’t I help you” The man proceeded to grab your hips and gyrate them. Moving your body in circles, you whimpered cries of pleasure. His toned thigh against your throbbing sex while his hands gripped you. His hands progressively got tighter around your waist and he began using his tongue on your neck to follow the gyrating motion from your hips. All you could do was grasp his hands and cry. You felt so good but you had to keep your voice down since the two of you were in his office and you were scared others would hear.

“God, I can feel how wet you are for me. C'mon let me hear you moan for me, don’t be shy” He nibbled on your ear as he moved his hand down your body and underneath your skirt. He chuckled under his breath as he felt how wet you were for him. Aizawa gave you some time to get used to his touch before inserting two fingers inside of you. An audible “mmm” could be heard and felt from him. He thought it was so hot how much you wanted him. He noticed all those times in class when you would move your eyes to his bulge whenever he was teaching, or when you would stare at his hands when he drove. He wanted to keep you wanting him.

He removed his fingers from your pussy and stuck them in your mouth so you could taste yourself. Moving his fingers, you gagged with watery eyes.

“Look at you. You’re a sloppy fucking mess for me. I can't wait to have my cock in you.” He moaned in your ear before moving you to the ground. The man moved you to the ground and demanded you to strip for

“Strip for me like the slut you are.” He walked back to his seat and watched you fully clothed as you slowly removed your clothes. He didn’t move at all, his eyes stayed glued on you. Meanwhile, you couldn’t even stare at him. You focused your attention to your clothes. After finally taking off everything, he made you crawl to him. A part of you was embarrassed at how much control this man had over you. But the other half of you had dreamt of this for so long. You wanted him to control you so bad.

You slowly unzipped his pants and could feel his erect cock spring out. A trail of precum leaked from it. You took the tip into your mouth as your tongue swirled along his sensitive part which stirred up a groan from the man. After a few minutes, you fully took him into your mouth. You felt pressure on the back of your head. Aizawa had placed his hand on the back of your head to keep you on his entire cock. This elicited a gag from you.

“Damn you would think with the way you dress you’d know how to do this by now. No worries, princess I’ll teach you how” He ridiculed before grabbing your hair and moving your face to his shaft, taking him whole. He started to move your face up and down his cock as he fucked your face. The back of your throat burned and your vision was blurred, however through all that, this was the most fulfilled you’ve been. After so many dreams of Aizawa, you finally had him. Your fantasy was being granted. He came in your mouth, telling you to open your cum filled mouth. He grabbed your face as he spit in your mouth. You swallowed before thanking him.

“Thank you, sir” You breathed. He grabbed the back of your neck and kissed you for the first time. Lips brushed against each other as the two of you mumbled sweet nothings. Aizawa stroked himself as he seductively spoke in between your lips.

“Well since there’s no chair I guess the only place your slutty ass can sit is on my cock, huh princess?” He sat on his chair, his hand around your waist. His hair was down and strands covered his face. A look of sin was conveyed on his face. He wasn’t just your professor anymore. At this moment, Aizawa embodied corruption. This was a completely different side of him that no one would ever get to see. Nobody except you. This realization scared you but it also excited you.

You joined him on the chair and slowly lowered yourself onto his cock. You let out a harsh cry as soon as his tip was inside of you before quickly covering your mouth.

“I want you to fuck yourself using my cock, you understand?” He purred into your ear which sent chills down your spine.

“Y-yes sir” You stuttered before slowly lifting yourself up. Up & down- the motion that would drive you mad. Even the slow speed you were going at wasn’t enough to have your legs trembling.

“Ah..fuck” You moaned.

“That’s a good girl. Like that.” Aizawa murmured. He had sat back and admired you, letting you go at your own pace. Occasionally, the man would pet your hair and caress your face.

After some time, impatience grew for Aizawa. He wanted to fuck you so hard. It took everything in him to let you go at your own slow pace. But his animalistic arousal was getting the best of him. He put his hand around your neck as he put you down on his desk.He buried his cock in you. The pace progressively got faster and faster. You weren’t used to this at all.

“Aizawa fuck. Too fast. Please keep going” You begged. Stars started to form in your vision but the feeling of euphoria you felt ran down to your sweet spot. Your natural instinct in you caused you to place your hands on his chest to move him away due to the overwhelming sensation you felt. In response, he stopped. He grabbed your hands that were on his chest and moved them on above your head. Aizawa undid his maroon tie and proceeded to bind your hands together.

“Your hands were getting in the way.” His raspy voice let out an almost menacing chuckle, as if he was now mocking you. You were in his complete control, which is something that brought out a raunchy side of him. It was something that made you absolutely weak. You wanted to submit to him.

He continued to thrust in and out of you again. Eventually, he was going at a fast pace again. His fuck had your mind blank. All you could let out were whimpers and pleads, while he grunted in your ear.

“C’mon I wanna hear you moan louder for daddy. You're daddy’s princess, let me hear you. Here let me help you” The man moved his hand to your sweet spot and proceeded to move his fingers in circles. By this point, you were practically screaming at all the pleasure he was giving you. You didn’t even care if others could hear your moans. You wanted him to keep going so bad, but could your body handle it? You opened your eyes for a brief second and caught a glimpse of the man’s eyes. His black eyes were full of impurity as he watched you go from his innocent student to his lewd fucktoy.

“I'm not gonna let you cum until you’re begging for me. Why don’t you ask me if you can cum?” his hand on your clit continued to move in circles, picking up speed.

“Ah~ Fuck. I want to cum” You moaned. The man grabbed your jaw in an aggressive manner and moved his face close to yours.

“That’s not what I fucking said. I told you to ask. Guess you’re not good at listening to directions huh.” He said as he sternly looked into your tear-filled eyes.

“P-please- Can I please cum?~” You cried out. You ached for release.

Aizawa began pulling your hips down to him, sinking his fingers into them. His cock could be felt pulsating in you as he quickly entered you. Sparks flew within his office. The room was filled with lust and you could feel yourself rising to release. Both of your breaths got faster and you felt yourself let go. Aizawa had released himself on your stomach. You stayed on his desk and he sat in his chair, the two of you catching your breaths and coming back to earth.

“Here.” Aizawa handed you a cold water bottle. “Are you okay?” The concern in his voice made you finally come back to your reality. He helped you clean you up.

“I’m fine.” You felt more than fine. Your mind had just returned from a state of euphoria that you never thought you were ever going to get. You secretly pinched your thigh just to see if you could have been dreaming. This was no dream. This was just a reality you never expected.

“I wasn’t too rough on you right? I guess I got too carried away.”

“No! Don’t worry about it! I was good the whole time.” You reassured him.

The look in his eyes was different now. They gleamed in the light and had a sweet look. The two of you got dressed again. You made your way to the door of the building, before Aizawa rushed to grab your arm. The man cleared his throat once you turned his direction.

“Do you uh- want to eat something before you go? If you want, I can drive you home.” His cheeks became a bright pink, which made you giggle. The fact that he was acting so shy now after everything that the two of you just did.

“Oh. Sure”

“Alright. I’ll order us some Chipotle. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good.” You smiled at him as the two of you walked back to his office. You guys would end up spending the rest of the evening chatting and embracing each other’s company, literally. The rest of the day would be spent in Aizawa’s arms and you would cherish the warmth of his arms around you, feeling safe. 

[razorblade180-heated]

Too much

[It’s a smut]

It was a normal day at Beacon. Same old classes. Same old delicious lunches. Same old Blake. Well, not entirely. The girl had a problem, a snag if you will. She was currently on her bed in her school uniform, sulking more than she usually does. She patiently waited for the door to open. As she did, The words of Weiss Schnee replayed through her brain…

xxxxx

“YOU ARE DATING J-” The heiress’s mouth was covered quickly by Blake, who looked panicked.

“Ssssshhhh! What part of secret did you not understand!?” Blake said through her teeth, “we don’t want attention.”

Weiss swatted the hand away and whispered, “Sorry, but you should know better than to reveal truths out of the blue like that by now. This is crazier than the last one to be frank.”

Blake wasn’t too thrilled in Weiss’s choice of words in regards to White Fang secret, but now wasn’t the time to bicker. Blake needed her help. “Weiss, I’d like…advice. Also a bit of help.”

“Okay? On what exactly?” The concern in her voice was palpable.

Blake’s face grew a little red. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. “Any...any ideas to get a guy to sleep with you?”

Now it was Weiss’s turn to blush. “Just who do you-” she lowered her voice in consideration, “just who do you think I am!? Why are you coming to me for this!?”

“Yang gets too involved in people’s business and Ruby is...she’s Ruby! I love the girl but this is not the topic she can handle.”

Weiss looked Blake up and down. Why the girl needed help was beyond Weiss’s comprehension. It was shocking Blake wasn’t beating admires back with a stick! “How long have you been dating Jaune?” She asked.

“About...five months now? That sounds right.”

Weiss could not believe her ears. Five months, how has no one noticed!? How didn’t she notice? Then again, she did find it a bit out of character of Jaune when he stopped all of romantic efforts. Looks like this was the reason why. It might’ve been her ego talking but it stung a little to know a guy moved to the next letter in her team’s name. Would Yang have been next if Blake, hold on. A thought just occurred.

“Did you ask him out, or did he ask you?” Weiss was very curious about this

Blake blinked. That was an unexpected question. “Me, why”

“No reason.” Well that actually made Weiss feel a bit better. Not that she cared or anything! “Why do you need help with...that? I would think he’d be all over you. Can’t you, ya know? Drop hints?” A terrible expression hit Weiss. “Please tell me that dunce is ignoring basic signs?” She groaned. It would only make sense.

Blake must’ve agreed because she laughed a little. “Hehe, No Weiss, he isn’t.” Blake rubbed her head in embarrassment, “He’s well aware I’m down for sex. With all the neck kisses and body touches, the message is clear.” Blake saw Weiss’s face scrunch up. “What?” She said defensively.

“It’s unpleasant thinking about Jaune in anything less than his armor. You know that hoodie apparently has a rabbit on it, right?”

“Grow up, and that hoodie is fine. You walk around pretending to be taller than 4’11”

“I just like these shoes, and I’m five feet even when they’re off!” She proclaimed, “What is the matter then? Does he not find you physically- actually, don’t answer that.” Weiss didn’t need to know any physical reactions from Jaune. “Just tell me what typically happens as safely as possible.”

Blake took a deep sigh before speaking. “It’s usually the same song and dance. We go on dates, have a good time, find a place to get cozy, I start making moves, he starts building a little momentum, but then he stops.” Even with the bow on, Blake’s ears were clearly drooping. “He just apologies and says he can’t!”

Weiss raised a brow, “That’s it?”

“Yeah.” Blake nodded, “that’s the long and short of it.”

The problem sounded simple, and normal. Like… too normal. Weiss knew besides herself, Blake was the smartest on their team. Although not sociable, Blake could read a room better than Yang or Ruby. “Blake…” Weiss said, befuddled, “How is Jaune on these dates? Attitude wise, like is he nervous?”

“No, not really. We just talk and have fun. In the beginning we were both a little awkward but now we talk and act like we’ve known each other for a long time.”

Now Weiss was a little jealous at Jaune this time! Five months was all it took to get Blake chatting like an old friend!? The amount of groundwork Weiss and the terror sisters had to put in for Blake to even go out into town casually with them was at least two months' work! Now she’s over here trying to sleep with the guy, a thing nobody saw coming.

“I gotta say, this whole thing feels a little wild. To think five months of secrecy lead to this conversation? If he’s as calm you say then I can’t think of many reasons to panic. I mean I get someone having a little anxiety when giving up your first time, but I hear that’s mainly on the girl’s part. You’re all calm though.” Weiss said. She wasn’t expecting Blake’s eyes to shift away slightly, as if the girl was hiding something. “You are calm, right?”

“Huh? Yeah I’m totally calm” Blake clucked her tongue, “because...it’s not my first time.” Her body swayed back and forth out, trying to finish her sentence. “I’ve been in a couple relationships before this. Some good, some abysmal.”

Yet another surprise to add to the list. “Wait, you’re not a virgin?” Weiss couldn’t believe this. Who knew Blake surpassed her in many social and mature experiences. The way she usually was, Weiss couldn’t imagine Blake being that way. The girl once spent an entire weekend reading in the dorm room. This new information though made Weiss come to realize that she previously assumed. She just had to ask one more question. “Does Jaune know that?”

“Of course.” Blake said, feeling a little insulted. “I wouldn’t lie to him or not be open enough to talk about my past.

Weiss sighed in disbelief at her faunus friend. Perhaps her assessment of Blake reading a room well was a little off. As much as Jaune had been annoying to Weiss, she felt bad for his clearly anxious soul. “Blake, I expect this kind of cluelessness from our leader.”

Blake looked rough left and to the right as if anyone else was there to explain. “Uhhh what?” She said, actually a little stumped.

Weiss put her hands together like she was dealing with an interviewer with zero experience. “Let’s put it this way. You have asked me why your boyfriend, who is most definitely a virgin, shys away from sleeping with you? A beautiful girl who’s already had experience. Ya don’t think he’s you know, incredibly nervous of not meeting pre-established expectations? You know you’re boyfriend, Jaune Arc, the same Jaune Arc that worries about everything else in his life going well?”

Blake just...sat quietly for a moment. Her brain wasn’t even having a gears turning moment. She was upset with herself that those gears weren’t spinning from the beginning. There was nothing to figure out at all! She had simply glanced over that possibility! Her hands held her head as she let out a long groan. “Uuuuugggg What is wrong with me? Of course he fucking is. I’ve been so caught up thinking I was doing something physically wrong, or I was wrong.”

A part of that sounded like baggage. Baggage Weiss wasn’t about to unpack. “Well, question solved. Unfortunately, he’s right to worry. I can’t imagine anybody giving a good first performance. Has he even seen you fully naked?”

“We’ve sent pictures, and did a bit of touching. That second one though was always in...un-private areas, so clothes stayed on.

“Did you just tell me you two are doing things in public?” Weiss criticized. At this point, the girl known as Blake Belladonna might as well be a stranger. Weiss didn’t know this person! Her Blake was not this forward. When did they have time for any of this!? Was she not actually reading in the dorm room!!? “Also, I may not have ever slept with a woman, but I’m sure seeing their assets over a screen is less stressful than in my face.

Blake uncovered her face. “Explain Yang walking out the shower naked then?”

“That’s not stress you see, that’s envy. Next time she does it I’m turning the droplets on her into ice, and stop changing the subject!”

Blake threw her arms up, “Having a secret relationship means not having access to our dorms. That actually brings us to the favor I mentioned…”

“No, I will not give you money for a hotel.” Weiss deadpanned.

Blake’s jaw fell open. “Why not!? It doesn’t have to be a suite.”

Weiss rubbed the bridge of her knows as she thinks about her bank account. “No one carries enough cash to pay for a hotel room. Theoretically I could swipe my credit card, but then the bill is now in my purchase history. I do not need to explain in any capacity why I’m staying in a hotel. A person is bound to assume what I’m doing is exactly what you want to do. Nah uh, can’t do it.” Blake put her head down. Weiss couldn’t help but feel a little bad for her. She’s clearly been putting in the effort to sleep with Jaune, for some reason. Well he was...no no, that’s a rabbit hole that could stay closed. “How long do you need with him?” Weiss asked, committed to solving this problem for the sake of already being included.

Blake’s head popped up quickly . “Two, no, three hours. Give or take an extra half hour.”

Weiss blushes, “wh..why so long?”

“Just in case…” Blake mumbled, “Anything could happen.”

“For three hours? What are you, an animal in heat?” It didn’t even take a second for Weiss to realize how fucked up that question was. She placed her hand over Blake’s mouth as her friend's eyes were getting hostile. “Sorry! That was unrelated to anything, honest!”

Blake was kind enough to believe Weiss at her word, but still petty enough to lick the girl’s hand, making her shriek.

“Eeeiiik!!! Blake!”

“Three hours please.”

Weiss sighed, “Fine. Getting Ruby and Yang to stay out of there that long is doable. They always wanna drag me around to do things that will give me ‘culture’ as they put it. How are you gonna handle Jaune?”

“I….good question.”

Yep, definitely doesn’t read the room well. “Blake, just be easy with him. Reassuring words, all that stuff. It’s his first after all.”

Blake was surprised by the advice. “Wow, that’s really sweet of you to care about him like that.”

Weiss crosses her arms and turns away. “I’m doing this for you, not him. And for me. Jaune moping is way worse than when he’s confident. Hmph!”

xxxxx

“Come on Jaune! What’s taking so long?” Blake thought, fidgeting on her bed. A click of the door lock made her jump to her feet as it opened slowly. Jaune’s head peaked into the room, confused.

“Umm hello?”He looked to the right and saw Blake. “Oh, hey. I got your text and Weiss told me to swing by the moment I could. Everything okay?” Jaune walked in completely and shut the door. Something about this felt uncharacteristically serious. Even for Blake.

She took Jaune’s hand and guided him towards her bed to sit. “Okay, how to start this?” She sighed.

“I hope it starts with you telling me this isn’t a break up?” He said, worrying that he was in trouble. “That would be nice.”

Blake rubbed his back and smiled. “Relax, this isn’t that kind of talk. It’s actually...kinda the opposite.”

“The opposite? Like...marriage?” Jaune’s eyes widened. He wasn’t expecting that kind of conversation. “Don’t you think we’re too young for all that?”

Blake’s face turned red. The fact that’s where his mind went was actually pretty sweet. “Sex Jaune. I see how you got there, but I was referring to sex.” Blake mumbled. “Can we talk about it? We keep building up to it, but then you stop.”

His face got red. “I...it’s just…ummm” he couldn’t find the words. If Yang was here then he was sure a cat having his tongue pun would’ve been said. Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed about wimping out. Speaking only got worse when Blake took it upon herself to straddle his lap. Gods, she was too beautiful. Her eyes left him defenseless. The way her hands slowly ran up his chest and over his shoulders as the smell of lavender wafted over him. “Bl-Blake?”

“I like you.” She suddenly confessed, “I like you for who you are. The things you can do, can’t do, and never have done; I’m okay with all of it. If you’re thinking I’m ranking you to any previous experience, you’re wrong. The only experience I think about with you, is us. Our experiences.” Her right hand pulls his collar away from his neck. The urge to bite her lip is overwhelming as an urge in her core starts to burn. “Let me experience you.” She whispers. Blake leans in and begins kissing his neck. Honestly, she wanted to take things slower for his sake, but all but yearned for Jaune to touch her. So much so that it was a bit dizzying.

Jaune’s body flinched as Blake’s lips grazed his neck, nipping and licking it. “Blake…” Jaune moaned. His mind was still playing catch up, but his body was right on pace. His hands traveled up the feline’s toned legs and squeezed the round ass that rested on his lap, earning him a moan. Blake moved from his neck and captured his lips. Her hands went to his jawline to keep his face close. As if he thought about escaping.

Blake openly moaned as she felt his fingers kneed her ass like dough. She caught him by surprise when she slipped her tongue into his mouth, luring his into her own. Slowly, Blake locked her body back and forth to stir him up. The low groan he let out was a good sign she had done her job. Still, they have gotten this far before. Blake was determined to get further.

Her lips finally freed Jaune. The boy was flushed completely, catching his breath in rhythm with hers. Blake took the opportunity to remove only her blazer, then brought Jaune’s left hand away from her ass and onto her breast. Her fingers overlapped his and pressed down, making him squeeze it gently. “Touch me…” the lust in her voice flowed like a river. The way she felt Jaune’s hand quiver told her that he was still pretty anxious.

Jaune found it within himself to bring both of his hands to the top button of her shirt. A small smile on Blake’s face appeared as she closed her eyes and puffed her chest out a bit more as a sign to go ahead. “Take your time.” She said. Being patient wasn’t Blake’s strongest quality, but with Weiss’s advice in mind, she did her best to contain herself. It was funny. Jaune being nervous was actually making her heart beat faster.

Cool air hit her chest as her shirt was undone, revealing a purple lace bra. Firm hands went around her back. “I can handle the bra if you’re having tr-” a little pop noise was made as her bra strap was undone faster than her shirt. “Trouble…” she finished.

Jaune let out a sheepish chuckle. “Hehe, seven sisters, remember. I’m no stranger to how bras work. They left them everywhere.

“Jaune, you’re like a bag of tricks.” Blake smiled, “I just never know what comes next with you. That being said, I have a good idea that I'll be leading from here.” Blake let her bra fall, making Jaune gasp under his breath. Blake found his reaction to her D sized chest. His face got redder by the second as Blake brought his hands to them.

Jaune refused to speak. He’d hate to ruin the mood right now. He couldn’t believe how soft Blake felt. The way his fingers pressed against her as he massaged each boob. His pointer fingers grazed over her pale, pink nipples made the girl settle more into his lap.

“Mmmm~” Blake moaned, biting her lip from the touch. Jaune took it as a sign to keep going. A wise choice. Blake once again started to buck her hips against what had to be Jaune’s rock hard erection. Even with clothes on, it’s heat reached Blake’s equally hot core. Blake’s hands got busy. She scooted back a bit for them to have enough room to unbuckle Jaune’s pants. Her fingers traced along his lower stomach before dipping below the waistband and wrapping the throbbing erection. Blake leaned forward to capture his tongue yet again as he groaned from the feeling of her nimble fingers stroking his down.

Blake managed to pull his length up and out of his pants completely. She scooted forward again and rubbed his exposed cock against her wet panties. Her clit ground against the shaft. Blake mewled lustfully from Jaune squeezing her breast harder than before. Blake felt her tongue get drawn in and sucked on lightly. Someone was getting excited. The hot precum that ran down her hands only made it easier for Blake to pump faster.

Jaune couldn’t contain his groans and grunts. His hands gripped Blake’s ass again to hold her close. His kiss with her was broken by her going to kiss and bite his neck. “Blake…”

“Sshhh” Blake whispered, “cum for me.” If it wasn’t for her underwear, Jaune’s cock would be sliding up and down her soaked folds right now. The tip pressed against her clit and sent a shiver through Blake’s body that made her grind harder against it. She could tell Jaune was at the end of his rope. His hands gripped her even tighter as Jaune’s throbbing length finally let out a thick white seed that painted Blake’s moist thighs and panties. Blake smiled seductively as she slowed down the roll of her hips, letting him ride out his pleasure and wring out whatever remained inside.

“Blake!” Jaune hissed from the pleasure. Her hands pressed against his rising chest, making him lean back until his forearms had to support his body. Blake dismounted him to stand up for a moment then raised the sides of her soiled skirt, giving Jaune a clear view of the mess he made on the girl.

“Someone’s healthy.” Blake teased, “I wasn’t expecting so much.” Blake’s face became a deep red. Imagining the thought of this load inside her made her weak in all the right ways.

The sight of his and Blake’s arousal slowly trailing down her well toned legs was enough to leave anyone speechless. It didn’t help that her black panties were damp enough to outline the entrance to what Jaune would know to be a very intense experience. And as bad as he wanted it, Jaune couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed by his performance. “Not to kill the mood or sound ungrateful, but cumming alone is a bit… ehhh” was the best way he could describe himself.

Blake playfully rolled her eyes. Boys will be boys. “Well it’s not like we’re finished yet. Besides I literally told you cum. Rest assured I’ll get my moment a bliss before the end of this. Just have a bit of confidence. We’re still foreplaying.”

“I’m not an expert on this but is foreplay always this intense? I don’t think I’ve ever came that hard.” He admitted.

“It varies. Honestly...” Blake looked down at Jaune’s semi-flaccid dick. She slowly walked closer to the bed. Her hand tugged on Jaune’s slacks, prompting him to scoot down a bit more until Blake felt he was close enough. The young woman pulled a bit harder to pull his pants down and of the way of getting ruined. All why never taking her eyes off of him or is cum covered length. “....I like watching how good I make you feel.” She purred, getting excited again.

Jaune has no response to such a confession. Nor could he say anything as she bent over to grab his dick. Just her touching it was enough to make him grow. To get points even further across, Blake’s golden eyes looked right into his eyes as she made him tremble from placing her tongue at the base and lick up; agonizingly slow and deliberate too.

Blake took her time swirling around Jaune to collect the remnants of his load before taking him into her mouth for real. Jaune’s body tensed immediately and hand instinctively went to her head to brace himself as she bobbed up and down. His fingers wrapped around strains of hair, tugging them. Blake purred again with him down her throat and began watching him squirm.

“Blake!” He gasped. The girl only sped. Each time she went lower and lower while her tongue stroked the underside of his shaft. Before Jaune knew it, he was fully erect again and felt like he could cum again if she continued. “Blake! T-Timeout!” He yelled.

Blake gladly stopped. She had proved her point, gotten him hard again, and was pleasantly surprised to learn Jaune wasn’t that bitter in the slightest. Maybe it was his natural scent or something but Blake could see herself getting a bit too into sucking him off. That taste lingered on her and made her body burn up. “Need a break?”

“Not really.” He fibbed, knowing full well a girl who just went down him could probably tell just how into that experience he was. “I just… If I’m coming twice, I’d rather you get some action too.”

“Oh, okay.” Blake’s heart fluttered a bit. He really wanted her to feel good with him. “Then, let’s skip to the fun part.” Blake removed her panties that really should’ve removed earlier, along with the skirt.

Jaune marveled at his beautiful girlfriend who stood before him. Yeah they had sent pictures and sure she’s been topless for several minutes now, but it felt different once everything came off. Her long, beautiful legs went on each side of him, letting him have a full view of a wanting velvet core that hovered above his cock. A thin line of Blake’s arousal made both of teens blush as it dripped onto him. Jaune took his right thumb and pressed against her entrance, rubbing it slowly and watching how it coated his thumb.

“Mmmm~” Blake let out a breath that shook with excitement. Her chest began to rise and fall more distinctly and her back arched ever so slightly as she closed her eyes. “Please don’t fucking team me too long.” She moaned, nudging her hips to gain more friction.

Jaune was mesmerized by the way she acted. He sunk his thumb into her just to watch her crane her neck up and moan again. If he wasn’t excited before, he was now. “You’re so fucking wet…” pushing further in to feel her walls tighten. He kept a slow rhythm when pulling out, just to push right back in.

Blake bit her lip. Her hands ran up his shirt to expose his chest. She had to remember to thank

Pyrrha for putting Jaune through such rigorous training. He was well on his way to being the huntsman he so dearly dreamed of. It was funny but the more Blake thought it about, the more she realized what made her so drawn to him. Even when Jaune lacked experience, he set his sights high. Sure they could be a little too high at times, but you know what? There was something great about that. “I thought I told you not to tease me? I want you to give it to me.” Blake purred. She mustered the resolve to pry Jaune’s hand from her body and took hold of something much bigger and lively. “Ready for a ride? Just relax and let me lead okay?”

Jaune nodded. He watched Blake lower herself without a second thought. His hips instinctively bucked up as he felt the indescribable pleasure of wet, heated walls pulled him in tightly, refusing to let go. Jaune closed his eyes and gripped her waist.

“Feeling good?” Blake shuddered. The feeling of Jaune rubbing her insides so deep made her want to move immediately. Blake put her hands against Jaune’s chest and began rocking her hips. The grip Jaune had on her tightened. A low groan strained from his throat. Blake leaned forward until her breast pressed against him. “It gets better.” Her knees started feeling weak as raised her hips, having Jaune’s dick slid out until the tip remained. Blake then dropped her hips down, slamming his cock back inside of her. Again and again she did that, picking up the speed each time until the sound of her ass smacking against his lap filled the room and rocked the bed. Blake’s body was on autopilot. The feeling of her womb being invaded and walls being grazed, shocked Blake each time Jaune’s dick spearheaded inside of her wanting pussy. “Oh fuck yes…” Blake gasped, licking and biting Jaune’s neck.

The boy was going through it right now. Never had Jaune felt this kind of heat. No amount of foreplay could prepare anybody for this. Each slight movement felt like a jolt of lightning. His mind and body were conflicted. On one hand, Jaune wanted to hold out as long as possible. Yet his hips had other plans. Jaune couldn’t stop himself from timing his movements with Blake’s, thrusting deep into her for even greater pleasure

Blake had no problem with this whatsoever. “Ahhh~ just like that!” Blake encouraged, “You’re so deep...mmmm” the heat between them only grew. Their bodies worked up a sweat and Blake found herself panting more than moaning. Letting Jaune cum once was a good idea. Not only for him to last longer for this moment, but even Blake wasn’t confident her experience would give her an edge against his stamina. High sex drive or not, Blake knew herself well. Satisfying her needs wasn’t as trying as Jaune might think. Especially when she’s topping.

Blake sat up and leaned back a bit. She braced her hands behind her back and began rocking back and forth with Jaune completely inside of her.

Jaune couldn’t take his eyes off of Blake’s body as it grinded on him. The woman’s eyes were shut tight as she focused on the pleasure, while her boobs bounced from each rock. “You’re so beautiful.” He said without thinking. The compliment was heard though, since Blake immediately started going even faster. Jaune let out another groan. He wanted her so bad. Sitting still just wasn’t his style.

Blake’s concentration was broken when she felt strong arms around her lower back. She opened her eyes to see the blonde knight sit up as well. “Jaune?” She said confused. Instead of answering her. Jaune gave her a chaste but strong kiss before his mouth went suck on one of her tits. “Jaune!” She moaned, gripped his hair. Blake arched her back as she felt him lick and suck it, while groping the other one. The assault on her body only intensified when his remaining free hand fell to her ass to squeeze it while she continued to fuck herself on his dick until her mind felt foggy. “This is...too much!” Her hand clung to him. “And you were worried!?” She asked knowing he couldn’t speak right now.

Jaune might’ve been happy by the question if he wasn’t too busy fighting off his fast approaching orgasm. It was crazy Blake was the one saying he was doing too much. Her scent, the way her body pressed against his, the sounds that escaped her beautiful lips, and the way she moved her hips. As if she was trying to milk everything out of him all at once. Every part of her wax too much yet Jaune could only want more, surrendering to the embrace of her soaked walls. Jaune gasped for air. “Blake, I….I can’t...”

Words were beyond him. All he could do was buck in between Blake’s legs.

A seductive smile grew on her face as she went faster. “That’s right, fuck me just like this….and cum. Blake leaned into his, “Hard…”

A slave to her voice, Jaune obeyed Blake’s words without fail. He could only manage several more intoxicating moments before the urge to cum was too strong to deny. Jaune held her close and kept her there; shooting ropes white inside her.

Blake felt Jaune bite down on her shoulder as he filled her deep. All the rough touches and spasms was more than enough to push her over the edge. “Shit…” she said with a shrill voice. Her arms and legs wrapped tightly around his body and Blake buried her face in the crook of neck. Blake tried resisting but her nails dug into his back as her orgasm finally hit. Every muscle in her body tensed up. Her toes curled and she could feel Jaune throbbing inside her as her body tried taking everything the boy had to give.

Neither could speak. They could only cling to each other for what felt like forever before the waves of pleasures finally subsided. Blake was the first to loosen her grip. The girl's limbs released tension and she had zero desire to move an inch. It was only when Jaune went to tilt her head up by her chin that the two looked at each other with a mix of gratification and exhaustion. Blake positioned his hand for her head to rest in, purring at the feel of his touch.

Jaune let out at chuckle. He fell backwards onto the bed with Blake following him down. The girl laid on top of him and continued purring.

“Yeah I don’t see what you were worried about.” She said, teasingly.

“Hey, when Blake Belladonna says she wants to have her way with you, panic sets in. So, good time?”

Blake flicked his forward. “You have me laying on top of you naked and purring.”

“Yeah, fair point. Phew, well that’s good. I like making you happy.”

Blake blushed as she felt his arms hold her gently. “Hmm well looks like you’ve given me a new experience after all.”

“What, cuddling after sex?”

“Mmmhmmm.” Blake hummed, “No time to cuddle when you’re you know, working in a cult. Luxuries like that don’t exist.”

Jaune smirked, “Gee, I never would’ve guessed.” Blake pinched him for that sarcastic remark. Not that it actually did anything. “Well I’m happy to be your first post sex cuddle experience. Though it’s a little risky isn’t it?”

“We have like three hours before anyone shows up. It’s fine.”

“Not exactly the issue I had in mind but good to know.”

Blake’s eyelids felt heavy. That was until the feeling of Jaune’s hands on her butt shocked her away. The feeling of him swelling inside her again made her shudder. Stamina was dangerous. “Please, fifteen minutes. We have like three hours.” She groaned. “Then I’ll have you screaming all over again.”

“Fine by me, but this time I’m getting you off at least twice. Two to one just isn’t fair. I want you just as pleased as me.”

Looking back on things, Blake mentally retracted her statement about boys and their pride. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. “I’ll hold you to that.” Blake closed her eyes and got some rest.

xxxx

“We’re back!” Yang shouted as she walked in with her two teammates. She looked over to see Blake chillin on her bed reading in her sleeping clothes. “Gee if it wasn't for your clothes then I would’ve believed you actually sat there and read the entire time. I’m surprised you haven’t finished all of your books.”

“I’m a slow reader.” Blake blatantly lied. “I did finish a couple of times, books I mean.” Her eyes looked up from the pages to see Weiss staring at her in voiceless disbelief. She wiggled her eyebrows, making Weiss turn red.

The heiress turned around and walked out the room.

“Weiss, where are you going?” Ruby asked.

The Schnee sighed and kept walking. “A place that makes sense.”

Ruby didn’t know what that meant she looked at Yang who shrugged, then to Blake who masterfully controlled her laughter. “Huh, I guess Blake reading slowly through her for a loop?”

It was impossible for Blake not to place her book over her face and smile behind it. “Never change Ruby.” She muttered, “Never change.”

[flightlessangelwings]

Work of Art ~ Chapter 1/2

Marcus Pike x tattooed!fem!reader

Word count: 3.4k

Warnings: fluff, pining, an asshole boss, Marcus being the bestest, reader dealing with misogynistic comments, kissing, insinuated spicy times

Notes: This idea was brought to me by @the-purity-pen​ and I got so carried away that I broke it into 2 parts lol. Thanks so much Leeann! And thank you to @we-can-be-himbos​ for beta reading! I loved writing this so much and I’m so excited to share this with y’all so I hope you like it! Moodboard made by me

~

This was not the ideal situation to walk into when you came in for work this morning. Your job as a receptionist and concierge at The Lustrio, an upscale and expensive hotel, had been fairly tame and quiet for the past five years you had been there. This was the first time there was an incident, and of course you were the one to run headfirst into it.

The Lustrio was very fancy with a rich, high-class clientele. The rooms were lavish and went for hundreds of dollars a night. Even the lobby was a sight in itself, and sometimes people walked through just to look at the exquisite art and ceramics on display. The architecture and design of the space was a work of art in and of itself. You and your coworkers were used to the usual flow of traffic throughout the day paired with people checking in and out. 

While walking in to start your shift, you noticed broken glass everywhere, a priceless piece of art was gone, and the overnight security guard was unconscious on the floor. The sun hadn’t even risen yet and you immediately rushed to the bodyguard’s side as you dialed the emergency line. In no time, the lobby was filled with police, paramedics, and FBI agents. You felt like your world was turned upside down, even if it wasn’t your personal property that was stolen.

Luckily, the security guard was just knocked out, and you had gotten there just in time for him to be alright. As you watched them wheel him away, your boss, Rodderick White, approached you with his usual scowl on his face.

“Well this is just fantastic,” was the first thing he said to you during this whole debacle, “Fix your jacket too, you look disheveled.” You didn’t expect him to ask if you were alright or anything; he seemed to have a grudge against you for some time and you were used to his comments. If you weren’t so overwhelmed, you would have commented on the fact that he didn’t even seem bothered by the theft in the first place but you were too flustered to fully notice.

“I’m fine, thanks for asking Rod,” you snipped back. But you decided not to push your luck with him today and adjusted the collar of your shirt and lined your jacket to look more presentable. The uniform wasn’t horrible: a black blazer over a white button down shirt and black vest with your choice of black dress pants or skirt with black stockings. It just got warm at times with being covered up completely, and the tightness of the shirt collar sometimes felt suffocating.

“Rodderick,” he grumbled back before he cleared his throat and put his mask of friendliness on, “The FBI wants to talk to you.”

You sighed. You knew they would want to interview you since you were the first in that morning, but you weren't looking forward to it. “Yes sir, Mr. White,” you used your fake customer service voice as you followed where the various agents gestured for you to go.

The FBI unit had set themselves up in both the larger and smaller conference rooms that were just a short walk down the hallway from the lobby. In the large one, they had laptops and equipment set up. You noticed several agents were already busy trying to get a lead on the case. The smaller room that you were led in to was set up for interviews. Once you reached the doorway, you were met with a single agent who you assumed would conduct your interview.

“Nice to meet you,” he greeted you with a warm smile and an extended hand, “I’m Marcus Pike, the agent in charge here,” you took his hand and gave him your name, “I”m sorry this happened here. I hope you’re alright. Can I get you some water or anything?”

It was nice to know that a complete stranger showed you more kindness and concern than your boss who you had known for years. You brushed off the frustration you had with your boss, along with the lingering feeling of the warmth from the agent’s soft hand in yours. He was handsome for sure, and had big soft brown eyes and a smile that lit up the room. A sprinkle of scruff lined his jaw and framed his face perfectly.

“I’m fine, thank you,” your voice was genuine when you spoke to the agent and you followed him into the room where you sat down at the conference table.

Agent Pike closed the door behind him and the two of you were alone in the room. 

Suddenly, you felt nervous, even though you hadn’t done anything wrong. He must have noticed the nerves on your face right away before he gave you another sweet smile and said your name in a calm voice, “You’re not in trouble or anything. We just need your account of what you saw.”

Just those few words from him instantly made you feel better. Normally, you wouldn’t fall for someone’s charm like this, but something about this agent just seemed so genuine. Genuine and kind were two qualities that were hard to find in a person. 

You felt yourself heat up as you gave him a nervous chuckle, “Since it’s just us in here, would you mind if I took my jacket off? I’m a little warm,” you tried to play off your jitters. When he nodded you added, “Just don’t tell my boss. We’re not supposed to be out of uniform at all when we’re here.”

Marcus laughed and looked down at the table, “Your secret is safe with me.” He looked back up when he heard your laughter, and this time it was his turn to be nervous.

With your jacket off, you were left in your short sleeve white button down shirt and vest, and you undid the top couple buttons to give yourself more room to breathe. But it wasn’t just the exposed skin that caught Marcus’ attention. He saw for the first time that you were almost completely covered in tattoos, and he couldn’t help but stare.

Marcus was absolutely a fan of art; it was what drew him to work for the art theft department in the first place. He also liked to dabble in art himself in his free time. To see how much artwork you had on your body made him stare at you in admiration. Marcus had thought that the lobby was nice to look at, but you were a work of art on a whole other level.

“Sorry,” he focused his attention to the papers in front of him to tear his gaze away, “I like your tattoos,” he added in a softer tone.

You smiled at him and Marcus thought his heart would break out of his chest. “Thank you, Agent Pike,” again, your voice was genuine. Truthfully, you thought his reaction was cute. You were used to worse anyway, and you could always tell when people stared out of interest or admiration versus disgust. Agent Pike definitely liked what he saw; you could tell already that he was not a subtle man at all.

“Marcus, please,” he met your eyes again and you both shared a moment where time seemed to stop for both of you.

“Marcus,” you repeated in a whisper and he echoed with your name.

Marcus had to bring himself back to the task at hand.  He redirected the situation back to what he originally was supposed to be talking to you about. He asked you a series of questions about your morning, what you saw, the time you arrived, if you noticed anything in the past few days, etc. You answered all of his questions honestly, and your story lined up with events perfectly. Not that Marcus was concerned it wouldn’t. 

“We have an idea of who it might be,” Marcus told you as he slid you a sheet of paper with the suspect’s photo on it, “Does he look familiar?”

You took the photo and furrowed your brows as you studied it, “Yeah,” your voice dropped, “He checked in a couple days ago. I remember I was the one who checked him in. He had a weird energy about him that gave me the creeps, but he didn’t try anything. Haven’t seen him since.”

Marcus clenched his fists involuntarily and suddenly felt the need to protect you. He wasn’t sure why; the two of you were practically strangers. Yet, even in your first meeting, he felt like there was something there. Even with his past history of failed relationships, there was something about you that just called to Marcus. Something about you told him that you were worth taking a chance on.

“Well we’re following up on him. My team is the best so we should have him soon,” Marcus turned serious as he fixed his gaze on you again. He waited for your eyes to meet his before he added in a more concerned tone, “Just stay safe until then.”

Something about his tone made your heart skip a beat and you felt your chest tighten. You could tell from the look on his face that he meant it, and his worry for you was genuine. Normally, you wouldn’t be flirtatious with a stranger, let alone an FBI agent, but you responded in a sultry tone, “I’ll be safer when you catch the guy.”

Marcus’ breath caught in his throat as he clenched his fists again; he definitely did not expect that tone from you. All he did was nod as he composed himself and slid his card across the table, “My number is on the back. If you think of anything else or need anything,” he paused as the tension in the room suddenly felt thick, “Call me.”

*

It took Marcus Pike and his team less than a week to catch the art thief, and when they did, his first thought was of you. He was pleasantly surprised that you had actually texted him the day after he interviewed you and he used the opportunity to make sure again that you were ok. He wanted to ask about your boss too, since he saw the older man berate you for seemingly nothing before Marcus and his team left. But, he decided not to push that envelope yet.

“Welcome back, Agent Pike,” your voice greeted him when he walked into the lobby. 

Marcus was thankful you were at work when he came by and he greeted you with a smile and your name, “Nice to see you again,” he looked around, “Looks like you all got everything cleaned up well.” A look around told him that Rodderick was either busy in his office or off for the day, and for that Marcus was grateful. He wanted to talk to you anyway.

You whispered something to your coworker beside you and stepped around the desk to be closer to Marcus, “Like nothing ever happened,” you tried to make a joke but your eyes told a different story.

He read the question in your eyes clearly and it gave him the biggest pleasure to tell you, “We got him.”

Your face lit up and the relief on your face was clear, “I’m glad to hear it,” you let out a heavy breath, “I can’t offer you a free night or anything… At least not without Rodderick’s approval,” you said your boss’s name with snark and disdain and Marcus couldn’t help but let out a short laugh.

“I’m ok,” he replied lightheartedly before he paused and stared at you for a moment, “Can I ask you out to dinner instead?”

For a moment, you thought you had passed out. He couldn’t have actually asked you out, could he? But when you finally caught up to yourself, you responded with a soft but enthusiastic, “Yes.”

*

You took a deep breath as you stepped out of your Uber in front of the restaurant. It was a nicer place than you usually went to, but Marcus picked the place and insisted on treating you. You picked out a nice outfit for the occasion, and made sure that it was sleeveless to show you tattoos since you remembered that he really liked them. A smile lit up your face as you thought about the look on his face when you shed your jacket the day you two met.

But Marcus’ voice shook you from your throughs, and you looked up to see him dressed nicely in front of you. In his hand, he had a single flower for you, and you wanted to tear up at the gesture. It was something small, but you could tell how meaningful it was. With a thanks, you took the flower and hooked your arm around his as he led you inside.

At dinner, conversation flowed so easily. Marcus told you all about his career and his interests, and you did the same. You even made the joke that this was much better than an interrogation, which made him laugh. Everything seemed perfect, and both you and Marcus felt happy and comfortable with each other.

“So I have to ask,” Marcus started, “Are there any stories about your tattoos?” when your face flashed a look of apprehension, he clarified, “I’m not criticizing at all. Actually, I think they’re exquisite. Really a work of art.”

You bit your lip as you grinned. No one had ever complimented your tattoos quite like that before, so you indulged his question. You told the story behind some of them, and picked out your personal favorites, “I wanted to be a tattoo artist at one point, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me,” you sighed, “Maybe in another life.”

“Maybe in that life I’ll run the flower shop across the street and admire you from there,” he quipped back and you couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea.

But, stares from a man at another table caught Marcus’ attention. Your back was to him, so you couldn’t see, but Marcus did not like the way the man eyed you. A soft frown came across his face as he met the man’s gaze before he turned away. Marcus couldn’t help but think how rude it was for the man to blatantly check you out while you were obviously on a date with him. Of course, he knew you were beautiful and attractive, but he didn’t like the way the man stared at you.

“Marcus?” you asked when you noticed his expression dropped, “You ok?”

Your voice brought his attention back to you, “Yeah,” he answered with a half smile, “Fine.”

Just as you were about to open your mouth again, a voice interrupted, “Hey,” a deep rumble called your attention and it was the man who stared at you. He hovered close to you as he stared disapprovingly, “Don’t you have enough tattoos for a woman? Disgusting.” 

Before you could even react, Marcus jumped to his feet to face him head on, “Don’t you have anything better to do? What she does with her own body is none of your business,” the anger in his voice caught you off guard, “And she is beautiful the way she is,” he added in a lower voice as he grabbed onto the man’s collar, “She’s a damn work of art.” 

It was the last thing you expected, but you appreciated how fast Marcus was to defend you. But, you noticed the man’s anger also flared so you got to your feet too, “Hey, Marcus it’s ok,” you put your arms out between the two men to try to break them up.

Marcus glanced over at you for a moment before he decided to let the man go. He knew from the look on your face that you didn’t want to cause a scene. Asmuch as he wanted to just punch the guy, he decided to let it go. The man scrambled away the second he could, and Marcus let out a heavy exhale to calm himself down as you looked at him with wide, pleading eyes.

The way he immediately defended you lit something up inside you, and you wanted to cry from the rush of emotions. If you weren’t in such a nice restaurant, you would have tackled him in the biggest hug, but you kept your cool for now, “Thank you, Marcus,” you spoke in a hushed tone. Your hand dropped down to take his and you gave him a tight squeeze. You hoped your emotions came through in your grip.

And the way he smiled at you made your heart stop for a moment. Instead of sitting back down, Marcus squeezed your hand back, “How about we get out of here?”

You nodded as he left enough money to cover your bill and tip on the table and led you outside. As much as Marcus wanted to pull out all the romantic stops for you, he decided to change his plan for the evening and led you down the street to a diner, “How about pancakes a la mode for dessert?”

“I’m good with anywhere, Marcus,” you replied with a smile, “As long as it’s with you.”

In no time, you were seated in a booth for part two of your date. Honestly, you felt much more comfortable in a more casual place, but you meant what you said: you were happy anywhere as long as you were with Marcus Pike. Conversation picked up right where you left off and things just felt so natural with him.

“Hey,” Marcus suddenly turned the conversation in a more serious direction, “I’m sorry about that guy at the restaurant. He shouldn’t have said that to you.”

A flutter in your chest rendered you speechless for a moment before you swallowed hard, “It’s alright, Marcus,” you shrugged it off, “I’ve gotten worse.” You were bothered by the guy’s insult, but over the years you’ve learned to shrug those people off. But the look of concern on Marcus’ face made your heart flip in your chest, “Thank you for what you did though,” you added with a soft smile of your own.

Marcus seemed satisfied with that and his face relaxed, “What kind of date would I be if I didn’t defend the most beautiful woman in there?” he chipped back with a wink.

When you stuttered in an attempt to find the right words, Marcus laughed at you. Clearly, it had been some time since someone treated you the way he thought you should be treated. But, Marcus was determined to never let you feel unwanted or alienated again. He took pity on you and steered the conversation back to something light and the two of you talked over a pot of coffee for hours until you both decided you should leave.

Marcus put his arm around you as he guided you outside again and you fiddled with your phone in your hand as the two of you stood on the curb, “I guess I should call an Uber,” you mumbled as you made no attempt to do so.

He just watched you in silence as he thought about how nice it felt to hold you close. And Marcus couldn’t help how badly he wanted to kiss you, but he didn’t want to cross a line so he held himself back.

However, your voice interrupted his thoughts as you turned to face him with a determined look on your face, “Listen Marcus, I don’t normally do this on a first date but,” you reached out to cup his face in your hands and slowly pulled him in close to you. You paused for a moment to give him a chance to pull away, and when he didn’t you pressed your lips together in a short, soft kiss. When you pulled back and caught his eye for a moment, you saw the fire in his eyes and you crashed your lips together again. This time, the kiss was more desperate and heated.

Marcus tightened his grip on you and held you as close as he possibly could as he deepened the kiss. The two of you let the rest of the world fall away as you got completely lost in each other. The kiss was sweet, yet fiery, and you both could feel the unspoken words in each other’s lips.

When he finally broke away, Marcus whispered breathlessly, “I don’t normally do this on a first date, but would you wanna come over to my place?” 

With your forehead pressed against his, your voice was just as hushed, “Yes.”

[snowdice]

Migration in Spring (Once There Is Something Left Series)

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Remus & Emile

Characters: Remus, Emile

Summary: Remus and Emile start to travel during the first spring of the apocalypse.

This is the fic for my 8th BINGO card. Thanks for voting!

Notes: Zombie Apocalypse AU, discussion of mental illness (including someone with mental illnesses using the word ‘insane’ to describe themselves)

This takes place in the same universe as the Is There Anything Left of Patton? series.

“Where are we going anyway?” Emile asked.

Remus glanced at him. He looked tired and cold, but there wasn’t much to do about that. Remus was tired and cold too. “We’re not really going anywhere,” Remus said.

“Then, why are we moving?” Emile asked, a tinge of real frustration in his voice. He was usually rather chipper or at least pretended to be even now. He’d been able to keep his mood light even in the winter months that were just now starting to be over, though the current early morning temperature would beg to differ. Yet even someone like Emile had lines Remus had discovered over the past few months where they were each other’s only (living) company. “Why couldn’t we just stay there.” ‘There’ was the house they’d buckled down in for the winter. It had had a lot of supplies which helped them get through this first winter of the apocalypse, but as spring dawned, Remus had spotted the signs it was time to leave.

“It’s not about where we’re going,” Remus said. “It’s about what we’re avoiding.”

“What we’re avoiding?” Emile asked.

“The dead are migrating, can’t you tell?” Remus asked.

“They’re what?!” Emile asked alarmed. “No! How can you tell?”

“They might be corpses reanimated by some unknown parasite or virus or whatever, but they still obey some of the laws of nature. They don’t move well in the cold, so the mobs traveled South for the winter, but spring means they’re starting to move back North. I’m assuming they’ll go back to wherever they were ‘born’ for the summer like sea turtles return to the beaches they were born at to lay eggs. There’s been some signs of them moving North already and that house was great for the winter, but it’s directly South of New York City. We have to move out of the path before the big mobs start coming.” He glanced at their map. “The best place would be to get up into the Appalachians for the migration if the weather keeps them at bay long enough.”

“A-are you sure?” Emile asked.

“Nope,” Remus said cheerfully. “Just my gut.”

Emile sighed. “Well, your gut has gotten us this far,” he acknowledged. “So, I’ll follow you.”

“Aw, thanks Doc.”

“Please start to call me Emile, Remus.”

Remus fake gasped. “Honestly, Doctor Picani, just because I’ve seen your penis one time doesn’t mean we should drop doctor-patient etiquette.”

“I was bleeding out from a bullet wound, Remus. Is that really all you could focus on?”

“Obviously not. You’re still able to walk, aren’t you?”

“That is true,” Emile acknowledged.

“Though…” Remus started.

“Don’t,” Emile said, and Remus was delighted to see him have to cover his growing smile with his mitten. “Don’t start. You’re horrible.”

“Horrible is my middle name.”

“It is not,” Emile said. “I’ve seen your paperwork.”

“Well, I wanted to have it legally changed, but mother never let me. Who names their child Remus Reginald Royal? No wonder I grew up to be fucking insane.”

Emile frowned at him, clearly about to go into one of his head-doctor lectures.

“Yeah, yeah,” Remus cut him off before he could start. “I’m not insane. Just clinically depressed with a nice case of PTSD and probably borderline personality disorder…because there’s a real big difference.” He said the last under his breath, but unfortunately Emile heard.

“There is a big difference!” Emile protested, “especially for you as you have a history of using words like that to not only put yourself down but to reinforce a self-constructed sense of helplessness in the face of the problems you can control…”

Remus groaned as he, as anticipated, started in on another head-doctor lecture. Was it too much to ask the universe for a zombie to come out of the bushes and try to eat them?

Want to read more? Click below!

Is There Anything Left of Patton? Master Post

Main Master Post.

[bearslikedilfs]

Hetalia 2Ps and the violent portrayals of them in fan content

I’ve seen several posts in the vein of people disliking the 2ps, and the concept of 2ps, in Hetalia. This is absolutely NOT a callout post for them! The reasons I’ve heard when people say they dislike it are actually really good reasons to dislike it. I think this stems from the usual portrayals people have of them.

First i think we need to realize that the 2Ps have no canon, as far as i’m aware. From what i remember all that happened is Hima made a couple of character drawings with alternate colors and the fandom went crazy and created an entire explanation for it. (same thing happened with cardverse i think. character drawings vaguely themed after suits of cards became an entire AU.)

When the 2P thing first happened in like 2013 or so the most common portrayal i saw was that the 2Ps were the evil twins or the violent or insane version. This, combined with the fact many of the 2Ps had darker hair/eyes/features made me stay away from the 2P section mostly. The association of the two things definitely had an undertone of racism to me. Sometimes it wasn’t even an undertone, with such terrible takes as:

2P japan was the personification of Imperial Japan;

2P America was the personification of the Confederacy (sometimes dead, sometimes still alive but now as the personification of The South), sometimes 2P America was the personification of all Native Americans- yes, every native nation at once;

2P Russia was the Soviet Union;

The violent 2PS are what would have happened if the N*zis won WW2- etc.

Those are some extremely racist, shitty takes; I can see why so many people dislike the 2ps.

Again, this isn’t canon. This is entirely the fandom that did this. Hima made a lot of the 2Ps have darker hair, probably because so many of the 1Ps have blond hair. Which is also an issue, but it was the fandom that attached the violent, insane, sometimes racist portrayals to the characters. And I will say i’ve also seen perfectly ok portrayals of 2Ps! But a good portion especially in earlier fandom seemed obsessed with making them evil.

Now, in the modern fandom, i’ve seen a lot more nuanced 2Ps. Personally, i think the 2Ps have a place, not as the evil versions, just as another aspect. People themselves are nuanced and have several different personality traits, and are not strictly good or evil. An entire nation is hard to represent in a single person; there are conflicting traits, personalities, stereotypes. Which may make it necessary for another personification, to cover another aspect. As an example, here’s my take on 1P and 2P America; Allen is the most common name for the 2P, so i’ll use that.

1P: Alfred: The Alfred I have in mind is cheerful to a fault. He’s eager and optimistic occasionally to the point of being unrealistic. Alfred’s the most extrovert extrovert to ever extrovert; while he likes hiking and being in nature, he can’t stand not being around and meeting new people, so he often lives in a city. He wants to help, but can sometimes be annoying with how much he insists.

2P: Allen: He’s not necessarily pessimistic, but more realistic. Things can go well, but only if you put in the hard work and effort to make it that way. Alfred assumes everyone is a kind and decent person at the first meeting; Allen waits for proof, and then he’ll warm up to you. Allen is still extroverted, but lives out in the country for peace and quiet. Allen will not help you until you outright ask for it, leading some to think he doesn’t care when the other just didn’t ask. imagine the “gruff cowboy with heart of gold” character trope.

In my opinion this is a much better, more nuanced idea of the 2Ps. Both have personalities that are associated with America in some way. they aren’t the “evil” and “good” versions, nor necessarily complete opposites- they do have some things in common. They don’t represent different areas, they both represent America as a whole, just embody different aspects of it.

I think part of the reason people made them good/evil sane/insane versions may be to keep their favorite character from being associated with the bad parts of history, and was an effort to completely separate things into black and white when history itself is not black and white. I think the answer here is nuance, thought and research put into representing another aspect of a nation in a 2P and avoiding a racist characterization. There’s a lot of history to cover, and one person may not be able to cover it all; nuanced 2P’s allow you to cover different thoughts and experiences that happened in the same time period. This is all my opinion, based on my experiences and observations in the fandom; i welcome polite further discussion of it.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 2

The Girls Are Fighting!!!

We return to Aguefort Adventuring Academy where the man himself has just told the Seven Maidens that their party is being split up which they are NOT having even though it doesn’t seem to be a malicious plot so much as the fact that Danielle, Ostentatia, and Zelda are Juniors while the other four are graduating Seniors. Antiope casts Hunter’s Mark on Aguefort, Penny pleads, Katja threatens (well, “threatens”; she walks up menacingly and then says that he can’t do this because it’s the only group of friends she’s ever had and it’s heartbreaking like all of her non-hilarious dialogue is).

Aguefort understands that it sucks and has no respect for rules but says it’s out of his hands. Sam clocks that he’s hiding something (along with the fact that he seems to know about something going on with Antiope and Penny which we know is their respective internship/apprenticeship offers) and calls him out, hitting him with a Lightning Lure to drag his ass back when he tries to turn into a bat and escape out the window. She’s unhinged and I love it. 

So does Aguefort who decides to let them in on some school secrets, leaving a decoy while he leads them all to the super secret part of the forbidden library which is bondage themed because sure. Also, Ostentatia is topless for this also because sure. He does a lot of pomp and circumstance to summon a book which Yelle flatly says better not just be the syllabus and it isn’t but she’s close. It’s the bylaws of the school district which he has summoned for the guidelines on the special, magical thing the girls can get so they can graduate together…

Their GEDS!!!!! Trés mystical. 

Basically what they need to do is complete a level A, B, or C quest together (which Antiope knows are like the top 3 highest difficulty quests--they go from A-F) and get signoff from the superintendent. But the superintendent has been missing for 12 years and there can’t be a new one until she’s dead (which she isn’t or else they’d be able to appoint a new one). Her name is Tectonya Karkovnya (who I will be calling TK) and Aguefort calls her, “chaotic and impossible to predict,” which coming from him is como se dice, troubling. 

Sam pulls out her mirror to do a little snooping on TK’s past and sees that she’s a coppery, earth genasi woman. She also sees her talking to Aguefort and saying that the magic of consciousness is far superior to his beloved chronomancy. Then the scene shifts to show her getting more and more worried as she got deeper into her studies and then going to a dwarven holy site in the Mountains of Chaos with some kind of shadow figure following her. 

Penny gets photos of the super cursed bylaws and Arthur leaves since he very much is the principal of the school and has to do his job (ostensibly). With Aguefort gone, the girls discuss the proposition after conscripting a very reluctant Antiope to be their leader (Aabria hilariously improvises that a shaft of sunlight somehow comes down to illuminate her and she has to step out of the spotlight). 

They discuss whether they want to do this GED quest or not and Zelda says she wants to but she wants to give anyone who has other stuff going on an out so they don’t feel beholden. Ostentatia immediately shoots back that Zelda is just saying that because she has plans with Gorgug. That brings down the mood and Sam, despite being a water genasi, fans the flames by saying that Gorgug has lots going on that doesn’t involve her so she shouldn’t be running back to him all the time. 

Yelle tries to calm things down and says they should sleep on it but Sam and Ostentatia are taking this super personally and are offended that they’re even having this conversation. Penny accidentally lets slip that she has some kind of apprenticeship (she’s trying to keep it on the DL because it’s supposed to be a secret) and oh man it becomes a Whole Thing. They fight in the way that you do when everyone in the fight actually wants the same thing and cares deeply about each other but are in completely different headspaces which are making them lash out.

Penny, not wanting to be around the conflict, goes invisible. Zelda is suppressing going into a rage and says that maybe she should go be with Gorgug. At least he won’t yell at her. Yelle once again tries to cool things down and suggests they have a text thread where they can say if they’re in or out by the end of the night instead of hashing it out in the open. She’s accused of not being in and, in response, texts that she’s in. Ostentatia and Sam also immediately text that they’re in, which basically makes her “solution” entirely moot. 

Zelda is finally fully fed up and leaves (Penny following invisibly). Katja also follows. 

Antiope can tell that Sam is upset about something that’s not this but Sam brushes her off rudely and storms off (quite literally, causing storm clouds outside in her wake). Yelle goes after her. Ostentatia is left with Antiope.

Time for a string of very emotional mini scenes which I highly encourage you to watch because they are peak improv.  

Zelda, Katja, (Invisible) Penny

Katja runs to find Zelda who is under a tree crying and asks if she’s OK. Zelda says that Sam and Ostentatia are so beautiful and confident and eloquent and she gets so tongue tied and useless when they disagree with her because she’s so timid. Zelda wants this so bad but she doesn’t want to feel like she’s forcing her friends to stay with her. 

Katja, as we know, has major abandonment issues because of her constantly away dad (and prob her mom too) and she doesn’t want to be left behind again but she also doesn’t want her friends to factor her in so she tries to be stoic and says that the people you love have to want to stay. But with a 3, Zelda immediately clocks the emotion behind the words. Instead of calling her out, Zelda offers to listen to music with her. 

Penny takes this opportunity to make herself known (which has got to be terrifying--unless you’re used to it and then it’s like same shit as usual from Ms. Luckstone) and Zelda goat jumps to grab her out of the tree she was crying in above them and tells her that she doesn’t have to go invisible every time there’s conflict. They all agree that they hate confrontation and Rehka gets the funniest lowkey line of the episodes: that she wouldn’t know what to do if they didn’t agree on that. We then cut to…

Ostentatia and Antiope

Where Izzy gets the high key funniest moment of the episode by transitioning in with a big, “You know I LOVE confrontation,” which breaks everyone at the table. But she says it as a preface to admitting that she may have been a bit of a bitch to Zelda. She plays coy for like a half second before she breaks down sobbing with Antiope catching her before she sinks fully to the floor. Antiope comforts her and admits that while she wants to stay with the party, she hates having options taken away from her as they have been her whole life effectively. She was honestly kind of relieved when she was trapped in the crystal because it meant all that pressure was gone for a bit. They affirm that they love each other then Ostentatia goes to apologize to Zelda. 

Danielle and Sam

Yelle goes to talk to Sam (who she adorably calls “merbae”) and while Sam doesn’t wanna talk about it, Yelle says they don’t have to. She just wants to be there for her in whatever capacity she needs. She knows Sam loves her friends and would never hurt them on purpose so something must be wrong with her-- “History of abandonment?” Sam finishes, almost glibly. She’s tired of losing people. She doesn’t want to lose more. She doesn’t want things to change. Nature is change, Yelle says. Nature sucks, Sam says. Yelle is gonna pretend like she didn't hear that. 

Sam feels bad that she snapped at Zelda and Yelle says that they’re all a family. Things will be alright. The storm clouds that Sam reflexively summoned peter out into a cool, refreshing mist. 

Ostentatia and Zelda

Ostentatia goes to where Zelda and the girls are and full ass runs at her like they weren’t just fighting. After assuring her that she’s not there to fight she apologizes, saying she was a cow. Zelda says she honestly agrees with Ostentatia that she wants the group to stay together and wishes she could be bolder in non-rage settings. Ostentatia says that maybe if the Seniors leave they can still have a party and Penny vetos that even though, as Ostentatia says, it’s a pretty reasonable compromise. Anyway, they basically all go in a circle saying they love each other and it’s very sweet. 

I’m serious, I can’t do these heart to hearts justice in this format, just go watch them for that emotional girl group goodness.

Anyway, outside of the main group, Antiope goes to talk to her sister Corsica who is currently teaching a class. Antiope does not give AF. She orders the students out and they scatter. Wouldn’t you?

Antiope wants advice. Should she stay with her party after flaming out of her last one? Should she take the internship and stay on the path her parents want her on? Corsica really feels for her. Antiope has had to struggle in a way that she and their brothers never did. She finally answers that she and her brothers are awesome and successful fighters but none of them have been able to do the scariest thing possible: disappoint their parents. They’re soldiers. They like it that way. They fall in line. But maybe Antiope isn’t a soldier. Maybe she’s a leader. She ordered those kids out of the room without thinking after all and they obeyed. It’s an extremely good speech and Antiope basically has chills, as do I.  

I assume while this is happening or perhaps right before everyone goes home, Penny goes to see Jawbone (who has some spiffy new art--as did Gilear who cameoed early in the episode when Aguefort atomic wedgied him invisibly because sure) and talk about this uber difficult decision she had to make. Jawbone gets to the heart of the matter pretty quick. Penny is a high achiever who’s lived a life without choice. But now that she’s about to be off the rails for the time she’s freaking out. Penny sees the truth in the statement (after hilariously trying to solve his metaphor about an amusement park) and thanks him for the perspective. She then, in a very Fig move, tries to kiss him and Jawbone basically stiff arms her and breezes right past like it didn’t happen, showing her out. What a trooper that Jawbone.   

Moving on to Katja. When she gets home she tries to call her dad who is unreachable on his hell mission. She leaves him a message saying that he should call her back when he can and she knows what she wants for her graduation present now. She wants her party to not break up. This breaks Brennan and me. 

She then snoops arounds for info on TK. She sees letters of her dad trying to get her into Hudol. And she sees some stuff from the Ministry of Adventure, asking if he knew where TK was. But she doesn’t get anything else. At least, she doesn’t get anything else that’s helpful. She does however find a picture of her mom which makes her bolt to go talk to Cinnamon who prances for her to make her feel better. She joins in dancing, badly.

EDIT: I initially wrote that Katja’s mom was dead because that’s what I thought she said but @ennn said that in the Adventuring Party, Rekha said that her mom didn’t die, she left. Which is less dramatic in some ways but SO MUCH WORSE for abandonment issues so, yikes girl!

Yelle meanwhile goes home to talk to her unofficial third mom, Holly, who is the awakened tree under which her house is. Picture a Grandmother Willow situation from Pocahantas basically. Yelle talks about the conflict a bit and, as usual, ends up on a tangent about how the world is unfair and she has to speak for the voiceless. Holly is concerned for her (as are her other moms which I may have neglected to mention in the last recap). She asks Yelle if she can tell her something that might be painful. Yelle agrees. Holly says that Yelle is great and wonderful and kind but she spends so much time speaking for other people that she never speaks for herself. Her moms worry that there will come a day when she needs help and will have to ask for it without couching it in terms of the greater good and she won’t be able to. 

Yelle really hopes she’s high when the time comes. 

At her home, Ostentatia casts Commune With The City to see if TK has been around and she’s not there now but she can tell she has been (though there’s no indication on if that’s recently or not). On a 17 religion check she knows that there is a dwarven holy site in the mountains that matches Sam’s description from the mirror. She’s still avoiding her dad but when she prays for her spells, she asks for her dad to feel like himself again too. 

Hey, what time is it? Let me check my watch. 

Ah yes, it’s time for Sam to make some rash decisions. 

She feels like she should text Zelda but doesn’t. Instead, she goes into Penelope’s room. And she takes out her mirror. And even though she’s expended the charge for today, she tries to make it show her Penelope. 

OK, says Brennan. Sure. Hey, can you roll me a quick little Wisdom Save?

5. 

Haha, Sam’s in danger. 

The mirror heats up as it’s pushed beyond its limits and Sam sees an image of a young Penelope with braces grabbing her hands and grinning and saying that they’ll be best friends. Then, the image shifts and she sees the Penelope of the present in her tattered prom queen dress and glass shard crown. Her eyeless, haunting, demon prom queen form, teeth razor sharp as her words. 

“A call without a text,” she says. “Are you out of your mind?”

“You look better than you ever did alive,” Sam spits back. 

It is a battle of the bitches right out of the gate. The girls are fighting part two if you will. They snipe at each other for a bit and Brennan has Sam roll insight into herself. On a 19, Sephie says that’s not enough for Sam to get a read on herself (yikes girl) so she doesn’t understand that this fight can only ruin her because while Penelope enjoys causing people pain, Sam doesn’t. 

They both get in some very choice barbs but when Penelope tries to entice her into making a devilish pact and disparages her new party, Sam does the mic drop of the century by telling her that her parents are divorcing and hanging up. The entire table LOSES THEIR MIND. It is like a real life representation of one of those Draw The Squad memes. Everyone brandishes their fans in a salute to that truly epic conversation ender. 

As the night draws to a close, Brennan asks the girls who haven’t responded to the text chain yet if they respond. Katja texts that she’s in. Zelda texts Antiope and Penny that she’s not going to text whether she’s in or out until they respond because she doesn’t want it to feel like a 5 on 2 dogpile.

Antiope and Penny call then text, then call, then text, then call each other to discuss what they should do and also hype each other up because with all the drama, they didn’t really get to celebrate their opportunities. Penny tries to downplay her thing and insinuates that it wouldn’t be a big loss if she wasn’t in the group anymore and Antiope shuts that down immediately. You’re the last thing so many people see before they die Penny! That’s so cool! 

They both decide to text that they’re abstaining from voting for now and go to bed.

The next day, Antiope gets up and sees that her party’s schedule has been cleared for the next two weeks by the school for quest reasons. She tells her dad she wants to talk to Charity Blythe (the woman at the Ministry of Adventure she needs to talk do) and he sets up a no pressure (but actually tons of pressure) meeting with her before turning her 5 mile run into a 12 mile run because she is a Jones and 5 mile runs are for Amateurs. 

Ant texts the rest of the Maidens that this meeting is happening so they can maybe get some quest info from Charity and Ostentatia has in the meantime texted (after the 2 abstains) that she will be going for the GED regardless and anyone who wants to join can. Of course, there was never any reason to NOT go for it (besides the danger which they obv don’t care about) and getting it doesn’t mean any doors are closed to them. It’s just that emotions are running so high they can’t fully seem to see that (or at least some members can’t). 

Ant doesn’t have the clearance to meet at Charity’s office so they meet at the Museum of Adventuring instead. In it happens to be the skeleton of Kalvaxus who they killed (if you don’t remember, the Bad Kids killed him first and then he was resurrected so the Maidens could also kill him for catharsis reasons). Tensions are still super high as evidenced by Sam’s snide abstention comment to Penny and Ant and then by her TRYING TO LIGHTNING BOLT THE DRAGON SKELETON TO DESTROY IT.

GIRL.

That doesn't happen though because she’s Counterspelled by Charity Blythe who walks in, surprised to see that Antiope brought her whole party. Antiope says they were just leaving but Charity can sense shenanigans when she sees them and says if they’re gonna spy on the conversation they might as well stay for it which they of course do.

She gives Antiope a rundown of the internship: 1 year commitment with a possibility to expand to 2-3 years. Stipend. She’d have to live in Bastion City.

Katja remembers that her dad was talking to the Ministry of Adventure in the letters she found and asks Charity about it. Charity says they were asking him about TK’s whereabouts because he was friends with her. On that, Yelle casts Detect Thoughts with a Stealth roll of 17 (we see on a secret Box of Doom roll that Charity got a 26 to see her cast it). Anyway, she sees that TK took some object with her when she disappeared (which she later sees is a crystal screen with a map seemingly marking quest locations from A-F) and of course the fact that Charity knows this. Yelle shares this info with everyone as Antiope walks off with Charity to talk further. Katja suggests to the group that maybe Ant should take the internship to get more info for their quest. While she’s talking to Charity, Ant feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

See looks up and sees a figure with blood red lips look at her and disappear.

Yikes! Combat time baybee!

Superlatives 

Danielle: Most Likely to Talk Her Way Out of a Hostage Situation 

While, like her mothers, I am slightly concerned that Danielle is the type to set fire to herself to make sure others are warm, I also very much love her chill, warm, encouraging vibes. For those of you coming off of MisMag, she is like vibing at the same wavelength as Whitney Jammer but with the intensity turned all the way down. Danielle encouraging Sam honestly gave me like second hand calm. Excellent vibes. 

Random Thoughts

If you’re wondering how long it took for it to come up that Aguefort banged a phoenix, the answer is 12 minutes.

The concept of phoenix chlamydia is the definition of thanks, I hate it. 

Aguefort saying that TK is a crazy person could literally mean anything tbh. It could mean she is the most batshit person on the planet or it could mean she’s totally normal and just kinda bugs him. Literally no way to tell. 

Someone (I think Rekha?) mentioned that the cursed bylaws book is copper and so is TK. Idk if that’s relevant but thought I’d flag it anyway. 

We learn in this episode that the friendship bracelets Penny made them last week let them track each other and see each other even if one of the in knocked out (which is what gives it utility outside of what their crystals can already do).

We learn in this episode that Skullcleaver Elementary School is actually named after Katja’s family. 

Nothing like the fear you feel when a DM gives you what you wanted even on a failure. And on that note...

Sam, I wish you a very happy Please Go To Therapy. Please girl. 

This episode was such an emotional roller coaster. I deeply empathize with the horrible feeling that your friends have stuff going on and you don’t and you’re going to be left behind. It’s so rough to see everyone hurting and lashing out (or in the case of Yelle for instance, trying and failing to diffuse the situation). But it’s so nice to see everyone trying to be there for each other and apologizing and affirming that they love each other (from Antiope saying that she would kill and die for any of them to Danielle defusing the ticking timebomb that is Sam). The players really get the cadence of how teenage girl friendship works and it’s such a treat to watch. 

“Did we ruin your life?”

Do you think ep 7 of The Seven is gonna be when everything pops off? As a DM I wouldn’t be able to resist that.

Penny’s response to being told that she can’t take every path is, “You can with chronomancy” which isn’t a bad point. 

Rekha is the Zac of The Seven which is to say low key the funniest person on the planet. Her saying she was so scared that she wasn’t gonna be told “I love you” during that scene was so funny. Her comic timing is impeccable. 

Katja fainting at the end of the “I love you” session after Penny says she loves her and Cinnamon. 

I love the table ambient whisper of, “LCAB” under Antiope’s scene with Corsica. 

I really felt for Zelda in this episode. Like, I felt for everyone but especially her, being the quiet one with all this yelling happening. When she was talking about how much she hates to have to fight with Sam/O my heart really broke for her. I’m so glad she got all her hugs in after that. 

In this episode Katja, Ostentatia, and Sam roll nat 1s. No nat 20s.

[mardereads19]

Elriel Month 🌸🦇

Day 11:

Continuation of Day 3: Spies at Work.

Elain had managed to convince the carriage males that Rhys’s stunt with the wagon had been real. They’d all drunk up her story as if it was good wine and looked at her like she was the price for the night. She hadn’t even been in the carriage ten minutes when the boasting had begun, a competition on who could impress her more. No doubt they thought that the winner would get her to bed. Elain had smiled demurely, but had let her eyes roam their faces and bodies whenever one spoke, as if she herself couldn’t wait to pick one of them.

The juicy information, though, had begun spilling out after more than an hour of carriage ride.

“We come here with confidential business to take care of,” said one of the males. In the dark, it was difficult to make out all their features correctly, but this one for sure had a mustache.

“They’ll try to impress you,” Rhys had said to her just before he had left her on the road for her mission. “That’s exactly what we want. As much as you can, get them talking and they’ll do the rest.”

So far, he’d been right.

“Confidential?” Elain tucked a strand of hair behind an ear and allowed a little of her glamour to fade. The male’s eyes drank her in. All of them greedily looked at her. Elain couldn’t deny it felt uncomfortable, but Azriel was outside. She knew none of them would remain alive if one of them so much as touched her against her will. “That means you’re all important right?”

The male who had conceded to take her with them smirked. “That’s right. We only work for the most powerful male out there.”

Koschei confirmed.

The carriage stopped and the males eagerly exited, all hoping to be the one to help her down. In the end, it was the same male who had helped her up who extended a hand to her now. He was clearly the leader of all of them. The rest looked at him with disdain and envy, all wanting to be him, to have his authority.

Elain took his hand with a smile and limped her way down the carriage. When she looked up, she noticed they were on the bar she had known was down the road, close to the market she had supposedly been on her way to.

“Look at the map,” Azriel had ordered in Rhys’s study earlier today. “These Fae males will expect you to recognize the buildings and locations. You need to at least have an idea of what is there.” He’d pointed to one of the squares on the map. “This is a bar called The Wicked Glen, it’s most likely they’ll take you there. They’ll want you to drink and lose your ground. It’ll be easier to sway you to dance with them or leave with one of them.”

Elain had seen him clench his jaw and she’d known he did not like what she was being put to the task to do. They had been alone, so she’d reached out her hand to brush her thumb along his cheekbone. “Where will you be?”

Azriel had leaned in to her touch and his eyes had met hers. “I’ll be with you —behind you, around you. You won’t be alone.”

“You’ll keep me safe?”

Azriel, the one to usually keep his distance whenever their friends and family were around, had been the one who tilted her face up and leaned down to kiss her. It hadn’t been any kiss either, but a gentle kiss, a soft kiss to let her know how much he cared. He’d leaned his forehead against hers when they’d broken away.

“There will not be a second where I will not be looking out for you. There won’t be a moment where I am not focused on you. No one will hurt you, Elain.” In his hazel eyes, Elain had seen his promise. “No one will hurt you.”

Elain nodded her head against him. She believed him. “I’ll get the information Rhys needs.”

“I know you will. I have no doubt in you.” There’d been worry in his eyes, but his words had rang true. He’d not been worried that she might fail, he’d been worried of what could be done to her. Worried for her.

But his certainty in her? It had been enough to push away her own doubts.

Now, she followed the male from the carriage into The Wicked Glen. She caught a shadow swirling to their left from the corner of her eye. She ignored it, but it gave her comfort. Azriel was here somewhere.

Her heart told her he was on a branch to her right and she knew that if she glanced there now, she’d see him. She had become highly aware of his presence, knowing exactly were he was even when she hadn’t seen him appear.

When she and the male had taken a seat at the bar, she glanced around for the others. The rest had already wondered off to find dancing partners or to some tables where games of cards were being played. One of them was waiting for the restroom and another one of them was at the bar, too, though farther down. They had given up on her, relenting their chances to their leader, though it didn’t seem like they did it willingly.

Elain counted all the exists and windows —three and two respectively— and noticed what was nearer that she could use as a weapon if anything went south.

A shot of tequila was placed before her on the counter. The male from the carriage turned to her. “Drink up, sweet face.”

***

Azriel was on the roof, looking down through the skylight just above the bar. Elain had dragged her shots as much as she could, just now finishing her third. It had been forty-four minutes since they had gotten here and the male had barely shut up once.

A fourth shot was placed on the counter and Elain took it, but did not raise it to her lips yet. Instead, she smiled prettily at the male and played with a strand of her hair. It did not matter, the male looked annoyed. He had barely drank anything since they got here, no doubt waiting for her to get drunk so he could take advantage of her.

Stand down, the shadow nearest to him whispered in Azriel’s ear. He glared its way, but it was right. Azriel had fisted his hands and was close to winnowing inside the bar regardless Rhysand’s instructions to stay—

Look, another shadow told him.

Azriel looked bellow to see the male running a finger over Elain’s arm. Her eyes had begun to look glassy, the alcohol getting to her at last, and her movement to slap his hand away had been sluggish. The male allowed his fingers to tangle inside her hair and pulled her closer. She smiled, but Azriel noticed her fingers twisting in her dress. He knew her tells enough to know that meant she was afraid.

It was enough.

Azriel winnowed to the entrance of The Wicked Glen and silently made his way to the bar. Everyone who took notice of him stopped what they were doing to gawk and frown. His ears might have been round, like a human’s, but he had wings. And armor. He was still a Fae in the human side of the Continent. He knew some people here were Fae in hiding, but the rest assumed they were all human.

“How would you like to dance?” The male was asking Elain as Azriel approached, his hand tilting Elain’s face. His intent to kiss her neck.

Elain’s eyelids were dropping, but she managed to stop him with her hands over his chest. “I’m not interested in dancing.”

The male’s brow furrowed. “How about having another drink?”

“How about stepping away before I gladly make you cinders?”

The male looked up at Azriel with anger first and then with confusion. Something in his eyes came alive, like he was waking up from a dream. “Who the hell are you, Illyrian?”

“I’m sure you know the answer to that question.” Shadows slithered around their feet, others rising to fix Elain’s hair.

She looked up at Azriel with so much relief that he considered spilling the male’s guts right here on the floor for ever making her afraid in the first place.

The male raised his eyebrows as he regarded Azriel and Elain, how the shadows were fixing her dress as she stood —somehow the skirt had been pushed up— while the rest of the shadows prepared to attack.

“I know who you are, Shadowsinger.” The male smirked. “My boss knows who you are. And now, he knows what makes you weak, too.”

Elain frowned. “What are you talking about?”

The male looked at her. Azriel fisted his hands, but he told himself that it would not be correct to make a bigger scene than the one he had already created.

“History tends to repeat itself, sweet face.” He chuckled before spitting at Azriel’s feet. “Soon you’ll understand.”

Elain intertwined her fingers through Azriel’s and they were winnowing away before anyone could say anything else.

Once they were farther away, but not yet in the glade Rhys had chosen as their place to stay a few nights while they figured out what business had brought Koschei’s males to the Continent, Elain leaned into Azriel. He took her face in his hands and studied her. “How are you?”

Elain laughed. “Drunk.”

Azriel did not share her laugh. He held her at arms length and looked her over.

“I’m not hurt, Azriel. He wasn’t rough with me.”

“He shouldn’t have placed a finger on you in the first place.”

“I could’ve handled him.”

“You were drunk and scared.”

“I was playing a part. Weren’t you the one who taught me how to use give aways to my advantage?”

Azriel opened his mouth to speak but shut it. Then opened it again, “You were relieved when you saw me.”

Elain smiled, “I’m always relieved when you come around.”

They stayed silent for a few seconds. Had Azriel sabotaged their mission, one that had been under control?

“Possibly,” Elain answered, though she was smiling at him. “You know Rhys is going to kill you, right? An Illyrian from the Night court was on Human Territory and he messed with Koschei’s men.”

Azriel ran his hands through his hair.

You’re screwed, a shadow said in his ear.

Azriel glared at it for the second time tonight. You were the ones who told me to look, he answered.

Elain laughed, “You were worried about me. All of you were.”

A shadow floated over a flower and another placed it over her her ear. She laughed again. Azriel felt his heartbeat skip a beat and couldn’t help but wrap his arm around her waist, his other hand cupping her cheek. Suddenly, the shadows found places to stand guard at a good distance, giving them their privacy.

Elain traced Azriel’s left eyebrow with her index finger. “You are hazy to me right now, you know? But your eyes... They’re like a lighthouse calling me home.”

Azriel took a deep inhale, smelling her scent, reassuring himself that the worst was over, that she was back in his arms. “Did I ruin the mission?”

Elain shook her head, “No, you didn’t.” She smiled and, even with her glassy drunk eyes, Azriel felt his knees go weak under him. “I could have gotten more out of him, but I’m sure Rhys will be satisfied with what we got.” She wrapped her arms behind his neck. “Would you like me to tell you?”

“Not now,” he said. “Now I just want to look at you.” Elain’s face softened to tenderness. Her eyes roamed his face. He did the same, noticing the moment Elain let go of the glamour and her whole Fae splendor shined through. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. Inside and out. And he had been so blind tonight with his worry and fear that he had not been able to tell she was putting all his lessons to use. He had believed her fake give aways, her mask of defenseless girl. He should have known better.

“Azriel,” she said, his name like a prayer from her lips. He lowered his head closer to her. She met his eyes, and what he saw in them quieted everything in his mind. “Tell me you love me.”

They had not said it yet. But it was there. It was in every secret glance and touch. In every time they made love and kissed and trained. It was in the way they gravitated towards each other and how they helped each other reach the light. But they had not said it yet.

And right now, with her looking at him like that, with that damn flower tucked over her ear and his own relief at having her in his arms...

Azriel opened his mouth to say that truth that had been in his heart for a long time when she doubled over and heaved all she had drank at the bar.

[themadlostgirl]

Abandoned (11)

*That took longer than expected. Had to rewrite the beginning like five times cause I hated how it kept turning out. Bleh! But we got it now! Should have the next and final chapter of this mini-fic out soon! Love ya and enjoy!*

~~~

As the years passed I found myself growing even more attached to Neverland. I had called it home for years already but after Peter told me he loved me it felt more permanent. I guess a part of me was always sort of waiting for my father to show up one day and take me away. Worried that he would return and ruin the peace and happiness I had found on Neverland.

He was the last person I had ever loved before he abandoned me. As much as I hated him there would be nights when I’d sit in my hut and his face would come to mind. The sound of his voice singing a lullaby to me that I only half remember. I would sit there simmering in my hatred and feelings of betrayal but down deep in my soul there was a twinge of sadness. Memories that feel more like dreams reminding me that for as angry as I was at him there was a time that I loved him. He was my family. My papa…

But that’s all gone. He left me. Traded me. I have a new family now. I know real love. Unconditional love.

Peter loved me exactly as I was. He never asked me change. He never forced me to do things I didn’t want to do. We had fun together. We told each other everything. He knew my deepest darkest secrets and in turn I was entrusted with his. He held me close and kissed me softly. HIs arms were the safest place I had ever known.

He was patient with me and despite how badly he may have wanted to escalate our intimate relationship he never pressured me. If anything he may have been too cautious but given what he knew of my history I didn’t blame him. I’d rather he be courteous than to just assume he’s okay to take what he wants from me. So when the day came that I knew I was ready I asked him to make love to me. He had been so nervous and I couldn’t help but tease him a bit despite my own nerves. It felt nothing like the first time I had sex. It was so much softer, slower, and all of my partner’s attention was solely on me. It felt like love.

After that first time things got a little intense. We may have made it our mission to christen every inch of the island. Soft and sweet love making in the meadows to hard and rough in caves, there was nothing more we cared about. Peter didn’t even return to camp for an entire week once because we were too wrapped up in one another. His body became as familiar to me as my own.

That isn’t to say that we didn’t drive each other mad either. There were days where I wanted to throw him off a cliff and he wished that I had never set foot in Neverland. For as stubborn as the both of us could be the fights never drove us apart for long. We would come back together and everything would be right with the world until we got annoyed and started another fight.

Through all of it I worried though. From what Peter told me all that time ago, he’s dying. He creeps closer and closer to death and there’s nothing I can do to help him. I ask for details, I ask if there is anyway I can help, and Peter tells me it is not for me to worry about. He assures me he has it all under control. That sentiment loses some of its reassurance when he comes to me shaking and pale as a ghost. It’s always after he visits Skull Rock and looks at the hourglass ticking away his life.

One of these such nights he found me at my camp and held me close for a long while not saying anything. Not that he had to. I just wish there was something I could do to help. I hate seeing him like this.

“My love?” I whispered. Peter sat between my legs with his head resting on my chest and his arms wrapped around me. “You need to tell me if there is some way I can help you.”

Peter sighed. “I told you, my pearl, there is nothing about my situation that you need to worry yourself over. Now be sweet and keep playing with my hair. That is helping immensely.”

“I feel like I should be doing more though,” I carded my fingers through his hair, “I don’t want to just stand idly by while you…” I couldn’t finish the thought. “I want to help you.”

“You already are.” He gazed up at me with those clear green eyes I loved so much, “I don’t need you to fight or search or anything like that. I want you exactly where you are now. I want to know that you are safe here, waiting for me. That is all I need.”

“But--”

“Hush now,” he kissed my palm, “You worry yourself so easily. Things are already in motion. I will be safe and far from death by the end of the week if things go according to plan.”

“What? Why haven’t you said anything before?”

“Because I fear it may stir up painful memories for you. The Truest Believer will be here soon and I have a plan for when he arrives. You are not a part of it and that is how it is going to remain. Do you understand?”

“But I can help!”

“My love, my precious pearl,” Peter smoothed a finger across my bottom lip, “You already are. I want you right here where I know you are safe. Stay here. That is how you will help me.”

“But I could do so much more.”

“I don’t need you to do anything more.” He kissed me gently, “Now please, can you obey me in this one thing? I need you to trust me on this. You do trust me, don’t you, my love?”

“Of course I trust you.” I sighed, defeated, “But you will let me know if you need me to do more, right?”

“Of course,” He laid his head back down.

The night the Truest Believer arrived I didn’t see Peter at all. He told me he would be gone from my side for the majority of the time the Believer was on Neverland. It wasn’t unexpected but the sting of loneliness crept in still.

After the first night without Peter I became restless. Despite Peter’s warning to remain at my camp I decided to take a short stroll through the jungle. There were adults running about somewhere trying to rescue the boy Peter had. It is such a big island though and I know every inch of it. What were the odds that I would run into one of these adults? Still, I strapped my sword to my hip just in case. Adults or not Neverland was still plenty dangerous, especially at night.

I meandered through the jungle with no real destination in mind. Maybe I would go to Peter’s Thinking Tree. It had to be more fun than sitting all alone in my hut back on the beach.

“My young love said to me, ‘My mother won't mind and my father won't slight you for your lack of kind.’ Then she stepped away from me and this she did say, ‘It will not be long love till our wedding day.’” I sang quietly.

“She stepped away from me and she moved through the fair.” A voice from the deepest recesses of my mind answered with a melody as soft as it had been in my dreams. It was not a sound in my head though. It was much too real.

“And fondly I watched her move here and move there.” The foliage parted and in the moonlight appeared a troupe of adults but I only saw the one at the forefront. “Then she made her way homeward with one star awake. As the swan in the evening moves over the lake.”

He took a knee and gazed up at me, “Hello starfish,”

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out.

My father...my father was standing right in front of me after gods know how many years and I couldn’t think of a single thing to say. I just stared at him as my mind went through a million emotions at once.

“Hook?” One of his party asked, a blonde woman, “Who are we looking at here?”

“My daughter,” he answered simply, “I told you I had informants in Neverland.”

“You have a kid?” The other adults looked at him in shock. “You never mentioned that you had a daughter before.”

“Yes, well--”

“What are you doing here?” I said, my voice shaky and choked. All eyes swiveled to me once again. I gazed down at my father as all the sorrow and anger I had been harboring for decades started to boil over.

“Darling,” He reached out for me but I jumped back so he couldn’t touch me. He sighed, “Starfish, I know that what happened in the past must have been a shock but I’m here now. I’m back and I desperately need your help. Then all of this can be undone. Things can go back to what they were before.”

How dare he. How dare he come back. How dare he kneel in front of me and ask for my help. Did he not know? Did he not realize what he had done? How could he come back here after decades and pretend like nothing had happened?

He took advantage of my silence to reach for me again. I was still trying to think of what to say or do when he grabbed hold of my hand. “Starfish,” He whispered the nickname like a plea, “I am so happy to see you again. Please, can you help us? We can get you out of here.”

“No...” I pulled my hand from him. Tears sprung to my eyes and there was nothing to do to stop them. “NO!” I screamed, “No! No! No! No! No!”

“Darling, please--”

“You abandoned me!” I wailed, years of pent up anguish spilling out at once, “You left me here! That is not just a shock! That is not something you get to brush aside like it wasn’t a big deal. You traded me away for your freedom and now you have the gall to come back here and ask for my help?”

“It was a lot more complicated than that--”

“No it wasn’t! You had a choice and you chose your freedom over me! Your daughter! You didn’t even try coming back for me!”

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what I endured after I was forced to leave you.”

“Forced? You were not forced. You could have told Peter no when he asked you to trade me. You could have kept me and we could have stayed together. We’d be marooned here but at least we would have been together.” I kicked him in the center of his chest so he went falling backwards. The other adults tensed, weapons aimed but no one made a move to stop me as I towered over him.

“And do not tell me that you endured anything like it was a struggle. I spent months alone on the beaches praying that you would return. I cried myself to sleep and pleaded with the universe to send you back to me. When I was finally given a chance to be reunited with you do you know what I found? I found you in a tavern drinking and having a merry time without me. I wasn’t even a thought in your head!”

“Starfish--”

“I am not your starfish! I am not your daughter! You do not get to call me that after what you did. After what you put me through. You betrayed me! You traded me to our enemy and you didn’t even care!”

“I’m here now though.”

“But not for me.” I swallowed back the lump in my throat. “You knelt before me but it wasn’t with apologies or words of reassurance that you had come to rescue me. No. You returned and asked for my help like you have any right to it. Do not look for me again. Do not talk to me again. I want nothing to do with you.”

“Starfish, please,” He grabbed my arm, “Let me explain.”

“Let go of me!” I tried to pull my arm free.

“Hook, I think you should--” One of the other adults tried to intercede.

“No!” He pulled me closer, “Please, darling, I need you to listen to me. If you just give me the chance to explain then everything will be alright. We’ll get Henry and we’ll leave. You can leave this place and we can be a family again. I know I hurt you but we can still fix this.”

“You are not my family! I want nothing to do with you!” I kicked at him but he held me tighter.

“You don’t mean that.”

“Let go of me!”

“Starfish--”

“PETER!” I screamed. A hand was quickly clamped over my mouth but it was too late. Ominous clouds started to roll in casting the jungle into darkness. One of the adults conjured a ball of fire in her hands, the only source of light as the others strained to see in the dark. I felt a tingle go up my spine and relaxed.

“Get your hands off her.” Peter’s voice growled from the shadows. Father’s grip on me slackened for just a moment and I took the hesitation to rip myself away from him. I could make out Peter’s eyes glinting almost like a cat’s in the darkness and ran for him. He caught me in his arms and smoothed my hair, “Hush now, precious, it’s alright.”

“Pan,” Father barked, “Give me back my daughter!”

“And my son!” One of the women yelled.

“Neither of them are going anywhere. Especially not my Lost Girl.” Peter grinned. His thumb traced over my cheek wiping the tears that had fallen away, “Did the awful man make you cry, my love?”

I nodded. Peter pressed a soft kiss to my forehead.

“Love?” The other man in the group spoke his eyes wide in disbelief. He turned to father, “Your daughter is dating Peter Pan?”

“No…” Father looked horrified as he took in our body language. "My daughter would never--"

"Well she's not your daughter anymore. She ceased to be yours the moment you sent her to me.” Peter held me closer, “And I swear if you try taking her I will gut every last one of you.”

“Remove whatever spell you placed over her!”

“There is no spell. Did you really think that you could leave her here for decades and that she would still be the loyal pirate you had set adrift in a rowboat? I welcomed her to my island as an equal, I made sure she was provided for and looked after. Then in time she welcomed me as her friend and eventually as her lover.” Peter’s smile grew wide with that sadistic edge I loved. “She makes just the cutest noises.”

“You vile bastard!” Father charged at us with his blade drawn and murder in his eyes. The next moment Peter and I were standing on the beach by my hut.

“Was that last comment so necessary?” I asked.

“You can’t blame me wanting to torture him a little after what he did.” Peter chuckled lightly. “But how are you, my love? I told you to stay here. Why did you go wandering?”

“I was bored and lonely so…” I shrugged. My body was still shaking.

Peter sighed and kissed my forehead. “Hush, my love, I can’t imagine what you must have been thinking seeing him again.”

“I said what I wanted to. It doesn’t feel like it’s enough though. I don’t think I can accurately put into words what he made me feel. He could never understand what I endured because of him.” More tears started to slip from my eyes. Peter brushed them away.

“Come back to camp,” He said, “I want to be able to watch over you.”

I nodded, too emotionally exhausted to fight him on this. We drew curious glances when we entered camp. One of the boys I did not recognize and I realized I now had a face to pair with the heart Peter needed. Peter ignored everyone’s whispering and led me to his tent.

“Will you be okay in here?” Peter asked. “If you need me I’ll be right outside.”

“I’m fine.”

“One second,” he left and came back with a canteen and a bowl of food. “In case you get hungry. I also grabbed a couple books from your hut in case you wanted something to do. Do you need anything else?”

“Can you sit here with me for a minute? I just don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Of course, precious,” He sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap. “You’d tell me if you really aren’t doing well, wouldn’t you?”

“I would.” I buried my face in his neck. “Peter, I don’t know what game you are playing with these adults but if I can I want to be a part of it.”

“You already know why I won’t allow that.”

“Peter,” I fisted a hand in his tunic, “If you have the chance, leave Hook alive.”

“Why should I let that worm breathe after what he put you through?” Peter spat, “I should have killed him the second I saw him trying to take you.”

“No. Leave him alive and leave him to me.” Venom started to drip into my voice, “I want to be the one to kill him.”

---

(Previous) (Next)

[rostovs-lover]

roy rogers

brian may x reader | cursing, some suggestive language, a little bit of anxiety, alcohol consumption | she/her pronouns | fluffy? slow-burn?? | wc.3667

i’m low key tempted to make a part two,, 

anon : Can I request a super cute fic where Bri needs more money for uni, so he starts offering guitar lessons and the reader has a little brother who really wants to learn how to play, so she signs him up. Maybe her brother is extremely good with a guitar and he has a lot of lessons with Bri. He also sees the reader a lot and he catches feelings HARD. Maybe the reader’s little brother spills something to both of them with the help of the rest of the band and they end of together. I just need major FLUFF

your younger brother thinks his guitar teacher is perfect for you and he’s adamant about getting you together. requests open!!

     A Roy Roger’s is a nonalcoholic drink made of cola and cherry grenadine and topped with a maraschino cherry.

     Your younger brother, David, practically lived in your apartment. For a fourteen year old he was brilliant and very, very sneaky. Sneaky enough to creep out of your mother’s house in the dead of night and crawl up to the fire escape of your second story apartment.

    When you’d stumbled to the kitchen, half asleep, he’d been at the table thumbing through a cookbook. He’d also had the audacity to laugh when you screamed, thinking he was an intruder. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and it most definitely wouldn’t be the last either.

    “One of these days something is going to be thrown at your head,” You hissed, setting a bowl of cereal in front of David, who looked at it with the utmost disgust.

    “What is this?”

    “Quisp, either eat it or starve.”

    He glowered at you, “I like Waffelos,”

    “That's so sad, I have no money, its Quisp or nothing.” It was quiet for a while as you both ate, David still looking through your cookbook.

    He closed the book, examining the cover as he spoke, “Mum said you have to sign me up for guitar lessons,”

    “Mum said what?”

    “You have to sign me up for guitar lessons, she’ll pay. I have a well of untapped potential in the musical realm. That's according to her coworker, Deirdre.” He sighed, exasperated, “Mum trusts Deirdre apparently because now I have to learn guitar.”

    “Where on earth does mum expect me to sign you up, I mean did she give you any specifics, like a price range? Do you even have a guitar?”

    “First, I have mum’s old guitar. Second, she just said lessons. I think she trusts your judgment.”

    Despite how much you appreciated your mother trusting your judgment, finding reasonably priced guitar lessons with someone who wasn’t a creep was harder than anticipated. You had collected a handful of flyers and business cards, all offering said lessons. The first call you placed was to a nice old lady looking to take up some spare time by providing lessons but she lived too far away for your mother to drive every week. The next was almost promising until you told Robert MacIntere that the lesson was for your brother, not you and he hung up the phone. One woman had too many cats, another man asked for your shoe size, someone else cursed you out when you said you couldn’t do their outlandish prices. The only promising thing you had gotten was a History professor, a very nice man too. You were thrilled when the lessons had finally been scheduled until he bowed out at the last minute and you were back at square one. 

    You had almost given up when, one rainy Thursday evening, you found an advert pinned outside of the auditorium. Guitar lessons, not too far away, open every Tuesday and Wednesday after three o’clock. The document was typed, all except a phone number scrawled on the bottom, almost as if an afterthought. You scratched the number on the palm of your hand and called straight away when you got home.

    The line wrung for several seconds, “Yo?”

    “Hi. Hi, yes I’m calling about a flyer I saw posted at Imperial College? It was an advert for bi-weekly guitar lessons, and your number was on the paper. I was wondering about booking a couple of weeks?”

    The person on the line snorted, “Sorry dear, that’s not me. I assume you’re looking for my mate, just one moment and I’ll gather him-” You heard his hand cover the receiver as she called for someone, “Just one sec’ lovie,”

    The phone was audibly handed off, “Hello?”

    “Hi, um I’m calling about the guitar lessons?”

    “Oh!” His voice, “Yes, of course! That's me, are you looking to schedule one?”

    You had scheduled for the following Tuesday at four, to meet at his apartment. In the car on the way there, David rambled on about everything he wanted to learn and exactly how ecstatic he was for this. He had named his guitar George, after George Harison, who he admired. On the elevator ride up to Brian’s apartment, David was practically vibrating and he bounced on the balls of his feet as you waited at the door.

    The door was opened by a blond, clad in a bathrobe and flannel pyjama pants who puffed at his cigarette as he stared at you, “What brings you here?”

    Before you could speak David, who the blond hadn’t noticed until just then, piped up, “The guitar lessons. I’m the one being taught, [Name] is just sitting in.”

    “Oh, well come in then, I’ll go and get Brian.” He tucked his cigarette behind him and lead you inside, “Um, make yourselves at home, couch is all yours.” He howled Brian’s name and ducked into the kitchen, snuffing out the smoke in an ashtray.

    David got settled on the couch, tugging out his guitar, and you set into a chair. From around the corner rushed a very frantic body, clutching his own guitar. He was very tall, and the black pants he wore made his legs seem unproportionate to his body. What caught your eye the most though was his hair, he had a thick mane of tightly wound black curls, which also added to his height.

    “Hi, I’m very sorry about this, I got a touch caught up in a bit of school work.” He settled onto the couch next to your brother, “You must be David, I’m Brian.” He gestured a hand to your brother.

    David, ever the charmer, shook firmly as he spoke, “Its pleasure meeting you. I wasn’t quite sure that lessons were even going to happen, no one seemed right, according to mum, but you seem nice! Your guitar is neat. Oh! That's my sister, [Name], I believe you spoke on the phone.”

    “We did,” Brian leaned forwards to shake your hand as well, “Its nice to meet you,”

    A better teacher would have been hard to come by. Brian was patient and soft spoken, he worked at your brother’s pace, never rushing past anything he didn’t fully understand. The lesson was only an hour long but it seemed much shorter, with a book in tow you didn’t pay much mind to anything else. That was until you caught yourself glancing over the cover to watch the lesson. Brian was attractive and he had very nice hands. You were somewhat aghast you’d never seen him on campus, he seemed hard to miss.

    The lessons became weekly, and despite trusting Brian and his roommate, Roger, you still opted to stay for every one. It was always pleasant, the apartment was nice, Brian was nice, and you had begun to get acquainted with his friends. During the third week, Roger had let it slip that they were in a band. Brian’s face had flushed scarlet and he’d played with his fingers as he explained that it wasn’t anything serious. On that same visit, you’d had a conversation with Roger in the kitchen while he got you a glass of water. He was nice, only half awake at the time, but you’d realized you had an evolution class together at school. He had also given you his number, and David would absolutely not let you hear the end of it.

    “Please-” Your brother cried as he threw himself onto your sofa, “You haven’t had a boyfriend in ages. The last one was, what was his name?”

    You rolled your eyes, “Chet?”

    “Chet Robbins! Chet the safe bet!”

    “Chet the safe bet? Did you make that up?”

    David smiled, very proudly, “I did! Just now actually, because it's true! Chet, the business student, trust fund child, frat boy. Why not date a drummer?”

    “Because I like stability David,”

    “[Name] date the drummer. I beg, I plead. He was so into you, he gave you his number!”

    “If you will recall, I have his number. Because his number is the apartment number and that's what I called for the lessons. I also refuse to date your teacher’s best friend. How would I approach that, ‘Hi Brian! You’re teaching my brother an instrument, I did your friend last night. How have you been?’”

    David gasped in mock disgust, “I never said a word about doing him. You foul wench, I simply implied dinner. Maybe seeing one of his shows.”

    “Oh my dear, when you date a drummer it's never just dinner.” You snorted.

    “Well, when I date a drummer it will be. Only dinner, no foul play.”

    “Please, please keep that attitude for the rest of your life.”

    It was quiet as he mulled over your words. You started off, putting away your bag and coat when he abruptly sat up, “You don’t dislike the drummer, in fact, it has nothing to do with him. You don’t like my teacher’s best friend, you like my teacher.” He grinned when your face lit up, “Oh you do, you absolutely do! I’ve never seen you blush that hard.”

    “You little twit,” You hissed, “If you say a word about this I will have your head. This stays between us and us only.”

    David was sneaky, very sneaky. Your conversation had planted an idea in his head like a seed and every brief glance and soft smile you shared with his teacher was water. He was growing a downright devious plan, with you directly at the center of it.

    David, after quietly looking over the house and picking up on Brian’s affinity for science fiction, had been the one to recommend you start reading George Orwell’s 1984. He had also purposely disappeared to the restroom when he caught sight of Brian eyeing the cover.

    Brian carefully cleared his throat, “Do you read much Orwell?”

    “Oh, Orwell? No, not really. I, um- I read The Road to Wigan Pier for a book club a while ago. Are you a fan?”

    “Oh yes,” He smiled, leaning forwards, “I’ve read that, actually. I was in a band a few years back by the same name,”

    You cocked your head, closing the book against your finger, “1984?”

    “Yes, quite silly, I know. Never was much good at naming.”

    “Roger said you’re in a band now, what's that called?”

    His cheeks were beginning to pick up a soft pink again, “Um, Queen. Our singer named it-”

    David sat back down, “Did I miss anything important?”

    Brian looked away and you went back to your book. The only noise became the guitar residing between the two boys on the couch. David had learned enough to start on a song, I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash. It was recognizable enough to draw your attention, and it was lovely at first until it was all David played. When you returned home, when you visited your mother, he played it so much you had memorized the fingering to it.

    It was at another lesson, several weeks later, when you had been left by your lonesome. David had gone to get a drink and Brian had run to retrieve something from his room. All alone and with nothing to tell you not to you settled into the couch with the guitar and tried at the song. It was choppy, a bit off-key, but mostly there.

    “I didn’t know you played?” Brian’s voice was soft but you still jumped, shooting around to find him. Leaned against the back of the sofa he twirled a coin between his fingers, grinning down at you.

    You swallowed, “I don’t, no, not really. Dave’s just played this so much I remembered how it looked.” 

    He propped his chin in his hand, “I think you could be quite good. Just, here-” He slipped the coin between his teeth to reach down, softly grasping your wrist, adjusting your placement on the neck. His hands were warm and it sent a shiver up your spine as he carefully moved your fingers, “That should do nicely, I trust you’ll do well with the right placement.” He was quiet for a moment, silently pondering something, “Friday night we have a show at about ten o’clock, say you come and maybe I could show you something on the guitar afterwards.”

    You considered, “Where is it?”

    “The Cameo, downtown London.”

    “It sounds lovely, very, but I have to admit I’m not big on the downtown London clubs. I actually don’t know where that is. Although I do have a friend whos well versed with the scene, I could ask her to show me there?”

    “Wonderful,” He grinned, “It's a date!” Something else David wouldn’t let go of. Usually, all he talked about was the music he learned but now he was enthralled with the prospect of a new romantic venture. You had been informed on exactly how to dress, what makeup to wear, what drink to order. He also picked the exact shade of blue for you to paint your nails.

    You called Marilla after your mother picked David up and she had agreed, enthusiastically, to show you to the club. When she arrived you had been called ‘prudish’ and were forbidden to dress yourself. In the very back of your closet was a floral dress you’d bought for a wedding reception that never happened. It was supposed to be returned but you just hadn’t gotten around to it.

    “It doesn’t scream rock n’ roll,” She inspected the green fabric under the kitchen light, “But anyone can look like Twiggy with enough eyeshadow so it’ll have to do. You should invest in club clothes, you might have to if anything goes with this guitar player.” Her eyebrows wagged.

    You rolled your eyes, taking the dress from her, “Hush, you’re just as bad as David.”

    “Your brother?” Marilla snorted, “What's he got to do with this?”

    “He's an insufferable little shit, that's what-” You pushed off your top, “At first he tried to get me with the guitar player’s flatmate but when that didn’t work he really pushed Brian and I,”

    Marilla was amused, far more amused than you, “He's a cunning thing, I’ve always liked him. Oh boy, now I really want to see your guitarist, Brian was it?”

    The club pulsed, dull lights glaring down against everything. It was smokey and smelled of weed and whiskey. The band onstage was far too loud and you clung to Marilla’s hand as she pulled you up to the bar.

    “What do you want?” She practically had to yell for you to hear but it went through you, you couldn’t think with all the noise and lights. She sighed and patted your hand, “A Moscow mule and a Roy Roger’s please.” She shouted at the bartender, “It's alright babes, no alcohol, just fancy cherry coke.” You nodded and accepted the drink, taking a tentative sip as you scanned the crowd. The band onstage had seemed to conclude their set but it didn’t make things any quieter. It was overwhelming really, moreso as Marilla started to pull you up to the front.

    “Come on, it's almost ten. Your boy’ll be up next!” She settled in front of the stage, rooting you to the spot next to her.

    Brian’s flatmate came out, twirling a drumstick between his fingers and he was met with loud cheers. Marilla whooped, waving big up at him. He was followed by the bass player, Brian, and the singer. They were all enthralling, and you were enraptured. The boys on stage looked ethereal, in flowy tops and sparkly makeup. The frontman was clad in glittery jewelry and the bass player wore platform boots. Their music drew you in and eased your nerves about how crowded the club was. The last song had a guitar solo and as he played Brian’s eyes met yours. A rose of warmth bloomed into your cheeks and he grinned, fingering at the chords.

    Marilla, immune to none, elbowed you in the ribs, “That's him?!”

    You nodded, “It is,”

    “Damn girlie! Good for you! But for the record, I think I like the drummer,”

    “His name is Roger. If you come backstage with me you can meet him.”

    She grinned, “I’m so proud of you, getting connections!” As they finished Roger flung one of his drumsticks into the crowd. You flinched as Marilla’s hand shot out. She squawked as she caught it, quickly tucking it into her pants and taking your hand, pulling you towards the back lounge. She pushed at the thin curtain to the side, slipping in.

    It was quieter and you watched people in glamorous outfits dally about. A redhead in hot pants dropped onto the shabby leather sofa, passing glass bottles of something to both the drummer and bassist. The singer was swirling what you could only assume to be a cosmopolitan. He looked up, catching sight of you and Marilla, both looking a bit lost.

    “Hello, come come!” The singer waved you over and Marilla practically dragged you.

    “You are spectacular!” She raved, “All of you, magical!” She tugged the stick out of her waistband and made her way to the drummer.

    You cleared your throat, “You really are amazing, you have a lovely voice.”

    The brunette smiled, “Thank you! I’m Freddie by the way, our charming drummer is Roger. The lovely John plays bass and Brian should be around here somewhere, he plays the guitar.”

    “It's nice to meet you, Freddie, I’m [Name]. I was actually looking for Brian,” You twiddled with your fingers, looking down, “He asked to meet here tonight. You wouldn’t happen to know where he is would you?”

    “You know, he may have popped to the kitchen. I’ll show you,” Freddie stood up. He seemed to catch your hesitation, glancing back to Marilla, “I’ll keep an eye on her. Roggie really is no harm, he plays much bigger than he actually is, I don’t think he could hurt a soul. Not an undeserving one at least.” He started towards the kitchen with you in tow.

    Aforementioned kitchen was small and shockingly clean. Your guitarist sat on the counter with a glass of water.

    Brian seemed to be in his own world until Freddie caught his attention, “Someone’s been looking for you, my dear,”

    Brian looked up, “[Name]! Hello, I’m so glad you came!” He slid off the counter setting his drink down, “Did you bring your friend?”

    “I did, she’s become infatuated with Roger though.”

    He grinned, “Oh Rog seems to do that to some people.”

    “Well, I'll leave you to it!” Freddie called, waving and walking back to the lounge.

    When the door shut Brian began to fiddle with the bottom of his shirt, “I left my guitar in the other room, I could go and grab it if you’d still like to learn that song.” He studied your face, “But you don’t look comfortable, are you alright?”

    “Yes, this just isn’t really my scene. I’m not used to the noise and everything, there's a lot of people here.”

    He smiled sympathetically, “I know, it's crowded. There's a nice little diner just down the road, we could walk there and talk if you’d like.”

    You nodded, “Sure, that would be lovely.”

    The air was crisp and it brought you back to reality from the club. Brian had lent you an extra sweater he had brought, it was warm but you had to roll the sleeves a few times. It was quiet as you walked, the occasional car rushing past. The sidewalk narrowed as you got closer to the strip of restaurants and you felt the back of Brian’s hand brush yours. You caught his fingers, lacing yours into them and nervously looking up. His expression mimicked yours, jittery and shy and totally taken.

    “You look very pretty,” He murmured, thumbing over your knuckles, “That green looks very nice on you.”

    You smiled, “Thank you, you look lovely as well.”

    “Oh pish posh, this is just stage wear. But I’m glad you think it looks okay, Rog said I looked frumpy.”

    You giggled, “Marilla, the one who brought me, called me prudish earlier.”

    His laugh was soft, “Well, we can be fashion disappointments to our friends together,” He pulled open the door to MaryAnne’s Diner, holding it for you.

    You were settled in a booth waiting for your order when Brian spoke, “David really has potential,”

    “With the guitar? I’m not surprised, he's always been good at everything he tries. It's really quite annoying, how brilliant he is.”

    “He seems so, a very nice kid. Does he live with you?”

    “No no,” You smiled, “No he lives with our mum, he just sneaks out to see me more than he should. I don’t know if I ever thanked you for letting me sit in, I know it's not common practice. I just worry about him, he seems so much older than he actually is and I’m worried it’ll get him in trouble one day.”

    Brian patted your hand, “Oh darling, I understand. I really don’t mind at all, I’m glad I met you.”

    “I’m glad I’ve met you as well.”

    He had walked you home, contently explaining the story behind one of the constellations he saw.

    He stalled at the door, keeping your hand in his, “So I suppose I’ll see you next week?”

    “Absolutely,”

    He moved one hand to push a piece of hair out of your face, “Well until then I suppose,”

    You leaned up, closing in on him. You felt his hot breath against your cheeks, “Is this okay?”

    He nodded, “More than,” And pulled you into him. 

     He was as gentle in kissing you as he was in everything else, carefully nudging his nose against yours. His mouth was warm and he stroked your mandible, easing deeper into the kiss. He relished in the taste of maraschino cherry from the Roy Roger’s you’d had earlier. You gasped softly as he nipped at your bottom lip, pulling away. The lipgloss he had been wearing was smeared against the corner of your mouth and he carefully wiped at it with his thumb.

    David would never let you hear the end of this either.